Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 9

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New Grammar

Each week we are adding another small piece to our blob maps.  Blob maps are called that because the continents look like a blob, not the exact shape.  My hope for the students at the Journeyman level is to get the blob shape continents in the correct places based on latitude and longitude.  This is a great map to let them look at while they draw freehand.

Go back to weeks 1-4 for videos of how to blob.

Geography - Eastern Asia.  There are some great songs on CCC for geography for cycle one.  I play all of the weeks in a row and the kids see how fast they can find the places.

Math - This week we are skip counting by 15's.  There is a pattern in the ones place 5,0,5,0,5,0, etc.  That pattern helps me multiply by 15!

History - Confucius.  If you type Confucius into Pinterest you find all of the things he said.  

You can download a FREE powerpoint with sayings by Confucius

here

.  Then choose to write about one or illustrate one.

Latin - Keep memorizing those declensions!  I printed out two of each chart for my kids.  One chart I cut into pieces and they have to match it to the full page while saying them for review.

English - There are so many fun ways to work on prepositions!  Go to the park and act them out, make a preposition picture book, just act them out with a chair.  I think we will try a box and ball this week.

Science - Parts of a plant

We began this activity in class as a way to review new grammar, and to study flowers for science (it was raining to so week 9's nature walk got switched with week 10).  You can find how to do the full activity

here

.  

If you go ahead in new grammar you can get great information for inside the book.  The CC Science cards, or the science snippets on the app or tutorials also have great information for weeks 9-11 that can help you finish this project.

Music

I adapted the Recorder Karate curriculum for D tin whistle for my class.  It works really well, the only difference from soprano recorder is a few fingerings.  I also created an online class to help the students out.  You can get to it

here

.

We reviewed what a staff is, note names, and how to draw a treble clef.  Then we added a 4/4 time signature and filled measures with different combinations of notes that add up to four beats together.

After that we did a quiz for fun to see how well the kids could identify B, A, and G patterns with their ears! You can get the worksheet

here

.

1d504d11ce12a91f183881ab7dffda01.jpg

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Weeks 6 and 7

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Some weeks there is just not enough time to add anything extra.  The great part about CC Foundations is that if you are memorizing your CC work, and doing your math and English that is enough!

This is our second time to go through Cycle 1.  The first time through we were brand new to CC and still getting a feel for homeschooling, and what we were suppose to be doing.  It is a whole new world the second time through.  The kids are considering working toward memory masters (memorizing all 7 subject for all 24 weeks).

How we are preparing for Memory Masters:
(We stole all of these ideas from other smart mommies!)

*We are listening to all of the weeks already.  I found all of the audio I wanted on CC Connected and made my playlist by subject for all 24 weeks.  We will listen to 24 weeks of one of the subjects each day.  My kids favorite songs are the geography songs.

*Each of my kids has a note card box for review cards.  My third grader has to copy the review cards and make her own, my second grader is using the premade cards.  Cards they need to work on go in the front of a divider and cards that are mastered go behind it.

*We are tracing our maps a lot!  I love the CC geography trivium tables.  It's well worth your $10!  You can trace on them with dry erase markers and they are easy to put in your backpack on the go.  We also tape tracing paper over the maps for review.

I'm sure there are more wonderful ways to study for memory masters, but this is what we have come up with so far and I am pleased with it.


Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 5

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History

Some fun activities for at home this week

Games about the Roman Empire and the split of Rome

http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/preload.htm

http://ccingitonedayatatime.blogspot.com/2012/09/starringall-thumbs.html

Geography

This weeks geography is the Egyptian Empire.  Here is a fun way to combine art and geography!

Build the Egyptian empire out of sugar cubes, construction paper, and straws

We enjoy the Magic Treehouse books.  There is a fiction and nonfiction book about Egypt

Science

I like these

sorting cards

.  A simple sorting activity might be fun for all of the kids this week.

Science Experiment

Here is a video of this weeks science experiment.  Watch it with your kids after our school day and see what they remember.

http://imaginationstationtoledo.org/content/2011/04/how-to-make-a-naked-egg/

Blobbing

It's finally time to add the continents!  This week we will practice tracing North America.  Next week we will add it to our blob map.

Fun Learning About the Greek gods - Percy Jackson Inspired - CC Week 3

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We had a great time learning about the Greek gods with some friends today.  The kids are learning the names of prominent Greek and Roman gods this week for school.  I found several posts about Percy Jackson books, and parties that were inspired by the books, and decided to have our own fun.

Here is what we did.

We started learning by going on a hunt for 20 different gods and goddesses.  Each poster has a QR code on it.  When you scan it you find out the name of the god or goddess.  You can get them

here

.

After working hard it was time for a game.  We adapted the Mr. Fox game to be a Zeus and Hera game.  Whoever was Zeus or Hera went to the top of the hill and turned their back so they couldn't see everyone.  They then got to tell the mortals how many steps to take.  The mortals job was to go as quietly as possible so they could sneak by.  When Zeus or Hera thought they were getting close they yelled, "Zeus is coming down the mountain!" and turned around and chased them.  Whoever they tagged became Zeus or Hera next.

After getting some energy out it was time for a quick lesson.  We used the CC timeline cards that applied to the gods.  We sang the timeline song and stopped each time we got to one of the timeline cards listed and talked about it briefly.  We looked at the map as we discussed Greece and Rome being established and how to gods names changed from Greek to Roman when Rome defeated Greece. 

Next it was time for shield making!  We used cake rounds for the shields and duck tape for the handle on the back.  If you use a coupon at Michaels you can get a good deal on cake rounds.

Once the shields were made it was time to talk about the god of war and get ready for battle.  Greece and Rome went war in the garage.  Both sides were armed with their shields and pool noodle swords.  To win the battle you had to have the least amount of balloons on your side at the end.  

What Are the Five Kingdoms of Living Things?

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We enjoyed a fun review lesson yesterday about the kingdoms of living things.

 This collection

 of science lessons goes along with the Classical Conversations curriculum.  Each lesson is short and ties into the Bible.  Our favorite part of yesterdays lesson was drawing our own pizzas.  Did you know that you can make a  pizza that has four of the five kingdoms on it?  Do you know what they are?  What would you need on a pizza to represent four of the five kingdoms?

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 4

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New Grammar

We are going to keep new grammar simple.  The goal is to be exposed to the material, not master it.  Mastering it should happen at home.

The review dice with movements and tone of voice are a great way to spice up new grammar, but still keep it simple and to the point!

https://halfahundredacrewood.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ccreviewdice.pdf

You can look back to the other weeks on the blog for ways to spice up learning prepositions, plant cells, and Latin noun endings.

We will expand on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World at home this week with some fun

coloring maps

and

model building

.  

Art

Here are a few fun ideas for ways to do abstract art this week.

http://www.happinessishomemade.net/2014/03/17/kids-homeschool-art-lesson-piet-mondrian/

http://greenbayartroom.blogspot.com/2011/10/kandinsky-trees-1st-grade.html

http://galatiak12art.blogspot.com/2013/03/more-pictures-of-messiest-project-ever.html

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Art-Lesson-Elements-Abstracts-1275328

Science

This week we are talking about water pollution.  Be careful not to put too much food coloring in the water.  It really takes a lot of water to undo to pollution (food coloring).  We will go over the scientific method again.  There are some great worksheets on CCC for tutors and parents.  

Here is a fun water quiz for at home.

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/puzzlesquizzes/water-wiz/

This activity could be adapted at home to talk about water pollution too.

http://www.filthwizardry.com/2009/07/aluminium-foil-river.html

Presentations

We are still working on organizing presentations this week.  Each student still gets 3 minutes to talk.  They are getting better at this time frame.  In addition to organization we are going to work on eye contact.  Go back and watch your video from last week (I record the students each week so they can go back and watch themselves and share it with their families) did you look at your audience?  Here's this weeks fun video.  Kid President doesn't look at his notes on the board.  He knows what he is going to say and he looks at the audience (or he has something he is reading by the camera).  

Blobbing

We are reviewing for blobbing this week.  Look back to week 3 for a video.  We have the compass rose, Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropics, Arctic and Antarctic Circles on our blob maps now.  

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 3

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Presentations

I'm going to start with presentation information again this week because I like fun videos.  The prompt, should you choose to accept it, is heroes this week.  I love Kid President.  

"I think you're a hero and you don't even know it yet."  What will you do to be a hero?

The Journeyman/Masters class is working on structuring a three minute presentation for whatever topic they may choose this week.  I do hope to hear about some heroes though.

Art

This week we are doing upside down drawings.  I've posted this video before, but it amazes me!

Here is a fun upside down lesson 

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16305/16305-h/16305-h.htm

THE BLESSEDNESS OF WORK—Labor

—Diligence

The Truly Happy Life is the One Filled With Honest Employment.

THE LESSON—That in childhood and youth we should train ourselves to work.

Work is the keynote of the successful life. "An idle brain is the devil's workshop." The talk is designed to catch the attention with a smile and then give an opportunity to present some valuable thoughts in the matter of diligence and the fulfillment of life's mission through honorable employment of the mind and the hands.

The Talk.

"Very often we read some very curious things. The manufacturer of one of the well-known breakfast foods, has placed this strange statement on the outside of each of the packages: 'Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.' It seems impossible to do this, and the writer of the words probably had an entirely different way of explaining how he would do it from the way we will demonstrate it here on the drawing paper today. Let us suppose that we make the statement that we can tell what a man is if we know what he eats. All right, then, here is a case: There is a certain man who eats three meals a day out of a dish shaped something like this: [Draw lines representing Step 1 of 

Fig. 37

.]

Figures 37 and 38: Drawing of a dish of rice, that upside-down becomes a Chinese man.

"And then, let us suppose that the food he eats is heaped up like this: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 2.]

"Now, what do you think this food is? Ice cream? Ah, no, because when I tell you that this is steam rising from the food you will know it isn't ice cream: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 3.]

"But you will begin to see what it is when I tell you that these two lines represent chopsticks: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 5.] What is it? Rice? Yes, it is rice, and we will label it in this way. [Add the letters, to change the drawing to Step 5.]

"And now, having found out what the man eats, let us see if we can find out who he is. [Remove the sheet from the drawing board, hold it up and turn it over, exposing 

Fig. 38

 to the audience. With the attention thus centered upon your work, the boys and girls will listen with eagerness to whatever else you may have for them.]

"And so, I tell you of another thing that we can do.

"Listen! Tell me what a boy thinks about, and I will tell you what kind of a man he will grow up to be.

"The man who swears, thought of bad things and used bad words when he was a boy. The man who is a thief thought about dishonest things when he was a boy. The man who is happy and who finds it his delight to do good, formed the habit of thinking and doing good things when he was a boy. The man who loves his work learned to like to work when he was a boy.

"And it is work that I want to speak about today.

"There is no place in the world for a lazy boy or girl. Nobody wants them. Boys who hate to work are the kind that loaf around poolrooms and pollute the air with vile cigarette smoke and language which bespeaks an empty mind and a corrupt heart.

"As Jesus is our great example in every way, He stands out strongly as our example of how a workman should delight in his employment. We should first find the thing which God intends that we shall do, for we are all fitted to do some things better than others, and we should then put forth our best efforts to learn to do that one thing as well as we can. We must center our thoughts upon the things we want to do. Life will then become a delight, because the world is always crying for workers who know how to do their work. The other kind is always to be found but never wanted. The demand is for the ones who know how. It is a significant fact that the first recorded words of Jesus Christ are, 'Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?' This makes of Jesus a 

Business boy

, and it was God's work he began so soon.

"Gladstone, an inspiring example of the true workman, says, 'The thrift of time will repay in after life with usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams, and the waste of it will make you dwindle alike in intellectual and moral stature beyond your darkest reckoning.'

"The happiest people in the world are those who are busy at something worth while, and the most miserable are those who are in idleness for lack of ambition or else are engaged in work which they themselves loathe because of its baseness."

New Grammar 

History

Greek and Roman gods

We are going to have some fun with this topic this week!

I bought

Percy Jenkins Greek gods

book to read with the kids.  My husband and I have been amused by it.  We decided we should read through each story first before sharing it with the kids.

We are also using ideas from this

Percy Jackson and the Olympians party

to enjoy studying history at home and with friends.

Latin

There are some wonderful pictures that have been created to help you remember your noun endings.  

Here is a link

to a packet for this week.  You could make matching games or a book with them.

Science

Here is a fun idea for studying parts of an animal cell at home!

You can find the list of what you need to make this here

http://5perfectimperfections.blogspot.com/2011/09/edible-cell.html

If you don't want to make an edible cell the here are some

free printables

you can color and label instead.

Blobbing

We are adding our Arctic lines to our blobs this week.  Here is how to do it.

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 2

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Presentations

I am tutoring a Journeyman/Masters level class of kids and most of them have gone to CC since kindergarten or pre-school.  They are used to giving presentations and now they are ready to refine some skills this year.  This week we are going to look at this short TED Talk given by a 12 year old.  He uses an outline and has clear opening and closing statements.  

In class each student will get 3 minutes to talk.  Since we do not need to work on eye contact, volume, or being nervous about presenting with any of them, I would like for them to work toward filling the whole 3 minutes, using at outline if needed, and developing short opening and closing statements.

Science Experiment

We have some fun experiments this week.  We get to figure out how spiders use their webs and why fish float when they're dead.  I'm looking forward to hearing what kind of hypotheses the kids come up with.  As a musician I LOVE this spider video. 

Art

We are looking at mirror images in art this week.  I am trying to keep our art biology related this cycle.  We will look at the

mirror image/symmetry of leaves

this week.  Last week we designed our leaves using basic elements of art.

Blobbing/Geography

We are going to add the tropics to our geography blob maps this week!  Here is exactly how to do it.

New Grammar

My favorite ideas for the week

Science

English - Prepositions

For History and Latin look back to week ones post.  You can click the Classical Conversations label on the right to find posts specific to CC.

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Week 1

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We are excited to start a new year of CC!  This is the first time we are repeating a cycle.  I am excited to see the new ways we learn the information now that the kids are older.  I have already seen so many subjects be easy to learn because the kids memorized the material through fun songs when they were littler.  Multiplication is a breeze with my oldest since she had learned skip counting through singing.

CC doesn't put counting ones to a song.  But Sesame Street does and it's fun!

 I LOVE Pentatonix version of the song. If you just want to hear them sing it skip to 2:05. If you want to see Cookie Monster watch the whole thing. We will revisit Pentatonix version of the song again when we study Rondo form in the Spring.

I don't have cool videos for everything.  Skip counting the 2's is just sung to Jesus Loves Me.  It's good to keep some things simple.

The older kids will have to say the whole math fact.  I think we are going to shoot them with Nerf guns while we say them!  The facts are written on a shower board.  Suction Nerf bullets stick to it nicely.

For History this week and next there are some fun

10 commandment matching card games

,

crafts

, and

worksheets

you can do at home.

We have always sung the Classifications of Living Things to the ringtone that was on my cell phone the last time we went through cycle 1.  Sorry, that's not a lot of help.  Just make up a little song.  In class we are going to stack boxes.

Going to the zoo is a great way to look at the genus and species of animals.  They are listed in Latin so you get two subjects at once while on a field trip!  Homeschooling is great!

English

In English we are going to chant the definition of a Preposition.  We are going to look at prepositions for 12 weeks so just get the definition down for now.

Latin 

We are memorizing noun cases.  This is still new to me too.  Just memorize it for now.  Having it memorized will make their lives easier in highschool.  If you want more of an explanation of Latin Cases here's a good one.

Geography

The students are showing and telling where places in the Fertile Crescent are.  Get out your Bibles and find where these places are talked about.  The big job for now is that each student can show you where each location is if you ask for it by name and tell you what each location is if you point to it on the map.

We will also do blobbing for geography.  If you have no idea what this is watch this short video.

Fine Art

We are talking about OiLs this week.  Those are basic shapes.  Circles, dots, lines, angles, and squiggles.  Since science focuses on Biology this year I think we will use our art lessons to draw nature.  This week students will each get a blank leaf and use OiLs to fill it in.

Here is the lesson if you would like it http://artprojectsforkids.org/patterned-leaf/

I am really excited about the final project, but you'll have to wait for that to be revealed.

Science Experiment

We are dissecting a bean.  We will focus on what a hypothesis is and use

this sheet

to help.

Classical Conversations Meets Music Together

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I think my presentation went well (you can refer to the previous post if you want a few more details).  At least I had fun giving the presentation.  I think that's my main goal in life, to have fun doing whatever it is I've been given to do.

The purpose of the presentation was to share Music Together's philosophy with a group of my choice.  I choose to share the philosophy with Classical Conversations Foundations tutors.  

Classical Conversations is a homeschool group, click the page at the top for more info on that.

     Foundations is elementary school

     Tutors are the parents who teach a class once a week

I choose that specific group because I actually work with CC Foundations tutors and parents to equip them to teach in the classroom and at home.  And I really believe Music Together's philosophy applies to them and can help them more effectively teach their kids. 

Music Together is an early childhood music and movement program for parents/caregivers/teachers and their                 

      children/students.  Click the page at the top for more information.

To equip these parents we first looked at the classical model of learning in the presentation.  The classical model of learning has three stages, and I like to use the tree analogy to look help understand them.

Next we self assessed where we felt we fit musically in the classical model.

Are you still learning the basics of music?  Do you have the basics and are understanding how they work?  Or can you apply your knowledge of music to create and enhance other learning?

Now we get to how Music Together's philosophy fits in.

Music Together's philosophy is that 

* ALL children are born with the potential (aptitude) to make music!

* If young children have playful/informal musical experiences with the adults they trust (parents, close family members, nanny's, teachers) they will acquire a disposition to be music makers, and these experiences will feed their inborn musical potential.

*  Modeling being musical (singing, dancing, playing instruments) will help children achieve Basic Music Competence which is the ability to sing full songs in tune and move to the beat of the music they are experiencing. 

While looking at Music Together's philosophy we talked about ways we are already enhancing our children's musical aptitude with activities we do in Classical Conversations.  

*Tutors and parents model singing and moving to music every week in class.

*Tutors equip parents and continue modeling musical behavior at home.

*We feed off the kids energy by making the activities we do in class fit the students energy.  We can adapt an activity to be small movement, large movement, singing, maybe even instrument playing.  However we feel the kids will learn it best.

We also talked about ways we can better enhance our children's understanding of music by using the Music Together model in CC.

*Change what you are doing as a parent/tutor to accept and include the children's current behavior.  If a child is experiencing a song in his feet then dance.  If a child is experiencing a song by clapping then clap.  Adapt what you are doing to how the children are learning best in the moment.

*Help students fully understand the musical grammar from the fine arts section by experiencing what note values feel in a song, what a crescendo sounds like, what dynamics sound like.  Don't just give them the word and the visual, let them feel it, hear it, and experience it.

*Sing without recordings!  You don't have to be a wonderful musician.  Even if you sing off key you when you sing it yourself, or move to the music, you are helping the children acquire their own musical dispositions!  CC doesn't want you to rely on the recordings either.

My conclusion was very real for me.  Even though I was a formally trained musician, I did not reach my full musical potential until I could also feel the music, not just understand it.  We can use Music Together's philosophy of experiencing music with trusted adults, through musical play to help our children achieve their fullest musical potential.

Music Together Meets Classical Conversations

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Today's did you know.

Today I get to give a presentation on how the Music Together model and philosophy can help equip Classical Conversations parents and tutors to teach their Foundations level students.  I have 10 minutes to present the material to the founders of Music Together.  As I was talking to my kids last night it dawned on me that they are probably way more equipped to give a ten minute presentation than I am, and they are still little.  I give a huge thanks to CC for putting a strong emphasis on public speaking.  I look forward to the ways this will be useful for my children as they grow.  I'll elaborate more on my personal presentation in the next post.  Lets see how this thing goes today!

Time To Get Back At It

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Wow, Summer flew by as usual.  It's time to get back into the routine Fall brings.

Our homeschool Summer began with an amazing parent practicum.  I had the privlidge of being the tutor trainer for the Foundations (elementary school) tutors for our county.  I don't know if the tutors had fun, but I sure did.  We learned and refreshed our tutoring skills for new grammar, science experiments, fine arts, and presentations.  We also had fun playing review games together.  I always leave the summer practicum uplifted and energized for the year ahead!

The Music Together Summer session is wrapping up tomorrow and then I am off to Trenton, NJ to work on my Certification level 2 training at the Music Together headquarters!  I am excited about learning how to be a better teacher, and exploring current research on music and young children.

I plan to begin posting fun homeschool and music activities again after I get back from training!  Check back soon.





Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Weeks 15 - 18 Extra Activities

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Science

For this semester of science I highly recommend this unit:

http://www.

homeschoolcollection.com/

chemi

stry

/

Here is another elements song.  This one has the words so you can sing along!  A good friend of mine recommended it.

Look back at week 14 for a good video on how the Periodic Table of Elements was created.

Geography

We are thoroughly enjoying the tv series How the States Got Their Shapes.  It is on Netflix or click

here

to see them

http://www.history.com/shows/how-the-states-got-their-shapes/videos

.  

The first episode talks about how rivers and water shaped some of our states.  It goes along with this set of weeks well.  

We also bought the app

Stack the States

.  It is a great review game to play.

We are studying the Great Lakes and Niagara Falls.

Click here for some amazing great lakes pictures

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/05/great-lakes-are-the-greatest-photos_n_3846351.html

Here is a Great Lakes worksheet

http://www.education.com/files/402001_402100/402043/the-great-lakes-worksheet.pdf

Math

When I was searching for ways to enjoy studying metric measurement this popped up.  

I think we will do this this week to study measurement!  The original poster just used this as a rainy day game but it seems like a really fun way to work on measuring to me!

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/math/area/Area-Perimeter-Worksheet-5.htm

If your child does not know how to multiply yet this can also be a good way to review skip counting.  "Lets skip count our 4's six times to find the answer to the first question"

Finding the area of a square is a good time to review skip counting your squares.

http://www.mathworksheets4kids.com/rectangle/square-area-easy1.pdf

Fun area of a triangle song

Homeschooling at Disney - Planning Part 1 - Disney Youth Education Program

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Last February we went to Disney and the kids did a class while we were there.  We had a great time and decided to do it again this February.  We get a lot of questions about how we planned our trip.  Here is the first of a series of posts about how we plan for school-cation at Disney.

Home School Families Can Go To Disney When It's NOT Crowded!

First we decided to go during a time of the year that isn't busy.  Flexibility is our favorite part of homeschooling!  September and early February were the logical choices.  (This also means lower rates on accommodations)!

Disney Youth Education Program

Next we checked out what classes were available for the kids to take.  Disney is strict on having the kids in the class is that for their age.  Our travel dates were set around when the class we wanted was offered.

Here are the links to find the classes:

Disney Youth Education Series (YES)

Choose the park you want (Florida or California)

Make sure you have chosen the

individual enrollment

option.

This page will show you a list of the classes and a description of each

If you are taking a class you book your whole trip through the YES program site.  You can click 

here

 to go straight to the purchase tickets page.  This page doesn't have the descriptions for each class.  

It is cheaper for the whole family to get tickets, even those not taking class, to buy through this option than a travel agent.

 To see how much it would cost your family choose a class and go through the site.

We began planning in the Fall for our trip.  We booked the class as soon as it became available so we could go ahead and plan the rest of the trip.

Synergy in Science; Last Years Disney Class

Last year the girls took the Synergy in Science class at Epcot.  It was awesome.  The class started before the park opened, so we got in early.  In the class we learned about how it takes many parts working together to make a ride work.  We learned about how Spaceship Earth was made on the outside, and how the adio-anamatronics were made on the inside.  We got to bypass the line and go on the ride as a part of the class.  In our Classical Conversations curriculum we go through a timeline from the beginning of time to present day.  Spaceship Earth is the timeline in a ride!  Classical Conversations is also big on History and Geography so Epcot was an amazing school day.

This year we are taking the How Things Move class in the Magic Kingdom.  One parent is allowed to take the class with the kids.  My husband is taking it with our daughters this year while our son and I enjoy the park together (he is too little for class).  We will update on how awesome this class is after the trip.

Now that you have the links to find the YES program you can figure out the first piece to budgeting a school-cation to Disney.  The next part is accommodations and food.  I will post the choices we made for those in my next post.

I Recommend

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I have always loved Jumpstart Music.  I used the game some when I taught public school a little bit and my own kids have enjoyed it a lot.  It is a preschool/elementary school game computer game that works on musical concepts.  You can adjust the level.  You go through music land and complete rhythm, melody, and instrument identification games to collect points.  I highly recommend it for anyone learning basic musical grammar!

Play back the correct rhythm

Find the bad notes

Play back the correct melody

All Play - Improvisation

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Deedle, deedle, dumpling,
My son John
Went to bed
With his blue jeans on--
One shoe off
And one shoe on--
Deedle, deedle, dumpling,
My son John.

Change one line - went to bed with his/her __________.  
Post your improvised line in the comments!

Here's mine
Deedle, deedle, dumpling,
My son John
Went to bed
With his light saber on--
One shoe off
And one shoe on--
Deedle, deedle, dumpling,
My son John.

What's Heard Can't Be Unheard

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I had another fun morning teaching music classes this week.  I told one class I wish I could bottle up the amazing musical developments I get to see the kids make in class and share it with the whole world.

We used this version of Lukey's Boat for a play along.

In a Music Together class the lullaby follows the instrument play along.  This particular play along song is fun and upbeat and it can take your body a little bit to make a big switch from Lukey's Boat to Brahms Lullaby.  I enjoyed watching one little girl continue to internalize the beat from Lukey's Boat well into the lullaby, then change gears and sing Brahms Lullaby while still enjoying to spin in the middle of the group.

Another child in one of my classes likes the Music Together recording of Brahms Lullaby.  It has a bell sound at the beginning.  If you know this lullaby, simply reading the name of it may make your brain think of the tune.  But as soon as we begin to sing the song the little by mentioned knows he would like to hear the version on the recording instead.  If he had never heard the recording he wouldn't know any different.  The point being that once we are exposed to something we can never be unexposed to it.  We might forget, but chances are when we hear it again we will quickly remember.  I can enjoy Brahms Lullaby in different ways, but I can't disassociate the music with the title now that I've heard it and know what it is.

If the title doesn't prompt your memory you can listen here.

 As a mom, and a teacher, I think this power is amazing and scary at the same time.  It makes me realize that I really have to watch what I expose my children to.  Once they hear it it can't be unheard.  They can make decisions about how to approach it, but it can't be unheard.  I want to fill their heads with good!

The Classical Conversations curriculum we use for homeschooling puts many of the facts the children need to learn to music.  I am continually amazed at how they can recall a whole history facts with names and dates by me singing a few simple notes to prompt them.

 This is not one of my kids, but she is a perfect example of how singing helps memorization and what kids are capable of.  Start singing all sorts of wonderful things with your kids while they are little.  Chances are they will soak it all up and amaze you!

If you want to see how more about the power of music and memory go to YouTube and search "music therapy nursing home" and see how elderly people remember and react to familiar music.

Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Week 14

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In the Foundations program in Classical Conversations the students get small piece of information to memorize for each subject each week.  They are really only required to memorize the work at a young age.  As they get older they will need to begin to understand the material and use it.  However, we like to add a worksheet, game, or video as necessary.  Sometimes the extra information is more for me than for the kids!

English Grammar

Memory work: Conjugate to break - to break, break, breaks, broke breaking, broken

We haven't tried a worksheet for English grammar yet this year, but I found some good ones.

Free worksheet - conjugating to break. http://www.k12reader.com/worksheet/verb-conjugations-to-break/

Science

Memory work - What is an element?  An element is a basic chemical substance defined by its atomic number (number of protons) and atomic mass.

Some fun videos to go along with this week and upcoming science memory work.

Geography

Memory Work - Northwest Mountains, Cascade Mountains, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. McKinley

Mt. Rainier coloring page.

http://www.usa-printables.com/Places/Parks-Monuments/01-parks-013.htm

History

Memory work - Tell me about tycoons.  Curing the late 1800's tycoons like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Swift fueled the nation's Industrial Age by developing American resources.

We've visited the Biltmore house, but now I understand who owned it better!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller

Biogrophy video on Andrew Carnegie

Latin

Memory Work - John 1:2 hoc erat in principip apud Deum.  This was with God in the beginning.

Math

Memory Work - Linear Equivalents 2.54 cm = 1 inch, 12 inches = 1 foot, 5280feet = 1 mile

There is a fun song we will sing this to in class!  My three year old has had his tape measure out all week.  You can buy an inexpensive little tape measure for your kids at Lowes and measure everything this week!

Science Experiment

Art Project

and

Presentations

Rockwell - See previous post for a description on this weeks art project and presentation promp

Norman Rockwell Lesson

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Each week in Classical Conversations we have a 30 minute segment of music or art.  We are currently studying American artists.  This week we will study Norman Rockwell and attempt to create art in the same style.  

The students are going to be asked to base their artwork on a funny story.  Some tutors have requested that the students personal presentations also be a funny story to help prepare them for art.  If you just can't think of a funny story for your child to present this week use this idea!  Give them a picture and have them tell you the story about what they think is happening.  Print the picture and let them use that as a prompt for their presentation in class.  Or for older kids have them write their funny story out before class and bring that to show for presentation too!

Here are some possible prompts! 

Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Week 13

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I have not added much about our homeschooling journey on this blog before so I will try to add some small pieces about what Classical Conversations is, and why we love the way we are learning in each post.  CC is divided up into three programs, Foundations, which is elementary school, Essentials, which is added in upper elementary school, and the Challenge programs, which are the middle and high school programs.  Our children are in the Foundations program so that is most of what you will hear about on this blog.  I am personally trying to learn ahead of them as much as possible so I will be ready to teach them when we get to Essentials and Challenge. 

The Foundations program is the grammar stage of learning in a Classical curriculum.  The grammar stage contains a lot of memory work.  At this age the kids brains are ready to soak up and retain a lot of information.  We want them to have a good foundation of memorized knowledge to build on.

Math

Our family always has a lot of fun in week 13 when we get to memorize liquid equivalents!  We clean off the counter and cover it with a towel, get out the measuring cups and canning jars and pour water.  This entertained my three year old for hours (which helped me get work done with the girls).  My daughters were ready to use measuring to create something bigger so we made applesauce from scratch following this recipe http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/10/homemade-applesauce/.  My oldest then used it as a writing activity and rewrote and illustrated the recipe on her own.

Science

We memorized what the atomic number means this week for science.  I admittedly didn't pay attention in chemistry growing up so please pardon any incorrect way to teach chemistry that might show up in the next few weeks.  I'd love to learn more!

As we said the memory work we enjoyed adding protons and electrons to our atoms.  My oldest then read the science card and outlined a little bit of it.

Since the science project we did at school was a little hard to see (my class did a few extra to help see the point better) we did some extra projects at home this week.  You can see them here:

My oldest must have gotten the point because when she went to double her muffin recipe this morning and she needed 1/2 cup of milk twice I said, "A half plus a half equals a whole," and she replied, "Not always!"

We had some fun with geography review by piecing together and coloring a large map of the United States.  I found the pack at Target at the end of last Summer.

We just listened, reviewed, and discussed History, Latin, English, and Timeline