HOMESCHOOLING- Folk Songs

   Wow it's been some time since I posted to this BLOG... and we've entered new seasons and learned many new things since then.  We have been homeschooling for a few years now, and our oldest is almost 7, in year one.  We absolutely love the Ambleside Online the curriculum we have been using.  It is based upon the Charlotte Mason method- google it if you have never heard of it.  Once I discovered the method, I knew it was for us.  After discovering the method, I found Ambleside Online and was so grateful because of the amazing guide it was for helping me to know what exactly to teach my children.  Beyond the reading, writing, math and essentials, we have discovered a love for the Enrichments like Nature Study, Picture Study, Composer Study, Hymn study, and Folk Songs!  There is a schedule for each, that ambleside uses, and you are free to follow of select your own.  We are picking our own hymns each month, simply to learn and know the hymns that we sing in our fellowship and are familiar to us.  As we need to, we will start following some of the selected hymns to learn some new ones.  We generally follow the Composer & Artist study selections for each term because they choose 2 people who are from the same time in history, however this term I branched off chose Ansel Adams (picture study) in preparation for our Road Trip this summer.  We will be visiting many of the US National Parks on our adventure.  I have loved photography since high school, and am absolutely loving learning about Ansel Adams and becoming familiar with his photos of some of the parks we will visit.  

And finally, folk songs.  I had no idea what a hit and joy these would be for our family!  Folk songs are AWESOME people!!  They are the kind of songs you can sing anytime, anywhere.  We find ourselves whistling together the songs that we've learning, while doing other things.  of instrumentsBy simply having a folk song for each month, and incorporating it into random parts of our day, we have grown to love and sing many of these songs we now love.  

And now that the world is in the throws of these strange times because of the Coronavirus/Covid-19... dad is home more than ever before.  He's been a great addition to our homeschooling rhythm and we are able to take action on an idea we have had for some time.  We have started a You Tube channel to share some of our favorite folk songs that we have learned.  Kids love watching other kids- so sharing this first song with the Ambleside Online facebook group- featuring this months song, "Health to the Company" has been a hit.  

Check it out @  GEN FOLKSONGS
Health to the Company

HOW we implement and learn each folk song.  We start out by watching a few you tube videos that we find for the song.  We listen/watch during our Tea Time in the afternoons.  We also read over the lyrics and get a feeling for what the song is about.  After our initial introduction, we will play it in the background when we're needing some music in our day, while we do other activities- lunch, art, play...  At some point, the Laird (a.k.a. Daddy) will get out his guitar and learn the song together.  Our Friday nights will often be guitar and singing nights- so we add the newest folk song to our growing collection of songs we like to sing together.