ARTistic Pursuits High School Art Curriculum for Home School or Self Study

As a homeschool mom as well as an artist, I can't recommend the Artistic Pursuits books enough for learning or teaching art. As a homeschool mom, I loved the fact that my girls could read and do the assignments themselves with minimal help. As an artist, I liked that the author covered art history, as well as art design principles, color theory, and media techniques. It is a well rounded introduction to art for high school students.

I've been using the Artistic Pursuits high school books this past year as a basis for my teaching a homeschool co-operative class on art. I love the flexibility of being able to pick and choose assignments or use my own to supplement the subject I am teaching for the week. The curriculum is set up so that the first book concentrates strictly on drawing with pencil and charcoal. This book can be used for a full year of drawing. The second book introduces color theory and uses watercolor as the medium for teaching. The second book is also a full year of work for a student. But when teaching this year, I was able to customize the course so that I used both books for a full year of art in the co-operative class.

The Artistic Pursuits company has multi-level curriculum for all ages: preschool, early elementary, elementary, middle school as well as the high school level as reviewed here. Art supply list accompanies each book and supplies are easy to purchase at most craft stores or office supply stores.

The second book of the two book series teaches color theory using watercolor as the art medium for learning about color. Although this is a full year course by itself, I've used it in combination with the first book to make a condensed version that can be completed in one year.

Artisitc Pursuits has also recently come out with two books for 3D art, entitled "Sculpture Technique, Construct" and "Sculpture Technique, Model". These books are made to cover an entire year of sculpture art, but I am using a portion of these to supplement the 2D art books listed above as an introduction for my high school students.

I would be glad to answer any questions in regard to the ARTistic Pursuits curriculum. If you've used this curriculum and would like to add to this review, feel free to leave your comments below. Thanks.