African explorers

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

Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?

As far as quotable phrases go, isn’t “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” perfection?

Stanley and Livingstone in miniature (just the thing for your locket)

We are loving our African explorers unit!  Last night my son and I read about Dr. David Livingstone (discoverer of Victoria Falls), his frightening disappearance of three years, and his subsequent rescue by H.M. Stanley, of the “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” quote. (Years later, Stanley mapped Lake Victoria and was able to confirm that it was the source of the Nile. Note: Victoria Falls and Lake Victoria are about 2,000 miles apart.) ANYWAY, the explorations of Livingstone and Stanley form the template for any adventure novel.  At every turn there is malaria, slave traders, dying guides, deserting guides, hippo attacks, storms, robbers, uncrossable rivers, bloody battles, and cannibals!  Riveting!

Tomorrow night – Marco Polo!

As if you couldn’t tell, this explorer unit is so A+++!  We are reading from The Usborne Book of EXPLORERS.  Side note: every Usborne book we have read has been well researched and interestingly presented. USBOURNE BOOKS is a direct sales company (think Mary Kay or Discovery Toys).  I have no idea who, in my neck of the woods, sells Usborne books, but I can usually find a copy of what I am looking for through Amazon’s third party sellers.

Our Farmer Brown story problem was all about butter.  We calculated how much butter Farmer Brown would need to purchase for his “corn on the cob” booth at the county fair, and how much the butter would cost.

Parlez-vous française?  Or Japanese or German or Spanish or Vietnamese?   We can count to 10 in each of these languages. Last night, I verbalized 20 different numbers in one of the above languages and my son would find each number on our iPad language software app. Counting to ten isn’t really the goal; I just want my son to have an awareness that many languages are spoken throughout the world.

Classical Music – It was Franz Schubert night! Poor Franz!  He was short, chubby, wore glasses, and his so-called friends called him, “Mushroom”.  To sort of top it all off, he died of syphilis at age 31. But, oh, his music legacy!

  • Serenade – written when he knew he was dying, it’s all about crushing sorrow. A beautifully executed composition.
  • Ave Maria – Yes, THE “Ave Maria” that you are familiar with! Schubert wrote it!
  • Marche Militaire – a completely polished work. This is one of those pieces that is thoroughly likeable on first listening.  It might sound familiar – it was used in the Disney cartoon, “Santa’s Workshop”.

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