God & the History of Art - Starting in RTR? Later? Sibling?

[Marie]

If I have a child come in on the second year of the history rotation, would he be able to pick up the art lessons where the older children are? Or is it something you need to start at the beginning and work your way through?

Author: Marie Hazell
Date: 5/20/2004

God and the History of Art is designed for ages 10+ but younger children may be able to use it with help. Our younger daughter (in 2nd and 3rd grade) really did well with the drawing and painting lessons (but I didn't expect her to listen as attentively to the art history part of each lesson.)

Lessons are scheduled in each teacher's manual for the four years of history. We do not do all of the lessons in order. In fact, the lessons do not need to be taught in sequence. A child can begin at any point, even if he didn't do the first year or two of the book.

You can let a child do some of the lessons that he missed if he has an interest in art

[cbollin]

Will God and the History of art work for children who didn't do it in Creation to Greeks? I imagine the history portion would be okay, but what about the drawing lessons? Would we need to go back and do the drawing lessons that were covered in CTG?

It worked ok for us. Doing RtR this year and didn't use God and History of Art during CtG. I did a little summer break "review" with the book however. Just for fun -- on those hot summer afternoons. But we also did a fun drawing time using Drawing with Children for this child.

Crystal

[Julie in MN]

Lori,
You are right that 1/2 of the art in Creation to the Greeks is history-related (Egypt & Greece) so you will have no problem in Rome if you have skipped this.

The other half of art we are doing in Creation to the Greeks includes a large section on Christian Artists, Artists (in general), & the History of Art. Those sections I also think will be easy to skip if you choose, without losing basic drawing skills that will be needed later on.

There are really only a handful of lessons I might try to squeeze in if I were to start in RTR, because they have built up some basic drawing skills in these.
Lesson 1 on frustration (then you could skip the history intro)
Lessons 2-12 on drawing (and maybe 14)
Lessons 16-24 on colored pencils (this could wait until you needed it)
We haven't started the painting yet but there are only a couple of introductory lessons you might want to do on mixing paint (a color wheel page and a page where students were to mix colors to match one of the postcard paintings of a beetle.

Also, several lessons can be accomplished in one sitting easily. For example, the colored pencil section goes thru the color wheel with one day filling in primary colors, one for secondary, and one for tertiary, etc. These could easily be done all at once, when you see colored pencils coming up in a RTR lesson.

Julie

[Julie in MN]

I am wondering: Is it possible that someone could send me a supplies list for God & the History of Art? I would like to have everything available.. at least major items before I start my year. Thanks, Eve Garrison

Hi Eve,

There is more info on GHA in the CTG archives, because that's the year a lot of people start that Art program. Here's one thread with some supply discussion:
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?t=1300

I think the main art supply prep will be to:
* choose a drawing pencil, eraser, and sharpener that you like.
* And then to choose a good set of colored pencils, and add basic colors (the 3 primary colors, plus other common ones like black) if they aren't in the set.
* The paints are not used a lot but they are used on occasion in RTR. You just need acrylics in the primary colors plus white; he teaches you to mix the rest of the colors.
* The author also suggests markers & a black extra-fine Sharpie-type marker. My ds hasn't really used these but he thinks he's a renegade :o)

Julie

[Julie in MN]

This book is used for four years, right? And it goes in chronological order as far as the history part of it goes. But what about the instruction? Does it work if you jump in at the middle of the book because you're starting the 5 year cycle in the middle? Do the lessons build on each other so that we'd be lost if we missed the first half of the book?

Also, one more question. Is this book too advanced for a 2nd grader? Would it be better to use GHA with my older ds and use a different one for ds2nd? Maybe ICDAT? Any ideas from you experienced art teachers out there? :) Thanks!

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:08 am
Here are a couple of places where Marie Hazell and others share that students can begin at any time:
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php ... 5082#p1689 (above)
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?t=542

[cbollin]

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:01 am
My 2006 answers reflect how oldest did it. She's still enjoying the art history in it. She is now enjoying the art with it too --- it just wasn't her strong point for a long time and now she has an interest in it.

My middle child got to do a blend of lessons between I Can Do All Things (which we already owned) as well as doing some drawing/painting lessons from GatHoA. She really enjoyed it. She didn't start GHA until she was in 2nd grade and then only because older sister was in EX1850. Middle gal likes the art lessons in it and even the appreciation lessons. I have no expectation that she's remembering the history part of it. And I don't expect her final product to look as polished as the other stuff.

Both of them (oldest and middle) like the variety of drawing and painting and marker cards and postcard gallery lessons that you get with GatHoA.

p.s. I'm not an experienced art teacher :)
-crystal

[GoodCat]

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:15 am
I have some experience using this with my..then...6dd. When we started CtG this past school year I had a 11dd, 10ds, 8ds, and 6dd. So you can see I had 2 that were under 10.

From my experience it is not the difficult as long as you don't expect perfection. Like Crystal said, " And I don't expect her final product to look as polished as the other stuff. " I just let all the children do the best they could and enjoy what they were doing.

Its been great. My children look forward to art every time we have it. And they are disappointed on the days we don't do it. I also do it with them and enjoying it to.

And like Crystal said before... the younger ones will get it again when they go back through the cycle. When they do, they'll be able to do it more.

As you can tell, I really like GATHOA :)
Cathy

[MelissaB]

We didn't use God and the History of Art last year with CTG, but we will use it this year with RTR. I've been looking at the first part of the book and the beginning lessons seem like they would be good for my child to go through. She struggles with drawing so I think she can benefit from it.

My question is this, should I start at the beginning and let her have those lessons before getting into the section that goes with our Rome study? Or do some of both each week? Would there be any harm in doing the scheduled lessons each week plus one or two from the early lessons? If the lessons go with what we are studying in the week I don't want to miss them. Just wondering what the best plan would be. We might skip some or most of the Egyptian and Greek info (although there are some things in those areas that I want to cover with her).

Thanks!!
Meleasa

Hi, Meleasa, (cool name spelling, btw! )

We are using G&HOA w/ RTR this year and used it last year with CTG. I think you should jump in wherever you are with RTR, and maybe go back to some of the basic lessons as you have time.

Loving RTR - sounds like your family is, too.

Have a great year,
Melissa B.

[Julie in MN]

Yesterday we received our RTR box! Wow, everything looks absolutely FANTASTIC and I'm so pleased with the guide and materials. I absolutely LOVE Marie's guides and find myself excited at the discoveries I make there in each week of plans. There is also SO MUCH MORE to MFW than meets the eye. The Bible portion of RTR is invigorating and I nearly wept after previewing the guide because it is SO INTUITIVE for me to use MFW (it fits my teaching style quite well).

Anyhow, I now regret not ordering God & the History of Art as I love how it is integrated within the plans. So I'm going to order it but feel a bit confused about what is needed. Do I simply order the God & the History of Art book set (with the art cards and all that) plus 2 extra packs of the paint/marker cards (I have 3 students using this)? I intend to order this right away so we can incorporate it into our studies from the get go.

Thanks you guys. I am so thrilled to be back with MFW and AFTER seeing and previewing the materials I had such a PEACE flood over me and a JOY at realizing how much we are going to learn this year.

Katrina

Hi Katrina,
Fun to hear your excitement!

You have a few options with GHA.
1. Just order one set, and make copies of the paint cards (and any drawing lessons you want from the book); this is allowed for your family. The paint cards are not used much at all in CTG and are used more in RTR. Still, there is far more drawing than painting so it is up to you whether you want those sturdy paint cards for each student. Note: If you do plan to do the painting, then you might go back and do those first couple of painting lessons that were assigned in CTG, because they were a good intro (I remember a color wheel page and a page where students were to mix colors to match one of the postcard paintings of a beetle).

2. Order one set plus extra paint/marker cards for your other students, so you have no prep for those lessons and can rely on the pages being printed correctly, on sturdy paper. For drawing lessons, use plain paper, a drawing pad, or copy some of the pages from the book.

3. Order a complete set for each student, so they have their own books to draw in as well. Obviously, this is an option rarely chosen due to the cost, but I have known of some families who enjoyed having a book for each child.

HTH,
Julie

[MelissaB]

I felt that exact same way when we looked at MFW our first year. Truly, it is amazing.

We loved G&HA. By the end of the course, our oldest daughter was drawing really well, and she learned so much.

Have a great year.

[abrightmom]

Oh Melissa, thanks for sharing that.

Thanks ladies. I like Julie's Option 2.

[Missy OH]

Lesson #217. I am not understanding how to dip the brush in the paint. I thought it meant one on top of the other but I don't understand how it will work. Then I'm reading and it's saying put the side of the brush in the paint. I tried googling w/ no success.

Reply from Julie in MN » Tue Nov 01, 2016 11:31 pm
By that point in GATHOA, we weren't doing the art, just the history portion, famous artists, etc. However, I'll take a stab.

I'm seeing it as:
1. squirt some of each color on a palette so you don't mess up your paint jars
2. dip your brush in the first color (the darkest color), just a teensie bit so it will end up just accenting the lighter colors you add next - and you won't end up with just mud
3. dip your brush in each of the next colors (next-darkest and then lighter and lighter colors), grabbing more paint now but taking from the very edge of the blob on the palette so the whole blob doesn't end up a mess
4. now just do some paint strokes and see the varied effect of all the colors that will be mixing fully in some areas and partially in other areas, so the effect is not a flat solid color but something like the leaves and flowers on the Monet postcard

That's my impression, anyways (pardon the pun)
Julie

[Missy OH]

Yes, we never made it this far through the book before. We just read it but my girls love the painting exercises. I think this is something we are just going to have to try out as it still is not making sense to me, but maybe it will to my girls. I will let you know how it goes. I don't think we are going to get to it until next week, though. Thanks for re-explaining the directions, you made more sense than the book did.