Last spring as we were formulating our alternaschool plot, I researched music classes that would be available to the kids. (I was determined that music instruction be a part of CJ & Annabelle's curriculum as there's so much hard science proving how much students benefit from music education. Plus, Bee and CeeJ both love music, and then, of course, Rick and Ken are great examples of how much music education can do for a kid.)
I cast the net far and wide looking for options. Remarkably - and mercifully - we would up deciding on Musikgarten - and it's a less-than-a-block-walk from our house. Hooray!
We walked over for their 9:15 start time, discussing appropriate ways one might behave at a group music lesson. It's an hour class - with the parents coming back for the last 10 minutes to participate. (In that whole 50 minutes I had child-free, I deep cleaned the bathroom. Such indulgence/luxury!). Upon my return, I was happy to see CJ & Annabelle absolutely rapt at the information teacher Nancy Kubo was sharing. She also clued we parents in on some of the (impressive, comprehensive) curriculum, and the kids shared with us their compositions! Nancy had had them each draw a beehive, and then draw a bee's circuitious flight path away from and back to the hive. The students were instructed to buzz like a bee as they traced the bee's travel with their finger, and Nancy pointed out how this was, in fact, a musical composition. Fascinating!
The kids each got a bag, a folder, a binder and when Nancy handed us a CD we're supposed use for homework, CJ excitedly declared, "I can't wait to listen to that CD!" I couldn't have hoped for a better first music lesson experience for them.
PLAY DATE:From music it was home for a quick snack before heading to "The Village" (downtown Magnolia) for a play date with one of Annabelle's former classmates, Connor. Nice kid, CJ & Annabelle both enjoy playing with him. So, the three clambered around playing pirate, operating ice cream and hamburger stands and other typical playground stuff. This hour served as PE as well as an important social skill building session. (I do NOT want our Magnolia Prep students to become isolated!)
CYBER SCAVENGER HUNT: After watching Numberjacks in Spanish, CJ and Annabelle hit the computer work station for some online fun and learning. We have bought them each memberships to Club Penguin - an online game/community. I love the site. It is, without a doubt, first and foremost a game, but it's more than that. There are challenges and rewards, there is a sense of community (you network and befriend other players from all around the country/globe). They can buy all sorts of costumes, toys, and decorations for their penguins' igloos, but they have to earn the money by doing chores first. Overall, lots of good lessons to be learned there. Today, the site had a special scavenger hunt, and they had to find 7 or 8 items hidden throughout the expansive Club Penguin world. It was great to see CJ and Annabelle deftly using the technology to navigate the game, and how they really worked so closely in tandem to accomplish the task.
PUPPY PREP: Our lives are about to get more complicated. Tomorrow we pick up an 8-week old Havanese puppy. The kids are excited, of course, but I tempered their excitement a bit this afternoon by going over - at length - with them all of the responsibilities of dog ownership. We reviewed three videos online about how to care for a puppy, then made a list of items we needed to get before tomorrow. From there it was off to Fred Meyer to lay in supplies.
TABLE TIME: Back home, it was time for some good old fashioned seat time and worksheets. Annabelle's penmanship needs work, so I gave her some writing exercises. I found a great worksheet for CJ - an exercise that required him to follow multiple steps exactly, from start to finish, in order to complete it. Focus can be a bit of a challenge for him (unless it's a favorite video game!), so I was real curious to see how he'd do. He was totally up to the challenge. He knocked that worksheet out step by step without any help or a single hitch. I was VERY proud of him.
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