If there’s one thing that gets pushed to the back burner of our homeschool, it’s art lessons. And if you’re like most homeschoolers, you’re guilty of the same. Trying to juggle the “vital” subjects, like math and language arts, simply doesn’t leave much time to squeeze in art. And even if you did have time, you don’t know where to start. After all, you certainly aren’t an art teacher. (Well, YOU may be but I’m certainly not.)
For years, we’ve struggled through art, using YouTube as our “teacher.” But the problem was that while my kids could draw an okay-ish picture, they simply lacked any actual skills. It didn’t take me long to figure out it was because we were boppin’ around, using free resources that didn’t teach like they should. The videos we were using on YouTube were meant to help draw one specific thing. Yet I wanted my kids to see art and understand how it was created. I wanted them to know the simple rules of art. Things like being able to draw portraits, understand types of art and be able to really appreciate it were tossed to the side. I certainly knew whatever I was doing, wasn’t cutting it.
That’s why I was super excited to find out that Sparketh teaches how to draw portraits, along with hundreds of other lessons.
I received this product for free and was compensated for my time. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own.
Sparketh is an affordable and user-friendly website that provides users with access to thousands of art videos. Each video is taught by “hip” young men and women. (That’s one reason my kids love it so much! They admire the artist and feel like they can connect with them, since they’re closer to their own age than other art teachers.)
Teachers work alongside the student, providing tips and tricks to help make your artwork the best it can be. Instead of fast-forwarding through the work, they take their time and guide you each step of the way. This is super important for my kids because they get stressed out when they have to pause the videos every few seconds. But with Sparketh, they don’t need to!
Sparketh’s Tracks
Sparketh now has what they call “TRACKS.” These are art lessons that have been neatly organized by category to help you locate what it is you want to do.
For instance, I knew I wanted my kids to learn to draw portraits, so we used the portrait track. It has around 15 videos that teach different ways of seeing portraits and approaches the artwork from different angles.
One of our favorite lessons in the portrait track is the “PROPORTIONS” lesson. It’s amazing how much different you start drawing portraits once you understand where each facial feature should be placed. My oldest even made the comment that everyone in the world should have to watch that video. While it’s short and sweet, the lesson it taught was pretty amazing!
My daughter wants to be a vet and loves all four-legged friends, so she’s been working through the animal track. She’s building on each lesson and her work improves more and more with each drawing.
But Sparketh teaches more than just how to draw portraits. In fact, you can find basic art skills, like watercolor, oil, acrylic and shading in the program. We love that they offer quick and easy lessons so we don’t need to spend all day on one single piece of work. Instead, we can dabble in all kinds of art, while keeping even my kindergartener’s attention!
If your kids are lacking an eye for art, maybe it’s time to ditch the freebies and invest in a high quality program that will teach them actual skills. Check out Sparketh for an affordable option that will transform your kiddos artwork and take them to the next level.
PIN IT!
