Review: ArtAchieve

Imagine taking an art class in the comfort and freedom of your own home... professional lessons, art lessons for children, provided by ArtAchieve.  I don't know if you remember that the lad and I reviewed this last year, and were delighted to review for ArtAchieve again, this year broaching the Entire Level III.  Boy.. has it been fun.  :)

One of the things I love, after various conversations with John, is how he holds true to his statements.
He believes anyone can learn to draw, that it is not a skill only for the talented but for anyone.  It's a necessary skill that improves one's abilities in many other subjects. He structures his lessons in such a way that if you want to learn to draw a cat, your cat will LOOK like a cat.  :)  At the same time, he leaves plenty of room for creative self-expression, so the cat you draw will be YOUR cat, not his, not your neighbours, but all yours.   Learning to draw means paying attention to what you are observing, it means thinking creatively which spills over to other subjects.  Doing art helps you cover history, geography, literature and more.   I know it has helped us in our Canadian Studies!  :)

Come.. explore ArtAchieve with us, won't you?

Once you have logged into ArtAchieve you will be brought to a page with all your lessons.

Each lesson, if you click on the (+) sign opens into usually four sections.

The way you approach the lesson influences which version you use.  My son wasn't keen on the video as he needed to stop and start it all the time.   He would rather not do that.  He quickly learned that the powerpoint version worked best for him.   One slide at a time with little dots below that he could shift between.  He could quickly skip ahead to see the final result or he could jump a few buttons back to review that he did a step properly.

The son was busy.. ever so busy with having fun about the armadillo as a turtle rabbit.  I raise rabbits so he was bugging me about how many some of them might want to become turtles so I better watch out for turtle rabbits. AND DON'T get him started on the German.. oh my!!!!    11 year olds and their sense of humour eh?  We could just see those little armoured turtle rabbits running around.  It just made us laugh together. :)  Each lesson John adds these "curriculum connectors" as I call them, where he gives some of the history of the animal used, or the art form involved.  He throws in history, geography, science and what not.  Art is such a cross-curricular subject and it just neat to see the Cross Curricular Connections he makes.

Each lesson starts off the same (except for the stop action lesson at the end of level three).  A line drawing to complete (so you can practice drawing the parts of the subject matter) and a supplies list.  You can also find a supply list for all the lessons under supplies when you login, though I found it wasn't as complete as the in-lesson supply list.

We ran into one lesson where we didn't have the acrylic paints needed so I emailed John to find out how necessary they were or if we could make do with oil or tempura paints, or if pencil crayons might work as well.   He said "Go ahead all those will work".  :)  So we did.   I just love art programs that are accommodating as that's how I approach art! I figure what is important.. the medium or the learning the style taught?   Granted, if a lesson is about HOW to do work with pastels.. well..then you want to use pastels.  But this lesson was about how to do form lines and plain lines so the materials used didn't matter quite as much.

Each lesson contains a different art lessons, whether about form lines, working in 3rds, or working with different mediums like glue and aluminum foil.    The art lessons are short and illustrated well.  

The lad and I finished two projects.  We worked through them slowly as that helps my perfectionist son take the time that needs to do a job well.

For this project we were supposed to draw an armadillo.

But the lad wanted to do a pokemon character and I thought

I'd try a cat.   The lad helped with the cat feet as I was struggling with them,

I helped the lad with curving the leaves of his Oddish.

The lad thoroughly enjoyed this project once he saw it finished!

This totem project was a time-taker.  

We did one section at a time to draw, doing the black form lines went quickly.

The lad was hesitant about doing the colour, until he started

and then he figured out how he wanted it to go.

One of the things I really appreciated was how John showed us different options for how a finished project might look.  Sometimes they were quite different from each other but it drove home how different people do can do the same art project and have it turn out completely differently.  It gave the lad the freedom he needed to do his OWN art. We talked alot doing each art piece, discussing methods, colour, types of pencils, marker yes or not, how to make easy lines within a colour (use white crayon!) and so much more.  We learned alot about the Pacific coast people.  Here's a bit we learned while doing our totem poles.

In fact we actually have a problem... we don't agree on which project we should do next... should it be the frog (the lad) or the Canada geese (me)?   We can put a Canadian spin on both you know?  :)

I have to admit, I'm looking forward to when we do the Canada Goose lesson, check out some of the Cross Curricular Connections we'll be able to do.   We'll be able to visit websites to learn facts about geese, do a character study via youtube, read good books about geese, and more.  I can see us looking up Canada Geese migrating and perhaps finding out why some geese stick around all winter!  You find this under the art lessons tab.


If you are intrigued by ArtAchieve I strongly urge you to try out the free lesson!  See for yourself if John's way of teaching works well for you.  :)  Really.. you won't regret it!

Vendor: ArtAchieve
Product Name and Links: Entire Level III

Cost For Level Three: Individual Lesson $6 each, bundles of three for $16, or the entire course for $58.50
Received: One Year of Level III.

100 of us are reviewing John's great art program.  Click here to read more (or the image below).     The other levels are: Entire Level I , Entire Level II and Entire Level IV

Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Artachieve   @ArtAchieve
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnahofland   @johnahofland
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtAchieve   @ArtAchieve
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/artachieve   artachieve
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+JohnHoflandartachieve   ArtAchieve

Hashtags: #hsreviews  #artachieve, #artlessonsforkids, #homeschool #artclassesforkids, #drawinglessonsforkids

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Books read in April

This month has seemed very busy, so I'm trying to recall what all we read this month.   Not as much as some months.  :)

Oh.. before I begin I have to tell you this funny story.

I told my mom-in-law how much we enjoyed the book Irish Chain... and suggested she read it.  She's about 78 years old and she liked this book so much she stayed up all night.  Oh my...she looked so tired and frail but wow.. she was full of her enjoyment of it.  :)   Gave her and the lad much to talk about. 


It took her four days to recover from her reading adventure.  :)




So what else did we read this month?
We're continuing our natural world adventures with Natural world.   We're in the midst of learning about a variety of birds. It was rather interesting today, we had recently learned about swallows, and today we saw some swallows in real life.  My lad was fascinated!

The lad is continuing to read through Shepherd, Potter, Spy and Star-Namer.  Tells me he likes it.   His bed-time reading is all about the Warrior Cat series by Erin Hunter.

At breakfast we are reading the Golden Goblet.
So far this book has us very intrigued.  Has the lad asking lots of questions about why the boy's brother has to be so mean.  

I'm glad my lad doesn't really understand such cruelty.. he hasn't experienced it.  I'm also pleased that it bothers him as much as it does me.



We are also reading a book about animals in urban life (very interesting), a book about Canada (a bit young but the lad asks questions so good), and a book about muskoxen (more fascinating than you might think).  OH... And we are also reading a second book in the Rip and Red series (review coming soon).   I don't have pics as the books are upstairs in my sleeping sons room.


I have just started a new book: A Train in Winter. I picked it up at the hospital's rummage sale.  I was hoping it would be written as a novel, but it wasn't.   Still interesting, but won't be as fun a read.  Well..I phrased that poorly.. as reading about women in the French resistance who were shipped to a death camp from the Nazi's wouldn't ever be a "FUN" read, but more clinical I guess this will be.

So far it's been a good explanation as to why the French started to resist so much against German occupation.



Oh Remember Fledgling from last month?   I have the boys hooked, so we're listening to it on MP3's in the car!   They like it so much we're into book two!  AND they are mad that I want to listen ahead to book three so my listening fun has been curtailed a bit.  :(

Avian is not a book for young listeners though as there is a fairly NASTY fellow in the book who likes hurting people.   But Javed holds true to who he is learning he really is, even if others warn him not to be.   A compelling story that the lad says "NO drive around the block, drive longer!!  PLEASE!!!!"


I also read a Valdemar compendium.. thoroughly enjoyed it.  :)
Tempest.  It's fun to read fan fiction.. to see what people come up with that's in the light of the whole series.

Some of the stories are really well done, others just leave you wondering "what were they thinking!!!" cause it seems so off.

This one was quite well done.



And that's all I have in my brain for now.   NOTE!  A linky is up at the end of the post so... join in!

Books read for reviews:

Curious Constructions.  Engineering marvels from around the world.
Fish Girl.  A well done graphic novel.
Quick tips for busy families.  Parenting hacks
Your Next 24 Hours.   A book to teach us how to be kind.
John Deere, that's Who.   I liked this meaty picture book.
Once Upon a Time Storybook.   I had mixed feelings about this bible story book
God's Easter Miracles.  Picture book for Easter for children.


This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/