Two Links

We're always interested in useful links here at educationvalidation. Sumgreater recommends http://www.classicsforkids.com I second that. It includes information about composers categorized by period, country, alphabetically, etc. It also includes, puzzles, games, tips for parents/teachers and recordings of many classical pieces. We started at the beginning with Hildegard von Bingen (a very good place to start). We also found lots of her music on youtube and learned that a friend of ours is writing a play about her controversial life as a nun who prophesied, performed miracles, wrote books on religion and medicine and was a prolific composer.
Tonight, I found a fantastic interactive website that gives anybody access to the Library of Congress. Star would like to spend a few months in that Library, but she's never gotten more than a peek through the windows in the closed doors. She made a very depressed face after that. Here's your open access pass: http://www.myloc.gov

Happy summer school!

The Baby is the lesson

Having little babies around all the time always feels like such an obstacle in doing homeschool. I read this article just now, though, and it's exactly what I needed. Maybe it will make you feel better, too.

http://www.lovetolearn.net/homeschool_articles/baby.lasso

The Gleaners-Jean-Francois Millet

This painting is our screensaver this week. It is Millet's most famous work.
What do you think?

Happy Pi Day 3/14

I love that pi is both constant and irrational.  In honor of Pi Day our family will be eating circular foods like pizza, apple pie and possibly quiche or donuts.    I may also take some time to consider other things that are constant and irrational in my life.  3.14 cheers for Euclidian geometry!

  

"Pi is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space; this is the same value as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius.  It is approximately equal to 3.14159 in the usual decimal notation.  Pi is one of the most important mathematical and physical constants:  many formulae from mathematics, science, and engineering involve pi."  -Wikipedia

Beauty All Around-ART

I know there are dozens of museums near our home, but I have a three year old boy.  We did have an amazing private tour of Sotheby's Auction house this year sans the boy and photos pending.  I highly recommend it for New Yorkers as one of the only places you can really see great art for free (private tour not required, anyone can go) and the galleries are always changing.  

That said, at our house, art is usually playing with clay, glue, magazines, paint, cardboard, watching art related BrainPop movies and checking out art books.    Star (11) sometimes uses Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain exercises.  All of that is good and will continue, but this link has energized me.  We can study artistic masterpieces in a meaningful but easy way.  I think it will increase our awareness of beauty and our ability to observe.

http://www.squidoo.com/cmartiststudy

I can just pick pieces from one artist as my screensaver for a week at a time, so we get familiar with the style and body of work.  A no-peeking verbal narration will also hold the image together in our brains as will making our own attempts to copy the works.  There are also a couple of websites that provide coloring book pages of famous paintings and sculpture like this one:

http://www.color-me-online.com/masterpiece/paintings/index.html

Head to this site to print out a list of questions to consider when looking at a work of art:

http://www.gcms.k12.il.us/gcmsms/art/looking_at_art.htm

Library visits

We're learning our way around the local library.  As recommended in The Well-Trained Mind, each child checks out the following books (and then some!) on each library visit:  

a science book

an history book

an art or music appreciation book

a practical book (a craft, hobby, or "how-to")

a biography or autobiography

a classic novel (or an adaptation suited to age)

an imaginative storybook

and

a book of poetry

Mummified hot dog

From Exploratopia  

This experiment takes 17 days to complete.  If presenting, you may want to have one hot dog completely mummified, one that has only been prepping for 1 week to observe the process and one that is "fresh" if you can use that word to describe a hot dog. ;)

What you Need:

*A plastic container that's several inches longer, wider, and deeper than your hot dog

*A very large box (or two smaller boxes) of baking soda (sodium bircarbonate)*A small scale, like a postage scale (optional)

*An ordinary hot dog (could be beef, turkey, vegetarian- doesn't really matter because you're not going to eat it)

*Paper and pencil

*A ruler

*A piece of string at least 3 inches long

What you do:

1.  The ancient Egyptians mummified very important people-royalty like King Tut.  Out of respect to your very important hot dog, we have named him King Oscar.

2.  Fill the plastic container about two inches deep with baking soda.

3.  If you have a scale, weigh King Oscar now.  Record his weight.

4.  Use your ruler to measure how long King Oscar is now.

5.  Use your piece of string to measure the distance around King Oscar's middle.  This is his circumference.

6.  Make notes on what King Oscar looks like now so you can compare that with what he will look like later.

7.  Place King Oscar on top of the baking soda in the container and cover him with more baking soda.  Make sure the baking soda is a couple of inches thick on the top and sides of dear departed king Oscar.

8.  Place King Oscar in a special place (not back in the refrigerator).  Leave him there for a week.

9.  A week later, remove King Oscar from the baking soda.  does he look different?  what does he smell like?  how long is he now?  What is his circumference?  Write down your observations.

10.  If you have a scale, weigh him again.  Did he lose or gain weight?

11.  Throw away the old baking soda and surround King Oscar with fresh, new baking soda and put him back in his special place for ten more days.

12.  Ten days later, take King Oscar out of the baking soda again.  what's he like now?  he's been transformed into a stiff, leathery mummy!  Now he will last a very long time.  (Egyptian mummies are thousands of years old!)  Put King Oscar in a place of honor.

What's going on?

The dramatic changes seen in King Oscar are direct results of dehydration, which means that water is removed from something.  If you'd left Kin Oscar out in the open without baking soda, he would get moldy and smelly.  food that's not refrigerated goes bad because bacteria and mold need water--and you've used baking soda to take the water out of King Oscar.  Not water... no rot!  King Oscar is preserved for posterity.  That means for future generations, infinity and beyond.)  One fine day, some future archeologist will dig up your mummified hot dog... or maybe not!