Pablo Picasso in Homeschool Art

When you think of Pablo Picasso, what comes to mind?! I think the first time I learned about Picasso was in my high school Spanish class. I remember that he was eccentric, known for a variety of different styles, and a native Spaniard.

I have always loved art, writing, and had a creative bent! However, I wasn’t sure if or when I was going to incorporate art into my homeschooling day. When we started homeschooling in 2023, I didn’t make any specific plans, especially for something as specialized as Art History. I was in for a huge surprise! I stumbled across a few resources online, and ended up with an engaging, easy plan to teach my kids some Art History & Techniques.

By some miracle, I loved teaching it, and my kids loved learning it. I love when these things happen by accident!

The Magic of Ambleside Online

If you’ve been in the homeschooling world awhile, you’ve probably heard of Charlotte Mason. (If not, you can read about her here). While searching for some homeschool reading lists for my then-second grade son, I stumbled across Ambleside Online–an extensive resource of free materials for Charlotte-Mason-style homeschooling. The method incorporates art, music, literature, Bible, and nature into the school day, along with other high-quality materials and concepts.

As I browsed the website, I was excited, but also a bit overwhelmed. There was a lot to look at. I was intrigued by the idea of teaching my kids about art, without paying for a museum pass or enrolling them in expensive painting classes. (Only my daughter would enjoy these things, and I didn’t think my sons had the attention span for such a high-cultured field trip quite yet!)

As I browsed the Ambleside Online Website, I realized that everything was organized by year, and “term”. These people were speaking my language! Artists, Composers, Reading Selections, and other high-quality curricular suggestions were organized and listed throughout the site. Perhaps the coolest part was that they partner with A Humble Place to provide free PDFs of the artwork designed for study, that year. Each year, you can download (and print) the designated artists. WOW. I was definitely intrigued.

If you’re interested in looking at this year’s artists or downloading prints, here is the direct link to do so. You’ll see a screen like the one above, and a note to “Download a pdf file of this term’s six prints here.” You’re all set!

Once I discovered Ambleside, I felt like I had a shortcut. I had access to beautiful artwork, (printed fairly and legally), so I printed them at our local library and laminated them. (Our laminator gets a lot of work–I love this one, with these laminating sheets!)

Picture Studies in Homeschooling

I watched a few YouTube videos about the art of “picture study,” but also wanted to keep it simple. My kids and I typically pass the pictures around after I print & laminate them, and talk about what we see. Think basic things: colors, the subjects of the paintings, maybe even what the artist used (does it look like paint? Pencil? Marker? Crayon? A mixture?) We learned about warm versus cool colors in the book The Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews, so we talk about that, too!

I typically check out a few books from our local library, to supplement the gorgeous laminated prints! Sometimes we complete a post-it chart together, summarizing what we learn, as we go!

Here is a Picasso learning chart we started a few days ago. We will add to it as we learn!

YouTube: Love it or Leave it?

When I started homeschooling, I felt torn about YouTube. I would find incredible, educational content there, but also felt gross about the unpredictable ads, marketing targeting kids, and general Wild-West nature of the site.

I knew there were amazing art tutorials on YouTube, as well as some really cool storytelling accounts that give historical information in kid-friendly detail. But, I didn’t want to sit around all day, playing whack-a-mole with YouTube ads!

Then, a former teaching colleague told me about SafeShare, which changed everything!

SafeShare is a free service that will convert YouTube videos to safe versions, without ads, popups, or anything extra. I felt a huge sense of relief, and have been able to show my kids dozens of helpful supplemental videos and tutorials over the past few years, thanks to this amazing service. {Read about SafeShare here, along with more of my favorite homeschooling tools!}

I was thrilled to discover a plethora of incredible Art History related content on YouTube. Combined with the resources on Ambleside Online, I started a spreadsheet to track resources for each new artist and technique!

Our Favorite Picasso YouTube Links

Here were our favorite Picasso-related YouTube links. {Use the free version of SafeShare, to skip the ads!}

This video by Comic Kids Inc gave us a brief history of Pablo Picasso’s life.

Art teacher Miss Beth gave a helpful overview of Cubism here. She has a YouTube channel called HiGASFY Productions, which is an acronym for “Have I Got A Story For You!” We have loved her tutorials, as well as her in-depth descriptions about artists. (This one on Pablo is short, compared to most of them!)

We tried this cubism art tutorial, and above is my daughter’s result! I thought this was super fun.

My sons tried out another tutorial called “Draw A Picasso Face,” for another option:

We loved learning about Pablo Picasso’s Art History & Styles! I’m excited to blog more about each artist we studied in this new series, “Art History: A Surprise Success.” Do you have any favorite Art History teaching tips? I would love to hear!

Cait