Music, Art & More - Collage Friday
Friday, October 4, 2013 at 5:00AM 
We're finding our way with Classical Conversations -- learning simple ways to expand upon the memory work, and also learning that sometimes the memory work in Foundations really is ENOUGH.
The first 6 weeks has ended and I'm BLOWN AWAY by what both of my children have learned since we started. I cannot stop singing the praises of CC to everyone we know.
Next week we will be on a fall break - one whole week of no schoolwork. I'm looking forward to the break, because it has been a BUSY 8 weeks since we began in August.
We have no special plans for the week, just a little boy's room that needs some updating, and hopefully some time for a couple of field trips and several mornings of NO ALARM CLOCKS!
I'm very excited to be attending Blogging Concentrated with my husband next weekend - and I will also get to see my dear friend Tricia and her husband.
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I am dedicated to exposing my children to the fine arts as much as possible. It is one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling - spending time on so many BEAUTIFUL and WORTHY pieces of art and music. I like that Classical Conversations incorporates all of this in such a natural way.
This week we talked a lot about daVinci and Michelangelo.
Grant read Who Was Leonardo daVinci and we also played a lot of The Renaissance Art Game (this is such a beautiful resource for Renaissance art appreciation). (Even though Anna isn't in Foundations or Essentials she is picking up on everything we are doing - I sneak in art and music during meal times and she plops down to watch various documentaries with us.)
Miscellaneous Happenings
Grant has been playing a little Verdi piece on the piano from one of his operas. So, I turned on Beethoven's Wig and we talked a little about Verdi. (He will be one of the composers in Volume 3 of SQUILT.)
Anna is preparing for a Piano Sonatina Festival in November. She has had to practice a good amount each day to keep up with what her teacher has assigned. Between her practicing and her children's choir rehearsals she gets in so much music each week. This makes me happy (and I think it makes her happy, too).
The brief art lessons at CC have intrigued Grant as well. This week, for his presentation, he chose to draw a Medieval Castle using perspective. I was really proud of him.
We have also spent A LOT of time at the ballpark. Normally we have 3 games each week. I have to admit this wears me out and sometimes I get frustrated with the time commitment, but Grant LOVES it, and our family goes to the games together and knows so much about the sport. There's just something about a cool fall evening at the ball field cheering for my favorite first baseman!
Anna's Week
I am getting used to being much more "hands off" with Anna's work this year. (Believe me, this has been difficult for me - I was so used to being involved, but I am learning that now is the time to beging stepping away.)
The goal of Challenge A is to create students that can self manage. The entire year is a learning process, and I can see so clearly Leigh Bortin's intent when she created this program.
It is impressive.
Each week for science Anna is assigned a broad topic to research.
She must complete an outline for each of two sources and then fuse those two outlines into one. Then, she has to write a paragraph about her research and present for her class. A sketch also accompanies each topic.
There is a lot of planning that goes into this - finding sources, actually DOING the research, completing the outlines, then typing the paragraph and bibliography and completing her sketch. At this point she is able to do all of this independently.
I don't remember writing bibliographies unassisted until at least high school.
This week her topic was mollusks, which really interested her. She pulled out shells from an old family trip to the beach and sketched a scallop shell.
So far she has researched 7 topics and made 7 seven presentations. I love the skills involved from start to finish.
Geography is also moving right along. I wrote a post about geography this week, too. My camera shy child is holding up her board with North America, Central America, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles. This week she is working on South America.
I am trying to do all of the Latin alongside Anna this year. It is challenging to say the least. Right now we are learning third declension and I think my 41 year old brain may explode!
Over the weekend Anna and I went to a wedding shower - she got to be a toilet paper bride! All of the games were fun for Anna, and I think seeing girls 10 years older than her who are college graduates, working, and getting married, was fun, too.
More LEGO Goodness!
A box arrived over the weekend...
Grant cannot wait to dig into the LEGO WeDo curriculum. He already starting experimenting with the bricks, but I am particularly excited to block off a chunk of time to use this resource - where you can program your LEGO creations!
Extras
- My favorite crock pot recipe right now is French-Dip Sandwiches... I don't know what I would do without Plan To Eat - so easy to catalog my recipes, create shopping lists, and plan our week of meals.
- I finished The Shop on Blossom Street and am waiting for the next book in the series to come. This series is entertaining, easy to read, and a total escape for me!
- We finalized our Florida vacation plans for November - I am so looking forward to a full seven days in Naples and Casey Key, with a stop to see my good friend Jen on the way home!
- I am seeing a chiropractor about my back - she is the FIRST person who I have seen that is actually treating me as a PERSON... and not just suggesting a procedure or offering a prescription. I'm hopeful that my back will start feeling better. I have a pretty bad case of degenerative disc disease (which I'm very young for), but this doctor feels I can rebuild an affected disc and take other steps towards overall health that will improve my pain level. So much of getting better is me putting ME first and asking for the help I need. (Can you relate?)
I hope you can join me for Collage Friday! How has your week been? We have a great community of homeschool support here!
If you'd like to link, you can do so in a couple of ways:
- Enter your link below. Be sure to link to your post with photo collages and link back to this post (or include the Collage Friday button on your blog).
- Share your photo collage(s) on Instagram, FB, G+, or Twitter - use the hashtag #collagefriday so I can find you!
Reader Comments (17)
What a wonderfully full and varied week. Hope you have a lovely rest this week with no alarm clocks!
I used to have lots of problems with my back then I began seeing a wonderful chiropractor 12 years ago. They are such wonderful doctors. You will see what a difference it will make in your life getting adjusted regularly. :)
So happy that CC is a great fit for your family! Sounds like a fun week but I can understand a break! Enjoy the weekend and so fun you get to see blogging friends!
So many great things about your week! And I surely can hear your joy - and see it in the faces of your children - over CC. Love all the art and music. And a big, happy fall break to you all. You have surely earned it!
What a fun week and terrific pictures!
Thanks for sharing all this and thanks for hosting! I linked a fun collection of pogo stick jumping around here as well as a vid that my son made.
have a great weekend, mary!
It is amazing to hear about all the things your children are learning. No wonder you love CC so. I don't think it is a fit for our family, but I can honestly see all the benefits of it. That is quite impressive writing skills for that age group. It is wonderful to hear your enthusiasm in each post. :)
Thank you for hosting! Looks like you had a great week! I'm enjoying CC (at home) and cannot wait to start doing more with it!
Finally chiming in with a Friday post...thanks for hosting the linkup. Your week sounds rich and fun too!
sounds like a wonderful week - so glad your hubs gets to go with you to the blog convention
It sounds like a joyful week. I hope you guys have a great break!!
Can you believe it? Two weeks in a row for me! :-)
(Your week looks fabulous, and I'm very glad you see an end in sight for your back problems!)
DaVinci, Beethoven, Legos, and geography! Seems like a wonderful week of homeschooling. We'll be taking a break next week too. Enjoy the time off. betty jo
I'm both looking forward to and dreading the day I can be more hands off with our school lessons. There are times I really want to get into a Classical Conversations group and times I really don't. I can't quite decide how it'd work out for my family.
I"m in awe of the amount you manage to fit into your weeks, Mary! Very inspiring. Anna looks so pretty at the baby shower.
Thanks for hosting the linkup. I hope you're having a super weekend.
Hi Mary,
Yeah looks like you settled in nicely for the week. I love seeing Anna's shell study. And Grant's big ol smile makes me smile.
Joining in once again ... hope to be a regular participant. Love the format. Love discovering new blogs.
I am intrigued with the outlines --> paragraph writing Anna is doing. Sounds both challenging and rewarding. :)
I'm loving CC too, and I'm forever grateful to you and your blog. I'd been praying about whether to sign up for CC for 6 months; and then I felt God answered my prayers through you.
As a recovering "type A" mom, I'm loving the work 6 weeks, take one week off structure. I think it will be good to rest and regroup. I'm also amazed at how quickly my little guy responds to the rhythm of the memory work each week. He insists on reviewing all of the weeks, he wants to know it all and not forget a single thing. That is amazing to me.
Thank you for all of the Lego ideas and giveaways. My son is really stretching his imagination with building this year. I've seen how this is spurring an interest and confidence in story telling and writing. (I did not see that coming, but lego education combined with Susan Wise Bauer's FLL and WWE has turned a reluctant writer into a lover of writing.)
SQUILT has also been a blessing for us. I have always included music in our learning; but the structure of your lessons gives me lots of jumping off points and is really expanding my creativity. Please keep them coming. I'll always be first in line to make my purchase.