I, personally, enjoy art much like my daughter. Even my boys have been enjoying it more. It’s surely not because I come up with a bunch of great ideas, though! Last summer we had the opportunity to share our review of online art lessons from ArtAchieve. We really enjoyed it and were looking forward to moving on to the Entire Level II for this review! It offers a variety of great art lesson ideas from around the world!
ArtAchieve makes teaching art easy by offering online art lessons with detailed instructions available in both a Power Point and video format. Currently there are five levels available that are suitable for a variety of ages (including adults). It requires no background in teaching art so anyone can both take the lessons or “teach” them! What makes ArtAchieve even more unique, though, is that it goes beyond just teaching art to actually teaching culture as well. Plus, it breaks down resources to include Writing, Science, Exercise, Literature and more! One art lesson can break down into a whole day of learning through these various suggestions!
ArtAchieve lessons are accessed online through an internet based account. Once logged in to the account, you can access all of the lessons you have purchased. Lessons can be purchased individually or as a package. Each lesson has a drop down that shows the components which includes the video lesson, Power Point, a Warm-Up and a Printout. Plus, when you click on the individual lessons it brings up a page that features the Description, List of Supplies, Suggestions for Cross-Curricular Connections, and the Approximate Time for the lessons.
Online Art Lessons – ArtAchieve Level II
My daughter (age 9) has been using ArtAchieve Level II online art lessons which we access easily through a laptop running Windows 10 and using the Google Chrome browser. I’ve even done a couple myself! Because the lessons don’t build upon each other, there is really no specific order that must be followed. So she has just been choosing the lessons that interest her most. She started with a cat, which was no surprise! Really there is no “wrong” place to start. I find the Lesson Description helps because you can see what medium is used (and therefore what supplies are needed). Plus you can see how long it is estimated to take and go from there! I find for us, personally, these are the main points we used to determine which lessons to do on particular days.
Because we had shared an ArtAchieve review in the past, I used the methods we found best for us last time. What I discovered was we weren’t really choosing between either the video lesson and Power Point. We use both for each lesson. For each lesson I play the video, and she follow along as instructed. We pause when necessary and refer to the Power Point during those times when she needs a still shot of the project. This works well for her!
The Power Point is mostly just the steps needed for the project. I definitely wouldn’t use it by itself, but it’s definitely great to use along with the video. Within the video is not only the steps for the project, but the cultural references and information are woven throughout the video. He talks about it as well as even showing things like flags and maps.
Warming Up
Although the lesson times vary per project, I have found they are pretty similar in length. The Warm-Up is usually fairly short. She completes a quick activity to help prepare her for the lesson. Plus I love that it also recommends way to relax to help prepare. This has just helped in general as she does sometimes have a hard time focusing. Plus these are skills she can use to prepare for any subject!
Lessons
The video lessons themselves are generally between 20-30 minutes. She does pause as needed to complete steps. So overall, the lessons for her take a total of around 45 minutes up to an hour at the most. That may seem like a lot for one art lesson, but it’s not *just* an art lesson. With all the other elements woven throughout she’s learning so much more! Generally, she does complete 1-2 lessons per week.
ArtAchieve Review
Overall, I think ArtAchieve is a fantastic online art program. No art experience is necessary to use it. It can be accessed from wherever you are with internet access. The art and corresponding mini lessons within the art lessons are presented in a way that is easy to follow. Plus it’s fun and unique! It’s definitely a great fit for our homeschool.
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Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed the the various levels of ArtAchieve. See what they thought by clicking on the banner below!
