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Dear Lee,
“Did you schedule the art studies or simply allow them do it as they wanted? I debate a lot about whether its worth setting aside the time for art study.”

Art is really, TRULY my weak area, for that reason I basically reserved time for art study, or else we would most likely never do it! We never had a challenge getting math or science finished, only art, LOL! I planned it for 2-3 times a week, 1-1/2 or 2 hours at a time, depending on the year. Never the less, it was one thing that we from time to time simply didn’t do. (Art is so messy, you understand.)

We did the book “Art Fun” the first year, the Feed My Sheep for two years, then Draw Today. We even did a few pottery classes, and that was enjoyable. I own a few art games that they played, not to mention there were a number of books on artists that I had them read over the years. When your kids just “do” art, then it’s possible that you don’t really have to have art study. We NEEDED art study, as my kids didn’t ever Get it done otherwise.

In high school I taught them art primarily from an art history point of view, and also art appreciation. I believe in high school, it’s good to have some art appreciation course, yet might be other kids just naturally find themselves learning art free of any kind of help whatsoever. Hey, Alex studied economics without having any help! Kevin studied Russian History, of all things, without having any encouragement! Simply not art…

I have created a series of videos on creating great homeschool records for college.  You can find them here.

Here are some ideas to consider if you think you may be overworking your children.  If you use a curriculum for writing and history, do not supplement it.  A standard curriculum is meant to be a whole high school credit.  So if you supplement it with anything (no matter how wonderful and cool) you can experience burnout and frustration, because you’re expecting too much work.

If you feel like you MUST supplement, then the simple solution is to remove something else from the curriculum that might take about the same amount of time.  In other words, remove as much as you add.

Remember as well, in high schools they don’t do ALL of the curriculum.  In other words, if the book lists 4 hands-on projects, they may only do one – or none of them.  They give a lot of suggestions in a public school curriculum that may never be used by any teacher.

I have a blog post about how important it is not to double up on your curriculum; http://www.thehomescholar.com/blog/homeschool-blunder-doubling-up/1696/

If you aren’t using a curriculum, but you are pulling together pieces yourself, then strive for only 1 hour or less for history each day and 1 hour or less of English each day (reading books may take longer, but the writing, grammar, vocabulary, etc. – that stuff keep to just 1 hour or less.)

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Art was a weak area in my homeschool.  It was one subject that we all had to work at, or it wouldn’t get done.   If we didn’t set aside time for art study it would never happen!   It may sound strange to some, but we never had that problem getting math or science done.  I know for certain that art is my nemesis.  It’s messy.  It’s subjective.  There are no right or wrong answers in art.  I’m definitely someone who likes to be INSIDE the box rather than OUTSIDE.

Read my article called Art for the Art Klutz

The article was originally published in Heart of the Matter Magazine, September 2010 edition.

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My Gold Care Club member asked for me to look over her course descriptions.  When I saw this one, I flipped!  This is just WONDERFUL, and a great example of how to take a student’s interest and create a course description.  We talked about what her son did, and what he used, and found some possible course titles, and looked in a college catalog for a course that had similar content.  She confirmed with her son’s piano instructor, who agreed it was a great course title.  She used some words from the college catalog, some words from the texts and materials she used.  It’s a wonderful, academic class with a description filled with details.  It really represents what he learned and how much he accomplished.  Remember, this was an activity her son does for fun, using the gifts and abilities he was born with, and his parents just wanted to feed his passion with appropriate materials.  What a great course description!  Thank you, Ann, for sharing your course description!

Course Description
Music Technology: MIDI Arranging of Film Scores

The student will develop skill and proficiency in musical arrangement on the keyboard and through the use of musical technology. He will practice ear-training skills by translating a piece of music into individual instrumental parts recorded into tracks on the keyboard. He will progress to using Sony ACID Pro 6.0 MIDI sequencing software to produce arrangements of various pieces.  In addition, the student will read and study Complete Guide to Film Scoring – The Art and Business of Writing Music for Movies and TV by Richard Davis, as well as listen to numerous film scores.  The student’s most complex arrangements, which his instructor will record with a Kurzweil K200r synthesizer, will be played at his yearly recitals.  Recordings of recital pieces available upon request.

Texts & Materials:

Complete Guide to Film Scoring – The Art and Business of Writing Music for Movies and TV by Richard Davis (Berklee Guide)

Sony ACID Pro 6.0 MIDI – Sequencing software

Arrangements

Keyboard:
“Blood Ritual” / “Moonlight Serenade” from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl by Klaus Badelt
“One Last Shot” from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl by Klaus Badelt
“The Black Pearl” from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl by Klaus Badelt
“The Medallion Calls” from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl by Klaus Badelt
“Davy Jones” from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest by Hans Zimmer
“Jack Sparrow” from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest by Hans Zimmer
Themes from Apollo 13 by James Horner
Theme from The Magnificent Seven by Elmer Bernstein

Keyboard & Sony ACID:
“Concerning Hobbits” by Howard Shore from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Themes from Jurassic Park by John Williams
“Unforgotten” from Halo 2 by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori

Performances

Spring Recital 2008: Theme from The Magnificent Seven by Elmer Bernstein (recorded by instructor with Kurzweil synthesizer) Spring Recital 2009: Themes from Jurassic Park by John Williams (recorded by instructor with Kurzweil synthesizer)

Course Grade
A = 4.0

Grading Criteria: Letter grade awarded based on quality of effort. / Credit awarded based on 150(+)  hours of work.

Grading Scale: A=93-100%=4.0 / A- = 90-92%=3.67 / B+=87-89%=3.33 / B=83-86%=3.0 / B- = 80-82%=2.67 / C+=77-79%=2.33 / C=73-76%=2.0 / C- = 70-72%=1.67 / D+=67-69%=1.33 / D=63-66%=1.0 / D- = 60-62%=.67 / F=Less than 60%=Less than .67

This same child had another music class called Music Technology: MIDI Composition & Arranging.  For that class they used Sibelius 5 Notation Software and also Sony

ACID Pro 6.0 MIDI Music Studio sequencing software.  I have to say, I’m VERY impressed!  I know that sometimes people think “WOW!” about some of my own homeschool classes.  Has it every occurred to you that other parents may be thinking “WOW!” about YOUR homeschool classes?   It’s true!

The HomeScholar Gold Care Club will give you the comprehensive help you need to homeschool high school.

Hi Lee. I heard you speak at the Midwest Homeschool  Convention. I really appreciated all your information. I need to  ask you a question. Can I count a computer graphics class or  video editing class for fine arts credit on the transcript?
~Trina on Facebook

Sure, Trina! Some parents use classes like that for a technology credit, and  others will use it as a way to get art into a techie kid. Either way is just fine.  Remember when we were in high school and we could take photography for  art? It’s the same sort of thing, only now we have computers.

Thanks Lee. I sure appreciate your willingness to help guide  those of us who are taking this journey for the first time. You are a blessing! Thanks for the free mini-course. I look forward to digging more into your website and  blogs for help.  I have a 10th grader and 2 more younger than that and I fully intend to homeschool them all the way through high school.  Thank you so much for sharing all you’ve learned with those of us who haven’t learned yet so that we too can be successful!
~Trina on Facebook

If you would like to receive my free mini-course, please grab the class here.

It’s called “The 5 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make When Homeschooling High School” – NOT because I think you’re making mistakes, but because that’s what people google for help about.  It’s a small, bite-sized class that is perfect for beginners.  One little lesson every few days over a two week period.   Nothing scary or intense – and you’ll feel better when you’re done!

If you are curious about providing a great homeschool education for your gifted child, check out my audio training, “Gifted Education at Home.“

My daughter is studying Shakespeare and I’m wondering what  “subject” will that fall under. Might you know? Is drama, theatre,  or ????
~Tisha in California

Hi Tisha,

Put it where you need it.

If you’re doing it for English class, then English makes the most sense.  If you already have an English class this year, and she doesn’t have another Fine Arts class, then I would call it Theater.  If she has enough credits for both, you can always put it under “Electives.”

If you don’t “need” the class somewhere, then my vote is for calling it English, because that is how it’s listed in college catalogs.

Let’s be friends on Facebook!

Alex loved “The Marriage of Figaro” yesterday, went to the Seattle Art Museum today, and is going to “Rhapsody in Blue” at the Seattle Symphony tonight. The pattern is starting to damage my street cred…

Amazing!

When the kids were in high school., one of the things I did was buy the “Composers” CD collection from Costco one year (I know, pretty lame).  During quiet reading and lunch, I would turn on the classical musics.  They were given a one page biography of the composer we were listening to, but mostly it was just about listening to the music, and trying to identify the title of the piece now and then.  It was certainly an inexpensive way to learn about classical music.

For artists, I simply went to the library.  I would check out one book a week, usually something written for young adults so we could avoid nudes.  They were able to read the small book quickly, and look over all the pieces the artist was famous for.  It was a brief introduction.  Apparently it was successful.

I’m amazed that someone like me, who is “not gifted in fine arts” can raise someone who enjoys it so much!  Woo Hoo!

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Audrey asks:
How do you balance what you feel they need to know and do with what they feel they want to know and do? There are not enough hours in the day!

This question is actually TWO questions!

Q1: How can you get more hours in your day?

To some extent, homeschoolers will ALWAYS feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day!  It’s part of parenting, and even more a part of homeschooling.  There are some things that can help.  I read the book “Managers of Their Homes” and it really helped me.  It is a book about scheduling your homeschool, so that you do the most important things FIRST.  Determine what your priorities are, and then start with priority #1.  The less important things may need to be less frequent.

A schedule will sometimes tell you what is going wrong.  Sometimes parents will tell me what they are “trying” to do each day.  When I add it up, they are trying to do too much!  I remember one mother I met with was doing nine and a half hours a DAY doing academic subjects with her 9th grader.  Maybe you are simply trying to do too much!  So prioritize, and make sure you aren’t attempting too much.

It can also help to cut back on some of the things you do outside the home: co-op classes, sports teams, and music lessons, volunteering, employments, Boy Scouts, and church.  Sometimes it’s all just too much!  Again, try to decide what you really need and what’s important to you.  Scale back your activities if you can.  I encourage you to have your teen be part of the conversation, though.  Their interests should carry a LOT of weight.

Q2: What do they need to know?

It’s important, as you say, to balance what they need to know, with what THEY want to do.  If you can focus on just the basic, core classes, with limited fluff, then even in high school you can still get their schoolwork done in a reasonable amount of time.  Math does take a long time each day, and it’s important because it builds on itself, so you can’t quickly regain math skills if you don’t keep up with it.  Other things can be handled a bit more quickly, and with less stress.

Core subjects means one hour (not more) on English, social studies, science and math.  Add some foreign language or PE or fine arts or electives.  But focus on the core classes, and let the other things be more delight-directed, so that the child hardly even realizes they are doing school.  Fine arts could be knitting and crochet.  Foreign language may be successfully learned in 15-30 minutes per day.  PE can be what they do for fun; dancing or sports.

Electives are the things you don’t assign – the things they just want to do!  Maybe that’s animal husbandry or interior design – let them decide as much as possible.  What do they need?  Core classes, and the freedom to choose the supplemental classes that will encourage their love of learning.

I hope that helps!

If you enjoy this blog, please vote for “The HomeScholar Helper” in the 2008 Homeschool Blog Awards.  Voting ends on Friday!  We need about 20 more votes to win!  Please help!

Blessings,

Lee

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