Goss Homeschool Academy

First of all, using a library as a homeschooler is a no-brainer. The amount of books and resources a typical homeschool family uses relies heavily on the availability and connections that a library can provide. Also, I want to make a disclaimer that using the Nashville library system is not a substitute for supporting and advocating for your local library! We financially support and volunteer at our local library (Spring Hill) and visit multiple libraries often!  Libraries also make a great pit stop on road trips! ( Like this one we visited on our way to Cumberland Gap! ) This post is just to shed light on programs you might not know about at the Nashville library! (Eva Mae is writing a letter to the library mascot "Buttercup") Before we start, did you know that you can get a Nashville Library card for FREE if you are a Tennessee resident? Even if you're not in Davidson county! The $10 annual charge is for digital content and well worth the annual fee if you ar...

Oh my gosh! As I'm planning for this next performance I am blown away at how awesome this performance will be! IF YOU ARE A HOMESCHOOLER YOU MUST DOWNLOAD YOUR LESSON PLANS!!! The symphony sent out a zip file in December with all the lessons. (Search your e-mail for " The Conductor’s Spellbook" For copyright purposes I will not share the files here on the blog. (They are also not listed on the Nashville Symphony website and direct you to your email.) The artwork is just gorgeous and I can't wait to print them off and keep them for reference in music lessons! The main idea is to be familiar with the 4 families of instruments in the orchestra (strings, brass, woodwind, percussion.) Understanding how each family makes a sound (vibration) and how to conduct the steady beat are introduced in the preparatory lessons. The final objective of the lesson plan is to understand concert etiquette for the visit to the symphony! These are wonderful topics to become familiar...

The Nashville Symphony does an incredible job preparing educators for a trip to the symphony! On their website you can download the lesson plans and get access to the playlists on the website here: https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/education/young-peoples-concerts/ My biggest encouragement to homeschool families is to listen to the music before attending! Logging in to the NAXOS database isn't difficult by following the directions, but if YouTube is easier, I've been able to find most of the music you can preview here: (There are 8 songs in the playlist - you can open YouTube and scroll through the pieces.) This is an exciting concert program because we'll hear music from a current composer as well as timeless classics from composers who were influenced by social issues of the day. The lesson plans are geared toward 3-4 grade but all ages can benefit from learning about the biographical information of the composers and their music! Since I'll have only on...

   This past week was my 40th birthday! A #bucketlist item has been to see New York at Christmastime - especially the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Center! Fortunately, my birthday landed on the same weekend of Thanksgiving which made it easy for my teaching schedule, but unfortunate that it was still too early for the tree lighting. Boo hoo!!! I still had the time of my life and want to share my travel tips for all my friends! If you like adventure, don't be afraid of public transportation! We saved some bucks by flying into Newark, NJ. There is the very convenient NJ Transit train that takes you from Newark to Manhattan, you'll just need to give yourself some extra time for commuting if it is during rush hour. Once in Manhattan, the subway is a cheap and wonderful way to travel. Our trip was only 5 days but it was still cheaper for us to purchase a 7 day unlimited pass. Each single ride on the subway is almost $3 a person. If you know that you will ride the su...

While looking for some owl folk songs to sing with my music and nature group, I fell in love with this old song! I first read about it on Mama Lisa's website here. After transcribing it myself from the YouTube video , I found the wonderful Danny Rosevar had already transcribed and recorded it for all of us here ! She has an amazing folk song channel and is such a generous person! I encourage you to follow her videos! In the mean time, you can click my sheet music to download and use if you prefer!  I've included the solfa at the top of the melody!   Other owl songs: Wise Old Owl (echo song) One of these days I look up and see A wise old owl Sittin in a tree He'll look at you And he'll look at me Those two big eyes They don't scare me One of these nights When raindrops fall He'll give a hoot He'll give a call

  In my continuous research on composer study materials, I came across a wonderful article on developing the relationship between young students and the great composers. Franciska Schwimmer wrote the book "Great Musicians as Children" and reminisces in the introduction of the book about her experience as a young pianist. Her teacher, a student of Liszt, imparted a joy and passion for the character qualities of the composers she was studying in her piano repertoire. Her teacher would tell her personal stories about Liszt and other interesting anecdotes about many composers so that the music she played took on a personal quality directly attributed to the connection she felt to these great composers that had lived in the past. When Franciska came to the United States as a piano teacher, she noticed that the American students were very technically talented, but had developed none of the relational quality that she had grown up with as a student.  She writes: "...

One thing I love about homeschooling is that there are various ways to teach and present information to your children! As we've been following the Charlotte Mason methods and principles in education, we have found so much beauty in seeing that each child is unique in their own born person! I feel that this CM principle can also be applied to Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence. Some kids may do really well with one style of learning, and others may thrive with another! But one thing is true - there is a divine law of education in "applied wisdom" through a principle based education! One technique I found successful with my son was this idea of "memory palaces." (Also called Mind Palace or Roman Room.) My mom used this technique with us through a book by Jerry Lucas called "Ready-Set-Remember." It is a fascinating book and Jerry Lucas has done some amazing research in in brain physiology to show that picture association and visual learnin...