I want to share with you a little about the FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organization. We have been involved with their FLL (First Lego League) for 3 years. FLL is a robotics and research program for kids 9-14 years old.  My husband is the robotics coach and I am the research coach for our homeschool team. My 13 year old daughter is on the team and loves it.

      FLL is more than just playing with legos or building a robot or even learning about issues facing our world today. The organization really promotes a very well rounded program involving research, robot building, technical understanding, programming, teamwork, public speaking, innovative ideas, creative problem solving, design work, creating public presentations, writing, and even acting. It is amazing how well rounded the program is. All the while the focus is not primarily on the competitive aspects but on something they call gracious professionalism and the importance of the learning that takes place leading to the tournaments. It has been a great blessing in our lives.

      My daughter used to be quite shy and slow to participate in activities with other people. Just about the time she would be warming up to a situation it would be time to leave and she would feel like she missed out. Participating on the team has done wonders for her self- confidence and social skills. This year we have seen her mature in leadership and with the group dynamic.

     Two years ago we were blessed to have been able to go to the World Festival in Atlanta, GA. As a result of our performance there, FIRST asked us to represent them in Washington DC at a congressional reception and finally with a meeting with President Bush at the White House. It was an incredible experience that none of us will ever forget. Having said that, even if none of that had happened, I would recommend FLL to anyone.

      We won our regional this year and are heading to the state tournament at IPFW in Ft Wayne, IN on Friday. Our kids have chosen as their motto  FROG (Fully Rely On God). They hand out smarties  with that printed out and wish everyone they meet the best. The results at regionals were wonderful and we do hope to do well at state, but it really has been all about the journey.

Here's a link to the organization: www.usfirst.org

This is a good sampling of how we accomplish Composer Study in our homeschool.

George Frideric Handel

1685-1789

German Composer

Day 1 & 2: We read about the life of the composer and work on a narration. We copy our narration onto a mini book for our mini-book page. This will go into our Composer Study Binder. We listen to a CD of the music while we work, but only as background.

Picture and Short Biography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel

http://www.classicsforkids.com/composers/bio.asp?ID=26

Read about the Composer:

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers by Mike Venezia

The Great Composers by Jeremy Nicholas

Day 3 & 4: We usually listen to between 6-8 selections. We also have a discussion on the music. One of the days we have our “Tea with a Composer”, where we listen to a sampling of music and try some different treats from the composers country(ies). We have chosen to have Cream Cannoli (Italy), Walnut Kiefflies (Germany) and White Chocolate Apricot Scones (England).

Listen to the Music:

The Very Best of Handel- Naxos

http://www.classicsforkids.com/shows/showview.asp?ID=23

http://www.botproductions.com/music/messiah.html

Day 5 & 6: We continue to listen to the music and then complete a short narration on our opinion of the music and our general observations. That goes onto our mini-book page.  We usually begin a cultural activity that relates to the composer or music. In this case we are going to get to try our hand at playing a harpsichord through a friend of a friend.

Day 7 & 8: We complete our map work, labeling important places in the life of the composer for our mini-book page. We learn a little more about the culture that the composer has lived in. In this case we also included a mini report on King George and then we completed an activity sheet from below:

Online Activity Sheets:

http://www.classicsforkids.com/activitysheets/June2008.pdf

Map work:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/continents/Europe/label/label.shtml

Day 9: There is only a day 9 if we can find a performance of the composer’s work. We are blessed this time to be able to go to Notre Dame and hear The Messiah. A friend of my daughters from volleyball is guesting in the violin section. That makes it even more special.

      Warning: Be careful what you pray for.  Here's a 13 day example of my crazy life:

Tues- homeschooled children, volleyball practice, homeschool youngest at practice, drive 3 hours to game, watched game, drive 3 1/2 hours home

Wed- homeschooled children, pack catering supplies, pack personal items, get out meals for family from freezer cooking stash, drive to Dayton, OH

Thurs- shop for all food for wedding, make all rolls and sauces for wedding

Fri- pack everything into van and drive with friends to West Virginia, along the way went into culture shock: a few examples- 1) gas station that was also a doctors office and a deli where a shirtless, toothless trucker called me darlin' and proposed to me 2) wildlife viewing area that did not have anything that was alive but a layer of green slime 3) a place that looked like a junkyard but was really a hot dog stand ( more about that later).

Sat- decorated, cooked, served, cleaned up a wedding for a dear friend's daughter. The reception was very nice. My friend did a great job with the decorations.

Sun- packed and headed back to Dayton, stopped at Hillbilly Hot Dogs- if you are ever in Huntington, West Virginia you have to stop at this place- the outside is scary, parts of the inside are scary, they deep fry their hot dogs, one of the owners, Shari the Weenie wife, may be the happiest person that I have ever met, they even have a weenie song, it's wild, got back to Dayton and packed my car, picked up my friends daughter and drove back to Indiana.

Mon- homeschooled children, unpacked, drove to German lesson, cleaned house

Tues- homeschooled children, drove to volleyball practice, drove 2 hours to game, watched game, drove 2 hours home

Wed- gave kids assignments, went shopping for catering job, checked kids work, Mom came and gave the kids their piano lessons,prepared food, packed it all up and catered a Chamber of Commercs After Hours party, packed it all up with my wonderful husbands help and drove it all home

Thurs- homeschooled children, cleaned and put away all catering supplies, reclaimed kitchen, drove to volleyball game about 2 hours, watched game, went to dinner with teams, drove home

Fri- homeschooled children, blogged, take the kids to lunch and the girls to the Mall, pack for the lake and head out, stop for groceries on the way

Sat & Sun- enjoy the lake and work on lesson planning (it's supposed to rain all weekend)

      God has been teaching me a lot of things the last couple years. Two years ago, I began praying for empathy and patience with others. Let me tell you, there was a major conflict looming where God really taught me some big lessons in those areas. Then I start seeing how schedule oriented and rigid I can be and I pray about learning flexibility and giving my control issues over to God. He gives me a couple weeks like these and I survived with much prayer and calling on Him. I sure hope I learned what He wanted me to because it has been quite a whirlwind. I hope my next lesson is on peace and calm... is that me being controling?