Autumn Series 2010 #10 - Autumn World

 Outdoor Hour Challenge - Autumn Series #10 - Familiar Spot

We are running behind with the Autumn Series challenges, but are still trying to complete them even though our area has definitely taken a turn into Winter!

We decided to visit a local park that we have often used in past challenges, but have never visited in the winter.  Most recently we visited the park for the Autumn Series Challenge #5 - Seasonal Tree - you can visit this post to see some pictures of how the park looks in Autumn.  We felt very much like the speaker of this quote found in the challenge on the Handbook of Nature Study blog:

“Yet, with all my familiarity with this brook, I did not know it in the winter. Its pathway up into the winter woods was as unexplored as the arctic regions. Somehow, it was not a brook in the winter time. It was merely a dreary waste, as cold and as forbidding as death. The winter was only a season of waiting, and spring was always late.”
The Nature Study Idea, L.H. Bailey, contemporary of Anna Botsford Comstock.  

Usually I am (partially) directing our explorations to focus on the current challenge we are learning more about.  However, during this visit I really challenged myself to keep my mouth closed and let the kids guide me. 

The gulley which we have usually seen as dry, or a muddy mess, now has a small, partially frozen stream traveling through it.  A and N ofcourse had to get close to investigate. 

One of the things the kids were excited about were all the things they were able to see that we weren't able to see in past visitis when the trees and plants were full and providing shelter and cover.    In the picture below the kids were investigating a bunch of boards and sticks someone had used to build a fort - something we'd never have guessed was there! 

In this picture the kids are watching a deer in the upper right corner.  While we have seen deer at this park before, it was much easier to watch on this day. 

 The kids also spotted this large bird's nest. 

 We stopped to visit our friends in the pond. 

 The pond is frozen so they spent a lot of time throwing snow balls on the ice - exploring and learning from their experimentation!

We really enjoyed expanding our experience with this favorite park by visiting in the Winter!

Pastels

We LOVE working with pastels! We did two more projects this week. 

Tornado:

 Sailboat at Sunset:



How we do it - Composer Study

We are finishing up our latest composer and I decided to combine two posts into one - How we do it and what we've done for Tchaikovsky.

Here is a wonderful Squidoo Lens on How to do Composer Study - Charlotte Mason style.

First, I pick a composer that we will study for 3 to 4 months, depending on interest. Over the last couple years, we have studied Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, and now Tchaikovsky.

The only resource I have personally purchased for composer study is "The Story of . . ." cd series, such as this one for Tchaikovsky, and at the time I bought them they were on sale for about $3 each. These give short biographies and a small selection of the composer's work. Most of these are available through our library so I don't know that I'll be purchasing more once we start to run out.

All other resources I get through our library system starting with a search using the composer's name. The most powerful way my kids have connected with the different composer's is through stories - stories about the composer, or stories the composer wrote or composed music for.

For example, Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky's interest in music began after the death of his mother. He found comfort in composing. His father found a teacher for him and at one point asked the teacher if Tchaikovsky could potentially have a career in music. The teacher advised the father that Tchaikovsky should pursue a career in civil services, which Tchaikovsky did. He later quit his job, attended a music university, became a professor when he graduated, and of course went on to become TCHAIKOVSKY!!

We have also long LOVED the story of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and many other stories he composed music for, such as Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet.

A great series of cds is the Classical Kids series mixing a fictional story with authentic details of the composer's life and of course, the composer's music. Tchaikovsky Discovers America is based on a picture book of the same name which we also read.

Another great cd I found for Tchaikovsky was the Story of Swan Lake, part of the Maestro Classics/Stories in Music series.

And there were a variety of music cd's that we checked out and listened to as well.

I try to find picture books for us to read as well. This is a little more challenging because we just aren't interested in reading a "biography" with all the boring names, dates, and places that don't really tell you about the person who is the composer. We like picture books, fiction or non-fiction, that tell a story. Tchaikovsky Discovers America is a good example.

I will also look for videos or opportunities for us to watch a performance related to the composer that are geared for children. Earlier this year we attended a children's production of The Magic Flute by Mozart and next month we will be attending a children's production of The Nutcracker.

I think we will study Sergei Prokofiev next . . . Peter and the Wolf, Cinderella, Pincus and the Pig, The Love for Three Oranges . . . Doesn't it sound fascinating?

Pastels

I decided we needed to try a new art medium - something a little easier to deal with than painting, something to mix things up, and something fun. I found some Pastel Tutorials at a homeschool blog I read (HodgePodge), purchased some supplies, and today we did our first one - A Path to the Beach.

As promised, it was messy.

It was also pretty quick and easy.

And lots of fun.

Kelsey's-

Olivia's

Nyah's-

Austin's - whose drawings wouldn't be complete without a Lego man!

Update

I've figured out how to continue posting to this blog so I won't need the new blog I created!!

Less  work for me - Wahoo!

Weeks 11 & 12

Here I am, late again, posting about our school weeks :)

Activities & Field Trips

A and N were able to attend their book club meetings. They really enjoy their groups and the other kids they participate with. We read Josephina Saves the Day for N's club, and we are reading The Declaration of Independence for A's club (taking our time, dictionary in hand, and getting a basic understanding of what is being said).

We didn't go to the latest art club meeting - it happens at 2pm when the 3 little girls are napping and I just didn't want to wake anyone up to go. Depending on day and time it is offered next semester we may not continue the class.

Our city's library opened in its new location so we have made many trips. Its sooo nice! The weather has been wonderfully warm so we have been spending late afternoons outside and soaking up the sunshine.

School

Old Testament- We read chapters 26-32, covering the stories of King Saul, David's life as a boy and king, King Solomon, and the division of the Kingdom of Isreal, completing a variety of activities in their journals, pgs. 75-88.

Habits- Still working on bathroom habits and speaking politely to each other. Oy.

Values - In October we focused on the value of Self-Discipline by using The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennet and suggestions from the Shiver Academy's Book of Virtues Project. I also use ideas from Teaching Your Children Virtues by Linda and Richard Eyre and Home Life Ministries Character Journal. For November we are focusing on Gratitude.

Writing/Grammar - One day a week A and N are to write a comic or short story. We also focus on a grammar lesson from q.

Math - Reviewed chapter 12 (adding money) and other past concepts, and completed chapter 13 (adding columns of numbers). They really had fun with chapter 13 - the problems in the book only had them adding 3 or 4 numbers at a time, but we decided to have a little fun adding as many as 20 numbers at a time, as the picture below shows:

Reading - I just realized I haven't been keeping track of what the kids have been reading. They do a lot of reading on their own so we don't focus on it during school time, but I thought I would share what they are reading. A has been reading the How to Train Your Dragon series, he is starting book 6 or 7 and he has been reading the Bionicles Hero series. N has been listening to these on CD. N has been reading a variety of picture books from the library (and I catch her figuring out bigger books when she thinks no one is watching, but I'm on to her!!!).

Science - We finished chapter 6 about the Earth and started chapter 7 on the moon. We have been trying to observe the phases of the moon, but it was time for a "new moon" and since then we've had lots of cloudy nights. Hopefully we have some clear nights during the next month.

History - We are still doing some American Revolution/Foudning Fathers history, but the focus for this month is going to be on Thanksgiving History and the Colonial period. I am using Discover the Scriptures' Give Thanks! e-book. We are reading Phoebe and the Spy (revolution) by Judith Berry Griffin.

Geography - Minn of the Mississippi is still traveling down the river :) We continue to enjoy all the predicaments she finds herself in, as well as adding to our maps.

Nature Study - We completed 2 challenges - Autumn Series #6 and Autumn Series #7, which included a field trip to Cabela's to watch the fish!

Literature - We read more from Little Pilgrim's Progress - they LOVE it and are always begging for more. We read Jabberwocky (and watched the latest Alice in Wonderland which is a lot more fun when you've read Lewis Carrol's original works and aren't relying on Disney's version). We also read The Nose by Iain Crichton Smith, which I can't find online but is a delightfully silly poem about a nose leaving its face and going on an adventure. Both are from The Oxford Book of Story Poems. And we have been listening to Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Artist Study - Renoir's Garden Scene in Brittany, 1886.

Composer Study - We have been listening to the Classical Kids CDs - Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, etc.

To be continued . . .

I guess there is a limit of picture space for blogs and I've reached it.  I'll be continuing our homeschool journey at a new blog:

http://kelseyatmudpuddles.blogspot.com/

You can email me at Kelsey.MudPuddles@gmail.com

Join us there!

Autumn Series 2010 - Queen Anne's Lace or Weeds

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Autumn Series #6 - Queen Anne's Lace or other Autumn Weed

A and N spent time out in the beautiful Autumn weather sketching the flowers they chose for their year-long observations.  You can see their summer pictures here:  Summer Series:  Queen Anne's Lace

N chose to observe a Delphinum plant:

 A chose to observe a Burgundy Gaillardia plant.

We also spent time looking at "weeds" and seeing how different they are now they are dead and dry.  We tried to find plants that we had looked at during the summer so we could compare them. 

Sunflowers

 Sweet gum . . . something or another.  I forget the full name, but this plant makes your hands horribly sticky, has little ball shaped yellow flowers, and millions of seeds!

 Mullein - this young plant will winter over and then bloom in the spring. 

This is a full-grown mullein

 A variety of the ever-popular tumbleweeds, or umbrellas for little girls :)

Rabbitbrush - late-bloom is the yellow on the right and end-of-bloom on the left 

 And because of the wonderfully, unseasonally warm autumn weather there were plenty of late bloomers for us to discover as well!!



Weeks 9 & 10

 So with little kids teething and having colds we've had to do some adjusting to have enough time to do schoolwork.  We have been relying on all the younger girls after lunch naps to get most of our stuff done.  And there have been days we just haven't been able to do all that we have wanted or needed to do.  (Its only taken me 5 days to get this posted!)

Activities & Field Trips
Because A and N are not sick they have been able to do most of their activities - scouts, activity days, Liberty Girls, and Knights of Freedom.  They weren't able to go to their art appreciation class because the family who hosts has to be careful about illnesses coming into their home so better safe than sorry.  Prior to realizing the younger girls were sick we went to a field trip at an apple mill farm - I spent the whole time in the car with 3 cranky, clingy girls, and A and N went on the tour with the group. 

School

Old Testament- Read chapters 23-25, journal pages 66-73.  These chapters are about Moses so we also watched The Prince of Egypt, and then Veggie Tales for the story of Joshua

Habits - Oh boy.  I had no idea how much progress we had made in developing good bathroom habits and speaking politely to each other.  And then we went on vacation.  And now it feels like we are starting over again.  Sigh. 

Math - We took some time to review chapter 11 and other past concepts, and then we did chapter 12.  They've also continued to work on their Sudoku puzzles.  I found some new easy level books for them to work on. 

Science - Completed the chapter on Venus, including the experiment about sonar pictured below.  We are doing less and less on the notebook journal pages.  At least we know not to get them for next years science.  Sigh (again).

History - We continue with the American Revolution.  We are reading the Landmark book - its at a higher level than we have read from in the past so its slow and steady going.  We finished the D'Aulaire's George Washington and I'm looking for a new biography to start. 

Geography - Minn of the Mississippi continues.  This is (unfortunately) one of those resources that is set aside when we need to abbreviate our schedule so we have only been doing one chapter a week instead of 2 like when we first started, but they do enjoy it so we aren't completely skipping it. 

Nature Study - We caught up on the Autumn Series 2010 challenges: 1-nature journal, 2-geese, 3-horses, 4-apples, and 5-seasonal tree study.  I really like the new emphasis on comparing and contrasting as a way of learning more about what you are studying.   

Literature - When I was going through our resrouces looking for our next read aloud, I discovered a book we didn't finish last year, A Little Pilgrim's Progress.  I don't know why we stopped reading from it because the kids LOVE it.  So we are reading it a couple days a week and poetry on the other days (Oxford Book of Story Poems - Walrus and the Carpenter, Owl and the Pussycat, Jabberwocky - we are having so much fun!). 

Artist Study - The Promenade, 1906, and Mussel Fishers at Berneval, 1879, by Renoir.  

Composer Study - Tchaikovsky:  I think we are actually ready to move on to the next composer, except that I want to get to a viewing of the Nutcracker this holiday season.  So we may or may not start a new composer right now.  Probably not yet. 

PE - working on what to do next.  Kids may be taking ice skating lessons again if we don't come up with another plan. 

Life Skills - cooking whenever they manage to talk me into it.  Oh, and of course all those chores they have to do.  Poor, picked on kids.