Reviews for Artistic Pursuits, please!

[RainbowSprinkles]

Title says it all! :)

[MinivanMom]

We've used the K-3 levels and I've been very impressed. I had very good, very thorough art instruction in elementary school. What originally drew me to Artistic Pursuits was that every art project I remember from school is included at some point in the program. The variety is staggering: drawing, painting, sculpture, carving, print-making, etc, etc. We've had to buy a lot of art supplies, but they are all high-quality and I see my children using them in their spare time. I bought each of my children an oversized pencil box to hold their own art supplies in and that has worked really well. The lessons themselves cover principles of art, art history, and art instruction. Everything is nice and compact in a single instruction book that we read together, then they work independently on the art projects. We have one long art session on Fridays and it is the highlight of our week.

 

The only complaint I would have is that (at the K-3 level) there is definitely an emphasis on creativity versus drawing instruction. My kids have been exposed to a lot of mediums and they've gotten a lot of practice, but there isn't a lot of detailed "how-to" when it comes to the quality or realism of their art. I have actually spent a year working through Drawing with Children with them before we start Artistic Pursuits. Then we apply the D w/C principles to the AP projects. D w/C has great principles, but is lacking in projects so this has worked well for us. We also have lots of "How to Draw"-type books that the kids play around with in their spare time, so that has also been a good thing for them.

 

Overall, I'm very pleased. We intend to continue using the upper elementary and junior high levels.

[Pastor's Wife]

Any more reviews? I'm curious, as well...

[mamato4]

We are using book 1 of the grades 4-6. I decided to use it this year after talking to a rep from Artistic Pursuits at our homeschool convention. I think he is related to the author Brenda Ellis but I'm not 100% sure.

 

I told him my concerns about teaching art since I am totally "unartistic." Stick figures are the most I can do. He explained to me that AP is not meant to teach students to become the next Van Gogh, but to teach students observe and see things around them the way an artist would. For example, I can see that my lawn is green, but how green is it? Is it all one shade of green? How many shades of green are there? Are there shadows? Where is the color the lightest?

 

The book tackles and teaches the student to focus on one element at a time. The presence of many examples from students and artists, and the use of famous works of art to point out art elements makes it easy to understand each lesson.

 

The best thing, IMHO, is that the lessons are laid out clearly and are very easy to follow. It is written to the student, though I do find I need to go over it with my 9 yo dd. As for materials, I have an older dd who is an artist so we pretty much have everything we need already. Just keep in mind that quality art materials does involve a fair amount of investment.

 

I definitely would continue using this program for my children.

 

HTH! Happy New Year!

[Kyr]

I like that it is open and go and I don't have to be able to demonstrate the tecniques. Most lessons include a piece of art that the student looks at to see the tecnique being discussed. Not enough that I would consider it art appreciation, but definitely good exposure.

 

My children do not like that some of the lessons can feel repetitive. IME, repetition is part of developing any skill and somewhat inevitable.

 

We've mixed it up with more crafty stuff over the years just for variety.

 

Overall we have been very happy with the program and plan to continue.

 

They do occasionally do buy 2 get one sales and I've been fortunate in finding several books used.

[cmarango]

I love how they introduce so many different types of media and it is very easy to teach. However, the drawing instruction is lacking. In the K-3 books it isn't there and I bought book 1 of grades 4-6 since they introduce the topics in that book, but I was not impressed. I am a terrible artist myself and there just isn't enough instruction for this science/math mama. I still really enjoy the program, but supplement heavily.

 

If you are just looking for your child to "do art", then this program is great. If you want your child to be able to draw well and you cannot teach that yourself, then you may want to look elsewhere.

[Kyr]

You know, I think that is what gets repetitive to my children. I don't really have the skills to teach them so they end up doing many similar projects witht the same materials. More instruction would probably help differentiate the lessons more.

[tomandlorih]

This is our second year with it.. K-3 books 1 and 2. It's okay.. It gets done and that is important to me. I have no real expectations for art and I it's enough for us. I plan to continue with book 3.

[Ruthie in MS]

My dd8 loves Artistic Pursuits. We've only used K-3 Book 1 and have only made it to Lesson 14. They are through and easy for me to teach but my problem is.... we never seem to get it done. I guess my problem was that I treated it more like an "extra". We loved it and have ditched it for FIAR with art lessons already built in. I would have continued through the book --and possibly series --if I would've made myself do it.

[Lori D.]

The only complaint I would have is that (at the K-3 level) there is definitely an emphasis on creativity versus drawing instruction.

 

 

This was my problem with the gr. 4-6 program as well (tried it -- and dropped it -- when DSs were grades 5 and 6). There was virtually NO drawing instruction in the hands-on portion. We were really looking for a very specific, in-depth "how to" program. Plus, the art appreciation portion seemed very "lite" to us. The combination made the program seem very expensive for not very much instruction or appreciation, PLUS having to buy supplies in addition to the program... Perhaps we would have done better to go with the middle school program??

 

At that point, we switched to eclectic materials. For drawing, DSs both enjoyed and learned a lot from Mark Kistler's Draw Squad (gr. 1+). For very young children, check out the Big Yellow Drawing Book (O'Neill), by the artist who inspired Kistler's method -- it teaches the basics of line, shape, shading, etc., in a way very young children grasp.

 

For working with a great variety of art media and getting some great, basic art information on color, patterns & design, line & shape, and texture, plus a lot of GREAT specific projects that you really can do, we really liked How to Teach Art to Children (gr. 1-6) (Evans). Uses much more affordable art supplies.

 

For art appreciation, we really enjoyed the combination of Looking at Pictures (gr. 3-8) (Richardson), and the Usborne Internet-Linked Introduction to Art (gr. 6+) -- for younger children the Come Look with Me series (gr. K-3) (Blizzard), or the Looking at Paintings series (gr. 2-6) (Roalf).

 

 

BEST of luck, whatever you decide to go with! Warmest regards, Lori D.