Catholicism

Sunday School

The Good Book – Last week my son and I read through Graphic Library’s “Johann Gutenberg and the Printing Press”. Excellent! Just enough information about Bibles and print reproduction methods of the 1400s. My son was engaged with every single comic-book-style page, so I am looking at other topics covered by Graphic Library.

New information for us:
– we learned that before 1455 (pre-Gutenberg’s printing press), monks who worked on Bibles had to use sunlight to illuminate their work stations; candles were not used in the manuscript shop because of the fire threat
– we learned that the path from the idea of movable type to the actual printing of a Bible was a LONG path: more than 25 years of continual work – the letters, the ink, the press, the relentless search for financial backing
– we learned that Gutenberg stored his metal letters in cases. The capital letters in the “UPPER CASE” and the smaller letters in the “LOWER CASE”. Thus, the terms!
– 200 Gutenberg Bibles were printed and 48 remain (we talked about the current $$$ value, oh my gosh)

Also studying – “Popular Patents – America’s first Inventions from the Airplane to the Zipper” by Travis Brown. This book is so well researched and so interesting, including patent number details (we sort of skip all of that), and chronological order of “what came before what” in regards to each patented invention. So far we have read about barbed wire and the bottle cap, and we are coming to realize that: 1) the type of person that invents, does so over and over and over – the inventors we’ve read about hold MANY patents, and 2), as we learned this from our study of Thomas Edison, successful inventors protect their ideas with a patent. Poor Gutenberg, how he could have used patent protection.

Story Problems for Sun Days – It is so hot this summer at Farmer Brown’s:

Farmer Brown’s cool farm hands: Farmer Brown knows that a cool farm hand is a productive farm hand, so he is installing 6 new fans in the farm hands’ bunkhouse. He is planning to purchase 4 traditional type large fans for $48 each and 2 state-of-the-art Dyson pedestal fans for $450 each. Farmer Brown’s accountant says this is certainly a business expense and needs to know the total spent. Without calculating on paper or with calculator, what is most likely the total of the 6 fans?
A: $4,800 B: $948 C: $1,092 D: $2,000 (answer at bottom of post)

Farmer Brown’s corn maze: Farmer Brown decided to join the corn maze craze. His angle: the state’s smallest maze (for those that freak out at the thought of becoming lost amid the acreage of a typical corn maze)! Farmer Brown’s maze is going to be 15 feet by 15 feet. At the end of the maze, Farmer Brown will serve up complimentary corn on the cob. The attraction will be open July and August. If an entrance fee of $3 is charged, and on an average 200 people go through the maze each month, and Farmer Brown spends 50 cents for each ear of corn/butter/salt and pepper, how much money will Farmer Brown net by the end of August? (answer at bottom of post)

Music for a Sunday night – Sunday nights are church-type music nights for us, so what better than the sound of a harp to put us in mind of angels? The three ultra-soothing pieces we listened to last Sunday night were all composed in the 1700s.

First, George Frederick Handel’s “Harp Concerto in B flat Major”, movement 1, written in 1736. This movement is beautifully presented by an orchestra in Istanbul, Turkey (sorry, I couldn’t decipher any more information, it was effort enough to figure out the city) (harpists’ ruffled dresses = adorable):

Second, “Harp Concerto in A Major”, movement 3, composed in the late 1700s (best we could do in terms of a date) by (here comes awesome name of the month): Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. Such a FUN name to say. Every single time. This particular video features a VERY young and most talented harpist:

Finally, Mozart’s “Concerto for Flute and Harp”, movement 2, composed in 1778. This is such a gorgeous yearning melody, presented by a most accomplished student orchestra in Russia and featuring another very young harpist:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane BH
(story problem answer – Farmer Brown’s cool farm hands – C: $1,092)
(story problem answer – Farmer Brown’s corn maze – $1,000)

A Ghost by any Other Name

A Christmas Carol – oh, how we would have liked to listen to Charles Dickens read aloud from his “A Christmas Carol”. To hear the delicious phrasing verbalized as he would have envisioned. The wording is difficult, so I am often repeating sentences to get the rhythm and meaning – but so worth the extra time; we are loving the book’s message. We are midway through, currently reading about Scrooge’s encounter with the “Ghost of Christmas Present” (a bit of a talk about the difference between “Christmas Present” and “Christmas presents”). And we are making a running list of the many ways Dickens can say the word, “ghost”. So far: spirit, specter, apparition, supernatural medium, shadow, and phantom.

A new academic unit – we are learning about Joan of Arc, via another outstanding book by Diane Stanley. To set the stage, Stanley has written a clear description of the Hundred Years’ War that took place between England and France (the war began in 1337, 75 years before Joan of Arc was born). We are learning that Joan was complex young lady – pious, brave, charismatic, single-minded (let’s just say it: pushy). As I am reading this to my son, I cannot help but wonder what today’s world would have thought about Joan of Arc (the voices? the visions?).

NTC Champion! We held the “Name the Continent” finals last night! Our globe is practically a permanent resident in the STORIES AND STUDIES CENTER (my son’s bed); whatever we are reading, if a country is mentioned, we find it on the globe. So, last night, I made up a long list of countries and had my son match each country with its continent. A+! What can I say? He knows where everything is. He’s the NTC Champ!

Farmer Brown’s Thanksgiving food prep story problem – Farmer Brown has grown all of the vegetables that he is bringing to the family Thanksgiving gathering. He is bringing his famous steamed Brussels sprouts sautéed in browned butter, his famous green beans with bacon and onion, and his famous sticky sweet potato casserole with candied lemon slices. It takes Farmer Brown 45 minutes to prepare the sprouts for steaming, 1 hour and 15 minutes to trim the green beans, 25 minutes to prepare the bacon and onion, and 15 minutes to prepare the sweet potatoes for each casserole (for which there are 4). The good news is that he has two assistants who work just as quickly as he does. How long will it take the three of them to get the vegetables prepped?

Listening to Music – after a brief and sober discussion about the recent unthinkable evilness in Paris, we paid tribute to French heritage by listening to three reflective pieces written by French composers:

“The Swan” from “Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saens. This was composed in 1887 for piano and cello. It is a soulful, pensive piece. This video showcases Yo-Yo Ma, so we are listening to the best.

The “Carillon” from “L’Arlesienne”, by Georges Bizet, composed in 1872. About one minute into the piece, the flute section takes over, and this is the part that tugs at our hearts – the sorrow, the regret, the wistfulness. It is all there in the music.

“La Vie En Rose”, certainly the iconic Parisian melody, written and popularized by chanteuse (prettiest word of the month) Edith Piaf in 1945. Louis Armstrong made a well-loved recording of this, but we wanted to listen to the original voice (this is OLD film footage).

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH

This Week: One Sculptor, One Scoundrel

Yay! Icky

Interesting Coincidence – a few posts back (“Two Different Worlds”, July 12, 2015) we mused that the two people we were studying (Rasputin and Albert Einstein) lived at approximately the same time, within a thousand miles of each other, but followed such different paths. It has happened again! We just concluded surveys of Michelangelo (1474 – 1564) and Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), again living at about the same time, within a thousand miles of each other, but following two such different paths. Michelangelo – devoted to the perfection of his sculpture, painting, architecture. Drake – devoted to the accumulation of wealth via the only means he was clearly proficient at: brutal thievery.

It is too revolting to speak of Drake; our energy is better spent waxing enthusiastically about Michelangelo. The book we read, “Michelangelo” by Diane Stanley is A++++. Among simply loads of other things, we learned a lot about the Sistine Chapel:

It was named for Pope Sixtus IV (get it? Sistine – Sixtus?), and the ceiling was commissioned by Pope Julius II, who just happened to be the nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. Hmmm.
In case you haven’t studied the ceiling, there are 9 major panels illustrating three themes: the creation of heaven and earth, Adam and Eve, and Noah and the flood. It took Michelangelo 4 years to paint this masterwork.
The 60 foot-high scaffolding (vocab!) upon which Michelangelo stood (yes, STOOD. He did not paint lying down) stretched under only one half of the ceiling area. Michelangelo painted the Noah’s Ark panels first. When he finished these panels, and the scaffolding was moved to the other end of the chapel, Michelangelo decided that it was difficult to decipher all the activity on the ceiling, so he painted much larger figures on the creation and Adam and Eve side! I swear, live and learn.

Other stuff we’ve worked on this past week:

Reading comprehension – I wrote up a few paragraphs about my daughter and her job, and had my son read through it – I did not read it out loud – then my son took a multiple choice quiz about what he had read. Did well. Important activity.
Roman Numeral review. A+
We continue to enjoy the novel, “Greetings from Nowhere” by Barbara O’Connor.

We were so impressed with Diane Stanley’s “Michelangelo”, that we selected another of her books, “Charles Dickens, The Man Who Had Great Expectations” to anchor our new study unit. So far, EXCELLENT! My son is quite taken with this book. We have learned what “shorthand” is and we are now motivated to give “The Pickwick Papers” a try.

Our Farmer Brown Story Problem – Farmer Brown supplies apples to Le Fictitious Local Diner for their famous apple pies. He sells the diner a box of 100 Granny Smith apples for $8.00. The diner uses 6 apples for each pie. How many boxes will the diner need each month if they make 10 pies every week? How much will the diner be billed for the apples every month?

Music to remind us of Michelangelo’s Rome –

“The Pines of Rome”, movement 1, composed in 1924 by Ottorino Respighi. Characteristic of Respighi’s work, this piece SPARKLES. (This movement has a quirky ending – beware!)

Allegretto from “Palladio for String Orchestra”, composed in 1995 by Karl Jenkins to honor the Roman architect Andrea Palladio, a contemporary of Michelangelo’s. (BTW, this music was used in a De Beers Diamond advertising campaign in the 1990s.) Gorgeous church used in this video.

Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 4 in A major” (“The Italian”), movement 4, composed in 1883. We LOVE this entire symphony, and we’ve probably listened to this movement 30 times. It moves right along. This video? OUTSTANDING performance.

Welcome to the best part of my day! And Happy Birthday HKH!

– Jane BH

Holy Zucchetto!

We know what a zucchetto is! My son is loving our Vatican unit! So much to learn and so much of it very cool:

the Vatican’s mosaic school has the largest supply of mosaic stones in the world. Vatican Vocab: mosaic
we can now recognize a cardinal by his vestments (something will be scarlet). Vatican Vocab: vestments
enforcing a dress code for Vatican visitors is a chronic problem (People! People! People! Dress modestly and stop giving the Vatican a hard time!).
the Vatican library is THE authority on old book and manuscript restoration. Vatican Vocab: manuscript, restoration
and finally: zucchetto (a skull cap, as in the headwear of the pope). I hope you can infer by the photos we’ve selected (showing Pope Francis and his zucchetto) that we are enchanted by this personable pope.

Great unit! We are taking a look at the art of the Vatican next.

Handwriting update – In mid June (in post “That’s Gotta Hurt”), my son was introduced to the “Pencil Grip Writing Claw”. He is so comfortable with it now! When it is handwriting time, I place the pencil between his thumb and index finger and HE fits his fingers into the rubberized claw. THIS IS PROGRESS!

Herbs and Spices – My son had no clue, so last night we learned a bit about herbs (leaves) and spices (stems, bark, seeds, buds). We learned that pepper is a spice, but salt is a mineral (not an herb and not a spice). I had my son sniff tarragon, basil, cinnamon, and cloves (Heh! The clove aroma took him by surprise). This was not his favorite activity, but he sure got the idea.

Farmer Brown story problem – During autumn months, Farmer Brown makes apple cider mulling spices. He mixes cinnamon sticks, cloves, with dried orange peel and packages the mixture in cellophane tied with twine. A single package sells for $5.00, and Farmer Brown sells a box of a dozen packages for $50. He has sold 20 boxes to various local shops, and so far he has sold 85 single packages at his roadside apple cider stand. If it costs Farmer Brown $2 for each package’s spice mixture and $1 for each package’s cellophane, twine tie, and label, what is Farmer Brown’s profit so far?

“Background Music for the Vatican”! We pretended that the Vatican phoned us to ask for music recommendations that would enhance the architecture and the magnificent art. We considered only music composed by Catholics. All three suggestions are short and beautifully filmed.

“Gregorian Chants” – unaccompanied sacred songs, slow and reflective, developed by monks during the 9^thcentury. The collections of chants are named to honor the memory of Pope Gregory. This should calm the Vatican crowds down:

“Gloria in Excelsis Deo” – composed by Antonio Vivaldi around 1715. Vivaldi, noted for being one of the greatest of Baroque composers, was a Catholic priest. This “Gloria” is a breath of fresh air – energetic, precise, and uplifting:

“Locus Iste” – meaning “This Place”; really meaning “This place was made by God”, is often used for church dedications. This particular sacred motet (a multi-part choral work), was composed by Anton Bruckner (sort of an over-the-top devout Catholic) in 1869. As typical of Bruckner’s work, “Locus Iste” is a religious experience, top-heavy with soaring, lush harmonies:

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH

If it’s August

Our Vatican Unit continues – we have been learning about Castel Gondolfo, the summer retreat for popes since 1628. So, if it is August, it is likely that the Pope Francis is in residence at the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gondolfo. We learned that the Pope travels the 15 miles (we had NO idea it was so close) between the Vatican and Castel Gondolfo by helicopter. The palace grounds overlook Lake Albano. Lake Albano immediately grabbed our attention because the lake is so round, with very little beach area. It made sense when we read that the overlapping union of two volcanic craters created the lake.

Counting on it – we continue to learn to count to ten in foreign languages – not because counting to ten is such an important skill, but because I want my son to have an awareness that languages change from country to country (in other words, there is more to the world than just us). We have mastered Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Vietnamese. Now we are tackling Finnish – such a fun sounding language: 1, 2, 3: “ooksie, cawksi, colomay” (BTW, that’s the flag of Finland). Here is what we do every so often: I call out a number, and my son writes down the number and the language I am speaking.

Le Fictitious Local Diner starts “The Bus Driver Project” (from our story problems last week) – if it is August, the start of school is just around the corner, and the employees at the diner have been thinking about how difficult it would be to be a school bus driver. The responsibilities are substantial and sometimes the kids (we are looking at you, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL PEOPLES) can be so rambunctious. So, the diner decided to honor all local school bus drivers with a free lunch and slice of pie, once a month, during the 9-month school year. There are 20 bus drivers in the district, lunch runs $8.00, and a slice of pie (pecan, apple crumble, or lemon meringue), $3.00. When the diner turns in its contributions list to the CPA at the end of the school year, what will be their total “bus driver project” donation?

If it is August, we need “Music for Going Back to School”– here is what we selected:

“Flight of the Bumblebee” – composed by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1899 for his opera, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”. This is background music for moms anxiously hustling offspring out the door before the bus leaves. This video is spectacular – we have the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by the unsurpassable Zubin Mehta, AND watching the violin section is mesmerizing – they all sort of twitch in rhythm, and the fingering is SO fast.

“Entry of the Gladiators” – composed in 1897 by Julius Fucik (well, there’s an unfortunate name), who had quite an interest in the Roman Empire. He did NOT intend for this to be used as a SCREAMER (how can you not love this term?????) (we learned that a “screamer” is an invigorating circus march). Is this not THE music that should be blaring in elementary school halls on the first day of school? This video was filmed around 1950, featuring the over-the-top energetic Red Nichols and his Five Pennies. NOT TO BE MISSED.

“Song of the Volga Boatmen” – a traditional Russian folk song (first published in 1866), this is classic “we feel your pain” and “is there more to life than drudgery?” music. This is the comrade-in-arms music for woebegone students AND teachers dreading that first day back.

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH

Heavenly

The Vatican – our new unit! We are Catholic, so the Vatican seemed a logical subject of inquiry. We’re reading from the August 2015 issue of National Geographic and “The Incredible Book of Vatican Facts and Papal Curiosities” by Nino Lo Bello. Here is what has IMMEDIATELY captured our attention: THE SWISS GUARDS. Wow. BEST UNIFORMS EVER. Here is what we have learned about the Swiss Guards – there are around 100 guards at any one time, with sole responsibility for guarding Vatican City and the Pope. The basic requirements for becoming a guard: single male Catholic between the ages of 19 – 30, with Swiss citizenship and Swiss military training. Very, very cool. And, again, those GREAT uniforms (we learned that it takes about 32 hours to sew up one of these splendid striped ensembles)!

Stephen Hawking said it – so far, Stephen Hawking and his daughter, Lucy, have written 3 remarkable novels for youthful minds about (what else) outer space. We are on book three, “George and the Big Bang”. Every so often, there is a break in the story for a few pages of facts and theories. As far as we are concerned, if Stephen Hawking said it, we are getting the most up-to-date information, un-doctored up and un-watered down. These books are important. We are augmenting the Hawking novel with “The Moon” by Seymour Simon. Lovely book, thought provoking photographs.

Farmer Brown looks to the heavens and thinks about buying a telescope! From one of our story problems of last week – Farmer Brown was so fascinated viewing the Perseid meteor shower last week that he realized his farm hands might enjoy having a telescope to view the night sky. He has found a beginner type telescope for $300. State sales tax is 8.25% and shipping will run $21.00. How much will Farmer Brown spend if he wishes to purchase 2 telescopes? If Farmer Brown wants speedier delivery he will pay an additional $15 per item. What will this bring the total to?

Music time – Negro Spirituals. What sobering and inspiring listening. But what great songs! Written by slaves pre-civil war, we learned that spirituals were prayers about the rewards awaiting in heaven and coded encouragement for escaping the chains of forced servitude. My son and I had a serious talk about the inexcusable wrongness of slavery.

“Down by the Riverside” – this timeless spiritual became a signature song for Vietnam War protesters of the 1970’s. This video clip features Sister Rosetta Tharpe. What a treasure.

“Wade in the Water” – we love this arrangement sung by Oakwood University students. Refreshing, energetic, outstanding.

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” – I don’t see how anybody could watch this video and not weep (well, my son didn’t weep, but he was captivated) (I wept). It showcases operatic lyric soprano Kathleen Battle and the Boys Choir of Harlem. It is just so beautiful. Also noted: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is the anthem of the national rugby union team of England. That’s weird.

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.

Catholicism

Sunday School

A Ghost by any Other Name

This Week: One Sculptor, One Scoundrel

Holy Zucchetto!

If it’s August

Heavenly

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