weekly Wrap Up 12/27/19 -- Piano recitals

Kids completed their Christmas Piano recital 2 weeks ago, and I am just now getting around to posting it.  They both did very well but I am of course very biased.  Both kids performed 2 Christmas songs.

their musical pieces came from the above books

we took the kids for a fancy lunch/dinner at our local Italian restaurant to celebrate a job well done:) 

Next piano performance that is scheduled for the kids is a Sonatina festival in January!
There will be no post next week as I am taking the week off to rest and maybe do a little lesson planning.  See you next year!

Weekly wrap UP 12/20/19 -- Wicked and Handel/Bach Symphony performances

Our local co-op group got reduced tickets to see the performance of Wicked at the Fox theater in the city.  My daughter really wanted to go and asked if this could be part of her Christmas present.  So we bought tickets and had a lovely evening out.  I will admit I didn't know much about it but really enjoyed the show and the music.

There was a decorated WICKED tree in the lobby

the stage was elaborate and the costumes were fantastic.

We actually got a family picture before the show started.

We went to this show on Thursday night, my husband vows we will never do a school night again because he has to get up to go to work while the rest of us can sleep in lol.  Except MarioFan and I couldn't as the next morning we went to the symphony.


In Friday morning we went to the Symphony as this is part of our music appreciation/history class that MarioFan is taking with his friend.  We heard 3 pieces from Handel, Water Music, Sonatina #5 and Music for the Royal Fireworks.  They also played 2 pieces by Bach, Brandenburg Concerto and Orchestral suite No 3.

Even though this is a day time performance it was packed. This is a picture of the lobby prior to the show beginning.  Plus they served Krispy Kreme doughnuts before the show.

We were excited to see a harpsichord on the stage:)

The boys have an assignment to write a review of the performances where they include musical terms they have been learning about.  We have several more performances to attend planned for the year with the same type of assignment:)


Afterwards we treated the boys to a lunch out which they enjoyed as neither are huge fans of classical music.

We took the boys to a local favorite...Fritz root bear restaurant and  got to watch them packaging. 

We are now going to begin our Christmas break for the next two weeks.  Firedrake has already ended her first semester at college and we are waiting to see her grades.  She thinks she did well:)

Weekly Wrap UP 12/13/19 -- School update 10th and 12th grade

We are plugging away with our 10th grade curriculum.  We are slowing getting through our work.

For Literature we just finished reading "The Narrative of Frederick Douglas"

Which is good timing as we are also talking about slavery in our History lessons. 

Our writing assignment for this unit is how to write persuasive essays.  MarioFan has chosen to write his on the benefits of video games;), seeing as we have many discussions on his time on these games, I look forward to seeing what arguments he comes up with:)

For History we are discussing the War of 1812 in addition to slavery and Native Indians and how these groups were mistreated.

I found this book online (an old library book) and we are reading it in conjunction with our history reading as it goes more in-depth.

MarioFan is also reading 12 years a slave.  I am not sure if I will show him the movie as he is a bit sensitive to violence.  I am thinking of taking him to the new Harriet Tubman movie.  I am looking at the reviews to see how accurate it is to history.

IN addition we have checked out this video from the library.

this is an excellent series and I highly recommend it

We have just begun watching this video series on the Native American perpective

MarioFan has just started reading Moby Dick for literature and we hope to have it finished by Christmas.

Over Christmas break we will watch the Patrick Stewart movie version 

This weekend the kids have their winter Piano recital which I will post soon.  They are also working on learning a Sonatina and plan on participating in a Sonatina Festival in January.

Firedrake is wrapping up her 1st semester at community college and is really enjoying the freedom of college.  She is only taking two classes there this semester and is signing up for 2 more next semester.  She feels pretty confident that she is keeping up with her grades.  She is also holding down a part time job and taking piano and Japanese lesson.  We just recently put down deposits for dorm living at two different colleges, as we are waiting to see if she will receive any additional scholarships before deciding which one she will attend.  She does have a favorite but we need to see financially how it will work out.  I can't believe she will be living away from home next year.  It will be a strange transition for us all.

Firedrake and I also attended the first Graduation meeting at our local coop and the date for the graduation ceremony has been set for June.  So far there will be 24 HS graduates attending.  I need to get senior pictures, order cap and gown, diploma and so many other things.  It will be a busy spring:)

Weekly Wrap UP -- 12/6/19 Thanksgiving Break Activities

We had a lovely week off and spent time with my Mom who came to visit.  My mom baked all of the  Thanksgiving pies:)  This is the first holiday since my father passed earlier this year and it was a hard time for us all.

The apple pie was eaten before Thanksgiving, my husband loves my Mom's apple pies and just couldn't wait:)

The dog Luna, just loves my Mother and ignores me completely when she is here

probably because my Mom gives her table scraps and too many treats

My Mom even bought Luna a winter coat.  At first she wasn't too  thrilled but now she seems to tolerate the coat being put on especially on cold days.

My computer is getting slow and it was time for an upgrade.  After much discussion my husband decided to build a computer with MarioFan.  We are normally an Apple computer family but since MarioFan is showing signs of wanting to go into some type of computer job we felt he needed to learn more of the windows programming.

My husband bought all the supplies--he has built computers in the past.  Both of them watch you tube videos  to see how to do it.

The two of them spent two days building the computer together

It works!  So now MarioFan's computer will become mine as I prefer Apple computers.  MarioFan is quite excited about this new set up as this computer will have more gaming capabilities:)

 We all went to the art museum in the city where they were holding a Dutch masters exhibit.  They didn't have my favorite dutch painter, Vermeer but they did have most of the others.  Here are a few of my favorites.

This one is painted by one of the few women painters of that era, I forgot to write down the name

They had several Rembrambt's

This one was amazing as you could almost feel  and see the hairs on every animal.  

Since Firedrake is gradating this year, I thought I would go through all of the paper work I have been saving since we started homeschooling 11 years ago and sort though what to keep and what to toss.

Over the years I have kept every grade in an expandable folder.  So I had 11 of them to go through.  

I am so glad my mother was there to help me sort through what to keep and what to toss.  It was fun to look back on all the activities Firedrake has done.  It is amazing what we have covered.

Everything is placed into a single box and I can now throw out the rest of the papers.  I have cleared out one corner of the school room, yay!!!  I still have to go through all the lap books she has done and add them to the box and that will clear out a book shelf.

 I loved looking back and re reading some of her work.  So many memories.  I remember feeling like I wasn't doing all the right things, but looking back I did so much more than just enough.  I had thought to turn it into a book of some sort but I think that I still saved too much.  I may have to have another purge but at a later date.  Or I may just give Firedrake this box and let her decide what she wants to do with it.

Lastly, we decorated the Christmas Tree.  My mother isn't sure if she will put up a tree in her house this year, so I wanted to make sure the tree was up so she could enjoy ours.  She did enjoy looking at the tree with us in the evenings.

Every year I buy a special Christmas ornament for the kids that represents something special to them.  Sometimes the kids pick out their own ornaments if they happen to be with me and we see a Christmas shop.  This year they weren't so I pick out the ornament.  The ornament is always dated and the kids love going though the previous Christmas ornaments they have received.  Their ornaments are the first thing to be hung on the tree every year.  My plan is for when they move out and on their first Christmas I will gift them with their box of Christmas ornaments.

I picked a graduation ornament for Firedrake.  Even though she isn't officially graduating  until June, because she is pretty much on her own with school now that she is enrolled at the local community college.

Mario Fan loves the Cardinals baseball team so I found this ornament for him.  

That was our week in a nutshell.  lots done but centered more on family time.  Now it is back to school for a few weeks before taking time off for Christmas.