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5 Ways To Make Your Homeschool Art Museum Field Trip Extraordinary

A homeschool art museum field trip has been on our list for years. This year, we have already been to one and have another planned for next semester. Here are 5 things I’ve learned about how to maximize the educational experience and family fun on your field trip to the museum.

Make Your Homeschool Art Museum Field Trip Extraordinary

A Homeschool Field Trip To The Art Museum

Prior to this school year, we had only made one visit to an art museum in our entire decade of homeschooling.  It was with our homeschool co-op and I did absolutely nothing to plan for it. We showed up and it was a fabulous experience for my son. He was in awe the entire day and declared it one of our best field trips ever.

I want to begin here because I think the most important part of any homeschool field trip, including one to the art museum, is simply committing to doing it. Whether or not you decide to include any of the extras I share in this post, just getting it on the calendar and going with your family to the museum is enough for a fabulous day.

Because my child enjoyed it so much the last time combined with his increasing interest and passion for art, I made a more comprehensive homeschool field trip to the art museum a must in our plans for this school year.

Make Your Homeschool Art Museum Field Trip Extraordinary

5 Ways To Make Your Homeschool Art Museum Field Trip Extraordinary

Here are five things that have worked well in making the most of our art museum field trips.

1. Art Study

The week prior to our planned trip to the museum, my son and I studied various works of art we knew we would see in person. We looked at books, replicas, and even studied some works on art online.

This made the learning that much more robust throughout the week, and when we finally saw the art person, my son already had some ideas about he wanted to investigate further.

The best part for me was hearing him exclaim, “Oh! I’ve been waiting to see this one. It’s my favorite!”

Giving him this foundation allowed him to explore the museum with so much more awareness and understanding.

art museum field trip

2. Videos

When we visited the Van Gogh Immersive Experience earlier this year, we watched a few videos ahead of time on YouTube about the life of Van Gogh.

Knowing more about the artist allowed for deeper conversations between my son and I about the mood and tone of his art. Plus, my son appreciated the fact that this creative genius also overcame some significant struggles in his lifetime.

This discussion made the art that much more real and accessible for both of us.

(Learn More About The Van Gogh Experience For Homeschoolers.)

3. Create Your Own Masterpiece

One of the easiest and most fun ways to extend learning beyond the day of the field trip is allow your child to create their own version of the art.

Learning about the artist and the art itself in You ARE An Artist lessons, combined with the process of creating our own masterpieces, made the art feel that much more personal and relevant. This immersive, multisensory approach to learning helped my son feel more connected to the information – and we had so much fun!

art and special needs homeschooling

While we created Van Gogh masterpieces earlier this year, there were so many options for this type of hands-on learning.

homeschool art

4. Take Your Time (don’t rush and don’t require)

This is a mom tip that makes our field trips everywhere, including art museums, more engaging and fun. I try not to rush or require. This means allowing my son to spend as much time as he likes with any one exhibit or work of art. It also means leaving early if he is just not enjoying it as much as we’d planned, or skipping certain sections to get to what he is most interested in.

This may seem simple, but in my early years as a homeschool mom, I frequently felt pressure to “maximize” the field trip. It never worked well and took all the pleasure out of what could’ve been a relaxed, enjoyable day of learning. Now, I know. My best field trip advice really is this – Don’t rush, don’t require. Just let the day unfold and appreciate the time together.

5. Consider Virtual Art Museum Options

If you are not easily able to take a field trip to an art museum, don’t let that stop you! Some of the best field trips we’ve taken have been virtual ones. There is a plethora of opportunities to visit art museum virtually.

In The Ultimate Guide To Virtual Art Museums, you will find an complete list of virtual art museum options for you and your family!

Make Your Homeschool Art Museum Field Trip Extraordinary

Additional Resources For Homeschool Art Lessons

In addition to the field trips themselves, I am passionate about art being an essential part of our children’s education. In my own home, art has helped my son learn across subjects. It has also deepened his connection to and love of beauty.

Make Your Homeschool Art Museum Field Trip Extraordinary

One of my favorite resources for incorporating art lessons into your homeschool is Exploring Famous Artists with chalk pastels. With the You ARE An Artist Clubhouse membership you have access to over 700+ chalk pastel lessons including Famous Artists video lessons with the following master artists:

  • Monet
  • Vermeer
  • Michelangelo
  • Norman Rockwell
  • Rembrandt
  • Audubon
  • Van Gogh
  • Degas
  • da Vinci
  • Lichtenstein
  • Warhol
  • O’Keefe
  • Picasso
  • Eric Carle and more…

Plus, a new artist is added most every month! You ARE an ARTiST Complete Clubhouse members also get an I Drew It Then I Knew It Companion Workbook with famous artists biographies and more!

Shawna Wingert

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.

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The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Art Museum Field Trips

The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Art Museum Field Trips is your extensive guide to why, how, and where to find virtual art museum resources.

If there is one thing the pandemic taught us, it’s that you don’t necessarily need to leave your home to have access to things. There are so many resources you can use to enrich your homeschooling, right online! Virtual Art Museum Field Trips are one of those things!


Why Virtual Field Trips Are So Valuable

Besides the fact we already mentioned, you don’t have to leave your home. There are some other great reasons why virtual field trips are so valuable to homeschoolers.

  • Easier on mom – As a homeschooling mom it can be taxing to organize outings for and with all your children. And stressful to navigate public places with, especially ones where they may need to be quiet and orderly!
  • Cost effective – No gas used, no museum tickets to purchase, no lunches to buy while you are out.
  • Vastly increased field trip options – With virtual field trip you have access to museums around the globe, not just in your local area or where you can travel to easily.
  • You are not limited by ages – I used to have a hard time taking my older children to things because I always had to have the little in tow.


Virtual Art Museum Field Trips To Take In Your Homeschool


I have to say, as I did research for this topic I was truly astounded at the amount of virtual art museum field trip resources there are!

Art Credit For High School - The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Art Museum Field Trips is your extensive guide to why, how, and where to find virtual art museum resources.
Photo by Courtney Messick – This is how your teen can earn an art credit for high school.

Two HUGE “Catch All’ Sites For Virtual Field Trips

I feel as though these two sites I am going to mention need a special place here in this list. Why? Because each one houses SO MANY museums and art works right in one place. So if you are looking for a place to start, I suggest one of these sites.

Google Arts & Culture Art Expeditions– I can’t believe all that is housed in the Art Expeditions (virtual field trips that explore the creative world, from painting to literature and performing arts)! Explore masterpieces and artists through the ages, get to know the movements, learn more about iconic writers and their stories in the Page turners section, tour museums around the world and so much more!

The Art Institute of Chicago – They put 44,000+ works of art online for you to view in high resolution! The museum also includes a bibliography, exhibition history, notes on provenance, audio and video histories and descriptions, and educational resources like teacher manuals, lesson plans, and exams. 

Enjoy a virtual tour of Horace Pippin’s paintings via The High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Then enjoy Nana’s Horace Pippin lesson and podcast!

23 Art Museums with Virtual Resources For Your Homeschool

The British Museum and Google Cultural Institute teamed up to create one of our favorite interactive projects: The Museum of the World. The British Museum’s digital art collection lets users travel through time while seeing how each historical piece in their collection connects with others. 

The Frick Collection – Located in the Henry Clay Frick House (New York City, New York), the Frick Collection houses the art collection of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection features some of the best-known paintings by major European artists like Bellini, Rembrandt, Vermeer, as well as numerous works of sculpture and porcelain. The entire museum can be viewed virtually.

Frida Kahlo Museum – Also known as La Casa Azúl (the Blue House) and located in Mexico City. In Google Street view style you can take a virtual tour of the museum both inside and out.

Find Nana’s famous artist Georgia O’Keeffe lesson in the You ARE an ARTiST Complete Clubhouse. Photo by Erin Vincent.

The Georgie O’Keeffe Museum – Located in Sante Fe, New Mexico. dedicated to the artistic legacy of Georgia O’Keeffe and her work on American Modernism. The museum website offers creative activities, stories, and education about Georgia O’Keeffe’s life, along with six virtual exhibits available through Google Arts and Culture: Georgia O’Keeffe, Modernism, Oil Paint, Canvas, American Modernism, United States.

The J. Paul Getty Museum – Located in Los Angeles, California. The collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum comprises Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art from the Neolithic to Late Antiquity; European art—including illuminated manuscripts, paintings, drawings, sculpture, and decorative arts—from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century; and international photography from its inception to the present day.

Guggenheim – Featuring over 1,700 artworks by more than 625 artists, the Collection Online presents a searchable database of selected artworks from the Guggenheim’s permanent collection of approximately 8,000 artworks. There are also Virtual Group Tours with an actual guide, as well as printable activities for kids. (Google Arts & Culture also has an awesome section on the Guggenheim!)

The Hermitage Museum  Located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The second-largest and eighth-most visited art museum in the world. The Hermitage has over 60,000 pieces of artwork on display, including works like the Peacock Clock by James Cox, Madonna Litta by Leonardo Da Vinci, and works by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Antonio Canova. The online tour is extremely comprehensive and allows you to virtually walk through all 6 buildings in the main complex, treasure galley, and 9 different exhibition projects.

High Museum of Art – Located in Atlanta, Georgia. It offers over 15,000 works of art in its collection and is the leading art museum in the southeastern U.S. The museum focuses on 19th- and 20th-century American art, historic and contemporary decorative arts and design, European paintings, modern and contemporary art, photography, folk and self-taught art, and African art. The museum’s partnership with Google Arts and Culture offers 4 online exhibits for viewing: Bill Traylor’s Drawings of People, Animals, and Events; How Iris van Herpen Transformed Fashion; Incredible, Innovative, and Unexpected Contemporary Furniture Designs; Photos From the Civil Rights Movement

Mornings with Monet and Monet art lessons with You ARE an ARTiST. The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Art Museum Field Trips
Spend a day with Monet and listen to Nana’s Famous Artist Claude Monet podcast.

La Galleria Nazionale – Located in Rome, Italy, displays about 1,100 paintings and sculptures of the 19th and 20th centuries — the largest collection in Italy. It features work from famous Italian artists like Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Alberto Burri, and foreign artists like Cézanne, Monet, Pollock, Rodin, and Van Gogh. It has teamed up with Google to offer 16 different virtual exhibits for online viewing.

The Louvre – The world’s largest museum. Explore the The Body in Movement, Founding Myths: From Hercules to Darth Vader, and much more through their 360-degree viewing feature. They also have a Louvre for Kids with easier wording and engaging cartoon like navigation, kids can view and learn about the art at the gallery.

The Met – Located in NYC, The Met has many of it’s exhibitions online. You can view photos of the pieces, read background information, and some even have video tours! The Met also developed #MetKids for, with, and by kids—but parents and teachers can have just as much fun using it. It has features like a fun and highly interactive map, a “time machine” search function, informational and how-to videos, and so much more.

The Museo Nacional del Prado located in Madrid Spain, is considered to have one of the greatest collections of European art in the world and offers guests the single largest collection of Spanish art. The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings, 7,600 paintings, 4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures. Well known works include Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez, The Third of May 1808 by Francisco De Goya, and The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. The museum’s online gallery allows you to get a close look at over 10,000 different pieces of art.

The National Gallery – Located in London. Click and scroll your way around with their three interactive virtual tour options. 1 showcasing 18 different rooms in the museum, 1 showcasing the Sainsbury Wing, and a Google Virtual tour. The National Gallery has hundreds of paintings in its collection ready to be viewed online, many of which are from the Renaissance period.

The National Gallery of Art – Located in Washington, D.C., offers online 3D virtual tours of exhibitions such as Raphael and his Circle, and Degas at the Opera.

Museum of Modern Art – Founded in 1929, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in midtown Manhattan was the first museum devoted to the modern era. Through Google Arta & Culture you can view 129 artworks from MoMA’s collection.

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art – Located in Seoul, Korea, this virtual tour takes you through six floors of Contemporary art from Korea and all over the globe.

Musée d’Orsay – Instantly transport to the middle of Paris with the Musée d’Orsay and their online tours and art collection. Here you can explore art history with the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces from renowned artists such as Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, and many more.

Rijksmuseum – located in Amsterdam the Rijkmuseum showcases  the masterworks from the Dutch Golden Age, including works from Vermeer and Rembrandt. Google offers a 3D virtual museum tour through Street View, where you can zoom in on every tiny detail of each work of art, and listen to stories about 18 masterpieces

San Diego Museum of Art – 360-degree scans of your favorite galleries, zoom in to see art details, and read full label text in both English and Spanish. they also offer FREE docent tours through Zoom.

The Tate Modern – Check out this video tour of their famous Andy Warhol exhibit. Museum curators Gregor Muir and Fiontán Moran talk in-depth about Andy Warhol and his work through the lens of the immigrant story, his LGBTQ identity, and more.

Learn about Vincent Van Gogh in The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Art Museum Field Trips
A Hands-On Homeschool Study of Famous Artist Vincent Van Gogh with photos by Erin Vincent.

The Van Gogh Museum – home to the largest collection of van Gogh pieces in the world. The museum, virtual tours, ebook “stories,” and online collection dive into the life of van Gogh and the inspiration behind his art. Moreover, we think teachers everywhere will appreciate how big a fan he was of reading books!

The Vatican Museums – You can finally say you’ve seen the Sistine Chapel thanks to this online program! And, you can also virtually visit the Raphael Rooms, the Chiaramonti Museum, and more historic sites through these virtual tours.

The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Art Museum Field Trips is your extensive guide to why, how, and where to find virtual art museum resources.


Tips For Making The Most Of Your Virtual Art Museum Field Trip


Additional Art Museum Resources For Your Homeschool

So many famous artists to learn about in The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Art Museum Field Trips

The Famous Artists Series

The Famous Artists Series: The You ARE An Artist Clubhouse Membership offers 47 famous artists video lessons for your homeschool including:

  • Vermeer
  • Michelangelo
  • da Vinci
  • Warhol
  • Monet
  • Rockwell
  • Rembrandt
  • Lichtenstein
  • Audubon
  • Beatrix Potter

… and a new one added about once a month!

The Famous Artists series is exclusive to the You ARE an Artist Complete Clubhouse. There is so much to learn about art, artists, and art history! The Famous Artist series is the perfect way to introduce these master artists and their works to your kids!