Term Studies Board

 

I got this idea to paint a cork board black and rotate school-related topics from  Mt. Hope Chronicles. I use ours specifically for our Term Studies (selected from, but not following the calendar of Ambleside Online). It hangs in our kitchen or slides behind the school closet when company comes. (Don't want them to know we're learning about art for heavens sake!)

 

This has done the following for us:

 

1. For the chill'ns: it gives a visual reference point or "place to put new information" as we talk about these people and their contributions. All those new floaty bits of info have a place to alight.

 

2. For school: it reminds me who/what we are on for this term as it slips from my head easily without the daily/weekly schedule other subjects have.

 

3. For me: it gives a constructive distraction when lunch turns into a zoo.

 " ...Besides writing lovely little poems, and modeling for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Christina Rossetti also worked as a prostitute...Ah! Excuse me, I misread. Worked with prostitutes-- in a reformitive nature I'm sure..." 

 

 

 

So on here I stapled a list of this term's people:
Composer: Aaron Copland
Artist: Winslow Homer
Poet: Christina Rossetti
and Shakespear is a permenant fixture

I also have a calendar for Y0 to mark off the days we remember to read our scriptures with a sticker (don't judge me, we're back on the wagon again), a clear plastic page with artwork by Homer to switch out weekly, and a list of the people as well as our month's Hymn and Folksong so I won't forget.

Theater Adds Drama

One morning Mockingbird started dramatically gushing "Oh Happy Dagger!" and fake-stabbing herself as she fell. She is 5 and too cute for such angst to be worrisome. But still I had no idea where she got it from.

Then the play got more involved and I could tell I was really missing something.
"From Shakespeare mom! Don't you remember Romeo and Juliet!" Bowery Bird  explained to me, exasperated.

Oh. And it went on from there. Kingfisher was being posed on the floor while Mockingbird (as Puck) poured drops in his eyes then danced around impishly, and a few other scenes I couldn't remember then and so obviously, don't recall now--although it was all reenacted and explained to me, repeatedly.

 "Oh happy dagger!" remained a favorite into lunchtime and beyond.I wonder what afternoon kindergarten was like that day...