heartofdakota.com

Hi everyone! Let me start this post by stating that we have done Little Hands all the way thru Bigger without skipping anything!

This year, we are doing Preparing with my dd (age 9) and Beyond with my ds (age 7). I have signed both of them up for an art class starting in September. It is a homeschool group class taught by a Christian artist. I am very art challenged , and have a hard time teaching this. My daughter LOVES art and has already surpassed me easily in this area. My son... more like his mom, I'm afraid.

Anyway, I am thinking about skipping the art/history projects in Preparing (maybe even in Beyond), since we will have art covered in another way. I'm not thinking about skipping all of them, but mainly the projects that would be similar to what they would learn in the art class (like... unit 2 warm vs cool colors, working with clay/sculptures, etc.). I would definitely keep doing the mapping projects, food projects, things like that.

Just wondering if any of you are doing/have done this type of thing? Not sure if I will skip or not, just wanted some pros and cons to help make my decision.

On another note, we are also in the process of adopting a baby, and I know that this would also be a time saver during our day after the baby comes. Thanks so much for any advice you can give!

Christy

You could skip them for convenience, but the projects are about so much more than art They really tie in to the history being studied, and are really a way to further cement/reinforce learning in that subject area. You do have much to ponder under the circumstances, sorry if I'm not much help

blessedmomof4 wrote:You could skip them for convenience, but the projects are about so much more than art They really tie in to the history being studied, and are really a way to further cement/reinforce learning in that subject area...

I agree! My ds who is the most art challenged really benefited from doing the projects. He has improved so much! I will also say that from a skill progression standpoint, I found the projects to be a needed tool to teach him to follow directions carefully from start to finish, more independently. The projects are GREAT for teaching this! If you misread something in a project, it fizzles, big time. Natural consequence for not working carefully with attention to detail. On the other hand, if you misread some sequence of directions (or omit some) in something like LA, it doesn't have such obvious repercussions. I felt CTC's projects were definitely a step up in difficulty, and PHFHG's projects were a great stepping stone between BHFHG and CTC for this skill. They are relatively short, and add a needed hands-on component to each day within the plans. The art class sounds fun! But it will only be 1 day each week. The history project will be the hands-on component the other days, along with the science, and for boys - I think maintaining that balance is especially important. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

DON'T SKIP THE ART!!! It TOTALLY solidifies the history for the kiddos.