Sunday, February 19, 2012

Giotto and His Frescoes

During this last component, the children met Giotto and learned how to make a fresco.

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Everyone had so much fun! Thank you Lopez Family!

Chemistry Class

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.

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From Fizz, Bubble and Flash. Next we would like to use different leaves like Red Leaf Lettuce, to see what color chlorophyll it has!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Neumes

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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 =)