Free Homeschool Art Curriculum

Art is one of those subjects – you either love teaching it to your kiddos or you are all in favor of pushing it aside for “another day” haha!

So for those of you who need some encouragement to embrace art as a subject in your homeschool, I’ve compiled some of my favorite free homeschool art curriculum ideas.

And if you’re already an art lover, maybe some of the ideas below will help add to your current program ☺.

The Importance of Art

When trying to figure out how to get started homeschooling and planning what your days will look like, art can often take a backseat as a main subject. Focusing on the core subjects is obviously the most important part of homeschool for many families.

Art however, at all ages/grades, is such an important aspect to learning about our world. History, science and math are a few of the subjects found within learning about art.

Art can also accompany those and other subjects. For example: illustrating a historical study unit, or drawing in a nature journal.

The possibilities are endless but below I have some great ideas on how to tie it all together. And the best part, you can totally build your homeschool art curriculum for free!

How to Incorporate Art into Your Homeschool

Many kids love art simply because it’s a time to be free, get a little messy and there really is no “wrong” way to make art.

But just as with some adults, it can also be a time of self judgment and uncertainty if you or your child like to make sure to do the “right” thing and are uncomfortable with being creative.

With both of those personality types in mind, you can find a way to make art fit really well into your homeschool life.

Adding in art once or twice a week, maybe alternating days with other elective style subjects, is one way to incorporate art into your schedule. Even if you are part of a homeschool co-op and participate in group art activities, adding in a day or two a month is do-able with some ideas in place.

As I mentioned earlier, art can be a simple add on to almost any subject. Drawing, painting, getting creative with a hands on history lesson from The Story of the World are some fun ways to be creative.

Teaching art as a subject itself though is important and can be equally as fun.

Teaching Art

Something that can be intimidating to a lot of parents is the actual teaching of art. Not knowing where to start when planning your homeschool art curriculum can be equally as intimidating.

I firmly believe though that you can teach art, history and technique, without any purchased curriculum. Here are my tips on building your own free homeschool art curriculum:

Art History

For art history we have fallen in love with the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists series by Mike Venezia. Each book focuses on one notable artist. Ranging from Claude Monet to Vincent Van Gogh to Normal Rockwell to Andy Warhol, etc.

The books are wonderful biographies with colorful illustrations, and highly entertaining aspects of the artists’ lives that you may not encounter in your typical biography. My kids love them, and I do too.

Although the book can easily be read in one sitting, we tend to read the book over a few days, recapping what we read and learned after each reading.

Before beginning a book I usually do a little research online about one piece of art, or one style that the artist we will study, was/is known for.

If you’re stuck on what to actually do as a project, a good place to look up ideas based on the artist you are studying on good old Pinterest.

After we finish the book, I have my kids either recreate a notable piece of art that I selected, or explore a technique the artist was/is known for. Doing this helps reinforce what they have learned about the piece of art & artist and is really fun for them!

While you can purchase the books, you can more than likely check them out or order them through your local library for FREE. There are also videos that go along with the books series, however I haven’t used them as of now.

Check Your Library Online Catalog

Don’t forget to look for other books at your local library on the artist you’re studying to accompany the series above. There are a ton of great options from full biographies, to picture books to storybook style books on the artists.

As I always say the library is a treasure trove of information and resources for homeschooling families 🙂

Technique

Along with the importance of learning art history is the importance of learning the techniques used in art. Adding a technique based class into your free homeschool art curriculum is really easy to do with these ideas:

Art for Kids Hub is a FAVORITE in our house! It’s free, online instructional videos on sketching, painting, and even origami. All lessons/videos are taught in a really easy to follow step-by-step manner allowing you to pause the video when needed to keep up with the technique being taught. We stream through YouTube on our living room TV and it’s a great way for the kids to learn together.

A bonus, the program is run by a super cute family with the dad as the lead artist and his kids learning alongside him. There is also a subscription option offering more lessons and an ad-free experience.

Hello Artsy is another online resource for teaching techniques and how to use different mediums. Really cute easy, step-by-step drawings, and more in-depth articles are a couple of the highlights of this website. They also offer free downloadable PDFs to help with lesson plans.

Adding in library books on techniques is another great (free) way to add to your curriculum. Allowing your child to choose something they want to learn and then researching how to learn and then actually learning the techniques is such a rewarding experience for your child. You may even learn something new with them!

All Ages & Grades/Levels

Learning art is one of the subjects that can easily be taught when homeschooling multiple kids at once.

Older children will be able to delve more into the history & technique side of things, but that doesn’t mean the little ones can’t be along for the ride.

There are so many free printables available online that you can have on hand when studying a particular artist. Allowing little hands to stay busy while listening to you read about the artist.

Older children can also do independent research on an artist or style of art. Again, while studying the same artist or style of art as the younger kids.

The point is, don’t feel pulled to come up with separate subjects within art to study. You can totally study one “part” of art together, and enjoy it!

One More Free Idea For Your Homeschool Art Curriculum

Another (possibly) free idea is to explore your local art museum. Some museums offer free homeschool days, or free admission on the first Saturday of the month, etc.

Look into this because seeing art in person can really add to your child’s learning experience & appreciation of art.

And field trips are fun!

Get Creative and Have Fun with Your Kids

I hope these ideas help you realize you CAN add a homeschool art curriculum to your days. And it can be FREE! There are so many resources out there. These ideas I shared can help you focus on where to start with teaching your kids all about art. Don’t be intimidated and have fun being creative & learning with your kiddos ☺.

Free Homeschool Art Curriculum – How to Build One for Free