Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Art for All

Homeschool Review Crew

Creating a Masterpiece

I am horrible at art.  I know it’s not the done thing to say but really I can draw stick people and that’s about it.  My kids love art though and I often feel that I am not a good choice to teach them.  Are you like me or are you good at art?  Good news!  If you’re like me there is a great program that teaches art for all!

Creating a Masterpiece is an online resource for teaching art for all ages from little to adult. As an avid history lover, I was especially excited to be able to review their Art History Program which combines art and the history of art for those taking the course. 

About the Program

Sharon Hofer is responsible for Creating a Masterpiece and their online art curriculum.  She teaches the classes on video.  She truly believes that anyone can create a masterpiece (thus the name) and wants to help give them the confidence to do so.  

The videos offer step by step instructions because she wants anyone from young child to grandparent to be able to follow them and create their own masterpieces.  Sharon has studied for decades from art masters throughout the world to learn all that she knows and shares with everyone through her program. 

The Programs

Within Creating a Masterpiece there are many subcategories that break down the areas of learning so you can choose where you wish to learn.  They also give you a bit of what level they are so you know if it’s a beginner or more advanced. 

These categories are:

• Core Beginner Level
• Core Levels 1-5
• Beginning Drawing 1 and 2
• Drawing Level 1-6
• Styles of Art in History
• Historically Themed Projects
• Exploring the Art of Yesterday
• Capstone Program

The lessons give you everything you need for success.  You can even use their link to purchase all of the necessary supplies or use the list to make sure you have everything you need. 

Our Thoughts

This was so fun to do along with my older kids. Yes, my younger kids used it too but honestly they were not that into it yet.  When I say younger kids in this instance I mean my 8, 5, and 3-year-olds.  While they enjoyed doing the beginning drawing it definitely was a bit above for the younger two and they all three needed more help than I normally can give. 

So, how did they use it? 

I had an older child sit with each(a teenager with a bent for art) and they all watched the program together learning and doing as they went along.  The older child helped as much as they could to make the younger child have confidence in their art.  

Next would be my middle kids. 

Middle kids are those ages 11 through 13.  I have three in this age range as well.  While the 13-year-old could have gone up to the “teenage” group I kept him down as there are five in the teenage group.  I definitely veered them towards the history side.  

This was the age range I did art with as I really wanted to use the history sections as I love learning about history.  Our favorite project was the stained glass but it took a bit longer than I thought it would. 

First, you get the information about the time period.  This is probably my favorite part where it tells you the why and how and who and what this is based on. 

Next comes the supply list.  You can just view the list or purchase the supplies through the company as well.  Some projects will have things you will have on hand while others might require you to plan ahead and purchase something special. 

Once you get into the lesson there can be one or more lessons.  Each lesson is broken up into sections.  You can do one section a day or you can do multiple in one day.  Depending on the age range and attention span will probably determine how many you do. 

Now for the teenagers. 

I pretty much gave the teenagers free range.  They each were required to use the program and create at least one project per month but most of them were doing one per week.  Some of the projects do have more lessons and because of that, they can take more than one week to do each one. 

One lesson that my teenage sons particularly liked was the cannon. 

With the title you get the time period and what type of project it will be.  This one was ink.  I personally did it in pencil first because I had to make sure I wasn’t going to ruin it with one wrong move!

This one only has one lesson but it has lots of different sections to go through. If you go back to the first picture that has the history of this you will see that it is ranked as difficulty level 2.  Paying attention to those levels will help you in determining which is right for you and your child.

Final thoughts. 

This is a wonderful program.  It really could be called art for all because it talks you through everything that you’re doing.  One step at a time.  Even people like me who have no artistic bent can complete the projects.  They may not look as good as my children’s do but they got done!

Learn More

You can learn more about the art for all courses and what other reviewers thought of it plus what projects they worked on by reading all of the reviews linked up on the Main Blog Post. 

Creating a Masterpiece can also be found on Facebook and YouTube.