The art class I taught at our co-op September through June was my first experience offering a yearlong class (lasting all three trimesters) rather than my usual one trimester, or eight week courses. It was a very educational experience for me as well as my students!
There were a couple reasons I decided to teach a yearlong art class. Yearlong classes are a bonus in that they stay on the schedule between trimesters. This makes life easier for our scheduler - one less hole to fill! I had been thinking it would be good to try it at least once. Then, academic classes are nice, because they make lost study time at home feel more worthwhile. My classes tend toward the fun side, so I felt I should try something more academic. Plus, I've always wished we had done more crafting in our homeschool. This was meant to be a last attempt to make up for that before Kylen entered junior high.
Overall, I think it was a good class and the students learned a lot. Because we only had one hour, I had to choose between doing longer crafts and incorporating an educational portion consisting of videos and printouts. I decided to go with shorter crafts. Fortunately, I was still able to use the full hour a couple days each trimester for more involved crafts. I'll be sharing my favorites!
It was wonderful discovering so many amazing artists and art forms I didn't know existed, but it also felt like too much time and creative energy were focused here. I found out that shorter commitments work better for my style and personality. In the future, I'll stick with one trimester classes, though I'm glad I tried it once! It was a great learning experience!
There were a couple reasons I decided to teach a yearlong art class. Yearlong classes are a bonus in that they stay on the schedule between trimesters. This makes life easier for our scheduler - one less hole to fill! I had been thinking it would be good to try it at least once. Then, academic classes are nice, because they make lost study time at home feel more worthwhile. My classes tend toward the fun side, so I felt I should try something more academic. Plus, I've always wished we had done more crafting in our homeschool. This was meant to be a last attempt to make up for that before Kylen entered junior high.
Overall, I think it was a good class and the students learned a lot. Because we only had one hour, I had to choose between doing longer crafts and incorporating an educational portion consisting of videos and printouts. I decided to go with shorter crafts. Fortunately, I was still able to use the full hour a couple days each trimester for more involved crafts. I'll be sharing my favorites!
It was wonderful discovering so many amazing artists and art forms I didn't know existed, but it also felt like too much time and creative energy were focused here. I found out that shorter commitments work better for my style and personality. In the future, I'll stick with one trimester classes, though I'm glad I tried it once! It was a great learning experience!
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