CRESTVIEW — For Jimmy and Michael Skinner, art is an integral part of their academic experience. The brothers, 15 and 11, are homeschooled, and their mom, Dee, is their teacher.
“Jimmy is into drawing,” she said. “Michael wants to get his hands on crocheting. Crocheting started in England with the fisherman making their nets. It’s a guy thing. He likes the fact that it’s making knots and they’re staying together.”
Between graphics Dee’s created in the boys’ rooms to her passion for needlecrafts, the guys have been exposed to visual art since they were born.
The more research Dee’s done on the Internet, the more she realizes how important it is to include art in their schoolwork.
“I go to a lot of online sites that help me to see why they should do art,” she said. “It’s exercising that eye-hand coordination and thinking outside the box and indulging themselves in that it’s beautiful to make something.”
In addition, she’s seen studies that show that students who participate in visual or performing arts perform better in other core subjects.
ART FOR HOMESCHOOLERS
But not all homeschooled kids have art in their curricula. For them, Erin Bakker, owner of the local Abrakadoodle Remarkable Art Education program, offers “Art in Our World.”
The course of art curriculum for homeschooled students encourages participants “to explore their own individual creative nature,” Bakker stated in an email.
Through 36 weekly one-hour lessons, students will learn about famous and lesser-known artists, practice freedom of expression through art, and explore a wide range of art materials and applications as they create their own works.
Bakker said the Abrakadoodle program, which meets Fridays from 1-2 p.m. beginning Sept. 5, meets national and Florida standards for art education.
“We’ve gotten a great response,” Bakker’s partner, Teri McGinnis, said. “We cover every culture, every country, and we incorporate math, science, geometry, history, and art history. It’s cross-curricular. It’s just a fabulous, fabulous curriculum.”
McGinnis said the curriculum is ongoing, so when students return next school year, there’s new material at the next level.
Whether at home or through Abrakadoodle, homeschooled area students are experiencing the same creative thrill Jimmy and Michael Skinner share.
“They just love to look at what they created,” Dee Skinner said. “They pulled it out their own mind and now it’s sitting right in front of them. That’s what excites them.”
WANT TO GO?
WHAT: Art in Our World
WHEN: 1-2 p.m., Fridays, Sept. 5 through June 5
WHERE: St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, 2250 P.J. Adams Parkway
COST: $12 per student per class for 36 weeks, $15 one-time materials fee, sibling discounts available
NOTES: Abrakadoodle Remarkable Art Education art curriculum for homeschooled students. Register online at www.Abrakadoodle.com/fl07, or contact 424-5058, ebakker@abrakadoodle.com
Email News Bulletin Arts Editor Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Art lessons for the homeschooled