Category Archives: Charlotte Mason

Composer Study: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Take 2)

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It may be cliche, but Mozart has always been my favorite composer, and so I was delighted to spend some time with his music this year in Cycle 1 of Classical Conversations.  In class we just focused one one movement of a piano concerto, but I wanted to take more time than that to help my children become familiar with the man whose name has become synonymous with classical music.  We’ll spend the next few weeks going through some of the resources I’ve pulled together here.  (We used many of these a few years ago when I did a composer study on Mozart with my older kids, but there are a few new ones as well.)

Audio Resources

Of course there are hundreds of recordings of Mozart’s music available (check YouTube or your local library), but here are a few audio resources created especially for children.

The Classical Kids recordings are a wonderful way to introduce children to composers and their music.  Each one tells a captivating story, using the featured composer’s music as a soundtrack.  There are two recordings about Mozart:

The Beethoven’s Wig series is a fun way to help children become familiar with famous pieces of classical music, with comical lyrics being sung to the melodies.

If you want to learn more about Mozart’s life and music, here are a few listening options:

Video Resources

My younger kids’ favorite way learning about classical music is watching Little Einsteins.  There are several episodes that feature music by Mozart:

There is also a fun animated series starring Mozart and his family, Little Amadeus. The DVD set comes with a CD-ROM with lesson plans to go along with each episode, as well as printable sheet music. I haven’t found anywhere to watch the whole series streaming, though the first season is on YouTube, and reruns still play on our local public television station.  

If you want to look at a specific piece of music, The Magic Flute is really a wonderful way to introduce children to opera.  The BBC produced a 30 minute animated version that tells the basic story sung in English.  For a more authentic experience, I recommend the Opéra National de Paris video of the complete opera.

Books

For some biographical information:

  • Mozart (from the Famous Children series) by Ann Rachlins (short enough for younger children)
  • Mozart (from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers series) by Mike Venezia.
  • Mozart, the Wonder Boy by Opal Wheeler (chapter book)

We have several picture books about Mozart we’ve started going through:

While not about Mozart, The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart adapted by Kyra Teis, tells the story of the opera.

Additional Resources

If you want to go a little deeper in your study of Mozart, here are some great ideas to check out!

Posted in Charlotte Mason, Classical Conversations Cycle 1, Composer Study

Composer Study: Johann Sebastian Bach

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I don’t know how we passed over Johann Sebastian Bach when we were doing composer study a few years ago, but I’m glad we’re be listening to some of his music this year with Classical Conversations.  Here are a few of the “extras” I’ve pulled together to expand upon our study at home.

 

Audio Resources

Video Resources

For my younger children, one of their favorite ways of learning about classical music is watching Little Einsteins.  There are several episodes that feature music by Bach:

Books and Other Reading

Posted in Charlotte Mason, Classical Conversations Cycle 1, Composer Study

Elementary Music Appreciation Course (Crew Review)

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Music Appreciation Review
When we first started homeschooling one of the things that drew me to the Charlotte Mason method of education was the attention paid to composer study.  Classical music has been a part of my life since childhood, and I want my children to be familiar with and appreciate it as well.  I’ve had my eye on the Great Composers books from Zeezok Publishing LLC for quite a while and was SO excited to get a chance to review the entire Music Appreciation: Book 1 for the Elementary Grades collection, starting with one of my children’s favorite composers: Beethoven.

About the Music Appreciation Book 1 Collection

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This collection is an incredibly rich resource, providing materials for seven 4-week unit studies based on the lives of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, and Schubert:

  • 7 biographical novels by Opal Wheeler, one for each composer, all softcover except the one Schubert (not sure why we received a hardcover since I know they do publish it in softcover)
  • 1 Student Activity Book (softcover with perforated pages)
  • Set of 5 Audio CDs
  • CD-ROM with files for making a lapbook for each composer
  • (Coordinating coloring book available for separate purchase)

Each of these items is available for individual purchase, but unless you already own something, the you’ll want everything that comes in the collection to complete the lessons.

The heart of this curriculum is the Wheeler books, which focus on the composers’ lives and childhood musical background.  Although the book occasionally references topics covered when studying other composers, for the most part each unit study is self-contained, so they don’t necessarily need to be done in the order they are presented.

BeethovenI chose Beethoven for our first study.  Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells starts with Beethoven as a very young boy and tells about his musical career all the way through his moving 9th Symphony, composed when he could no longer hear.  While the book does talk about Ludwig being forced to practice in the middle of the night as a child and his father’s desire to see him become a musician like Mozart, it is very appropriate for children and doesn’t mention his father’s abusive nature.  Instead the focus is on Ludwig’s relationships with other members of his family, his various teachers and his many musical experiences growing up.

The book also includes music for several of Beethoven’s compositions, which are simple enough for intermediate piano players to be able to play and enjoy as they go through the book.  (These selections are also on the audio CDs.)  Some are interspersed with the text to experience as you go through the book, and there are also several at the end for further enjoyment.

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After you have read the chapter for the week, the Student Activity Book is full of questions, activities, and ideas for further study.  Each unit starts with a Weekly Lesson Outline that lists all the reading assignments and activities that will be covered, making note of those required to meet national music appreciation standards.

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Each week’s assignments include:

  • reading a chapter in the Wheeler book
  • a page of comprehension questions
  • study of character qualities demonstrated in the chapter
  • listening assignments from the Music Appreciation CDs
  • “Tidbits of Interest” expounding upon specific information in the chapter
  • Lapbook activities
  • Extras like geography, history, or music theory

The Student Activity Book functions as both a workbook and a textbook, with some pages having activities to complete and others containing additional reading material.

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The CD-ROM contains the pieces needed for each composer’s lapbooks as well as pictures of completed lapbooks.  These pages include instructions about how to assemble each piece, but to find out where to place it, you have to look up the examples or read the directions in the Student Activity Book.

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Our Experience

I chose the Beethoven unit because most of my children are already somewhat familiar with his life story and his music, but there was still a lot for everyone to learn.  This curriculum is designed for K-6th grade, so I planned to include Ian (2nd grade) and Elijah (Kindergarten) as well as seeing how much Arianna (preschool) could participate.

We started each week’s work reading a few pages from Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells while the kids colored.  The boys probably would have been able to read the Wheeler book themselves, but it would have been laborious, so I used it as a read aloud instead.  (An audio version is also available both on CD and as an mp3 download.)

I bought two copies of the coordinating coloring book for the younger two to use since Ian would be using the Student Activity Book.  I was thankful that there were multiple coloring pages for each chapter, because I found Ian had an easier time listening when he was coloring (and my 2-year old wanted to do what everyone else was doing as well).  The pictures directly related to the chapters in the book, so they were a great way to include everyone.  I was a little surprised when the coloring books arrived and they were just stapled together rather than being actual bound books, but that ended up making it easy to take them apart and share the quality coloring pages from 2 books among 4 children.  I don’t know that we would have enjoyed the study nearly as much if I hadn’t gone ahead and gotten the coloring pages.

DSCN1249xThere was so much material in the Student Activity Book, I ended up taking almost twice as long as the suggested four weeks to get through it.  Even though the curriculum is intended for all elementary grades, I felt like much of it was too difficult for my Kindergartner and 2nd grader, though it would be perfect for upper elementary students.  We adapted things and often just went through the material conversationally.

The boys enjoyed working on the lapbook together after we had finished reading and dismissed the little ones.  I struggled a little bit with figuring out exactly what went where,  confused that some of the instructions were in the Student Activity Book while others were on the pages with the lapbook materials themselves.  I think when we go through the next unit I’ll be able to figure it out better, but since this was the first lapbook we’d ever created, I would have felt a little more confident if all the information I needed were in one place.

My Thoughts on Zeezok Publishing’s Music Appreciation

20160317_094524xI am in awe of how much work went into putting together this curriculum.  There is SO much to do and learn about in each study!  Even though we found it to be a bit overwhelming at this point, I think we’ll get a lot more out of it as my children get older.  I’ll probably get the audio books for future studies so we can get through the books as we drive and save our time at home for all the other activities.

Music Appreication Book 1_zpsu33n9px8The only change I would like to see would be separating the Student Activity Book into a textbook and separate workbook.  It is designed to be consumable, with one needed for each student, but so much of it is extra reading material or instructions for lapbook activities that could easily be reused, so it felt a bit wasteful to me.  Since I have multiple children, it would be nice to only be purchasing extra copies of the pages that actually get written in rather than the entire book.

There’s definitely more in the weekly lesson outline than I can get done in the time I usually allot to composer study each week.  In the future I will probably stretch out each unit more intentionally.  Or if I do want to keep to the schedule, I might even use it as a traditional unit study, where it’s the main focus of the school day with other subjects coming out of it (since history, geography, reading, writing, and of course fine arts are all included.  However we end up using it, I am thankful for such a well-designed, detailed curriculum for studying the lives and music of so many great composers.

Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades {Zeezok Publishing LLC Review}
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Posted in Charlotte Mason, Composer Study, Homeschool Resources, Product reviews

ARTistic Pursuits (Crew Review)

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Spelling You See Review
Art is one of those subjects I love in theory but have trouble being consistent with in practice.  As a child I always loved any kind of art instruction and time to create my own artwork, and Ian also seems very drawn to all mediums of art to which I’ve introduced him.  I was delighted to get a chance to review the Early Elementary K-3 Book Two: Stories of Artists and Their Art curriculum from ARTistic Pursuits, because then I knew we would be sure to devote some time to an art program, even if only for the time of our review.  We both enjoyed this time so much, however, that I really want to make sure to make art more of a priority as I plan our day.  We may not keep up the pace of 2-3 lessons a week that we did during this review, but I want to be sure we include it at least once a week.

ARTistic Pursuits offers a complete homeschool art program, teaching both art history and art techniques.  I was drawn to K-3 Book Two: Stories of Artists and Their Art because I was eager to introduce Ian to some of the world’s most famous artists (e.g. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rembrandt) and I thought he would enjoy learning about them through stories.  (Although we have done some work out of previous books in this series, Book Two works well as a stand-alone curriculum, and it is not necessary to have completed Book One in order to use it.)  All the lesson plans are contained in one non-consumable comb-bound paperback book priced at $47.95.

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There 36 lessons, providing one lesson a week for an entire school year.  As you can see from the Table of Contents, two weeks are spent on each artist, with two parts to each lesson:

Week 1

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    “Castle”— watercolor and “gold-plating”

    Introduction to the artist through a fictionalized story, often about his childhood

  • A project related to the artist’s work.

Week 2

  • Study of a famous work by the artist, looking at specific details or techniques used in its creation. (Although the pictures studied are in the book, I chose to find them all online and show them on the TV hooked up to my laptop so we could all get a good look at the same time.)
  • Another project related to the artist’s work.

There are also four lessons about art techniques (color mixing, watercolor wash, oil pastel technique, and printmaking basics) with projects that are separate from the artist units.

In order to complete the lessons you will need to purchase art supplies separately.  ARTistic Pursuits makes it easy to find everything you need, even before you get the book and look over the materials list.  They sell packs with the necessary supplies for each of their books.  Another option can be found at the bottom of the “art supply packs” page, where they also have instructions on how to purchase quality discount supplies by looking up the supply lists for their individual books through Blick Art Materials.  (This is what I did.  All but two items for this book are on the list, and they can be found on Amazon or any hardware store.)

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Our Experience with ARTistic Pursuits

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“Shepherd”— scratch art in oil pastel

At first I did some of the projects alongside Ian, but that led to trouble because he would start to copy me and then get frustrated when his paintings didn’t look like mine.  I ended up just demonstrating the technique and then putting mine away to work on later if I wanted to finish it. Similarly, I had to keep the book away from him while he was working or he would just try to copy the sample projects pictured there.  I really wanted him to feel free to do his own art rather than trying to duplicate someone else’s.

I loved the chronological journey through art history, especially learning about early artists I’d never heard of, like Cimabue and Giotto.  Ian really liked the stories about the artists.  When he was showing his fresco to Daddy one evening, I mentioned that we’d been learning about an artist named Giotto.  I asked Ian if he remembered anything about Giotto, and he immediately began telling Eric the story about how he painted a fly that looked so real his master tried to brush it off the wall.  He also remembered that Giotto had scratched pictures on rocks out in the fields.  (Our project from the previous lesson had involved using a paper clip to etch a picture into a paper covered in black oil pastels.)

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“I spy a swimmer and pencils”— oil pastels

Having the projects that tied in with their work really helped impress upon Ian some of the things that made that artist’s work unique.  For example, The lesson on Van Eyck talked about how the artist liked to paint lots of details that viewers might not notice immediately but would only see if they really spent time looking at the picture.  Ian loved playing “I Spy” when we talked about Van Eyck and searching the selected painting for the different objects listed in the lesson plan.  Then of course he had a great time creating his own “I Spy” picture using oil pastels.

I also really appreciated these lessons studying the famous works of art.  Ian was so excited one night at bedtime when Daddy was reading him a book about knights that we’d picked up at the library that day and they came across a page with a picture of The Tres Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, the very same painting we had looked at in our lesson earlier that week.  I loved it when our schoolwork shows up in other parts of his life and he gets to feel like a part of the wider world.  He already recognized the Mona Lisa, but now he feels some ownership of it after spending a little time discussing the painting during our lesson on Leonardo Da Vinci.

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“Riding the Zip Line”—watercolor fresco

What better way to teach children about art history than to draw them in and have them create similar works?  I didn’t even what frescoes were until I was in my 20’s, and yet Ian got to make one at age 6.  This curriculum did a great job of exposing him to all sorts of different art.  Although we did use watercolor a lot, it certainly wasn’t the only medium used, as you can see from the pictures I’ve shared here.  All the projects really stirred up his creativity, and he ended up doing lots of art on his own outside of what we were working on during our art lessons.  We really enjoyed our time with ARTistic Pursuits, and I’m looking forward to finishing the curriculum and working on some of the projects still ahead of us.  If you’re interested in including art in your children’s home education, I would strongly encourage you to check out their website and website and Facebook page.

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“Six-legged Dragon Breathing Fire on Mounted Knight”—watercolor and oil pastel

ARTistic Pursuits has a full range of curriculum available for all ages, and other members of the Crew have reviewed many of them, so be sure to click on the Review Crew banner below to read more about the other books in the program.  Here’s a list of all the books from Preschool-High School:

Preschool (ages 3-5)

Early Elementary (Grades 1-3)

Elementary (Grades 4-5)

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

High School (Grades 9-12)

There are also two new sculpture books available (with a third expected to be released in 2016), appropriate for ages 11-18:

ARTistic Pursuits Review

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Posted in Charlotte Mason, Homeschool Resources, Kindergarten, Product reviews

Kindergarten Our Way (Take 2)

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Looking back on the first half Ian’s Kindergarten year I’d say I’m surprised by how many surprises there were.  Things I thought would come easily ended up being struggles.  Other things I thought I’d have to push through ended up being Ian’s favorites that he begged for more of.  I learned a lot about how much time different activities/readings take, how to break things up, which subjects we need to do in a particular order… There was a lot of fine tuning that went on throughout this season as we found what worked for us. And now I’m considering changing everything we’re doing.

Well, maybe not everything, but a lot.

Perhaps I should have said “Take 5” in the title, for this post has been rewritten several times as I’ve attempted to find our new groove.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I was starting to feel overwhelmed by the number things I want to include in our school plans and have been trying to sift through the myriad options to find the real gems that I just couldn’t bear to miss.  (The picture above shows most of what made that short list.)  So as we started up school again after a lovely, long holiday break I’ve been reconsidering my initial plan for this year (see “Kindergarten Our Way“) as well as the general structure of our day.

My plan was to go through a “Year 0.5” in the style of Ambleside Online‘s curriculum to provide us with a some structure and help us get accustomed to that type of schedule.  In many ways, it’s been a good experience so far.  We read lots of different types of stories on lots of different subjects.  I created a weekly schedule (HTS Kindergarten Chart) that made it easy to keep track of which readings I wanted to get through.  Ian enjoyed the variety of our readings, and I enjoyed discovering books I’d never been exposed to and might never have read if I weren’t putting together a curriculum like this.

However, I also tried to throw in Five in a Row books at least once a month until our days were so full with other things I lost that desire.  And that’s a shame, because I love FIAR (and so does Ian).  Add to all this that as part of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew for the coming year I’ll be incorporating various products for review into our school days, and I had to face the fact that I needed to make some changes or we were going to be overwhelmed and on our way to burning out (which seems just slightly ridiculous seeing as how we’re only in KINDERGARTEN).

So for now I’m going back to using Five in a Row as our core for every subject except Bible and Spanish (as well as helping Ian explore whatever topics he’s interested in at the moment and things I’ll be reviewing for the Crew).  That means I’m dropping most of our “0.5” readings from the schedule of what I expect to do and putting them a category of “extra reading” that I can go to when I’m looking for a good read-aloud.  I’m also dropping our Exploring Creation With Astronomy for now because, while the subject still interests Ian, he just wasn’t enjoying the book nearly as much as I expected given the reviews I’d read, even by people using it in Kindergarten.  (We’ll probably give it another shot in a few years.)  And I’ve decided to put off wonderful Charlotte Mason subjects like artist study, hymn study, etc. until the majority of my children are old enough to participate, because the little ones don’t need one more thing taking me away from them during our school hours.  (We’ll probably keep up with some sort of composer study since I can include all but the baby to some extent.)

The biggest change I’m making as far as content is taking a break from MEP as our main math curriculum.  I still love it and do plan on coming back to it, but it’s started becoming frustrating for Ian and therefore frustrating for me because I can’t figure out why he doesn’t get the same thrill out of it that I do.  (I’m still reminding myself that he’s Not Mini-Me.)  We finished Lesson 98 of Year 1 and while he seemed to be understanding most of the concepts, it was pulling teeth to get answers out of him.  By contrast, Elijah has been asking to do math and I was letting him start at the beginning of Year 1.  Ian consistently wanted to do what Elijah was working on so I started printing out a second copy of the practice book pages for him.  What a difference in his attitude as he zipped through Lessons 3 and 4!  I’m hoping a few months of maturing will help him have a similar outlook when we come back and take up where we’ve left off.

I started looking around for alternatives to use in the meantime.  What I really wanted was a math equivalent to Reading Eggs. [Edited to remove link because I no longer recommend this program. See “Good-bye, Reading Eggs.”] (Actually, they do have Mathseeds, but it’s geared more toward preschoolers and looks too easy for both boys so I’m just not willing to buy a subscription.)  Ian and I had a similar level of frustration when he was learning to read, where our different learning styles were causing a lot of tension.  Reading Eggs was a perfect fit for him and took the pressure of our relationship, so I would love to find a thorough, systematic math program Ian could work through independently on the computer.  I remembered the Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool site and checked out the Kindergarten level math, but it was also all things Ian already knew.  That was when it dawned on me that maybe we could just take a break from a math curriculum altogether.  I want to make sure he can find joy in math, and I’d gotten dangerously close to killing that by continuing to plow through MEP when it started becoming a challenge.

So my solution (for now) is that I am leaving math as an open spot on our schedule.  Ian often does math games on various websites (ABCya, Clever Dragons, and More Starfall are probably his favorites), and I’ll just write those into my lesson plan so I can have a record of what he’s done.  We’ll probably also read from Life of Fred: Apples occasionally since I borrowed it from a friend and Ian enjoys it.

P1020416The other major change I’ve made is just the structure of our day.  We’ve spent way too much time sitting at the table.  I knew it wasn’t the best way to go, but I was afraid that if I let him go before we’d gotten everything done I’d have to keep dragging him back.  Over the break, however, I’ve been really intentional about giving everyone lots of time for creative play.  Ian has really enjoyed listening to me read while they all play in the living room, I’ve realized that much of our school time could look much the same way.  Also, I’d like to include Elijah more, and I think that will be easier if we’re sitting on the couch rather than sitting at the school table, which we only really need to do for work that involves writing.  So rather than thinking in terms of which subjects we’re going to get through, I want to think more in terms of “couch time,” “listening play time,” “table time,” etc.

So for the second half of the year, these are my goals:

  • Consider Bible and Five in a Row a full school day. (Ian’s already a good reader so I’m not at all worried about any sort of reading instruction.)  Anything else is just extra.  It’s great when we get to it, but not necessary.
  • Spend as little time at the table as possible
  • Schedule breaks and make sure everyone gets outside for some time each morning.

And for illustration purposes, here’s an updated version of the picture above.  It makes me sigh with relief just looking at it.  If Ian were an only child, we probably would have stayed with most of my original plan, but with lots of needy little people sharing our life, simplicity needs to win out.

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Posted in Charlotte Mason, Kindergarten

Kindergarten Our Way

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P1010509bThis year we “officially” start our homeschool journey as Ian begins Kindergarten.  We’re joining a local co-op, and it’s odd feeling like a rookie when in some ways we’ve been at this for a couple years.  Yet there’s definitely a difference now that he’s old enough to be in school. For the past few years we did school how we wanted, when we wanted, and if we wanted to skip it altogether, who cared? Whereas now there are expectations.  Still, I’m excited about this new season.  I love the pride I hear in his voice when he tells people he’s in Kindergarten.  For the last few years when people would ask him if he goes to preschool he would quietly answer, “We homeschool,” and I could tell he felt like it just didn’t count, even though most of our friends homeschool.  This “Kindergarten” label makes him feel like he has joined the ranks of all the big kids in his life.

If anyone were to glance at our lesson plans, however, they would probably be a bit surprised, as they look rather different from what most people think of as Kindergarten.  I’m not a big fan of traditional curriculum.  Philosophically I tend to lean more toward a Charlotte Mason approach of using living books and narration (though I’m not a diehard CM follower who quotes her books chapter and verse).  Also, I can’t follow a curriculum to save my life.  I’m constantly tweaking and adapting things to suit our needs, and so I just couldn’t justify spending a lot of money on a well thought out curriculum that’s only going to really be used as a reference.  I’m about 80% sure that I’m going to use Ambleside Online as our core starting in 1st grade.  (My only hesitancy is that I’m considering putting together our own 4-year history cycle rather than AO’s 6-year cycle and doing that subject all together as a family.)  So I wanted to model our Kindergarten plans after what we’ll be doing once we start AO’s Year 1 next year.

The wonderful advisory board at AO has provided a list of quality books to use before children start Year 1 (they call it Year 0), but that wasn’t going to suit our needs for Kindergarten for a few reasons.  First and foremost, we’ve already read most of them many times over the last few years.  Not that it’s bad to repeat quality literature, but it really wouldn’t help Ian feel like he had had moved on to the next stage of life if we just kept reading the same stories.  Also, he’ll be turning 6 mid-year, and I feel like he’s ready to handle a little more structure.  So we’ll be doing what many refer to as a “Year 0.5,” which I’ve tried to design to be similar to Year 1 as far as subject matter, lesson length, and frequency.  (There’s no official list for Year 0.5, but many families have put together similar plans and posted them.

We started school this past week.  (Many schools in our area are year-round and begin in July. Plus I plan to take at least a month off after our baby arrives in September and I wanted to establish some habits before then.)  I was surprised at how smoothly our transition went.  We haven’t done any math since before we moved (months ago!), and even then we usually only did one or two lessons a week.  We’ve also been working on learning to form letters, but only doing it about once a week.  So it was a bit of a shift for Ian being asked to do these things every day (except Wednesday, when we go to the park with other families from our co-op).  By the third day, however, he didn’t question it at all, just sat down and did it.  He even seemed to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment he got when he’d completed his work.  Most of what we do, however, is reading aloud.  I’m starting to introduce him to Charlotte Mason’s method of narration, but not pressuring him on it.  After he turns six I’ll probably start to ask a little more of him.  For right now I’m just asking him to tell the story back to me when we’ve done a reading that seems fairly straightforward (and prompting him more than Charlotte Mason purists would approve).

To help me keep straight what I want to accomplish through the week, I wrote up a chart listing the subjects and what I want to do for each day.  I check them off as we go, and often we’re not done until dinnertime because we don’t ever sit down to get it all done in one chunk.  I try to let him play through as much of the day as possible, but if he asks to watch a show or seems to need something to do, then I offer to read to him or have him sit down to do his copywork or engage in a math activity.  The chart will be a work in progress (I already tweaked it a few times as we went through the week), but I think it’s going to be a good way for me to keep organized.  Here’s a picture of my marked up copy from this week, and here’s the actual document (HTS Kindergarten Chart updated) if you want to create something similar to use for your own family without starting from scratch.

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My plan is to keep these marked up charts for my records.  Across the top I’ll be keeping an ongoing count of how many days we’ve “done” school.  I’m not legally required to keep any records this year since Kindergarten isn’t mandatory in our state, but I want to have an idea of how we match up with the legal requirements so I’ll know if I need to make any changes for next year.

If you’re interested in what resources we’re using this year, I’ve listed them by subject below.  Many of the books I chose are part of the Yesterday’s Classics e-book package (225 books for $99.95, but often on sale for $49.95), but many others are available free for Kindle.  Here’s our (slightly daunting) list of books and other resources (edited over Christmas break):

Bible:

Copywork: finish learning letters.  Start Bible verses.

Writing: (Start 2nd term) Journal pages (color a picture, write a sentence about it). Relate to other parts of curriculum, field trips if he can’t think of what to write about.

Reading Instruction:

Math: MEP Year 1, Miquon (see this post for more)

Science/Technology/Nature Study:

Literature:

  • Classics: Fairy Tales (from Andrew Lang’s color books–not Red and Blue since they’re in AO-Year 1, recommended Uncle Remus stories)
  • Poetry: The Rooster Crows; Mother Goose; A Child’s Own Book of Verse, Book Two (After starting Book One, I realized most of it consists of nursery rhymes and traditional verses that were included in the other books we were using, whereas Book Two has longer, less familiar poems.)
  • “Free Reads”:

History/Geography

Fine Arts:

  • Music Appreciation (Ambleside Online: 1 folk song, hymn each term)
  • Piano Instruction: finish Yamaha Junior Music Course, then either the next Yamaha course or private lessons at home with mom
  • Composer Study (AO schedule: 1 each term)
  • Art Instruction: Five in a Row lessons, finish My First Book of Drawing from Kumon, start ARTistic Pursuits K-3 Book One The Way They See It – ARTistic Pursuits Preschool.  (I have been eyeing the books from ARTistic Pursuits for a couple years, but Ian is so artistically challenged I hesitated to even buy the preschool book up until now.  I thought we’d be okay jumping in with the K-3 series, but after looking through it I decided to save it for later and go ahead with the preschool book so we can hopefully include Elijah as well,.)
  • Artist Study (AO schedule: 1 each term)

Foreign Language (start 2nd term): Salsa Spanish (3 weeks per episode) Unit 1 (Episodes 101-106) (lesson plan materials from Wyoming Department of Education)

Physical Education: Family Time Fitness

It sounds like a TON of work for a Kindergartener, I know, but it’s actually not that bad.  Most of it just means being intentional about what I choose to read aloud (and there’s still plenty of time to read his choices as well–right now he’s really into The Littles series by John Peterson, currently on Book 3).  There are a lot of books listed here, but most of them we’re only reading a couple pages from each week.  (He often wanted to keep going, but with the exception of The Japanese Twins I didn’t give in.  I’d like to keep him wanting more!)  Also, many are available as free audiobooks (booksshouldbefree.com), and Ian often requests them in the car or at bedtime (especially fairy tales).

And just as a final note, this is NOT a plan I will be attempting to follow with my younger children when they’re in Kindergarten.  They can listen in on things like science, history and literature and won’t need their own books assigned for those.  It’s just that as the oldest Ian doesn’t get a chance to benefit from hearing older siblings’ lessons, so this is my way of exposing him to things he wouldn’t have a chance to catch otherwise.  I’m not chained to this “curriculum” I’ve put together.  We’ll be flexible.  Some we’ll get to; some we won’t.  I’m not overly concerned with what Ian achieves academically at this point in his life.  But if I didn’t have some sort of plan we wouldn’t be accomplishing much of anything, so at least this gives me something to look at, something to shoot for.

Happy Back-to-School!

Posted in Ambleside Online, Charlotte Mason, Kindergarten

Composer Study: Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with ballet.  One of the first cassettes I ever remember purchasing was music from Tchaikovsky’s three ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker.  Even people without a connection to ballet are probably familiar with these musical works, but they were a part of my very being.  In my piano lessons I worked harder on Tchaikovsky pieces than anything else, just because he had composed those three ballets.   I no longer eat, sleep, and breathe all things ballet, but even so, there is something magical for me about this music, so I really enjoyed our composer study this past month on Piotr (Peter) Illyich Tchaikovsky.

Audio Resources

Tchaikovsky wrote a lot more than just ballet music, so we had plenty of listening options this month.  The boys were already familiar with a lot of his music from Nutcracker, so we mostly focused on the 1812 overture (what boy wouldn’t love the idea of a cannon being fired as part of an orchestral piece?) and the music from Swan Lake.  Here’s what was on our composer playlist for the month:

Video Resources  

As usual, the boys knew many of the themes we were listening to from watching Little Einsteins episodes that feature music by Tchaikovsky:

The boys loved watching the part of Fantasia that contains the Nutcracker Suite, and we were all amazed by a YouTube video of the Great Chinese State Circus doing a scene from Swan Lake (not pure ballet, but SO worth watching just to see the main dancer’s incredible balance).  Ian also enjoyed watching an entire performance(in two sittings) put on by the Kirov Ballet.

Books

To help Ian understand what we were watching and listening to, I got a copy of Margot Fonteyn’s retelling of Swan Lake.  The illustrations are by Trina Schart Hyman (who also illustrated the Caldecott award-winning St. George and the Dragon, one of the boys’ favorite books).  He loved this book and brought it to me to read over and over throughout the month.  We also read Tchaikovsky Discovers America, which tells the same story as the Classical Kids CD from a different perspective.

Once again, a month flew by and we were saying good-bye to Tchaikovsky just as we felt like we were starting to get to know him.  We’re getting ready to move so we’ll be taking a break.  I think we’ll use this next month or so to go back and revisit some of the composers we’ve already learned about.

Posted in Charlotte Mason, Composer Study

Composer Study: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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We recently spent two months focusing on the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  The core of our composer study this first “introductory” year has been the Classical Kids CDs, and since there were two on Mozart I just decided to spend a little extra time on him.  (Or at least that made a nice excuse for enjoying my favorite composer for a little longer.)  I also wanted the boys to become familiar with the music from The Magic Flute in preparation for a children’s theater presentation by the LA Opera called The Magic Dream (which featured much of the opera’s music).  Although we also listened to plenty of Mozart’s other creations, most of our time was spent with The Magic Flute.

Audio Resources

It would be easy to listen to Mozart for at least a week without repeating any music, but I kept our selection limited. Here’s what was on our composer playlist:

Video Resources

Because my children are still so young, one of their favorite ways of learning about classical music is watching Little Einsteins.  There are several episodes that feature music by Mozart:

The Magic Flute is really a wonderful way to introduce children to opera.  The characters and other elements of the story capture their imaginations, and the productions are often colorful and visually intriguing.  I was amazed at how fascinated Ian was by YouTube videos of various performances of The Magic Flute. He especially enjoyed one by the Opéra National de Paris that showed the complete opera. (He sat watching for an hour!)  We also checked out a DVD from the library and watched the whole opera in segments as we folded laundry together.

Books and Other Reading

For some biographical information we read Mozart by Ann Rachlin from the Famous Children series.  Both boys really enjoyed The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart adapted by Kyra Teis, which tells the story just like a fairy tale book. We didn’t get to Mozart (from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers series) by Mike Venezia.  A chapter book I’d like to try later is Mozart, the Wonder Boy by Opal Wheeler.

Additional Resources

I also found many wonderful ideas for composer study on Mozart that we’ll use when the kids get a bit older here. I’m sure we’ll come back to it in the future when Mozart pops up again in the Ambleside Online composer study schedule.

Posted in Charlotte Mason, Classical Conversations Cycle 1, Composer Study

Composer Study: George Frideric Handel

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As we approached the holidays, I knew we’d soon be hearing strains of Handel’s Messiah.  I wanted my children to recognize it when they heard it, so last month we focused on George Frideric Handel for our composer study.  Handel must have had a rich faith. His settings of the Scriptures in Messiah are beautiful, and once you become familiar with the music, it’s almost impossible to read the book of Isaiah without his melodies running through your head.  He also had a heart for the orphans of London, where the German-born composer chose to live much of his life, and Messiah, which he wrote in just twenty-four days, was performed annually at a benefit concert to support the Foundling Hospital (orphanage).

Audio Resources

The main thing we listened to was Hallelujah Handel by Classical Kids, which tells the story of Handel and an orphan boy.  Ian was fascinated by the story, as he has been with all the Classical Kids CDs.  They’re really the core of our composer study this year.  Here are a few other things we listened to (in order of relative interest to my kids):

Video Resources (for children)

Two Little Einsteins episodes have music by Handel: “Annie, Get Your Microphone”  and “Rocket the Bug” (both feature Water Music).

Books and Other Reading

The book Hallelujah Handel tells the same story as the Classical Kids CD, but from a totally different perspective.  I enjoyed it just as much, especially the illustrations.  Ian and I both enjoyed Handel (from the Famous Children series), and he got a kick out of Handel and the Famous Sword Swallower of Halle, which weaves biographical information around a fascinating incident from Handel’s hometown.  When my kids are older, I’d like to read Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler, but it looked a little too long for Ian to handle right now.  I’d also like to go through Handel (from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers series) by Mike Venezia

And for grown-ups (or older children):

I found a couple interesting videos on YouTube: Handel’s Messiah: The Biblical Message Behind the Musical Masterpiece and Musical Contexts: All About Handel.  Also, if your library has videos available from Films On Demand like ours, there are three documentaries on Handel.

I opted not to attend a performance of Messiah this year, but hopefully as the children get older we’ll have a chance to enjoy it together.  One year I’d like to go through the Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader, which I discovered a few years ago and am looking forward to using someday when everyone will understand.

Posted in Charlotte Mason, Composer Study

Composer Study: Antonio Vivaldi

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Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) | Composer | Biography, music and facts

There is an amazing amount of kid-friendly resources related to Antonio Vivaldi.  I thought I possessed a basic knowledge of Vivaldi before we began our composer study on him last month, but by the time we got through October, I had learned an incredible amount.  Ian enjoyed our time with Vivaldi so much he was reluctant to leave him behind, but since he felt the same way about Beethoven, I know it will pass.

Audio Resources

Of course the main part of any composer study is music.  We listened to a few pieces on their own, but mostly I just let the boys enjoy the pieces in the background to stories about the composer.  Here’s what was on our composer playlist:

  • Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery from Classical Kids (This is a fictional story that incorporates many historical details, with lots of beautiful music accompanying the story.  Ian requested this at least once a day for the first week, and continued asking for it frequently the rest of the month.)
  • The Stories of Vivaldi and Corelli CD from our library (This one was a little dry for the boys, but it had lots of great music.  They never asked for it, but neither did they ask to turn it off.  It made great background listening while they played.)
  • Classics for Kids episodes on Vivaldi
  • “It’s Spring!” from Beethoven’s Wig 2: More Sing Along Symphonies

Video Resources

 Little Einsteins episodes that have music by Vivaldi (Elijah’s favorite show):

Books and Other Reading

Vivaldi spent several years working with the girls at an orphanage in Venice.  This setting has inspired numerous fictional works, both for children and adults.  Here are the children’s books we read about Vivaldi and some of the young musicians at the Pieta:

And for grown-ups:

I had so much fun this month doing my own study!  I read several novels about girls at the Pieta or just set in Venice around Vivaldi’s time. A few years ago the BBC produced a documentary called Vivaldi and the Women of the Pieta featuring a choir of all female voices (including the basses!), which I really enjoyed watching (preview first being watching with older kids–some sensitive content).  I also discovered a wonderful resource on our library’s website: documentaries you can watch online free just by entering your library card number!  I enjoyed watching two on Vivaldi and one on Venice (though I couldn’t find them on Amazon).  See if your library has videos available from Films On Demand.

As we entered into Vivaldi’s world through these books we wanted to find out more about the fascinating city of Venice.  So we “rowed” Papa Piccolo which is about a cat who lives in Venice.  I listed some of the movies and books we watched about the city in this post.  I think Venice will forever be in Ian’s mind, and I hope someday he’ll get a chance to visit Vivaldi’s city himself!

Posted in Charlotte Mason, Composer Study
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