Sometimes, in the midst of homeschooling my kids, I get caught up in the details. I get so focused on tiny tasks, goals, or hiccups, I forget to look at the big picture. I forget to see the forest through the trees! I often forget about a very basic concept of learning: that repetition is one of the most powerful tools in homeschool learning, as it is in any type of learning!

The First Homeschool Lessons I Repeated

Realizing the power of repeating routines, concepts, skills, and systems within my homeschool was a game-changer for us. It occurred to me the summer after our first year of homeschooling.

During our first year homeschooling, I was drinking water from the firehose. We were a part of two different co-ops, and I was trying a bit of everything, throwing spaghetti at the wall. I had started the artist study selections from Ambleside Online curriculum, the year prior. If you’re not familiar with Ambleside, it’s a Charlotte-Mason style program, available for free. They do artist studies, composer studies, and read a lot of high-quality literature. You can also incorporate Bible, Nature Study, Geography, History, and other topics. I wanted to start small, so I only incorporated their specific artists, on year one.

(I wrote about our experience learning how to do Picture Studies, and more on Ambleside Online here, if you are interested in doing it in your own homeschool!)

Anyway-on to the repetition. I loved how low-key I could keep our Artist Studies, during year one. I chose a few of the suggested artists for that year, printed out the free PDF images of their paintings, and learned how to do a picture study. I also checked out a few books from our local library about that month’s artist, and found a few inspiring YouTube videos (Mrs. Beth was our favorite, by far!) to help supplement the lessons. My kids loved the content, and I loved this easy way to incorporate Art History in a non-stressful way!

How I First Repeated a Homeschool Lesson

When I map out each homeschool year, I use a combination of Google Docs (for brainstorming) and Google Sheets (for week to week planning). When started planning year two, and I came to my Art History spreadsheet, I contemplated starting all new artists.

I looked at the preselected artists on Ambleside’s website, but hesitated a bit. I thought, “What if we just repeated some of the same artists as last year, and added in a few new ones?” I knew my kids had favorites, and I also wondered how well they had retained the artists we covered the year prior.

I thought about one of my “bigger picture goals:” that my kids retain information in a meaningful way, through more in-depth study, than quick, shallow, let’s-just-finish-this, rushed study. Even if, for elective subjects like Art History, that means they won’t remember as many artists, or as many famous paintings, I am ok with that. I care about the depth and quality of the learning and retention.

So- I went for it. I chose 8 review artists, and 8 new artists that year. And it worked spectacularly! My kids loved recalling fun details about our review artists–like how American painter Norman Rockwell stuffed himself with bananas and donuts to “make weight” for the US Navy. They remembered his realistic style, and the charming nature of his subjects. They also remembered Monet’s garden and lilypads, and how he loved to paint in boats on the River Seine.

Repeating Projects & Read Alouds

Along those same lines, we also used repetition in our homeschool art history learning with the projects, read-alouds and YouTube gems I had found previously!

For example: We did a q-tip painting project to emphasize pointillism, when we learned about Georges Seurat. The kids loved doing it again; we just chose different things to paint! This year, if I review Seurat, I was thinking of trying this variation of pointillism!

We listened to Ms. Beth’s fun story about Norman Rockwell, here. My kids have now heard it for two years, because we reviewed Norman last year! They absolutely love Ms. Beth. I have somewhat adjusted which artists I choose, based on which artists she covers in her Artist Series on YouTube! Her stories are just that good.

Ms. Beth also does fun art tutorials, based on the artists she features! Here are a few that we have tried:

Salvador Dali drawing (by Ms. Beth)

Jackson Pollock splatter painting (by Ms. Beth- probably won’t repeat this one, for obvious reasons :))

Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (by Ms. Beth)

How Have You Used Repetition in Your Homeschool?

I would love to hear how you’ve used repetition to reinforce concepts for your kids. It feels obvious, and also feels “wrong” in some ways, if you feel like you always have to reinvent the wheel! You really don’t! People of all ages benefit from repetition. I hope this encourages you to embrace it.

With love,

Cait