Oscar Wilde once observed that “the secret of life is in art.’ How do you successfully impart a robust and enthusiastic appreciation for art to your children? Find the key to unlocking this secret on today’s Home School Heartbeat, with Mike Smith!
Mike Smith:
Our guest today is Dan Ellis. Dan earned a fine arts degree in college and now enjoys sharing his passion as a painter. He and his wife, Brenda, have developed the Artistic Pursuits homeschool curricula to help children appreciate and create art. Dan, thanks for joining us today!
Daniel Ellis:
Oh, you’re quite welcome. I’m happy to be here.
Mike:
Dan, can you tell us how homeschooling your children impacted your philosophy of art, and vice versa?
Dan:
Individuality is sort of the context of both the training of Brenda and myself, and that was a natural fit into homeschooling as soon as we decided to take that route. We were able to wrap the lessons around our children’s various interests and let them experience things according to their interests. An example would be, when we were studying the solar system, we modeled the planets to scale to one another. We had the Mayflower traveling down our staircase, and it took us as long as the trip took. And we had a family algebra night, because our family doesn’t really cotton too well to math. So we changed the plan, and we did it all together in those years. Those are some examples of how we were able to individualize our children’s experiences.
Mike:
Well, thank you, Dan. That’s very helpful. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.
