Review-ARTistic Pursuits

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

We recently received K-3 Vol. 6 Art of the Impressionists from ARTistic Pursuits.

ARTistic Pursuits is an art program designed to take your student through a chronological study of art in an open-and-go format.

Lessons include stories about culture and artists, pictures of famous artworks, some short videos, as well as fun and easy projects to complete.

It is recommended for students to start with Volume 1, Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary. You can then choose to follow the remaining seven volumes chronologically, or choose any volume of interest afterwards.

Courses can be purchased as a physical product including a hardcover book, DVD, and Blu-ray that are shipped to you, and/or you can choose to purchase it as an online course with immediate access to a flipping digital book and online video lessons. There is also an option to purchase the needed art supplies.

For our review, I chose Art of the Impressionists simply because my boys are obsessed with Impressionist artists-especially Van Gogh. My second grader had taken an art class based off a Van Gogh painting at the library, and my fifth grader’s English curriculum has been featuring Van Gogh, so I knew this time period would be a hit with both of them.

Even though this curriculum is described as one for K-3, all of my kids are doing the program-even my eighth grader is participating, and not only is it working for our family, everyone is having a lot of fun.

What I Love:
1. There are minimal supplies-I only purchased a couple of items for less than $30. Money-Saving Tip: I purchased one set of gouache tube paints to share, and we use laminated paper for our palettes.
2. There is minimal prep on my part-a little bit of reading, setting out the supplies, clean-up, and that’s it! I suppose it helps that I have older students participating. If you truly only had K-3 students, more parent supervision would probably be needed.
3. My kids are learning about art and really enjoying the program-all of them!
4. I love the finished results! I am very impressed at how quickly my kids are creating truly beautiful works of art!

What My Kids Love:
1. They are trying new mediums. Gouache was new to all of us, and is now going to be a staple in this house.
2. They enjoy looking at all of the famous artworks-especially since many are ones they have never seen.
3. They are HAPPY. In my family, it is a true sign a kiddo is happy when they start to sing. My seven year old is currently painting away and singing “I love this!” That is awesome.
4. My fourteen year old said, “It’s easy, fun, and worth your time.” I suppose that says it all, doesn’t it? 🙂

I will admit, we have never done any type of formal art program. We have taken a few classes here or there, I pull projects from Pinterest, but we are not very consistent in completing art lessons on a weekly basis.

I truly did not know what I was missing in using an actual art curriculum. I love that ARTistic Pursuits includes history, pictures of art, videos, and projects all laid out for me-and I didn’t have to go searching for any of it.

I also really like that different types of art are included in each volume. Our volume includes painting, carving, modeling, and sculpting.

This program is very reasonably priced too. When you consider that you are getting 18 lessons for $40, and you can use those lessons with your entire family-that’s a really good deal. Art classes can get expensive VERY quickly, and these you can do at home (which my introverted self loves), with as many kids as you want! Very cool.

OK, enough of my talking! Are you ready for an art show? 🙂

“Yum Yum Portrait”

“The Fruit Table”

“The Fruit Plate”

“Freak Out Cookie”

“Speedy Alex”

“Best Friend”

“Shape Blazers” (I was informed this is an art installation) 🙂

“Sea Traffic”

“The Ocean”

My favorite has to be that cookie by my seven-year old-it is hilarious (and really cute.) I could totally see it as a character in a story book.

My kids picked their own favorites, and we are going to be submitting them into our library’s Homeschool Art Show too.

I have to say, I am sold on the program, and look forward to completing this course with my kids and seeing all of the wonderful works they create!

If you would like to learn more about ARTistic Pursuits and the courses they offer, please click here and check it out.

You can also visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to see more reviews on this product!