The Musical Instrument Museum!

Our last co-op activity of the year was a fabulous field trip to the Musical Instrument Museum in North Phoenix.  The kids were able to see and hear instruments from all throughout history and from all over the world!  The collection of instruments at the museum was amazing.  The kids had a great time, heard some unique music, saw some strange instruments and learned a ton, too!

End of Unit 4/End of Year Celebration!

A great year like the one we had deserves to be celebrated!  We gathered together on the night of May 12 to do just that!  The kids had a chance to share all of the work they had done through out the second half of the co-op year, the classes marveled everyone with their memory work for the quarter and we celebrated two junior high school graduates . . . Daniel Keller and Cameron Roberts.  What a great night.  What a great year!

Co-op in Review: May 7, 2015

We did it!  This week was our last co-op meeting of the year!  As our year together is in decline, so is the empire of Rome.  This week, the classes learned about the split of Rome, into eastern and western halves.  And, they learned how the eastern empire prospered as the western empire struggled with poverty, hunger, and attacks from outside groups of barbarians.  The Dialectic/Rhetoric class finished up their Roman architecture projects, and had a time where they showed off their work to the other classes.  The Upper Grammar class made glittery Christian fish symbols.  At a time when Christians were being persecuted for their faith, a Christian would know another Christian by revealing this simple fish shape to one another.  They also played jacks, a game popular in Roman times.  The Lower Grammar class made beautiful stained glass windows, like those in the orthodox churches of the Eastern Roman Empire.  The Five in a Row kids read the book, "Angelo".  It's about Angelo, a man who is restoring a beautiful Roman church and ends up adopting a bird he finds in the rafters.  The kids made beautiful cityscapes of Rome and had a special snack of olive oil and Italian bread.
 

Co-op in Review: April 30, 2015

This week in co-op our classes read about one of the most famous natural disasters in all of history--the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy.  It's not the volcano or the explosion that makes this so famous, but the fact that when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, it sealed the city of Pompei in layers of ash and soot that preserved it, almost intact, until modern archaeologist discovered it decades ago.  Between the discovery of the buried city of Pompei, and the writings of Pilny the younger, we have learned so much about the ancient Roman way of life.  The Dialectic kids continued to learn about Rome, discussing it in depth and working on their Roman architecture projects.  The Upper Grammar and Lower Grammar classes both made models of Mt. Vesuvius, erupting them outside, of course!  The Five in a Row class read the book, "The Gullywasher."  It's the charming story of a grandfather telling his grandchild how he got his wrinkles and gray hair from working outside his whole life!  The kids then made beautiful artistic suns and played outside with umbrellas!