Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ September 9, 2011

 

In my life this week…Rain, rain and more rain.  But thankfully we haven’t experienced any flooding in our neighborhood.  In our case the rain has been simply a nuisance…keeping us inside a lot more…but we have been praying for the many people whose lives have been greatly affected by flooding from this seemingly unending rain.

In our homeschool this week…We have successfully completed three weeks of our new curriculum, Heart of Dakota’s Bigger Hearts for His Glory.  And in am still in love with it! 

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…Before all of the rain started up, we were able to spend Labor Day afternoon with our church family at a nearby park…that boasts a big wooden slide.  We had a wonderful time eating and sliding with our friends. 

The rain began that afternoon and has not let up since…so the rest of the week has been spent mostly inside…getting schoolwork done .

My favorite thing this week was…Watching all of the sliding fun…especially the big kids {the adults}.  Dh didn’t suffer much soreness from his day of fun, but I have heard from friends that some of the other “big kids” were pretty sore the day after.

What’s working/not working for us…Our new Heart of Dakota curriculum is working fabulously.  It is so nice to not spend the weekend planning {I just open and go}…and it is even nicer to get everything done and still have time to play in the afternoon .

I’m cooking…The cooler, rainy weather has gotten me in the mood for fall…this week I made some homemade bread and a big pot of chili…and I have grand baking plans for the weekend.

I’m grateful for…The fact that we have stayed relatively dry despite all of the rain around us.

I’m praying for…All of those people affected by the flooding in our area and around the country.  And that the rain will stop soon .

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

This is not just an ordinary old slide…it’s the big slide.  Regulars to the park know to bring their own towels to slide on…and some even bring waxed paper for a super fast ride!

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers ~ A Review

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers is Bright Ideas Press’ answer to the question “is there an easy-to-use resource that can be used to teach my 4th to 8th grader about composers?”.

Maggie Hogan and Melissa Craig of Bright Ideas Press have put together this 32-week course that can be used to give 4th to 8th graders a full year of composer studies.

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers

The chapters in this 300+ page guide include:

• Ancient Music to Music in the Middle Ages
• Music in the Renaissance
• The Baroque Period
• The Classical Period
• The Romantic Period
• The Contemporary Period

Your 4th to 8th graders will be introduced to 26 different composers including Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Ives, Gershwin and many others.

The authors of A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers want this music appreciation course to be as “stress-free as possible”.  In order to help this happen, they have included the following recommended schedule in this guide:

Day One

• Listen to the recommended selections {music selection recommendations for each composer are listed in the appendix}
• Read the lesson {lesson texts run about 12oo words and take approximately 15 minutes to read aloud}
• Fill in the note-taking pages or answer the Student Review Questions {both are included in the guide}

Day Two

• Listen to the recommended selections again
• Fill in the Composer Info-Card {included in the guide}
• Color in the timeline {included in the guide}
• Match the composer to his place of birth {map directions are in the guide}

Day Three

• Listen to the recommended selections again

As you can see from the authors’ recommended schedule, they feel that listening music of a particular period, and/or by a particular composer is at the heart of any good and effective composer study…and I wholeheartedly agree .

My Thoughts

This is a very well-thought out composer study curriculum.

The lesson text provided for each composer gives a very succinct summary of the life and accomplishments of that particular composer. It is a perfect introduction to a study on each individual composer.  Please note that the authors took care to include only information about the composers that they felt was appropriate for the intended age group of this study {4th to 8th grade}.  They intentionally left out information that dealt with immoral behaviors, etc. that you are sure to come across when reading about some of the composers in this study.

Following each lesson is a set of note-taking pages and/or student review questions.  These worksheets can be filled in by the student or completed orally; we chose to do them orally since my kiddos are younger.

Templates for the Composer Info Cards and the timeline are included in the appendix, along with listening suggestions for each time period and composer, a coloring page for each composer, printables for games and more.

 

It seems that Bright Ideas Press thought of everything when they published this curriculum! 

My favorite part of this curriculum is it’s “tweakability” {I think I just made that word up, but it fits }.  My plan is to use this course as a basic jumping off point for a multiple year study of composers.  The resources provided in the appendix are invaluable, in my opinion.  The coloring pages and game printables will go a long way in helping me make composer study interesting and fun for my younger kiddos. 

More Information

You can learn more about this outstanding music appreciation curriculum at both the Bright Ideas website and at Timberdoodle’s website. 

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers can be purchased from Timberdoodle for $31.50.

Timberdoodle also has a number of other resources that can be used to teach music in your homeschool.  If you don’t have one already, be sure to request a copy of Timberdoodle’s free catalog…it is chock-full of excellent homeschool resources.

As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of the e-book version of this resource in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

Church Picnic & a Big Slide

We celebrated Labor Day with our church family at a cool park that has a humongous wooden slide.  The kiddos {and most of the adults} spent most of their time {after grabbing a few bites of yummy picnic food} at the big slide.  Most of the kiddos were sliding, many of the adults were watching, and some of the bravest adults were sliding too .

According to most of the sliders, the faster you slide the better.

Ds9 tried many different positions…this one seemed to give him the most speed.

Dd7 didn’t really care about speed…fast or slow, she had fun either way.

Ds4 preferred a slower ride…he perfected the slow down at the bottom of the slide.

It seemed that the people who had the most fun were the dads .  Dh took some pretty quick and crazy trips down the slide…but not as fast and crazy as some of the others dads!

July and August 2011 in Pictures

Wow!  I can’t believe it’s already September…the summer has slipped away.  Here’s some of the things that kept us busy the past few months…

Baseball…the All-Star game, time really flies because ds9 has already started fall ball practice .

 

Ds4 learned to ride his bike without training wheels…and he’s really excited about it {can you tell?}

 

Carnival fun, with a ride-for-one-price wristband!  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa .

Swimming lessons…

Watching our small town’s annual parade…why do you go to the parade?  Is it to dance along to the music of the marching band…

To wave your flag to everyone who passes by…

Or to collect a bag full of loot?

A hike in the woods…

Fun at the pool…

A photo shoot at the playground…

And back to {home}school . 

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ August 26th

 

In my life this week…Well, six weeks into our new school year, and we’ve already switched curriculums!  It really wasn’t too big of a switch though, we’re still studying the same time history topic {American history}, we’re still using many of the same books {we just cut the number down a bit}, and we hadn’t begun our history studies yet anyway . 

I have to say that I am delighted with this new curriculum, I am using Bigger Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota with my two older kiddos {4th grade and 2nd grade}.  Practically every night I have told my husband that I am loving actually getting to do Bible, poetry, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, math, history and even science {I always planned to do all of these things, but we always seemed to run out of time}. 

And we’re not tied to the schoolbooks all day to be able to get to all of these subjects either.  This week we’ve actually been spending lots of time with friends outside {school starts back in our area next week} and we’ve still gotten everything done {my 9yo is finished with all of his work in about 3.5 hours, it takes the 7yo about 2.5 to 3 hours}.

In our homeschool this week…We’ve broken in our new curriculum, and we are all loving it.  Now I just need to plan some stuff for the 4yo to do .

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…If it’s broke, don’t be afraid to fix it…even if you seem a bit flaky when you switch curriculums only six weeks into the school year .

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…Today we are going to the dentist…it’s my turn to sit in the chair and all three kiddos will make themselves comfortable on the floor around me while they clean my teeth {sounds like fun, right?}. 

It’s the kiddos’ turns on Monday…all three of them.

My favorite thing this week was…Doing some fun science and history projects with my kiddos.  One my favorite things about our Bigger Hearts for His Glory curriculum so far is the fun, yet super easy to implement activities that are planned for in the guide.

What’s working/not working for us…Our new curriculum is definitely working for us! 

Questions/thoughts I have…This question is not homeschool related but…I wonder what the weekend will bring, Irene is headed our way and even though we aren’t usually affected too much by hurricanes this far inland they’re saying it could be pretty bad.

Things I’m working on…Setting up ds9’s new reading program.  I purchased Drawn Into the Heart of Reading from Heart of Dakota and I am currently studying the guide so I can hopefully start it up soon.

I’m reading…Lots of books on my Kindle {love those free Kindle books on Amazon}, lots of blog posts about back to school, and my new teacher’s guides.

I’m cooking…Lots of stuff in the slow cooker…I love not worrying about what’s for dinner ‘cause it’s already in the crockpot .  I’m also cooking up a couple of freezer meals for a dear friend who is expecting baby #5.

I’m grateful for… Um, surviving the earthquake that shook our area on Wednesday afternoon . I know, earthquakes are not that big a deal to people on the west coast, especially ones that don’t knock things off the wall and such…but it was definitely an experience I will never forget!

I’m praying for… an uneventful weekend…after storms last weekend and an earthquake this week…I would love to see Irene pass us by .

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

One of the fun projects we did this week…labeling our globe/ball with the continents and the oceans.

Meet My Students {AKA the kiddos}

This week it’s student photo week at the Not Back to School Blog Hop.  This was a wonderful reminder to me to get some current photos of my own students .

First up is ds9 {4th grade}.  He loves baseball, Star Wars and legos.  He’s a gentle, loving, and sometimes bossy big brother .

Next comes dd7 {2nd grade}.  This spunky, red-headed, middle child and only girl child keeps all of us entertained with her dramatic flair for life. 

And last, but never least, is ds4 {preschool/preK}. He loves being loud, running fast, and giving great hugs to his mama {who can’t believe her baby will be 5 soon!}.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for The Grace Card DVD .

The Grace Card DVD ~ A Movie Review & Giveaway

The Grace Card is a movie about God’s love, God’s grace, and the power of forgiveness. 

Mac is a father who lost a son 17 years ago, a father who is on the brink of losing his other son now…he is an angry man.  And he is partnered up with a pastor cop, Sgt. Sam Wright, part-time pastor and full-time cop.  Neither man really wants the other man in his life, but God put each of them there for a reason.  That reason is to learn about grace; giving grace and receiving it.

 

I loved this poignant Christian film!  It brought me to the brink of tears a number of times…and I do not usually cry during movies.  I especially appreciated the message of this movie. 

Please note that The Grace Card is rated PG-13 due to some violence and thematic elements in the movie.   

The Grace Card DVD released on August 16th, 2011.  You can read more about this movie on The Grace Card website.

You can also check out their facebook page that already boasts over 47,000 fans!

 

Giveaway News! 

This giveaway is now closed…congratulations to commenter #1 {Laura}.   I have emailed the winner and hope to hear back from her soon .

I have a brand new copy of this DVD to give away to one of my readers.  If you would like to enter this giveaway simply leave a comment on this post.  That’s it .  I’ll be choosing one winner using random.org at 9:00am EST on Monday, August 22, 2011.

 

 

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”