"Artist of the Week" and "Composer of the Week"

"Artist of the Week" and "Composer of the Week" process--- a friend of mine asked about the details of our artist study, so after I typed it out I thought I might as well post it on here too---maybe someone else could benefit?!  We love it. 

Each week (usually) we have 1 "Artist of the Week" and 1 "Composer of the Week".  Here are my really un-fancy; uncomplicated guidelines.  I'm sure anyway you do it, it can be beneficial to your lessons---as long as you do it!

Van Gogh (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia

I really don't do any big deal--- I own a lot of those "Getting to Know the Greatest Artist..." by Mike Venezia and I read half of the book on Monday --generally pages 1-18 and then we look at other books I own of that artist work Tues or Wed (if I have more art books on that artist) or I just show the paintings or artwork a few times during the week--and then I finish up the second half of the book either Thursday or Friday--generally pages 18--32. I try to spread out the artist and the art work throughout the week to get that info into the "long term memory" folders in the brain----silly memory tricks, I know!

Any of these basic biographies give a good general description of the artists life and some of the artists most famous works.  It is great to have another book with more illustrations of their artwork; but that doesn't always happen.

I've been trying to get my daughter to tell me back or write down the main things from the artist.  Like when she was talking about Georgia O'Keefe I made sure she got WHY she painted flowers so big; and WHY that was important...What was Georgia KNOWN for ....

What is Degas KNOWN for....
What is Van Gogh KNOWN for....

I leave out a few books with that artist work around for her to look at during the week---and encourage her to look at these books and she what she likes about this particular artist...or what she doesn't like, if that is the case.  I tell her what I like--specifically too.

just to get the main idea and concepts understood.... but, I don't do any real homework or prep work on my end.  If you don't own art books you could just pick an artist for the week and look them up on the internet and look at the images there--and lots of info is available.  I just like books in my hand.  Or you could check them out from your library. 


The composers---we do the "Meet the Greatest Composers" series:

Meet the Great Composers Book 1 (Learning Link) by June Montgomery and Maurice Hison

We finished book 1, and are about to start book 2:

Meet the Great Composers: Book 2 (Learning Link) by Maurice Hinson

The Composer books are exactly the same--they have all the text right there for you to read; and they have the disc for you to listen to their music, and tell you which tract to play.  I also have a LOT of books on composers and my daughter knows if she wants to find out MORE, all she has to do is go to that section in our family library and read up on that composer.  We (especially, me) love to listen to classical music!!!  It is so interesting to find out the life story behind each musician and listen to their music.


Adding the "Artist of the Week" and "Composer of the Week" to our lessons has definitely taken just about an hour of time to our week---but has made my daughter SOOOO HAPPY!!!  She really, really LOVES that we do this!!!  It is like we are playing a board game in the middle of our lessons!  She really thinks this is "not lessons"; but pure joy and fun!  It really is seen by her as a treat; and helps her attitude greatly!

Sept. 2-6th, 2013 In Between Core E & F

Sept. 2-6th, 2013 
In Between Core E & F

This was an unusual week for more than a few different reasons:

1) I had a migraine, or was working on a migraine each morning that built up during the day until I was miserable each late afternoon and evening.  Wednesday, I had the worst migraine of the year...it was HORRIBLE.

2)We were between Sonlight Cores; we finished Core E and took a break this week before starting on Core F.

3)We had 2 big field trips planned for this week--one with our large homeschool group (HBHE) and one with our small homeschool group (LHE).

4)I had PLANS to really clean and tidy my house for my mother's visit----but, with my headache's and migraines; that did NOT happen.  I didn't even get my yard mowed yet!

Our Field Trips this week:

Wednesday we went to the Indianapolis Zoo



Dolphin Show

I took about 10 pictures, TRYING to get a shot of the dolphins jumping up in the air hitting the red ball with their noses; and my camera is so slow--and awful--that I never could time it right!!!  But, I included a few of my attempts for you all to get a chuckle at my attempts!!!!  At least you can see the splash in this picture.

In this picture, I didn't get the dolphin--again; but you can still see the red ball swinging!

 


 Pet the Sharks

In this tank, we get to touch the sharks with 2 fingers---gently!

 






Aquariums












Fruit Bat Exhibit

Dd's favorite part of the zoo trip was the Dolphin show, petting the sharks, the bird houses, and the bats!





Howler Monkey's

Various Bird Houses

  

This bird landed on me!  How sweet!

Elephants

We hadn't been to our zoo in about 2 years; b/c we had been so often.  Well!  They had really improved and added LOTS of new things!  I was especially happy with the new bird habitats and a Fruit Bat exhibit.  The bird habitats were walk through spaces that were full of birds that flew past, around, and one even landed and stayed on my shoulder for a while!  That was a lovely treat!  We had a great time at the zoo!  I could type for pages.

Thursday we went to the Hunter's Bee Farm--

Here are some of the bees!

 


 


 





 

 

Since we didn't get the tour we were suppose to get; we got to make a bee's wax candle and fill up a honey bee jar with honey instead----I'd rather have had the tour; I bet the tour would have been very interesting.

Dd favorite part of the field trip was making the candle and getting to push the button to get her own jar of honey.

The person who was suppose to give our tour was unable to be there on our tour day---some family emergency; so we had a replacement.  It was suppose to be a real tour and I'm assuming it was suppose to be 'educational'; but unfortunately it really wasn't very educational...in my opinion.  They did show us each step in the process, of how they bring in the wooden boxes and how they separate the Bee Pollen and the Wax and what they do with each part.  Each of us got to make our own candle from a triangle shaped bee's wax sheet and a wick, that we rolled up into a finished candle.  We also got to put an empty plastic honey bear container under a nozzle and push a button that then filled the little jar up with honey for us to take home with us.  We also got to pick out 2 honey sticks from their many different flavored honey stick assortments that were for sale in their gift shop.  They sell lots of honey, make lots of bees wax candles, some deodorants and lotions with the bees wax---okay, I shouldn't start naming what all they make b/c they have a whole store full of all their products!!!  candy, lollipops, .......

Here are our lessons for this week:

 Bible:

Who Is My Neighbor? (And Why Does He Need Me?) -- Biblical Worldview of Servanthood (What We Believe, Volume 3... by John Hay and David Webb

Apologia: Who Is My Neighbor: (What We Believe Series) pg. 230-237

Case for Christ for Kids (Case for... Series for Kids) by Lee Strobel, Rob Suggs and Robert Elmer

The Case for Christ for Kids by Lee Strobel pg. 1-42

The Elements:
The Elements: Continuing on with our latest obsession--The Elements!  The University of Nottingham has a website with the "Periodic Table of Video's" and we watch some of these each day.  This week we watched:

Tc-Technetium
Ru-Ruthenium
Rh-Rhodium
Pd-Palladium
Ag-Silver

http://www.periodicvideos.com/

Foreign Language:

Rosetta Stone French Level 1-5 Set by Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone-French

3x this week= 30-45 minutes....good week!

Math:

Math-U-See Epsilon Teacher Kit (Complete Kit) by Steven P. Demme

Math U See: Epsilon: WE FINISHED EPSILON!

Lesson 30 A, B, C, D, E, F, A1

We started Nov.12, 2012--Sept.6, 2013!!! 10 months! 

Mind you we do every single page, and also print out extra pages from the online "worksheet generator" at Math U See's website whenever we have a lesson that is particularly difficult and we need to work on it longer than 1 week. 

Audio:

The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3) Publisher: Listening Library (Audio); Unabridged edition... by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson series; book 3: The Titan's Curse -in process

Reader:

Little House on the Prairie (Little House, No 2) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingles Wilder--in process

Art:

Sand Art--a Cross--it looks like a stained glass cross.

Sewing- Dd sewed up some of Dh's clothes!

Beading: 2 necklaces and 1 bracelet---really, really nice...hint, I am wearing one now!

Walks:

Only one walk this week; and it wasn't with pitiful me!  I was out of commission this week; with the exception of the 'Have To's' which consisted of the field trips; so Dh took Dd and dog, Sophie for a walk this week.  I'm hoping next week I'll be feeling better and be able to take them both for walks again in the mornings.

Fun book:

The Kingdom of Fantasy (Geronimo Stilton) by Geronimo Stilton

Geronimo Stilton: The Kingdom of Fantasy-finished







Prizes:
With the completion of math--Epsilon, and completion of Core E, Dd got 3 prizes the past 2 weeks: here are her prizes:



Core E Prizes:
1) LEGO The Lord of the Rings Hobbit Shelob Attacks   




2)  LEGO The Hobbit Escape from Mirkwood Spiders



Math Prize:

LEGO LOTR 79006 The Council of Elrond 


.

August 26-30th, 2013 Core E, Week 36

August 26-30th, 2013  

Core E, 

Week 36

We completed Core E this week!  It took us 55 weeks to do it at our own pace, without rushing, but we did it!  It's funny what a great sense of accomplishment we feel when we finish a core.  We worked so hard, read so many books, and learned so much during this core.

Our lessons for this week:

Bible:

We have already finished SL's Bible requirements; so we are still working on the third Apologia bible book; and enjoying it as much as the previous two.
Apologia: Who Is My Neighbor: pg: 204-230

Math:

MathUSee:Epsilon: 29 A,B,C,D,E,F

Skip Counting Family: 9's

Language Arts:

All About Spelling 5

Step 9- passed

Step 10-passed

Step 11- in process

Grammar Ace:

Lesson 15 & 16

Roots of English:

20, 21, 22, 23  (one page per day)

IEW's Fix-It:

Week 22: one paragraph per day, 4 paragraphs plus definitions

First Language Lessons:

Lesson 74

Rosetta Stone: French 1-2 times

Brain Pop daily, Brain Pop, Jr. on Mondays, Brain Pop UK

READERS:

What Katy Did (Puffin Classics) by Susan Coolidge and Cathy Cassidy

 

Reader 1: completed:

What Katy Did by Susan Coolridge

Reader 2: completed:

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House In the Big Woods by Laura Ingles Wilder

Audio: completed:

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2) by Rick Riordan

In Search of the Source

Read Aloud: completed:

In Search of the Source by Neil Anderson

My Dd said this book really brought her closer to the Lord!  I really loved to hear that.  I can't remember all her exact words; but it was very wonderful to hear how this book really touched her heart and her spirit.  This book is a definiate high recommend for that reason alone!!  Don't miss this book.  The process of teaching Papa New Guinea people about the Lord also re-teaches our children in a different way; through their eyes---highly demonstrative and touching.

History:

The Story of the U.S.A. (Modern America, Book 4) by Franklin Escher Jr.

The Story of the USA, Book 4- completed

We read the last 3 chapters of this book and finished the series!

The Landmark History of the American People, Vol. 2: From Appomattox to the Moon, Revised and Updated Edition by Daniel J. Boorstin and Ruth F. Boorstin

Landmark History of the American People, Vol. 2-completed

last chapter!

American Tall Tales (Puffin Books) by Adrien Stoutenberg and Richard M. Powers

American Tall Tales-completed

Steelmaker Joe Magarac

Meet the Great Composers Book 1 (Learning Link) by June Montgomery and Maurice Hison

COMPOSERS:

First Composer of the Week:

Bela Bartok

Meet the Great Composers

Second Composer of the Week:

Dmitri Kabalevsky

Meet the Great Composers

Artist of the Week:

Georgia O'Keefe

The Life of an Artist by Ray Spangenburg

Georgia O'Keeffe: The Life of an Artist (Artist Biographies) by Ray Spangenburg

and various other books I own

One Hundred Flowers by Georgia O'Keeffe 

 

Notebook-Dd wrote 5 sentences about O'Keefe in her notebook.

The Elements:

Continuing on with our latest obsession--The Elements!  The University of Nottingham has a website with the "Periodic Table of Video's" and we watch some of these each day.  This week we watched:
Zr-Zirconium
Ho-Holmium
Nb-Niobium
Mo-Molybdenum
Tb-Terbium
Gd-Gadolinium
Dy-Dysprosium

Our library is letting us borrow this fantastic book:

The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore Gray

Walks:

Each day this week- except Thursday- we went for our morning walk with our dog, Sophie.  We have been enjoying having the whole neighborhood to ourselves, as our town adopted a new policy where the public schools sent the students back to school in July.  Our dog might be the happiest about all the walks!