I was recently introduced to a great art & drawing lessons resource for homeschoolers called The Virtual Instructor. The site offers both free and premium art lessons via video tutorials.
The instructor, Matt Fussell—who is not only an excellent artist but a wonderful teacher—contacted me a few weeks ago to let me know about his website. He also graciously agreed to give my family a complimentary membership so I can look over everything the site has to offer and review it for my readers. And I must say, I was quite impressed!
The Review
The Virtual Instructor is a website full of video-based art lessons and tutorials, some of which are accessible for free. The reasonably-priced annual membership option gives you complete access to the site (and it also has a 30-day money back guarantee). He's also offering a "try it for $1, and cancel anything" promotion so you can see what full access includes.
This is what members have access to.
- 5 complete video courses that total over 20 hours of course video and over 600 pages of ebooks.
- Live streamed lessons each week for 1 hour.
- Downloads of every single video so you can watch offline.
- Planning materials for teachers/parents. Each lesson includes presentation materials, handouts, videos, essential questions and more.
Here's an example of one of his art lessons about drawing hands.
My 10-year-old daughter Joely has been poring over the site for the last few weeks. She has completed "The Secrets of Drawing" course and has been watching as many of the other videos as she can as well. She's thoroughly enjoyed the lessons, and even though it's been a short time since she started The Virtual Instructor, I've already noticed a marked improvement in her skills.
Here's what Joely says about The Virtual Instructor.
"My favorite thing about The Virtual Instructor is that whatever you want to learn about, he has a video or a live lesson on that topic. There is watercolor. There is acrylic painting. Graphite. Anything you want to learn! I've been at it for a few weeks and I've improved a lot."
a few years back, my daughter and I participated in a 3 day art intensive course. We did water colors, pens, pencils, oils and all kinds of different styles and techniques. It was a great experience. The artist tours the US and offers these classes. We ended up purchasing his curriculum and have loved it. He has all kinds of different art history offerings as well. Check out http://www.howgreatthouart.com.
I'd love to win this! So far, we haven't used a formal art program. We've used co-op classes and projects included with our curriculum.
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We have use Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl & Kim Solga. It was a great hands on curriculum allowing the kids to explore different mediums & finding out about artists both classic & modern. Would LOVE to have access to this for our family!
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I've been following Five J's on Facebook for some time!
Definitely just started following Virtual Instructor on Facebook now!
I subscribed to: http://www.youtube.com/user/thevirtualinstructor!
I have never used an art or drawing program with my children. I've just never made time for it. One of those things that gets pushed to the side. I've been looking at different art curricula and I'd love the opportunity to use this.
I already sub via email. 🙂
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I follow The Virtual Instructor on FB.