Relaxed Summer Schooling

Well, I really want the kids to stay in a routine this summer, so that "school" doesn't surprise them in August. Sticking to a schedule seems to be the best way to do this, at least for my children. We all function much better with a routine. So, this morning we got up at our normal time (7:00 a.m.) and after breakfast we read part of a book (more on that later) and then Anna did math while Grant had computer time.

Now, back to the book we are reading: Right now both of my kids are at an age where they enjoy the Magic Treehouse books. Anna has read many of them independently a couple of years ago (but really likes for me to read them again) , and my son is just beginning to show an interest in listening to longer books. At the Scholastic book fair a couple of weeks ago I picked up "Moonlight on the Magic Flute". Since I am a former elementary music teacher I really like anything having to do with composers, so I figured this was a great place to start. All of the Magic Treehouse books are great in my opinion, and I would like to work through several of them this summer with the kids. I'm thinking of a poster to keep track of the ones we read -- something like "Our Summer Treehouse".... we'll just have to see how that turns out.

I went to the Crayola website and found a coloring page of Mozart so the kids colored while they listened to me read. When we had finished our chapters for the day I then played some of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" for them. I highly recommend an album for children entitled "Beethoven's Wig", which takes classical music and plays it in the original form, but then also gives another version with silly lyrics. Kids love this! I used it a lot when my daughter was in public school and I would teach music to her class once a week. We made composer/composition notebooks based on these pieces and the kids remembered the music and always asked for more! To see a video of some of this music click here! This music has won a lot of awards. We have both "Beethoven's Wig" and "Beethoven's Wig 2".

If you have any ideas to share about summer schooling activities, I would love to hear them!

Multiplication, Music and More

Look at this poor little doggie.... this is our very tolerant guy, Gizmo. Anna did this to him with a little bit of free (and unsupervised) time she had yesterday! He looked completely dejected when I opened the door to Anna's room and saw him decked out all ready for Mardi Gras! I had to laugh and then take some pictures. Children are so creative!

Now, on to today......

Wednesdays are always the busiest day in our week. After getting Grant to school Anna and I homeschool for the rest of the morning, and then she goes to a homeschool PE class at Home Plate . I love to see her running and having fun with other children... I was worried (unnecessarily so) that she would have a problem with socialization once we began to homeschool. This is perhaps the biggest MYTH about homeschooling there is.

We made a trip to the Peachtree City Library and stocked up on resources for the next week and then headed to church for our Wednesday evening Music and the Master. Right now the children are preparing to go to the Chorister's Guild Festival in Atlanta in February. I am particularly excited about this because a fellow classmate of mine from Southern Methodist University is going to be the guest conductor. If you are a parent, check out his website. He was a talented and creative young man when I first met him, and now he is publishing his own music and working in a large church in Ft. Worth. My kids love his song "Brainfreeze"!

Ahhhh.... on to the multiplication section of this post. Why is it that I never enjoyed math and now I'm afraid my daughter is falling into the same trap? We are working on our times tables now and I'm trying to jazz it up a little to make it more fun. I ordered a CD called "Multiplication Mountain" by Hap Palmer and I'll let you know what it's like.

I must go start the chocolate chip pancakes and sausage we are having for dinner (notice this is not a blog about nutrition!)..... I hope you took some time today to thank God for your blessings and then help someone in need.