Back in the saddle

Our first day back to school in 3 weeks: It was hard to get back in a routine, but boy is it nice to have a plan for the day!  We began our day reading The Harmonica which is illustrated by Ron Mazellan.  We met Ron last year at IWU where he gave our kids some pointers in drawing.  Alex did not remember the name, but does remember learning to draw characters from Ice Age.  Nicolas was in preschool at that time, so he did not get to go. 

The Harmonica takes place during World War II.  The character and his family were Jewish and were taken by Nazi soldiers and split up.  The boy didn't see his parents again, but remembers them everytime he played Schubert on his harmonica that his father gave to him. 

We talked about how music makes us feel and looked at the colors the illustrator used in the book.  When the character was happy, he used warm colors and after the character was taken, he uses cool colors.  The boys both related to the story.  Nicolas decided to try to draw a picture using the technique we learned.  We decided that an artist make us feel how he wants us to feel using color.  Nicolas wanted us to feel happy, so he used warm colors.

Alex was to write about the power of music.  He decided a composer could make his listeners feel differently depending on the beat of the music and the chords used.  He also fulfilled a Cub Scout requirement by writing about music.

The next few days we'll talk more about the Holocaust.  I'm not getting into the actual war much, but mainly talking about Hitler and what he and his people did to the Jews.  We will read about Anne Frank and a couple of other short stories written by people who lived through the Holocaust.  (Anne Frank did not.)  I would like them to learn about Corrie ten Boom also, but I think it might be too much.  Maybe next time we get into WWII.