If you haven’t read about how our family stumbled into Art History in our homeschool journey, you can read more about that, in this post (including where to find beautiful free PDF prints, and how to start in on this subject–one that can intimidate many people!)

In today’s post, I will focus on our activities around the artist, Katsushika Hokusai!

Studying Hokusai in Homeschool Art

For the past few years, as our family has been building up our PDF repertoire of gorgeous prints (find them, for free, here) thanks to A Humble Place. I found them while browsing Ambleside Online–a spectuclar Charlotte-Mason curriculum, available online completely free.

We don’t do everything via Ambleside Online, but I have pulled a lot of inspiration from them over the years, and our homeschool does heavily favor the Charlotte Mason style: specifically these elements:

• the use of living books in our homeschool
• habit training within the home
• nature study
• art & music appreciation

Once I saw that incorporating famous artists, and their works, were mapped out for you on Ambleside’s website each year with corresponding prints in public domain, I went right to the public library to print mine off!

For Hokusai this fall, I went a step further, and purchased the prints directly from Rebecca, on A Humble Place’s website. I bought the set of prints, which come professionally printed on very thick cardstock. Next, I hung them up in our sunroom for the two-week period we will spend learning about Hokusai:

Favorite Supplemental Learning for Hokusai

When we do artist studies, I like to find supplemental materials as well! Here are a few YouTube videos we used to learn more about Hokusai:

This Informational Video for Kids about Hokusai

This video of how to say basic Japanese phrases

Step-by-Step Drawing Tutorial for The Great Wave

A “Tear-Art” Project for Kids

Here is a little sample of how our tear-art turned out. I love the texture of this one!

I hope this post was helpful and encouraging to you– remember, Art History doesn’t have to be complicated. You can print off some free prints (or pay for nice ones, like I did this time!), talk about them with your kids, and tune into a few YouTube videos to enrich the discussion.

Art History doesn’t have to be complicated!

With love,

Cait