The weather is becoming more pleasant and will lead to us spending more time outdoors and less time in our homeschool room. To make their tradition Montessori materials more accessible when we are home, I moved a shelf into the kitchen, where most our time is spent when indoors, so that I’m available to observe.
During the summer I am considering relocating the homeschool room to their playhouse, but I also want to ensure that we are enjoying nature, too, such as the garden. So we will play this by ear.
The last few months we have focused on countries, which has been enlightening. This month I wanted to focus more on their musical interests. They recently became interested in Jazz and Blues and I realized that there’s so much to expand upon using musical styles as inspiration, such as dance styles. As I began searching I was reminded of the Harlem Renaissance and thought this would be perfect.
E and V really enjoy books and it was so difficult to find books about people we wanted to learn about months prior when focusing on countries. This month you’ll notice less explanations and mostly sharing of the books we will be reading when applicable. Note: Some of these I haven’t read yet.
It’s also Autism Awareness month and I’m Autistic. They understand that mama has different needs sometimes and I thought this would be a great time to talk a little more about autism and appreciating differences.
Week one (began in March): Kenya.
Monday: Ayub Ogada.
Tuesday: Masidza Sande Galavu. Such a talented photographer. An instagram account remembering him can be found here.
Wednesday: An outing and learning about Wangari Maathai. This is a fantstic book about her and all that she accomplished; I can’t recommend it enough.
Thursday: Ugali.
Friday: Ballet.
Week two: Blues.
Monday: Muddy Waters.
Tuesday: Augusta Savage. She was known for her sculpting, so we will break out the clay and see if E and V would like to sculpt two of their current role models: Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman.
Wednesday: Moms Mabley. You are familiar with “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” show you have heard of Moms Mabley as played my Wanda Sykes.
Thursday: Deviled eggs. This I’m so excited to try as it’s a bit different than what we are used to.
Friday: Nicholas Brothers (starting at 1:14) and “flash dancing”.
Week three: Jazz.
Monday: Jelly Roll Morton.
Tuesday: Romare Bearden. Oil pastels and cubism will be introduced.
Wednesday: Langston Hughes‘ poetry, as well as a book of his life.
Thursday: Corn pudding.
Friday: Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and tap. While I won’t be showing this to E and V, here’s a video on him and his life which I’m excited to watch. He’s known for his dancing, hence “watch”. So E and V will get to see his moves here. Bojangles famously danced, many times, with Shirley Temple. While I’m a HUGE Shirley Temple fan (huge!) I’m purposely avoiding videos with her. I could get into how they were the first interracial couple to dance onscreen in 1935’s “The Little Colonel”, but I want their focus to remain on him and there’s enough time to view Temple and Bojangles dances later.
“Bill Robinson treated me as an equal, which was very important to me. He didn’t talk down to me, like to a little girl. And I liked people like that. And Bill Robinson was the best of all.”
Shirley Temple
Week four:
Monday: Ella Fitzgerald.
Tuesday: Jacob Lawrence. Dynamic cubism and patterns.
Wednesday: Nikki Grimms.
Thursday: Hush puppies. We will be using gluten-free and dairy-free alternatives.
Friday: Josephine Baker.
Week five: Harlem Renaissance as well as a historical chapter book.
Monday: “Duke” Ellington.
Tuesday: Laura Wheeler Waring. Painting those we admire.
Wednesday: Florence Mills.
Thursday: Southern style corn bread. We will be using gluten-free and dairy-free alternatives.
Friday: The Lindy Hop.
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