Changes are underway

Dear readers,

I have begun constructing a website which will eventually offer interactive lessons in studio art and art history, and forums to improve resources and links to fostering the arts in your teaching/learning setting.

So far, that website has been a class assignment for a course I am enrolled in. I have been able to practice the presentation of the content, and I hope to present to you some exciting changes once I am able to publish the new site. Once this semester is over, I will transfer the information posted here to my own website. I will continue to blog - but I will probably abbreviate the articles here, then attach links to the new site.

I have been researching the world of homeschooling, with the intent of writing my MA thesis (or project report) on the topic. My original intent is to write a standards-based curriculum in the visual arts and art history focused toward people who wish to include these topics in their teaching and learning experiences. My focus narrowed further to a target audience of home-schoolwork, and I have researched many issues related to homeschooling and the arts, and home-schooling in general.

I have decided against writing the thesis, and instead continuing with the project (writing the curriculum) and writing the project report. In all the data and information I have found - I am having considerable trouble distinguishing credible sources of information that are not author-biased for or against home-schooling. Writing the curriculum lends itself toward the project report. A thesis would require me to promote and defend a narrow idea which may or may not be beneficial in the scope of learning. While a Thesis (capital "T") will provide me with a publication behind my name on my resume, a project report (lower-case "p", lower-case "r") will allow me to focus on building a strong and relevant curriculum.

I'll follow a particular idea I read a few years ago (I'm sorry I can't recall the author) - that most theses in Art Education are written about what most people already know. Down with redundancy. Down with redundancy.