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

All In One Place

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For awhile I was great about sharing what we were doing in Music Together and at Journey Montessori on here weekly.  I was also sharing homeschooling ideas on a homeschool blog for families in our Classical Conversations group.  At some point I began to sorely neglect all things blogging.  I think it will be easier to keep up with it if I share it all in one place.

The name of the blog will stay the same because music doesn't stop when we walk out of the music classroom.  The homeschool curriculum we have chosen teaches history, science, math, timeline, English grammar, and Latin all to music.  I'm continually amazed at how quickly my children are able to memorize facts, dates, places, and translations simply by singing them.  I'm so glad we gave them a good musical foundation at an early age so they can now use their ability to sing and keep a beat to aid in learning anything.  If you have not given your child a good musical foundation to build on yet its OK!

Music is an amazing gift we are all given.  Some people are born with slightly higher musical ability, but we all have musical ability.  The ability to understand and make music can be shown on a bell curve.  This means that only a few people have an exceptionally high or low ability.  Most of us are perfectly able, we just have to be taught.  I've found the same is true with math and science, I'm not as bad as I though, I just needed to be taught properly!  You are never too old to learn the basic musical concepts of pitch and rhythm, and once you have those concepts down you can use those abilities to aid in learning so many other subjects.  My daughters are using duple meter to learn trotting in their horseback riding lessons right now.

I will tag my future posts with Music Together, Journey Montessori, or Classical Conversations.  These are the three programs I teach with/for.  Below is a brief description of each so you can read more about each program if you would like.

Music Together is an early childhood parent/child music class for children ages birth-5 and the adults who take care of them (Mommy, Daddy, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Nanny's, etc).  Children learn musical concepts through playing with their adults.  They are exposed to a huge variety of meters and tonalities so they can fully develop tonal and rhythmic ability.  A child can reach basic music competence (singing full songs in tune and keeping a steady beat by themselves) as early as age three, but there is no set age.  If adults have not been properly exposed to music they may still be working on reaching basic music competence, this is were I am with math!
I teach with the Music Together of Charlotte group.  I am blessed to work with such a talented group of music teachers!

Journey Montessori is an amazing preschool for three and four year old children in Charlotte.  I have been blessed to be their music teacher since they opened.  I teach one music class a week to the 20 preschool children enrolled there.  We work on basic music skills in the first semester, how to sing properly and how to keep a steady beat in our bodies and on non-pitched percussion instruments, through lots of fun songs from around the world.  In the second semester we begin more complex skills of putting rhythms in our bodies, we explore musical instruments and their families, and learn Peter and the Wolf or Carnival of the Animals songs.  The children accomplished learning how to sing a simple African song in two parts in December!

Classical Converstaions is a private Christian home-school group for children age 4 through high-school.  Students go to school one day a week and a tutor presents the material to be learned at home that week.  Elementary students also enjoy doing science experiments, art projects, playing music and review games together during their school day.  I am a tutor for the abecedarian class in the Fort Mill-Regent Park group.  Abecedarian means new learners, I have 4, 5 and 6 year old students in my class.  Having a good, set curriculum for my children and being able to go to school once a week with other amazing homeschool families is a wonderful experience for our family.  We love our classmates and my husband and I have learned so much ourselves in teaching our children!

Christmas Books I Love

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I have a bunch of Christmas sing along books that I love to use in class and with my children at home.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
By J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie
Buy on Amazon

 

My kids love these light up board books!

Silent Night: A Light and Sound Book
By Smart Kids Publishing, David Mead
Buy on Amazon
Frosty the Snowman
By Steve Nelson, Jack Rollins
Buy on Amazon

Holiday 2013

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We have a great variety of songs on our Holiday CD.  Adding songs from many different Winter Holiday's around the world gives us a good variety of tonalities to listen to.  It is very important for kids ears to be exposed to lots of tonalities and meters.  We all have different songs we like and dislike, but it's nice to be able to understand and appreciate all of them so we have the privilege of choosing what we like.  I am really enjoying the Holiday mix of music.  My least favorite song to begin with was the version of My Favorite Things that is on the CD.  I guess I was expecting the Sound of Music version of the song.  But after listening to it several times it has started to grow on me.  Your little ones will probably gravitate to certain songs as well.

For those of you who may be interested in what holidays the different songs on the CD are from here is a list of Wikipedia answers.

"RAMADAN (Arabic):  

In some Muslim countries today lights are strung up in public squares, and across city streets, to add to the festivities of the month. 

Lanterns

 have become symbolic decorations welcoming the month of Ramadan. In a growing number of countries, they are hung on city streets.

[29]

[30]

[31]

 The tradition of lanterns as a decoration becoming associated with Ramadan is believed to have originated during the 

Fatimid Caliphate

 primarily centered in 

Egypt

, where 

Caliph

al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah

 was greeted by people holding lanterns to celebrate his ruling. From that time lanterns were used to light mosques and houses throughout the capital city of 

Cairo

. Shopping malls, places of business, and people's homes can be seen with stars and crescents, as well as, various lighting effects, as well.

It is believed that the first 

revelation

 to Muhammad was sent down during the month of Ramadan

DIWALI (India):

The name "Diwali" or "Divali" is a contraction of deepavali which translates into "row of lamps".

[10]

 Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil.

[11]

 These lamps are kept on during the night and one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess 

Lakshmi

 feel welcome.

[12]

Firecrackers

 are burst because it is believed that it drives away 

evil spirits

.

[13]

[14]

[15]

 During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share 

sweets

 and snacks with family members and friends.

HANUKKAH: 

The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique 

candelabrum

, the nine-branched 

Menorah

 or 

Hanuk

iah

, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. The typical Menorah consists of eight branches with an additional raised branch. The extra light is called a 

shamash

 (

Hebrew

: 

שמש

‎, "attendant")

[1]

 and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the 

shamash

 is to have a light available for practical use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves for purposes other than publicizing and meditating on the Hanukkah is forbidden.

[2]

CHRISTMAS:   (from me)  belief that Jesus is the light of the world, and He cam here at Christmas.

OUR Message:   All the major religions have, at their core, the idea of light- light in the darkness, that lights our path, that shows the way.  And all of us have a light within, as well.  It is our hope to celebrate this light with our voices and dancing and laughter and sharing.  We have included some sacred music, but not with the lyrics sugn. The sacred songs are instrumental, and were chosen for their musical complexity, diversity and melodies.  It is our hope we are all able to shine our light a little brighter, when we are together and when we are in the world."

Diwali

Hanukkah

Christmas

There is also an African and a Chinese song on the CD.  My kids love to figure out where the songs are from.  I encourage you to turn it into a geography lesson as well!  

African Noel

Here are some fun Chinese dragon dance videos to enjoy at home.