High School Subjects

Fine Arts

Our K-8 curriculum allocates substantial time to visual art, studying it on par with other academic subjects. In high school, core art studies are reduced to two half-credit courses in order to free up time for students to pursue electives of their choice. We encourage students who are interested in pursuing art further to incorporate additional art electives into their high school curriculum.

The Drawing and Composition course uses Artistic Pursuits, an in-depth homeschool art curriculum which teaches art history and art projects in a variety of media. The high school drawing course contains nine units, each with one video lesson and three text lessons that contain art history and a drawing project. We suggest setting aside one-half day per week for art. At the rate of one lesson per week, the course can be completed in eight months.

The Art History course surveys the history of art from ancient to early modern times. While other areas of the world are touched upon, the main focus is on European architecture, sculpture and painting. We use a text on the history of painting which features excellent reproductions of key works as a spine book for the course. In addition to this, students use Great Courses to study iconic works of ancient art and complete an optional module on the European cathedral before progressing to the main European Art History course during the second semester.

Our curriculum does not include core course in music, because we feel this subject is best absorbed by learning to play a musical instrument. If you have never taken music lessons, high school is a great time to start. Music lessons may be added to your curriculum as an elective Fine Arts course.