Cats

Did absence make the heart grow fonder?

Good heavens!  Over six weeks since last I reported in.  Did ya miss me?  My goal is to write and post every other week, but my son and I have been slogging through months of disruptive routines – our stories and studies times have been cut short and I have so much less to write about.  Not happy about this, but there you have it.

odyssey ithaka

The Odyssey – we are coming to the end of Gillian Cross’s superb retelling of Homer’s ancient adventure poem.  As we bid farewell to this book we will discuss C.P. Cavafy’s poem, “Ithaca” and its Odyssey references.  Next up: “The Iliad” (which, if I had been a more aware scholar, we should have read first.  Darn.).

citrus

We are Citrus Savvy – it seems like we always have a book in the nightly line-up about sailors, pirates, the sea and such, and one cannot read about sailors, pirates, the sea and such without reading about the SCOURGE OF SCURVY and the importance of citrus.  So, after reading through the Wikipedia entry on citrus, we got out the pastels.

cat paw and dollar

There is always time for a  story problem –  Poor Farmer Brown.  Literally, poor Farmer Brown.  He is spending so much money replacing items that his cats, Olive and Owl (the hissing sisters), have destroyed.  Over the past twelve months, Farmer Brown spent:

– $300:  area rug in kitchen (shredded)
– $150:  winter coat (clawed to death)
– $100 each:  3 farmhand bed quilts (each mistaken for litter box)
– $200:  office blinds (permanently bent from bird watching)
– $100:  large ceramic planter (tipped over so many times that it finally cracked)
– $  78:  small ficus tree (casualty of repeatedly tipped over planter)
– $300:  neighbor’s yarn stash (don’t ask)

Judging the past year to be typical,  how much should Farmer Brown budget per month to replace things Olive and Owl will most likely have their way with in the coming year?  

A).  $59     B).  $79     C).  $99     D).  $119

classical music

Classical Music:  How I am able to act like I know what I am talking about –

  • ClassicFM.com – a hip website that makes you feel like you are sitting at the cool kids’ table at lunch.  The graphics, clever topics, quizzes, surveys, contests, video links – all VERY COOL.  
  • The Great Courses – (college level courses offered on DVD, etc, through thegreatcourses.com) so far, I have taken 17 of 26 music history courses taught by the organized, captivating, and hilarious Dr. Robert Greenberg.  These classes have had enormous influence on the classical music experience I share with my son.
  • Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin  – an hour-long radio show broadcast 5 times a week, full of entertaining anecdotes from decades of Mr. McGlaughlin’s music profession memories.  If my son and I are in the drive-thru lane of “In-N-Out” at 7pm we are tuned to “Exploring Music”.
  • Wikipedia – in terms of the 300+ classical music entries I have come across, this resource offers dependable and comprehensive information.  A+.
  • “The Secret Lives of the Great Composers”, by Elizabeth Lunday – this is the first book that made me aware that the very finest composers are quirky individuals.  Jarringly quirky.
  • The Really Terrible Orchestra (Edinburgh, Scotland) – I cannot get enough of this ragtag group of enthusiastic musician wannabes who find themselves blatantly unqualified to play with any recognized orchestra.  Just thinking about their performance of “Entry of the Gladiators” makes me collapse in laughter:
  • Mozart in the Jungle, both book and Amazon series are eye-opening and entertaining.  A few pieces that I have shared with my son, after hearing them in various episodes:

– Mozart’s “Oboe Concerto in C major”, movement III (rondo) – composed in 1777.  This is such a proper, almost fussy, piece but it moves right along and my son and I love it:

– José Pablo Moncayo’s “Huapango” – this Mexican folk dance was composed for orchestra in 1941 (which is why we listen to this piece played by orchestra, not by a mariachi band)(even though we LOVE mariachi bands).  Absolutely full of the flavors of Mexico:

– Maurice Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe”, suite 2, dawn – composed in 1912 for a ballet based upon the ancient Greek romance between goatherd Daphnis and shepherdess Chloe.  So much to listen for in this 6 minute piece, but when dawn actually breaks we hear nothing but GENIUS!

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answer:  D).  $119.)

Desperately Seeking Ganesha

From our “World Religions” unit – we are reading from the Usborne Book of World Religions, last night finishing the chapter on Hinduism. How can our favorite Hindu deity not be Ganesha (the elephant-headed god in charge of removing obstacles)?  GANESHA STOP HERE!  We have obstacles aplenty that need removing.

ganesha line

Math Concept Check – we reviewed fractions, percentages, and ratios last night with the help of jillions of Legos.  So much fun!  Did my son like this?  Well, he went to sleep clutching a Lego tower.  I am taking that as a yes.

 lego math

Current Events – we dipped our toes into current events, using “The Economist” magazine as our resource. We found two articles of interest – first, an update on space probe “Philae” (which had us spellbound in November, when it landed on comet 67P – way way way way way far away).  And, since we just finished a unit on cats, we also read about the latest census of wild tigers in India (numbers way up last year!)(Good show India!).

 philae     tiger

Last night’s music theme was “Classical Broadway” – we listened to a few American musical comedy songs that were either embellished or inspired by particular classical music compositions:

  • “Rosemary” from “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (Frank Loesser, 1961) references Edvard Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A minor” (1868).

  • “Baby Face” from the 1967 movie “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (although the song was actually a MAJOR hit in 1926) includes a bit of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “Messiah” (1742). (spoiler alert – the music is perfect, but this is one of the lamest youtube pages ever)

  • “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from “Evita” (Rice/Webber, 1976).  A significant musical phrase in the chorus certainly must have been inspired from Johannes Brahms’ 1878 “Violin Concerto in D minor”, movement 3. (Have a listen, it is glorious!)

(the Brahms) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOx0eKhD9f0

(Don’t Cry) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d01NpclvlE

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH

 

Fly By

hawk

Well, look who came visiting.  This gorgeous hawk swooped down yesterday and perched on our fence for some 20 minutes. So, of course we had to read about hawks last night. Most interesting fact:  the people of ancient Egypt believed the hawk (Horus) to be a guardian of the pharaoh, and therefore was considered sacred.

horus_3

Check out the cool hawk headwear!

We continue to read: “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.  As of last night, Dorothy and crew had just entered the territory of the Wicked Witch of the West.  So entertaining, and like all books that become movies, so different from the movie.

We continue our study of cats:  we are reading from another DK Eyewitness book, “CATS”, and it is another well done effort.  Maybe too well done?  If there is one thing our book stresses (seriously, page after page), it is how much cats are interested in spreading their scent around. (Like I want to keep reading about THAT) (but I act like it is no big deal/part of nature’s plan/circle of life, etc.) (even though it is gross).

Because it is January: we talked about New Year’s Resolutions, so our Farmer Brown Story Problem revolved around such resolutions. Here comes a semi-troublesome division problem – there are 15 adults in Farmer Brown’s extended family and they have each made a New Year’s Resolution for the past 10 years. If only one person kept one resolution one year, what percentage of the total efforts were successful?

pirate

(from our STORIES AND STUDIES CENTER wall)

Our Music Theme: Putting an illustration to music – “Pirate Chief”.   This is the first time we’ve tried this: I had my son select one of the posters on his wall, then we put together a music program that would bring the artwork to life. He chose the kicking-butt-and-taking-names “Pirate Chief” by Howard Pyle (Howard Pyle was not only a most important American illustrator, he was also an influential teacher/mentor of the likes of N.C. Wyeth).  Hey!  This was fun!  I think we will set another poster to music in a few weeks.

  • “The Maid of Amsterdam” (sometimes known as “A-Roving”), a lusty sea chantey, just the type of thing that pirates, or anyone with access to a bottle of rum, would want to sing.
  • Overture to “The Flying Dutchman”, by Richard Wagner. This is a fave for children’s orchestras.  The story of the opera (cursed man on a ghost ship) is intriguing, the music is motivating, and every instrument gets a crucial part to play
  • “Pirates of the Caribbean Suite”, by Klaus Badelt.  This is consummate sea storms-and-skullduggery pirate music.  The video footage of a performance in Vienna has an added bonus – composer Klaus Badelt is seated in the audience.

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH

One thing leads to another

Our December was as jam packed as everyone else’s, so although I didn’t post, my son and I still gathered nightly for STUDIES AND STORIES.  In the midst of Christmas chaos, we discussed/looked up/whatever: the concept of alliteration – charm bracelets – the Chunnel – poppies – rafts – storks – submarines. Good month.  But now, we are back in business!

lighthouse  dominator  fog

One thing leads to another – for some reason, my son and I were reading about the big lenses used in lighthouses…this led me to show him a photo of the lighthouse in the town where I grew up….this led me to tell him about the SS Dominator, an unlucky freighter that sank pretty darn close to our local lighthouse in 1961 (fog issues)…this led us to look at photos of the Dominator, where we noticed: RUST.  So this led us to do a bit of a study on rust.  And fog.  Yay to the freedom of studying in a zigzag fashion.

Last night we began a unit on CATS – all kinds of felines, wild and domesticated (vocab word).   Interesting take-aways from last night: (1) take any type of feline, and the male and female look pretty much alike, EXCEPT one type of cat.  Can you guess?  Answer: LIONS (the male lion looking way different than his female counter-part).  Just the kind of fact that interests us, and (2) the Clouded Leopard: weird weird weird fur pattern.  Doesn’t it look like the design on the back of a tortoise?

clouded leopard

Our current novel: L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.  Our book has extreme, contemporary, WONDERFUL graphics by Olimpia Zagnoli.

oz book

Thought: Baum wrote this as a book for children, so is there a need for so many watered down “children’s” versions? Don’t you think that diluted re-writes are an insult to our children’s minds?

Our Farmer Brown story problem: Farmer Brown’s cousin, Farmer Jimmy, produces maple syrup from the trees on his Vermont farm. He has asked Farmer Brown to sell the syrup for him, so he can concentrate on his syrup making techniques.  Farmer Jimmy is going to pay Farmer Brown 20% of everything sold.  A pint of maple syrup will sell for $8.00.  If Farmer Brown can sell 200 pints, how much money will he earn after he forks over most of the money to his cousin?

Our music theme: “One Thing Leads To Another” – we thought 2014 should go out with a bang and 2015 should enter with a bang…so we selected music that prominently features a booming instrument we want so badly to play – the TIMPANI (kettledrums):

  • Two by Richard Strauss!  “Dance of the Seven Veils” from his opera, “Salome” (pha-yew!  This is IN YOUR FACE sensuality set to music, but I would NEVER say this in front of my son – rather, I DO say that this is a staggering work of genius, and let’s concentrate on listening for the timpani) and “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (otherwise known as the theme music to the movie “2001, A Space Odyssey”).
  • Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” – who cannot be delighted by this piece? C’mon! It’s a circus staple, what’s not to love? In the video, you will find the timpani positioned smack in the middle of the back row. What a great instrument!

 Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH