The second week is over and once again, my real struggle was with budgeting food. It's all worked out somehow, but let's face it: Jello is not the answer to everything.
This week in music we started with Native American music. It was interesting to watch the younger kids and how their expressions changed as the music changed. Native music has a soul and a purpose. Each song means something; praise, war, healing, you can hear the lament or the fury in the music. It's nature's music and it is beautiful. We also watched a documentary on Miles Davis and heard some of his songs. Davis was a character, but what really struck us was that he seemed to form bonds with some people, deep bonds that never went away even if he did. He was a huge personality stuck inside of a tiny frame. The documentary may have helped my boys understand that women liked to be wooed with candy (at least I hope they got that part).
Our starting artist was Toulouse-Lautrec. What a big life he led! Lilli learned all about prostitution and dancing this week and used it against me often. Lautrec may have been the world's first paparazzi...or a great marketing genius. Pick. He was a great and colorful choice. We ended the week with Paul Klee. Klee left us all feeling a little creepy. His puppets were not cheering or friendly, his paintings were not cheery or friendly. The kids did pay close attention though about the math and physics involved in his work. For the most part, Klee was all over the place. His subjects were so varied, and the colors were muted or lifeless. He made his point, but I' m not sure we fell in love with him.
We also studied Zoroastrianism this week. Explaining that there are only 3 tenets, and that it is the oldest monotheistic religion gave the kids a point of reference and it really was easy for everyone to grasp. We even talked about how men get built up to be a religion's founder...was he real, who was real. We then moved onto the Baha'i. There ha been a lot of drama and propaganda surrounding this religion, but I kept it all nice for the kids. They got to see the beginnings of the religion, the persecution, see how it spread.
We watched some home movies on YouTube of people's travels to Rome and their visits to the Sistine Chapel. We didn't discuss the Chapel or the art, we just took it all in via other's stories and experiences.
We watched a beautiful movie called The Secret of Kells. It is a gorgeous animated work that tells the story of the Book of Kells. After we watched it, we looked up some of the artwork from the book.
This week the kids discovered Gilligan's Island and I introduced them to the genius that was Mitch Hedburg. I hope they continue to laugh, I love to hear their laughter.
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