Art of the Ancients REVIEW

Both my kids just love art so we were excited when we had another chance to review a homeschool art product from ARTistic Pursuits Inc.  I received a physical copy of Art of the Ancients, K-3 Vol. 2 from the K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8 series.  Each book in the series covers one semester and they span 4 years of curriculum for K-3rd grades.  It is suggested to complete 1 lesson per week.  Included with the book are both DVD and Blu-ray video instructions for 6 of the 18 art lessons.  The other 12 art lessons are text lessons with step by step instructions in the book. The book has a very nice hardcover with semi-glossy heavy duty pages (64 pages).

Both DVD and Blu-ray included

For some reason, the DVD disc did not autoplay in my laptop DVD drive, but I was able to play it just fine after opening up my media player and watching it from there.  It played on our DVD player just fine.  I really like that both formats are included.  They only contain the 6 video lessons and the other 12 lessons are in the book.  I also love that a master materials list is included at the beginning of the book.  We found this so helpful when we reviewed Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary, K-3 Vol. 1. It definitely helps to prepare for the lessons ahead of time.  If you already have the materials from Vol 1 then you are ahead of the game.  The materials are easy to obtain and you will find that you have most of them already in your homeschool stash.  All other items can be easily found online or at a local art and craft store.  Each individual lesson has a list of materials (from the master list) needed for that specific project.

Materials list for all 18 lessons

Quick Guide for time periods covered in history

The lessons are set up to only take about 10 minutes of your time in teaching.  We spend a little more time talking about the lesson but the point is that it takes very little of your time.  The rest is up to the kids!  The book is well organized and has ancient history woven throughout the pages.  Some topics covered include:

• European Cave Drawings
• Near-Eastern Clay Works
• Minoan Fresco Painting
• Egyptian Murals
• Egyptian Wall Painting
• Near Eastern Relief
• Greek Pillars
• Greek Poetry
• Etruscan Wall Painting
• Roman Carvings
• Roman Portrait Paintings
• Roman Mosaics
• Roman Early Christian Painting

Projects in Art of the Ancients, K-3 Vol. 2 include pastels, clay, and paper mosaics.  The instructions are easy to follow and the woven in history lesson in just wonderful.  The pages have nice colorful pictures that help to captivate my Kindergartner (did I say she just loves art?).  Teaching art couldn't be any easier and with the extra history lesson, you get a bonus!

Colorful pages, step by step instructions

Little Bug has her own style and can actually draw pretty good for her age, but following instructions and trying to copy a picture prove to be a little challenging for her, but she had fun!  We didn't try any of the clay lessons so that will be our next challenge (oh my!).

Having fun albeit messy with chalk pastels!

Finished product

Don't be intimidated and think you can't teach art.  With ARTistic Pursuits, you can!  We really enjoyed Art of the Ancients, K-3 Vol. 2 and can't wait to try out some of the clay projects.  We also look forward to trying out some other books in the series.  You can connect with ARTistic Pursuits Inc. on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, and INSTAGRAM.

Won't win any art contests but we had fun!

My fellow Homeschool Review Crew members all reviewed different books in the K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8 series so be sure to click the link below to see what they have to say about other books in this series. We reviewed Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary, K-3 Vol. 1 last year so check that review out also.