ARTistic Pursuits Art Curriculum Review
This post may contain affiliate links.
If you’re looking for a thoughtful and well-rounded way to teach art in your homeschool—especially if you don’t consider yourself an art expert—ARTistic Pursuits may be just the resource you need. As someone who loves crafts and creative expression but has little formal training, I’ve often struggled to be consistent and confident with art instruction. That changed when I discovered ARTistic Pursuits.
About ARTistic Pursuits
ARTistic Pursuits is an award-winning homeschool art curriculum that covers all grade levels—from preschool through high school. It blends visual art instruction with art history, artist appreciation, and hands-on projects. Their updated editions are colorful, engaging, and user-friendly for parents and kids alike.
We had the opportunity to review Early Elementary K-3, Book One: An Introduction to the Visual Arts. This book is perfect for young learners and has been a wonderful fit for our homeschool routine.
What’s Included in the Curriculum
This level includes 36 lessons that integrate visual art concepts, artist studies, and creative projects. The lessons are designed to be completed once per week, making it easy to incorporate into even the busiest homeschool schedules.
Each lesson is broken into three parts:
- What Artists Do – Introduces how artists think, create, and communicate.
- What Artists See – Teaches the elements of art such as shape, color, and line.
- Where We Find Art – Explores art in historical and cultural contexts, such as cave paintings, palace art, and pyramids.
How the Lessons Work
Each lesson follows a three-page structure:
- Page One introduces the concept or term related to visual arts.
- Page Two features a piece of classic artwork along with discussion prompts and questions to help children analyze and appreciate what they see.
- Page Three presents a hands-on art project that reinforces the concept and encourages creative expression. Kids learn techniques and apply what they’ve studied.
What I love most is that the lessons are short and simple—about 10 minutes to read together—and the projects can be completed at your child’s own pace. It requires minimal prep time, which is a big win for busy homeschool parents.
Supplies and Ease of Use
Each book comes with a supply list, and ARTistic Pursuits also offers supply packs to make it even easier to get started. We already owned many of the supplies, and I was able to find the rest locally—except for watercolor crayons, which I’d never heard of before. Thankfully, I found a set on Amazon, and they’ve quickly become a favorite in our art supply bin!
The curriculum is very adaptable. Whether you want to dive into one lesson per week or move more quickly, the flexibility makes it a great fit for all types of learners and homeschool styles.
Other ARTistic Pursuits Levels Available:
- Preschool (Ages 3–5): The Way They See It
- Early Elementary (Grades K–3):
- Book One: Introduction to Visual Arts
- Book Two: Stories of Artists and Their Art
- Book Three: Modern Painting and Sculpture
- Upper Elementary (Grades 4–5):
- The Elements of Art and Composition
- Color and Composition
- Middle School (Grades 6–8):
- The Elements of Art and Composition
- Color and Composition
- High School (Grades 9–12):
- The Elements of Art and Composition
- Color and Composition
ARTistic Pursuits has been a game-changer for our homeschool art time. It provides meaningful, structured art instruction that’s easy for parents to teach—even without a background in art. The mix of artist study, visual analysis, and hands-on creativity keeps my kids engaged and looking forward to each week’s lesson. Best of all, they’re learning to observe and think critically about the art they see in the world around them.
If you’re looking to bring more consistent, quality art education into your homeschool, ARTistic Pursuits is absolutely worth exploring.
Thanks for this review! I’m considering getting Artistic Pursuits for our homeschool this year. 😉 Cass @ TheUnpluggedFamily.com