All's Well That Ends Well - Shakespeare on the Common

This was one of the best performances I have seen in quite sometime! It was also KM's very first Shakespeare performance that she was not permforming in!!!

 Before the show she had a great time chasing squirrells and pigeons - you can only truly chase those creatures in the city if you want to have a chance to catch them!!!

I was amazed at the backdrop - seemed to be some sort of metallic surface - and the lightning and mood effects that it caused were incredible! The other coolest thing was that the center stage was on some sort of casters and the stagehands could spin it like a lazy susan! It was the coolest thing I have seen in an outdoor theater space!  

    

   It was a great night and we can't wait to go back next year! 

You Tube Monday - Much Ado About Clips

I am aware that it is Thursday and I had intended for this to be posted on Monday, but it didn't quite work out that way! 

Although it took me over a month, I FINALLY had a chance to get clips from the Young Shakespeare Company's performance of Much Ado About Nothing from 6-11. This is KM's favorite part as i't features her drunken speech -

The audio is a bit off, but you can the gist!

Plays and Parties!

Last weekend was rather hectic, but couldn't have been more fun -

We started off with the Much Ado About Nothing shows Friday and Saturday! KM's performance of Borachio was INCREDIBLE!!! Who knew she could be such a great drunken villian!!! -

Friday they were lucky enough for the weather to hold off so they could have the performance on the outdoor stage.

And although they were not so fortunate on Saturday - I think the performance was even better at the indoor venue!

Then Sunday was the Littles' birthday party mixed with ZPs graduation! The kids had a lot of fun in the bounce house and getting their faces painted -

and I managed to sneak a few shots of the ever elusive older brother -

Harry Potter Murder Mystery Party

KM attended a birthday party for a friend this weekend that had a great twist - a Murder Mystery! The friend is an avid all things Potter fan, so they used the services of Murder Mystery Maniacs to create this great themed event! Once you RSVPed you were sent a character description in the mail that had an access code to go on line and get some details for your costume and character profile, but the real fun began when you arrive and are handed a sealed envelope with details of the events and your role. Everyone must stay in character and attempt to discover WHO DUNNIT!!!

Well at this party the non-permanent murderer was none other than everyone's favorite Daily Prophet journalist ---

Rita Skeeter!!!!

KM has been making it clear to everyone that she did not MURDER Ron Weasley, but simply petrified him!
The kids all had a great time and KM was a superb actress - as ALWAYS!! - Only 3 of the guests figured out it was her!

BRAVO - Young Shakespeare Players -

KM's drama group had their fundraising performances this weekend and they were INCREDIBLE!!! The director adapted the play to accommodate the talents of these fantastic actors and she did an unbelievable job! I feel so grateful that my daughter had the privilege to work with this group! Here are the pictures from the shows -

In the 1st performance KM was Lady Capulet -

In the 2nd performance KM was Juliet -

Props, Costumes and Scenery...

is what are weekend consisted of! KM will be in Romeo & Juliet in two weeks so we have been busily constructing things for the show -

The kids have been working very hard and it is sure to be a FANTASTIC show!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Everything Else

This is the list of everything else that we will be covering!

Foreign Language - Latin
We will be continuing our Latin study at least through the fall and maybe into the winter...

• Learning Latin Through Mythology - two of KM's favorite things rolled into one, where could you go wrong with that?
  
• Minimus Secundus - KM really like the first level of this book, so I figured we should go for it again!
  

Art -
KM loves art and is very excited we are going to be starting Meet the Master which I got another great deal on through Homeschool Buyers Co-op!


Music -
Another one of KM's favorite areas so we have multiple resources here -

• Piano Adventures Series - this covers her lesson books, artistry and technique, theory, performance practice and her favorite - Christmas songs!
• Music Alive!
• Classics for Kids
• Voice Lessons To Go

Health -
We will be continuing to use the free curriculum supplements from NICHD publications. When I found this resource, just over a year ago, I thought it would be just some small little packets or pamphlets. I ordered almost everyone and nearly fell over when they arrived! These are full sets all ready to go into a 3 ring binder and some come with CD-Rom games and online interaction!
We also will probably be using a few of these websites -

• KidsHealth in the Classroom
• Learn to Be Healthy
• Safe Kids
• BBC's PHSE site
  

Term Elective - KM picks a subject area each term that she would like to know more about!
With the newest baby around so much lately KM has become very interested in learning about child development. It is rather tricky to find information for Middle School at this level, but I did manage to find a few things...by searching under Babysitting Skills!

• Babysitting Handbook - American Girl
• 4H - Child Development Set - I was sooooo excited when I found out that you could just order the 4H curriculums and use them at home!
• REAL LIFE BABY IN OUR HOME 2-3 DAYS A WEEK!
• REAL LIFE TODDLER IN OUR HOME 2-3 DAYS A WEEK!

CO-OP Classes
We will be attending our co-op for two classes this fall, as well as a Theater Group with our local homeschool support network. Our first co-op class will be Geography and loosely based on the Trail Guide to World Geography for the mapping aspects and different parents will be responsible each week to provide the cultural aspects that go along with it. The second class will be on Algebraic Reasoning using Family Math for Middle Schoolers and LOTS of math games. The theater group is the same one that she participated in last spring and they will be continuing to do some work on Shakespeare, as well as some monologues and some skits on famous historical times and people.



I think that is it for our fall session line-up. If you missed any of the previous posts just head to the top of the screen and type in curriculum picks and they should pop right up! Don't know how much we will get done or how many times we will change things around, but we are hoping for the best!

It may be quietier around here for the next few weeks as we take a bit of time off in between sessions! Be sure to let us know how your fall is starting out!