We've had a wonderful week studying Chopin, Louis Braille and the Erie Canal. 

We used internet links more than usual in our learning this week, and just in case anyone else is studying the same era--or just intrigued to hop around--I'll share them here.

When we came to Chopin I was stunned to find I don't have any recordings of his music.  (He just isn't one of my favorite composers--and I have dozens of "favorite" composers!)  So we hopped over to Classics for Kids.  If you click on the "Hear the Music" link, it plays some samples. 

For Louis Braille we supplemented our reading with the Braille Bug site.  In addition to Biographical information about Louis Braille (and Helen Keller) it gives a fun inro to children into the Braille alphabet--teaching them to decipher the code.

For the Erie Canal we printed out simple music to the "Low Bridge" song from a Wikipedia link for piano sight reading practice.  Then  we gathered around the computer monitor to enjoy a YouTube musical slide presentation of the Canal Diggers!  The slide show gives a great glimpse into the life of the workers.  (And I love the style of music--I was trying to find he artist's name, but failed.) 

Kaira especially had a heavy week of book work and a lenghty outlining assignment (thanks to her slave-driving mommy), so the web learning was a welcome break.

On a phonics tangent:
I caught Keianna explaining phonics rules to Keegan, pointing to words I'd left on the chalk board.  "Keegan, the e at the end is quiet, but he's powerful.  He makes the other vowels say their name.  Do you remember what a vowel is, Keegan?  I will tell you..."  That e is the strong silent type.