The Playroom is STILL a Mess, But...

The playroom is STILL a mess, but the children don't mind. We're schooling at the dining room table, until I can pull my energy together to finish the cleaning I started.

Last term, I must confess that Beethoven and Renoir took a back seat to our other studies. Even Grace mentioned that we didn't do much on Renoir. This term, I'm determined to be less relaxed, so every Tuesday we will be incorporating something Claude Monet, and every Thursday will incorporate something on Puccini. Today we played our newly created Claude Monet Bingo using Dover Publication's sticker books for Monet. The children really like playing Bingo, and this was an easy way of introducing the names of paintings.

Besides the nailing of shapes, this peg board with various card designs to follow has been a large hit. Here's Jack working on an arrow that took him a good 15 minutes to follow and put together.

Stepping it up a knotch has gone smoothly. About an extra 1/2 hour has been added to our school time. I have inserted the Montessori activities inbetween the Charlotte Mason assignments, which is just enough break between CM activities to keep the children moving forward and interested.

Reflecting On Beethoven

This morning as Grace listened to a little Beethoven while working on her math, she said to me, "Mom? Do you know what I would do if Beethoven was still alive? I would ask him if I could help him."

I joked with her that maybe she would need to learn sign language since Beethoven went deaf.

She started working again on her math and off the cuff said, "I wish he were still alive. I miss him. Do you miss him Mom?"

Why Did He Lose His Earring?

Today, I read Grace and Jack our first book on the life of Beethoven. This was basically, my own crash course in Beethoven as well. The book went indepth into the gradual loss of Beethoven's hearing. Jack, who had been bouncing around the green room, was then suddenly interested, and asked "Why did he lose his earring?".

The kids were amused and confused with the thought of losing one's hearing. We all plugged our ears as good as we could and listened to how muffled everything sounded. I'm not sure the message got through to Jack, as he was still concerned about Beethoven's lost earring.

Bring Out The Tuning Forks

Not ever being a band student myself, I have just a few outstanding memories from music classes in elementary school. One of these, centered around the fascination of tuning forks. So, in looking for a hands on activity to go with Beethoven, I purchased a set.

The children have had their eyes and ears on these tuning forks ever since they came in the mail 10 days ago. I wet Grace's appetite a few days ago during room preparations by opening the box and letting her hear the sound, but not allowing her to experience feeling the sound of the forks. Needless to say, this was what she made a bee line for when we opened the Kindergarten doors today.

Jack also enjoyed trying these out. His face was hysterical when you'd place the fork by his ears. The vibrations from the fork would make him do a little shudder.
After the children become accustom to using the forks properly, we'll move forward with additional activities, like sound matching with a fork and glass of water.

Who Can Wait?

Ok...we cheated. I don't know what it is with composers, none of us can leave a CD wrapped in its cellophane with a week more to go. So the house has been booming with the sounds of Beethoven over the last few days.

The boxed set is really overwhelming to a novice. I recognize many of the symphonies, but not the numbers or the names. There is just so much to choose from. Only two CDs have been brought out, and it is enough to last an entire term.

Beethoven and Gershwin are clearly the top two out of the three composers we've had this year. And we've discovered, that while Grace has an appreciation and erie sensitivity to the tone of music, Jack is our born music fanatic...it is almost mathematical to him.

Ever since we introduced music for naps and bedtime (he was still quite young) he has fallen asleep to many of the classics. Now his appreciation for the music he is so familiar with, is beginning to show. Jack will play the first 10 seconds of a song, over and over again until he decides to allow the music to move on. Every measure is analyzed, and seems to fill him up. He will sometimes run the 10 second byte and watch for your reaction, all the while trying to hide the smile and satisfaction that is filling him up as he hears the sound byte again. It is a sight that makes you laugh every time.

An Early Start

Our introduction to Tchaikovsky started ahead of schedule as I tried some of our library materials on for size. The audio adaptation of Tchaikovsky Discovers America was a big hit for background entertainment during our breakfasts and lunches.

Who's Who?

We are learning to distinguish that Tchaikovsky was a creator of music while Degas created art. Grace is working on recognizing this distinction. Our philharmonic CD has arrived and we tried it out over dinner. Very nice!