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!

Exploring the Tree of Life and other adventures

It was Art Day this week in Young Explorers!

But I know you want to hear all the juicy details of our morning, so enjoy the recap!

1. Ice-breaker and Oh Canada
Some of us were at the Great Books socratic event this weekend, where we partook in a fun icebreaker that I decided to replicate for YE.  Working in pairs, we had to find out some basic information in order to introduce our partner and tell what book he or she was currently reading. I modelled some ways to introduce a friend to a group, then we gave it a go.

2. Combo Poetry/Socratic Discussion
"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the spider to the fly ... This poem, The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt is actually a fable in poetic form.  The spider uses flattery to lure a fly into his trap, and actually this poem is quite famous.  The first line has been parodied in Alice in Wonderland; it has been adapted to song; and its title is also the title of a Rolling Stones number.  This morning in YE, we talked about insincere flattery, and did a little role-playing as well.

We also read and discussed another Ziz tale - The Ziz and the Hanukkah Miracle by Jacqueline Jules. This Ziz does not want to share his lamp oil and is acting quite selfishly, but in the end he does share and finds after sharing that his lamp has even more oil - it has multiplied. Some of the kids didn't seem enthralled about hearing another Ziz story which surprised me, since I thought they really enjoyed the last one. However, the discussion that ensued was VERY lively as we chatted about generosity and sharing what you have.

It started after one child said "Steal from the rich to give to the poor." This child had recently read Robin Hood. Well - talk about an uproar. The questions came fast and furious:

Is it ok to steal from the rich and give to the poor? (Most thought that was a good idea!!)
Do the poor "care" where the money comes from? Should they care? (Hmm, some thinking about this)
If I work REALLY hard to earn money and I become rich, why should it be ok for someone to steal my hard-earned money? (Hmmm, more scratching heads ...)
Would Jesus have stolen from the rich? (Hmmm ... this theory of stealing from the rich is not working out so well)
*Should* we give money to the poor? (YES, lots of roaring here)
So its our responsibility to share what we have? (YES)
But how do I learn to be generous, who teaches me? (Our parents)
Who teaches them? (Their parents)
But HOW do they *know* how to live as a good person and be generous? Again, around in circles here. Finally, someone said God. And from there they dissected it down to the Bible as being the way to inform us how to live the way we do, kind and generous.

I love it when Socratic discussion works out. Its purpose is to come to a truth about humanity, and I think we were able to do that today.

3. Art Picture Study - Renoir's Le Moulin de la Galette

Renoir depicts Parisian daily life here, at a Sunday dance near the top of Montmartre. The kids thought it was interesting that the chandeliers seem to hang from the sky! A couple of the boys think the man in the couple dancing is carrying a pistol ... but I don't see it and I think that's just a boy's imagination for you!

4. Composer - Scott Joplin and The Entertainer

Yay, ragtime - the style of music which was the precursor to jazz!! We took a major departure from the orchestra to listen to this highly popular two-time ragtime.  My daughter tried to tell me he was a Canadian composer since he composed the Maple Leaf Rag, but alas, she is mistaken. Scott Joplin was born the son of a slave in Texas, and taught himself to play on a piano in a home where his mother worked. Because of his musical talent, he received free music lessons locally from a teacher who taught him well in classical music form - this classical training profoundly influenced his composing style. He is the best-known ragtime composer!

We listened to an awesome iTunes version - my favorite - which has a mix of piano and orchestra, but you can hear this piano-only version for free on You-Tube.

5. Its Art Day - Tree-of-Life-Inspired Work
I had been collecting several ideas for making our own Klimt's Tree of Life artwork, which we played with today. This is the original inspiration - we noted it had large swirls for the tree, but is filled with lots of geometric shapes and takes on a collage-style feeling.

First, we had the kids practice making the large swirls on scrap paper, and talked about the geometric elements we saw. Then, they were given construction paper (black, gold or silver), metallic pens, cut-out geometric shapes and glue sticks, white paint and q-tips - and glitter pens.  We put on the classical tunes while we worked and then got busy!

And finally, for the complete YE experience, I must disclose that one of my students taught me a Bollywood dance she learned.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and God bless your homes.

Hovercrafts, Poppies, Ambition and Greed - Young Explorers

Wondering what these things have in common? Well, nothing specific, but we touched on these topics this morning in YE.  It was a busy morning! So busy, in fact, that the time ran away from us at the end and I didn't have a chance to snap a few pics of what we did ... no matter, I'll improvise!

1. Oh Canada and Icebreaker - we sang this again. I think we will begin our mornings this way. For our icebreaker, each of the kids had to think of a question to ask the person on their right. That person would then answer the question; then ask the next child a question.  Questions included: What is your favorite color? Do you like to get into mischief? Do you like Knights?

2. Poetry - In Flanders Fields - by John McCrae.
This morning, we talked about the poppy and I asked the kids why it is a symbol of Remembrance Day. I got all sorts of answers - from its color representing blood, to a very interesting theory that poppies grow in cemeteries because they receive nutrients from certain decomposing um parts ... oh my goodness ... but the kids were very surprised to learn the poppy is actually a symbol of life.  We talked about Canadian John McCrae in quite a bit of detail, and read his poem using a beautiful illustrated copy.

3. Socratic Discussion - The Fisherman and His Wife (Grimm Fairy Tale).
This is an awesome awesome fairy tale; wonderful for socratic discussion.  Some of the kids thought they heard this story before, and I think it actually has a few variations out there.  A fisherman and his wife live in a hut near the sea. One day the fisherman catches an enchanted flounder, who he releases back.  When he tells his wife about it, she sends him back to ask the flounder to grant them a wish as a reward for letting the flounder go.  The wife wants to live in a nice cottage. The fisherman goes back to the flounder who grants them a lovely cottage.  It isn't enough for the wife, who then wants a castle, then wants to be king, then emperor, then pope, then a God. Each time she sends her husband back to the flounder, the husband is reluctant. He knows its wrong. He wants his wife to be content with what they have. But he doesn't take a stand (one child picked up on this right away and thought the husband was partially responsible!). Eventually, when the wife asks to be a God, they both find themselves back in their original hut.  Another interesting part of the story is that every time the wife asks for more, the weather and the landscape outside become more and more threatening. One student picked up on this parallel.

Here are the questions we asked: Why did the wife keep wanting more and more?  Kids answered that she was greedy, but again we asked WHY? What is it about humans that we sometimes aren't content even when we reach our "desires." We talked about "ambition" and most of the kids did not know what this was.  We talked about having a healthy ambition and an unhealthy ambition.  The kids had to share what things were on their Christmas list, and I asked them if that would be it - in other words, if they receive their object of desire, will they be content forever more? Will they never "want" anything else?  So I hope you have a good discussion over dinner, about greed, ambition, and being content. Do things have the ability to satisfy? Where should we look for our happiness? What happens when someone is too ambitious? Actually, the kids picked up on this question right away, acknowledging that   by reaching and reaching for one step higher than the previous, you can ignore your family and friends and relationships on the way- that is a high price to pay for something that really doesn't make you happy in the end.

4. Composer - Nicholai Rimsky-Korsakov and his ever famous Flight of the Bumblebee.  There are a ton of renditions if you search - we actually listened to the piano version modified by Tchaikovsky, followed by a full orchestra version, and it really does sound like bumblebees!  The most fun about this piece, however, is the story of the opera for which it was composed.  I'll let you check it out, but the part relating to this song is when the prince must disguise himself as a bumblebee during one of his adventures :).  The kids loved this piece well enough ... but they continued to beg me to play Grieg's piece from last week.

Classics for Kids Activity Sheet
The Classic Tale for ipad

5. Picture Study - Monet's Poplars

Monet painted an entire series of poplars one particular year, at varying times of day and varying times of the summer. The poplars were located quite close to his home in Giverny, and only two in the series were painted from his rowboat. This is one of them!  Click here for an excellent video on Monet's poplars, by Khanacademy! I knew Khan Academy did math and science ... but art?  Cool!

One of the kids likened this painting to a caterpillar, and it really does remind you of that! We compared Monet's poplars to the poplars in our own backyard.

6. Living Science - Friction and Hovercrafts!

This week, using the wonderful e-science program by Aurora, we talked and played with the concept of friction.  How when you rub your hands together fast you get heat from friction. Or if I try to glide in my running shoes on the carpet (which I demonstrated and nearly broke a leg), I can't because of friction.  How rubber tires have a tread in order to grip the road.  Now, scientists used to think friction only involved molecules adhering to each other, but now we know that magnetism is also involved. Anyway, to play with the concept of friction, we talked about hovercrafts.  Hovercrafts use wind-power to create a cushion of air between the bottom of the hovercraft and the water/land surface, thus minimizing friction and allowing it to glide.

Our science project this week was to build a very simple hovercraft using an old CD, a sport-bottle cap (the kind that pops up), a paper cup with the end cut off, and a balloon.  You can see something like the e-science version we made over here at Science Squad.

So, many of our hovercrafts worked, and when they went flying across the table, everyone thought that was super-cool!  But many of our hovercrafts were being difficult :), and the kids had to just keep trying.  The next thing we knew, it was time to go!!  But hey, that's real science. It doesn't always work out perfectly the first time. You have to use your observational and critical thinking skills to figure out why, or how to make it better.  Things like the depth of the actual cup, the number of holes in the bottle cap, how big the balloon is blown up, how smooth the surface is - all of these things are variables that affect the outcome.  By the way, this is the same principle that air hockey tables used. Neat, hey?

One last thing, because we were so busy and under a time crunch with our hovercrafts, we didn't get a chance to go over our pyramid puzzles! One child did show me during the break, and we were planning on chatting about it as a group ... but didn't have time. So my dear students, I know some of you are waiting to teach me your method of solving the puzzle and I will look forward that next week!!

Till next time, happy homeschooling!!

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 - Block 1 is Almost Done!

Here we are in our last week of the pilot community homeschool block - Woohoo!!  I'd say it was a huge success; I've asked for feedback from my guinea pigs and will be making some very positive changes going forward based on the comments received.

All the feedback relates to logistics, and not to content, which I'm very pleased about. I know the content is good and worthy - that is why I created the group - to fill our buckets with good things. However, seems like people would prefer one morning a week, so we will switch to that. For now. I think a community homeschool program would be awesome for newbies wanting to get their feet wet with this style of homeschooling - and then implement the ideas after seeing it in action. I can see a program like this thriving if I were to cast a wider net and make it more "formal." I think the target market for this would be slightly different then.

But most of my  homeschooling families are NOT newbies. They know what they are doing and are primarily looking for good enrichment in a small, safe environment that recognizes the "sacredness of the child" and the "difference between schooling and true education." These families are excited to be homeschooling and probably don't want to give up two full mornings a week on a sustained basis.

Therefore, we will be forging ahead with the same type of content - rooted in socratic discussion of works focusing on good versus bad, right versus wrong, true versus false; complemented with picture study/composer study, living math, living science, and art.  It will be spread out over a longer "block," which I'll finalize after a look at the calendar. We definitely will wrap things up by the end of November as Advent begins. Advent is the time for us to refocus our lives and our learning :).

OK, and now for a recap of today.

1. 7 Habits - the 7th Habit - "Sharpen the Saw" or "Balance Your Life."
This story sees Sophie get into a little bit of trouble because ALL she does is read read read but in the process ignores other important areas of her life - such as physical exercise, time with friends, time to nourish her soul. This of course, is a habit that most adults probably neglect. We talked about how not taking time to nourish all the areas of our life (body, mind, heart, soul), can lead to imbalance. Someone suffers as a result. This was a great story - and it marked the end of the book! Many of the kids said they have purchased this book because they loved it so much. This is a great book to review every year :).

2. Picture Study - Van Gogh's Vase With 12 Sunflowers

3. Composer - Beethoven's 5th Symphony
We broke away from the piano Sonatas to listen to an entire orchestra.  This is one of Beethoven's most famous symphonies. I mentioned to the kids there is a fun little CD that puts silly words to classic masterpieces - called Beethoven's Wig: Sing-Along Symphonies.  I remember getting this at the library for my older kids way back when, and they loved it. Check it out!!

4. Poetry

Continuing with the nonsensical poetry, we read the full version of Old Mother Hubbard, and then Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.  We read it a couple of times, to try and imagine what all those nonsense words might mean.  Great, fun piece of poetry!

5. Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Socratic Discussion

Oh, the plot thickens.  Bonnie and Sylvia have found a secret passage in the house and have discovered Miss Slighcarp is burning the Willoughby's will.  We talked about what a will is, and what it might mean for Miss Slighcarp to burn the original and replace it with a forgery. Leaving everything to her.  Families, we won't finish this book by tomorrow ... but I know of a few copies floating around to borrow.

6. Group Art Project

As this is the 4th week of the block, we put aside Living Math and Science to do art. The group art project is to illustrate what can be done when we work as a group to produce a single piece of work. Each child was given a square of beautiful art paper (watercolor quality). Using a sharpie, I traced two different-sized circles on each square. The children were given oil pastels and instructed to color in their square completely.  We then cut the finished squares into 4 smaller squares.  You'll have to see what we do with them tomorrow :).

This one was already cut into 4 squares, the child pieced it back together for a picture.

Stay tuned. More to follow tomorrow!

ps Thanks for the brownies!!

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 4

Sorry this post is up a little late, but I had to run out and buy a zipper and peruse some fabric ... there are always urgent sewing projects on the go at my house you know!

We are officially halfway through Block 1 - the "pilot" block of community homeschool! Here's what we did today.

1. Icebreaker
Today's icebreaker was a blast! First off, I was very excited about showing our new artwork for picture study, so I asked if anyone was thirsty ... if anyone needed to "drink" something ... with their "eyes." We talked about how we can enjoy a feast for our eyes, and artwork falls into that category. The icebreaker then, before viewing the art (had to leave them in suspense), was to stand up in front and tell the group what they like to feast their eyes on.  Oh, they were so sweet.

"I like to feast my eyes on nature."
"I like to feast my eyes on Jesus." (at least two kids)
"I like to feast my eyes on food."
"I like to feast my eyes on fall colors." (there were lots of these)

2. 7 Habits of Happy Kids - Habit #4 - Always Try for a Win-Win Situation
This was an interesting story of Lily Skunk who wanted a garden, but her mom was reluctant as she imagined she would end up doing all the work in the end.  Poor little Lily.  She could have pouted (Lose-Win), she could have defied her mom and planted a garden anyway (Win-Lose), but instead she wrote a letter to her mom outlining exactly how she would be responsible for the work of the garden. Her mom agreed (Win-Win).  We discussed different situations and how we always have a choice in how we react.  We should try to make choices where everyone can benefit if possible - like if you're fighting over a toy with your sibling, try to find a solution where you and your sibling can "win."

3. Picture Study
Ah, more Van Gogh, and can you really get enough?  I showed the kids a large, framed print of "Sidewalk Cafe at Night," and we all studied it for awhile then the kids were invited to try a narration. I think because I was so hyped up about showing them this art, THEY were also really hyped up about viewing it. We counted the number of people, the number of tables, and wondered what the people in the cafe were eating :).  Later in the day, Alexa was inspired to pull out the Van Gogh coloring book, and as we speak she is describing Van Gogh's Starry Night to her dad.

And this is the real cafe! Its now called Cafe Van Gogh:

I should mention that right now, we are focusing on just viewing and enjoying the art - we don't delve too much into analyzing paint strokes and such. But as they see more of the same artist, they are able to intuitively recognize the style of an artist. I think that is the magic of exploring art in this way - we don't reduce it to technical aspects. Van Gogh never did.

4. Poem
The poem today was a short one, a famous one, by Christina Rosetti: Who Has Seen the Wind?  I challenged the kids to memorize this selection, if they like, and recite it to the group next week.

Who has seen the wind? 
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

5. Living Science: Forces and Bridges

We are still exploring physics and force - this time we talked about forces of nature (wind, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc) and how engineers have to consider these forces when designing buildings and bridges.  We made our own buildings and bridges today, after a little demonstration.  First, we propped up an index card on top of two blocks and put some "clay" people on top - watched them fall. Not a strong bridge. But when we turn that index card into an arch and place between two blocks, it holds more clay people. And when you add a foundation (clay), its even stronger.  We also explored a pleated index card and noticed this is also a very strong shape. Who knows what common material uses a pleat to make it strong? Anyone say cardboard?  In fact, if you look at a torn piece of cardboard you will notice the paper pleat. So ... the concept is that you can use the same materials in different ways to make them more functional.

Using blocks, index cards, modelling clay, straw and paper clips, the kids went to work designing and building. They split themselves up into a few groups, with the girls all going together and even naming themselves: The Scientific Thunder Tower Girls.  Or something like that.  The girls built all sorts of details into their bridge - including a boat for under the bridge, a lamp-pole to light the bridge, lovely little clay people and even a clay snake sauntering over the bridge - it was so cute.  The boys formed several groups and were more concerned with making a strong foundation and building very masculine structures. Ah, the difference between men and women :)

A great pleated-over-arch bridge!

Not a bridge ... but you just can't interrupt that creative process!

Check out the green snake!

A great jumping point from this physics lesson is Usborne's Flap Book on Famous Buildings.  We viewed the page with the Eiffel Tower, noting how the foundational substructure deep in the ground allows the tower to withstand a lot of force!  Alexa got into this book later in the afternoon :).

If you want to try more of this at home, check out File Card Bridges over at the Exploratorium.  Great fun!

6. Socratic Discussion
We continued our discussion about the Proud Grain of Wheat from yesterday and compared the proud grain with the more humble and learned grain. The kids focused on the learned grain and I asked them how he became so smart.  The story says the humble grain of wheat spent more of his time thinking rather than talking.  Does "thinking" make you wise?  What is wisdom anyway, and how do you get it?  Someone said you just have to think. Tee hee, so we all spent a few seconds "thinking" and found out that really didn't work.  I'll let you pursue this discussion about wisdom at home, but I would suggest that a great place to start would be the Bible, especially the story of Solomon and the book of Proverbs. Would be a great jumping point!

7. Read-Aloud: Wolves of Willoughby Chase
We are enjoying finishing up the morning with this exciting classic.  Lots happened today - a wolf jumped into Sylvia's train compartment (crashed right through the window); we more formally met Mr. Grimshaw and all the kids believe him to be a nice gentleman (hmmm, will that pan out?); and Sylvia arrived at Willoughby Chase.

8. Handing out of the Script - The Crow and the Fox
Next week we will be branching into drama! If you check out the Block 1 Booklist you will find a link to the book of children's classics in dramatic form.  Essentially, they are Aesop's fables in the form of a play.  This particular play has 3 parts - Madame Crow, Miss Crow, and Master Fox.  Everyone can choose which part they want to play and we'll just take turns acting it out in groups of three.  The kids can read right off the script or memorize their part if they wish.  Performing is fun!  We will also discuss this fable socratically :)

9. Composer Study
I had hoped to listen to Beethoven's (Pathetique) Sonata 8 in C Minor but it wouldn't load for me at the time so we will do it next week.  This sonata is one of my personal favorites; the Rondo movement was my go-to piano piece back in the day, and you will all recognize the second movement by the song "Midnight Blue" by Bonnie Rait I think? Midnight blue, so lonely without you ...  If you're game, check out Wilhelm Kempff's Pathetique here for the second movement, and here for the FANTABULOUS 3rd movement, the Rondo.

And finally, a word about how its going for me.  As this is the half-way mark, I can make some small assessments.  This is what I know for sure:

* The kids are engaged, ready to be inspired, and truly NEED to have their buckets filled with good things.

* They really CAN learn to "think" via socratic method if you allow it to happen naturally. I've witnessed that in only 4 classes.

* If YOU are excited, its contagious. And that excitement doesn't seem to end when class ends.

* They REALLY need a mid-morning break of physical activity. LOL!

* My Maria is a loose canon. Sometimes I feel discouraged :(
and

* I love it all - the talented kids, the LOVE they seem to have of learning, the material we expose ourselves to :).

Have a great week and God bless!

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!