HIGASFY Art History Video Series ~~ A New TOS Review!!

Adding art education has always been something we put high on our list to add especially when my middle child is an 'artist to be', but it can be hard to make it fun and educational. However I think that is excatly what we stumbled across during our review of the online subscription of HIGASFY Art History Video Series and ALL my children have truly enjoyed every episode and activity!!!

HIGASFY sounds like a silly name for a program but it stands for Have I Got a Story For You so it's really an acronym.  In the intro to each video you meet Gasfy, a paint droplet who lives in a bucket in Ms. Beth's art room. Ms. Beth is the author and storyteller of the video lessons in the HIGASFY Art History Video Series. Together they delve into the history surrounding each artist that is taught in this series which covers 4 major artistic eras of time - Renasissance, Baroque, Impressionist, and post-Impressionits.

All of the eras of the HIGASFY Art History Video Series are available by DVD, flash drive, or as an online subscription. We decided to begin our 3 month online subscription in the Impressionist era and have made great progress through it (we're almost complete with this whole section!) and can't wait to start the Renaissance period next!

Each period of art you will explore the major artists that were known for that era within the 12 videos. There are a few extra lessons in each section for Free Draws and also the intro lesson which has your child make a portfolio to keep all their art. Since we are in between our rental house and our newly bought house and we don't have access to ALL of our art materials we pushed off making portfolios until we get fully moved in. Until then we are keeping them on a high shelf safe from accidental bending or crushing.

Her completed Haystacks

During the ~20 min video lessons, Ms. Beth discusses the artist in a fun and engaging way, while interacting with Gasfy. This is all done in her workshop but then she adds in the actual art and even takes us close up and 'marks' what we should be looking for (like where the light is coming in or hidden people that are far away so they look so small.) Ms. Beth is a master storyteller who really has a love for both art and history and catches the attention of all who hear her stories.

In the Curriculum Bundle you also receive online resources which include Lesson Plans, Art Flashcards, and a Name That Artist Powerpoint for each of the art eras.

Flashcards for each era

First page of lesson has objectives and activities.

further pages include vocab, critical thinking, writing, geography, and even science for some!

The lesson plans I found very informative with critical thinking questions; hands-on art activities; vocabulary about art, the artist, and the era; and as you go deeper in the era you will even explore topics of science, geography, writing and more! It was so similar to an art era unit study and I think it's wonderful!

Finding Italy, specifically Scicly.

Working on word search

Find 10 things in the famous painting

Label the kind of painting

Drawing an outline map

watching a video lesson he missed

Watching a lesson and learning about caricature.

Watching a lesson on Monet.

One of the activities for one of the lessons was to go to a local art museum and search for art of the artists we were learning. While we were at our local museum we didn't find an artist, but they had a station that was set up for children to use and make their own still life (which is something that many artists did). Each of my kids created their own still life and I took a picture so that later they could sketch it and then also draw, color, or paint it. I loved the hands-on features of this series.

Audrie's favorite still life at the museum.

Audrie's still life

Seanan found a war scene.

Seanan's still life

Here are some of the words that my artist daughter has to say about HIGASFY Art History Video Series:

They are fun and enjoyable to watch. You learn about art and history at the same time. It's easier for me to do because we watch the video and then we use the lesson plans and go over the questions. There are comprehension question, geography, vocabulary, and every lesson has several activities to choose from. I've drawn a self portrait (not my favorite), landscapes, perspective drawing, a caricature. We also have learned of artists I knew like Monet, but then I learned so much more. We even got to explore art at a local museum and try to find the artists while we were there. Funny enough the local museum also had a station where we could create our own still life which is one of the styles of art that The Salon liked their artists to draw. We have been working through the Impressionist period, but there are also Post-Impressionist, Baroque, and Renaissance. All of the categories have about 12 lessons and each lesson has many different subjects touched on ... sort of like a unit study would. We have even gone to the library to get books on things that interest me that were introduced to me by Ms. Beth in the video lesson. We are almost done with the Impressionists and we've learned a lot about Monet, Pissaro, and Degas. After each of the major artists there are 3 sets of word searches and crossword puzzles to help us remember all we've talked about. Then after we're done we can use the Flashcards for the art style to match up artists with their art. There's another helpful piece called the Name that Artist where you see a piece of art and it's name as well as the name of the artist who created it. That's helpful to really learn the art by what it looks like. I've really enjoyed this curriculum and can't wait to delve into the Renaissance art next.

My daughters rendition of Haystacks.

 This is a well thought out art history for kids program and I would highly recommend you check out the HIGASFY Art History Video Series for yourself. You can also find them on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram. I also would suggest you to view some more of the Homeschool Crew Reviews by clicking the link below.