Visual Manna Programs

Description

Visual Mann Programs, written by Sharon Jeffus, are more than just learning art basics. Tied in with this program is art appreciation, vocabulary skills, a bit of core subjects, and more! Her goal is “to provide educational materials for children to make them feel good about who they are. I want them to love learning and view it as an exciting discovery… All children can benefit from finding their place to shine in the arts and can feel good about who God created them to be.”

Preschool and Elementary Art Basics teaches art appreciation and implements concepts into fun, easy, and simple projects that young children will enjoy and learn from. This art curriculum contains 10 art lessons for kids, covering Center of Interest, Positive/Negative Space, Lines, Expressions, Shapes, Six Colors of the Color Wheel, Patterns, Eight Ways to Draw a Bird, Nine Ways to show Scale, and Ten Ways to Draw Structures.

Visual Manna’s Complete Art Curriculum is an insightful art program that both the teacher and students can learn from. It gives a broad overview of different types of art, concepts, materials, and techniques through a series of 45 lessons. Due to the broadness of this program, there isn't a lot of depth - rather, it's more of a wonderful introduction to the many facets of art. There is heavy emphasis on the use of recycled materials. The lesson narrative explains the new concepts being presented. Then, an art project is suggested for children in grades 1-6 and another for older children grades 7-12 (usually several ideas for each range). These have the students putting into immediate practice the concepts they've just learned.

The Art Through the Core package includes all the "Teaching... Through Art" books, which help teach core subjects through art. The package is available on CD (PDF format) or in a looseleaf printed bundle. The package includes: Teaching Science Through ArtTeaching American History Through ArtTeaching Social Studies Through ArtTeaching Math Through ArtTeaching English Through ArtTeaching History Through Art, and their newest release, Teaching Astronomy Through Art. Subjects are also available individually on our website. Please see the individual items for more details on each book. Please note that you will need Adobe Reader to use the CDs; it is available to download for free at www.adobe.com.

Art Adventures in Narnia features crafts and projects that highlight the characters from the Chronicles of Narnia series. In 56 pages, Sharon offers a variety of ways students can apply their own creativity to the subjects of Narnia, whether it be through pencil and paper, paint, clay, cardboard, or a craft project. Subjects examined are lions, heraldry, knights, armor, weapons, crowns, thrones, portraits, printing, rabbits, beavers, gargoyles, fauns, stags, trees, castles, birds, ancient writing, dragons, unicorns, and maps. Along the way, Sharon mixes in art concepts, including perspective, shading, using a grid, scale, and positive and negative space. Because the topics are chosen from the Narnia books, this is not a cohesive art program; rather, it's set up as a book you can wander through as you read through the Narnia books, choosing topics that suit your fancy.

Master Drawing covers shading, texture, proportion, perspective, and drawing people, buildings and more. Also included are lessons on using grids, rhythm and value, and drawing motion, still life, animals, landscapes, cartoons, and caricatures. As a special treat, a section that features many field sketches of birds by renowned bird artist David Plank is included in the animals section. Other very helpful lessons include using creativity and how to concentrate on what you are seeing as you draw - both important for the serious sketcher. Lessons are open-ended and easy to understand while covering all the basics, such as the face being five eyes wide, and how to find a vanishing point to draw accurate perspective drawings. This could be implemented with a group of budding artists, or for the older or more driven art student.

Drawing, Painting, & Sculpting Horses distills the process of horse-focused art into learnable steps. Heads, legs, tails, shading, etc. are all covered separately with space for practice and tips given on each. Practice is even done on the anatomically correct horse - drawing bones and muscles. Many helpful tips are given on art materials and on how to simplify some of the exercises for younger artists. Encouragement and biblical references are frequent throughout the book. As stated in the name, tips and lessons are not merely on how to draw horses, but also how to shade, paint, and sculpt horses.

Dragons, Dinosaurs, Knights, and Castles begins with a brief historical lesson on the dinosaur and the dragon. This book smoothly transitions to art lessons with strategically placed historical tidbits. Art techniques your child will learn include sculpting three-dimensional dinosaurs, basic shape and line drawings, shading, shadowing and textures, grid drawing, motions, color wheel, and perspective. 

Teaching Method
Traditional
Teacher-centered curriculum commonly used in classrooms that may include a text, teacher manual, tests, etc.
Charlotte Mason
A methodology based on the work of a 19th century educator who maintained that children learn best from literature (Living Books), not textbooks.
Classical
A methodology based on the Latin Trivium (three stages of learning), including the grammar stage (memorization and facts), logic stage (critical thinking), and rhetoric stage (developing/defending ideas).
Unit Study
A thematic or topical approach centered around one topic that integrates multiple subject areas.
Montessori (Discovery)
A methodology based on the work of a 20th century educator that emphasizes student and sensory-driven discovery learning and real-life applications.
Other
Other methodologies
Religious Content
Secular
Contains content contrary to common Christian beliefs (i.e. evolution).
Neutral
Avoids religious or theoretical topics or presents multiple viewpoints without preference.
Christian/Religious
Faith-based or including instructional religious content.
Learning Modality
Auditory
Learns through listening, talking out loud or reading out loud.
Visual
Learns through seeing, prefers written instructions and visual materials.
Kinesthetic/Tactile (Hands-On)
Learns through moving, doing and touching.
Multi-Sensory
Curriculum that employ a variety of activities/components.
Presentation
Sequential
Curriculum progresses through well-defined learning objectives. Emphasizes mastery before moving to the next topic.
Spiral
Topics and concepts are repeated from level to level, adding more depth at each pass and connecting with review.
Conceptual/Topical
Focus is on the “why,” often with a unifying concept as well as specific skills; coverage may be broader.
Teacher Involvement
Low Teacher Involvement
Student-led materials; parent acts as a facilitator.
Medium Teacher Involvement
A mix of teacher-led time and independent student work.
High Teacher Involvement
Teacher-led lessons; may utilize discussions, hands-on activities and working together.
Additional Materials Required
No other materials needed
Everything you need is included.
Other Materials Required
There are additional required resources that are a separate purchase.
Other Materials Optional
There are additional resources mentioned or recommended but are not absolutely necessary.
Consumable
Consumable
Designed to be written in; not reusable.
Non-Consumable
Not designed to be written in; reusable.