Violin Recital

Another six months of violin practice, another violin recital.  The boys had the chance to show off their skills once again this past January.  It didn't help that they had spent the two weeks before sick and so hadn't practiced to their usual effort.  But without further adieu...

Mrs. Anderson's (far left) class of musicians

Halloween '12

Here's a quick snapshot of the boys in their Halloween costumes.  If you haven't noticed by now, the Dumbo costume has gotten its fair share of use starting with Jayce.  It has been worn almost every single year now for 9 years with an average of 2 years' use per child.  The other costumes, typically the superhero ones, have also gotten much wear and care.  Luckily for us, they don't seem to mind wearing the same costumes over and over each year.  I guess they love donning that cape or hero mask just one more time!

Our fourth Dumbo

Jayce as Ben 10, Reagan as Robin, Landon as The Hulk and Damien as Dumbo

Celebrations

After finally downloading all the images captured on our camera in the last few months, I realized I had a bunch of pictures to share with you.  So I'll get right on that and start with the boys' birthdays.  Here are some pics from both Jayce's, Reagan's and Landon's birthdays.

Not sure why Jayce felt the need for sunglasses...lol

Make a wish and blow!

Reagan requested a "cookie" cake.

Landon wanted a robot cake.  This was my best try...

Judo!

Every year, we sign the boys up for the town's local indoor soccer program, and they love it!  However we've had a difficult time finding out whether the program still exists or signing them up in time for it the last couple years so the boys have been missing it.  This summer the boys were invited to take some classes in Judo, and since the price was right, we jumped at the chance to allow them some extracurricular fun.  Visiting the dojo was a great experience as it's owned by a karate school, and we not only got to watch a judo demonstration but also got to see the karate classes in full swing while there.  Jayce had taken karate years ago and loved it, however the time, energy and money it took was too taxing for a growing family at the time.  So though I would love to have the boys also take karate, judo fit the bill quite nicely for their introduction back into sports.

Wikipedia explains judo as:


Judo (柔道 jūdō^?, meaning "gentle way") is a modern martial art, combat and Olympic sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking or by executing a strangle hold or choke. Strikes and thrusts by hands and feet as well as weapons defences are a part of judo, but only in pre-arranged forms (kata) and are not allowed in judo competition or free practice (randori).


Gee, sounds violent!  Since I didn't even really know what judo was, Michael simplified it as a martial art form of wrestling.  Which is exactly what it looks like to me as a spectator.  This must thrill Michael since wrestling is very big in the Midwest, and he himself has experience as a wrestler.  Anyway, the boys have been enjoying the exercise, discipline and learning the moves.  Here they are in their gis...

 And here they are practicing their moves...

The only downside is Landon who isn't quite yet at the allowable age (6) and complains every time the boys leave for judo, and he gets left behind.  We've tried to remedy this by letting him dress up in Jayce's old karate uniform and letting the boys "teach" him some karate moves. :)

Violin Recitals

I want to make good citizens. If a child hears fine music from the day of his birth and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart.  ~Shin'ichi Suzuki

While attending the annual homeschool convention in Massachusetts two years ago, I sat in on a workshop that, at first, threatened to bore me to death, and I almost walked out.  It was about the significance of classical music, and the presenter was extremely educated about the finer scientific points of how different types of music affects the development of the brain (Yes, rock music actually stunts your neural connectors or some such thing).  But as time wore on, it actually started to interest me, and by the end I was fascinated!  Apparently, he did such a good job convincing me of the importance of classical music (he stated if as a parent you do nothing academically with your child other than teach them how to play an instrument and listen to classical music, they will end up smarter-than-average students), I promptly came home and researched different instruments, different teachers and different teaching methods.  We settled on the violin and the teacher, a wonderful woman who teaches using the Suzuki method.

Never heard of the Suzuki method?  In a nutshell, the way I like to think of it is teaching a child how to play music before reading the notes just like how a baby learns how to speak before learning grammar.  It also helps the child feel accomplished and be rewarded almost instantly by having the ability to play a simple song.  Anyway, it has worked wonders with the two boys as they have come a long way musically-speaking since learning the first notes of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  So without further ado, here are the unedited, uncut videos of Jayce and Reagan's violin recital:








 I look forward to posting videos of their next recital in June so you can hear the difference they've made in five short months so stay tuned!

Book Report

Jayce has been really into a graphic novel series from the library and wanted to share about it on our blog.  So here's his mini-book report:

 I just finished a book series called Bone by Jeff Smith, and it took me a year! It's a 9 book series. It's about a small creature named Fone Bone. He meets a Princess by the name of Thorn. Bone and Thorn get in a war with things called Rat creatures. The Rat creatures leader is the Hooded one A.K.A. Briara. Thorn and Fone Bone had found some info on something called THE CROWN OF HORNS. And found the crown of horns in the dragon's burial place. After Bone and Thorn touched it Briara disappeared! After that Thorn became Queen of the valley and Fone Bone went back to boneville.     THE END!