Mohandas Gandhi

Insert Clever Title Here

Greetings.  I couldn’t think of a snappy title to lure any and all into this posting.  Well, you are here!  Welcome!  Here is our update from last night:

STORIES AND STUDIES –

India: We have completed our unit on early 20th century India. We finished the novel, “All My Noble Dreams and Then What Happens” by Gloria Whelan – a captivating read with interesting historical information and a wonderful point of view. I do think there is a disconnect between the story and the title, but nobody is asking me. We finished our unit on Mohandas Gandhi (maybe one of our best units ever). I am so impressed with the DK Eyewitness book on Gandhi: OUTSTANDING research and well organized. I am still trying to find a poster of Gandhi that I like…am thinking about having a print shop make up a poster sized copy of the DK book cover. Hope this is legal.

gandhi

Explorers: Last night we read about Hernando Cortes, and we learned the difference between an explorer and a conqueror. Suffice it to say, we won’t be searching high and low for a poster of this MEAN man.

Le Fictitious Local Café story problem:  The 3 cooks and 4 waitresses at “Le Fictitious Local Café” need new aprons. Aprons for the cooks cost $8 each, and each cook needs 3 (so there will always be a clean one to put on). The waitresses all want aprons with cute rickrack stitched on, and these are available for $15 each. Each waitress needs 2 aprons. How much will the owner of the café need to shell out to provide aprons for his staff?

Classical Music: It was VIRTUOSO NIGHT again, starring violinist Itzhak Perlman!

  • Humoresque, by Antonin Dvorak. Until you’ve heard this piece conducted by Seiji Ozawa, featuring Perlman on violin and Yo-Yo Ma on cello, you have not heard the potential of this composition.  BTW, a “humoresque” was a genre of music in the 1800s that suggested a fanciful, sweet mood.
  • Out of Africa, the title music, by John Barry, composed in 1985. Itzhak Perlman’s solos break your heart.
  • Violin Concerto in E Minor, movement 3, by Felix Mendelssohn.  This video (linked below – my FIRST youtube link BTW!) is not the crispest, but who cares?  We LOVE it!  Perlman knows this piece backwards and forwards and upside down. We have watched this at least 10 times.  It is the perfect background music for a cat stalking a mouse.

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH

Case in Point: Ibn Battuta

STORIES AND STUDIES.  Hey!  This learning business is supposed to be for the benefit of my son, but I cannot believe how often I am learning things, too.  The latest case in point: Ibn Battuta.  We began a unit on explorers last night and first down the shoot, deserving of his very own chapter, was Ibn Battuta.  Ibn Battuta???  Just in case the name isn’t ringing a bell, Ibn Battuta, who hailed from Morocco, set out on a journey in 1325, and by the time his enthusiastic explorations (Africa, Asia, the Far East) concluded thirty years later, he had traveled 75,000 miles.

Our Mohandas Gandhi unit – We read about philosophers and activists who inspired Gandhi. One was Emmeline Pankhurst, a suffragette from London. My son was familiar with her name from the Mary Poppins movie! In the song, “Sister Suffragette” (adorable song BTW), Mrs. Banks sings, “…Take heart! For Mrs. Pankhurst has been clapped in irons again!”.  Then we had to talk about what “irons” were.  I love this incidental learning part.

Our Farmer Brown story question focused upon his barn cat, Mrs. Ridiculous, and her new brood of 7 kittens, and the costs involved with their first visit to the vet’s office.  Farmer Brown is so responsible.

Music Time – the theme was “Let’s Waltz with Tchaikovsky”:

  • Serenade for Strings, movement 2 (waltz). Tchaikovsky wrote that he was quite pleased with this composition (and it is known that he wasn’t quite pleased with some of his works) (so this is really saying something).
  • Swan Lake, the waltz from Act II. Every piece, EVERY PIECE, from this ballet is A+++.
  • Eugene Onegin (a lyric opera), the polonaise from Act III. (A polonaise is a three-quarter time dance, livelier than a typical waltz.) This grand piece has an infectious melody that you find yourself humming over and over. Interesting factoid: according to Wikipedia, a polonaise is always the first dance at the Polish equivalent of a high school or college senior prom.

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH

Travelogue

Last night, we were all over the map during STORIES AND STUDIES.

globe alaska

Alaska: A few months ago we finished a unit on totem poles, and last night we revisited the frozen north to take a look at the making of igloos. Completely fascinating. The snow blocks are not nearly as thick as I had imagined.   What will we learn tonight?  I hope there are pictures of people inside the igloos. What can a person do in there?  Just sleep and eat?  Can you stand up in an igloo? For us Texans, just looking at photographs of igloos offers a degree of relief from the summer heat.

India: To enhance the reading of our current novel, “All My Noble Dreams and Then What Happens”, which takes place in India during the 1920’s, we have started a unit on Mohandas Gandhi. I got ahold of a DK Eyewitness book focused on Gandhi and we are reading through it thoughtfully.  There is wall space in my son’s room dedicated to original thinkers who stood up for their beliefs and observations (think Charles Darwin and Galileo).  Obviously, we will order a poster of Gandhi when we conclude this unit.

The American Mid-West: Last night’s Farmer Brown story problem involved calculating the amount of paint necessary to perk up Farmer Brown’s red barn. We also worked on another type of story problem: “Diner Math”!  My son had to compute the total of each table’s orders at the “Le Fictitious Local Diner”, and add on a generous 20% tip.  Yay Diner Math! Yay Farmer Brown story problems! Yay any sort of math that we can look forward to!

And finally, Hungary: our classical music time was spent listening to three different versions of the Hungarian March (AKA the Rakoczi March). BTW, our chosen composers, Berlioz, Liszt, and Brahms knew each other. (BTW, do not take this to mean that they were BFFs.)

  • First, Hector Berlioz’ “Hungarian March”.  This was used in his gigantic musical work, “The Damnation of Faust”.  A great, great march.
  • Next, Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody Number 15”.  A real kitchen sink arrangement – what didn’t Liszt put into this composition? You can hear the Hungarian March PLUS everything from delicate trills to a locomotive gaining momentum, chilling winds, and scary horror-movie background music. So weird.
  • Finally, Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance Number 19”.  Elegant.

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH