ABOUT OUR UPPER SCHOOL ARTS ELECTIVES

The arts are all-too sadly marginalized and even eliminated from public schooling today. Private schools sometimes provide excellent arts programs – but not always. And very often, a serious and joyous study of the arts is very difficult to integrate into homeschooling.

At Connect The Thoughts , we feel that a real, strong, vibrant art’s experience must be a part of every child's education. With that in mind, we offer an extensive program of art’s electives.

These include our massive Creative Writing Program. You may be doing these courses as a part of your "core" educational curriculum already. But we provide unique Creative Writing / History courses for many major holidays! New Year's, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas, Hanukkah, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Independence Day...even your Birthday! We have a course that explains that holiday and its importance in the first history-devoted lessons. Then the student is guided through the authoring of two original stories in celebration of the holiday. A great holiday arts activity!

Our Music Theory program, four massive courses, are capable of taking a student who know exactly nothing about music, and teaching him or her to read music, play a keyboard, understand the history of music – and even start composing some music of their own! (You'll need a 88 key keyboard or piano to do these courses.)

Music History is a great and massive study. Courses cover the very greatest and most important composers, their history and their wonderful works. From Bach, through the Beatles, world music is investigated in great detail. A world of music awaits the student who really loves music.

Animation courses (five courses) help prepare the student who already draws well, and who loves to draw, to enter this magical profession. The student is provided original scripts to work with, and are taught how to read the script for an animated film. Important words and ideas are carefully defined. The scripts were authored by an Emmy-Award winning author! Then the student is led step-by-step through the design of all the important elements of an animated film. In the process, the student learns how to "storyboard" a story, or draw it out in a way professionals do for every film and most TV shows today – before they are shot. The student also develops a massive portfolio of their work, which they can use to either submit for jobs in the industry, or to get into a good art school.

Can you do acting classes in your home, as a part of homeschooling? You can (though it helps to have two or more students who want to act)! Take a look at our Acting program, authored by a veteran of over 200 theatrical productions.

We even offer an "Artist's Basics" course. The course pinpoints the important qualities successful artists must have. It then helps the student to develop those qualities!

Finally, we provide a Master's Program in Creative Writing, for students who are adults or who have completed Upper School Creative Writing V, and who are serious about writing.

Bring your homeschool experience to life! The arts await.