Sneak Peek: Classical Explorations Week 4

This week in Classical Explorations we will be learning about feudalism, Europe, the water cycle, and pronouns.

	The Europe Geo Puzzle is fairly complex. We have a small enough group that the kids should be able to work together to complete it. We’ll review country names and bodies of water.
	The Medieval Kingdom card game from Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational is a great way to help kids visualize feudalism and the layers of medieval society. If the game rules seem too complex we’ll modify them.
	We were supposed to read I And You And Don't Forget Who: What Is a Pronoun? (Words Are Categorical) last week but we ran out of time. We’ll read it this week. There is an accompanying coloring page.
	All the Water in the World and Water Dance are two fun poetic picture books that describe the water cycle.
	Water: Up, Down, and All Around describes the water cycle in prose with plenty of great illustrations. We’ll be doing an experiment to show how water evaporates, condenses, and falls as precipitation. .
	The Coloring page of King John from Kings and Queens of England (Dover History Coloring Book) will probably be a take home project.

I’m planning some fun outdoor games related to our science and skip counting. We’ll also be adding some free play time so the kids can enjoy just getting to know each other and running around. I know a couple of kids are really looking forward to making a sword and helmet to go with their shield. Unfortunately, I accidentally returned the book with those projects to the library. So we’ll have to start those projects next week.

Sneak Peek: Classical Explorations Week 3

	Continuing with our African theme from the past two weeks, we’ll be using A Savanna Food Chain: A Who-Eats-What Adventure in Africa as our starting point to learn about food webs and chains. It’s a choose your own adventure book. Every kid will receive an animal picture and they get to choose who gets eaten next. By the end of the book we should be pretty thoroughly tangled up in a web of string but hopefully the interconnectedness of organisms will be a whole lot clearer.
	We’re making a whole army of Paper Soldiers of the Middle Ages: Vol 1: The Crusades. They’re supposed to be historically accurate so all of the paper clutter is for a good cause.
	I and You and Don't Forget Who: What Is a Pronoun? is a fun book that we’ll read during one of our multiple craft times.
	Each student will receive a coloring page of Richard I from Kings and Queens of England (Dover History Coloring Book).
	Snacks will be chessmen cookies, fruit, and cheese.

During our main activity (no picture. sorry.) we’ll merge math and medieval. Completing skip counting challenges will allow the kids to rise in status from page, to squire, to knight. When everyone is knighted we will make cardboard shields and then go on a quest in search of hidden scrolls. When they’re all found, we will put them in order and read part of the story of Richard I. I'll have some books on Knights from the library that the kids and I will look through together.

Sneak Peek: Classical Explorations Week 2

ART: Last week, the kids made a paper diorama of the savanna. This week we'll be populating it with standing paper animals and reinforcing our art concept of mirror images.

SCIENCE: Active games to get the kids thinking about the types of consumers and who eats what.

SNACK: Sticking with the animal theme of art and science, I’m serving up this little parade.

Savanna Snack

Photo from kraftrecipes.com

  

HISTORY
	We'll build a motte and bailey style castle and perhaps assault it  with marshmallow projectiles.
	Kids will receive coloring pages for both King Harold II and King William I.
	A search and find book with minimal text that follows life in a castle through a whole year.
	Pages six and seven contain a great image of an early castle like the ones built by the Normans shortly after they conquered the Saxons. Plus there are lots of images to find.
GRAMMAR:
	We'll be reading If you were a Pronoun by Nancy Loewen.

Logistics

Juggling schedules and school assignments for several kids can turn letting one child participate in an activity into a huge production. Here is what is available at my house for siblings not participating in Classical Explorations. If you need something specific, please ask. I don't want your morning to feel like this:

Babies: I have a play pen. Someone is welcome to borrow it for morning nap time. Feel free to bring your own. There are at least two, possibly three rooms, where you could set up a play pen and then close the door so your little person can snooze. There are lots of baby toys. They're not sanitized and my munchkin drags them everywhere. You're welcome to let your little ones play with them. I won't be offended if you feel the need to wash them first.

Little people: you are welcome to use the play room. It's kid friendly but not baby proof. Just be sure and pick up after yourselves :-). 

Older kids: the family room has a place to sit and I can set up one or two tables. Wifi. The back deck is also a nice place to crash when the weather is pleasant.

If you've chosen to drop off your child(ren), Brookside Park, Walrond Park, and the Hollins Branch Library could also be great options for the rest of your people. 

Take a Break

If you'd like for Classical Explorations to be your time as a parent to find a little peace, quiet, and sanity, I'll be happy to watch children participating in the play and learning group or older children who are able to read or work quietly on their own without interrupting.

You get one free morning to shop, work with an older child, sip a mocha, plan your socks off, or do laundry, or all of the above because you're just that awesome. Although CE officially ends at 11:30, if you pack your child(ren) a clearly labeled lunch, you're welcome to leave them until 1pm. Cost for the first child is $5 per week (in place of, not in addition to, the supply fee). Cost for a second child in the same family is $4 per week, and so on. If you don't need childcare every week, then you may opt to select either odd or even weeks. The alternating weeks when you hang out during CE, you only pay the supply fee of $1 per child. Payment for the entire month is due at the first meeting of that month.

UPDATE: It seems that most moms need more flexibility regarding when they use Classical Explorations as childcare. You're still welcome to choose one of the options above. However, if you just want a few mornings off then email by 10 pm the Friday before class. I understand that kids get sick and other unforeseen circumstances arise, so if you have an emergency or quasi-emergency and dropping your kid off would really make your life easier, go ahead and give me a call even if it's past Friday.

Please note: Classical Explorations is not a licensed child care or educational facility. Like most homeschool parents, I'm happy to give fellow parents a bit of break by babysitting. 

It's Time to Explore

Hi! I'm Elizabeth. Welcome to Classical Explorations, a hands-on story, play, and project time geared toward 4-6 year old children enrolled in Classical Conversations in the Roanoke Valley area. We will be meeting every Tuesday from 9:00 am to 11:30 am beginning September 10, 2013 to reinforce memory work through stories, art, and play. You can find a list of what we'll be covering the first week below this intro.

Parents are welcome to bring other aged children as well and either have them participate, if they feel Classical Explorations is a good fit and would help reinforce what they are learning, or work quietly with them in another room. The first three weeks (September 10th, 17th, and 24th) are open days, feel free to come to one or all, but after that I will need a commitment to the rest of the semester. The cost is $1 per child, per week. This goes toward supplies so that we can have safety scissors, glue sticks, paper, etc for everyone to use and we don't have to try to sort out which ones belong to whom. If you are interested in dropping your child off for the morning please let me know ASAP. For more information, send me an email at emarkham@hollins.edu. For September the group size is limited to 10 children. Reservations for each week close the previous Tuesday at 10 pm.

Week 1, September 10th: 

History: 

Charlemagne story time and coloring page (The Elephant from Baghdad)

Art and Science:

Matisse (picture book)

Using Scissors to draw basic shapes and lines

Review of Biomes

Project: Make a grassland biome with paper (save for the following week when we'll be populating it with animals made using mirror images)

Geography

Free play with world map puzzles

Classical Explorations is not a school or day care. It is a classically based play and learning group. Parents are responsible for their own children's education and for meeting all home education standards set forth by the state of Virginia.