Friday
May112012
Homeschool Motivation & Cello Wars!
Friday, May 11, 2012 at 5:00AM
Lots going on this week....
- Sometimes you just have a few magical homeschool days in a row. That happened here this week. My daughter decided she wanted to learn a certain pop song on the piano. She printed the music and spent several hours learning it... it is hard for her level of playing, but she DID IT.
As I type she is in the piano room with her friend making a video of the song. We've been having a little trouble with motivation recently. I know this just goes with the age, but I was so glad to see her really EXCITED about something. This creativity and inspiration wouldn't have happened if she was in school. There would have been NO TIME to just sit at the piano and create.
- Have you seen the new tab here, "Music Notebooking Printables"? I'm adding to these printables weekly, hopefully to encourage you to incorporate music in your homeschool.
- I've been neglecting science recently (to everything a season, right?) ... but we've started something new -- Elemental Science. You'll hear more about this, but this classical driven science curriculum seems to fit us VERY well.
- We've also been working on a few home projects - nothing major, but getting some painting done, blinds hung, estimates, etc... The kids are learning valuable lessons in price comparison, dealing with workmen, and patience. I'm also learning to deal with a bit of a mess (this is SO HARD for me!) and exhibit some patience myself.
On to the collages...
1. GMan's last baseball game ~ followed by a pizza banquet and trophies. He had a great season and still plays a solid first base. He is even giving ME batting lessons in the backyard.
2. Playing Bible Drills in Sunday School ~ this is such a fun game and a great way to learn your books of the Bible. This basically is the kids holding their Bibles up (called "drawing their weapons"), then the teacher calling out a verse. The kids repeat their verse and then find the verse as fast as they can. My husband has been teaching in this class of 4th-6th graders all year, and next year he and I will be teaching the class together. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!
3. We're ALL trying to be more healthy. My husband is incredibly fit.... he works out almost daily and is very self-disciplined. I have cut way back on what I'm eating and we got to the YMCA to swim laps this week. While there the masters swim coach asked if I wanted to start swimming on their team - it meets at a time that is very convenient for me, so I think I'm going to give it a try! I swam quite competitively growing up and it something I enjoy doing. I am not doing anyone any good by being a "homeschool mom martyr", know what I mean? It's time I got myself in gear and back in shape.
4. After the used book sale last week I still had some more books to get rid of, so we donated them at a local book drop. I'm thinking that I might have a few more boxes to take next week, too.
1. We played a LONG game of Monopoly last Sunday afternoon. This was as good as an entire week of math lessons in my opinion. It was a very close game... but it's so funny how results wind up very close to our money personalities in real life!
2. We listened to a wonderful free version of Tom Sawyer this week while completing history review cards for Story of the World. I love the review cards... my kids wanted to turn them into a little book. Hopefully I'll have pictures to show you soon.
AND, on that note: If you have any questions about how we use The Story of The World, please leave a comment and ask. I am planning a post about how we use this history curriculum. I don't see us changing history curriculums anytime soon. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but we are finishing our second year of using SOTW and it works so well for us.
3. Read-alouds for a chapter in the SOTW about Marco Polo and the Mongols. We read Daisy Comes Home, The Emperor and the Nightingale, and The Five Chinese Brothers.
1. Oh my goodness ~ Black Bean and Corn Tostadas were my favorite meal this week. You can see the recipe via Plan to Eat.
2. One of my piano students invited us to her high school band concert this week. We went, and it was really good! It was a good chance for me to talk to the kids about the difference between a band and an orchestra. If you're interested, I'll be putting out a little notebooking set on that very subject next week!
3. In a basement cleaning spree I found a lot of my childhood books. GMan loved reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and he also found my entire boxed set of Paddington Books. I have challenged him to read all five by the end of the month. He loves any kind of challenge with a time limit - I love that little stinker.
4. Something else you'll be hearing more about in the future is Clever Dragons. (I've already blogged about Always Ice Cream) This online community for boys has been such fun. GMan's favorite thing (via Clever Dragons) this week was Cello Wars -- I loved the cello playing light sabers! Clever Dragons definitely wins our favorite resource this week!
Remember that Interest Led Music Study of the music of Star Wars/John Williams?
In fact... I've embedded the video for you here. I just love it. My little guy wants to play the cello now (squee!!)
How was your week? I'd love for you to join me. You don't need a formal "collage", just a collection of pictures that tell us about your homeschool week. Be sure to grab the button below, sign the linky, and then visit others on the list to offer encouragement and gain ideas.
Reader Comments (14)
I love that your collages can quickly summarize the events of your week without writing a huge dissertation about each activity. This week has been all about the dig......next week I will link up with what we are doing to prepare for TN!
We recently came across the Piano Guys on Facebook. We love them! My kids love Cello Wars. I think a cute one is the surprise for the Senior Center.
Oh my! I can't wait for my so to wake up and here this video. He is going to love it.
Blessings, Dawn
Oh my goodness. What a jam-packed full of goodness week! I'm going to have to put your black bean corn tostadas in my rotation. I love the motivation coming out of your delight-led learning. And I'm pinning your new printables section. Thank you for hosting!
I have tagged you, Mary, for a bit of fun...
http://homeschooljournal-bergblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/11-on-11th.html
Where is the link-up?
That sounds like a great week! Love that your daughter figured out the song herself. One of these days, I'm going to actually start piano lessons around here!! And home projects: I've always got some sort of project in the works!
I always love reading about your weeks, Mary :) I'm glad that your daughter found something to get excited about...and that she had the time to pursue it! Yay for homeschooling and interests to motivate learning!!
Clever Dragons sounds like fun...thanks for linking up :)
Another great week Mary! We used Elemental Science last year and it was just what we needed. Have fun!
Linking up now - but I have to tell you how much we love Cello Wars too!!! (And how many hours we spent digging into various musical concepts and videography ideas after it!)
SQUEAL!!! That video was EPIC! Haha! Had to wake up my son after we started it so he could watch it, too. That was just great... :D
I'm going to get linking up ...soon. Lol, my post isn't done. Off to visit some others pages :)
Another great week. I love how the collages sum up the week so wonderfully. I am so THANKFUL you started doing this. I just love doing it on my blog and reading every ones.
Love that Miss B figured out that song herself. What a great thing. I'm about to check out the free Tom Sawyer. I love an audio book that is wonderfully read. "Bless your heart" for the long Monopoly game. I have made my dislike for "OPOLY" games well known. Keilee loved them so I played. ;)
Going to check out your recipe right now. Sounds delicious!
Hi again Mary :) I linked up my gratitude/weekly recap post...I figured it qualified as a collection of photos to tell about our week.
Happy Mother's Day!
I love that you're joining a swim team again! That's wondeful!
Yay for your girl working so hard on her song! We're headed into recital week here, so piano music is in the air here, too.
I wanted to tell you, too, that I love the idea of your Homeschool Guest feature. I don't always comment because I read a lot on the iPod or iPad and find it a pain to type on, but I am following along!