Veritas Press: History of Art {Review}

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Happy Friday everyone! I am excited to be sharing a review (and a giveaway!) today of Veritas Press’ new History of Art program. If you don’t remember, when we lived in Germany I was lucky enough to be able to teach art to a group of children at the USO there. My lessons always came back to the history of art, and I am always looking to add to my stack of favorite art books.

The truth is, I’ve found the market to be lacking in materials that really make art history accessible to kids. There are some resources, but nothing I’ve found to be comprehensive enough, and easy enough to teach- until now.

VP History of ArtHistory of Art is a textbook-based program, consisting of the workbook, and 32 Art History cards. This program is designed to cover 32 weeks of instruction. It is strictly focused on Western Art, and, as with many of Veritas Press’ programs, has a strong Christian influence. It is printed in full color, on high-quality paper.

Each week, you’ll focus on one card with your child. The lessons are easy to teach. There is no teachers manual, so you just work out of the workbook with your child. I found this program pretty easy to use with the entire family. I feel that the ideal age would be fifth to sixth grade, but my second and kinder both have followed along and enjoyed themselves as well.

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In a week, you’ll read the history card, review the art history song and timeline, read the selection from the workbook, complete the worksheet, learn vocabulary, do art projects, learn about an “Artist of Faith,” complete a review and take a quiz. Each week doesn’t contain exactly the same amount of activities, but even in our fullest week, I’ve found this program to take about two hours to complete (sometimes more if the kids get really into their art projects).

I love that this program makes art history very accessible to kids. I also love that the movements are presented chronologically, and a timeline is included to give the kids an idea of the bigger picture. Art and history belong together- so much is in response to social or political movements, and you can see the world changing in the art. It’s really a beautiful thing, and Veritas Press has done a wonderful job of presenting it in a way that the whole family can enjoy.

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I also really love that this program is EASY for me to teach. I am always short on time; I am always struggling to find time for all the things on our plate. More often than not, art has been put on the back burner in our home, despite my love for it. Bug has always had a love of art (I have taken him to so many art museums- he had no choice but to learn to love it!) but since we moved back to the states, we haven’t been to a single museum. As we have worked through this book, he remembers the projects and paintings we enjoyed together in Europe. I love watching him light up as he remembers seeing the Assyrian sculptures in the Louvre, or doing a cave painting in my art classes.

I recommend this program for just about everyone. I do hope that Veritas Press creates a second edition with non-western art, as there are beautiful Native American, Asian, African and Islamic pieces out there that kids should see and appreciate. If you are using this with your kids, you may want to take a detour here and there to see what other movements are happening around the world, or simply visit a museum during your studies to see the variety of art that exists in our world. That being said- for a western art history course, this is solid and beautiful.

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This program has been such a welcome addition to my home. If you are looking for an art history program, this is the one you want to pick up. This is one of those programs that you can really dig in deep with, if you wanted to do every last suggested activity, and learn the song, and hang the timeline, and do additional reading and research, or you can take it very simply and just read, review and create. It can be adapted to many needs, to large families, to a single student, for Christian and secular homeschoolers alike.

Enter to win! Veritas Press is offering one History of Art set to one lucky reader. Enter to win using the giveaway widget below!

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135 Comments

  1. Thanks for the review. Can you speak more about the art history song? Does the book provide references to music that relates to the painting either by era or style or is it more of a song about the history of art? For instance, Debussy is often associated with the impressionistic period so maybe some of his music is referenced? Thanks!

  2. There are so many artist we love! Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Gustav Klimt, Piet Mondrian. Was lucky enough to visit Italy and that’s where I really fell in love with Michelangelo. Can’t wait to share his work with my kids.

  3. I honestly don’t know much about art, which is why I would love to win something to teach my kids. My daughter loves drawing and is very talented.

  4. I like Grant Wood and his painting of the American Gothic. My family and I saw it at our local art museum last year when it was on public display during a traveling exhibit. It was surreal, but really cool to see it in person!

  5. Living in Europe has really opened my eyes to art and art history, something that I was never really a “fan” of. We’ve loved being able to visit Monet’s garden and so many great museums. I think Monet has been my favorite, and my kids’ too. The kids seem to recognize his work in so many places!

  6. I find Van Gogh’s art interesting, but unfortunately my knowledge of art and art history is limited. This looks like a great resource to enrich our homeschool. Thank you for introducing me to it. I am hoping to win it.

  7. This art book looks very interesting, and We would love to win this for our homeschool. This is an area we need to devote more time and study to because My children LOVE art! Thank you for sharing this resource.

  8. I do not have a favorite “professional artist” – although I have to agree with many of the other commenters that my children will always be my favorite artists.

  9. I absolutely love my daughter’s artwork because it is so pure and thoughtful. Otherwise, I am fond of Van Gogh and Monet.

  10. Thank you for the recommendation. I was looking for an art curriculum to study with my kids, and this sounds very interesting. As for the favorite artist, i would say Russian classics, (i am bias 🙂

  11. Other that the Creator of the Universe …and my children…..I’m not sure who might be my favorite artist….. I need a little Art history myself 😉

  12. This looks like a fun resource. We just finished up a study of 6 different artists and really enjoyed it. This would be a great way to learn about more.

  13. I really enjoy Winslow Homer’s work as well as Andrew Wyeth. And while we’re I’ll mention Wayne Thiebaud, his works make me happy.

  14. Renoir is a favorite as are other impressionists, postimpressionists, pointillists. I enjoy it all. What a great resource to help pass on the love of art.

  15. I really do like ALL the artists….even my kiddos. It’s so personal that you can get something out of every work of art if you look hard enough! 🙂

  16. It is hard to pick one, but I feel like the impressionists really spark emotions in me. I have studied art, after visiting the Lourve and not knowing what anything was I decided to take an art history class. Now I’m an art major (BFA in studio and graphic design). Love this!

  17. I love Monet. What he paints look awesome. This would be such a great book to go with our history curricuilum . Thank you for a chance to win such a great prize.

  18. I love the pointillism era of artists, Seurat, Signac! Thanks fir the chance to win, it would be a great addition!!

  19. I enjoy art by numerous artists including Monet and Van Gogh but my favorite is a local artist that paints many of the scenes where my home in Virginia is, Linda Patrick. I also just saw a entrancing painting done locally in Yuma AZ. It was featured at an art show at the local library. There was an image of a girl swimming among butterflies. I could get lost in the painting.

  20. I don’t have a favorite artist because I have never been interested in art. I need something like this to help me expose my son to art. Thanks for the giveaway!

  21. I had a thing for Munch in high school! Like some of the other previous commenters I would love to learn more along with my boys. Thanks for the opportunity!

  22. I like most of the French Impressionists, I think partly because I studied them in French class in high school. My teacher planned ahead so we learned about the artists and his/her paintings, then visited an art museum where we got to see the paintings we studied! I enjoy Degas because I’ve always been drawn to ballet.

  23. I am so excited to about this product and can’t wait to look through it! I love Salvador Dali. Thanks for the great giveaway!

  24. Van Gogh has been my favorite since I was a little girl. I love his use of color and all the emotion in his paintings! This would be an incredible resource to have! Thank you for the opportunity to win!!!

  25. I love O’Keefe’s flower paintings as well as the Dutch painters that painted so realistically that it it almost hard to believe it is not a photograph.

  26. I have favorite paintings from different artists rather than one specific favorite artist. If I had to choose an artist I think I would probably say Norman Rockwell.

  27. I like Mary Cassatt, and the vivid flowers painted by Georgia O’Keeffe. I would love to do this with my kids!

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