Living Life: Hour By Hour: Review: ArtAchieve

We have recently found an art program that really works for all of us. We've been using the Entire Level 1 by ArtAchieve and it's been wonderful. These art lessons were really a big hit in our family. Our middle, 15, and the youngest, 10, and I have been working through the first level. Our daughter has been ASKING to do art almost every day and there have been NO tears from the youngest. Between the two of those makes this program a success in my book! I decided to start with Level 1 because of our youngest. He's the youngest in the family and has struggled with fine motor skills his entire life, so I thought starting with the lowest level would be best. I think it was the best decision because I've seen a few struggles with certain lines or shapes, but it didn't overwhelm him and that's what is important to me.

I like the way the level is set up having the warm-up, the powerpoint & video version of the drawing as well as the page that shows you what it should look like. The warm-up is a great idea because it gives you a chance to practice some of the lines that you will encounter in your drawing. I thought this part of the program benefited our youngest the most.

I personally thought our kids would prefer the video version to draw with, but they both liked the powerpoint presentation. They preferred it because any new section to be drawn was shown in red. This was really helpful to our children and myself :) I like that both options are given, so that if one child preferred it one way and another the other way you would have both :)

I liked that the author, John Hofland, has given us lots of extras beyond just a "drawing lesson." He has included, for each lesson, cross-curricular connections. He's given us links for social studies, writing, literature and science that add an entirely new dimension to this art program. For example in Level I-Lesson 3-The Hungarian Insect we can learn facts about Hungary such as it's history, geography and native insects. We could read books on other insects and even write a story. ArtAchieve can be an art program for your family or turn into wonderful unit studies!

I think our daughter spent the most time on her drawings. She really got into them and even though it says NOT to start over she did a few times. I could really tell how much she was enjoying this program and how at ease it made her with her artwork! I don't feel like I have any artistic ability, but I felt with the step-by-step instructions I did some decent work. It was nice to sit with the kids and just draw and color :) Here are some samples of the work the three of us did together.

This last project I decided to use markers. Less than half-way through I realized I couldn't stand the marker lines, but what could I do? (LOL) At the end I wondered if I could use a wet brush to smooth the lines, but it made it look like my sun was crying :( My daughter said she liked it that way, so I figured I'd share. Even when it's not something you love it can still be enjoyed :)

There are 5 levels available and the age ranges vary. The age recommendations are as follows:

Level I-Ages 5 and up

Level II-Ages 7 and up

Level III-Ages 9 and up

Level IV-Ages 10 and up

That being said when we used it we had myself, 43, our 15 yo daughter and our 10 yo son. I felt like Level I fit us just perfect. The levels also vary in price and there are bundle option available HERE. We didn't have to buy any special art supplies for the projects we used. We owned everything we needed and a few times we used a different item just to see what it would look like. This is an online subscription, so it's easy to access anywhere you are.