Art in Action is a fabulous program for school-aged children that nurtures a love of art and quality education in terms of art history, appreciation, and technique. Previously, Art in Action was only available through public and private schools. This was the one thing I was really sad about missing when we decided to start homeschooling my daughter. Now the Art in Action curriculum is available for home-based learning!

There are nine modules, each containing 12 lessons. I started with Art Around The World so I could get a good feel for the lessons and the process to teach them. The first project we did was the one based on the art of Grant Wood.

The steps are broken into eight sections: overview, artist, discussion, planning, set up, directions, assessment, resources. The set-up was really easy as I was able to print a pdf template for the heads and another about how to draw the faces. My daughter did really well on this. I must say I was very impressed. Unfortunately, I found out that the oil pastels I got were really cheap quality when she ran into a bit of trouble with smudging them.

I love the fact that there are videos for each part. They are clear, detailed, and short. It’s like you have a qualified art professor giving one-on-one instruction. You are given a brief biography of the artist and the art concepts are simply outlined. I merely had to be the teacher’s aide in setting up, assisting, and then cleaning up.

My daughter had fun and was able to learn a lot. The line of the mouth can express emotion (upturned at the ends for happy, straight for serious, and downturned on the ends for sad). Perspective was taught in the size of the images. Patterns and shapes make even a detailed picture very simple. I was able to learn a lot as well.

I hope they will offer an option in the future for a supply kit for each module. It was a bit time consuming and expensive to get the materials needed. Plus, I know nothing about art brands so didn’t know if what I was buying was good quality-which I found out wasn’t.

You do not need any formal training. These are the types of lessons I send my daughter to art class for but I was pleasantly surprised to find it could be done right at home. It’s a lot less expensive too. $39.99 for 12 lessons is much less than outside classes.

Carrying out the lessons is painless and is a great chance for you to bond with you child. We’re getting ready for the next lesson in a bit!

Disclosure: I was provided with access to one Art in Action @ Home module at no cost in order to test the product. The review presented here is 100% my honest opinion.