Puccini For Kids!

Have you wanted to start a 'Composer of the Month' study but don't know where to begin?

CC Composer Collection

Imagine...
Resources for all the composers you'll ever study in the Classical Conversations Foundations program - all in ONE place!

Wagner - Composer of the Month

It's the beginning of a new month, which means we get to study a new composer! The girls and I have really enjoyed learning about these great musical minds together! I'd like to share with you how we'll be studying Richard Wagner during the month of March.

Opera Cards

Looking to learn more about opera? Perhaps these cards will help!

Art Match-Up Game!

Quick and easy; that's how we like to do things now. However, since we do live in the real world, not many things fall into that 'quick and easy' category. This Art Match-Up Game, however, fits the qualifications quite nicely, in my opinion.

Opera For Everyone - Free Downloads!

"No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible."
W H Auden (the translator of Don Giovanni)

Time Periods of Classical Music Song and Game

We'll use this song in Week 19, but I thought I'd go ahead and post it while I have a free minute (so rare nowadays!). Click here to download the free match-up game you see in the video!

Using the Art Cards

Have you tried the Art History Cards yet? If not, click here to learn more. If you do have the cards, thank you for supporting the Chapman family with your purchase! Now, what in the world are you doing with them?! Ha!  Actually, there are many ways to use these cards, and I'd like to share with you what we do at home:

Note Names and Staff Song

Everyone probably has their own little song for this, but here's what we're using in class. I also have a little staff song that we try to sing each week included at the end of the video. Click here to read my post about the new Fine Arts board you see in the video, too!

Fine Arts Board

One of the BEST pieces of tutoring advice I received this summer was from Suzanne at Suzanne Shares:
the carry-along tri-fold board!

How We Study Classical Music

All families are different, as you obviously already know. Ours places a high priority on Classical music and fine arts. Maybe it's because I have an Art degree. Maybe it's because I listened to so much booty-shakin' mumbo-jumbo when I was younger, and I want better for my girls. Maybe it's because my husband plays in our church orchestra every week. Whatever the reason, we have an affinity for Mozart, Bach, and their friends, and we want to pass that along to our girls.

To be as intentional about this as we can, we study one composer a month. I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, and I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town. . . gotcha! See what I mean? After I typed 'sit right there', those lyrics were the natural next words for me. Sheesh! That's why my girls (and I!) need to be surrounded with quality music. So, I'd like to show you how we do this in our home, just in case you're interested (and yes, the song 'This is How We do It' just popped into my head, too. Eeek! Please save me from myself!).

I just finished prepping for our August composer, Antonio Vivaldi; I'll take you through the process:

First, I printed out his picture for our Composer of the Month wall chart from Practical Pages. We have the wall chart in our dining room, and next month I'll replace Mozart with Vivaldi.

Click here to download the free wall chart.

After I printed Vivaldi's picture, I went to Classical Composers Monthly and found Vivaldi's boatload of information in their first collection.

I printed off a kid-friendly biography and some Vivaldi activity sheets, all from Classical Composers Monthly. Then I put those sheets into Mary's Classical Notebook for our Fine Arts Friday. Every Friday our focus for the day will be Fine Arts, which means we'll go through these pages, listen to the composer's music, and do Classical Coloring. We'll also study one artist each month, and use the pages from Classical Composers Monthly's new Fine Arts collection. Click here and scroll down for their freebies, including a sample from their newest collection!

Speaking of music, I downloaded all my Vivaldi music for free right from Classical Composers Monthly. For real. It was that easy! In fact, I used to spend a LOT of time researching composers and artists and going every-which-way on the internet highway, but now, all I do is go to Classical Composers Monthly for my information. They have biographies, kids' activities and printables, free downloadable music, and even videos. If they don't have it, I probably don't need it.

Except for one thing*. . .

Classical Composers Monthly is a family-run service that compiles all the available, relevant information on the internet for a composer or artist, sorts through it, and offers the most useful links to their subscribers. They send out an email once a month (no inbox-flooding!) with a suggested composer/artist for that month (I like to pick my own composers each month, and you're allowed to do that. Once you're subscribed to a collection, you have access to all the resources; you don't have to wait for their monthly email - I love that!) *They do not, however, produce their own materials, such as books or CDs (they can't do it all!). However, they do have a link to an Amazon list of materials for each artist. So, I always browse through their book suggestions, too. For Vivaldi, I put some books on hold at the library, and I purchased the mp3 download of Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery from Classical Kids.

This was my first Classical Kids experience, and we absolutely love this one! It tells a story with the music, and we're all learning so much together about this wonderful composer (I just couldn't wait until August to listen to it!).

So, that's how we roll! I know it sounds like a big fat commercial for Classical Composers Monthly, but it really is a fantastic service that I use each month to make my life easier. It's the backbone of our composer study. I just go there, clickity-click, printy-print, put in binder, and viola! I have music and printables for the month. I also keep up with CCM on facebook and Pinterest so I don't miss anything (a little birdy told me that two new collections are in the works! Can't wait!).

What about you? Do you use CCM, or do have your own system of gathering resources for your composer or artist study? This works for me; I'd love to hear what works for you!




This post contains affiliate links. I will also get one new collection for free by mentioning how I use CCM in our learning. However, I would shout from the rooftops how much I love CCM, free stuff or not. We really do use it and love it!

Classical Notebook and Music Game Freebie

I'm a copycat. A big one.

So, when I was checking out last week's Trivium Tuesday over at Living and Learning at Home (which really is awesome, by the way. I get so much inspiration from this link-up! Thanks, Amy!), I ran across Brandy's post at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood about the notebook.

I loved Brandy's idea of turning her breakfast notebook into a 'classical' notebook, which now has memory work review things added to the obligatory calendar stuff. I liked it so much that I made one for each of my girls:

(What you can't see in this picture is the bright pink sparkly binder cover. Sheesh!)

I have a divider for 

• Calendar - this has days of the week, days in school, a traceable calendar
• Handwriting - beginning handwriting sheets (from Staples), and plain lined paper
• Geography - maps of the world and Europe, labeled and non-labeled, and a continent blob tracing map from Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood
• History - Cycle 2, Week 1's history sentence to trace (from C3)
• Fine Arts - my classical music game (see below), and plain staff paper to practice drawing notes (both girls take piano)
• Presidents - one page with all the presidents' pictures (from C3)
• Latin - review stuff from Cycles 1 and 2
• Math - skip counting mazes

If you want to know exactly where I got everything, check out Brandy's post at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood, because I totally just copied her, which is pretty standard for me. ;)

I love how so much great stuff is in one binder. I anticipate Mary and I doing school on-the-go sometimes this coming year as we take Anna different places. Now I can just say, "Mary, bring your binder," and we can practice handwriting, review math, and lots of other fun stuff wherever we happen to be. Pretty neat!

Now, onto the freebie!

We're big music fans here. I really want my girls to know the five time periods of Classical music. It may sound nerdy, but hey, I'm cool with that. So, I created a little matching game to keep in Mary's binder:

We learned this last year in Week 19 of Classical Conversations to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I've included the lyrics we use in the game download. This could easily be made into a file folder game, if you're so inclined. For the composers, I included all the ones we study in each cycle of CC.

Click here to download the 5 Time Periods of Classical Music match-up game!

What about you? Have you made a Calendar Notebook or a Classical Notebook (or anything similar)? How did it work out? Any tips for a first-timer?

Classical Composers Giveaway!

I recently shared how much I appreciate the service offered by Classical Composers Monthly. It is wonderful to have a nice, long resource list of a new composer emailed to my inbox every month! Extreme time-saver! As it turns out, the homeschooling mama who puts this together (with her son - very cool!) is a CC mama! Awesome! Erica Johns is graciously letting me giveaway a lifetime subscription to one of Classical Composer Monthly's three collections! Here's what's in each one:

Collection One
Schubert
Vivaldi
Mozart
Haydn
Bach
Tchaikovsky
Weber
Mendelssohn
Beethoven
Bartok
Hindemith
Chopin
Brahams

Collection Two
Stravinsky
Milhaud
Grieg
Liszt
Holst
Saint-Saens
Shostakovich

Strauss II
Satie
Debussy
Dvorak
Faure
Prokofiev

Collection Three - Composers & Artists
Debussy
Bach
Verdi
Rossisi
Puccini
Renoir
Ruisdael
de Hooch
Seurat

Want to check it out for yourself?
Click here to sign-up for the free Handel resources (yay!),
and click here to get the free Monet goodies!

Click here to see my review from the previous post. I really love not having to think about researching these composers; all the leg work's done! From free printables, like wordsearches and coloring pages, to free downloadable music and video clips, all the work is done for me. :)

Now, for the fun part!

If you'd like to win a lifetime subscription to Classical Composers Monthly, please enter below. In your comment, please tell me which collection you'd like to win. Easy cheesy!

Don't feel so lucky? Use the code andherewego for 20% off your purchase!

I appreciate this service so much that I became an affiliate, something I've never done before. If you click on the links above to purchase a collection (if you don't win, that is!), I'll get a small percentage. In these uncertain financial times (can you say 'sequestration'), every little bit helps. Thanks for your support!

The contest will end on March 11. Enjoy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if this happens, no worries. Better chances for the ones who do enter! ;)

(Oh, and I snagged this funny image from my friend's blog. She's an ahhhhh-mazing writer! Check her out if you have some time!)

Classical Music Resources

I know this topic might be over-done, especially in the final weeks of Classical Conversations; I almost didn't even bother writing this post. However, I've come across some pretty cool resources that I really enjoy, and I thought, well, why not pass 'em along really quickly. First up . . .

Classical Composers Monthly

I know from experience that researching a composer can suck up hours of my time. Looking for video clips, family-friendly resources, free music, etc. starts out fun, but quickly turns into something like Alice down the rabbit hole. So, I was very relieved to find a service that does all the planning for me!

From Classical Composers Monthly's website:

Each month you will receive an email introducing a classical music composer, and you will get a special members-only link to access the resources we’ve compiled for you. In most cases you’ll get interesting ebooks,  a playlist you will be able to enjoy with a simple click, videos related to the composer and their music, activities, assignment ideas, and more. . .

All resources are carefully screened to be family-friendly, high quality, and valuable for homeschool families!

I love this! Click here to check out the composers. And one of the BEST things about this service is that I have lifetime access to these resource lists, and I can get to any of the composers at any time. I don't have to wait a month to get the next one; I simply log in and click on the composer I want. 

I really want to be intentional about studying classical composers, and I know this service will help. The pressure to find all the good stuff is gone, so now I just have to get off my lazy patooty and make it happen. If you're interested in crossing 'find composer stuff for this month' off of your to-do list, click here for a free sample (and it's Handel!). The cost is just under $15 for life-time access, which might scare off some; after all, you can compile all of these resources yourself. But, really, at less than $2 a month I'd much rather spend that time doing something better. So, if you're interested, go see what it's all about!

Check out this next great resource:

San Francisco Symphony Kids is a wonderful site with tons of interactive resources. I've actually had a lot of fun playing around on it!

Next up. . .

Have you ever heard of SQUILT?

Well, we are totally going to be doing it! Homegrown Learners has a great (and free!) printable to help me teach my girls how to be good music-listeners. I can't wait to try this with Mary next week!

Well, that's it (unless you want to see my opera goodies). These things may not be new to you, but it's still fun to share. I really cannot say how thankful to God I am for all the wonderful mamas who share their ideas, plans, triumphs, failures, and funny moments in the blogosphere or in the comments. The online CC community is so supportive and encouraging! 

Rock on, my friends!

Family Trip to the Symphony

The Huntsville Symphony Orchestra held a free family concert this morning, just in time for Week 19! There were lots of fun musical activities for the children to enjoy before the concert began, such as this conducting lesson given by Maestro Gregory Vajda, HSO's conductor! He was so sweet to the kids, and he was really trying to teach them something - yes, I think he's great! There was also a musical petting zoo, hula hoops, face painting, and boom whackers. So neat!

Mary and Maestro!

The girls made egg shakers and decorated them with musical stickers. This was Mary's favorite activity. 

Anna also got a picture with the conductor!

After all the fun in the lobby of the concert hall, the music began! The orchestra first played the overture to Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute." Then there was a cello concerto from a contemporary composer, and finally the orchestra played "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" by Benjamin Britten. Anna couldn't hang, and she and the hubs left early to run some errands. Mary did pretty well, but the hour-long performance was just too long for her liking.

Overall, I'm very glad we went; Mary said that she enjoyed it, so no worries. :)

Happy Saturday!

CC Day - Week 17

Today was our CC Day! And since it was Mary's turn to be the Superstar Line Leader (woot!), I thought I'd share her special day with some pictures:

Above, she's helping her fabulous tutor with this week's Latin. All the memory work for this week is on the board, although we rarely spend time in front of it. Mary's tutor has them up and moving quite a bit while they're learning, which is a good thing for this young class (ages 4-7).

After the kids' weekly presentations, we head out to the gym. Two classes are combined here for a little bit of Science. The tutors explain the parts of a volcano and then the kids watch it erupt (thanks to a baking soda mixture).

One of the tutors just said, "Who wants to make their own volcano?!"

Ha!

Mary's lava was yellow. These little mini volcanoes were very cool (and super easy!).

After Science comes Art. This week, we're studying Michelangelo, so the kids painted a Biblical scene while lying on their backs. 

Mary got pretty messy, but I'm sure Michelangelo did, too. ;)

They were asked to paint a picture of the Garden of Eden. She said her painting was of "the darkness." Um. . . yeah. . . maybe like the darkness before Creation? Not sure on that one.

Class picture! We're missing some special friends, but we hope their families get well soon.

My artist!

After washing up, it was time for some review. To go over the parts of a volcano again, the tutor handed out various hard candy to represent different parts. The Life Saver was the crater, the Laffy Taffy was the billowing cloud of gasses, etc. To end the fun day, the kids played Toy Story Bingo and answered review questions together. Mary was the first one to Bingo and win a trip to the treasure chest (the tutor's treasure stash is much better than ours at home!). She picked out a bracelet and was beaming the rest of the day (she is such a girly-girl, and I am so not). :)

I really just can't express enough how much our family is loving CC and the community - just everything about this awesome program works for us. I love the academic structure of the memory work combined with the weekly camaraderie of meeting in a small group with other families who are learning the same material. I truly feel as though God has led us here, and I'm so thankful to Him for this opportunity to learn alongside my children. Good times!

On another note, do you have leftover Valentine's Day candy? I've got an easy review idea you may like:

I taped the names of our subjects to the candy. If Mary wants a piece, she has to correctly answer the review questions (one on each side). Now I don't feel so guilty about letting her have a piece of candy every once in a while. :)

And on one final note, I'm leaving.

No, not forever, ha! I've been blessed with the opportunity to go on a moms' retreat this weekend (for a whole TWO days and nights!). Needless to say, I am excited beyond words to get away with some of my closest friends and get into God's Word together. I can just sense that God has a lot to say to me, which isn't always easy, but I'm ready for it. My mom is coming over from Mississippi to help the hubs with the girls, but if you think about it, please keep them in your prayers this weekend. I know they'll appreciate it.

Have a happy rest of the week, friends. And as my grandpa says, you've got to make it great!

Fine Arts Fun - Opera

I think I'm strange, I really do. As our family begins to travel down a new path together, dealing with Anna's diagnosis of Gorlin Syndrome, I've latched on to the absolutely weirdest thing - The Phantom of the Opera! I mean, really, this is insane! Maybe it's because I loved musicals when I was younger, maybe it's a little escape from reality, who knows. But, for the time being, I've found my 'happy place.' Oh, yes, I still have my quiet time every morning in God's Word, and my prayer life has definitely been more active since the call from Anna's doctor. Please don't think I'm substituting Phantom for Jesus, because I'm not. I've just found some music to play that makes me (and my girls!) smile and dance around the house. We're starting to have a good little collection of artsy stuff that we all enjoy, so I thought I would share with you some fine arts fun from the Stroud home. Let's start with the opera!

We love the opera! The plots can be crazy-unbelievable (and some discretion is involved, obviously, with children), but the music is always amazing, and it's just generally a fun thing to see. Mary showed an interest in opera after watching some clips on youtube after her first eye surgery when she was two (during her recovery, I got so sick of watching the usual kids' stuff that I introduced her to ballet and opera in small doses. Ha!). She also LOVED Jackie Evancho. Do you remember this below? Mary watched this ALL the time at her grandparents' house.

I was thrilled to learn that one of our local theaters (Huntsville 18 by Joe Davis Stadium, for you local folks) showed the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD shows! So, two years ago I took Mary to see her first opera (in a movie theater)! 

(Side note: This was back during my skirts-only and long hair days. And I think I wore my hair like Pocahontas because I had stopped washing it due to all the nasty chemicals in shampoo. What? You've never heard of the no-poo movement? Well, I wish I hadn't. My hair was so icky, chemical-free, but just plain icky! Some people can do it, and do it well, but not yours truly. I'm glad for that time because God has taught me many lessons from it, but I'm also SO glad that's over. :) Moving on...

She was the sweetest thing at the opera! Mary was mesmerized by it all! We ended up going to a couple more that year, but we skipped last year's season for some reason. However, we do have plans to attend at least one Met opera in HD this year, and it's set in Ancient Egypt - Aida! The premiere is in December, but the encore showing is always cheaper, so we'll see it in January. Check the HD schedule on the link above if you're interested. It just may be showing at a theater near you!

This is a wonderful children's book about Aida, and if you get this, I highly recommend you get the accompanying CD or mp3, too. The book, of course, will get you familiar with the plot, but you'll want to hear the music, too, so get the CD/mp3.

And here are some of our favorite books about the opera:

The book above is also a good introduction to Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. If you're interested in watching that one on DVD, I encourage you to check out our favorite version by clicking here. It's very good!

The book above is the best and friendliest-to-newbies one that I've found. Love it! Phil Goulding also has a classical music book that's fantastic as well.

This is a great CD, too, and there are lots of others out there.

Click here to get free Opera For Everyone music!

Click here to get your free set of Opera Cards!

And since I mentioned Phantom of the Opera in the beginning, let me quickly share our favorite Phantom resources:

Wow! This production is FANTASTIC (and really cheap on Amazon right now)! And the special performance at the end by FIVE Phantoms and Sarah Brightman is jaw-dropping! The CD is great, as well. Youtube has clips of this, too. Just search for the 25th anniversary performance.

We don't have this book yet, but I plan on getting it soon. I know Mary will enjoy it!

And how cute is this! 

Do you have any favorite opera resources that I didn't mention? If so, please leave a comment!