Upcoming School Year in Focus: Arts & Language

I have been very relaxed with these particular subjects because my children are younger.  My goal has mainly been exposure and appreciation.  We did start our Shakespeare Fridays last year and it was a success, so we will continue with the Bard.  My oldest will start her third Memoria Press Latin program, but I've added a few things to make it seem less out of the box curriculum for her.  There are also a few programs we are trying for the first time so we can do together as a family.


hidden in this cabinet are all our arts/craft supplies & cds


Monday: This will be our Music Appreciation day.  We are following Harmony Art Mom's plans for Study of the Orchestra.  Included in our study will be the Story of the Orchestra, The Instruments of Classical Music and a few of the Classical Kids Music CD's.

Tuesday:  The girls will continue to read one poetry selection per week. My oldest will copy the entire poem in her poem notebook, my youngest will do a stanza and a drawing in her notebook.  They will read Emily Dickinson the first term using Poetry for Young People.  My oldest will additionally read A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson.   (This might spill into term 2, so I'll wait to choose another poet for the remainder of the year).  The younger boys will be read a selection from A.A. Milne's Now We Are Six and When We Were Very Young.  My first grader will have a line of copywork from the weeks poem.

Wednesday:  I purchased the first Artistic Pursuit curriculum.  My goal is to do this as a family, one lesson per week.  It's in the mail, but I plan on playing the Lingua Angelica CD in the background while we work.  For now, it's just to enjoy and appreciate.

Thursday:  My girls will have choir practice.  This will also be an introduction to Latin for my third grader (my first grader is welcomed to listen in).  I'm trying Minimus Latin with the CD just for fun and as an introduction.

Friday:  This will continue to be our Shakespeare Friday.  This year we will use Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare as our main text.

 Now, Latin for my oldest.  Her schedule will be as follows:

Latina Christiana II on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  We have the DVDs and highly recommend using them with this curriculum.  It really helps to hear and see the instructor pronounce correctly.

Lyrical Latin is a CD with familiar tunes to specific Latin lessons.  She will just listen to a song per week for the purpose of review on Tuesdays.

This is my favorite find;  Mater Anserina: Poems in Latin for Children.  Knowing how much I enjoy Kate Greenaway, I had to find a place to use this lovely book (it features her illustrations).  She will copy a poem in Latin once a week on Thursdays and listen to the CD as she works on it.

I hope that by adding the listening and copywork portions, she will enjoy and appreciate the subject a little more.  I think it was becoming a little repetitive and dry for her.  The goal is to add a spark ; ) 

A tag along: Earlier in the summer I talked about habits and virtues.  Here is a recap of that post and what will be using. Just one more post I promise ; ) Next, the subjects I've completely changed my approach on ... MATH and LANGUAGE ARTS!!