Tangrams + Tolstoy = Total Awesomeness at Young Explorers - Block 3 Day 4

So sorry this post is delayed! I really try to have the blog post from Young Explorers up within 24 hours. I wasn't going to be able to get to it until Wednesday night, but after a day of fasting and not having my Tim's ...  I fell asleep shortly before 7pm.  On the couch. The best kind of nap. Except I didn't really wake up that evening at all. I guess those late nights catch up with you eventually. And, Tim's really does work to keep your energy up.

Here is the rundown for what we did this week.

1. Icebreaker
We did something a little different today. We all sat around the table and I introduced the idea of "Table Topics," like what we did in Toastmasters or Public Speaking courses. Got the stopwatch out and told the kids we'd give them a topic for which they had to try to speak about for 30 seconds. The topics were really simple and most of the kids volunteered their own topic - like whales, flowers, Star Wars, and I have to smile because one girl volunteered her own topic to be "New France." She gave a lovely history narration to us, so that girl's momma should be proud that her efforts are paying off.

2. Poetry - Two poems today
The kids wanted another silly poem, but I wanted to give them something a little deeper. So we did two.  The silly one? Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face, by Jack Prelutsky. Very fun. Good rhyme and rhythm. Very silly.

The second one elicited much socratic discussion. We read Solitude, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, an American poet. She wrote well over 500 poems, but this is her most famous. Here it is:

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain. 

I can't say I've ever actually studied this poem in school, but am familiar with the first 2 lines. We talked about it and did do a little bit of analysis, in the name of socratic work. I don't like to do analysis with kids this age because they aren't really ready for it and I don't want to kill the love. But there were some explanations to be made, and we found ourselves in the middle of a conversation about optimists and pessimists. Words that not many of the kids were familiar with, but they knew exactly what they mean. We wondered if there was any truth to the poem - and what is the role of community in supporting you through tough times.  Why does everyone leave after the funeral? Talked about that too.  Um, we went deep.

3. Composer - Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

I recently picked up a copy of My First Classical Music Book, and it is just WONDERFUL.  Great pictures, comes with a CD of some of the most famous classical pieces in history.  Each page has a story of a composer as well as an instrument family. I chose our piece today from this book, Bach's most famous organ piece, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.  Have a listen here.  You'll know it right away, and the kids all thought the piece was a little spooky.  In other words, the piece has great tension! I think it might also be called the Dracula music.

Anyone else use this?

4. Socratic Discussion - Tolstoy's What Men Live By

We finished it!

And chatted about it. To summarize, the man Michael was really an angel sent down to earth to find out three "lessons," in the form of a human being.  

His first quest was to find out what dwells in man - "And I understood that in man dwells Love."

His second quest was to find out what is NOT given to man. - "It is not given to man to know his own needs."  This is referring to a man who wanted a pair of shoes to last a full year, but little did he know he was to die that evening. "I understood that God does not with men to live apart, and therefore he does not reveal to them what each one needs for himself; but he wishes them to live united, and therefore reveals to each of them what is necessary for all."

His third quest was to find out what men live by. - "I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love, is in God, and God is in him, for God is love."  And ain't that the truth!

5. Living Math - Tangrams and Math Stories

I realize that most of the kids have probably been exposed to tangram puzzles before. Tans are 7 wonderful, magic pieces that are cut from a square, and can be manipulated into thousands of different shapes and figures. Math logic at its finest and funnest! 

But I couldn't pass tangram puzzles by even if most of the kids had used them, and not all had. I rekindled the magic by reading them two great great great math readers.  I highly recommend them.  After reading the books we cut out our own tangram pieces and gave challenges to try and make certain shapes and figures.  The first, Three Pigs, One Wolf, and Seven Magic Shapes, is soooo funny. Its an offshoot of the original story but when the pigs leave home to find their fortune, they are given the 7 magic shapes. Which most intelligent pig will create something from the 7 shapes that saves her from the wolf? Why, the female pig of course.  Good news for her, she eventually meets the pig from the original story, the pig who built his house out of bricks, and they get married. What a match. LOL! This book actually comes with a laminated page with tans to cut out and play with. Good for all ages, but especially those early learners.

For the benefit of the older kids in the group, I read them Grandfather Tang's Story - A Tale Told With Tangrams. Highly highly recommend. Grandfather tells a story using the tan pieces; the story itself is from Chinese folklore, where two friends (fox fairies) keep trying to one-up each other by turning into different animals that can outrun each other, (made out of tans) but their friendship is put to the test and they find themselves in serious peril. Of course they choose the high road in the end.  A Very Engaging Story.  It also comes with tans to play with.

How many ways can you make a rectangle? 

Can you put it back together as a square?

I have to say that our tangram sets have gotten a lot of use over the years. They give a nice little mental math workout and help develop mathematical logic as well as thinking outside the box.  One of my toddler/preschooler's favorite toy is the Tangoes Jr. set.  It comes with big chunky magnetic tans and lots of card puzzles, with solutions on the back of each card.

Does anyone know of any good tangram puzzle apps? We looked briefly and there are several free ones, but hard to tell if they're worthy. And, frankly, we just don't let the kids do ipad or iphone to avoid mushbrain, but sometimes, when in a pinch or on a roadtrip to Arizona (heh heh), it would be nice to have a few apps that engage you to some educational degree. No?

That's all folks. No YE next week, taking a little break (its Family Day long weekend so I'm extending it). See you all in a couple of weeks then!

A Quiet Morning Playing Mancala at Young Explorers

This morning began the first day of Block 3, after a nice long break over Christmas. However, it was oh so quiet! I had three students (siblings), who were unable to attend, which left me a group of only five kids plus my own.  Quiet!

So here's what we did today:

1. Icebreaker
If you were stranded on a desert island, what book would you bring and what luxury item would you bring? This is an awesome icebreaker and in fact we used it for our first Snack and Yak held this past weekend. More on that later, but essentially it was a socratic evening with older youth and parents. So fun.

2. Poetry
You all remember Willie Wonka/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl? Well he's also written some fabulously funny poetry, and today we read Television.  This poem is really addressed to parents and we get a very clear picture of what Roald Dahl thinks of TV! FYI, the poem calls the TV an "idiotic thing" but I substituted the phrase "silly thing," in case you decide to read it aloud I don't want you to be appalled. Actually, I wanted to read his poem called "Cinderella" and was all excited until he used the word slut. Dang, otherwise it was totally funny.  But "Television" has a wonderful message and a great rhyme and rhythm; here is an excerpt:

Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did. 

3. Living Math - Make Your Own Mancala Game
Mancala is believed to be one of the oldest games in the world; it is an African game of counting and strategy that almost all ages can enjoy. I myself got hooked playing it online against the computer but that's another story. The typical gameboard has 2 rows of 6 cups, plus a larger cup on either end to hold your winnings. I've seen these end cups called your Mancala, but I've also seen them referred to as your kalaha. The word "Mancala" is Arabic for "to transfer," which describes the essence of the game - transferring pieces from one cup to another, following a few simple rules, and thinking hard about strategy. You want to end up with the most marbles/beads in your Mancala cup.

We made our gameboards out of egg cartons, like this:

And then got right to work playing each other! I gave the kids a demonstration, but then set them into pairs to try their strategy.  They loved it! This is a really great family game, and very effective for teaching mathematical logic. The egg carton version is just fine, but because the inside of the carton is a bit bumpy, its hard to scoop your marbles out easily. I had purchased beads for today, but we quickly found out the beads were too tiny and difficult to scoop out. I had some of those floral rocks and we used those instead. I think if you could use foam egg cartons, that might work better because of the smooth bottoms.

Check out an overview of Mancala and how to make your own game here, and watch a You Tube demo right here.  

4. Socratic Discussion - The Goat's Ears of the Emperor Trojan
While we were busy painting our Mancala gameboards, I read the kids this tale from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book. I really really like the fairy books for bringing up lofty discussions. In this story, the Emperor asks his barber if he has noticed anything odd about him (like Goat Ears!!) and when each barber tells the truth they are put to death. One apprentice barber tells the Emperor he did not notice anything odd at all, and of course the Emperor likes him and continues to bring him back to the palace for a daily shave. But the young barber is tormented by holding this "secret," and while he doesn't want to share the secret with any other humans, he is advised to dig a hole in the dirt and tell the secret to the earth, and he is relieved to be rid of this burden. Except that a 3-stemmed tree grows and when a stem is cut down to be made into a flute, the flute doesn't play music but tells the secret. I'll let you read the rest. The discussion revolved around keeping secrets, telling lies - is it EVER ok to tell a lie? Some kids thought it might be if their life was at stake, like the barber. One of the girls said it depended on the secret - there are good secrets (like what your mom bought your sister for her birthday), but there are also bad secrets - like gossip. We talked about holding secrets, trust, and the idea that telling a secret can place a burden on who you tell. 

5. Composer - Vivaldi's Four Seasons - especially "Spring"
"Spring" from Four Seasons is one of my very favorites. I wish it really was spring around here ... You can hear a You Tube here.  Listening carefully, we talked about how you can really hear the birds chirping away and what  a good job Vivaldi does to capture this with strings.

6. Picture Study - Monet's Poppy Field
We've talked about Monet before, and this time we discussed how most great artists were not encouraged to be artists by their parents. And most of them become famous once they are dead. Monet's father was a grocer, and did not want Monet to paint, however Monet became one of the first artists to paint outdoors, and was part of the famous impressionist group.

  

And that's a wrap! Block 3 is off to a great start!
Have a great week!

Nim, Catapults and Tolkien - This Week in Young Explorers

Wow, what a whirlwind week! We had two full mornings with YE this week; I had some shopping to do for a Xmas party; my hubby was away all week; extra practices for show choir ... so I'm a bit exhausted and this post is a bit late but its ALL good! Ha!

Here are some highlights from our week.

Icebreakers and Oh Canada continue to be a big hit with the kids and they are getting better at both! I taught them some basic "conducting" and we all conduct ourselves during Oh Canada. And I have to laugh because Alexa is singing our national anthem all the time. What kid does that?

Socratic Discussion
We have dived into Tolkien's short (but long) story, Farmer Giles of Ham, which we will finish next week. This is an AWESOME story to discuss the topic of what is a hero, in literature and in real life.  Throughout reading this story, I keep hearing comments from the peanut gallery such as, "I can't believe Tolkien wrote this!" These kids are all familiar with The Hobbit, and LOTR, and all of Tolkien's elements (dragons, knights, giants, and lots of dry humor) are present. Yet, they didn't expect that he wrote short stories too.  I have A nice little collection on my handy dandy kindle but I think you can probably find the stories free on Gutenburg.

Something that worked quite well this week during socratic discussion was to get the kids sitting around the table, give them a pencil and a piece of paper, and let them sketch while I read. I think many of us homeschooling moms let the kids play quietly during a read-aloud, and so why not here too?  Normally we sit on the couches and while that is cozy and heartwarming and all that, the kids can get fidgety.  The tables were set up for science anyway, and so now I'll keep this practice going forward.

Composer - William Tell Overture by Rossini
Can you picture the bow and arrow as you stand with the apple on your head? Great music, great opera and very fun story about a Swiss hero who was such an expert with the bow and arrow he could shoot an apple off his son's head. Yup.  You can hear this piece and learn more about Rossini over here at Classics for Kids.


Living Math
We focused on logic puzzles/brain teasers in our living math this week and the kids LOVED it.  I used this book as my inspiration.

Have you heard of the classic game of Nim? There are many variations. We used the version for two players where you set up 16 toothpicks in rows - the first row has one pick, the second row has 3 picks, the third row has 5 picks, and the last row has 7 toothpicks. You can use buttons, beans, whatever you have on hand.  The object of the game is to NOT be the one to pick up the very last toothpick. Each player takes turns picking up as many or as little toothpicks as he wants, but you can only take from one row at a turn.  You can pick up an entire row on your turn if you want.  First, I had the kids play against me to get the hang of the game, then I turned them loose.  I found this was a game all ages could play and enjoy.  There is strategy involved, and I'd encourage your kids to keep playing it in order to figure out the pattern to win.

From there, we moved on to similar logic games using a "gameboard" of 16 dots placed in a 4x4 square.  The first game, take turns linking two dots either vertically or horizontally. You can only link 2 dots together, and then you can't touch those dots anymore. The goal of the game is to NOT be the one with no dots left to link.

Using the same 4x4 dot gameboard, two players can play "Up and Over." The game starts in the lower left corner, and to win you need to get to the upper righthand corner.  The players take turns joining dots either vertically or horizontally, as many dots as they want but ONLY vertical OR horizontally at a turn. You win if you are the person to reach the upper righthand dot.

Logic puzzles and brainteasers are an important part of a math education, yet somehow it feels like cheating because they are just so fun. You can find some great puzzles at Archimedes' Lab. You can also play the computer at Nim, but I will forewarn you its highly addictive and the computer always wins. They even explain why :)

Living Science
We continue our love of all things physics.  Building upon our study of motion, we learned all about catapults and then built our own out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, plastic spoons and clothespins.  I was glad to have my son to help us out with this project!  You can find a ton of catapult instructions online, but I was happy to have the whole package from Supercharged Science, our escience program.

And that's a wrap.  We didn't make it to an art picture study because the science was quite intensive this week, but not to worry, we will be back at it next week.  Next week also marks the LAST DAY of Block 2.  I love wrapping up school-y stuff in order to slow down (a bit) for Advent.  The big kids do have some online classes well into December, but for the little girls it means a nice change of pace.  Looking so forward to it!

Have a lovely weekend!

Puzzling Pyramids and other Fun Adventures with Young Explorers

It was wonderful to get back into the swing of Young Explorers, especially after having to cancel last week due to the storm. We had a few new faces this morning and they fit right into my group of guinea pigs, as I fondly call them.

Here's a recap of what we did today. By far there were two highlights - listening and dancing to Grieg's music, and getting puzzled with ping-pong-ball math!

1. Icebreaker
The kids were all excited to stand up and tell us what costume they are wearing tomorrow evening, one by one, and our new kids were absolute pros with the icebreaker.  You know, its only a few seconds that they each get up and speak to us, but gosh they are getting good at it, and they do seem to enjoy it.

2. Oh Canada 
Led by Brittany, we all sang Oh Canada. I know I know. But my kids don't really know this very well and its much more fun to learn in a group, so we sang our little hearts out. I thought it would fit in well because this month we celebrate Remembrance Day, and we mentioned that. We talked about what that holiday meant, and how singing our national anthem is a way to show respect for our country.  Next week, we will be reading In Flanders Fields.

3. Socratic Discussion: 
Today, I introduced the kids to The Ziz in The Hardest Word by Jacqueline Jules.  The Ziz is so much fun, and there are a few of Jules' books featuring the Ziz! He's a REALLY large bird whose great big wings are always getting him into trouble, and in this case they knocked down a tree, which knocked down another tree, which knocked down another tree .... which fell over and destroyed the children's garden.  So the Ziz heads to Mt. Sinai to have a little chat with God - he does this frequently in fact - and told God about his mistake. God tells the Ziz to go, find the hardest word, and bring it back to God.  The Ziz has an adventure trying to find this word, and brings back words like "goodnight," "spaghetti," "rock," and so on, but each word he brings back is not the hardest word. In exasperation, the Ziz tells God he was sorry but he couldn't find the hardest word. "What was that?" God asks.  "I'm sorry, I couldn't find it." "Oh, you did it, you found the hardest word!"  That's right, sorry is the hardest word. The Ziz goes back to the children's garden, says sorry, and offers vegetables from his own garden as a token of apology.

This story made us ask the question: Why is saying sorry so hard?  We had to dig deep.  I got all sorts of reasons, like saying sorry is embarrassing, you don't want people looking at you, you feel bad that you hurt someone; but none of these are the real reason.  I kept asking the kids, "BUT WHY?"  And it came down to this (and they discovered themselves): Saying sorry means you have to face the fact that you are not perfect in the eyes of others.  Its hard to humble yourself.  Really hard. But you have to "just do it" as one of the kids said.  You have to have "courage and just say it," another said.

I have read this book with my own kids recently, and I have to tell you Maria has a MUCH easier time saying sorry as a result.  Normally she is so stubborn.  I felt it had a positive impact, and now the running statement in our home is "You have to say the hardest word."

We did some role-playing with saying sorry.  How to do it properly, how to accept an apology.

4. Picture Study - Gustav Klimt's Tree of Life.

Isn't it wonderful? This is a very complex oil painting where the subject matter is probably rooted in most religions one way or another. This painting is quite famous and you will probably see it everywhere now - its fabric, its iphone covers, coffee cups.  It is full of so much detail, the kids spent quite a bit of time examining the details and doing narrations for the group. Everyone had a different interpretation of the branches, the "eyes" in the branches, the people in the painting.

Klimt looks like a very interesting fellow!! We did NOT discuss his biography at all, its probably a bit x-rated :(.  But his paintings are superb and his sketches are fantastic as well.

Thought you might like to explore this video of a six-year-old showing how to draw Klimt's Tree of Life, with help from her ipad.  Also, check out this Pinterest board for several links to some amazing art activities based on the Tree of Life.  We may even do some Tree of Life artwork this block, it just looks so fun.

5. Composer and Composition - Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt.

Peer Gynt is based on a Norwiegian fairy tale (in English it would be Peter Gynt), and depending which version you read, Peter is either a good guy or rather immoral. Dramatist Ibsen loosely based a 5-act play on this fairy tale, and asked Grieg to write the score.  The Mountain King scene is the most famous.  Click here for a neat Classics for Kids activity sheet to give you a feel for the drama and the music.  Check out link on Peer Gynt as well, an interesting blog about various fairy tales.

Last block we primarily listened to piano compositions, but today we dove into an entire orchestra. You can hear the London Philharmonic playing this version here.  The kids were dancing to it and rocking out; I also played the motif for the kids on the piano and some of them were trying to play it by ear on their own. Did a great job.  Its a catchy little tune, so I apologize because you won't be able to get it out of your head :).

6. Living Math 

Today we pretended we were Pythagoreans. The kids wanted to choose their own Greek name and I had to remember to call them by it! Anyway, after listening to some interesting facts about Pythagoras, we pretended to be part of his "inner circle behind the curtain."  We pretended that ping-pong balls were pebbles and "played" on the ground with them.  Hey, we discovered odd and even numbers! Its so much nicer to have a fun manipulative to SEE odd and even instead of a boring worksheet.  We talked about how the Pythagoreans were the first to put numbers into "families," like odd and even, squares and roots; and they were the first to think of numbers as having shapes like triangular, squares, oblongs, hexagonal, octagonal.  

Using the ping-pong balls, we experimented. What happens when you put two odd numbers together?  What about an odd and and even?  Two even numbers?  You and I take this for granted, but to be able to concretely SEE how this works is so much more effective. 

Then, we tried to figure out patterns in building both triangular and square numbers.  We began with 3 ping-pong balls in the shape of a triangle.  How many more balls to make the next biggest triangle?  The kids kept adding balls to the triangle and soon enough it became apparent that you just need to keep adding an extra row that is one ball bigger than the previous.  We kept track of the pattern on the white-board.

We also did this with square numbers. This is the easiest way to explain the concept of squares and roots.

Can a triangular number also be a square number? I asked the question, some kids immediately said no, but if you're looking for a little enrichment activity, have them build a set of both triangular and square numbers (or use dots on paper to build the numbers), and see where the overlap is.  

Finally, I had them try a pyramid puzzle and sent them home with it as well.  Given certain ping-pong ball shapes, their challenge was to work with a partner to build a pyramid.  This is called the "20-ball pyramid puzzle."  Its from Historical Connections in Mathematics, Volume 1 (the book is available as an e-book download if you click that link).  And here is a free excerpt of the lesson we used today.  Its geared for grades 7-12 but my young explorers are real smarty pants :).  So are the moms.  Because one momma called me to say she solved it within a few minutes! And in the next instant, I received an email that two more kids solved it. Yeesh. My whole family has been tinkering with this for a couple of nights already :(.  Did I mention I'm really more of an artsy person at heart?

So that's a recap, dear friends. So glad you joined us today! Have a great week :).

Young Explorers - Sneek Peek at the Week Ahead

Been doing a little hot-gluing lately.
 
Canadian Tire loves me, I think I purchased all of their practice golf balls, table-tennis balls and perforated balls. Oh dear.

Living Math for this upcoming block is REALLY ROCKIN' and ROLLIN'. So to speak.  Can you take a guess what we will be exploring? You'll have to check back late Tuesday, after class, for the full disclosure, but I will tell you it involves a very famous ancient Greek who we all know and love :).  Sure, he's most famous for a certain theorem regarding squares and hypotenuses and angles, even though he wasn't actually the first to discover it.  But this particular Greecian and his followers also discovered some other cool ideas that will really make sense to this age group. And we are going to play, play, play with those ideas.

And that's the whole premise behind Living Math - ideas that you can actually delight in and have fun with. Ideas that will inspire and ignite curiosity.

Stay tuned!!

Young Explorers - Block 1, Days 5 & 6

So I had every intention of getting a recap of both days of Young Explorers, but gosh, the days have just gotten away from me! So this is more of a "week in review," which is what I'll probably switch to from now on.

1. Icebreakers
... were very casual for us - no standing in front of the group - we just shared interesting things. There were lots of visitors at your houses this weekend; lots of nanas and papas and grandmas and grandpas ... the kids enjoyed telling all about it.

2. Habit #5 from the 7 Habits of Happy Kids - "Seek first to understand, then to be understood.  Listen first, then talk."
Jumper Rabbit asked Goob to play, but Goob was not in the mood; he had lost his butterfly net. So, Jumper moved on to Tagalong Allie's house. Allie was very upset and kept saying some phrase which Jumper couldn't decipher.  Lily listened hard to Allie, not just with her ears, but with her heart and eyes, and figured out that Allie's sweater was on backwards.  This inspired Jumper to return to Goob, and really listen to why he was sad; they found the butterfly net together and all learned an important skill - a way of really listening.

3. Habit #6 - "Synergize!" In other words, use your strengths and talents to work as a team. Together you are better.
This was a cute story involving most of the Oak Street Gang.  They were playing soccer when the Big Bad Badgers came along and challenged them to a soccer game. The story describes each of the Oak Street character's strengths and how they made a big comeback to win the game by working more cohesively as a team. We had a good discussion about teamwork, which led to discussions about sports teams and being a poor loser or a good loser ... the kids had lots of interesting perspectives here. I was very touched by their general attitude of compassion towards the pouting poor sports. One sweet sixer said:
    "If someone is being a sore loser, and pouting, you should go and talk to him and make him feel better. You should tell him, "Its okay."
Then, a sevener said:
    "Everybody is going to make mistakes sometimes."

Next week we will read the last story from the Habits book. The kids are all hoping the main character is Tagalong Allie (but it is not).  I have to say, the kids have really taken to this book - maybe its the animal characters that everyone can relate to, not sure, but I highly highly recommend checking this one out of the library.

3. Socratic Discussion with Dramatic Classics for Children - The Fox and the Crow
In this fable, the Fox outsmarts Madame and Miss Crow, and gains himself a piece of cheese. Miss Crow is holding the cheese in her mouth, and Fox flatters the crows with compliments. But ... what a pity Miss Crow is unable to speak, bemoans Mr. Fox.  That's not true, replies Madame, and tells her daughter to "Caw like she has never cawed before."  To prove she can indeed speak. And out falls the cheese.

Like all fables, this one was excellent material for socratic discussion. Who is responsible for the crow losing the cheese? So the fox is sly ... but wasn't Madame Crow full of pride? Did Miss Crow also suffer from pride, or was she just super-obedient to her mother? We talked about the saying "Pride goes before the fall."

Then we acted out the play, several times so that anyone who wanted to could have a turn to play a role. The great thing about this play is that Miss Crow doesn't have any lines except to caw. This was a perfect role for our young-non-reading girls. And eventually, we were one big group acting out the play because we made it into a family of crows (Madame and her many daughters), outfoxed by several Mr.Foxes acting at once.  The kids seemed to really enjoy this activity; we kept it casual (just sat around the couch and read/acted) and also we laughed alot!

4. Picture Study
We starting to compare different artists' sunflowers; this week we looked at Monet's Sunflowers.

5. Composer
We listened to Freddy Kempf's version of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata. We heard the 1st Mmvt. on Monday and the 2nd on Tuesday. I think we are all in love with the playing style of the Kempffs!  Next week, perhaps we'll listen to some symphonies as a little change from the piano sonatas.  They're just all so good.

6. Living Math - Citiblocks and Estimating
Have you ever heard of Citiblocs or Keva Blocks?

Well they are absolutely hands-down positively one of our family's favorite go-to toys that spans ALL ages! I first heard about them on the Living Math website, and happened across a couple of boxes on clearance for a steal. I don't think many people know what a goldmine they are and maybe they aren't big sellers? We have built up our collection over the past few years.  There are educational lesson plans online, citibloc galleries, and just so many possibilities.

After the kids got warmed up with building using the blocks, we used the educational lesson plan on estimating. Teams were given a basket with a specific number of blocks and asked to build either on edge, on end, or flat; they could build whatever they wanted using this guideline. Then, we estimated how many blocks were used. 

These boys were attempting the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 

So proud!

Babes and toddlers love citiblocs too. This is an older pic of Maria and Kate.

7. Living Science

We are progressing through experiments about force; and today talked about gravity. We performed the classic experiment of seeing which objects touches the ground first - the heavier one (golf ball), or the lighter object (ping-pong ball).  Everyone got to try this out firsthand, after making our predictions. Some of the older kids were already familiar with the concept (good job you homeschooling moms!). However, we put a bit of a twist on the experiment when the kids were asked if the same result would happen if you throw one ball (completely horizontally and not "up") and drop the other straight down at the same time. Which will hit the ground first?

Same principle applies, my friend! Even a bullet shot directly horizontal will land at the same time as a bullet dropped straight down.  Is that cool or what. The only glitch is if you drop a feather and a hammer - the feather will not hit the ground first due to air resistance.  However, if you are on the moon, both will hit the ground at the same time - you can check out a You Tube video of an astronaut performing this experiment on the moon.

Gravity is such a neat force.  Its the only force that pulls exclusively, versus push and pull.  It accelerates every object equally (but it pulls harder on the heavier objects).  

So ... after these experiments ... the kids asked if they could have a little more time with citiblocs as they had enjoyed them so much during the living math component.

8. Poetry. POETRY!!  Was so fun this week!

We read limericks! Good clean ones!! Then we did some group composition of limericks so they could get the feel of it.  Here is a taste of what I recall we composed:

There once was a superhero from France,

Who had a really big lance,

He ran into a rock,

And got a really big chicken poc,

... and they finished this limerick with something about pooping his pants.

There were several others we composed, so have fun making up limericks with your children :)

9. Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Its getting good ... Bonnie's parents have left and Miss Slighcarp has turned even more evil - wearing Bonnie's mother's best dresses, firing the servants, selling the horses, boxing up and selling the toys, and locking Bonnie in the closet for protesting the wearing of her mother's dress.  We also met Simon, the boy who dresses in animal skins, lives in a cave in the nearby woods, raises geese and lives on chestnut-flour cakes.  Simon saves Bonnie and Sylvia from wolves. We also find out Mr. Grimshaw is in on the shenanigans ...

I'm sad to say I don't know if we will finish this book by the end of next week ... so you may have to put in a hold at the library ...

And that's a wrap!!!

Young Explorers - Block 1 Day 3

Howdy howdy!
We were rowdy today in YE. We spent most of the morning outside since it was just. so. glorious.  Here's what we did today.

1. Icebreaker
This morning, I invited any child who wanted to share something interesting they did over the past week. However, I asked them to stand up beside me, in front of the group, and do their telling. This is just a baby step towards being comfortable with public speaking, and most everybody took part :).
 I am so proud to see them display courage! One child who initially said they weren't ready to speak actually did stand up at the end and gave a little speech. Awesome!

2. 7 Habits of Happy Kids - Habit #3 - "Put First Things First. Work first, then play."
Before we even formally began our morning, some of the children were already asking if we were going to do another habit today! In today's habit, Pokey the Porcupine learned the hard way that you should study for a spelling test well in advance instead of pursuing playtime. We talked about the word "procrastination," (hey everyone I've never even heard of that word, honest haha!) and what it means. We shared what our most important responsibilities are at home, and talked about what it feels like to just do your job rather than put it off and put it off. We shared what it feels like to wake up in a clean room versus a messy room and asked WHY it feels so good to be in a clean orderly place. You might want to ask your kids WHY. I would suggest that our God is a God of order, so it only makes sense that we feel better when things are in order, no? (We did not discuss this last sentence - I leave that to let your kids discover for themselves with you).

3. Poetry - "The Mischievous Dog."
This is just a cute nonsense poem with pleasant rhyme, written by Dylan Thomas when he was 11 years old. I didn't share the title with the kids at first, and asked them to guess "who" was speaking in the poem. Enjoy!

The Song of the Mischievous Dog

by Dylan Thomas

There are many who say that a dog has its day, 

And a cat  has a number of lives;

There are others who think that a lobster is pink,

And that bees never work in their hives. 

There are fewer, of course, who insist that a horse

Has a horn and two humps on its head,

And a fellow who jests that a mare can build nests

Is as rare as a donkey that's red. 

Yet in spite of all this, I have moments of bliss,

For I cherish a passion for bones,

And though doubtful of biscuit, I'm willing to risk it,

And I love to chase rabbits and stones.

But my greatest delight is to take a good bite

At a calf that is plump and delicious;

And if I indulge in a bite at a bulge,

Let's hope you won't think me too vicious.

4. Living Math - Shadows, Value Scales & Thales

With the weather forecast looking so good, we needed to take advantage of it! We did sidewalk-chalk living math outside, based on a lesson from Family Math.  We did two things: first we explored shadows by tracing our feet, then measuring the length of our shadows from those same footprints every half hour. It was a sunny day; perfect for this activity. 

We wondered why those shadows kept shrinking and shifting. I asked them how this observation could be useful ... we talked about sundials and telling time and making those connections. Then I told them the story of Thales and the pyramids - rumor has it he was visiting the pyramids and asked his guide how tall the pyramids were but his guide didn't know - nobody knew! Thales used shadows and proportions to make the calculations. That story really came alive for them today!

Second - we drew out a number line in chalk, marking spaces from 0 to 10. We discussed the concept of "values" scales - tell me on a scale of 0 to 10 how much you like pizza.  Or, if 0 is no and 10 is yes, do you like pizza and pop? The entire group hopped around the values scale as I asked them questions. Then, I let each child take a turn asking a question and analyzing the results. They could tell if something was "popular" or not. Onions are all over the board, and mushrooms are not popular at all. We discussed how researchers can design questionaires to gain information this way, and even hospitals use this type of question to help describe the severity of your pain. It was interesting to see the wheels turn as the kids actually had to "analyze" and "describe" their results. One child looked at me and said "THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!"

5. Socratic Discussion: The Proud Grain of Wheat by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is a short story about two grains of wheat in a sack - one is proud but the other spends her time thinking and learning and is modest and humble. We follow each grain of wheat as they get sown into the ground, become blades, then crowns of wheat, ears, are threshed, etc. At each step, the proud grain of wheat thinks she is better than all the rest and makes whatever situation she is in seem very high indeed. Well, you can guess what eventually happens to the grain of wheat ... We will be discussing the virtues of humility in greater depth tomorrow.  We enjoyed this story outside while eating our snack; I - a lovely red apple. Ahem.

6. Picture Study - Van Gogh

It seemed appropriate to study "The Sower" (one of his many versions) and "Stacks of Wheat." He has many many wheat field portrayals. Today we did the normal study then hide the picture - then ask the kids questions. But we took it a step further and I asked for volunteers to actually try a "narration" where they stand and describe everything they remember about the piece and that worked really well.

We viewed art right after reading the Proud Grain of Wheat, in which there was a sower. When I told the kids this picture was called "The Sower (with Arles in Background), there were several "a-ha's" as they were able to visualize what a "sower" actually does and might look like. 

Stacks of Wheat. Some kids thought they looked like volcanoes. I guess when you don't see this in today's age, it must look very strange!

7. Composer - Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata - First Movement

We noted how sad and solemn and quiet the piece sounds. And how very famous it is.  This piece is "easy" to play in terms of the notes, but it is very difficult to play properly, with the right technique - most people butcher it (especially me!), but its complexity is found in its simplicity.  We listened to this version of the 1st Movement on You Tube.  But if you are at home with a few minutes to spare, consider comparing it to Wilhelm Klempff's version - hear the difference?  I am in awe at how the kids really listen and seem to thoughtfully consider the music they hear - by their comments, you can tell their hearts are made for this beauty felt in music. 

8. End with Read-Aloud - Wolves of Willoughby Chase

We wrapped up the last ten minutes of class with another chapter of Wolves. Earlier in the morning they asked if we were going to read Wolves today, and were high-fiving when I said yes - and I am not surprised in the least! Read-alouds and socratic discussion are not only good for the brain, they are just so enjoyable!  That's the wonderful thing about any classic - while we have lofty goals for thinking via the classics, they most importantly fully delight our souls!!

See you all tomorrow for another great morning!

The First Day - Young Explorers Block 1

WOW!!!

This morning was our first morning of Young Explorers, the community homeschool program I'm currently piloting.  For the benefit of the parents, and for those of you who might be interested in forming a "Love of Learning" group of your own, here is a rundown of the morning.

The group is a good size - we have eight children ages 6-10, plus my own littles.  If  you do a larger group you will need another helper :).

Icebreaker
I asked the children what an icebreaker was, and they gave me definitions involving types of machines in the arctic that break the ice for boats to go through LOL! They were right! And from there it was an easy leap to the concept of "breaking the ice" and getting to know one another better.  Our icebreaker was easy - say your name and tell us something about yourself, and we will all guess if that "something" was true or false. I had lots of interesting factoids, mostly involving wildlife. Some have seen penguins, bears, coyotes, wild turkeys and polar bears.  That was fun and got the kids warmed up.

Read-Aloud #1 - from the Seven Habits of Happy Kids
We read and discussed the first habit - where Sammy the Squirrel is "bored" and looks to each of his friends to entertain him  or suggest something to do. In the end, Sammy finds out that he can use his talents (he likes to fix old things like radios, phones, etc), to make someone else feel better (Allie the mouse was sick in bed). Sammy fixes an old radio and wraps it in a ribbon for Allie. Each of us shared what our passions and talents were and how we can use them to brighten someone else's day.  I had to laugh because one child's passion was eating! T'was good. The icebreaker and story took a good half-hour.


Living Math - Mobius Strips

By this time, the kids needed to move so it was perfect to switch to some hands-on Living Math.  Today we explored Mobius strips - they are super-cool! First, I read a little blurb about Mr. Mobius, found in Famous Problems and their Mathematicians.  Mobius had retired from a long career in math and astronomy, and was on vacation with his wife. They were in a cabin with no windows and flying insects were a problem. He tried hanging flypaper from the ceiling, but alas, Mr. Mobius is a tall guy and kept running into the flypaper. To make it shorter and more effective, rather than making a simple loop, Mobius twisted one end of the flypaper before making a loop. And he was amazed by its properties - as were we :). He started an entire new branch of mathematics! (Incidentally, there is also a Mobius-type bottle which might be fun for you to google and explore with your children).

So we explored Mobius strips. First we made a simple ring using adding-machine paper and tape, and chatted about it. It has an inside surface and an outside surface. It has two distinct edges. We cut it in half lengthwise around the loop and it formed two new and separate circles.  So far so good.

Then, we each made a Mobius strip and tested its properties. We drew a line down the middle and put our scissors to work, with interesting results!!

Some ended up with two new linked Mobius strips and some ended up with one big Mobius strip. Most of all, the kids wanted to keep going and keep cutting down the center of each new strip that evolved, to see what would happen.

And that's the idea, isn't it? To inspire them to be curious! One child said she couldn't wait to get home and make more strips to see how far she could take it :).  And after everyone left for the day, Alexa was busy making more strips as was my 12yo.

Break and Snack
We had spent a good 45 minutes at Living Math. And by that time, we were ready for a break. We took our snacks and headed outdoors. The kids REALLY needed this time to expend energy, and it was a beautiful day. We had a good 15 minutes of outdoor time and that was time well spent.

Power Hour and More Socratic
We moved right into our art picture study. Since my large poster-sized prints had not yet arrived, I had to use pictures out of my art books, which was hard with a large group! We set a sand-timer and I instructed everyone to examine the painting closely until the sand ran out, then I hid the picture and quizzed them on what they saw. We did this for several Monets - and they seemed to really enjoy this.

We read and discussed Robert Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken.  First, I read it like a narration with no artistic pauses at the end of each line or verse so it didn't read as a poem at all. Then I read it like a poem - to illustrate to the kids firsthand how a poem is different and stylized and how its much more pleasurable to listen to as a poem. We discussed the meaning of the poem. I had to laugh in my head, as one child said there were two paths you could take in life - one is getting pierced and tattooed and the other is doing the right thing and being a good person LOL. You got it!!

Finally, we read Samba the Coward, from The Olive Fairy Book (free on Kindle!!). GREAT STORY!!! We laughed, we cried, we almost died. Seriously, we had so much fun reading this. ALL the kids were totally engaged. And we tackled the concept of courage, cowardice, and bravery.  Kids are so smart. They came to their own conclusions Socratic style. Are we born with courage? How do we get it? What IS it exactly? Its so funny to hear their thoughts on courage before reading the story versus after. Most importantly, provide time for your kids to THINK about these concepts.  If never given the opportunity ....

So there you have it - in a nutshell! Day 1 a total success.  We meet again tomorrow, this time the focus will be Living Science instead of math; all else will be similar to today.

God bless your week!!

The Mathematician's Lament

"There is surely no more reliable way to kill enthusiasm and interest in a subject than to make it a mandatory part of the school curriculum. Include it as a major component of standardized testing and you virtually guarantee that the education establishment will suck the life out of it."

Paul Lockhart

Ha! Isn't that the truth!

Here are a few more excerpts from mathematician Paul Lockhart's essay, The Mathematician's Lament.

"The mathematics curriculum doesn't need to be reformed, it needs to be scrapped."

Love this guy. 

"The saddest part of all this "reform" are the attempts to "make math interesting" and "relevant to kids' lives." You don't need to make math interesting - it's already more interesting than we can handle! And the glory of it is its complete irrelevance to our lives. That's why its so fun!"

"Operate all you want, doctors: your patient is already dead."

Lockhart is an absolute hoot! 

Reading this piece by Lockhart is continually confirming my instinct that Living Math is an excellent approach to a real math education. He states that no other subject is routinely taught without mentioning its history, philosophy, thematic development, etc.  He believes math is really an art, not a science, with aesthetic value and inherent beauty.  This book will change how you think about math!

"The main problem with school mathematics is that there are no problems. Oh, I know what passes for problems in math classes, these insipid "exercises." "Here is a type of problem. Here is how to solve it. Yes it will be on the test.  Do exercises 1-35 odd for homework." What a sad way to learn mathematics: to be a trained chimpanzee."

"I can understand the idea of training students to master certain techniques - I do that too. But not as an end in itself. Technique in mathematics, as in any art, should be learned in context. The great problems, their history, the creative process - that is the proper setting. Give your students a good problem, let them struggle and get frustrated. See what they come up with. Wait until they are dying for an idea, then give them some technique. But not too much."

"Play games! Teach them chess and Go, Hex and backgammon, Sprouts and nim, whatever. Make up a game. Do puzzles. Expose them to situations where deductive reasoning is necessary. Don't worry about the notation and technique; help them to become active and creative mathematical thinkers."

Hey, have you ever heard of Go, Hex, or Sprouts? Me neither ... but I'm going to find out.

I've given you a little taste of what Paul Lockhart has to say about math education.  Something that has given me pause is his defence of math as an art form done by human beings for pleasure. He likens math to music - musicians may abbreviate their language with little black dots on staff paper, but that does not define the language of music. Nor does it stop even little ones from being able to sing, right? And, becoming proficient at music theory (on paper) in no way makes you a musician.  Its funny, I have a music background in piano, and along the way I often heard how music and math are related.  The idea was that music is made of rhythms and beats which correspond to numbers/math.  Um, big whoop, I always thought.  Kind of a boring connection in my mind.  Well, now I know there is a link between music and math but its not really about numbers! The real connection has more to do with art and creativity and patterns and expression rather than the boring tallying up how many beats in a measure of music! Music is a language that delights, and so should be math.  It makes sense. I don't think God gave us mathematics so we can figure out what happens if train A is coming down the track at 150 km/hr and train B leaves the station 5 min later but is travelling at 110 km/hr and ... you get the idea.  

Read with me.  Download it to your handy dandy kindle.  I'm at the chapter entitled: High School Geometry: Instrument of the Devil. And I'll wait for you to catch up.