Fine Arts, Orchestra

Weeks 19-24 bring a study of the orchestra, its composers and instruments. We will introduce concepts weekly on community days, and you can expand upon the studies at home.

The focus of your teaching at home is to help your children develop a love and appreciation for this music.

Ways to do this are many, but a few suggestions include:

• listen to music while doing chores, in the car, or while drawing/painting, 
• Make a game out of paying attention to and recognizing the instruments played during a song,
• attend a symphony together (for younger students, look for a children's program which has adjusted length and will typically showcase different instruments in a way for clear understanding),
• ask a friend who plays an instrument for a short lesson and demonstration,
• find books, cds, and videos at your local library about different instruments, composers, and musical time periods,
• use music as an aid for quiet reflective time while everyone draws, journals, or prays,
• seek out ways to let your children get their hands on instruments--a museum, a touch-and-feel symphony, friends or family
• talk about how music can facilitate worship, and enjoy worshipping in song together as a family
• consider private music lessons for your child. Most music teachers will encourage even the youngest of students to begin, but you're never too old to start! If cost is a barrier, start with the parent learning from a book or video and then teaching the children as they progress. (Remember, we don't have to be experts, just lead learners!)

We know that God is a musical God, and in Heaven there will be much music! We know that God made us musical beings--we are soothed, invigorated, alleviated, and ignited through music, yet it is something that is being taught less and less. We gain the full benefit of music when we study it. In addition, science has shown that there is no better activity to aid in our learning of every other subject than learning a musical instrument. Ages ago, the study of music was not seen as elective but as core. Let's reclaim this lost perspective!

picture source: Classical FM Radio

Presentation Schedule, 3rd Quarter

Our focus for this quarter's presentations is style. These prompts are chosen to develop each presenter's unique and expressive style.

Week 13 – Something I did over the break (can be related to the holidays, a family trip, a favorite new gift, a book enjoyed with the family, etc.)

Week 14 – Memorize a poem, nursery rhyme, or hymn lyric. Recite for the class. Intro with name and author of poem. Conclude by saying, “I chose this poem because______. Thank you for listening.” (No questions fielded for this presentation).

Week 15 – Present your Gainsborough diorama project (discussed in art the previous week). Explain the elements of your diorama and how you assembled it.

Week 16 – Choose a favorite picture book and retell the story in your own words and style. (Sequence chart suggested).

Week 17 – “What’s in my pocket?” Choose a small object and conceal it in your pocket. Reveal 3 clues one at a time, allowing the class to guess between each clue. The first clue should be subtle, while the last clue should allow most to guess the object.

Week 18 – Choose a favorite expressive passage from a book (can be dialogue or prose). Read it expressively to the class. (Passage doesn’t have to be memorized but can be).

Phases of the Moon

I love the 6 week emphasis on outer space because there are so many fun ways to expand on our studies at home! Here are few additional resources for phases of the moon.

30 Day Moon Journal (free)

Moon Calendars for 2017 (for purchase)

Don't forget that 2017 is a year of a total solar eclipse! Read more at space.com

And lastly, my kids' favorite: Phases of the Moon snack time! ;) 

Presentation Schedule, 2nd Quarter

The presentation emphasis for our 2nd quarter is articulation--not so much in diction of speech, but in sequence of thought. Therefore, our presentation topics will require an order of thinking and relaying of information. 

• Week 7, October 20 = An activity I enjoy--What is it? How do I do it?
• October 27 = Fall Break
• Week 8, November 3 = Tell us about an animal. What type of consumer is it (herbivore/carnivore/omnivore)? Where does it live, what does it look like? Anything else interesting that you'd like to share?
• Week 9, November 10 = Choose a place on the map that we have studied. What is it like there? What language is spoken? What is a common food? Anything else interesting you'd like to share?
• Week 10, November 17 = What is your favorite Bible story? Who are the main characters? What happens in the story? What do we learn about God's qualities from this story?
• Week 11, December 1 = What are ways that my family worships/celebrates Jesus? (Can be Christmas-y or any time of year). What do we do? Why do we do it? What is a verse in the Bible that supports this?
• Week 12, December 8 = Impromtu presentations. A surprise activity for students that will exercise thankful and respectful responses.

Because these presentations are more involved and we have 30 minutes for 10 students, we will keep each one to a length of 2 minutes, and allow for 2 questions for each student. 

Structured for Families

After homeschooling solo for the first year, I knew I needed two things--structure and a plan. And my desire was for me to not have to invent that all by myself.

A friend invited me to a CC meeting, and I discovered that it had a well structured curriculum for 7 subjects, and yet it was the only one I had looked into that was designed to not only work easily for teaching multiple aged kids at the same time, but also having tremendous flexibility in how we expanded upon each topic.

Many of the other homeschool curriculums I had looked into had large box sets, lots of pre-reading for the teacher, too many pages to complete each day. I asked friends who used such sets, and they frequently talked about feeling "weighed down" by "trying to get it all done." And if they were schooling more than one child, that workload doubled.

This was not my style. I was more appealed by the Charlotte Mason homeschool style--reading good books aloud together, exploring nature together through outdoor play, etc. Yet I was firmly against the idea of "unschooling" in the sense of not having a plan and hoping that my kids learned to read and do math simply by taking them to the grocery store. 

Surely there was a balanced option somewhere?!

Yes, it is here with Classical Conversations! 

Each week there is a learning objective in each main subject; Here's the genius--It's the same basic objective for Pre-K-6th grade, and you, the parent, have full freedom how much you want to expand on each subject each week. 

For example, in Science, the weekly objective is to learn the 3 types of animal consumers: Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnivore. Your kindergartner can color a picture and simply know that a lion is a carnivore, a giraffe is a herbivore, and a bear is an omnivore. Your 3rd grader could make a collage of different animals in each category, while your 5th grader reads a chapter book and writes a 2 page report. 

Here's why this system is so functional and fruitful:

• You, as parent-teacher, don't have to read a textbook about animal consumers before you begin.
• You, as parent-teacher, don't have to create 24 science objectives on your own.
• You, as parent-teacher, can tailor your weekly projects to your children's learning needs and your personal teaching style. 
• CC Connected (our online community for sharing resources) has posts from other parents doing the same learning objectives--many of them have already created crafts, worksheets, journal ideas etc. for the weekly objectives and you can download for free. If you wanted to, you could even get together with friends from the community and do a science project together because everyone is working the same objective!
• Your 4 year old can study the same thing as your 10 year old and you'll have richer conversations as a family as you're all learning the same topic at the same time.
• CC provides a writing program for 4th-6th graders (it's called Essentials, and you can hear more about it in another post), and it lines up with the learning objectives in other subjects. So you, parent-teacher, don't have to go searching for upper-level challenges for your upper- elementary kid.
• You get to decide if you expand on the weekly objective at all. You can say, "You know what? The fact that my 6 year old knows what 3 types of animal consumers are is good enough. Science = done! We need to spend more time on math this week anyway!"

I can't possibly explain all the benefits to such a system in one blog post, so if you're left wondering more, please attend one of our info meetings.