Tonight our music class for school performed a concert. The group performed 2 songs with hand bells and some of the children performed individual or group songs.
Isaac performed Angels We Have Heard on High…
Bekah and Loreena performed Stille Nacht
Bekah and Isaac performed a Christmas Melody
It was a perfect night. I sometimes complain that there are so many young children in the group, but tonight I was reminded why I always want to have this extra class that fits with the school year =)
Can you guess by this Picture what we are studying this year?
Do these help?
Okay… How about this one?
Getting Closer?
Now it should be obvious since this is our mind map for the year! =)
We are studying Art and Music as we search for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty with the Scarlet Pimpernel. We are all loving this year. I was a bit skeptical, but now I know I was wrong =)
While I still have pictures to post of our school year, here are some great pictures from our last day.
Warren had to work, but he showed up just in time to see the children knighted and then help clean up =)
Well, I guess it is not a must, but I really want to. There is so much to share, but today I want to brag about Isaac. Last month Isaac took a computer test for the charter school. He did reading first and scored a 9.9+ meaning, higher than a 9th grade 9th month level. then he scored a 5th or 6th grade math level (I don’t remember the month). He got stuck on the question ‘6ab + a + b =’ where ‘x=2 and y=3’. so, of course he asked how to do that when he got home and I verbally taught him in about 2 minutes and we haven't talked about it since! Unfortunately, Isaac took the test 3 days before the window for taking the test, so he had to test again today. So of course I expected him to do slightly better in math since I had told him how to do the hard question. So, Isaac wanted to do Math first this time… 45 minutes later he finished! He asked to do the reading tomorrow, but unfortunately that wasn’t an option. He finished reading 20 minutes later. Of course I knew his reading score couldn’t have been as high since he finished so quickly. Well, I was right on both subjects, sort of. Isaac scored a 6.5 in reading (middle of 6th grade reading level) and a 9.2 or something in math. I guess the quick lesson from a month ago stuck! Since we shouldn’t ever be proud, I will say that I am well please with Isaac’s test taking skills and all of his hard work!
I have a lot to post, but I can’t wait for this!
Neatest Family… with SUPER, GREAT ideas! I am so stealing this one!
So, today we only left the house 3 times for quick 15 minute assignments. I feel like we are never at home =( I also feel that I spend a lot of time un-schooling my children. So today we did this for school….
So in honor of Joan of Arc and FIRE we decided to do a chemistry experiment…
First we mixed chemicals in water
Then we soaked pine cones in the chemicals for 24 hours.
We waited for 48 hours for them to dry and then
tried to burn them and see wonderful colors.
So, that didn’t turn out so well. We think it is because the pine cones were still so wet =(
We will burn them later and then post again =)
We met Joan the other day. She was fabulous! I would guess she spoke for about 30 minutes…straight! She was so beautiful and exciting!
The children loved seeing her, painting banners with a Fleur-de-lis, brushing a miniature pony, and roasting meat and biscuits over an open fire. I think we ALL agreed that we enjoy our modern methods of cooking to those of Medieval Times =)
We drew pictures of Joan in our journals today and have started reading Mark twain’s book on Joan of Arc. The first 2 chapters were great! I can’t wait to read more =)
Isaac will take the California State Testing this year for the first time. I don’t really care a lot about it, but I want the funding from the charter school, so he has to take the test. Anyway, I was showing him on the calendar when the testing was and he said he wanted to know when the COUNTRY testing was too =) Oh boy.. I hope NOT EVER!
During this last component, the children met Giotto and learned how to make a fresco.
Everyone had so much fun! Thank you Lopez Family!
This year we are studying about he elements of the periodic table. We are learning about the Alkaline earth Metals. The chlorophyll in leaves contains magnesium (an Alkaline Earth Metal).
First we tore spinach leaves and put them into a jar. We then covered the leaves with rubbing alcohol. We covered the jar with aluminum foil and then shook the jar every 10 minutes for 1 hour. Then we taped a piece of paper towel on the edge of the jar. After about 30 minutes, you can see the color of the chlorophyll from the leaves.Spinach leaves have yellow-green chlorophyll.
From Fizz, Bubble and Flash. Next we would like to use different leaves like Red Leaf Lettuce, to see what color chlorophyll it has!
Another reason I love to homeschool! I am not teaching the boxed curriculum. Instead I am teaching my 9 and 6 year olds about Neumes. I know, you don’t even know what they are. Well, neither did I until 2 days ago. Well, if I had been a better listener (but I am more visual and kinesthetic than audio) I would have remember learning the word on our trip to the Benedictine Monastery (again another reason why I love homeschool especially with my fabulous group). So, when the monks would write their chants, they used a four lines (yes ours is 5 because that was what was inside their piano book) with boxes to show when to go up in notes and when to go down. We took the word Alleluia and made our own chant. So much fun! I am hoping one of them is brave enough to sing it for the group on presentation day =)
We have started our next component on …….
I sloe the idea of painting the different regions of Italy during the middle ages from on of the moms in my group. I would give you the link but her boot is so much better than ours =) You can find her blog on my links so if you really want to see a great boot, click on them and see what you find =) We have learned about St. Francis of Assisi, Italy, and Pilgrimages. The children are working on their 3 tries at writing a pilgrimage of their own.
Some days creative writing is a struggle and other days non-fictional writing is a struggle. Isaac, in particular, does not like writing his thoughts down. But since I have no problem being a Tiger Mom, I win most of the time =)
We have also gone on a completely FABULOUS field trip! We went to St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo. That was so neat! Brother Bede was very friendly and very smart.
The Children learned Calligraphy (check), Monks during the middle ages, specifically about the Benedictine Order (monks who like in a monastery) versus Franciscans (monks who wander or Friars) (check), Gregorian Chants (check), attended a catholic Mass (with chanting in Latin) (check), learned about work for monks, including ceramics (check), well the list goes on. the children had a great time! If I ever run away from home, you might find me there next to their pond with the birds and turtles or wandering the wilderness with the two dogs.
