Day 66 / 102 - Week 15 Presentations

I have posted several times before about how my children are expected to give a 2 - 3 minute presentation each week during our Classical Conversations Foundations day.  This is one area where I have seen ample growth in my children since when we started the program almost three years ago.  Before, identifying weekly topics and encouraging them in their presentation skills was quite a bit of work.  But now, they know this a core component of our morning.  They know it is expected of them.  And, they know what and how to prepare ahead of time.  After three years, I am rarely involved in any step of their process.

This week, I was impressed with both my children and their choice of topics.  My son recreated an Egyptian pyramid burial tomb out of Legos.  He explained to his class a little bit about the mummification process and what went into the tombs.  There were corridors (to deter grave robbers) as well as treasures and often modes of transportation to the afterlife.  I'm not sure the picture does it justice.  He briefly explained the largest ever pyramid tomb was the one that belonged to the pharaoh Khufu and described its dimensions.

My daughter spoke on origami. (A skill, I guess, she taught herself earlier in the week. I missed it.) She told her class a little about the history of the paper folding art, and then taught her class how to make a dog and a flower.

Of course, our main goal has always been to learn and refine public speaking skills.  That in and of itself is more important than the choice of topics.

Day 65 / 102 - Meet Kirsten

My daughter and I attended our first Raleigh County Public Library American Girl party this morning.  Kirsten (a doll that has been retired) is a brave pioneer girl growing up in 1850's Minnesota.  We are somewhat familiar with her stories.

I must say, our local library knows how to throw an American Girl party.  I didn't quite know what to expect, but I'm so glad we braved the weather (and roads) to attend this morning's festivities.  In two hours time, my daughter journeyed back in time to 1850's America.  She square danced, wove baskets, wrote with chalk on a slate, decorated a quilt square, shopped at the General Store, played in a log cabin, and more!

We can't wait until the next party this spring!

Day 64 / 102 - The Average Size of a Goldfish Cracker

While working with my children today on averages, I figured we might as well add in some measuring.  As an added bonus, this week their Classical Conversations math memory work has them memorizing linear equivalents (2.54 cm = 1 in, etc).  All of this was easily taught by grabbing the nearest item on the dining room table -- a bag of goldfish crackers.

In case you were curious, and can't tell by the pictures, the average size of a cracker in our two samples was 2 cm, or .901 in.

In creating this post, I also learned how to display two pictures as one.  Something that anyone who is younger, or more tech-savvy, than me is probably very capable of doing repeatedly.  This day has been wildly successful!

Day 63 / 102 - Classical Acts and Facts History Cards

Last year, thanks to Pinterest, I became briefly internet famous (for about a day) because of a post I published with various learning activities we accomplished using our Veritas Press Timeline cards.  (Click here).

This year, Classical Conversations has developed a new timeline curriculum of 161 events of human history, representing major cultures and every continent.  This timeline complements our History curriculum and has been a wonderful addition to the very minimal amount of 'textbooks' we use.

Along with using the 10 activities posted from last year, I wanted to add two more that we've been having fun with since this fall.

11.  Pictionary.  Select a card.  Draw a picture representing that card.  See how long it takes others to guess which card you selected.

12.  Recreate the Scene with Legos.  Another activity I wish I would have thought of years ago.  This has kept my children occupied for hours.  Below you will see where they recreated Creation and the Fall, and Jews Return and Rebuild the Temple.  In recreating the scene, I make my children give me facts that can be found on the back of the card.  They need to answer such questions as: Where is this taking place?  Who's represented in your creation?  When is is taking place?  What did you include that is significant to the creation?  Why do you think this event is included in the timeline?  Etc.  This has been super fun, because everything is more fun with Legos!

Day 62 / 102 - Writing from Pictures

A recent IEW creative writing assignment that my son completed was 'Writing From Pictures'.  The student is given three pictures that tell a story.  His assignment was to write that story.  I loved his finished work from the pictures posted above, so I thought I'd share.  Enjoy!

One day for no apparent reason, a reprehensible Roman soldier came to my house threateningly telling me to advance to the lion pit. Now, I had been expecting this, so it was no surprise. “My good fellow,” I replied. “Allow me to get dressed.” While I was dressing, I prayed, hoping the ravenous lions would not devour me.

Leading me to the lion pit was Roman General Maximus. He was an evil soldier who despised anyone who prayed. Laughing and opening the gate he yelled, over the crowds' cheers, “Have fun!” I watched him move back up to his special-people-box. I prayed to myself, “Lord. Please have mercy.” Then I screamed at the top of my voice to the Romans. “RELEASE THE LIONS! I HAVE NO FEAR! I WILL NOT FALTER!”

Before you could say lion, I was standing face-to-face with the savage beast. Surprisingly, it didn't seem ravenous. In fact, it seemed like a lost, hungry puppy. Slowly reaching out my hand I touched the now cute animal. I could hear it softly purring. The Roman crowd started to boo. Ha! This stunned the Romans, as they saw their lion, who had not eaten in weeks, allowing the Praying-man to ride it. I was whom the Romans called the Praying-man. In front of their appalled faces, I proudly rode to my freedom on my lion, Fuzzy. Fuzzy was the only name he would answer to.

And, I lived happily ever after.

“Oh, grandfather,” screamed Titus and Lucius, giddy with excitement. “Tell it again! Tell it again!”

One day for no apparent reason........

The End

Day 61 / 102 - The Little Panda's Mystery

Last week, my daughter wanted to write a story about Pandas.  So I replied, "Go right ahead."  Enjoy.

Chapter One – The Mystery Begins

Once upon a time there was a panda named Bamboo who was six months old. He was as small as a big rock, and weighed 60 pounds. Since he loved to eat bamboo, that is why his parents, Mei Xing and Ting Ting, named him Bamboo.

One day he scampered outside searching for bamboo in the mini bamboo field. When he arrived, there was no bamboo. The grass was black and dry. “What a mystery,” he whispered to himself. He did not know what had happened. He was very scared. He clumsily staggered back home to tell his parents what had happened, but they were not there. He cautiously looked around the house, but it was destroyed.

Chapter Two – Finding Evidence

Finally Bamboo found his parents. They were asleep. He was still very frightened, because he thought they might be dead. He wanted to cry, but he knew he was too old to cry. His mom, Mei Xing, had always taught him to control his temper.

When his mom woke up she consoled him and happily hugged him with a great big bear hug. He was not sad anymore. He was happy. Then he told his mom about the mystery. She explained that farmers set fire to the pandas' field, because they were angry at the zoo keepers for planting bamboo on their crops.

Chapter Three – The Mystery Solved

“Then why was the house destroyed?” Bamboo wondered.

“The zoo keeper tried to give us our shots” Mei Xing answered. “So we ran around the house until we destroyed it. Does that solve your mystery?”

“Yes it does” agreed Bamboo.

Right then Ting Ting, his dad, woke up and sleepily mumbled, “Where is the bamboo flavored cake?”

Everyone laughed and lived happily ever after.

The End

Day 60 / 102 - Liquid Equivalents

We've been memorizing liquid equivalents this week, and (thanks to Pinterest) we've sketched the pictures posted several times.  By about their third drawing, my children had the concept memorized.

8 fluid ounces = 1 cup
2 cups = 1 pint
2 pints = 1 quart
4 quarts = 1 gallon

Day 59 / 102 - Giotto

Over the next six weeks, for our Classical Conversations fine arts projects, we are studying great artists from the Renaissance and post-Renaissance period using the book Discovering Great Artists.  I posted about this book briefly last year (here), and how the book teaches the styles, techniques, and works of many great artists, as well as including a related activity for each artist.

Today, we discussed Giotto (1266 - 1337), who before becoming an artist, was a shepherd in Italy.  He made his paint by grinding minerals, berries, or even insects into fine powder and mixing the pigment with egg yolk and water.  Egg tempera makes a thin, fast drying coat of bright color.  The paint is very strong and long lasting.

Our related assignment was to explore Giotto's technique of painting with egg tempera by recreating a similar paint using crushed chalk and egg yolks.  You can see my children's finished work, painted with their own egg tempera paint, pictured above.

Day 58 / 102 - More Rubik's Cube

My nine-year-old daughter learned how to solve the Rubik's Cube last week.

I've posted about the Rubik's Cube before (here).  There are countless algorithms that can be memorized in order to solve the cube.  About seven years ago, my husband learned one.  When my son was old enough, my husband taught it to him.  My son has since taken it to the next level by memorizing additional algorithms in order to beat his solution time.  His current best is one minute and seventeen seconds.

Early in December, my daughter wanted to learn.  To memorize the algorithms you need two things.  Spatial relations and patience.  She has the spatial relations down.  However, she lacks patience.  We did not think she would sit down and practice (for what seems like endless hours) in order to memorize the pattern.  But, she was determined, and after persisting for a couple of weeks, she is now capable of solving the cube.

This means I am the only member of my family unable to solve the Rubik's Cube.  I lack the spatial relations.  Quite possibly, I lack the patience, too.

Day 57 / 102 - Reviewing with Legos

After playing around on a few Lego blogs recently, I thought it would be fun if we started to work on our memory work using Legos.  This year for science we are memorizing basic Biology and Geology lists.  I wrote the components of the lists on Legos, mixed up all the pieces, and then timed my children to see how quickly they could sort out the lists.  Then the next day, we competed to beat our time from the day before.

This was a great way to play-to-learn, and I'm looking forward to reviewing other subjects this way once I create the pieces.

Day 56 / 102 - The Pottery Place

Our 'winter break' would not be complete without a visit to The Pottery Place.  This was not our first time at a paint-your-own-pottery studio.  My children love choosing their own piece and designing it.  To be honest, I've also enjoyed making coffee tumblers and wine goblets of my own.

Day 55 / 102 - Dayton Ballet's Nutcracker

We always enjoy a seasonal viewing of the Nutcracker.  We attended a performance two days before Christmas.  The Dayton Ballet performed beautifully, and it was also fun for my daughter to note the differences between their performance and the one she participated in last year. 

Day 54 / 102 - December Reading Contest

Even though our school life slows down a bit in December, we still like to take the time to challenge ourselves.  More than once we've had a family reading contest.  This year was no different.  We hung a paper tree on the wall, and after completing an hour of reading we hung an ornament to show our progress.  The above picture was taken early in the month and the below picture was taken on January 1st. 

My children really love this and always rise to the challenge of a contest.  I'm thinking of implementing something like it more than once a year.