Using Music Every Day in Our Homeschool - Pandora

Music sets a wonderful tone to our homeschool days. It can inspire us and many times soothe the savage beast! There is an easy way to listen to quality music for free whenever you would like. If you haven't heard of Pandora, you should check it out. It is streaming internet radio where you create your own stations. It is as simple as going to their website and creating a station - then Pandora will pull similar music for you and create a playlist. Voila! You have music coming through your computer whenever you want. I have Pandora on my iPad and iPhone (with Pandora mobile), so we listen at the kitchen table, in the schoolroom, in the car - wherever we are.

I generally type in a favorite composer. Here are a few of our favorite stations:

Antonio Vivaldi
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven
Louis Armstrong
Aaron Copland
George Winston
Third Day

You can also create a station by simply typing in a song you like. For example:

Ordinary Miracle (my daughter's favorite song!)
The Flower Duet
Ocean Floor
Friends are Friends Forever
The Rainbow Connection (cute station)

Pandora also has their own ready-made channels by genre and you can keep track of your favorite stations, or listen to others' favorites. The possibilities are endless.

Happy listening!

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Friday Fun - Easy Paintings

I am NOT an artist. I don't have a clue how to teach art, so I freely admit I will outsource that part of our homeschooling adventure! We are blessed to have a fabulous art teacher in our area, where my children have taken classes. Last spring I posted about one of the great things Miss B was doing in art. I'm hoping to get both children into more art classes this fall.

I realize, however, that kids love art and I don't have to be a good (or knowledgeable) artist to let them experiment and have fun. I have gathered lots of art supplies and activity books to pull out on Fridays when we just want to have fun. Today I pulled out a couple of books that I picked up on sale at Michael's for $1.00! Can't beat that.

To tell you the truth, I was kind of shocked at how much the kids loved this simple activity. It was very easy for Miss B, but she took her time and did a really good job. She and I decided that we need to get a harder paint by number this weekend and make it a project! GMan did several pictures (much quicker than his sister because that's just his personality!). We talked about primary colors and secondary colors and listened to some Vivaldi while painting. It was quite a peaceful morning.

The Finished Paint By Number Masterpieces:

Girl in the Airplane, by GMan

Playful Puppies, by Miss B

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