Art and Literature

Add more art to your literature.  We’re slogging through Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  (Here is an abbreviated lesson with an illustration.  We’re investing three hours to read the entire poem.)  Writers and artists influence one another.  Look at these Green Knight illustrations from the British Museum. Another example is to look at these Pride and Prejudice illustrations or these from A Tale of Two Cities.  Look at the beautiful art N.C. Wyeth created for Robinson Crusoe.  (The Brandywine Museum of Art houses several Wyeth collections. They have an excellent Model Train exhibit open donuts before Thanksgiving through the New Year’s.)  

How can you add art to literature?  Here are some questions.  (Yes, I cringe whenever I see Common Core, too.  But the questions are good!) In terms of illustrations for a poem or novel, I think the discussion can center on illustrations.  What does the artist want to convey?  What do they reveal in terms of the story?  Does the artist evoke emotion?  (N.C. Wyeth is renowned for his illustrations.  Ask your kiddos why?)  How does the artist capture the story?  

Do you have littles?  Khan Academy has a lesson: What do pictures bring to a story?  Who knew?  I’m sure you’ve watched your kiddos decode a story from the pictures or images.  Be sure to ask, ‘What do you think happens next?’ as you read a new story.  Let them draw their own illustrations as you read them a story!  Let’s bring more art to literature!  (Yes, I do have one or two prints on my walls, on the shelves—even decorating the bathroom.  We’re at the point where we select postcards from museums to frame instead of prints—we’re running out of room!)  More art!  More beauty!

 

Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween!  I’m not much for decorations, especially outside.  My preference is a flag and coordinating mailbox cover.  However, one of the students gave me a porch goose—with clothes.  (Max loves costumes himself.)  I will say the goose looks jaunty with a bandana—his customary garb.  Happy Halloween!  I hope yours is fun!

Fun Day Friday! Hands-on History!

 Make plans for Friday afternoon.  Let’s use that big block of time for fun projects!  Wow!  Look at these ideas; #2 is a living wax museum.  Yes!  Wouldn’t a family of historical figures be fun for Halloween?  Another suggestion is to build a historic landmark or make a diorama.  Make a salt dough map or diorama. Which coincides with the era your family is studying.  Set aside an hour on Friday.  See how far you get with the project.  If your kiddos are engaged, let them stay on task.  However, littles do tend to tune out.  Clear space on top of the fridge to store away unfinished projects for next week.  Take loads of pix for your portfolio!  Be sure to publish the finished project on social media for your family to admire.  Gird your loins for snarky comments such as ‘Is that all you do?’  Be ready to explain that the Quill and Parchment project was part of their study of the Constitution or the Fried Bread is a traditional Nez Perce recipe.

Co-op Tips: Manage a lively class!

 I am teaching a lively class of Middle-Schoolers this year.  It’s a chemistry and physics class; there are many labs and hands-on activities.  What are some tips?  First, have all the materials ready.  You can’t afford any lags.  Fine. Time you spend sorting labs is time the class starts to act up. Give the kiddos clear instructions.  My class needs step by step directions whenever we do any activity.  I have large bins we use to help contain messes.  (I’m looking at you, Elephant’s Toothpaste.)  Manage seating.  Separate any pairs who get into mischief.  (Yes, I separated a pair.) Tuesday, one boy’s squishy burst under the table.  We had a discussion about bringing toys in general.  We use two tables. I rotate kiddos to create different lab partners every week.  Make clean-up a consequence.  Normally, everyone cleans up after labs—not if they act up.  In fact keep a list of chores to assign as a consequence.  I have a white-board with the list posted.  (Yes, it does include cleaning toilets!) We also have a 15 minute session at the end of Co-op class to clean up and catch up.  It’s a good time to discuss any issues which may arise. Run a tight ship!  I’m glad the kiddos like the class.  I don’t want things to get out of control.

Editor in Chief

 Are you creating your own curriculum?  Are you familiar with the Editor in Chief series?  These are reading passages with errors.  It’s fun to see if you can find all of the errors.  I use these exercises regularly when I teach Composition classes.  Mind you, I think Composition should include grammar, writing, handwriting, emails, résumés, thank-you notes, etc.  Editor in Chief dove-tails well with Easy Grammar and Zane-Bloser Handwriting if you are designing your own Language Arts curriculum, especially when combined with classics.  I love Kolbe’s Primary Literature textbooks to help parents teach the classics.  If you create your own vocabulary and spelling lists, these resources constitute a robust curriculum.

Are you on top of grading?

 We’re winding up October.  Are you on top of grading?  Many online schools require quarterly reports.  Don’t forget to record graded work, such as daily math lessons and test grades.  Take photos!  Pop them into a digital folder for the portfolio.  Make this the best year yet!

Kiddos with Special Needs

 Just like yours, our Co-op has kiddos with special needs.  We make accommodations for them in our high school Co-op class.  In one case, I assigned a kiddo who’s 15 to the middle school class.  It’s been a good fit.  Every class a different child sits next to C so everyone gets to know each other.  In reality, all of the students have had a turn helping C with activities.  

The Brit Lit class has two kids who struggle with literature.  I just made the executive decision to use easy to read versions of most of the literature.  I’m assigning paragraphs instead of essays.  The boys will still be exposed to all of the books, novels, poems, etc.  The assignments will just be easier to understand.  I’ve done this for individual students in a Brit Lit class before.  

In Chemistry, there are thirteen teens.  Two of the kiddos are actually middle-schoolers.  Three others have learning differences.  How do we cope?  First, everyone works in teams of two.  Secondly, Rob and I team-teach.  Each of us spends time coaching the kids struggling the most.  We limit the number of problem sets for one teen.  In a few cases, we let siblings work together on spreadsheets.  In other words, we push all the students a bit out of their comfort zones, without overwhelming them.  We already know one or two teens just won’t be able to do the harder concepts.  So what.  Everyone is still learning some Chemistry.

Here is my challenge to you.  Do you have teens with special needs or learning differences?  Are they in your Co-op classes?  Could you ask a mom to stay and work with him or her individually?  In other words, can your Co-op make the extra effort to see that this child gets exposed to harder subjects?  It is much easier to exclude the teen from hard subjects.  We don’t.  Even if the child doesn’t get as much out of the class as some of the others, he or she is still learning.