Co-Op Update

This last week at our little Charlotte Mason co-op, we started some fun things. First, we started a new Shakespeare play: The Tempest. I'm looking forward to this one! I like them all, but this is a great story. I think it will be less. . . disturbing than Macbeth. Ha! I told the girls we might need to make our own stop-motion video. I see peg people being involved. They were less excited by this idea than I was. I don't get it.

Our latest hymn is one that was new to me, called "My Anchor Holds," written by William C. Martin and Daniel Turner in 1902. My friend Sara, who is in charge of our hymns, told me it should be in every hymnal and we should all sing it every week, she likes it so well! The meter is a little different from most hymns I'm familiar with, but it's fun to sing, and it's hard not to sing with gusto. It feels like a marching tune. Here's the first verse and chorus:

1. Though the angry surges roll
   On my tempest-driven soul,
   I am peaceful, for I know,
   Wildly though the winds may blow,
   I’ve an anchor safe and sure,
   That can evermore endure.
   • Refrain:
     And it holds, my anchor holds:
     Blow your wildest, then, O gale,
     On my bark so small and frail;
     By His grace I shall not fail,
     For my anchor holds, my anchor holds.

We're using this video on YouTube to learn it. It's not a professional recording, but the congregation sings really well and you can hear all the parts being sung!

Our most recent folk song is "Green Grow the Rushes O," and we're enjoying that very much, too. It's not "Green Grow the Rashes O" by Robert Burns; lots of people sing that. This is an older song, with unclear origins, and is a counting song, similar to "The Twelve Days of Christmas." The verses have some religious references, and some astrological references, and some things that are simply unclear. Here are the lyrics, starting with twelve, because otherwise it would be REALLY long:

I'll sing you twelve, O, green grow the rushes, O!

What is your twelve, O?

Twelve for the twelve apostles,

Eleven for the eleven who went to heaven,

Ten for the Ten Commandments,

Nine for the nine bright shiners,

Eight for the April raiders,

Seven for the seven stars in the sky,

Six for the six proud walkers,

Five for the symbols at your door,

Four for the gospel makers,

Three, three, the rivals

Two, two, the lily-white boys, clothed all in green-O,

One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so.

Some of the references seem obvious to me. Others of them seem rather strange. I did an internet search, and didn't come up with much definitive information. For example, I found lyrics that said "Eight for the April rainers," which, according to Wikipedia, could refer to the "Hyades star clust, called the 'rainy Hyades' in classica times and rising with the sun in April.' " However, in the video below, they say "April raiders," and that made sense to me, too, because I've read that people used to watch for raiders to visit their shores when the weather improved in the spring. If you know where I might find out more information on the song, I'd love to know! I've checked in my folk song books, but it's not in any of them.

I found this video on YouTube of two gentlemen who seem to be bards performing it with motions and everything. (If you're interested in the bards, check out this website. There are some great songs.) It's a great deal of fun to watch. I'm hoping to convince the kids to learn the motions and perform it at the end of the year. 

I love sharing our music with you. It's probably my favorite part of co-op.

And, one more thing, just for fun. We worked on our dry brush skills last week, and we each made a "splotch book" in our nature journals by blending colors and seeing what effects we created. You can read a bit about that, and see a picture of a splotch book, here. My middle child, Abbie, painted this lovely sunflower for me this morning using dry brush. I'm going to make it into a bookmark.

Isn't it pretty? I love when she paints things. :-)

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Life Skills at Co-Op

At our little Charlotte Mason co-op, we have a time slot for handicrafts and life skills. The first thing we did this semester was make some pillow cases to donate to children who have cancer. That was fun! They were easy to make, and it was a good feeling to think we were sending a small touch of love to children who are so very ill.

Since we finished our pillow cases, we've all been learning CPR. I've taken CPR before, but my certification has lapsed, so I'm grateful for the refresher. What's so neat about this is that she was able to get two kits for us to use at home, with DVD instructions and inflatable manikins to practice on! One is called Mini Anne, for practicing adult/child CPR, and the other is called Mini Baby, for practicing infant CPR.

Both of these kits are available from the American Heart Association, and they are only $34.95 each. You can sometimes purchase them through Amazon, but I couldn't find any consistent links to share. I'm not an affiliate for these kits, or anything like that. As we were practicing, I remembered why it's so important to learn CPR - you never know when you might be the only person who can save someone's life. What a great skill for kids to learn!

I was able to sign my girls up for a CPR certification class last week, and they will be getting their books and cards in the mail. They were both nervous, because they didn't know many of the other kids taking the class, but I think they had a good time. I'm proud of them for completing it, anyway.

Our Charlotte Mason Community As Yet Unnamed

Last year, I posted about beginning a small Charlotte Mason-inspired co-op with another family. It worked out wonderfully well, and we've now met for two sessions of our new school term. Never mind that none of my planning is done for what we need to do at home. We were all excited to begin.

Here's what we're covering:

• Shakespeare
• Hymns
• Picture Study
• Handicrafts
• Folk Song
• Composer Study
• Poetry
• Nature Study

We cover the first for items on the list, then break for lunch, and then finish up the last four things. We don't have a strictly set schedule, since it's just our two families. Since we don't always have an extra adult to watch the littlest people, we have extra interruptions sometimes, but they're getting better.

Our Shakespeare play for this term is Macbeth. There were two reasons for choosing this one: (1) my girls are studying Medieval history this year, so Macbeth fits right in, and (2) Charlotte Shakespeare was performing the play in August so we were able to go see it. I know I'm better able to understand the story, having seen it performed, and I think it gives the children a good start, too. I had to laugh at the vastly different reactions of our children to the play. Sara's boys liked it, but my girls were ready to leave at intermission and were pretty sure they'd been traumatized for life. One thing for certain: the play serves as an excellent lesson to choose your mate wisely.

Our first hymn of the term is "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken," which just happens to have music written by this term's composer, Haydn. It's such a beautiful hymn! We will study two of Ambleside Online's suggested composers this year, Haydn and Tchaikovsky, and then branch out and take a look at John Williams.

Our artist for this term is John Singleton Copley. He was an American portrait painter around the time of the Revolutionary War. So far, we've learned that portrait painting was not considered art then, but was an occupation. There weren't any cameras yet, so if you wanted a picture of yourself, you had to sit for a portrait. His painting of Paul Revere is fascinating. We've also looked at his painting of a shark attack, and the background of that painting was interesting, too. I thought the boys would enjoy that one, with the shark and everything, but all the children seemed to find it disturbing. I suppose I should have used the alternate painting, which was Copley's family portrait. I think Sara and I both decided to display that one in our homes for the next couple of weeks. The good news is, none of his other paintings we'll study are nearly that exciting. We will look at 2 of AO's artist suggestions this year: Copley, and the Hudson River School, and then look at Giotto, to go along with the medieval studies at my house.

For poetry, we're going with Ambleside Online's Year 5 selections, because that's the year Sara's boys are studying, and our poetry studies have been so woefully neglected, we just need to read something. This term we're getting to know Rudyard Kipling. I'm looking forward to reading his poetry. The girls enjoyed reading his Just So Stories a couple of years ago, and many poems on AO's suggested list are taken from those. Our first poem was A Boy Scout's Patrol Song. That was a fun read!

Sara is in charge of handicrafts, and she found a simple pillowcase pattern from Conkerr Cancer. The kids are making pillowcases to donate to this organization, who will give each one to a child with cancer. We had a good time choosing fabrics, and we're going to make some for our cousins for Christmas, too.

Finally, Sara started off our nature study of mammals with cats! We all love cats. There are several specimens to observe at my house! This last week, we looked at wolves, and dogs. The Handbook of Nature Study didn't give us much information on wolves, and said that we'd find all we needed to know in the pages of good literature. Ms. Comstock recommended the Jungle Books as a place to find out about the habits of wolves in India, and said she would list suggestions at the end of the section, but we couldn't find them. We discussed possible books by Jim Kjelgaard we ight read to learn more. If you have any suggestions for good books on the natural history of wolves, I'd love to hear about them.

Last year, we discussed making a yearbook of our co-op activities, and we didn't get around to it. I hope we will be able to do it this year, and will have to try to remember to take pictures. We're looking forward to another fun year!