Welcome to Our Homeschool Art Appreciation Curriculum: Everyday Easels

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Getting Started with Our Everyday Easels Homeschool Art Appreciation Course

The Everyday Easels homeschool art appreciation course presents art in the context of other subjects to help those students whose interest in art may only be piqued by understanding the story behind the art or by approaching the art from another direction entirely. There are 5-day and 10-day unit studies presented, and these can be further broken down to fit the homeschool student’s schedule. Each Everyday Easels unit begins with a brief study of the art itself. Then it approaches the art from different angles, including history, vocabulary, geography, writing, Bible, and science. This homeschool art appreciation course truly gives an overview of art in many different areas, including hands-on activities to inspire students to become involved in art and not simply be a spectator.

Overview

75+ printable unit studies, one- and two-week options, 5 days a week
Includes printable lessons and activities
Grades Kindergarten – 12th

Supplies Needed

Corresponding lessons on SchoolhouseTeachers.com; dictionary; basic art supplies (specific supplies listed on the last day of each unit’s lesson)

What to Do

Go to Class Lessons and download the lesson plan and selected unit’s lesson file. Start with the Day 1 assignment. Follow the instructions each day and check them off on the lesson plan when completed.

Course Outline for Our Everyday Easels Homeschool Art Appreciation Course

The Everyday Easels homeschool art appreciation course is a collection of more than 75 homeschool art studies, with 5-day and 10-day lesson options available.

Five-Day Unit Studies

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat
A Young Girl Reading, oil on canvas by Jean-Honore Fragonard
Acropolis, ancient Greece
American Barque “Jane Tudor,” Conway Bay, photograph by David Johnson
Ascension of Christ, oil on canvas by Benjamin West
Boys in a Dory, watercolor over graphite on paper by Winslow Homer
Breezing Up, oil on canvas by Winslow Homer
Byzantine Floor Mosaic
Calder’s Circus, made of various items by Alexander Calder
Children of the World by Greg Olsen
Children Playing on the Beach, oil on canvas by Mary Cassatt
Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, oil on canvas by Rembrandt
Daniel Boone Sitting at the Door of His Cabin on the Great Osage Lake, oil on canvas, by Thomas Cole
Dust Bowl photograph
First Footprints on the Moon, photograph by NASA
Hand with a Reflecting Sphere, lithograph by M.C. Escher
Last Supper, mural painted by Leonardo da Vinci
Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, photograph taken by Charles C. Ebbets
Milkmaid (aka The Kitchen Maid), oil on canvas by Johannes Vermeer
Mount Rushmore
Nation Makers, oil on canvas by Howard Pyle
Necklace with Pendant designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany
Noon Recess, wood engraving by Winslow Homer
Portrait of a Pig by James Wyeth
Red Mobile, wire sculpture by Alexander Calder
Rocket Ship by Norman Rockwell, lithograph on paper
St. Joseph the Carpenter, oil on canvas by Georges de La Tour
Stonehenge, near Salisbury, England
Stove, pottery by David II Pfau
Striding Lion Panels of Babylon
Terra Cotta Army in China
White cross-lined ware beaker with hippos (from Ancient Egypt)
Windmill at Wijk-bij-Duurstede oil on canvas, by Ruisdael
Young Mother Sewing, oil on canvas by Mary Cassatt

10-Day Unit Studies

99 Cent, a photograph by Andreas Gursky
After the Prom, an illustration by Norman Rockwell
A Path Among the Rocks, oil on wood by Théodore Rousseau
Apple Butter Making, oil on pressed wood by Grandma Moses
Basket Dance (The), bronze sculpture by Glenna Goodacre
Bayeux Tapestry, embroidery
Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript
Cape Cod Afternoon, by Edward Hopper
Central Park in Winter, hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives
Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian
Cottage Children (The Wood Gatherers), oil on canvas, by Thomas Gainsborough
Crucifixion (The), oil on canvas by Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
Esther before Ahasuerus, oil on canvas by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni
Everyday Easels: Passport Series (travel to 8 famous landmarks over 16 weeks)
Frank Lloyd Wright Room
Grazing Horse, Chinese calligraphy, ink on paper by Xu Beihong
Great Sphinx of Giza
Harvesters (The), by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder
I and the Village, oil on canvas by Marc Chagall
Irish Brigade Monument at Gettysburg National Park
Little Sister, pastel by Carol Theroux
Pavement School in Jaipur, India, a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Petra
Presentation of Christ in the Temple, tempera and gold on wood by Giovanni di Paolo
Spray of Leaves, paper cut-out by Henri Matisse
Statue of Liberty
Tetons and the Snake River, a photograph by Ansel Adams
Threshold pavement slab from Ninevah (Assyrian)
Thriller (The) by Hal Lasko
Titan’s Goblet (The), oil on canvas by Thomas Cole
Tree of Jesse, stained glass window from Swabia, Germany
Two Young Girls at the Piano, oil on canvas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Washington Crossing the Delaware, oil on canvas by Emmanuel Leutze
Waterfall, lithograph, by M.C. Escher
Xiao and Xiang Rivers, ink on silk by Dong Yuan
York
Boat on Lake Winnipeg, color woodcut on paper by Walter Joseph Phillips

Course Sample for Our Everyday Easels Homeschool Art Appreciation Course

You can view After the Prom here as well as further information on Norman Rockwell.

Art

Norman Perceval Rockwell was born in New York City on February 3, 1894. He knew he always wanted to be an artist and began learning the technical skills to become an illustrator when he was just 14 years old. As a teenager, he was hired as an illustrator for Boys’ Life. He worked for several publications, including Life, and painted his first The Saturday Evening Post cover when he was 22 years of age. He then spent the next 47 years producing covers for this magazine. In 1963, Rockwell began working for Look and produced illustrations that dealt with civil rights, poverty, and space exploration.

Rockwell painted 321 covers for The Saturday Evening Post. Most of his illustrations depicted an ideal American life, but he also tackled political issues and significant moments in history like Charles Lindbergh’s crossing of the Atlantic in 1927. He portrayed Santa Claus many times, as well as hobos, boys playing, physicians, children, painters, historical figures, musicians, young people in love, and many other scenes. A gallery of his illustrations spanning the decades can be found on The Saturday Evening Post website.

Rockwell is one of the world’s most famous illustrators. An illustrator draws or paints pictures for use in magazines and books. Sometimes these illustrations are used in advertising. He is no less an artist than, say, Van Gogh or Monet. The difference is that most of his work is used in widely circulated publications instead of hanging on a museum wall. This particular piece, After the Prom, was on the cover of the May 25, 1957, Post.

Can you find illustrations in any publications (magazines, books, newspapers) you may have around your house? Try to find drawings or paintings instead of photography or computer graphics. What are the subjects of each of these illustrations? If you are permitted, cut these illustrations out and create a collage. Cut around the subject matter and then glue each to a piece of construction paper and give the entire collage a title.

Another project is to think like Norman Rockwell. Imagine something in life that is ideal. Perhaps, it is a family tradition or vacation. Perhaps, it is riding your bike outside or swimming in a lake. It can be humorous or serious. Try drawing this with colored pencil.

To view a full sample of this class, click here.

More About Our Everyday Easels Homeschool Art Appreciation Course

The Everyday Easels homeschool art appreciation course is a collection of more than 75 homeschool art studies. There are two different formats of art unit studies: 5-day unit studies and 10-day unit studies. Below are descriptions of what is included in each type. Enjoy!

5-Day Everyday Easels Homeschool Art Appreciation Unit Studies

This feature leads a homeschool family in studying a different work of art each week. Day One introduces the work of art, provides a link to view it online, and begins the study. Days Two through Four provide different questions and activities approaching the featured work of art from many different angles—including history, vocabulary, geography, writing, and science. Each week concludes with hands-on activities broken into grade levels, providing homeschool students of all ages a fun way to experiment with what they have learned.

10-Day Everyday Easels Homeschool Art Appreciation Unit Studies

Every two weeks, the family begins a study of a new work of art. Day One contains a thorough look at the piece of art and the artist. Subsequent days explore Bible, history/geography, English, math, science, physical education/health, and home economics through a study of the painting. The art unit concludes with a notebooking page and a final day of hands-on activities for each family to try.

Day One’s content may be used for one day or broken up into sections to explore some art with each day’s material. Each family may choose the method that works best for them.

Transcript Information for Our Everyday Easels Homeschool Art Appreciation Course

A 0.5 high school credit for the Everyday Easels homeschool art appreciation course is based on a student investing an hour a day for 70 days, completing seven 10-day unit studies. Some of these studies are more intense than others, so please use judgment in determining when this requirement has been fulfilled.

*Please be informed of your state’s academic requirements.

Visit our High School Help page for resources and information about:

Finding out your state’s academic requirements.
How to create a transcript
Keeping a schedule
Career Exploration
And more!

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