Homeschooling: Arts Education

One of my biggest aspirations for homeschooling has been to help Muffin Mouse follow her interest in fine arts.  As I reflect on our year so far I realise that this is easier said than done.  My hope is that she will study with artists who are passionate about what they do.   I guess this year has been a bit of a buffet of fine arts programming, perhaps giving her a taste of what she would like to study in-depth as she grows.  Here are our current plans:

•   Dance - She has been Highland Dancing for 5 years and is very self-motivated in her attendance and practice. We are open to new dance styles to compliment her current classes twice a week, but have not found the perfect fit in terms of time/genre/price yet.

• Music - This is her second year with her music teacher learning the Clarinet. She participated in the school strings program last year, playing the Cello, but she decided this year to give one instrument her focus and dropped the Cello (figuratively:) for now.  We've complimented her private instruction with the Music Discoveries weekend & performances at our church.  

• Literary Arts - Attending bi-weekly creative writing classes has given her a much wider sense of how creativity and writing are supported by visual art, and visa versa.  Blue Octopus Studio.

• Visual Art - We've struggled to get the visual arts program going this year. We have had the pleasure of collaborating with a variety of art schools working to develop a diverse program, but have had difficulty getting the ideas into a program. She currently attends art class once per week at 4 Cats.

I recently joined a local Yahoo List-serve for homeschoolers. There is a wealth of information shared in this group and sifting through the options is my current goal. Some exciting ideas include a Theatre Program for teens & pottery classes to look into.

I'm also going to start watching some of the Art 21 series from PBS to support our goal of art education.

Joyfully creative,
Caz.