Hey Guys! The last couple weeks my son has been taking online drawing lessons using the Entire Level I from ArtAchieve. He was so excited because we missed out on the last review similar and he is a true artist at heart. Let me tell you a little bit about this program and what we thought about it. I love programs that encouraged students to push themselves and art achieve truly believes that everyone can learn to draw and that students should learn to think creatively. There are five different levels to choose from and they suggest that no matter what your age is that you start with lesson I to learn the basics of the program. The first two lessons in level 1 are free as well as a few others, so you can try this program right now without committing and see if it's going to work for your family. The lessons do build skills on each other so I believe it's best to start at level I or II and go from there. I also want to add that the supplies needed for level I and II are very minimal and you probably already have them laying around your house so that's a huge plus!
The Lessons:
Take a look at lesson 5, the dragonfly from Ecuador. Your first thing you see is the warm up sheet. To me this is essential and I would not skip this it as it helps students practice the curves and lines they're going to be drawing. Then you have a PowerPoint version of the lesson (if you prefer) next is the video version which we use and then you have a printout of the dragonfly from Ecuador drawing, which gives students a great size reference for their drawing.
The author, John Hofland does a great job teaching these lessons he doesn't go too fast or too slow and if needed you can always pause or rewind. They do a great job adding in more information so students can learn about the origin of the art. They offer great suggestions for cross curricular connections complete with social studies, writing, literature, science and more. You can find this at the bottom of the lesson page. My son loves to learn about things that are different from our immediate world so he found it very easy and exciting to have these resources available.
The Outcome:
He is a bit of a perfectionist and he did learn to let a little bit of that go and not to judge his picture before he was done. In the end he was always pleased with the outcome. Here are a few of his masterpieces.
Overall, we are both very happy with this program. We are looking forward to using it more in the coming weeks as we complete level I and I'm sure he will be begging me to go to level II soon after. A great thing is that they offer bundles that are very customized and affordable. Don't forget to check out their website, explore it, take the free lessons and see what you think about it. I definitely think it's worth your time.
