Goss Homeschool Academy

  The Nashville Symphony Education department has a list of dress rehearsals that are open to students age 10 and up. This is a great option for families who might have aged out of the Young People's Concerts or even adults that want to go to the symphony for $10 instead of regular price! Click here to go to the symphony page and order tickets! This month the programmed music includes: Ravel - Watch Here There are 8 sections to the Valses Nobles et Sentimentales. For students I would have them draw a box of 8 squares and write down the instrument they feel was a prominent instrument in that movement, or what the music reminded them of. The whole piece is about 20 minutes long. You will hear a pause at the end of each section. You can also listen along with the score here.  (And a reminder..... no clapping between movements at the symphony! It's not a hard and fast rule, but most concert goers will refrain from clapping until the very end.) In these program notes the auth...

I know people have certain Latin programs that they love and have consistency going for them (which is awesome) but I wanted to take a moment to share our Latin journey and how much we have enjoyed it through the years! Free game from Legonium First, here is a hyperlinked list of all the resources I have used through the years! Check them out if you're not familiar with some of them! Charlotte Mason Poetry thoughts on teaching Latin Song School Latin Legonium Ecce Romani Minimus Mouse Storybook Latin Some fun illustrations during Storybook Latin Our journey started out with my musician brain trying to come to terms with feeling ok with the classical pronunciation of Latin. I fought it tooth and nail at the beginning but realized that I needed to bend and be flexible because we will encounter the classical pronunciation in all academic circles. HOWEVER, if my kids experience Latin in music they can easily learn the ecclesiastical pronunciation when needed! Here's an article on t...

In the upcoming YPC concert "The Magic of Music and Film," students will be exploring tone, instrumentation, genre, character themes, and more. If you go to the Nashville Symphony page you can download a lesson packet with some great resources!  Character Leitmotif  is a musical term where a musical theme represents a character.  This video is a perfect example of what we will probably experience in the show at the Nashville Symphony. Star Wars is also famous for leitmotif. To download the musical notation for Star Wars click here. You can print or look at the sheet music while listening to the music here: On the program for the YPC, Imperial March, Luke's Theme, and Leia's Theme will be performed. Tone In music, another word for tone is timbre and can be used in a similar way that lietmotif is used. The best example is in the musical story Peter and the Wolf by the composer Prokofiev.  Walt Disney also created a movie with the story and music that you can search o...

  A Book of Centuries is part of a Charlotte Mason education where students keep a record of important people, places, and events throughout history. For the past 7 years we have done a family notebook based on the Simply Charlotte Mason Book of Centuries. (Download it for free here!) I decided I wanted to have more of a keepsake book for my children in a more compact size. I developed this hardback version of a Book of Centuries that is only 6x8" instead of the typical 8.5x11" size. It's designed to have 1000 years per page for ancient times, 100 years per page for the majority of centuries, and then 25 years per page once we get to the 20th century. The book moves to 10 years a page in the year 2000 and gives space for entries up to 2050. After our entries tonight I'm glad I went with this size! It seems to be a perfect fit for my kids! I designed two covers: A floral front:  https://amzn.to/3YcvIww And a travel front:  https://amzn.to/454oxsS They both have the sam...

I have been enjoying my summer preparing and planning for Form 3. We follow Charlotte Mason's method of education in our homeschool but I piece it together through community opportunities and the books that I really want to use for certain subjects! There is nothing wrong with going with an already planned curriculum like Ambleside Online, Simply Charlotte Mason, A Gentle Feast, or others.... but for our family I like to know that what I plan and use will be the right fit. If you've seen any of my other planning posts you know that I use the three divisions of Knowledge of God, Knowledge of Man, Knowledge of the Universe to categorize our subjects. Charlotte Mason's Volume 3 and Volume 6 give a detailed glimpse of all the subjects in a feast! It can be overwhelming to say the least! ( Here is chapter 10 of Volume 6 ) We don't always get every subject in every week but I do try to make sure the principles and the why behind each subject is spread out on our "table...

  Earlier today I posted about our science plans for the 2023-2024 school year ( check them out here! ) - in this post I will share our plans for several of the Knowledge of Man topics that we will cover in a small group. In all of my previous planning posts you'll notice how I share school subjects under one of three main topics: Knowledge of God, Knowledge of Man, and Knowledge of the Universe. Chapter 10 of Volume 6 has these three broad categories and all their subjects listed with advice and instruction. Even though Charlotte Mason wrote these over 100 years ago, the principles remain the same! They are "captain ideas" for the education of man. Even Aristotle grouped education in this way! ( Read about my plans and the three categories here. ) When I read through Volume 6 this year I was inspired to create a class for middle school where we could really dive deep into discussions and a love of learning to build our character and "magnanimity!" (I still stum...

  Usually during my school planning I put everything into one blog post. My brain needed a little more structure for science and I thought I would blog out the year for those interested in the resources and thoughts I have for middle school science! A Charlotte Mason education in science is not just willy-nilly nature study outings. But it's also not a "sit at your desk and read a textbook and take tests" kind of class either. I won't repeat what has already been written by many bloggers and websites like Sabbath Mood homeschool or Charlotte Mason Poetry , however I will quote this passage from Volume 6: "'Scientific truths,' said Descartes, 'are battles won.' Describe to the young the principal and most heroic of these battles; you will thus interest them in the results of science and you will develop in them a scientific spirit by means of the enthusiasm for the conquest of truth . . . How interesting Arithmetic and Geometry might be if we gave...

I turned in my attendance and grades to HomeLife this week so I thought it was the perfect time to blog and reflect on our school year and what we were able to accomplish! If you look back at my planning post (here)  from August last year, you can see how I organized our subjects into the categories "Knowledge of God" "Knowledge of Man" and "Knowledge of the Universe." This categorization makes so much sense to me. For years I thought it was just a Charlotte Mason way of organizing knowledge but it goes back so much farther. For example, Aristotle also organized knowledge in these categories: Episteme, Techne and Phronesis. Episteme means scientific knowledge (Knowledge of the Universe) Techne means knowledge of craft (Knowledge of Man) and Phronesis means ethical knowledge (Knowledge of God.)  Later, Matthew Arnold also wrote about these three categories. Charlotte Mason writes about it in Volume 6: "For ignorance there is only one cure, and that is,...