Story Problems

Curses and Cheers

Curses! January is Texas Cedar Pollen season. I am sneezing all over the place, much to my son’s displeasure. He really hates it when anybody sneezes. Last night we began our STORIES AND STUDIES hour by learning about Juniperus ashei, the super hardy drought-resistant scourge that produces the dreaded pollen (so the culprit is a juniper NOT a cedar) (classic). AND we read about why people sneeze and why sometimes people sneeze three times in a row (mildly interesting at best, but there is the grossness factor, so that is something).

And so begins our Native American unit – my son and I are more aware citizens for having read “Jim Thorpe – Original All American” by Joseph Bruchac. We ended up overwhelmed by Mr. Thorpe’s athleticism and versatility – what a regret that there were no movie cameras used to record this best of the best in football, baseball and track. This book is as much about Jim Thorpe as it is about Pop Warner, his (law-unto-himself) coach at the Carlyle Indian Industrial School. YES, THE Pop Warner. The author presents in an organized, well-researched, and dignified manner the unnecessary debacle that was the Olympic scandal involving Jim Thorpe’s supposed “non-amateur” status. The author also gives us something else to puzzle over: as Jim Thorpe represented the USA in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, bringing home gold in both pentathlon and decathlon, he was not considered to be an American citizen! It wasn’t until 12 years later, with the passing of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, that Native Americans were considered citizens.
If there were ever a “Native American History MONTH”, instead of the embarrassingly paltry “Native American Heritage DAY” (so passed by congressional legislation in 2009) (get this, it is on “Black Friday”) (FOR SHAME) this book belongs on the required reading list.

Well! After getting all heated up we needed to cool down with a Farmer Brown story problem – “Warm Hands for Farm Hands”– a “compute-this-without-paper-and-pencil” question:
Every January, Farmer Brown purchases new winter work gloves for the 8 farm hands. He purchases two pair for each man – one pair of extreme-weather gloves at a cost of $35 each and one pair of warm gloves that offer touch screen capability (so they can use their cell phones without taking their gloves off), at a cost of $20 each. If the cost includes tax, what is the total Farmer will spend to reglove his workers?
A) $280 B) $800 C) $160 D) $440 (answer at bottom of post)

We can’t get enough of Tom Gates! My son received two more “Tom Gates” books (a series of consistently captivating books from the UK) for Christmas and we were so happy to start reading “Tom Gates – Yes! No (Maybe)” because Tom Gates IS A RIOT. Here is the type of thing that has us laughing: 1) his grandmother’s latest terrible food offering: wood flavored “crisps”, 2) his neighbor’s dad was formerly in a rock band called, “PLASTIC CUP”. Tom Gates books manage to be so funny while developing realistic, complicated predicaments that avoid “man’s inhumanity to man” and “coming of age” themes. They are perfect for my son, and I just love getting to be the person who gets to read them out loud. Cheers to author Liz Pichon!

Cheers for the completely awesome Orpheus Chamber Orchestra! My son and I wanted to learn about the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (formed in 1972, based in New York City, comprised of outstanding musical professionals – university professors/members of upper echelon symphonic orchestras) because this outstanding 30-member orchestra uses NO conductor – they listen closely to each other, and decisions are made by democratic process. Apparently they make this formula work because in 2007, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra won a worldwide award for “Most Democratic Workplace”. We wanted to watch and listen!

About Orpheus – a three minute introduction, well done:

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra plays from Rossini’s “La Cambiale de Matrimonio” (The Marriage Contract), Giocchiono Rossini’s first opera – composed in 1810, when he was 18! About a minute and a half into this performance you can see the whole orchestra – playing away sans (vocab) a conductor – the overall look is a bit disorienting, but inspiring:

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra playing Maurice Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” (composed in 1919) – played at a very fast clip, just the way we like it:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answer: D: $440)

2016 – Gone, but not forgotten

2016: the year we learned more about – the California Gold Rush, the insanely brilliant architecture of Gaudi, the work of bees, Eugene Bullard, homonyms, Hannibal, dwarf planets, George Washington Carver, patents, rodents, Rube Goldberg, computation involving triangles, etc, etc, etc. Last night, my son took matching quiz that reviewed our academic studies from the past year, and earned an A+. Good year.

New book! For Christmas, a special aunt and uncle sent my son David Macaulay’s classic, “The Way Things Work”. This is obviously a mechanical engineering book lurking behind precise illustrations and hilarious examples. This past week, we became experts on “the inclined plane” and “the lever”. (In 2016, we learned a lot from Macauley’s books on “The Toilet” and “The Mill”, so we should emerge MENSA-worthy if we can absorb everything this comprehensive book offers.)

Story Problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner – The diner spent a lot of money on electricity in 2016; management is reviewing usage to see if they can cut back (perhaps a weekly “dining by candle-light” event might make a teeny dent in the diner’s electrical consumption). To make decisions, management needs some facts: if the diner was open 6 days a week, how many days in 2016 were they using electricity? If the cooks were at the diner from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., how many hours last year was the diner using electricity? (story problem answers at bottom of post)

Music Listening in 2016 – My son and I welcomed an additional 85 classical (in the broadest sense) pieces into our iPod library this past year. Last night, I presented a list of our fave 10 of these compositions and then my son picked his top three for listening.

10 pieces we first listened to in 2016 –

Ave Maria – Arcadelt
Banjoland Buffoonery – Kirkhope
Brandenberg Concerto No. 3 – Bach
Harp Concerto in A major – Dittersdorf
Organ Symphony, finale – Saint-Saens
Persian March – Strauss
Sailing By – Binge
String Quartet No. 2, scherzo – Borodin
The Anvil Chorus (Il Trovatore) – Verdi
Toccata in A major – Paradisi

My son’s selections for last night’s listening –

– “Banjoland Buffoonery”, composed in 1998 by Grant Kirkhope for the Nintendo 64 video game, “Banjo-Kazooie”. A short piece, packed with rollicking fun, AND an excellent (and accessible for the likes of my son and myself) example of theme and variation:

– “Persian March”, composed by Johann Strauss II, in 1864. My son cannot stop his toes from tapping to this marvelously exotic march (expertly played by a Polish youth orchestra) (SO heartening to witness excellence in youth):

– “Sailing By”, written by Ronald Binge in 1963 and used by BBC Radio to introduce the late shipping forecast. This sweet, slumberous waltz gets our vote for most soothing lullaby. When we just cannot deal with one more thing, THIS is our music:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: 1) 312 days 2) 5,304 hours)

So Cool

A three-chapters-a-night book! Ordinarily, I read one chapter a night from our academic resource du jour, but my son is having none of that for “Jim Thorpe – Original All-American” by Joseph Bruchac. This biography of the Native American/Olympic medalist has captured his attention and he will accept nothing less than multiple chapters at each reading. We are currently reading about Jim’s high school years; certainly my son did not know about the US government-imposed boarding-school system for Native Americans one hundred years ago, and neither did I. (Some ideas were good, some were so misguided…a LOT to think about. How would we have managed this differently?) The book was written as if an autobiography (vocab), so my son has now learned to distinguish between a story told in the 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person “voice”. As per usual, zig-zag learning.

App Happy – About once a week, we spend time with the FIRST RATE “Professor Astro Cat’s Solar System” app on our iPad. Graphics: elegant and hip. Material covered: EXTENSIVE. (This is a GREAT app for anybody looking for quirky conversation starters.) For my son, the information presented and even the quizzes: ENGROSSING. The merest sampling of what we’ve learned:
– what an AU is (astronomical until – the approximate length between the sun and earth)
– how old my son would be on Mercury
– about the largest mountain in the solar system (on Mars)
– about the planet with diamonds (!!!)

Bringing out the Christmas lights: story problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner – The diner is hauling out their old Christmas decorations and the plan is to edge the roof with their retro strings of larger bulbs. It takes 12 strands of lights to do the job. Each strand has 25 bulbs. 4 strands have no malfunctioning bulbs, 4 strands have 5 malfunctioning bulbs, and 4 strands have 10 malfunctioning bulbs.

1) What is the average number of malfunctioning bulbs on each strand? 2) How many bulbs need to be replaced? 3) If a new colorful bulb costs 50 cents, how much will it cost to replace all the burnt out bulbs? 4) To be prepared for future bulb burn out emergencies, how many extras bulbs should be purchased if the diner wants to have 10% extra bulbs in storage? 5) How will the diner look when all the lights are put up?

Bringing out the sleigh bells: our music theme last night – Hey! It is getting cool here – in the past week, we plummeted from 70 degrees to the high 30’s. Time to bring out the sleigh ride music (with jingling bells a must):

We started with Mozart’s “German Dance No. 3 in C” (referred to as “Sleigh Ride”), K. 605, composed in 1791. For some reason, it is difficult to find outstanding orchestral performance video footage of this piece…but it is the melody that we are after:

Next, “Troika” (vocab: troika – a three-horse open sleigh), from Prokofiev’s “Lieutenant Kije Suite”, movement 4 (BTW, I really slow down every time I have to write LIEUTENANT…such an unreasonably difficult word to spell). This was composed in 1933 and was part of Prokofiev’s first film score. Such a delightful piece, but we especially listen for the iconic Prokofiev discordant “edge”. You can tell this was filmed in the ’70’s – check the conductor’s (Andre Previn) hair-style and glasses:

Finally, the obvious choice, Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride”, written during a heat wave in July, 1946. Adorable performance:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: 1) 5 bulbs 2) 60 bulbs 3) $30 4) 30 bulbs 5) So cool!)

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.)

26 Candles!

My son celebrated his birthday this past week! Among the wrapped presents, two spectacular books:

– “Star Talk” by astrophysicist and consummate showman, Neil deGrasse Tyson. So far – tremendously engrossing; last night we read about why astronauts grow taller in space (due to lack of gravity) (and apparently this is NOT good for bone density), the night before we learned how long it would take to travel to Mars via current space travel technology. (3 years). Full of quirky facts and explanations, this is exactly the type of book we like to spend time with.

– “The Wonder Garden” by Kristjana S. Williams and Jenny Broom focuses upon animal life in five distinct habitats (vocab) around the world. We are in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest (located it on the new globe/another birthday present!) chapter. Gross fact from last night: the green anaconda NEVER STOPS GROWING. Ewww ewww ewww. Aside from that, this book is a jewel. The obsessively decorative artwork is first rate, the book is well written and the excellent research is apparent. Learning materials were NOT this captivating when I was in school.

Story problem – Farmer Brown recycles used horseshoes! Farmer Brown has 6 horses and is filling up a barrel with used horseshoes. He has found a craftsman who would like to purchase the horseshoes and turn them into “good luck” wall art items. If each horse gets fitted for new shoes every other month, how many used shoes will Farmer Brown have in the barrel at the end of a year? If he is able to sell the used shoes to the craftsman for $10 each, how much money will he collect by the end of a year? If it costs $125 to shoe one horse, how many horses could be shod from the money earned from selling the old shoes? (answers at bottom of post)

Speaking of horseshoes – our poem for the evening was “The Village Blacksmith” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1840), which led us to look at and talk about anvils (vocab) and bellows (vocab), which led us to our music theme:

Plink, clank, plink – the anvil as musical instrument! What a most satisfactory listening experience:

– The Anvil Chorus from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera of 1853, “Il Trovatore” (The Troubadour). This song of the gypsies praises hard work, good wine, and gypsy women. For my son, I emphasized the hard work and the unique sound of the sledge hammer hitting the anvil, and sort of didn’t mention the good wine and gypsy women. Outstanding production:

– The Feuerfest (fireproof) Polka, composed in 1869 by Josef Strauss, brother of waltz king, Johann Strauss II. This is probably one of our top ten favorite classical pieces; we like to anticipate each anvil clang. In this linked video Mariss Jansons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic WHILE “playing” the hammers and anvil. Adorable, and kind of spellbinding.

– Finally, “Heigh Ho” from Disney’s 1937 blockbuster, “Snow White”. Music by Frank Churchill, words by Larry Morey. Anvil plinking all over the place.

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: 144, $1,440, 11 horses)

Le Menu du Jour

~Oh, what a tantalizing offering~

Appetizers –
May we suggest – une petite matching quiz to review things we’ve been learning about lately?

Followed by – a bit of drawing with pastels, focusing on TEXTURE

Zen perhaps – a game of hangman: last night’s word was “vowel” – my son has just learned the difference between vowels and consonants (my bad for not explaining this YEARS ago). Now that he recognizes the prevalence of vowels in all words, the time spent playing our hangman games has significantly decreased.

For le final appetizer delicacy – a story problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner:
The diner’s back room is being decorated with crepe paper streamers for a homecoming banquet, and it is going to involve THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM! (FYI, my son understands square roots, but to cut WAY down on time, we used the iPad for this calculation).

The room measures 15 by 20 feet and the party planners want to criss cross royal blue and bright green (school colors) crepe paper streamers from the ceiling corners. Streamers are to be taped and artistically twisted together from one corner of the room, diagonally, to the other side of the room. OMGOSH, right before their eyes, a HYPOTENUSE!
1) how far is it from one corner to another (diagonally across the room)?

2) how many feet of streamer are needed to stretch from one corner diagonally across the room to the other corner, if 1.5 times the hypotenuse are needed to achieve an esthetically pleasing twist?

3) if both colors will be used from corners to corners, making sort of an “X” in the middle of the room, how many feet will be needed of each color? (answers at bottom of post)

Le Main Course –
A favorite book author team, Dr. Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman, who put together “Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space”, have a new A+++ book out (YAY!): “Professor Astro Cat’s Atomic Adventure” – another case of we-cannot-wait-to-open-it-every-night. So far, we have learned about gravity (we threw a whole bunch of things up in the air and watched the inevitable happen), the scientific method (brother Jim is a molecular biologist, so we are taking a personal interest in the scientific method), the periodic table (organizational perfection), protons and electrons (the speed of those elections mesmerizes us). We are spellbound by Professor Astor Cat’s topics – well chosen, well explained; and graphics – SPLENDID. This book should be on everyone’s Christmas list.

For side dishes – our current fiction novel: “Gabby Duran and Troll Patrol”. YES. And a reading from our current Tom Gates book (“Tom Gates Extra Special Treats – not”). YES.

To cleanse zee palate – a poem: tonight’s selection, “Keep a Goin’” by Frank L. Stanton, a journalist for the Atlanta Constitution newspaper and Poet Laureate of Georgia, appointed in 1925. This poem has been stuck in my head for decades (when my sister was in the 4th grade, she chose to memorize this poem, and in the process, said it aloud so many times that everyone in the family to this day can recite it). Thank heavens it is fun, uplifting, grateful. Good for everybody.

And finally, le dessert tray – three elegant morsels from Frederic Chopin:

“Grande Valse Brilliante”, a waltz composed by Chopin in 1834 and used in the ballet “Les Sylphides”, which premiered in 1909. Everybody who has taken ballet lessons has tour jete’d across the dance studio (hypotenuse style!) to this absolutely charming waltz:

“Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor”, AKA “The Funeral March” to ALL kids (“pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you”), was composed in 1839. A perfectly creepy recording from 1910:

“The Minute Waltz”, more properly known as Chopin’s “Waltz in D-flat major”, composed in 1847. A bit of false advertising, as this piece actually lasts just over 2 minutes:

Bon appetit!
Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane Heiserman
(Story problem answers: 25 feet, 37.5 feet, 75 feet)

A Little Night Music

Question 1: If my son and I spend 15 minutes every night listening to classical music, how many hours of listening will we have stacked up over the course of a year? (answer at bottom of post)

Question 2: If we average 3 pieces per evening, how many compositions will we have listened to over the course of a year? (answer at bottom of post)

I have been thinking it would be helpful to have a tab on title-block that would take us to a page where our music themes were listed. So, OMGosh this has taken forever to assemble (and only includes music I have blogged about since July, 2014), but VOILA! This post is now tabbed on title-block as “Our Music Themes“.

(This is merely a listing; to read a few short lines of information about each composition and find links to youtube videos of said compositions, click on the links.)

Music Themes – Post Titles

Art set to music: Checkered House, by Grandma Moses – from “Good Books, Bad Books“

Over the River and Through the Wood – Lydia Maria Child
Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson
Carol of the Animals – Robert Davis

Art set to music: Pirate Chief, by Howard Pyle – from “Fly By“

The Maid of Amsterdam – traditional sea chanty
Overture to The Flying Dutchman – Wagner
Pirates of the Caribbean Suite – Klaus Badelt

Art set to music: The Clipper Ship, by Currier and Ives – from “Garden Par-tay“

Sea Songs – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Overture to H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan
Over the Waves – Juventino Rosas

Art set to music: The Fall of the Cowboy, by Remington – from “Answers for Everything“

Thanksgiving – George Winston
Hoedown – Aaron Copland
Back Home Again – John Denver

Back to School – from “If it’s August“

Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov
Entry of the Gladiators – Julius Fucik
Song of the Volga Boatmen – traditional

Barbershop Quartets – from “The Cliffs Notes Version“

Sincere – Meredith Willson
Mr. Sandman – Pat Ballard

Benjamin Franklin in France – from “It’s a Date!“

Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio – Mozart
The Coffee Cantata – JS Bach
Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor (Farewell Symphony) – Haydn

Black History Month Selections – from “Conversation Circle”

Maple Leaf Rag – Scott Joplin
The American Scene: The Southwest – William Grant Still
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore – Duke Ellington

Blue Days – from “Something Blue“

Blue Skies – Irving Berlin
Blue Tango – Leroy Anderson
The Blue Danube Waltz – Strauss

Blue Moon Tunes – from “Second Time Around”

Moonlight Serenade – Glenn Miller
Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin
Clair de Lune – Debussy

Brazil, thinking about – from “Tick, Tick, Tick“

exploring “The Little Train of Caipira” – Heitor Villa-Lobos

The Cambrian Explosion – from “In Which We Learn about the Cambrian Explosion“

Simple Gifts – Joseph Brackett
Polka Dots and Moonbeams – Van Heusen/Burke
1812 Overture – Tchaikovsky

Chicken Coop Melodies – from “Farm Fresh“

Symphony No. 83 in G minor (The Hen) – Haydn
The Hen – Respighi
Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little – Meredith Willson
Chicken Reel – Joseph M. Daly/Leroy Anderson

Classical Broadway – from “Desperately Seeking Ganesha“

Rosemary – Frank Loesser
Piano Concerto in A minor – Edvard Grieg
Baby Face – Akst/Davis
Hallelujah Chorus – Handel
Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina – Rice/Weber
Violin Concerto in D minor – Brahms

Cuckoo for Music – from “Things that go Bump in the Night“

Organ Concerto No. 13 in F major (The Cuckoo and the Hen) – Handel
Symphony No. 6 in F major (The Pastoral) – Beethoven
The Cuckoo – Respighi

Dealer’s Choice (my son selects 3 from a list of 10) – from “Starry Eyed“

The William Tell Overture – Rossini
The Cuckoo – Respighi
Mambo – Leonard Bernstein

Dental Procedures, music for – from “Messenger Service“

Symphony No. 6 in F major (The Pastoral) – Beethoven
The Barcarolle – Jacques Offenbach
The Moldau – Bedrich Smetana

The Doldrums – from “Going Nowhere Fast“

Sea Songs – Ralph Vaughan Williams
We Sail the Ocean Blue – Gilbert and Sullivan
Sailing By – Ronald Binge

Duets! – from “Sap Happy“

The Flower Duet – Leo Delibes
Si Fino All’ore Estreme – Bellini
People Will Say We’re in Love – Rogers and Hammerstein

Einstein and his Violin – from “Brainiac“

Violin Serenade No. 6 – Mozart
Violin Serenade No. 13 (Eine Kleine Machtmusik) – Mozart
Violin Sonata No. 26 in B-flat major – Mozart

Exotic Lands – from “That’s Gotta Hurt“

Scheherazade – Rimsky-Korsakov
Overture to Abduction fro the Seraglio – Mozart
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – Handel

Fanfare for the Water Bear – from “A Fanfare for the Water Bear“

Water Music – Handel
The Aquarium – Saint-Saens
The Wild Bears – Sir Edward Elgar

Franz Schubert Night – from “Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?”

Serenade – Schubert
Ave Maria – Schubert
March Militaire – Schubert

French Composers – from “A Test of Faith“

The Infernal Galop (The Can-Can) – Jacques Offenbach
Clair de Lune – Debussy
March of the Toreadors – Bizet

The French Horn – from “Working for Peanuts“

Water Music – Handel
Venus – Gustav Holst
Pavane for a Dead Princess – Maurice Ravel

Fun Music Only – from “Inventors Invent“

Dance of the Hours – Amilcare Ponchielli
Chicken Reel – Leroy Anderson
The Pink Panther – Henry Mancini

Good Shepherd – from “The Rattlesnake Sermon“

Sheep May Safely Graze – JS Bach
He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd – Handel
Tender Shepherd – Charlap/Leigh

Groundhog Day – from “Rodent Rage“

Winter – Vivaldi
Waltz of the Snowflakes – Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 6 in F major – Beethoven
Put on a Happy Face – Strouse/Adams

Halloween, scary music for – from “Back in the Saddle Again“

Dance Macabre – Saint-Saens
Mars – Gustav Holst
Masquerade – Khachaturian

Harp Music of the Angels – from “Sunday School“

Harp Concerto in B-flat major – Handel
Harp Concerto in A major – Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
Concerto for Flut and Harp – Mozart

The Hungarian March, 3 Ways – from “Travelogue“

Hungarian March – Berlioz
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 – Liszt
Hungarian Dance No. 19 – Brahms

Hymns: three from one – from “Riveting“

Ave Maria – Jacques Arcadelt
Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Organ Symphony) – Saint-Saens
Finlandia Hymn – Sibelius

Inventions for Inventions – from “Lights! Camera! Edison!“

Invention No. 6 in E major – JS Bach
Invention No. 8 in F major – JS Bach
Invention No. 13 in A minor – JS Bach

London Busses – from “Late Bloomer“

Jupiter – Gustav Holst
Pomp and Circumstance – Elgar
Fantasia on Greensleeves – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Overture to H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan

March Madness – from “Ranch Report“

Colonel Bogey March – Lieutenant F.J. Ricketts
The Imperial March – John Williams

March’s Marches – from “Wordery“

The Redetzky March – Johann Strauss, senior
March of the Siamese Children – Richard Rogers
The Washington Post March – John Philip Sousa

Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream – from “Flying, Farming, and Felix“

Overture to Midsummer Night’s Dream – Mendelssohn
The Wedding March – Mendelssohn

Michelangelo’s Rome – from “One Sculptor, One Scoundrel“

The Pines of Rome – Respighi
Palladio for String Orchestra – Karl Jenkins
Symphony No. 4 in A major (The Italian) – Mendelssohn

Minor Key Music – from “Miners and Minors“

The Hebrides Overture – Mendelssohn
In the Hall of the Mountain King – Edvard Grieg
Ride of the Valkyries – Wagner

Minuet in G to the Power of 3 – from “Hendecasyllable“

Minuet in G – Mozart
Minuet in G – Beethoven
Minuet in G – JS Bach

Mount Vesuvius – from “Mounting Interest“

Funiculi Funicular – Luigi Denza
Aus Italien – Richard Strauss
Neapolitan Song – Rimsky-Korsakov

Music to Soothe – from “Music to Soothe“

Mass in D minor, motet – Anton Bruchner
Sheep May Safely Graze – JS Bach
Simple Gifts – Joseph Brackett

Negro Spirituals – from “Heavenly“

Down by the Riverside – traditional
Wade in the Water – traditional
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – traditional

Nocturnes – from “Zootique“

Nocturne No. 2 – Chopin
Nocturne No. 3 – Liszt
Harlem Nocturne – Earl Hagen

The Oboe – from “Music Mechanics“

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – Handel
Swan Lake, final scene – Tchaikovsky
Le Tombeau de Couperin – Ravel

Overtures – from “Takes a Lickin’ and Keeps on Tickin‘”

Overture from H.M.S. Pinafore – Gilbert and Sullivan
Overture from Midsummer Night’s Dream – Mendelssohn
Overture from The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart

Paris Tribute – from “A Ghost by any other Name“

The Swan – Saint-Saens
Carillon – Bizet
La Vie en Rose – Edith Piaf

Pizzicato! – from “The Price is Wrong“

Divertissement: Pizzicati – Leo Delibes
Symphony 4 in F minor – Tchaikovsky
Anitra’s Dance – Edvard Grieg

The Presidents’ Music – from “The Liberace Instigation“

classical pieces composed during each administration

The Recorder – from “Well Played“

Sopranino Recorder Concerto in C major – Vivaldi
Ode to Joy – Beethoven
Greensleeves – traditional

The Sad Song Scale – from “Two Different Worlds“

Symphony No. 3 in F major – Brahms
What’ll I Do? – Irving Berlin
Serenade – Schubert

Saint Patrick’s Day – from “The Business of March“

Toora Loora Looral – James Royce Shannon
The Irish Washerwoman – traditional/Leroy Anderson
Danny Boy – Frederic Weatherly

Shrill Thrills! (the piccolo) – from “Jams and Jellyfish“

Chinese Dance (Nutcracker) – Tchaikovsky
Triton Fountain in the Morning – Respighi
Stars and Stripes Forever – Sousa

Strauss Family, the splendidly gifted – from “780 Pairs of Saddle Shoes“

Radetzky March – Johann Strauss, senior
Feuerfest Polka – Joseph Strauss
Thunder and Lightning Polka – Johann Strauss, junior

String Quartets – from “We the People“

String Quartet in B-flat major (La Chasse) – Haydn
String Quartet No. 2 in D major – Borodin
Cantina Band (performed as a string quartet) – John Williams

Summertime – from “Barely Scraping By“

Summer – Vivaldi
Fireflies – Amy Beach
Summertime – George and Ira Gershwin
In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry

Sunday Night Music – from “How We Write“

How Great Thou Art – Carl Gustav Boberg
Turn! Turn! Turn! – Pete Seeger/Book of Ecclesiastes
Let us Cheer the Weary Traveler – Nathaniel Dett

Surprise Endings – from “Bringing Handwriting up to Scratch“

The Wild Bears – Sir Edward Elgar
The Moldau – Bedrich Smetana
The Imperial March – John Williams

Tambourines! – from “Peace, Love, and Tambourines“

Mr. Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan
Tarantella – Rossini/Respighi
Russian Dance (Nutcracker) – Tchaikovsky

Tea Time – from “Textbooks – if we ruled the world“

Tea for Two – Youmans and Caesar
Tea for Two (Tahiti Trot) – Shostakovich
Tea for Two – Art Tatum

Things in the Sky – from “Snakes and Pirates“

Fireflies – Amy Beach
Clair de Lune – Debussy
Mercury – Gustav Holst

The Timpani – from “One Thing Leads to Another“

Dance of the Seven Veils – Richard Strauss
Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Richard Strauss
Pirates of the Caribbean Suite – Klaus Badelt

Trains – from “Posting about Posters“

The Little Train of Caipira – Heitor Villa-Lobos
The Steam Engine – Patrick Doyle
Take the A Train – Duke Ellington

Tribute: music for a beloved grandfather – from “Imagine That“

Fight for California – McCoy/Fitch
The Army Song – Sousa/Arberg
Ashokan Farewell – Jay Ungar

The Vatican, background music for – from “Holy Zucchetto“

Gregorian Chants – traditional
Gloria in Excelsis Deo – Vivaldi
Locus Iste – Bruchner

Virtuoso Night: Stanley Drucker – from “Affordable Housing Forever“

Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor – Brahms
Appalachian Spring – Aaron Copland
Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin

Virtuoso Night: Sir James Galway – from “Thousands and Thousands“

Concerto for Flute and Harp – Mozart
I Saw Three Ships – traditional
Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov

Virtuoso Night: Wynton Marsalis – from “Novel Ideas“

Concerto in E-flat major for Trumpet – Haydn
Moto Perpetuo – Paganini
The Prince of Denmark March (Trumpet Voluntary) – Jeremiah Clark

Virtuoso Night: Itzhak Perlman – from “Insert Clever Title Here“

Humoresque – Dvorak
Out of Africa, title music – John Barry
Violin Concerto in E minor – Mendelssohn

Waltzing with Tchaikovsky – from “Case in Point: Ibn Battuta“

Serenade for Strings – Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake Waltz, Act II – Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin, Polonaise – Tchaikovsky

Wistfulness – from “Finish the Poem“

Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, love theme – Tchaikovsky
Ashokan Farewell – Jay Ungar
What’ll I Do – Irving Berlin

Worker Bees, a soundtrack for – from “Bee Plus!”

Moto Perpetuo – Paganini
The Pizzicato – Leo Delibes
Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov

Welcome to the best part of my night!
– Jane BH
(answer 1: 91+ hours)
(answer 2: 1,095 pieces of music)

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)

Working for Peanuts

We begin our botany unit: “George Washington Carver – Ingenious Inventor”, another “Graphic Library” book, this one by Olson/Tucke. (These books are pretty fun, formatted comic-book style, including a surprising amount of interesting information. Not bad, not bad at all). Anyway, George Washington Carver, FATHER OF THE PEANUT INDUSTRY, has won our hearts: he was focused, deep thinking, moral (vocab), inventive, industrious, and profoundly generous. But back to the botany angle: Carver ended up with three patents for peanut oil utilization (hardly representative of his many many many inventions and contributions). We spent a few minutes wondering what Carver’s scientific response would have been to the present day widespread peanut allergy crisis. We also decided that we wanted to know more about other botanists (vocab), so books on Gregor Mendel and Luther Burbank have been ordered.

Story problem time – the SUMMERTIME SWEETHEART SODA SPECIAL at Le Fictitious Local Diner: Hoping to entice the after-movie date crowd, the diner has run a midnight ice-cream soda special (a large-sized soda with two straws and a side of fries) every Friday and Saturday, since June 1st. Well! This has been so popular that the diner went through two boxes of straws (1000 straws to the box) in June alone! If the special is priced at $5.00, how much did the diner gross on the special in June? If the cost per serving works out to $2.00, how much did the diner net from this special in June? Extraneous question: if a box of 1,000 straws costs $17, what is the price per straw (round up)? (answers at bottom of post)

New fiction reading: We are intrigued by “Gabby Duran and the Unsittables” by Elise Allen and Daryle Conners. This book is original and refreshing, with new concepts and vocabulary all over the place. The introductory adventure involves a movie production (so new words: set, line, soundstage, props); subsequent adventures involve INTERGALACTICS. Adding to this, protagonist Gabby Duran, is a high schooler intent on being an orchestra soloist with her French Horn (and consider us admonished via the internet; we’ve learned that this instrument is properly referred to as the HORN, not the French Horn). So, do you expect us to let it go at that? Our choice for classical music listening last night focused upon compositions that showcased the HORN. We wanted to appreciate the deep, comfortable, warm echo-y sound of Gabby’s horn.

Our inspiration for classical music listening last night – Gabby Duran’s French Horn:

– George Frederick Handel’s Water Music, Movement 2, from Water Music Suite No. 2, composed in 1717 to humor King George I, who desired music for a concert on the River Thames. My son and I love this jaunty full-of-energy fanfare:

– Gustav Holst’s Venus, from The Planets, composed in 1916. “Venus, the Bringer of Peace”, begins with a horn solo, and the horn provides the backbone for this L O N G dreamy movement (just a teeny touch boring compared to the rest of the planets in the suite) (but very restful, if you need to fall asleep) (and sort of sad, too) (OK! Not our favorite, but still a good “front and center” for the horn):

– Maurice Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess, first written for piano in 1899, then orchestrated by Ravel in 1910. This is a slow processional dance, with the horn taking center stage for the introduction. An excellent choice for anyone seeking background music for a good hard cry:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers: $5,000, $3,000, 2 cents per straw)

Inventors Invent

Patents and Inventions – every night for the past few weeks my son and I have looked forward to opening Travis Brown’s book, “Popular Patents”. We’ve read about patents issued for the adding machine, barbed wire, the moveable-frame beehive, billiard balls, bottle caps, cannons, the safety elevator, fertilizer, frozen foods, glass bottles, helicopters, and the zipper. What we love is that each story has some crazy angle (like how zippers were called “hookless fasteners” until an order for 150,000 units were placed by the Goodrich Company for their “Zipper Boots”). And we continue to notice how EVERY single story reveals inventors that carry patents for MULTIPLE non-related items. They cannot seem to stop: inventors invent!

Speaking of Fertilizer (first US patent for artificial fertilizer granted in 1859) – we read through (OH MY GOSH) “TOILET – How It Works”, meticulously illustrated by David Macaulay. This is a quick little book that can give EVERYBODY a basic knowledge of their toilet and a HUGE appreciation for every city’s wastewater treatment plant (on behalf of all clueless citizenry, thank you wastewater treatment plant workers) (possibly a type of employment that might be worse than being a middle-school bus driver).

Yoohoo! Vikings! We are reading through another Graphic Library (think glorified comic book) offering, this one about the Vikings, “Lords of the Sea – the Vikings Explore the North Atlantic”. My, these were a hardy people. We are finding it interesting to put the Viking explorations to North America in timeline context with the likes of Christopher Columbus and the Mayflower Pilgrims. And BTW, we’ve learned that Vikings never wore helmets with horns.

Reading for fun – My husband and I enjoy the screenwriting of Anthony Horowitz (think “Foyle’s War”), so when I found out that he wrote for the young adult level, I knew my son and I would want to give this a try. We have started his book, “The Falcon’s Malteser”. Lots of things to explain to my son as we read along (starting with the title), but this is a very fun, very clever detective novel. Perfect level for my son.

Who’s Cooking at Le Fictitious Local Diner? (story problem) – in August, the diner is offering two week-long (Monday through Friday) cooking camps; one for 7th and 8th graders and one for high school students. The class fee is $200 per student and includes lunch every day and a chef hat. There is room for 10 students in each camp. If it costs the diner $4 for each lunch, and $50 for cooking materials for each student for a week, and a chef’s hat costs $6 each, how much will the diner spend on each camper? At the end of camp, how much will the diner have netted? (answer at bottom of post)

Only Fun Music Allowed (our classical music theme last night) –

“Dance of the Hours” (note: this piece has a LONG 2 minute intro – the high voltage fun begins about 7.5 minutes into piece), from the opera “La Gioconda” (1880) by Amilcare Ponchielli. Even though this music was hilariously and successfully used in Disney’s “Fantasia” and Allen Sherman’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah”, we were sorry to learn that “La Gioconda” is actually a heart-wrenching tragedy. But anyway:

“Chicken Reel”, written in 1910 by Joseph Daly (and used in several animated cartoons to depict rollicking farm life), and arranged for orchestra by LeRoy Anderson in 1946. Anderson had so much fun with this – beginning with the ridiculously grand aggressive Paso Doble introduction. Great piece:

“The Pink Panther”, the iconic Henry Mancini piece composed in 1963. (My son and I love the triangle action.) This short film clip showcases Henry Mancini as conductor, as well as bits of Pink Panther cartoon magic:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
Jane BH
(story problem answers: $76, $2,480)

Jane’s Cool School

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

Story Problems

Curses and Cheers

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2016 – Gone, but not forgotten

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So Cool

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Old Business

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26 Candles!

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Le Menu du Jour

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A Little Night Music

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Miners and Minors

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Working for Peanuts

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Inventors Invent

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