ArtAchieve ~ REVIEW

I was born with paint brushes and a glue gun in my hand.  I love all things crafty, colorful and a blank piece of paper doesn't scare me in the least bit!  But, that didn't get passed down to all my Kiddos.  Skylar is just like me, give him a piece of paper and he can paint, draw or craft a paper hat out of it.  Mahala is my thinker and planner....my creative brain doesn't really understand that....but that's how she works.  She needs a plan, a ruler, scratch paper and swatches of different colors and then she creates a well thought out beautiful project.  Kaden, well he would rather eat rocks then to do anything creative.  It breaks my heart...literally!!!  But, when all the planets align and the moon is just so you can really get into his head by what he creates.  He uses color and materials in a way I never would think of.  Skylar is off to college, so it's just Mahala and Kaden now.  I'm a little too artsy fartsy for my Daughter to truly learn from and honestly my creative mess makes her crazy.  So, I try to get her involved in Art programs that she can learn from someone else.  We keep Family crafting to the Holidays and lazy afternoons.

I was thrilled to hear about ArtAchieve a few weeks ago and given the opportunity to Review their Entire Level III.  I decided to use this program with Mahala and I plan to have her finish it while we are on our RV trip.

Right off the bat Mahala Loved this program, it was Simple, Straightforward and no extra Fluff.  She found it convenient that ArtAchieve provided the lessons online along with a few downloadable pages to print out to use as samples and her warmup exercise.  Since she is a planner having the complete supplies lists ahead of time made her a happier camper and she already felt more at ease then normal.

ArtAchieve currently has five levels of lessons available to pick and choose from.  They are geared towards Kiddos in Elementary all the way to Adults wanting to broaden their Art horizons.  You can go check out some of their Free Lessons.  I really like that you can purchase the lessons you want individually or bundled by levels I-V. 

Once you are all logged in you will go to a page that has all your lessons available.  One place, very easy to use and understand.  Even the youngest kiddos could figure out how to work independently.

Here is what Mahala saw when she pulled up her 5th Lesson, which was about the Pacific Northwest Totem Poles. 

1.  Download your PDF to complete your warm-up
2.  PowerPoint version of the lesson
3.  Video Version of the lesson
4. Printout Sample of the drawing for the lesson

 
A little something extra your Kiddos get besides just a great Art lesson is a little History or Culture about the specific pieces in the lesson.  This particular lesson Mahala really enjoyed because we are part Native American.  And she already knows a lot about our specific Tribe.  But, the Northwestern Tribes we were all kind of clueless.  It was nice to learn a little bit while she was watching the video.  Mahala did prefer watching the videos over the PowerPoint.  I like how between the warm ups, PowerPoints, videos and sample drawings this program touches on many different learning styles.

Normally how we used this program was on Monday I printed out the warm up and the sample and had her complete them.  On Wednesdays she watched the video and started on her own project.  We used Fridays to do a little back ground research on the subject matter and finish up any work.  She is almost done with last week's Lesson 5.  She is a perfectionist, so sometimes it takes her a few times to get it to where she likes it.  I have listened to many of the videos and I like that perfection is not the end goal here, this is just her own thing she struggles with. 

So, what did we think?  We liked it...a lot.  I was surprised how well she took to this program.  I have learned a lot regarding her learning preponderances.  And I didn't think I would find an Art Program that would give her boundaries and specifics while allowing her to nurture her inner creative self.  We will be finishing the rest of the lessons while we are on our trip and she even asked if she could get the next set of lessons for Christmas.  That says a lot....maybe I will join her and do the next set together!  

 

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