The extras have been just that….extras. Sometimes we get to them, many times we don’t, and sometimes we stumble upon them unexpectedly. Some years we have been better at doing the extras. We try to do art on Mondays, music on Fridays, and field trips on Wednesdays or something like that. ☺
Here are the resources we have used/are using:
Music –
- piano lessons {I teach my children}
- violin lessons {there aren’t any teachers in our town now 🙁 }
- Meet the Masters CDs – these are terrific for learning about 18 famous composers. Their life story is narrated with excerpts of their greatest works sprinkled throughout.
- singing – we like to sing hymns or children’s primary songs as part of our daily devotionals. The older girls have learned to sing parts. We also like to sing rounds.
Art
I’ve had very intention to study artists every year but for some reason or other it doesn’t happen. We do end up doing art projects or crafts to go along with our studies. We also study paintings and artists but not with regular consistency.
Home Ec
- Sewing Lessons starting at age 8 {this will be true for my sons as well} See my Sewing Basics posts. Unfortunately the latest posts are shown first so you’ll have to scroll down to start at the beginning.
- Cooking – they take turns helping in the kitchen. Once they reach the age of 12 they are responsible for cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the whole week. This is rotated so by the time it is their turn again it has been about 4-5 weeks. Read more at my Teaching Kids to Cook posts.
That’s about it, other than field trips. My kids aren’t very interested in sports or acting. They have done 4H. Maybe we are just the boring type?
What resources do you use for homeschooling “the extras?”
I taught in public school for a few years before my kids came along. We used a Meet the Masters program, but it was for artists. It was fabulous. I don’t know much more than that, and I didn’t know there was a music series.
How does Meet the Masters compare to the Classical Kids set like Beethoven Lives Upstairs? Would you know at all?
I just dropped by again today. I don’t think your classes sound boring at all. I actually feel like we can overschedule children. Of course, I am at the grandma stage; but I have seen it happen in my children’s families. I have a daughter who homeschools so I will give her a few thoughts from here.
I hope you are doing the family procalamtion again this year. I enjoyed your posts.
Blessings!
We have really enjoyed experiencing art and history with our surrounding area. We live very near the Historic Triangle (Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown) and within a few hours of all the Smithsonian Museums, Monticello, and Montpelier. They are all awesome venues for furthering “the extras”. I posted about our D.C. trip today! Visit me over there!
We’re using some of the same stuff as you with the same hope as you. The extras often drop by the way in the mad scramble of keeping the necessary items in place . . . but I so think that art and music are necessary to feed our spirits . . . I’m still working on making it work!