Finding homeschool art programs for middle and high school learning can be difficult.
It certainly was for me and my family.
The options seemed either too formal, or too babyish, for my older learners. But both of my boys have an interest in art and learn best with hands-on, multi-sensory activities. So I continued to search for a solution.
Thankfully, I found You ARE An Artist.
I wanted options for learning beyond a basic art class. More than that, my youngest son clearly learns best when art is a part of other academic subjects. I was pleased (and a little relieved) to see how many opportunities for older learners are included in the Clubhouse Membership.
You ARE An Artist Courses For Middle and High School Homeschool
This is a small sample of the lessons we’ve done so far that have worked well for both my middle school and high school homeschoolers.
History and Geography For Older Homeschoolers
- American History
- American Landmarks
- Ancient History
- Famous Composers
- World Maps
- World Landmarks
Science For Middle and High School Homeschoolers
- Inventors
- Moon Missions
- Solar Eclipse
- Solar System
- Space Exploration
Literature and Language Arts For Middle and High School Homeschoolers
- Harry Potter
- Stopping by the Woods – Robert Frost
- The Hobbit
- Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
- Lamp Post – Narnia C. S. Lewis
- Hundred Acre Wood – A.A. Milne
Art Classes For Older Learners
- A Simple Start In Acrylics
- A Simple Start In Chalk Pastels
- Art Techniques
- Famous Artists
- Art Master Classes
How We Incorporate You ARE An Artist Lessons Into Our Middle and High School Learning
There are a couple of ways we have used You ARE An Artist to fuel our upper level learning.
The first is the most obvious, as we use You ARE An Artist for visual art credits in our homeschool. The second has been even more of a support in our homeschool. With these lessons, I have been able to incorporate art into our other areas of study to create a more robust and engaging learning experience.
You ARE An Artist For Homeschool High School Transcripts and Credit Hours
Because art is an elective that both of my boys would choose to take if they attended the school down the street, You ARE An Artist meets all the requirements for this type of credit.
I found this post from Courtney to be really helpful in figuring out what to “count” and how to reflect the learning on my son’s homeschool high school transcript. It outlines exactly how to accurately reflect art credit for high school using You ARE An Artist.
Incorporating Art Into Other Subjects For Middle And High School Learners
When my children were younger, it was a lot easier to find opportunities to weave art into our overall learning. As my boys have grown into middle and high school coursework, this became much more challenging, although no less important!
You ARE An Artist has made it not only possible, but easy for me to plan engaging, age appropriate activities for my older learners.
For example, my son has an intense interest in the Harry Potter series. Although he has read them before, we decided to incorporate them in to our literature study this year, with a focus on character analysis.
At first glance, it might seem that this would have no real tie to any art, much less specific lessons with You ARE An Artist. But after searching the membership, it became clear that we had more than a few options available.
When my son and I discussed the sorting hat and its role as a lesser identified “character,” he completed a lesson with Nana, drawing the sorting hat and then practicing his handwriting (much needed!) with his favorite sorting hat quote.
When the trip from Kings Cross to Hogwarts came up, my son created his own map of Great Britain with Nana as his guide.
- He drew the map locations himself.
- Next, he asked me to create the labels for his map (again, handwriting is a concern and he was so proud of his work, he didn’t want to “ruin” it.)
- Finally, he was able to identify the locations on the map from memory, and point to them for me to label.
This is just a glimpse of why this approach to learning is so effective for children of all ages, even middle and highschoolers!
Time and time again, I am amazed at the benefit of adding art into our other academic subjects. You can see in this example, he not only comprehended the material, he retained it.
It’s what learning with You ARE An Artist is all about!
Shawna Wingert is a special education teacher turned writer, speaker and consultant. She is also a homeschooling mom of two brilliant boys with differences and special needs. Shawna has written four books for parents – Everyday Autism, Special Education at Home, Parenting Chaos and her latest, Homeschooling Your Child With Special Needs. She helps parents of children with learning differences, behavioral challenges and special needs every day at DifferentByDesignLearning.com.