Homeschool series a hit at Wallace State
Kaitlin Stancil, 15, of Bremen, works on a painting of an eye while another painting dries on the corner of her desk. Stancil participated in Wallace State Community College’s series of art workshops for homeschool students.
HANCEVILLE — For the past three weeks, homeschool students in Cullman County and surrounding areas have learned the basics of drawing, computer graphics and painting as part of a series of classes held at Wallace State Community College.
A Homeschool Workshop series focused on art was the first of two series being hosted by Wallace State’s Community Education program. The next series will focus on music, with classes held on Friday mornings for three consecutive weeks. Only a few spots remain for the upcoming music series. The fee is $25 for a complete three-class series or $10 for a single class.
“We’re extremely pleased with the series,” said Melinda Edwards, Wallace State Dean of Institutional Outreach. “It’s proven to be very popular for homeschool parents and students. We already have a waiting list for the next series.”
Teenagers Kaitlin Stancil, Julie Newton and Anna McFerrin may be among those on the waiting lists. The three were on hand for the last class of the art series, which was the painting class.
“I love painting and drawing,” said Stancil, a 15-year-old from Bremen. Her mother found out about the class and enrolled her in the series. “It’s been fun,” Stancil said as she added different shades of blue to a painting of an eye.
Stancil said liked learning about Photoshop in the computer graphics class the week before, where she created an image using photos of herself and a friend from Canada on the background of another photo. She said she would love for one of the next art classes to be about photography.
Next to her, Julie Newton, worked on creating shapes out of gold paint while another painting of a sunrise dried on her worktable. She said she has loved learning about different drawing and painting techniques during the series of workshops. “The teachers have been great,” she said.
Newton, 14 of Hanceville, plans to attend the music series that begins at the end of the month. A native of California, Newton said she was in a homeschool choir there, and is looking forward to the music series and hopes the college hosts more classes in the future.
As McFerrin, 16, of Smokerise, finished her painting by adding light pink blossoms to a tree she explained her graphic design project from the previous week. It included a photo of her made to appear as if she’s holding up the moon with her index finger and a taco orbiting the moon. The project was meant to show the students how to work with layers in the photo-editing program.
Adrian Scott, director of the art department said he’s been impressed with the artwork created by the students and hopes the department will be able to offer more classes for homeschool students in the future, and possibly provide WSCC students teaching opportunities.
Edwards said her department is working on planning an array of workshops given the interest in the first series of classes. “We are looking at how other programs within the college might contribute to a series of classes,” she said. “Wallace State is dedicated to helping not only the students in our traditional classes, but also members of our community who want to learn a new skill or enhance their own natural talents and abilities.
For more information about upcoming homeschool workshops, call 256.352.7826.
