Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Picture Study / Art Gallery

I LOVE that my children are getting a fine arts education. I love that by default I am getting a fine arts education. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that that might be a large part of my enthusiasm behind homeschooling.

Charlotte Mason was very particular about the manner in which pictures are studied in school. And it is so non-invasive and so influential it is almost unbelievable. For just 15 minutes a week you and your child can imprint hundreds of beautiful art works in the "mind's eye", imparting ideas on which to draw future experiences forevermore.

I recently stumbled upon this picture study help at Simply Charlotte Mason. I am in love. It couldn't get easier. I no longer have to download pictures and have them printed at Wal-mart, find a living biography of the artist, and do a little research on the piece of art we study that week. It's all put together for me in these packets, and the print quality is EXCELLENT on very sturdy picture paper.


Each packet comes with about 8 prints of 8 different pieces of art that the particular artist created. Like I said, high quality prints here. There is also a booklet that has a short living biography of the artist.


There's also information about each work for the teacher to help guide conversation with. We aim to study one print each week, which gives us a little wiggle room in each term to fully cover an artist well.

And here's what I've done with these gorgeous prints!


I frame them as we study them and then hang them in the dining room so we can have our own gallery of our term's art.


It also gives us good dinner conversation. Daddy notices when we sit down for dinner that a new print has been added to the wall. He will typically ask what it is and then the kids narrate back to him everything they remember from the art.


It's a nice reminder of the pieces we have appreciated over the term. And I also get to say that I have art up on my walls! Bonus!

Thanks for stopping in to visit!
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6 comments:

  1. Visiting from the Hop - what a great idea for studying art! Looks like a wonderful product, and I love how you've used the prints to make your own art gallery.

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  2. Stoppin' by from the Hop (-:

    We mix in a little CM from time to time, so this post about Art/Artist Study is pretty cool to me. I'm tucking this idea away for later, if ya don't mind. Right now I am focusing on art work that corresponds with our scripture stories. This would work well for us when we are ready to study other kinds of art.

    I like how the artist's bio's and the prints came together, fantastic. And your gallery idea with the frames is genius: home education and fine decor at the same time! Sweet!

    -Eve @ Inchworm Chronicles

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    1. Thanks Eve! I love the idea of seeing art that corresponds to the Scripture stories you are reading. I am getting ready to help plan some Sunday School activities and I was hoping to combine art prints with the stories as well. Love it!

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  3. Hi Kelly, Stopping in from the HipHomeschoolMoms blog roll : D I'm planning on using the SCM prints next year and just appreciate your review. Even more, I love your wall gallery idea! That's great, thanks for sharing. - Jenny

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    1. Thanks Jenny! I hope you enjoy the SCM prints as much as I have. It sure has simplified things around here so that artist study actually gets done!

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