In Which Young Explorers Completes The First Year

Yeah, that's right! We finished up Block 3 of our first year today!! Would love to have had a block 4, but hey, that would mean giving up my road trip to Arizona, and ... not gonna happen!!

Seriously friends, we had such a great year.  Was talking to my hubby on the phone tonight (he's travelling on business), and he asked me if I thought it was "worth it" for Alexa. Cause she's the reason I do Young Explorers.

Of course its worth it! And here's why:

Every week she adds a little more confidence to her toolkit because of the icebreakers. For today's icebreaker, each child was given a little "proverb" or saying to talk about, such as "grab the bull by the horns," or "cold fish," or "hasn't got a leg to stand on." 

Every week she is exposed to a classic tale, fable or story and has the opportunity to go deep (well, for a 6 yo!) into the lofty ideas surrounded by a group of peers.  Not just any peers. Peers whose parents have a like-minded philosophy and who are deeply committed to a great education. Not just a good one.  Peers who already, at this young age, are training their brains to dig a little deeper and think. Its socratic discussion, peeps, and while their depth and breadth may be just scratching the surface, they are indeed breaking ground. Today we read The Magic Pomegranate (Jewish Folktale) and came to the conclusion that the most worthy gift is one that you have to give something "up" of yourself to truly give.

Every week Alexa gets to enjoy another poem and has developed a love of poetry! Sure, I could do this in absence of YE, but I get to kill a lot of birds with the one stone that is YE, because we have fallen in love with more poems this year than I know I would have done otherwise.  Today, in the poem The Duel by Eugene Field, we ended up talking about gossip! The poem is so so so so cute though, give it a try.

Most every week, Alexa and all the kids listen to a classic piece of music. We have enjoyed the likes of Grieg, Beethoven, Handel, Brahms, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and all those awesome masters. I say most weeks, because today, we were so busy doing our art project that the music did not get played!

Art? Yes, today was art day! We played with pop art, using Andy Warhol's work as a guide for imitation.  Last week, I snapped a picture of each child's head/shoulders, and after printing them, had them photocopied onto good strong cardstock.  We had about 8 photocopies of EACH child. Then we painted them in unexpected colors and added unexpected details - and collaged them onto black posterboard. It was wacky and it was fun and the kids really enjoyed the experience!

And then .... the very best part? They had cake. Kind of a last day of YE celebration toffee coffee cake.

Young Explorers will be back in the fall ... but not till October because ... did you hear? Sewing Summit is earlier this year - September 19 - 21st.  Oh YEAH. With that, I wish you all wonderful blessings on your homeschooling adventures, wherever they may take you! 

Inchcape Rock, Balloon Racers and Stubborn Husbands - Young Explorers

Good day dear friends! Can you believe we are almost finished block 3 of YE? Only one more day left in this session! Here's a recap of what we did today.

1. Icebreaker
We each thought of a one-word topic, similar to table topics, but in this case you gave your topic to the person on your left.  The topics the kids came up with? Aliens, flowers, pigs, Kate's dirty diaper, toilets (but Maria interpreted that as tulips), dollhouses, and apples. Diverse! Happy to report that most of the kids are making it to the 30 second mark easily, so that's a huge success!

2. Socratic Discussion - Stubborn Husband, Stubborn Wife
This is a cute Persian folktale about a husband and wife who can't stop arguing, and make a wager that whoever speaks first has to feed the calf from now on. The wife goes out for the day while the husband sits on the bench outside, as he usually does (somewhat lazy!). While he's sitting, several people come by - a beggar, a barber, a lady peddling cosmetics, and a thief. The husband thinks each person is really being paid by his wife to make the husband speak first, so he doesn't utter a word to any of these visitors, who then take advantage of him. They think he's a deaf-mute. The guy ends up losing all his food, hair and beard, being mistaken for a woman and given a make-over of sorts, and finally the thief takes all their valuables from inside the house.  Next week we're going to discuss this story in more detail ...

3. Poetry - Robert Southey's Inchcape Rock
This poem is totally cool. It generates discussion on justice and what it is, who doles out justice, is justice always served? This poem is a favorite of my homeschool facilitator. We were discussing the YE program and the poetry aspect at our last meeting. How its important to just let the kids love it (poetry). And so we pick our poems accordingly - poems that capture the kids' attention somehow. Sometimes its funny, other times its the story behind the poem that captivates them. Other times still, its the story in the poem itself. That's the case here! 

There is a famous reef off the coast of Scotland, where sits Bell Rock Lighthouse.  Its called Bell Rock because the Abbot of Aberbrothok installed a bell to warn sailors of the surrounding   shallow and dangerous reef, especially important when the waters surged and hid the rock completely from sight.  In the poem, Ralph the Rover (translation - wicked sailor) cuts off the bell.  Justice is served though, when eventually he himself perishes at the hands of the bell-less rock. This is real Inchcape/Bell Rock, where they've built a lighthouse:

And a short excerpt to get a feel for the rhythm and rhyme:

His eye was on the Inchcape Float;

Quoth he, "My men, put out the boat,

And row me to the Inchcape Rock,

And I'll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

The boat is lower'd, the boatmen row,

And to the Inchcape Rock they go;

Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,

And he cut the bell from the Inchcape Float.

and later in the poem:

Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair,

He curst himself in his despair;

The waves rush in on every side,

The ship is sinking beneath the tide.

Read the entire poem here, on the Bellrock website. And, as always, I use my discretion to sensor out an offensive word here and there :).

4. Composer - Mozart's Sonata in C, (K545).

Wonderful. Who doesn't love Mozart? Did you know he only lived till he was 35? 

5. Art - Andy Warhol

I know I know. 

But he is just so darn interesting!! 

Andy Warhol is considered the father of pop art - a movement that looks at relationships between art, celebrity, and advertising. Makes icons out of icons, and leaves us to think and consider what this says about our culture. I showed the kids various items from a "Pop Art Box" I picked up at a Warhol exhibition. We talked a bit about his life and how he took some of those everyday "American" items, like the Campbells Soup Can, or a famous celebrity image, like Elvis or Marilyn Munro, and basically immortalized them.  He also became one of the first to experiment with mass-producing art - for example he silkscreened Marilyn Munro's public image multiple times, but each with different color representation, and did this in the same month she died. All of this made him highly controversial! I wonder if Van Gogh or Monet would be horrified. Then again, Van Gogh was not appreciated for his painting methodology at the time either, and Monet rocked his world by painting out of doors. Now, let's be clear, I personally cannot equate Warhol with Van Gogh or Monet. I think there is something divinely beautiful in the work of the masters of old, that somehow doesn't equate with pop art. But art is also defined by how we, the viewers, react, and in that respect Warhol is an artist worth studying.

We took headshots of the kids today, because next week we are going to be using them to make our own pop-style images, like Warhol's Marilyns.  

6. Living Science - Balloon Racers

We wrapped up our living science for the year with Newton's third law of motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action.  Balloon racers - balloon-powered cars - rely on this third law, because as the air of the balloon streams out, it pushes the racer forward in the opposite direction.  We used the methods from  E-Science which I absolutely love, but you can make something very similar here.  We used popsicle sticks as our chassis, stiff cardboard for wheels and a clothespin to hold the balloon. Some of them were flying off the table! It was a great hands-on project that the kids really enjoyed.

And that's it that's all folks! Have a great day and swing by again soon.

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!

Reverse Pulleys and Tolstoy in Young Explorers - Block 3 Day 2

1. Icebreaker
I let the kids come up with an icebreaker this morning and this is what they chose: If you were going to a cabin in California, what one item would you bring and what book? One of the kids brought "Tim Horton's," and that child has now become near and dear to my heart haha! One child brought her mom, another brought a DS or other video systems, another brought a suitcase and one boy brought the Toys R Us store. So he could shop for whatever he wanted. As for books, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are alive and well!

2. Oh Canada
Reviewed how to conduct, and then sang and conducted. We are getting good!

3. Poetry - More Roald Dahl
We read the poem Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.   You have to read it! It is so funny, and this is the stanza the kids loved the best (by their extreme laughter):

'That's wrong!' cried Wolf.
'Have you forgot
To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?
Ah well, no matter what you say,
I'm going to eat you anyway.'

The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature's head,
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.

My daughter has been busy making her own versions since yesterday.

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

We are reading this over two days and discussing as we go. This is a short story about a Russian peasant couple who take in and care for a young man, Michael, who has been found shivering and naked on the roadside. They have zilch themselves but give him some clothing and bread, and offer to teach him the trade of shoemaking - he will work in return for shelter and food. He becomes famous - an expert at this trade - and the peasant couple begin to be more well-off. But the couple still do not know his story, for he rarely speaks, laughs or smiles. One day a rich man knocks on the door ... and that is where we left off today. We spoke about doing acts of kindness and everyone agreed the peasant couple did the right thing to take Michael in. However, what is their reward? Is there ALWAYS a reward for the kind things one does? Some said eventually you'd get your reward in heaven. I maintain that their IS a reward, right at the time of doing the act of kindness, but I'm letting them think on that one till next week and we'll discuss it further.

5. Art Picture Study - Emily Carr's Totem Walk, Sitka

Isn't it magnificent? I have this print, framed, from an Emily Carr exhibit I attended in Victoria, BC. Most of the kids were not familiar with this Canadian painter and poet, and we talked a little about Totem Poles and their place in Canadian history. I'm toying with the idea of doing some Emily Carr style art for our art day next week ... 

6. Composer - Debussy's "Goliwog's Cakewalk."

Debussy wrote 6 little themes and put them together to form The Children's Corner. Altogether they are supposed to be reminicent of childhood and the Cakewalk certainly has that flavour. Debussy was a French composer who entered the Paris Conservatory at age 10. Debussy was a contemporary of the Impressionist painters, and took that concept and applied it to music! You can listen to the music and learn more about Debussy here.

7. Living Science - Reverse Mechanism Pulleys

Have you ever searched for a pen and couldn't find one? If so, you are in desperate need of a reverse mechanism pulley system to keep your pen close-by. Like the one my son has in his room, handy to his calendar which is taped on his bedroom door. Pull it down when you need a pen, let go and it springs back up. This is what we constructed in our living science today.

This was another e-science project and is simple and easy to do. Except that we didn't use fishing line, we used a good strong kite string that I think was just too thin because it twisted up.  You don't want to use a thick string because it increases the friction, but the kite string is maybe a bit too flimsy. I guess that is the concept with science is that you aren't always going to get it right on the first try. You have to look at different variables - like the string thickness, the weight of the wingnuts, the weight of the pen. Regardless though, the kids have great plans for these pulley systems. You can attach pulleys to tree houses and haul baskets of treasures up. We are going to be working with pulleys this block in living science, so more fun to come!  

We had a few minutes left at the end of our morning so back to our Tolstoy story.  The kids like to do a little sketching while I read, it keeps their hands busy and their attention focused. 

Have a great week!

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!!