Wednesday, June 12, 2019

April and May 2019

Music:
5h Grade:
Violin: School Orchestra, Spring Concert, Humoresque by Dvorak for the IMA competition
Piano: Tarantella by Pieczonka, Knight Ruppert by Schumann

3rd Grade:
Cello: Twinkle-Twinkle. The first steps of every toddler.
Piano: The Clown by Kabalewski, Minuet in G Major by Bach, Children at Play by Bartok, and Eccosaise


Math:
5th Grade:
Geometry: Parameter and Area
Pre-algebra: Square Roots, Angles, Parameter and Area
Algebra: Analytic Geometry-Graphing Lines

3rd Grade:
Beast Academy 4: Fractions and Decimals

English:
5th Grade:
Breakout

3rd Grade:
The one and only Ivan
Handwriting without Tears: Cursive

Portuguese:
Read-aloud: Family adventures in AntarcticaTres filhas em AntarticaO livroNaracao, Dinossauros no Brasil
Gramatica Ativa 1: Grammar

Reading:
5th Grade: Pelezinho
3rd Grade: Short stories printed from the internet

Music: listen to music when commuting

History:

Freedom Walker by Russel Freedman
Speeches by Martin Luther King
Short Films about the Civil Rights movement

Read Aloud:
Chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe

Travels:
None, to be remedied soon

Comments:

The kids started school full time in March. This means that they were away from home from 8:30am until 4:00pm. This resulted in a disruptions of our homeschooling rhythm. I abandoned teaching English grammar and spelling. A big mistake. We continued with Math and with read alouds as before. We read most of all nights. The last week of May was stolen by a visit from the east-coast family, and by preparation for the IMA and the National Piano Guild. We did not do well on these events. I feel we stretched too thin and did not focus. I am read a few books now precisely on management.

I enrolled myself and the violinist in the master class taught by Itzak Perlman. I recommend it. I also purchased a book by Ivan Galamian called Principles of Violin: Playing and Teaching. I need to be a more informed parent. In addition I am reading Create Great by Collins, and The Talent Code by Coyle. From the latter one I don't have high expectations but that does not matter, I just want to grab something worthwhile and incorporate it in our approach to excellence.

I came across this blog about teaching math and what math education lacks in general, across the countries. My style is aligned with this blog's philosophy. I teach math in a comprehensive manner, without any doubts left over, and without assumptions of any kind, so that I saw confidence, and reap curiosity. Genius I don't have, but they are not important. Very few genius made great contributions. Great contributions came from people who were focused, who were confident to try, and undeterred by the prospect of failure.

June, July and August will look like this:
June: 3-week basketball camp and 1-week soccer camp, plus enjoying the local pool
July: Portuguese camp in Minnesota, trip to the national parks west-Glacier and Yellowstone
August: trip west continued, a few weeks rest possibly filled with hikes in Illinois' state parks, and the beginning of 4th grade and 6th grade.
We are taking reading and math along on our trip west. We are taking a solid 2x2 week break from music.



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