ARTiculations is the clever name of an art curriculum put together by a Christian high school teacher with a master’s in art education, Hannah Nolt. If you want to teach your children art in a systematic way without having to prepare and plan a whole lot, ARTiculations can help.
Designing their own Taj Mahals.
A recent addition to the art curriculum market, ARTiculations has five levels depending on your children’s grades. Level 1, for instance, covers 1st and 2nd grade levels. Level 5 corresponds to high school. First, you would have to decide which level you need, based on your children’s grades.
Secondly, decide if you want to purchase the supply box or buying everything separately, on your own, from the supply list accompanying the curriculum. Lastly, think about the supplementary digital materials – do you anticipate needing those or not?
The art lesson spreads over eight pages, in full-color.
This curriculum arrives like a magazine prescription, as you can see here. You buy your level and a four-week unit plan will be mailed to you starting in August through May. Each lesson provides: a supply list by day, a historical introduction, a lesson sequence by day, a poster, and worksheets.
Scripted Art Curriculum
Some people would call this a “scripted curriculum.” Personally, I like scripted curriculum. I call it “open-and-go.” Rarely do I feel like making lesson plans or putting my own curriculum together. Especially if art is not your forte, a scripted art curriculum which breaks it down into small, manageable steps, complete with all the things you need to say, comes in handy.
Her Taj Mahal
The kids and I worked on “Balance in Buildings – The Taj Mahal,” which was Level One, Volume 1, Issue 7. The steps were not hard to follow. I put all the supplies on the table before I called them to the room and then we started. I like the poster inside – a full-color picture of The Taj Mahal, 11″x17″. We would refer to it again and again as we followed the steps in creating our own version of it.
His Taj Mahal, receiving finishing touches
Each lesson can be done in one sitting, 30-45 minutes, but you could also follow the script to the letter and stretch it over three days. It depends on how you do art in your home. The script itself presents three days of a lesson sequence.
The kids had fun and learned a bit about design symmetry, architecture, and art in the process. We like this curriculum a lot. One year costs $85 and the supply box is also $85. The supplementary digital art costs $35.
I received a free lesson in exchange for an honest review. If you would like to try a sample lesson, there are several on the ARTiculations website.
