Geography

Salient?

Salients and Peninsulas – We are a fifth of the way through our “Where is That?” states-in-the-USA activity, and my son is learning more than just the location of the states. Two nights ago we learned about salients – and SURPRISE, we have lived in three of nine salient states: Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, West Virginia, Connecticut, Idaho, Nebraska, Maryland, and Alaska. We learned that SALIENT is the correct geographical term for a PANHANDLE (side learning excursion – I had to show my son a real pan handle). We learned that a panhandle is surrounded by land, and a peninsula (where Big Peaches – star grandmother – lives) is surrounded by water. We also considered the customary definition of salient (meaning “most important”, “most noticeable”) (vocab). And my son also learned that panhandling (vocab) has nothing to do with pans or geography.

Story Problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner – speaking of panhandles, the diner management team decided it is time to replace all frying pans. The chefs are delighted! 8 small-sized skillets are to be ordered at a cost of $25 each, and 8 larger fry pans are to be ordered at a cost of $75 each. How much will the diner spend for shipping (if shipping is 15% of the total order)?
A. $25 B. $80 C. $120 D. $200 (answer at bottom of post)

History is coming alive – Yay! Candace Fleming’s “Presenting Buffalo Bill – The Man who Invented the Wild West” has us on the edge of our seats. We are currently reading about Will Cody’s pre-teen years in the Kansas territory, where his family was caught in the territory’s “slavery/no slavery” struggle (a shameful blot on the pages of American history – teams of pro-slavery thugs from Missouri terrorized homesteaders who did not want Kansas to be a slavery state). As Will’s father was an object of death threats from the pro-slavery faction, and was often out of state, in hiding, a very young Will Cody had to provide the primary financial support for his large family. Working for a shipping company that delivered goods to military posts in Colorado and Utah, Will had his full share of wild west adventures (stampedes, shoot-outs, starvation). What’s going to happen next???

Roy Lichtenstein – two take-aways from Susan Goldman Rubin’s excellent book, “Whaam! The Art and Life of Roy Lichtenstein”:

1) What is a win-win situation? How about when a corporation commissions (vocab) artwork that will be accessible to the general public? We love Lichtenstein’s sculpture, “Tokyo Brushstroke II” commissioned by an architectural firm in Japan, and the crazy-gigantic-five-stories high mural, “Blue Brushstroke” commissioned by The Equitable Life Assurance Society in Manhattan. The win-win?
– thousands and thousands and thousands of people get to enjoy the artwork
– excellent PR (vocab) for the corporation
– the artist gets paid!
2) We are never too old to try something new: Roy Lichtenstein learned to play the saxophone in his mid 60’s! OF COURSE, we were enthusiastic about devoting an evening to a sampling of saxophone sounds:

Harlem Nocturne, composed by Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers in 1939, played to perfection by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The saxophone brings the sultry:

The Pink Panther Theme, composed by Henri Mancini in 1963. This is OLD footage, with Henry Mancini conducting. The saxophone brings the relentlessly sneaky:

The Prologue to West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein for the 1957 Broadway production. The saxophone doesn’t take center stage in this piece, but does set the tone for a collage of NYC sounds and rhythms:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answer: C. $120)

It’s All Fun!

roy-whaam

Giant Cartoon Art – We are currently reading through “Whaam! The Art & Life of Roy Lichtenstein” by Susan Goldman Rubin. This book is filled with examples of his pop art of the 1960’s that both shocked (“this is art?????”) and rocked a generation. Each of Lichtenstein’s paintings was inspired by published comic book drawings of others, and I like that the author addressed the issue of copyright. My son likes looking at photographs of Lichtenstein’s art on display, with people standing near the paintings, so he can get an idea of exactly how large the paintings are.

bill-polka-dots

Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show – Hot off the press! Candace Fleming’s “Presenting Buffalo Bill – The Man who Invented the Wild West” was just published in 2016. We are only a few nights into this book and we are loving every minute. Oh my! Buffalo Bill – what a man with BIG vision and what a risk (vocab) taker! This book is part of our Native North American unit – we are impressed with the author’s excellent research and sensitivity regarding Lakota tribe members who were part of the Wild West Show (and this has provoked a short side study of the Lakota tribe).

Game ON – the other night, my son grabbed a pen, and I knew he wanted to communicate something – so I supported his wrist and here is what he wrote, “I want to play hangman.”!!!! Really? Well, OK! We have been playing hangman about 2 times a week for a month or two, but I had no idea he was liking this spelling game. I am relieved that his handwriting has improved to the point that I can read it. Huge communication progress!

50 Days of Fun! I am stretching the definition of “fun”, but this is sort of diverting: we have started playing, “WHERE IS THAT?”. I place a blank map of the USA on the desk and I ask my son to ink a dot in the middle of a particular state. After he finds the correct state, we (hand-over-hand) color it in. Could this be a gateway activity – first the USA, then maybe the countries of South America? Then WHO KNOWS???

And if that weren’t enough – I have added a new resource tab (look on title block) – “The Bookshelf”. This is where I will keep a running list of the books that have worked particularly well for my son and me.

Box Lunches at Le Fictitious Local Diner – Everyone knows that box lunches (vocab concept) are by definition FUN! And here is a twist: the Local Diner’s box lunches are vegetarian, and include a bottle of kombucha that comes with it’s own teeny paper parasol. FUN! The lunches are apparently delicious, and the response has been enthusiastic: during the first week 30 boxes were sold on Monday, 20 on Tuesday, 40 on Wednesday, 10 on Thursday, 40 on Friday, and 20 on Saturday! Each box sells for $9. If it costs the diner $4 to put the box together (including the box and the napkins, etc), what was the diner’s profit for the first week?
A. $800 B. $160 C. $1,440 D. $60 (answer at bottom of post)

Music – It was time to learn more about the SNARE DRUM – Yay percussion instruments!

snare-drum

First, we needed to see how the snare drum was constructed. We learned that a band of narrow wires stretched across the bottom of the drum gives it that muffled rattly sound. We listened for the snare drum in:

– Blue Tango, composed by LeRoy Anderson in 1951, and was ranked by Billboard as the number one song of 1952! Sassy.

– Scotland the Brave – this pipe and drum corps classic is considered to be one of three unofficial national anthems of Scotland. BTW, in Scotland, the snare drum is called a side drum. BTW, we are the sort of people that really like the music of bagpipes. This footage is just so great:

– Bolero, composed by Maurice Ravel, as a one-movement orchestral piece for ballet, in 1929. From everything we have read – and can readily believe – playing the snare drum in this piece is a musician’s nightmare. Seventeen-plus minutes of the same rhythm over and over and over and over. But what a fine, fine performance by the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted so carefully by Gustavo Dudamel:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(Story problem answer: A. $800)

Old Business

An old name is a new name – How did this bit of news pass us by? My son and I just learned that the citizens of Barrow, Alaska voted this past October to change the city’s name back to its ancient traditional name, Utqiagvik! (Doesn’t everybody know that we love knowing stuff like this?) The town has been called Utqiagvik – meaning “place for gathering wild roots” – for the past 1,500 years but has been officially “Barrow” since 1825. Apparently, the governor of Alaska has until mid-December to rule on the name change. Will the governor want to mess with the decision of the people in America’s northern-most city? We are standing by!

Animals of yesteryear – our current course of study: “Lost Animals – Extinction and the Photographic Record”, by Errol Fuller. Fuller’s research is thorough and each chapter follows a particular species from it’s heyday to its regrettable demise (mostly there are a LOT of bird species that are no longer with us) (and we really wish color photography had been around before the pink headed duck of the Ganges River became extinct). Last night we read about the thylacine – a species that was in existence when my son’s grandparents were children. The stories captivate, stay with us, and I think make us more aware and maybe worried for the distant future of every healthy animal we see.

Well, here is an OLDIE – we are enjoying “Understood Betsy” written by Dorothy Canfield Fisher 1917. This classic shows up on many recommended reading lists, and I was finally persuaded to give it a try after reading a mini-bio of Ms. Fisher on the always informative “Focus on Fraternity” blog (franbecque.com). Happy surprise! This book presents a wealth of information about how things were 100 years ago, there is a dash of adventure, and a pervasive advocacy of self sufficiency which should put this book on a required reading list for parents and teachers.

Story problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner – The diner is bringing back an old tradition for the month of December: cloth napkins. They are going to see if it is more economical to rent cloth napkins or to purchase napkins and have them laundered by a service. The diner goes through 200 napkins daily. Cloth napkins rental price: 200 napkins for $25. The laundry service charges $10 to wash and press 200 napkins, but the diner would have to purchase two days worth of napkins first (at a cost of $3 per unit). If the diner decides to use cloth napkins for December, should they rent or own/pay for a laundry service? What is the least they can spend for this festive endeavor? (answers at bottom of post)

The music theme this past week: PARODIES (vocab) – When I was in 5th grade, my friend Pam received the best-record-album-ever at her birthday party: Allan Sherman’s “My Son the Nut”. I absolutely collapsed in laughter just looking at the album cover (Mr. Sherman, up to his neck in assorted nuts); I did not believe that anything could be more screamingly hilarious (hey folks, this was the early 1960’s – simpler expectations). On top of a great album cover, THE CLEVER PARODIES! What fun, some 45 years later, to share this listening experience with my son.

This past week, we matched up a few songs from “My Son the Nut” with the classical compositions from which they were inspired:

“Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah”: the lyrics were written to a theme from Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” (1876). “Dance of the Hours” was also used in Disney’s “Fantasia” of 1940.

“Hungarian Goulash No. 5”: the lyrics were written to Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5” (1869). Gustavo Dudamel conducts in this video – and you know how I feel about Mr. Dudamel. MERCY.

“Here’s to the Crabgrass”: the lyrics were written to Percy Grainger’s “Country Gardens” (1918). This performance by the Hastings College Wind Ensemble really scoots along.

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(Story problem answers: the diner should definitely rent the napkins, renting will run $775. Purchasing napkins and paying a laundry service will cost almost twice as much.)

Quandary

Here is the quandary (vocab): I do not like reading to my son about man’s inhumanity to man; he has enough to deal with without trying to grasp the perplexing notion of cruelty. HOWEVER, the “Wicked History” series books are so well written, organized, researched, and crazy fascinating – we can’t stay away.

We just finished the book on BAD BAD King Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909); and he was indefensibly bad – Hitler and Stalin BAD. There were passages in the book describing atrocities under his leadership of the “Congo Free State” (his PERSONAL colony) so barbaric, that while reading aloud to my son, I had to skip over paragraph after paragraph.
On the plus side:
– we learned a LOT about what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo and came away fascinated
– we added to our hero list: George Washington Williams (a journalist), Edmund Morel (a most alert shipping clerk) and Roger Casement (a British consul). These men brought the brutal policies of Congo Free State administrators to world wide attention and censure (vocab)
– AND Leopold II died with just about everyone (well, maybe everyone) despising him. (ridiculously small consolation)

from “The Wonder Garden” book by Williams and Broom – stunning

The subject matter gets a LOT happier, but DRAT: we just hate it when a good book ends. We loved EVERY page of “The Wonder Garden” by Kristjana S. Williams and Jenny Broom; luscious illustrations accompanied by solidly interesting facts. This startlingly beautiful book showcases animals of five distinct habitats around the world. We were familiar with the Amazon Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, but we really hadn’t read anything about the Black Forest, the Chihuahuan Dessert or the Himalayan Mountains. This delicious book is SO on our “read-it-again list”.

Last night my son took a simple matching location-to-fact quiz and then we paired up one piece of music with each habitat.

Music to remind us of five living wonders of our world:
– The Amazon Rain Forest – hosting around 1,500 species of birds, Camille Saint-Saens’ “The Aviary” (from his “Carnival of the Animals”, 1886) was an obvious selection. The music is prefaced by an Ogden Nash poem read by Roger Moore. Elegant:

– The Great Barrier Reef – again, from Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals”: “The Aquarium”. Gloriously haunting music provides a backdrop for the world’s largest living structure (however, as beautiful as this linked video is, “The Aquarium” takes up only the first 2.5 minutes; the carnival’s donkey and the cuckoo movements follow, for some unknown reason):

– The Black Forest – the habitat for not only the world’s largest owls, but also the setting for several fairy tales from the brothers Grimm. My son and I listened to “Evening Prayer” from the opera “Hansel and Gretel”, composed by Englebert Humperdinck in 1893. We twiddled our fingers during the three minute LONG introduction; however once we got to the meat of the composition we enjoyed possibly the most comforting lullaby ever:

SIDEBAR: another Englebert Humperdinck??? – we followed Humperdinck’s “Evening Prayer” with a short discussion of British pop star (of the ’60’s and ’70’s) Englebert Humperdinck (but really Arnold George Dorsey) (obviously NO relation to the composer of the late 1800’s). My UCLA college room-mate, J’nette, warbled a mocking version of Humperdinck’s giant hit “Release Me” throughout our undergrad years, so I made my unappreciative son endure a trip down memory lane:

– The Chihuahuan Desert – Well, first of all, we had no idea where the Chihuahuan Desert was (southern parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and northern parts of Mexico) and we are practically living in it! We felt the second movement (the “Largo” movement) of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” evoked the loneliness, uncertainty, and the grandeur of this habitat:

– and finally, The Himalayan Mountains – we paired “the rooftop of the world” with “Approaching the Summit” composed by genius genius genius John Williams for the 1997 movie “Seven Years in Tibet”. We could hear how this music captures themes – majestic and mysterious – from both sides of the Himalayan Mountains (India and China):

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(The story problems from this week seemed painfully frivolous after reading about the human suffering provoked by King Leopold II. I just couldn’t post any of them.)

Club Gustav

And so it begins: a few nights ago, my son and I started reading, “The Eiffel Tower – Gustave Eiffel’s Spectacular Idea” by Cooper/Bock. Hmmm; the book’s facts differ slightly (actually markedly) from what the Wikipedia entry has to say about the tower and who’s idea it was. Regardless, I knew we would be interested in the construction of the Eiffel Tower – all of those triangles – and the fact is, Gustave Eiffel was a brilliant, innovative, experienced architect and engineer. We also looked at some of his bridges, and his structural plan for supporting the inside of the Statue of Liberty.

Meanwhile, it occurred to me that we had never listened to anything by Gustav Mahler, so I started listening to a LOT of Mahler (a LOT because each and every piece is SO long), selecting compositions to share with my son. And all of a sudden, I thought: we have two “Gustavs” already, why not have this week be all about spotlighting noteworthy “Gustavs”? So we added:

the art work of Gustav Klimt – we admired 12 of his landscapes (via a large calendar). We couldn’t stop looking at “Forest of Birch Trees” and “Island in the Attersee” (both 1902). We also spent time looking at every detail of his most well known painting, the shimmering richly patterned, gold-leafed “The Kiss” (1907).
a review of the music of Gustav Holst, a composer we are familiar with. We listened to a few movements from “The Planets”, his Morris Dance Tunes, and the march from his “First Suite in E flat for Military Band” (we like listening for the monarch reviewing the troops).
then, HOLY CATS, a short study of Gustave the Crocodile of Burundi (we located teeny Burundi on the globe). Oh, this is so sad: according to Wikipedia, “The World Happiness Report 2016 Update ranked Burundi as the world’s least happy nation”. Well, I am sure Gustave is not helping. So far, this 60 year old, 25 foot-long, bullet-proof baddest croc of them all, has killed 300 people. He is THE WORST. He is INFAMOUS (vocab word of the night).

Our music theme last night: what else? Gustav, Gustav, Gustave and Gustavo –

Mahler, Dudamel, and Holst

we listened to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, movement III, composed about 1890. There are a lot of moods and themes in this 10 minute movement – lush harmonies, frenetic rhythms, the lure of the exotic melody, and do we hear birdsong? Conducted by the sizzling Gustavo Dudamel:

we can hear Gustav Holst’s messenger god flitting willy-nilly all over the universe. We have probably listened to the “Mercury” movement from The Planets (composed in 1916) about 45 times. It just doesn’t get old.

and for Gustave the Crocodile we listened to, “Never Smile at a Crocodile” from Disney’s 1953 movie “Peter Pan”. Music by Frank Churchill, words by Jack Lawrence. What’s not to like?

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH

Miners and Minors

Homonyms, homographs, and homophones: the craziness of the English language! Miners and Minors. Wail, Wale, and Whale. Watch (look) and Watch (timepiece). Bark (dog talk) and Bark (on the tree). Homonyms are the life of the party at our language arts gatherings. My son and I had a great time going through a long list of these words last night, and it all started with “miners”.

The 49ers were miners: a few nights ago we completed our second book about the California Gold Rush of 1849. We are still thinking about –

how would we have traveled to California from the east coast; all choices were dreadful. Would we have taken a ship around the tip of South America (hideous seasickness/horrible food)? Would we have taken a ship, disembarked (vocab) in Panama, hiked the 60 miles through the jungle (bugs and disease) and hoped we were able to find a ship to take us the rest of the way? Would we have traveled over land in a covered wagon (we learned that the most dangerous part of covered wagon travel was the CROSSING OF RIVERS. We would not have guessed that.)?
PAY DIRT – this is what happy prospector’s called finding gold dust in their pan of dirt.
those who profited the most for the gold rush: the store owners who sold supplies to the miners, Levi Strauss and his jeans, the Wells and Fargo mail delivery service, and women who cooked, washed, and mended the miners’ clothing.

Hangtown Fry on the menu at Le Fictitious Local Diner (story problem): One of the diner’s cook’s kids was studying about the California Gold Rush, so the cook put a traditional 49er feast on the menu: Hangtown Fry, which he decided to serve with a side of sourdough bread. Hangtown Fry is an omelette (vocab) made of eggs, oysters, and bacon. The meal has been so popular that the chef has had to bake 10 loaves of sourdough every day. If one loaf provides 12 slices of bread, and each Hangtown Fry order comes with 2 slices of bread, how many orders does the diner sell in a week? (answer at bottom of post)

Rounding out our homonym theme, in music: After learning about the gold rush MINERS, we listened to three classical compositions in MINOR keys (in this case, each in the key of B minor). We talked about the difference in sound between a major and minor key, we talked about why each of the chosen pieces needed to be written in a minor key, and then we sat back and enjoyed:

The Hebrides Overture, composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1830 – the minor key essential for evoking the mystery and might of nature. Wonderfully conducted by the etherial Nathalie Stutzman in this video:

In the Hall of the Mountain King, from the incidental music Edvard Grieg composed in 1876 for Henrik Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt. Furtive (vocab), stealthy (vocab), secretive and aggressive – brought to us only by the minor key:

Ride of the Valkyries, from Richard Wagner’s opera, The Valkyrie, which premiered in 1870. The minor key brands the women warriors as fierce and relentless in their duties:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane BH
(story problem answer: 420 orders)

Bee Plus!

Let’s pretend that you need to brush up on your knowledge of bees. May we suggest, “The Life and Times of the Honeybee” by Charles Micucci? This sort of looks like a little kids book, but every single page intrigues with surprising information – my son and I were amazed to learn that a colony of 10,000 to 60,000 bees includes only 100 male bees (the drones)…Those worker bees flitting about in gardens? The bees that sting you? The bees that make the honey? ALL female. So my son and I worked the ratios – if there are 100 males and 10,000 in the colony, the ratio of male to female is 1:100. If there are 100 males and 60,000 in the colony, the ratio is 1:600. (This ratio reminded me of the Jan and Dean hit of 1963, “Surf City” – which starts out “Two Girls for Every Boy” – so I forced my son to view a video of Jan and Dean on The Steve Allen Show. I don’t think I can get him to watch this again.)

But back to “The Life and Times of the Honeybee” – we give this bee book an A!

Blood, blood, and more blood (gross overstatement) – Just last night we were reading through “The Usborne Complete Book of the Microscope”, learning the difference between optical (vocab) and electron (vocab) microscopes. Well! This morning at a doctor’s appointment, we saw a sample of my son’s blood through the mechanism of an electron microscope! Perfect timing! The computer screen view was fascinating – from a pinprick of of blood on the glass slide, the jillions of red blood cells were so easy to see. Fabulous technology.

The Hand Thump of Appreciation – Sometimes when I read to my son and I think he is dozing off, I consider stopping for the night – and then the HAND THUMP OF APPRECIATION happens. Just as I am about to shut the book, my son’s hand comes crashing down on the page of the book, inferring VEHEMENTLY, “this is cool. KEEP READING”. This happened last night – we were reading the multi-award winning “Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library” by Chris Grabenstein (a group of 12 lucky kids win the opportunity to spend the night in eccentric Mr. Lemoncello’s brand new city library). Apparently my son is really enjoying the book! YES. Happy day.

Story Problem Alert! Farmer Brown raises bees! Of course he does. This past week Farmer Brown purchased new beekeeper outfits for two of his ranch hands. A complete suit costs $109. One of the ranch workers needs the 4XL size, which runs and additional $25. Farmer Brown decided to buy an additional veiled helmet for just in case. The helmet costs $24 and the veil $20. How much will Farmer Brown spend on the new protective wear? (We are not adding in tax or shipping.) (Answer A at bottom of post). If Farmer Brown sells a pint of honey for $5, how many pint jars will he need to sell to pay for the new beekeeper outfits? (Answer B at bottom of post)

A soundtrack for worker bees – Our picks:

“Moto Perpetuo” composed by violin virtuoso, Niccolo Paganini, in 1835. This is an exhausting piece to play and reminds us of the field bee’s exhausting day – about 10 journeys a day to collect nectar and pollen, with each trip lasting about an hour.

“The Pizzicato”, from Leo Delibes’ ballet “Sylvia” (1876). We learned that the bee’s most important contribution is not the honey, but the service of pollination. We can easily envision a bee delicately darting from flower to flower, pollinating away to the rhythm of this piece.

And of course, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee”, written for his opera “Tsar Saltan” in 1899. Well, this is perhaps too obvious a choice, but it is a tiny jewel of a masterpiece, and it belongs here. We like this performance by the London Cello Orchestra, boasting the largest number of cellos that we have ever seen together.

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
A. $287
B. 58 jars

Riveting!

Our current history unit is riveting – or more precisely, it’s about rivets. We are reading about the blue jeans empire of Levi Strauss & Company, (“Images of America – Levi Strauss & Co.” by historian Lynn Downey). We’ve learned that Levi Strauss, of San Francisco, teamed with tailor, Jacob Davis, in 1873 to manufacture an extra-hard-wearing work pant – the key to their immense success was their patented rivets-on-the-corners-of-the-pockets design. But this unit is giving us an opportunity to learn more than just about the jeans: we’ve talked about why Levi Strauss was said to have haled from Bavaria (not Germany) (actually we learned about this from our previous study on Otto von Bismarck), we’ve learned about the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906, we’ve learned what “dry goods” are, we’ve looked at print advertising of the early 1900’s AND we’ve learned about rivets. Another great study unit!

TRAVEL BARGAIN! 13,000 extra miles for $4.00! I often purchase our books via the “used book associate sellers” on Amazon. (It is amazing how many books I have purchased for 1 penny, plus shipping.) I usually look to see where the seller is located so I can gauge how long it might take to receive the book. Last week I ordered a series of “Tom Gates” books from what I thought was a seller in Indiana. What a surprise to find out that I ordered the series from a seller in INDIA!!! Crazily, the shipping cost for 7 books was a mere $4.00 and I received the order within a week. A+ on all levels! Before we cracked open the first book, we got out the globe, located both Indiana and India, had a small laugh over the 13,000 mile distance, then we traced the route the books may have taken from India to reach us in Texas.

A mintylicious story problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner – the diner has plans to serve up after-dinner mints with the check at the end of every meal. The question is, which mints? The busboys are voting for “Andes Mints” (primarily because one of the busboys is named “Andy”, and wouldn’t that be a riot?). The waitresses think “After Eight” mints are much classier. The diner’s accountant told the staff that it is the thought that counts and strongly suggested they purchase the most cost efficient (cheapest) (vocab) mint. So:
After Eight Mints – each box contains 25 mints. A package of 6 boxes sells for $22.
Andes Mints – 5 pounds of Andes Mints can be purchased for $34. There are 70 mints in each pound.

A. How much does a single mint of each type cost (we learned about “rounding up”)?
B. The diner is going with the least expensive mint. If 700 hundred dinners are served per week, and each will conclude with a mint, how much will the diner be spending on mints per month? (we are not including tax or shipping costs)(answers at bottom of post)

“The Lute Player” by Caravaggio, with sheet music by Jacques Arcadelt. Whoa.

Three Hymns from One – As I have mentioned previously, my son and I listen to music of an ecclesiastical nature on Sunday nights. This past Sunday night we followed the path of a hymn written in the mid-1500s by Jacques Arcadelt.

First, Arcadelt’s “Ave Maria“. We are not sure who is singing here, but the acoustics of the Joy Burns Plaza are insanely effective. A LOT of sound from 4 vocalists:

Next, the finale to Camille Saint-Saens’ “Symphony No. 3 in C minor” (the “Organ Symphony”), composed in 1886. Of this symphony, Saint-Saens wrote “I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again.” Doesn’t this make you desperate to have a listen? Of course, we sort of always like to hear any piece played on a gigantic pipe organ. We clearly hear Arcadelt’s hymn in this piece:

Finally, we listened to Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia Hymn”, a small part of his 9-minute “Finlandia” composition. Again, we hear the influence of Arcadelt’s “Ave Maria”. “Finlandia” was written in 1899, and words to the hymn portion in 1941. My son and I are suckers for flashmobs – a train station in Finland is the setting for this wonderful event:

We also wanted to hear the entire “Finlandia” composition. This recording came from the opening performance of the new music hall in Helsinki, 2011. The hymn starts about 5 minutes 30 seconds into the piece (alert: the piece is rather menacing in the beginning – the message is clearly “Don’t Mess with Finland”). Stirring:

Welcome to the best part of my day.
– Jane BH
Story problem answers:
A. each Andes mint costs approximately 10 cents, each After Eight mint costs approximately 15 cents
B. $272

Tick, Tick, Tick

There has been a rather large time gap since my last post – I was doing the single-parenting thing last week (subsequently couldn’t summon up energy to write) while my husband visited his sweet mom in CA. But he is back, so I am back. Here is what my son and I have been learning about –

Bison! Our primary take-away from this mini-mini-study was acknowledging that what we have in the United States are bison NOT buffalo (such a bummer for the “Home on the Range” song). We would like to know more about bison – regrettably, our book, though chock full of excellent photographs, was not chock full of information. I will be on the lookout for a more fact filled resource.

– Bison to the left, Buffalo to the right –

Otto von Bismarck: very strong personality, probably responsible for unifying Germany during the latter half of 19th century (so that is good), but still, he was a diabolical strategist with a very difficult personality. Our von Bismarck book was from the “Wicked History” series, and it did not disappoint. Well researched, well written, well edited. Excellent reading.
Shoe Business! We are reading our first business book, “Start Something that Matters” by Blake Mycoskie, of the inspiring TOMS (“tomorrow’s shoes”) win-win movement. We think Mr. Mycoskie has it so right! To enhance this learning unit, I brought my TOMS shoes to the “Stories and Studies Center” (my son’s large bed) (who wouldn’t want a stack of well worn shoes on their bed?).

“The History of Music in Fifty Instruments“, by Philip Wilkinson: a good conversation starter book. We are picking and choosing what we are reading (some stuff is just too mind numbingly technical), but this book is well worth wading through because we have learned about THE UGLIEST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT EVER – the serpent. OH, IT IS SO CREEPY. Take a look and take a listen:

(note to daughter, HKH: I am just so hoping that we won’t be booking this type of music for your wedding reception.)

New topic –

Here’s what’s fun: the Tom Gates books, written by Liz Pichon; we are in the middle of book 2 (“Tom Gates – Excellent Excuses”). The series is sort of a British take on Jeff Kinney’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” (which we also really like) and has got us matching British words with their American counterpart: mate=friend, biscuit=cookie, crisps=potato chips, dodgy=not good, rubbish=the worst. Tom doodles all over the place, despises his sister, calls his grandparents “the Fossils”, and worships the rock band, “Dude3” (every time I read the band name I laugh). We like opening this book every night.

Beginning to think about the upcoming summer Olympics –

Story problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner – the local junior high school is seeking to bolster funds for their foreign language department so the diner has been coerced (vocab) into sponsoring a raffle (vocab), with the first prize being two first-class round-trip (concept) plane tickets to the summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro! If each plane ticket costs $1,500, and if the diner is hoping to contribute $2,000 to the foreign language department, how many $5 raffle tickets will need to be sold? (answer “A” at bottom of post).

– Oh my gosh, there’s more to this story problem: what if the airline can be persuaded to reduce the cost of the plane tickets by 20%, and what if the diner decides to try to up their contribution to $5,000. How many tickets need to be sold now? (answer”B” at bottom of post)

Classical music selections from last night – thinking about Brazil – we decided to cap off a discussion of the upcoming Olympics by listening to “The Little Train of Caipira”, written in 1930 by premiere Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. My son and I have listened to this delicious 5 minute gem about 75 times. Yeah, we like this piece.

First we listened to the recording we have on our iPod, from the Heidi Grant Murphy/Aureole “Sueño De Amor” (dreams of love) album. Soothing, flavorful, filled with yearning:

Then, an OUTSTANDING visual and auditory collage – music students in Brazil putting together “The Little Train of Caipira”. Did I say OUTSTANDING? I think I meant DOUBLE OUTSTANDING. Such a tribute to Villa-Lobos:

Then, what fun – from the fabulous Los Angeles Guitar Quartet , their version of “I Wanna Be Like You” (from “The Jungle Book”), orchestrated in the manner of Heitor Villa-Lobos:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(Story Problem A: 1,000)
(Story Problem B: 1,480)

Conversation Circle

Let’s Discuss – Hey! Look at the blog title block. It says right there that my son is non-verbal. So how can I keep writing that “my son and I are having a talk about….” or “we had a conversation about…”? Obviously I do all of the talking, but I try to set up every discussion with lots of statements for my son to respond to with short written answers.

Example – this past week we were looking at the very first Ferris Wheel, constructed in 1893 for the “World’s Columbian Exposition” in Chicago. After we read through the Wikipedia entry and I put forth a few of my own observations, the questions:
– does riding on this Ferris Wheel look fun or scary?
– would it be safe to jump around in the Ferris Wheel compartment?
– should a Ferris Wheel be made out of metal or plastic?
– what would be a fair price for a Ferris Wheel ride?
– how long should a Ferris Wheel ride last?
– would you rather take a ride on a Ferris Wheel or a train?
– what sort of person could design a Ferris Wheel? A scientist? An engineer? A musician?

Conversation Starter – Oh my gosh, “City Atlas” by Georgia Cherry and Martin Haake has provoked so many conversations. We focus upon one international city per evening. We slog through the uninteresting info (every single city has museums aplenty, and they all seem to have some sort of body of water nearby) and then on to the stuff of fun conversations:
Berlin – Gummy Bears! Moscow – Matryoshka dolls! Budapest – Paprika!
Chicago – the original Ferris Wheel AND if that wasn’t enough: “Sue”, the world’s largest and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex!

The city that has sparked the most discussion so far has been Barcelona. We wanted to know more about the intriguing architecture of Barcelona’s Antoni Gaudi…We have now read through two books on Gaudi. Then we spent time comparing the work of the college-educated Gaudi with the work of uneducated, illiterate Sabato “Simon” Rodia and his audacious Watts Towers in Los Angeles. (Here’s an ultra-cool thing: Rodia is included among the many faces on the cover of the Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band” album cover!) Great conversations! Thank you “City Atlas”!

Reading for pleasure – We are still laughing through “The Brilliant World of Tom Gates” by Liz Pichon, and we are still loving “Ribblestrop”. Oh my, what endless imagination has gone into this book by Andy Mulligan. This story about a English lad who has been sent off to boarding school is a relentless hot-mess of hilarious entertainment.

Perfect for February, Perfect for Anytime – More to discuss! We are acknowledging Black History Month by learning about the world’s first black fighter pilot. A short blurb about this man, Eugene Bullard, appeared on my FaceBook wall; I was intrigued, so we found “Eugene Bullard, World’s First BLACK Fighter Pilot”, by Larry Greenly. Before we opened the book, we discussed the challenges of being a pilot, and then the double challenges of being a fighter pilot. This biography/adventure story is perfect reading for us.

A bit of music to celebrate Black History Month – we listened to some pieces we have liked for quite while that happen to be the work of black composers:

“Maple Leaf Rag” by Scott Joplin, composed in 1899; so popular that it provided a steady income for the rest of Mr. Joplin’s life (who passed away 18 years later).

“The American Scene – The Southwest: Song of the Riverman”, composed by William Grant Still (“the Dean of African-American composers”), in 1957. “The American Scene” is a monumental work comprised of 3 sections, with 3 movements in each section. We have been enjoying “The Song of the Riverman” for about 4 years now. This descriptive piece makes us imagine that we are taking a train ride through the old west.

“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”, composed by Duke Ellington in 1940, lyrics by Bob Russel added in 1942 (#1 on the R+B charts in 1943). We listened to two versions – one instrumental version and one sung by Ella Fitzgerald (both, heaven). And then we found video footage from 1968 featuring Duke Ellington AND Ella Fitzgerald. Nice.

Welcome to the best part of my day! – Jane BH

Jane’s Cool School

My adult son has autism. He is non-verbal. This blog is about our learning-at-home program.

Geography

Salient?

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It’s All Fun!

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Old Business

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Quandary

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Club Gustav

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Miners and Minors

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Bee Plus!

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Riveting!

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Tick, Tick, Tick

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Conversation Circle

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