To read about “Our Twist” in general, please click here.
ART
Art can be very expressive of feelings and emotions but that is not always the main purpose of it. We don’t get into a lot of busywork, art history, sculptures, or analysis of famous paintings in our product-line. We want to encourage good, creative imagination but we especially want to focus on the development of physical skills that can be applied in other areas of life.
Peppermint Stick Learning Company Inc. focuses on these aspects of the visual arts:
Art skills are practical for developing fine motor coordination (which in turn helps with writing and work such as screwing things together, taking out slivers, etc.).
Art skills are practical to make a teaching tool or visual reminder for better memory of something. (These skills are also helpful to know when designing presentations in other subjects, even as an adult.)
Art can be a craft that teaches a specific skill such as weaving, mixing colours, making candles.
Art can be a reflection/expression of worship to God.
Our art curriculum leaves the creative expression part up to the individual student while giving guidance for a variety of skills. It is intended to fit well into a busy home life with a number of children of varying stages. Our art curriculum (printed book format or printable pdf ebook) a resource to be used year after year and is arranged with multi-grade teaching in mind.
We also sell professional artwork which can be used for additional crafts or Bible Memory, in the home or in ministry settings such as Sunday Schools or camps.
A “Mom-to-Mom” comment: If you want motivating and beautiful drawing or painting lessons for your children on a regular basis, you might like to subscribe to the Nature Friend Magazine: https://www.naturefriendmagazine.com/
(Full disclosure: We do not receive any compensation for recommending you to Nature Friend. This link is here because sometimes our audience wants to find curriculum for drawing/painting lessons and we don’t offer much of that in our business. We do though, have a title for drawing lessons plus a few nature titles that are published by Nature Friend.)
A Workshop about ART!
In May 2020, we made our first video presentation for a homeschool online conference! And the topic was ART! 🙂 If you want to see it, you can register for the full conference (June 13-19, 2020) at the website of ACPEQ (Quebec) – at this link here . (This is not an affiliate link.)
General notes for this workshop are provided in a link below IF there is a conference currently using this workshop so that you can sit back and relax to watch it. (It is a free downloadable pdf printable.) (Otherwise, the notes are not available except through purchase of the DVD.)
Art Workshop NOTES (click here for the printable on the conference date)
Attention Homeschool Leaders: If you are wanting this workshop for your future conference or similar, you are welcome to contact us directly with your request.
Individuals wanting to purchase a DVD copy of this workshop may do so through our shop.
HOME ECONOMICS
In our “Home and Family” category within our online shop, we offer a variety of items such as recipe books (especially those relating to outdoor life, homesteading, or Mennonite-style of cooking), paper stationary items (e.g. bookmarks, stickers, writing papers, blank journals), handiwork supplies (e.g. sewing needles, embroidery kits, blank pillowcases), etc.. We also offer a variety of homeschool planning guides.
Check our “Organizing a Busy Home and School” blog posts for additional ideas too.
Physical (Activity) Education
How you accomplish providing “Phys. Ed” for your children depends on YOUR OWN family’s goals, abilities, and opportunities for where YOU live. You can read more about what WE like to do in this post here and see any current books, toys, etc. that we offer for this subject in the Home and Family section of our shop.
We encourage a physical education that is both fun and practical – skills for work and play!
MUSIC
See recommendations for music studies on the blog at this link.