Today we've been spending the morning researching Monet and setting up an outdoor studio so the kids can do some landscape sketches. They're having a great time using light and shadows to draw things in the yard. Zoë even took her lunch with her, just like Monet would have, and ate while she drew.
Last week was our first test of not finishing their task list. Zoë decided that she wasn't going to complete her math, so she spent the weekend with no technology privileges. She did manage to finally sit down and work on it Sunday morning, so at least the work doesn't carry over to this week. I think she thought she could just skip doing it altogether, and was upset to find out that was not an option. Something tells me she won't do that again.
We have a very busy week fitting in the rest of the Europe unit before we head out of town for the weekend. Final projects will need to be completed by Thursday night, and they have a few lessons to finish before they even get to the final projects. It's probably going to be a long week!
This weekend they participated in a piano competition. They had to play 2 songs, one from the Suzuki book and another they just learned by reading. They also both took a theory test after they played. We just got their scores back and they did very well. Both Aiden and Zoë received a superior rating on their playing. Aiden got a superior in theory, while Zoë received an excellent. We're really proud of all the practice they've put in lately. I'm hoping that Zoë's higher score will motivate her to continue practicing well. Aiden is further along in the book, and she sometimes gets discouraged by that.
We're starting to think about planning Aiden's book one piano recital. He only has 2 songs to finish hands together, and he'll be ready. He can't decide if he wants to do the recital at home or a piano store. I'm hoping he picks the piano store! We can't comfortably fit all the people he wants to invite into our living room, plus I think it would seem like a bigger deal if he did it away from home. Hopefully, I can sway him to pick that option.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Off to Europe
Last week was our week off during which we still practiced piano, had Taekwondo, went to a concert at the symphony, and had culture nights for both of the children's JET classes. Let's just say the week off, didn't feel too "off."
Yesterday we hit the ground running with our Europe unit. We'll only be spending two weeks on the unit, because we're going to fit it all in before Spring Break starts, but they won't have a problem getting it all done.
They'll be reading Charolette of Giverny (a fictional journal about a little girl living for a year around all the Impressionist painters in France in 1892). Zoë is thrilled with the art focus. During spring break we're going to take a trip to the art museum to see all the Impressionist paintings they have.
We had a little difficulty yesterday when both of them were complaining about the work they had to do. It seemed like they were just waiting for me to do it for them. Instead, I had them talk about what they were struggling with and come up with a solution. Aiden was working on finding the longitude and latitude of major cities in Europe. The map we had only had a few longitude and latitude lines and he was angry that he didn't know the numbers exactly and had to estimate them. After talking to him and watching him do the lesson, I realized that it wasn't that he was unable to do the estimations, it was that he was mad that he couldn't be precise. So I had him come up with ways to find the real numbers. He did a google search of maps of Europe, but couldn't find any that were anymore precise than the one he had. Finally he found a site that listed the city's latitude and longitude. Normally, I wouldn't have let him do this because the lesson was to be able to understand how to use the coordinate system, but he understood it completely, and the lesson turned into learning in which countries the major cities are located and how to solve your own problem. Zoë hasn't done this lesson yet. I'm interested to see how she responds to the impreciseness. I'm guessing that it won't bother her.
Yesterday we hit the ground running with our Europe unit. We'll only be spending two weeks on the unit, because we're going to fit it all in before Spring Break starts, but they won't have a problem getting it all done.
They'll be reading Charolette of Giverny (a fictional journal about a little girl living for a year around all the Impressionist painters in France in 1892). Zoë is thrilled with the art focus. During spring break we're going to take a trip to the art museum to see all the Impressionist paintings they have.
We had a little difficulty yesterday when both of them were complaining about the work they had to do. It seemed like they were just waiting for me to do it for them. Instead, I had them talk about what they were struggling with and come up with a solution. Aiden was working on finding the longitude and latitude of major cities in Europe. The map we had only had a few longitude and latitude lines and he was angry that he didn't know the numbers exactly and had to estimate them. After talking to him and watching him do the lesson, I realized that it wasn't that he was unable to do the estimations, it was that he was mad that he couldn't be precise. So I had him come up with ways to find the real numbers. He did a google search of maps of Europe, but couldn't find any that were anymore precise than the one he had. Finally he found a site that listed the city's latitude and longitude. Normally, I wouldn't have let him do this because the lesson was to be able to understand how to use the coordinate system, but he understood it completely, and the lesson turned into learning in which countries the major cities are located and how to solve your own problem. Zoë hasn't done this lesson yet. I'm interested to see how she responds to the impreciseness. I'm guessing that it won't bother her.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Quote of the Day
We've all been excited to watch the 2010 Olympics, and most nights this week we've tuned in to see how the athletes are doing. Last night Aiden told us "I'd like to be in the Olympics someday." After a short pause he told us, "the oldest person is 36. I'm already 7. I better get started now." After we had a discussion about how much practice goes into being an athlete of that caliber, he decided he'd rather watch. Either way it made me giggle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)