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Art doesn't have to be paper based -- you can also do things like woodworking, sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, beading, cake decorating, latch hook rugs, needlepoint, tatting . . . The ideas are endless! These type of projects can be very beneficial to all kids because it helps their fine moter skills. Fine moter skills come in very handy when you want to have good penmanship, so in my opinion art has a very good place in the homeschool.
Also some parts of art is easily be covered through reading books about famous artists. There are also many books that contain pictures of famous paintings to browse through. An example of an art activity could be this:
Read a book (or article in the encyclopedia) about Leonardo Da Vinci. Find pictures of some of his paintings. (Ex: "The Mona Lisa") Write a story about one of his pictures. For example write a story about what the lady in "The Mona Lisa" might be thinking about, what you think her family was like, what you think she was going to do after her day of having her portrait painted?There is also a well-written text book series called "Art Stories" that is old and out of print -- but sometimes you can find used copies at sites that sell used books. The series is written for first through third grade students. There are three books, one for each grade. Each book contains stories of children learning about art -- like how colors mix to make other colors, sculpting and interior designing. Scattered through out the books are pictures of famous paintings, drawings and statues. These books are part of the Curriculum Foundation Series, published by Scott, Foresman and Company in the year 1934. The exact tittles of the books are "Art Stories Book One", "Art Stories Book Two" and "Art Stories Book Three". All three books have a blue cover.
There are coloring books out there that are of famous paintings. One such coloring book that our family owns is called "Masterpieces" by Mary Martin. It is published by Running Press. It is from the Start Exploring series. When I use the book, I pick a page and then find a picture of the painting on the internet to print out. Then I give the coloring page and the printout of the picture from the internet to my daughter and have her color the picture as close to the original as possible. I do not let my daughter look through the coloring book since there are some pictures that are of nudes or other questionalbe content -- but there are enough other pictures to make the coloring book worth buying anyway. On some of the pictures if she can't find the exact color in her colored pencils, she will use more than one color and blend them until the right color is reached.