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The Lord Of The Rings: A Homeschool Study To Rule Them All

Now your kids can create The Lord of the Rings art with chalk pastels! Let Nana take you step-by-step with her video art lessons. All you’ll need is a starter set of chalk pastels and a pack of construction paper. Add in the books, movies, and some snacks, and you’ll have a homeschool art study to rule them all.

The Lord Of The Rings: A Homeschool Study To Rule Them All

“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”

The Lord of the Rings
The Lord Of The Rings: A Homeschool Study To Rule Them All

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy


Our family has had a love affair with The Lord of the Rings for many years. Ever since my son was five years old and bored on a very long car trip, that’s when I snagged the audiobook versions. Years later, he read the printed trilogy himself. We have loved to find any reason to watch the movies or start the audiobooks anew ever since.

See that paper garland hanging on our fireplace? That is the entire The Lord of the Rings trilogy!

We also have this incredibly annoying habit of quoting the movies out loud.

It drives my husband crazy!

How about that time with a blanket on shoulders and broom in hand, I declared in a booming voice, “You shall not pass,” for all to hear.

True story.

We even did a Hobbit chalk pastel teatime earlier in the year! It was such fun!

The Lord Of The Rings: A Homeschool Study To Rule Them All


Bring The Lord Of The Rings To Life In Your Homeschool

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

The Lord of the Rings

When I asked my son if he was interested in Nana’s The Lord of the Rings literature art lessons, his eyes got as big as saucers as he said YES!

We got out our copy of the series and queued up The Fellowship of the Ring movie. We talked about our favorite parts and how the films differed from the books.

Like why was Tom Bombadil left out of the movies?

Usually, I’d create a chalk pastel teatime with themed treats, but my son was eager to start, so I served a simple tea with buttered toast. But we pretended it was “Lembas bread.” 

The Lord Of The Rings: A Homeschool Study To Rule Them All


An Adventure through Middle Earth


Nana led us on many adventures:

  • A Visit to the Shire
  • Going on an Adventure through the snowy mountains
  • across the map of Middle Earth
  • an up-close look at The One Ring

My son seemed to be in his dream world of fantasy, and at times he would snap out of it and say, “This is the best teatime ever!” Then, he’d eat another piece of buttered toast and drain another cup of tea. Somehow this simple tea was the perfect second breakfast for my young hobbit.

I think that is part of what I love about our You ARE An Artist Complete Clubhouse membership. I can easily find the lessons that resonate with my children. The lessons that speak to their interests and passions are always the most intriguing, and my kiddos learn and retain so much more with this hands-on artistic component.

The Lord Of The Rings: A Homeschool Study To Rule Them All

More Resources For Literature Study In Your Homeschool


With the You ARE An Artist Complete Clubhouse Membership, you’ll have access to 700+ art lessons, including exclusive access to You ARE An Artist Clubhouse Literature Video Art Lessons such as:

It’s the power of adding art to homeschool literature lessons!

The Lord Of The Rings: A Homeschool Study To Rule Them All

Chalk Pastel Art Lessons

After all the buttered toast was eaten and all the tea was drunk, my son sat back in his chair and proclaimed he needed to start re-reading the trilogy right away. Instead of The One Ring, this hard-bound version of the trilogy is his treasured “Precious,” although his new The Lord of the Rings chalk pastel paintings are now a close second.

The Lord Of The Rings: A Homeschool Study To Rule Them All

Lord of The Rings Homeschool Resources

We love these resources to go with your Lord of the Rings Homeschool Study!

  • Lord of the Rings book
  • Lord of the Rings ‘Homebody’ mug by A Fine Quotation
  • ‘One Ring’ ring necklace
  • Lord of the Rings bookmark by A Fine Quotation
  • Speak Friend and Enter sign

Erin is a writer, blogger, and homeschooler to two intense kids. Her blog is filled with information to help you explore a child led education while making meaningful connections with your children. Discover favorite read alouds, seasonal books, games, art projects, hands-on activities, and learn to just breathe through the ups and downs of life. She loves nature, farm life, good books, knitting, new pens, and hot coffee. Erin is a contributing writer for Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Her work has also been featured on Simple Homeschool and Book Shark.

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Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

Don’t let family movie night become boring! Bring some excitement back with these chalk pastel art lessons. All you’ll need is a pack of construction paper and a set of chalk pastels. So grab your favorite movie snacks or make some of your own and join Nana for some of your family’s favorite movies.

Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons: Don't let family movie night become boring! Bring some excitement back with these chalk pastel art lessons. All you'll need is a pack of construction paper and a set of chalk pastels. So grab your favorite movie snacks or make some of your own and join Nana for some of your family's favorite movies. #familymovienight #chalkpastelartlessons #familymovienightartlessons #familymovieartlessons #favoritemovieshomeschoolartlessons #chalkpastelmovieartlesson #chalkpastelsatthemovies #artatthemovies

My daughter loves to bake. Our whole family loves movies and art. So, when I saw that Nana had a movie night popcorn chalk pastel lesson, I had an idea. You know, I’m trying to find ways to incorporate more delight into our homeschool.

There can never be too much delight.

I asked my daughter if she’d be interested in a popcorn-themed recipe to go with Nana’s movie night popcorn lesson. I think she may have squealed with delight. She said there were some cupcake recipes on Pinterest that she’d love to try. Once she settled on the recipe, she informed me that we couldn’t just do a movie popcorn lesson without an actual movie!

Of course, where’s the fun in that?

It’s a good thing Nana has a list of family movie night art lessons and tutorials.

Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

Family Movie Art Lessons for Your Homeschool

I let my daughter browse Nana’s list of favorite movies homeschool art lessons. I honestly thought she would choose the Tangled or Frozen chalk pastel lessons, but she surprised me. When she saw Nana’s version of Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, she laughed and said that was the one!

Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

We plugged in the first movie and got to work on our cupcakes! They are simple vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. What made them extra fun were the mini marshmallows with 3-4 slight cuts in each one to make them look like popcorn! Then my daughter painted them with a bit of yellow food coloring and water.

Ta-da! Buttered popcorn!

The finishing touch was the outside liners that we cut out of white construction paper, and then my daughter colored with red stripes to look like a bag of movie popcorn!

Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

By the time we started the second movie, we had the table set for our chalk pastel movie art lesson. There are three How to Train Your Dragon movies and each one is wonderful.

We created our chalk pastel bag of movie night popcorn and then the night fury of our choice. Although, my daughter chose to create the light fury. Why, because she IS the ARTIST!

Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

By the end of the third movie, I had a lump in my throat and the kids were all smiles. All of these movies know how to get us, parents, right in the feels, if you know what I mean. This is truly a wonderful movie trilogy, although COMPLETELY different from the books. We still highly recommend both.

Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons
Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

Chalk Pastels at the Movies in You ARE an ARTiST Clubhouse Membership

The You ARE an ARTiST Clubhouse membership has an incredible assortment of art tutorials and lessons for art at the movies that go far beyond How to Train Your Dragon! We’ve enjoyed several movie-themed chalk pastel lessons, including:

Here is a sampling of the Chalk Pastels at The Movies lessons currently available, with more added all the time! With your You ARE An Artist Complete Clubhouse Membership you’ll have access to over 800 video art lessons including Nana’s popcorn lesson and the continuing series of favorite movies. You will also have access to a full index of all of Nana’s Chalk Pastels at the Movies.

  • Angry Birds
  • Bruce of Finding Nemo
  • Cars Mater and Lightning McQueen
  • Cat in the Hat acrylic
  • Charlie Brown Christmas
  • Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
  • Despicable Me Minion
  • Dinosaur – Jurassic Park
  • Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat
  • Finding Dory
  • Frozen
Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons
  • Incredibles
  • Mary Poppins
  • Peter Pan
  • Seuss Truffula Trees
  • Tangled
  • Penguins of Madagascar
  • Star Trek
  • Super Hero Shield
Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons
Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

Family Movie Night Art Lessons

My goal is for the children to have fun, be creative, and learn through their interests. We’re building connections and memories with our art days. Incorporating family movie night and art is just one more way to combine all the things we love into an exciting movie and art-filled day!

Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons
Favorite Movies Homeschool Art Lessons

Erin is a writer, blogger, and homeschooler to two intense kids. Her blog is filled with information to help you explore a child led education while making meaningful connections with your children. Discover favorite read alouds, seasonal books, games, art projects, hands-on activities, and learn to just breathe through the ups and downs of life. She loves nature, farm life, good books, knitting, new pens, and hot coffee. Erin is a contributing writer for Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Her work has also been featured on Simple Homeschool and Book Shark.

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Art Lessons For The Eclectic Homeschool Family

Eclectic Homeschool

We were homeschoolers for years before we became an eclectic homeschool family. And honestly, before we became eclectic homeschoolers, we missed out on so much in our homeschool. Now that I look back on it, it felt like we played Simon Says with our curriculum most days. We didn’t do anything unless Simon, ahem, I mean our curriculum teacher’s guide, said we could. Thank goodness that didn’t last! Shifting to an eclectic homeschool has been one of the best choices we ever made.

An eclectic homeschool is perfect for incorporating art! You can easily add art into practically any lesson, and your kids will thank you. #homeschoolart #eclectichomeschooling #homeschoolartlessons

What Is Eclectic Homeschooling?

Eclectic homeschooling is one of the best possible methods for homeschooling. I firmly believe that. I have been coaching other homeschool families for almost a decade now, and eclectic homeschooling works for almost everyone. Because home education isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, eclectic homeschooling is adaptable and can be customized. 

There are no rules when it comes to eclectic homeschooling. You have the absolute freedom to mix and match homeschool methods, curriculum, resources, and routines. There is no right or wrong way to homeschool when you are an eclectic homeschooler. 

An eclectic homeschool is perfect for incorporating art! You can easily add art into practically any lesson, and your kids will thank you. #homeschoolart #eclectichomeschooling #homeschoolartlessons
  • Of all the homeschool styles and methods, eclectic is the one method that you can customize and tailor to your unique family. With eclectic homeschooling, you make it work for you. Not the other way around. With some popular homeschooling methods, you are expected to fit inside the box and follow the parameters of that educational style. But, eclectic homeschoolers can use whatever they love about any homeschool method without fully committing to them. As an eclectic homeschooler, you don’t have to choose one type of learning, teaching, or method. You can carefully curate all the things you like and leave out everything that you don’t! 
  • Eclectic homeschooling works for all learning styles. Since you can pick and choose various curriculum and resources, you can tailor an education to each individual child. For example, a couple of my children are visual and kinesthetic, so we often incorporate You ARE An Artist art lessons to work creatively with our hands and eyes. Chalk pastel art is also a great way to stimulate multiple learning styles at once. 
  • Eclectic homeschoolers are freedom seekers and rule-breakers. Like many of you, we aren’t followers and like to march to the beat of our own drum. Eclectic homeschooling allows for complete freedom to home educate your way! If you don’t like the idea of being held to a style, curriculum, or routine – you will love eclectic homeschooling. 

Why An Eclectic Approach To Homeschooling Works For Our Family

When we first began homeschooling, we were stuck on the hamster wheel of checking off all of the boxes. We had no time for the fun stuff, like art. My daughter and I were both miserable. We weren’t enjoying home education. Honestly, in the beginning, I didn’t even realize that home educating could be fun, enjoyable, and relaxed without sacrificing a quality education. At the time, I had no vision beyond what I remembered from public school. I was lucky enough to learn more about home educating and was eager to cultivate a positive environment at home where my children could flourish. 

Eclectic homeschooling works for my children because we can carefully choose how we approach each subject, curate the curriculum best suited for them, and customize when, where, and how. My children are individuals, each with unique interests, gifts, and learning styles. And I want to foster that to help my children grow into the individuals that God intended. 

With two out of my three kids being naturally artistic and craving hands-on activities, art helps to keep my kids consistently enjoying our homeschool. They associate creating and having a good time with Nana, and she’s a big deal around here. I remember our homeschool before You ARE An Artist, and it wasn’t nearly as happy and healthy as we are now.

Eclectic homeschooling encompasses flexibility and the ability to customize the homeschool that we need. That is something I genuinely appreciate now! 

Eclectic Homeschool

Art And Eclectic Homeschooling

Art is the perfect addition to eclectic homeschooling. Since eclectic homeschooling has no boundaries, you can add art to anything. And with so many lessons to choose from, You ARE An Artist has an art lesson on just about everything. Seriously! You are sure to find an art lesson to coincide with almost anything you might be studying at home.

I say this all the time, but adding fun, creativity, and excitement to your homeschool can make a world of difference in your home and for your children. Art helps them express their creative ability, incorporates hands-on learning, and helps them retain what they have learned. Not to mention, we don’t have to sit stiffly or still when we create. We can sit however we want (or wiggle) and enjoy art!

In addition to those wonderful benefits, by adding art, you can create an environment that shows your children learning can be a lifestyle! Isn’t that the goal, cultivating lifelong learners?

Eclectic Homeschool

Art Lessons For Our Eclectic Homeschool Family

You can easily add art to any homeschool lesson! Yes, really. I add art to Bible lessons, Holidays like Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, Poetry, Tea Time, Science, History, Literature, Music, and plenty of other learning opportunities. My children look forward to our time spent together doing art. Some of our best homeschool moments will be remembered around our kitchen table, creating art with Nana.  

You ARE An Artist offers art tutorials on unique topics like Hymns, Maps, Inventors, Famous Artists, Presidents, Solar System, The Games, 4 History Cycles, Sharks, Literature, Nature, and so much more. I know as eclectic homeschoolers, you will appreciate that!

We are enjoying Nana’s Simple Start to Chalk Pastels in the pictures you see here today. I decided on an apple for our back-to-homeschool art teatime. This one was no-fuss with muffins and tea. Usually, I enjoy planning out our tea times with all sorts of books and coordinating art lessons from Nana. We find our tea times with art relaxing and a great way to decompress when our homeschool feels like it could use a boost.

An eclectic homeschool is perfect for incorporating art! You can easily add art into practically any lesson, and your kids will thank you. #homeschoolart #eclectichomeschooling #homeschoolartlessons

Here is a shortlist of some of our favorite art lessons through the years with chalk pastels. Each post below has multiple art lessons, all tied to one central theme. I love learning this way because we can blend so many overlapping subjects. I hope this gives you some ideas for how you can use these art lessons in your own homeschool.

An eclectic homeschool is perfect for incorporating art! You can easily add art into practically any lesson, and your kids will thank you. #homeschoolart #eclectichomeschooling #homeschoolartlessons

I also want to share some of my favorite resources from You ARE An Artist that helps me blend subjects and age levels altogether at home:

I Drew It Then I Knew It Companion Workbooks: The I Drew It Then I Knew It Companion Workbooks are designed by an eclectic homeschool mom! Yes, me! It is with much gratitude and appreciation for You ARE An Artist that I can even say that. I was honored when presented with the opportunity to create companion resources for You ARE An Artist and become part of the team. Designing educational resources that are versatile and help families learn together for Nana is kind of my dream job, you know? I carefully create each workbook with cultivating a love of learning in mind. Our goal is that they are flexible for you to use; however they work best in your homeschool.

In each workbook, you will find a Book List with varying reading levels, 5 Fast Facts, an Overview, Biography, or Writing Prompts, Planners, and Ideas for How To Use our Curriculum. Everything you need for a quick lesson can be found inside. Or use all of the planners included to map out a more extensive study. I also love that the Companion Workbooks help me combine my oldest to youngest learners all in one place over a central topic. There is something special about family-style learning and all of us creating together.

Clubhouse Complete Membership: When I first found Nana, we were using individual art lessons. But, I soon realized that the way to go is the Clubhouse Complete Membership. With access to over 800 art tutorials and counting, you never run out of fun to add to your homeschool days, weeks, or year. 

Visual Art Credit: My oldest is in high school, and we also use You ARE An Artist for her Visual Arts Credit. Since we have to accumulate hours for her credit, I allow her to choose what lessons she wants. She can access the You ARE An Artist Calendar within our membership and select a lesson on her own; it’s excellent for promoting independent learning. 

Eclectic Homeschool

I hope that this gives you some ideas of how you can utilize a Complete Clubhouse Membership in your eclectic homeschool too! Your kids will thank you for it!

An Awesome Eclectic Homeschooling Bundle of Resources!

We’ve put together this beautiful bundle of eclectic education-inspired books and materials that would be perfect for an eclectic homeschool family! The bundle includes:

Courtney is a Jesus-pursuing, native Texan, homeschool mom of three, and she believes homeschooling can be a peaceful and productive rhythm. At Grace, Grow & Edify she helps families create peaceful homeschooling atmospheres through faith, organizational strategies, and cultivating strong roots at home. She is also the founder of Homeschool Mastery Academy.

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Art Lessons For The Classical Homeschool Family

If you’ve ever wondered what the term “classical education” means, you aren’t alone! Maybe the term conjures thoughts of classic literature like Shakespeare. Or studying classical philosophers from Greek and Roman times. 

Each would likely show up inside a classical education, but they aren’t what makes an education “classical.” 

Kids sitting on floor drawing with chalk pastels

What Is Classical Homeschooling?

Simply defined: A classical education uses materials and methods that fit a child’s developmental stage.

Classical education calls this “the trivium,” referencing the three basic stages of learning.These stages can coincide with ages, or can be cycled through any time we learn something new!

  • Concrete / Grammar – From preschool through about 5th grade, learners think mostly in concrete terms. They love to repeat information like songs, rhymes, or facts. 
  • Logic / Dialectic – Around age 10 through middle school, children begin to analyze, question and debate. This expansion of thought leads to understanding. 
  • Abstract / Rhetoric – During high school years, students deepen understanding and share their own reasonings and opinions on what they have learned.

At the core of a classical homeschool is the desire for students to delight in their observations, wonder and ask good questions, and share their knowledge. Classical homeschooling focuses on teaching children HOW to learn, not WHAT to learn.

Child drawing on the floor with chalk pastels

Why A Classical Approach To Homeschooling Works For Our Family

It took me awhile to understand the concepts behind a classical education. For a long time, I thought it was just about mastering facts. As my children grew, I saw there was more to this method than fact acquisition. 

What I love now about classical homeschooling is how my children grow in their learning in ways that feel quite natural. Eventually, they’ll be able to teach themselves anything they want to learn.

Until then, I love providing hands-on learning experiences that help us wonder and delight in the process of learning. We really do learn together in our home, which makes our homeschool adventure exciting for everyone. 

Chalk Pastels and drawings of pyramids and King Tut

Art And Classical Homeschooling

I was dubious about my ability to teach art to my children because I never considered myself an artist. The classical method (and Nana!) helped me overcome these doubts. 

If you know HOW to learn, you can learn anything! Even if you’re new to art, you can learn right alongside your children. 

Here’s what learning art in classical education might look like: 

  • In the Grammar stage, children learn the basic elements of art like color, line, and shape. They’ll appreciate famous artists and their artwork.
  • In the Logic stage, children experiment with and practice their skills, and discuss famous artwork. 
  • In the Rhetoric stage, students create expressive art pieces and share developed opinions about art topics. 

These stages aren’t always age-dependent. A young student may have an opinion about art and older students may playfully dabble with paints. We all learn throughout life and move back and forth between stages as needed. 

“Adjustments are not failures.”

I saw this quote in an art studio recently. We are always adjusting our children’s art education to fit their age and/or stage.

Finger blending chalk pastel drawing of King Tut

Art Lessons For Our Classical Homeschool Family

Because art was one subject area I felt nervous about, I knew I had to find a good resource to support my own learning alongside my boys. 

Chalk pastel lessons with Nana has become a favorite resource! The easy to follow lessons and simple materials are perfect for my young artists. Lesson by lesson, my kids were learning to name art techniques like scumbling, dimension, perspective, and more.

I often try out a lesson myself either before or with the boys, and pay attention to details Nana shares to talk about with the boys later on. 

Once I discovered Nana’s You ARE an Artist lessons, I was drawn in by how well her lessons integrated with … well, everything!

When we bring history into art lessons, or make connections between famous people and art, we do more than save time in our homeschool. We teach our children how interconnected our world really is! In classical education, subject integration deepens our understanding all around. 

I especially love chalk pastel lessons that focus on history, science, and literature, because Nana always includes tidbits of information about the topic, invites kids to wonder about what happened, or asks questions to stir their imagination. 

When we first started using ChalkPastel.com lessons, my youngest son sat for an afternoon doing lesson after lesson from the Old Testament Bible series. By the time he finished the series he knew so much—and he had created visual memory clues in his chalk pastel paintings to help him recall the stories for weeks! 

I guess that’s why Nana has so many series of lessons called “I Drew It, Then I Knew It.” It’s aptly named because that is exactly what happens. 

Having a classical homeschool does not mean we sit around droning facts. Instead, we take a sensory approach to learning facts gently in our morning time. I use picture books (yes, even in upper grades!), poetry, songs, and art to introduce, review, and expand on what we are learning.

Books and chalk pastel drawings of Ancient Egypt

Ancient History Art Lessons

This year, we’ll learn about Ancient History. Chalk pastel art will play a big role! Here’s how we include chalk pastel lessons in our days: 

I’ve created an Ancient History Classical Morning Menu with a collection of ancient history- related poems, scripture, and picture study to share with the kids each morning. I also curated an ancient history booklist (which you can download free on my blog!). 

After our Morning Time read-aloud and Menu study, we’ll use the Chalk Pastel I Drew It Then I Knew It Ancient History lessons as a transition into daily work. Lessons on emperors and kings, philosophers and wars, and historic monuments will fit perfectly with our Ancient History studies.

Check out this timeline scroll we started for this year’s studies! 

My boys loved hearing about King Tut’s mask of “royal purple” and jewels and hearing about the scarab beetles of Egypt. We’ll be sure to look these facts up for more study later on. We’ll explore Ancient Egypt in chalk pastels and other resources to learn about the pyramids, pharaohs, and ancient lands.

Chalk Pastels on floor with kid hands drawing

We’ll study Ancient Greece lessons on the Ancient Games, philosophers, and more. Rome, China, and biblical events each have matching art lessons, too. 

Kids with Chalk Pastel Drawings of Summer Games

Because we integrate reading, history, art, and Bible lessons, I cover the same facts multiple times without the kids getting bored. It looks something like this:

  • Read: a book about Chinese philosophers (from my Ancient History book list)
  • Copywork: Chinese poetry (from my Morning Menu)
  • Recite: History sentence about Chinese philosophers (from our Classical Conversations memory work)
  • Observe and discuss: Chinese artwork (from my Morning Menu)
  • Create / Draw: a Chinese philosopher (with Nana from Chalk Pastel)

That’s five times they hear and engage with the same topic, using different modes of learning: reading, reciting, writing, observing, discussing, and drawing! 

In the end, the kids learn about Chinese philosophers, and they learn five ways to go about learning anything they want to know! That is the beauty of classical education with art in our homeschool!

Chalk Pastel Ancient History Drawing

Chalk Pastel’s Ancient History lessons also come with a handy companion workbook with the Clubhouse membership. This download contains lesson tracking worksheets, fast facts about art lesson topics, “Detective” questions for discussion, and suggested reading lists. These companion books help with transitions in and out of our art time. 

In each lesson, Nana makes room for different stages of learning. She shares fun facts, demonstrates basic art skills, guides artists to ask questions, and integrates art with other content areas.

Nana’s methods of teaching art appeal to a wide range of ages and stages. We are so excited to discover Ancient History with ChalkPastel.com art lessons this year!

A Wonderful Classical Education Bundle!

Homeschool Books and Materials

We’ve put together this beautiful bundle of classical education-inspired books and materials we think would be wonderful in a classical homeschool or any homeschool! The bundle includes: 

  • A set of beautiful Chalk Pastels for your kids to enjoy!
  • The Ancient History Classical Morning Menu – 9 months of printables for your morning time! (PDF file)
  • Augustus Caesar’s World – delightful stories from the ancient world
  • Classical Me, Classical Thee – will help you explain classical education to your own students
  • David Macauley’s Pyramid book – richly detailed illustrations share the stories of the pyramids
  • Teaching From Rest – helps you end the stress and worry in your homeschool
  • Classical Historian’s Ancient History Go Fish card game – learn facts about ancient times with a fresh-take on a well-known game

Julie is a teacher, writer and homeschool mom. Her blog Happy Strong Home shares encouragement for cherishing children, enjoying motherhood, and growing strong families. Discover homeschool resources, natural living tips, and family activity ideas. Julie has been featured on Million Praying Moms, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, and the Melissa and Doug blog. She offers writing workshops and a “homeschool neighborhood” community to support parents in their homeschool adventures. Find Julie on Instagram to be the first to know when new workshops and community events are available. 

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Medieval Times Homeschool Art with Chalk Pastels

Learn about Medieval times with Nana’s I Drew It Then I Knew It chalk pastel video art lessons! Medieval Times homeschool art is the perfect hands-on way to bring a bit of color and excitement to history.

Medieval Times Homeschool Art with Chalk Pastels: Learn about Medieval times with chalk pastel video art lessons! It's the perfect hands-on way to bring a bit of color and excitement to history. #medievalhistory #medievaltimes #medievaltimeshomeschool #medievaltimeshomeschoolart #medievalunitstudy #homeschoolart #chalkpastels #YouAREAnArtist

Medieval Themed Art Lessons with Chalk Pastels

Do your kiddos love dragons, and knights, and princesses? Or maybe you are studying the Medieval world this year with your history curriculum. The Middle ages were an interesting time. The Roman Empire had fallen, and smaller kingdoms were vying for control. There were Barbarian raiders, wars on faith, and the Black Death to contend with, but there were some pretty exciting inventions too! The printing press, flying buttresses in gothic architecture, eyeglasses, and knights in shining armor, to name a few!

Nana at Chalk Pastels has got you covered with oodles of Medieval times homeschool art lessons! We’ve done a few Medieval chalk pastels in the past, but she keeps adding more! All you need is a pack of construction paper, a starter set of chalk pastels, and the You Are An Artist Complete Clubhouse Membership to enjoy all that Nana has to offer!

Medieval Times Homeschool Art with Chalk Pastels

Medieval Castle Art Lesson

We started our Medieval unit study by gathering all of our visual encyclopedias to the table. My kiddos wanted to learn about castles. Did you know the Normans built the first castles in England? We learned quite a bit about castles, mainly how they evolved from earth and wood to thick stone walls, tall towers, and even moats!

Did you know that the largest castle in the world today by surface area is built of brick? It’s the Malbork castle in Poland and was created by the Teutonic Knights. I love learning interesting tidbits like this along with my kids!

Medieval Times Homeschool Art with Chalk Pastels

Medieval Dragon Homeschool Art Lesson

“There be DRAGONS in our chalk pastels!”

That’s what I declared loudly for the children. They LOVE dragons. We have ever so many books about dragons. So, it was a delightful surprise to see a dragon in our homeschool art lessons. Of course, in the Middle Ages, dragons were something to be feared, not celebrated.

Medieval Times Homeschool Art with Chalk Pastels

FYI: Nana has another art course for Mythical Creatures where she has a baby dragon hatching from its egg! Just in case you have dragon enthusiasts too.

We enjoyed the Court Dress, Catapult, Stained Glass, and Robin Hood art lessons. I may have given a sword to the fair lady of the court after my daughter complained that she had no weapon. Afterward, the kids said maybe she was Maid Marian of Robin Hood’s story, and she was robbing one of the wealthy nobles of the court, ha! Maybe it was Robin Hood himself in one of his many disguises!

My daughter created her stained glass window to look like a rose which I thought was pretty creative. Then we talked about the rose window in the Chartres Cathedral in France and their techniques to create the stained glass windows of the Middle ages. If you haven’t heard of the rose window before, be sure to look it up. It is beautiful!

Catapult Art Lesson for Homeschool

We would randomly yell, “CAT-A-PULT!” as if we were commanding an army of soldiers about to attack a castle keep while drawing our catapults. Then, we’d laugh at our silliness. Seriously folks, who yells, “CAT-A-PULT!” at the kitchen table while doing art? My kiddos and I do!

FYI, there are four types of catapults:

  • trebuchet
  • mangonel
  • onager
  • ballista

You ARE AN Artist Complete Clubhouse Membership for Your Homeschool

There are so many fun history art lessons to explore. With the You ARE AN Artist Complete Clubhouse Membership, you’ll have access to 700+ video art lessons, including these Medieval Times Homeschool lessons plus Knights and Crusaders lessons:

  • Dragon
  • Stained glass
  • Cathedral
  • Viking ship
  • Viking helmet
  • Castle
  • Catapult
  • Lute
  • Jester
  • Crown
  • Court dress
  • Illuminated letter
  • Medieval garden
  • Crusade banner
  • Robin Hood
  • Knight
  • Banquet table
  • Shield
  • Falconer-Hawk
  • Excalibur in the stone
  • Festival tent
  • War of roses
  • Joan of Arc

With the Complete Clubhouse Membership, you’ll also get the Companion I Drew It Then I Knew It Workbooks. These workbooks are perfect for adding layers of extra learning to your homeschool art studies.

Medieval Times Homeschool Art with Chalk Pastels

Medieval Times Homeschool Art with Chalk Pastels

Expand your history studies and make them come alive with Nana’s chalk pastel homeschool art lessons! Art is the perfect way to encourage hands-on learning and exploration through time. Engage your children with color, lines, and form as they recreate these periods of the past. Medieval history is just one of the four eras you can study with chalk pastels! Nana also has courses for:

We had lots of fun with these Middle Ages history art lessons. Letting the kids be silly or adding their unique twist to a drawing is where the magic happens. Remember, they are learning even when yelling “CAT-A-PULT” at the kitchen table.

Medieval Times Homeschool Art with Chalk Pastels

Erin is a writer, blogger, and homeschooler to two intense kids. Her blog is filled with information to help you explore a child led education while making meaningful connections with your children. Discover favorite read alouds, seasonal books, games, art projects, hands-on activities, and learn to just breathe through the ups and downs of life. She loves nature, farm life, good books, knitting, new pens, and hot coffee. Erin is a contributing writer for Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Her work has also been featured on Simple Homeschool and Book Shark.

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Make Homeschool Lessons More Fun When You Add Art

Homeschool Lessons

If you are new to homeschooling, you may think incorporating art into your homeschool lessons seems impossible. But today, I want to show you how simple it is to include art into just about any topic you are learning or teaching.

First, you may be wondering why we should try to blend art into a homeschool lesson. Why would you want to do that? So many reasons, but here are a few.

 

Reasons Why You Need To Blend Art Into Your Homeschool Lessons 

Make it fun! Who says home educating has to be boring? Your kids will love learning at home even more when they realize it can be hands-on and exciting!

Memory Retention. Do you know that your kids are more likely to remember what they learned when adding the element of doing? Yep. Kids remember more by doing rather than watching or hearing alone.

Stress relief. So many moms burn themselves out by trying to check off all the boxes each day. Enjoy some relaxed learning time WITH your kids. It is such a fantastic way to decompress and have a good time with your children. They need to see you enjoying life too.

Now that you have a few solid reasons why we should incorporate art into our learning activities. Next, let me show you an example of how easy it is.

Creating a Unit Study is as Easy as Pie with You Are An Artist

You can easily pull together a few resources to create a family-friendly unit study using the resources you will find within a membership from ChalkPastel.com.

With your membership to ChalkPastel.com, you can utilize the Elective Tracks and Unit Studies Resource. It is a phenomenal tool for pairing up art tutorials with homeschool lessons and topics you may be learning in your homeschool.

With the Elective Tracks and Unit Studies Resource, you will find art lessons that include everything from preschool, nature, space, presidents, maps, history, geography, garden, landmarks, the Bible, and more! Literally, hundreds of art lessons to choose from and all sorts of topics.

Once you choose which topic you are studying and would like to expand on, you can plan an entire lesson or unit study around it.

The example I will use for you today is Johnny Appleseed. I have a wide range of ages in my homeschool, and we could all learn about him at once. It’s a great fit with Johnny Appleseed’s birthday approaching on September 26th.

 

Another excellent feature from the ChalkPastel.com Membership is the calendar. It’s perfect for keeping up with important holidays and fun national days to celebrate in your homeschool, like Johnny Appleseed Day!

Most of us don’t remember or even know about days such as National Honeybee Awareness Day, Shark Week, or E.B. White’s Birthday. These are such awesome opportunities to use in your homeschool for family connection and home education. The ChalkPastel.com calendar has an art prompt for each day to assist you with creative learning ideas!

I searched the Elective Track and Unit Study Resource in the membership portal and found Johnny Appleseed. That way, I can easily pull all of my resources together beforehand.

There is even a nifty Homeschool Curriculum Match Up Checklist for History & Science lessons. They make it so easy for you to plan your homeschool lessons with art! 

 

There were art lessons that fit my older student and some easier lessons for my younger two. I even found Nana’s Apple Pie Recipe! There was a book recommendation for How To Make an Apple Pie and See the World. So I decided to make an entire day of apple pie making, creating art, and learning about Johnny Appleseed.

All of the resources were in one convenient place, so I planned this out and made my supply/grocery list in seconds. I also reserved the books I needed from the library quickly. Easy as pie!

 

As homeschool parents, we can get wrapped up in textbooks and checking off the boxes too often. But, creativity, curiosity, and excitement are also essential to a healthy homeschool.

I highly encourage you to add art to your homeschool toolbox. You can create special memories in your homeschool while you educate your children. Homeschooling can be creative, enjoyable, and fun with the right resources.

Grab your membership here and start planning today! Membership includes the replay of An Appleseed Adventure event with Nana mapping John Chapman’s travels!

Courtney is a Jesus-pursuing, native Texan, homeschool mom of three, and she believes homeschooling can be a peaceful and productive rhythm. At Grace, Grow & Edify she helps families create peaceful homeschooling atmospheres through faith, organizational strategies, and cultivating strong roots at home.