A New Endeavor

We began a new subject of study today.  I've long felt it important to instill musical knowledge and appreciation in our students, but as I was not taught well in my youth, I did not know how to incorporate this in our home studies.  On the recommendation of the My Father's World curriculum, I purchased the $3 CD "The Story of Tchaikovsky in Words and Music."  I can say without a doubt that it was $3 well spent.  I immediately enjoyed listening to the selected music while a narrator discussed the composer's life.  I learned so much!

Until this afternoon, I didn't know if the children would enjoy or listen to the music and story, but they seemed enthralled and made observations about the music and the story.  We will continue to study the great composers in this way as well as learning about the orchestra and its instruments with a book and CD combination called "Those Amazing Musical Instruments."

I'm so excited to share this learning with my students.  I'm learning so much with them!

Quills and Ink

What better way to celebrate the writing of the Declaration of Independence than to make our own quills and ink.

To make the quills, we used large craft feathers and trimmed the ends to a slanted point, cleaned out the middle of the shaft and cut a small slice in the tip to allow for ink flow.

The ink was the messy and entertaining part.  I smashed black berries in a strainer, allowing the juice to drip down into a bowl below.  It yielded a surprising amount of juice.  We stirred in salt and vinegar to stabilize the berries and then dipped our quills in to give it a go.

Each child dipped their quill and wrote their name on paper to be included in their portfolio with a photograph of them using the quill.

Writing with a quill was no easy task, but somehow our forefathers got the job done.  

After the kids were finished, I took a shot at writing out the first few lines of the Declaration.  Good Grief!!  Dipping your pen every few letters and that scratchy sound on the paper is a sure-fire way to cut off my communication with the rest of the world.  Thank goodness for email and spell check.  

The Courage of Sarah Noble

We recently finished reading The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh.  


What a lovely little story, based on real events, that tells of a girl traveling with her father to build a new home in the wilderness, having left her mother and siblings at home.  Though the dangers of a settlers life threaten her, she keeps up her courage in the face of it all until her family is reunited.  


This information isn't so much for you, my readers, as it is a good way for me to recall the literature we've shared.