Drawing with Graphite Pencils--my REVIEW

 Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

If you ask me if I can draw, I will say no. I wish that I could, but I haven't had much success with drawing ;) Maybe this is one reason that throughout our homeschooling years we haven't had many courses or units on drawing--because that is not a strength of mine. This course that we got to review, Beginner Level, Art Core 1, Drawing with Graphite Pencils by Artistic Pursuits, is a great way to introduce drawing into your homeschool day! 

  

This course, Drawing with Graphite Pencils, is an art course, not just a drawing course. The age level of it is 4th grade through adult. The book is nine units and each unit is made up of a video lesson (there are 2 DVDs to accompany the text) which the learner watches at the beginning of the unit. Within each unit is a creativity lesson which expands upon the topic, defining terms and explaining things such as line, form, depth, texture, and more. The learner is given an assignment or suggestion of a follow-up to this part of the unit, such as find an object in nature and think about how you might place the objects and then make an outline drawing using outside edges.

Another element within each unit is a focus on American Art Appreciation and History. The art technique which was highlighted in the particular unit is illustrated through American artists' works and times. Learners have the opportunity to try out some of the techniques which were used by these artists (try a cool silhouette on pages 20-21!)

The final part of each unit is a Master lesson in which the student applies the element that was taught in the lesson. There are step-by-step drawings that inspire the artist to create their own work of art. There are also student-drawn pictures in the "student gallery."

So what did we think of this? I think that this would be a great course to use on a weekly basis in your homeschool. The videos are very soothing to watch (!) -- my daughter and I both thought they had the feel of something that would be shown on PBS :) The historical section is a great way to incorporate learning about artists and their times (and you could definitely expand upon that as you wish!) The drawing instructions, though basic, do help you walk through steps of really seeing and observing so that you can draw a representation of what you are looking at. 

My daughter and I had a great time going through these lessons. I wish we had used this when all 3 of my kids were in school--they would have been ideal in the middle/junior high years! My 16-year old said this: "I liked that the videos were short, and easy to understand. The lessons did seem a bit younger, and the objects they drew seemed to be toys/etc, but it was fun to follow along and gave me a good excuse to practice drawing."

I may still not call myself an artist, but I had fun using these lessons, and I think that if my kids were a bit younger we would have loved incorporating this curriculum into our homeschool year! I can definitely recommend this product. 

There are art courses for different age levels, and if you click on the banner below, you can find out more about some of these other courses and read what homeschooling families have to say about these products.