Goss Homeschool Academy

UPDATE TO BLOG: I decided to move the blog over to Blogger since hosting fees were more than I expected to pay (and blogging is a hobby rather than an income!)  You can still see the text from my old posts but some links and pictures may not load.  If something comes up that you need from a resource, just shoot me an e-mail!!! Our Term 3 is going to take a loooooong time because Spring is here and the weather is WONDERFUL!  I love these early years because of how much importance is placed on being out in nature. It's sad to me that there is only 6 more weeks of lessons to the school year and my babies will be in 2nd grade and Kindergarten soon!  While we were out in the garden I asked Christian to recreate a garden picture I had taken when he was about 20 months.  Why do kids grow so fast?! #thenandnow #beautifulboy #dirtisfun A post shared by RaeAnna Goss (@sewingmamaraeanna) on Apr 26, 2017 at 8:03am PDT History Tales This is the first term...

In the next few months I'll have a few lessons to give you an idea of how I teach my own kids music literacy!  Here is a free .pdf file of Curwen hand symbols that you can use to teach solfege to your kids!  I printed mine on cardstock and hole punched to make my own solfege "ladder" that I'll show you in a Facebook video! ( click here to watch! ) For printable resources, visit Solfa Sofa!

I decided to spend some free time tonight and put together some thoughts on the folk song "Loch Lomond!"  I just love this melody!  I put a few songs in my AO playlist on Youtube if you want to check them out, but there are so many wonderful versions you can find on the internet!  Also, a really fun nugget for my kids that I plan to show them at some point is the clip of Jock in Lady and the Tramp singing his version for his bonnie, bonnie bone! DOWNLOAD THE LESSON PLAN HERE !  I have typed out some thoughts on engaging your kids with the music!  I hope you'll enjoy the time together as you sing this beautiful tune! In case you didn't see my Blow the Man Down lesson (which is the folk song for September on Ambleside Online ) you can click here! Loch Lomond isn't listed until October but I'm going to try to stay a little ahead in my lesson preparations!  I love sharing with you and would love to see any pictures of your family using ideas you find h...

One of my favorite activities as a classroom music teacher was presenting a "Composer of the Month!"  One of the ways I did that was to play an audio show from Classics for Kids and create a slide presentation to help visualize the information given in the audio.  If you would like to present the information to your kids at home, I have compiled some links for you! Classics for Kids show - Dvorák Google Slide Presentation to show while listening Another activity that I loved was playing a Beethoven's Wig recording of a composer's work!  In this case, Humoresque #7! There is also a great online activity from Carnegie to explore the music of Symphony no. 9 Another extention to Symphony no. 9 is to teach the song "Goin' Home." (from Wikipedia: The theme from the Largo was adapted into the spiritual-like song "Goin' Home", often mistakenly considered a folk song or traditional spiritual, by Dvořák's pupil William Arms Fisher , w...

One of my favorite activities as a classroom music teacher was presenting a "Composer of the Month!"  One of the ways I did that was to play an audio show from Classics for Kids and create a slide presentation to help visualize the information given in the audio.  If you would like to present the information to your kids at home, I have compiled some links for you! Classics for Kids show - Dvorák Google Slide Presentation to show while listening Another activity that I loved was playing a Beethoven's Wig recording of a composer's work!  In this case, Humoresque #7! There is also a great online activity from Carnegie to explore the music of Symphony no. 9 Another extention to Symphony no. 9 is to teach the song "Goin' Home." (from Wikipedia: The theme from the Largo was adapted into the spiritual-like song "Goin' Home", often mistakenly considered a folk song or traditional spiritual, by Dvořák's pupil William Arms Fisher , w...

 We have done a little bit of Our Island Story already this year, but we are starting Ambleside Year 1 in full force soon and I *think* I have my maps set up! To start of with History, there are 3 maps of Britain that I'm printing. For Geography, we will be spending time working on N,S,E,W which Christian already has a pretty good concept because he loves hiking with his compass!  We did an orienteering activity last year too and I think we may do a few more this year!  The other main focus in geography is the Great Lakes while reading Paddle to the Sea.  I made my own coloring page by tracing the outline of the area.  I'll probably print off a few of these through the year and maybe eventually he can even "blob" a map of the area!  I'm also printing this map of the lakes, states and capitols, and the world There is a map for 50 Famous Stories and Viking Tales.  If you want a PDF of these maps for printing CLICK HERE! Also, I spent time cr...

I'm steadily progressing through my planning for Year 1 and so looking forward to reading Christian all the Burgess Bird stories!  All the compiling also makes me wonder how many of these birds we can actually see in Tennessee!  There is a large community of birders in the area and I'm hoping that the nature center we frequent will have some advice on watching for some of these species! CLICK HERE to download the PDF of photos! If you missed my post the other day, I've compiled the coloring sketches for the birds in the Burgess Bird book in this post! Thanks so much!  I hope you enjoy the resource! Also, there are plenty of places on the internet to view the original illustrations of the book, but if you would like to download them for printing I compiled them in this document. CLICK HERE to download!

  While planning and working on preparations for Year 1 Ambleside , I have found some amazing resources for study guides.  Unfortunately, one of the resources is no longer free so I came up with my own document that you are welcome to download and use! CLICK HERE to download the PDF file! I am also working on adding a photo companion for each chapter and a printable resource for the illustrations in the book!  I'll make sure to link to both of those once they are finished! In the mean time, here are some other websites that are helpful in teaching out of the Burgess Bird Book! Burgess Bird Study Guide Burgess Bird Images and more links  

You may be like me and just starting out in the journey of Charlotte Mason education and fortunately for us, there have been MANY blog posts around the internet to help plan and prepare for Year 1!  This post will be a round up of resources out there.  There is no substitution for the actual website.  It may be daunting to go through at first (it was for me!) but the more I read, the more I started to understand! Main Websites Ambleside Online Ambleside Online Forums Ambleside Online Facebook (strict guidelines on joining - check your "other" folder) Each of these links is a great place to begin and request membership.  You'll find that there are also Yahoo Groups that may not all be active, but still have some great treasures available.  Some of those Yahoo groups are AO_Timeline AO_Lesson_Plans Ambleside_Online_Curriculum AO_HEO_Composerstudy AO_Narration Ambleside_Year1 AO_Artprints Planning the Day Everyone will have a different ...

I will confess that I am a music nerd.  I was homeschooled and participated in private Suzuki strings from the time I was 5 to when I was 10 and my parents allowed me to quit cello to take piano lessons.  I loved to practice and eventually taught myself to play several other instruments.  Majored in music education, LOVED my music history and theory classes, taught piano lessons and public school general music and choir, and all around pretty much breathed music and music ed.  My first experience with solfege or sol-fa was in my college sight singing classes. With my piano background, I had no trouble learning the system and excelling in the class.  I eventually was the student director to our university children's chorale which was heavily influenced in Kodaly.  Hearing the children warm up with solfege exercises and sight sing harmonies using only hand gestures was fascinating to me and I loved learning more through Kodaly workshops and ...

In my last post "Part 1 - Tonic Sol-fa and Rhythm" I introduced a little bit of the history behind the music education methods that were used to teach children in the PNEU schools by Charlotte Mason and her teachers. Today I want to address the list of songs and melodic training within the schools.  My driving question through some of the research and reading I've done is "HOW were these singing and musical skills taught?"  I've come to the conclusion that for young students, the music instruction was given by "rote" or by the training in the sol-fa method that sequenced skills in order to sight sing a written melody.  Rote singing is simply aural instruction that can be done by echoing phrases until a student has learned the entire passage, and/or continual exposure to the song until mastery is demonstrated in the ability to sing alone and with others. I think this method was probably most prevalent.  I'm learning more about what Miss Ma...

I'm new to the Charlotte Mason method of picture study and I have been thrilled with the results of the past several weeks!  We have been trying out the suggestions found online and in the volumes on how to question your child and lead narration for the study of art! It's been so enjoyable to our family! Doing it together at the dinner table has been a great way to make conversation as we discuss the painting of the week! For more reading on Charlotte Mason Picture study, see these links: Volume 1 of Home Education Afterthoughts blog on Picture Study Simply Charlotte Mason on Picture Study with video If you're wondering what to study, we follow the Ambleside Online rotation found here! I made a quick "cheat sheet" to use alongside with this term's artist.  The download .pdf is for teacher purposes only.  When you give your child the artwork to study it should be large (print in color on cardstock, an actual print purchased, or from a large coffee ...

So, I thought that for posterity's sake, I would update how our year is going so far!  In case you weren't aware, we are using Ambleside Online for our curriculum!  Christian is in Year 1 as a newly 7 year old!  I did a little bit of Year 1 last year during our official kindergarten to get a feel of how he listens and narrates.  Oh my word!  My boy has grown so much!  His retention and narrations have come along so well!  In fact, while we were in the car today we did a reading from Librivox.org and I had him narrate after finishing the recording.  I was amazed at how he remembered some of the details and how he was able to construct his sentences in order to tell me back what he heard in the story!  I love seeing those little cogs working in their heads! So, let's update on our curriculum in order of what we do each day: Morning Basket - Bible, Hymn, and Memory Verse Over the past 5 weeks we've done the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and A...

I thought it would be fun to document our little mini-vacation to Kentucky and share tips along the way!  If you're coming from the Nashville area you may want to plan for 2 nights away!  It was a long drive!  But, if you only have the budget for one night, here is my 2 day/1 night itinerary! Day 1 - Abraham Lincoln Birthplace, Creation Museum, and Ark Encounter! Leave early, early, early!  We left around 6:30 am and drove to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace in Hodgenville, KY.  It was a spontaneous stop but a perfect area to stretch our legs and get some history!  It is one of the National Parks so if you have a nifty parks passport, you can get a stamp in the visitor's center!   Christian was really cute when he saw the memorial!  He recognized the Lincoln Memorial from Washington, D.C. in movies/shows and thought when he walked in, he would see a statue of Abe!  We told him that this memorial was different (built in 1909!) and h...

 The past few months I've slowly been putting together a project for Year 0 - Year 1 age kids that may be following a Charlotte Mason home education!  I LOOOOVE crafts and teaching my kids some handicrafts as part of their education has been a delight!  We did a little bit of sewing last year (by hand) and a loom project, and now we're working through some projects with paper.  Paper Sloyd is the term for working with measuring, folding, cutting, and shaping paper into practical projects!  I put together 6 projects in the e-book called "Paper Sloyd DIY" and wanted to share one of the projects with you for free!  Folding an envelope has never been easier with the step by step pictures and instructions!  A few of my CM friends have worked through the projects with their kids with little hands on help.  Showing the pictures of each step allows the kids to follow the directions easily and successfully!  My son and I made a 6" square template, ...