Boy oh boy, we have had a full house!  As Michael had updated a short while ago, we have had friends (Jason, Chloe, and Jake) staying with us as “refugees” from New Orleans.  Their home made it through Hurricane Gustav with minor damage, thank the Lord.  They were set to leave when Hurricane Ike showed up!  This one is a very large storm, so even getting hit by the outskirts of it is going to be a bumpy ride.  Finally, on Tuesday, it appeared that Ike would mostly bypass New Orleans, so they headed home.  We were truly sad to see them go.  We have even renamed their evacuation as their “evacation” and look forward to hurricane season next year!  We enjoyed them so much.  (Lesson Plans 4 Teachers has some great links to lessons on hurricanes and Enchanted Learning has fun printables related to hurricanes as well.)

Homemade Homeschoolers is all about finding creative ways to enrich our children’s education on the homeschooling journey.  So, while our friends were here, I jumped on an opportunity!  Chloe is an artist by trade and I requested that she teach art to the kids while she was here.  She was happy to do so, and we had so much fun in the process.  For one lesson, she used the color wheel to teach primary, secondary, and complimentary colors, shading and tones.  The kids also had fun with a project at the end of the lesson.

Color Wheel Lesson for elementary grades:

• First, draw a large circle for each child (we used rolled art paper, but any large paper or poster board would work as well) and divide the circle into wedges labeled 1 through 6 (like a pie).
• Begin with wedge number 1 and have the child paint it red.  Tempera paints are the most “child friendly” type to use in these projects.  Follow with painting wedge 3 yellow and painting wedge 5 blue.  These are the primary colors.  Have the child write out the primary colors on the paper margin and dab those colors next to the names.
• For the secondary colors, have the child mix the colors used in the bordering wedges.  For example, wedge 2 would mix red from wedge 1 with yellow from wedge 3, then paint wedge 2 with the resulting orange.  Do this for wedges 4 and 6, painting them green and purple.  *Have the child do the mixing on a separate palette (we use paper plates), this is a fun part of the learning process.*  Write out the secondary colors on the margin of the paper and dab the colors next to the names as well.
• Next, explain complimentary colors as the colors opposite each other on the color wheel.  For example, yellow would be complimentary to purple, orange to blue, and red to green.  Also indicate these on the margin of the paper with dabs of those colors as visual reminders.  In this way, the child has a study guide made by themselves that can hang in an area they visit often.

Finished Color Wheel Project

Lesson on Shading and Tones:

• Shading is changing the color you start with by adding either the lighter or darker primary color next in line on the color wheel.  Take a strip of paper and color one rectangle in a primary color (ex: red).  Next, add a drop of an adjacent primary color (ex: yellow to go lighter or blue to go darker).  Mix on a pallete and paint a rectangle of this new color next to the first rectangle.  Continue by adding drops of the second color to the initial mixture and painting rectangles after mixed.  You will end up with a visual gradient of shading either going darker or lighter dependent upon the colors you use.
• To change the color tone you will follow this same procedure, except you will add drops of white for lighter tones and drops of black for darker tones.  You will end up with a visual gradient of lighter or darker tones of the original color.

Finished Shading Project

Art Project using Primary and Secondary Colors:

• Have children choose a partner.  On a large sheet of paper, each child will trace their partner’s head and shoulders.  They will then paint the features of their partner on the paper.  (For a solitary child, you can trace them and they will paint themselves.)  The only rule is this:  they can use only the primary and secondary colors on the color wheel (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple) and they must use each color at least once.  They can paint seriously or have fun using their imaginations!

For more pictures of our lesson and the kids’ finished artwork, visit our new HMHS Community Refrigerator!  Feel free to add your own pictures as well.

This is very basic art and color theory, but my kids had never had lessons in it before and I know this is true for many other homeschoolers as well.  We had lots of fun and the results are hanging in the schoolroom for reference.  I think using the opportunity of Chloe being here with us turned out to be a great idea.  We all need to think of people we have contact with that may have talents they can share with our children.  Approach them and request a time for them to teach you something new, or swap times with another homeschool mom or dad!

To discuss more about Art and learning opportunities, please visit the Homemade Homeschoolers Forum.