What is a Homeschool Fine Arts Education?
For homeschool families with high school students that must complete fine arts education credits, but have no idea where to begin, the task can seem daunting.
First of all, we’ll begin by defining what a homeschool fine arts education can include.
We can break the arts down into several categories. And then those categories even more.
The categories are as follows:
Visual Arts:
| Painting | Drawing |
| Pottery | Ceramics |
| Sculpting | Wood-carving |
| Leather-working | Textiles |
| Jewelry | Glass arts |
| Architecture | Photography |
Media Arts:
| Film production | Digital |
| TV | 2-D design |
| Animation | Printmaking |
| 3-D design | Film |
| Graphic arts | Voiceover |
| Video | Radio |
Performing Arts:
Dance –
| Contemporary | Creative movement |
| World dance | Ballet |
| Jazz | Tap |
| Modern | Breakdance |
| Hip hop | Ballroom |
| Choreography | Dance notation |
| Dance history | Musical theater |
| Improvisation | Folk |
| Ethnic | Step |
| Historical | Square dance |
| Attending performances |
Music –
| General music | Singing |
| Choir | Band |
| Orchestra | Jazz ensemble |
| Guitar | Percussion ensemble |
| Music theory | Technology composition |
| Song writing | Piano lab/music keyboards |
| Music history | Marching band |
| Drum line | Multicultural and historical music |
| Ethnic | Opera |
| Musical theater | Recording studio |
| Attending concerts | Listen to classical music while driving |
| Visiting museums | Listen to classical music while reading |
Theatre –
| Acting | Theater |
| Film making and acting | Improvisation |
| Mime | Puppetry |
| Performed poetry/spoken word | Musical theatre |
| Playwriting | Technical theatre/stagecraft |
| Theatre production | Shakespeare literature and performance |
| Participating in plays | Attending plays |
Earning Homeschool Fine Arts Education Credit
As you can see, there are many ways your high school student can concentrate, or even combine artistic expression.
And, if you are a parent of a younger learner, introducing them to fine arts now can open their love for different forms as they grow.
Most high school students will need to earn at least one credit. Depending on your state requirements that could be anywhere between 120-180 hours of work.
However, don’t bog yourself down recording the number of hours your student puts into a homeschool fine arts education. Instead, seek to help your child discover what category and concentration of the arts excites them. Guaranteed, those hours will take care of themselves.
Nevertheless, if you want to ensure you are covering your state requirements, HSLDA recommends that a good rule of thumb is 50 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 36 weeks, for a one-credit course.
That said, there are many ways your student can log hours for fine arts credit. Here are three of the more affordable ways.
In Church:
If you are a member of a local church, your high schooler can participate in choir, worship team, video (if messages are recorded), or Christmas pageants. Because so many of these are part of local church ministries, your student could probably log all hours for their homeschool fine arts education in one place.
In Your Community:
Did you know you could log hours for attending an arts festival or a craft show? These days, arts festivals are so large, you can log a fourth of your credit hours attending one festival!
At Home:
You can log credit hours if you are listening to classical music while reading. You might consider doing a nature project. Your project could possibly include a craft. While working on that project, you can listen to classics or even world music. Just make sure you have information on the composer. Because you’re going to want to discuss the music of that day with your student.
There are also other ways you and your student can creatively explore to log fine arts credit hours. Perhaps even creating a video log about the many ways to explore a homeschool fine arts education.
Mixed Media
My daughter and I also enjoy working with mixed media art. She took a class (accompanied by her grandfather – a professional artist). Here is the result.
This piece combined painting, cutting, pasting and other fun stuff! Welcome to the beauty of mixed media.
We were also fortunate enough to find Alisha Gratehouse’s, Masterpiece Society. She dedicates her site exclusively to mixed media art courses, art study and art appreciation for older kids and teens.
There are 2-, 4-, and 6-week eCourses. Each course is taught via video in a private, password protected site. Here’s another great thing about the courses. Once you purchase them, you have LIFETIME access.
In addition to a fine arts education, you will have wonderful pieces to display in your home.