Opinions on Insight Technical Education

[johnandtinagilbert]

http://www.insighttechnicaleducation.com/

 

Anyone used these materials? Love? Hate? Other suggestions?

[Alphabetika]

My middle dd loves the Complete-a-Sketch materials. It's excellent for a child who doesn't necessarily like traditional art instruction or for one who is a more logical thinker. I have girls, but from what my friends with boys have told me about teaching their boys, I think the Complete-a-Sketch program would be excellent for boys (or girls) who need some extra help in fine motor skills, or who just don't work well with a more "flowery" or open-ended artistic approach. It teaches the art of observation and of duplicating what you see in a more structured, "straight line" kind of way, if that makes sense. I don't mean to single out boys, it's just that I've more often had friends talk about their boys than their girls struggling in these areas. My middle dd loves the "pre-drafting" feel of Complete-a-Sketch, though she doesn't struggle with fine motor skills, and I can see her going on to the drafting program at some point.

 

My oldest used the graphic design program several years ago and liked it very much, too.

 

Not too many people seem to know about these programs, so I usually bring them up when there's a thread on "little-known curriculum" because I think they're excellent!

 

ETA: If you go on their site, you can print out samples and give them a try before you buy. And now they're available on CD, which is great, because you can use them with multiple kids or use the same design multiple times.

Edited July 5, 2010 by Alphabetika

[johnandtinagilbert]

My middle dd loves the Complete-a-Sketch materials. It's excellent for a child who doesn't necessarily like traditional art instruction or for one who is a more logical thinker. I have girls, but from what my friends with boys have told me about teaching their boys, I think the Complete-a-Sketch program would be excellent for boys (or girls) who need some extra help in fine motor skills, or who just don't work well with a more "flowery" or open-ended artistic approach. It teaches the art of observation and of duplicating what you see in a more structured, "straight line" kind of way, if that makes sense. I don't mean to single out boys, it's just that I've more often had friends talk about their boys than their girls struggling in these areas. My middle dd loves the "pre-drafting" feel of Complete-a-Sketch, though she doesn't struggle with fine motor skills, and I can see her going on to the drafting program at some point.

 

My oldest used the graphic design program several years ago and liked it very much, too.

 

Not too many people seem to know about these programs, so I usually bring them up when there's a thread on "little-known curriculum" because I think they're excellent!

 

ETA: If you go on their site, you can print out samples and give them a try before you buy. And now they're available on CD, which is great, because you can use them with multiple kids or use the same design multiple times.

Thank you so much. This is just what I'm hoping for. Is this very independent? Just trying to figure out time slots in our schedules.

[Alphabetika]

My experience is that my dd can do it completely independently, and you can really do it anywhere. Very easy to fit in.

[MyThreeSons]

I have looked at these and I think they're really well done. I would count them as Mechanical Drawing or Drafting, though, rather than as an art course.

[johnandtinagilbert]

This is great news. Now, if only I could decide on where to put all our fabulous electives!