Just Another Week

A quick glance at what we have done over the last 2 weeks actually!  Time flies when you are having fun!
Lyndsey finished her geography fair project on Canada!  Yeah!  One down, and one to go!  The fair is next Friday!  Lauren is working on her information for Malawi, but she is no where near ready to put it on a board!

Last Saturday, Lauren and I went shopping for a few items for Lyndsey's birthday party that afternoon.  We made a stop by Williams & Sonoma for the Jr. Chef class first.  It was so much fun and delicious!

We are moving right along in Science.  We should finish up our study of each of the planets this week!  We are all ready to move on to the next chapter in our Astronomy study!

I got home from an out-of-town volleyball game just in time to sit in on Lauren's 1st online literature class.  Technology scares me sometimes!  The webinar was fun even at 6:30 pm!

Lauren is not taking gymnastics this year because she is taking a Manners class with some of her Eastwood School friends on Mondays at 12:30 which conflicts with gymnastics.  That also leaves her sitting in the bleachers with me on Wednesdays, so we started an extra learning activity for her to work on while we are watching gymnastics.  She is learning how to write computer code.  Right now she is going through CodeMonster online.  After she finishes this learning program, i think we will move over to Scratch programing designed by MIT.  She is having fun learning how to move, resize and color these boxes right now.  She would sit and do it for the entire hour if I would let her, but she also has to memorize her Awanas and do her vocabulary work during gymnastics!

I pulled some quick-sketch lessons from my Geography Through Art book to go with our quick study of the United States.  Lauren loved these, and she did a great job!

Last week was E week at Moms-Day-Out.  Colleen loved the elephant mask.  She did a good job writing her name for the teacher.   

 On September 11th, we took a break from our regular history lessons to learn about the significance of 9-11 to Americans.   My girls love the Learn Our History DVD series.  The DVDs are worth the money if you are studying American History!

This week Lauren had her first online writing class, Adventures in Writing with The Potter's School. This writing class came highly recommended by another homeschool mom.  I am expecting great things!  Lauren is progressing along nicely with her piano skills.  She is enjoying her new teacher and the more popular music she is getting to play!

Lyndsey and I started her writing curriculum this week.  We are trying the WriteReflections course.  I like that it spells everything out for me.  She did compose a few simple paragraphs/stories last year, but I did not put any emphasis on paragraph construction.  This year I am!  This first week was learning the writing process of brainstorming, main idea, and supporting details.  Then we edited and revised her 4 sentence paragraph.  At the end of the week she proclaimed, "That wasn't too hard!"

Lyndsey has a hard time sitting at the piano to practice for a long period of time (anything greater than 10min)!!!  It always makes it easier when Dad is home to make the pieces duets!

The girls enjoy theme nights at Awanas!  They are ready for BLACKOUT in honor of Commander Andrew's 40th Birthday!

Music Appreciation

This year we are using Music Appreciation for the Elementary Grades from Zeezok Publishing.  We are really enjoying this program.

 The first composer we read about was Johann Sebastian Bach.  The story books for this composer is entitled Sebastian Bach: the Boy from Thuringia.  The book is also published by Zeezok, and the Music Appreciation workbook is based off the books you read about each composer.  The books are well written, and the stories make learning about the life of the composer fun.  The series also comes with a CD of music which you are directed to play at certain points as you read the book.  The girls love listening to me read the books.
The workbook is full quick experiments like this Oxidation Experiment to explain why the lantern of the church at St. Michael's is green.

In chapter two , Sebastian Bach and Erdmann take a break from their journey to stop and rest.  They eat a small lunch of black bread and sausage.  We made German Rye Bread one Friday and served it with Sausage for dinner.  The girls were excited to explain our meal to their dad and siblings!

Over the few weeks it took us to complete the book and workbook pages, the girls were also completing lapbook pieces each week.  The girls assembled their lapbooks on the last day after they took the little quiz in the workbook.

Our next composer was George Handel.  The book for this composer was Handel at the Court of Kings.  Again, the book was great and the girls enjoyed it!  After I read each chapter, there are comprehension questions for the girls to answer about the chapter.  The workbook also has a "character qualities" section for each chapter where difference character qualities are discussed and explained.

There is also a section for each composer where different "Elements of Music" are introduced.  So far, these have been been a good review for the girls since they have been exposed to them at piano lessons.

A small geography lesson is included with each composer.  These help the girls put the composers on the map!

They have also had to do a little instrument research from time to time!

At the end of the book, the girls took their quiz and put together a folder of their weekly projects.  They are excited to go hear The Messiah this year at Christmas, and so am I!!!!

Next up is Joseph Haydn!  All of this is new to me and the girls, and learning is fun!