Teaching more advanced art elements can be a bit overwhelming if you do not feel like an artist. We had the opportunity review Behold the Beauty -  Art Curriculum for a Christian Education, by Connie L. Meyer, for grades 4-6. It has made planning and teaching art much easier with our kids and in our art club.

Behold the Beauty - Art Curriculum for a Christian Education is a full art curriculum for parents who are seeking clear direction when it comes to teaching art to their children. It contains a total of thirty-six full art lessons for grades 4, grade 5, and grade 6. The lessons are broken down by grade level, with twelve lessons for each grade.

Each lesson starts with the learning experience for your student. The Objective contains the elements and principles for the student to work on. There is a supply list followed by a vocabulary list of art terms that you can use while teaching each lesson. I found that the next sections could actually be read directly to the kids. The Introduction section allows you to introduce your student to the art vocabulary and opens the discussion with your student. Many lessons also contain a scripture quoted from the Bible that coincides with the topics you are studying to help your student see an art connection in their spiritual life and the beauty that God has provided for us. The Directions come next in the lesson. Each step is laid out in easy to understand tips and guidelines. Depending on the complexity of the project, is how long your Directions section is.

Since art really is subjective to each family and their budgets, there are Suggested Variations listed for every project. This could be a suggestion of a different medium (for example: oil pastels vs. watercolor crayons), additions, further design options, or even another project idea.

The supplies required for every project are very budget friendly. They include drawing pencils, crayons, black marker, oil pastels, chalk pastels, watercolor pencils, watercolor paints, brushes and construction paper in various colors. Most families have the supplies listed in this book on hand at all times.

The projects that we have done thus far have shown me how easy Behold the Beauty Grades 4 – 6, Art Curriculum for a Christian Education really is. I was able to read directly from the book and have an open discussion with the kids about the artist we were learning about, and the style of art we would be using. I really had very little prep time involved, other than pre-reading the lesson and making sure I had the supplies ready for our lesson time.

You could use Behold the Beauty for home use with your own family, co-op studies, or even club/party gatherings.

To help you out with lesson planning, Behold the Beauty also contains Teacher Record pages to record completed lessons, and even room to make notes about supplies used or needed. Reproducible Reference pictures and pages for the color wheel lessons are also included.

Behold the Beauty - Art Curriculum for a Christian Education has provided a full curriculum to build your confidence as an art teacher, for only $36.99. I have been very impressed, and grateful that we have begun using this program. It has made our art history studies so much easier on my planning time. I will continue to use it for the remainder of our art year.

-Product review by Renita Kuehner, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, February 2018