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Materials/methods for dancing/sol-fa
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Hello everyone, I am new on this forum; from Germany; having (almost) 5 little children from the ages 7 till baby (plus a 19 yo daughter living with us); and just planning my first ´real homeschoolyear´. We are a billingual family, dutch and german and I want to teach the kids as much english as possible in the following years. We probably will move to Canada BC in about 2 years, because homeschooling is illigal here in Germany.
My first ´real homeschoolyear´ will be a ´preschoolyear´, since the oldest one that I can homeschool is 4,5 yo. I thought I would use the summer (and the new baby time – am about due) to plan the first schoolyear, so I ordered all the dvds and materials on the CM-method from this side. They are super! Because I noticed Charlotte Mason doesn´t do much kindergarten stuff beside playing outside, I have now planned the next year as a good preperation year with focus (for the children and myself) on the real important things to us (lots of bible etc and languages).
I would like to do something with dance and sol-fa singing (I like singing and know the sol-fa method is great). Does anyone of you have materials or methods on (tonic) sol-fa singing with children? I have googled a lot, but only find music schools that offer it… Concerning dance I heard Sonya Shaver mention square-dancing and riverdance and the like – so also in that direction my question is if someone can help me in what works with little ones and what good materials are available for it (it might also be pantonime or something like ´sweet drill!´)!
And if anyone happens to have a good tip on teaching little ones english in the best possible way (so I will be able to homeschool in english within years), please shoot! For now I have thought of learning bible verses with the children in dutch (like usual) but also with translation (being optional to repeat in that language, but at least for us big ones), the same with christian songs, and then rotating a German-morning, 2 English-mornings and 3 Dutch-mornings. We normally speak dutch, on the German- and Englishmorning I want to have moments we speak the other language, do our bookreading in that language and if its English watching a English dvd. I think that will already work and still be without stress and easy. The routating of books, according to the day of the week, is a tip I figured from the way Charlotte Mason read books :). But any other tip, even advise on good christian, very easy dvds, are very welcome.
Thank you for helping me in preparing our first ´real year´ and our emigration!
Yvette BergFor solfa, you can do echo singing. Start with sol-mi combinations. Then add la. Then add do, then re, then ti, then fa. That’s the order I was taught and taught, before I was a homeschool mom. I’d teach the handsigns along with it.
You can change any song into solfa; Just sing one verse in solfa, then sing in whatever language is that day’s language.
Dont’ forget sight-singing — you can teach that the same way. Teach the students to recognize the sol-mi pattern; then add la; then add……
I am trying to teach my children Spanish similar to how you’re going about English. This past year, we learned several children’s songs in Spanish (they already were familiar with them in English). This year, I hope to add some Bible verses in Spanish to our Together Time.
I teach music using the Kodaly method (emphasis in solfa). For the kindergarten year I don’t even start introducing any of the names of the pitches. I teach the children many songs using sol-mi, sol-la-sol-mi, and so-mi-la-sol-mi as well as chants that use simple rhythms of ta and ti-ti. We focus on learning and mastering fast/slow, high/low, loud/soft, tapping steady beat, and matching pitch. About the time children are 6 and 1st grade they are ready to begin learning basic rhythms (ta, ti-ti, and rest) and pitches (sol-mi, and later adding la).
I use an American folk song collection from my Kodaly training, but I am sure there are some great folk songs from Germany or Canada that you could use as well. Examples I use are:
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone?
Engine, Engine, Number Nine
Bounce High, Bounce Low
Snail, Snail
Old MacDonald (not for solfa, but for making animal noises and keeping a steady beat)Welcome to the forum, Yvette, and to the rich Christian philosophy of education of Charlotte Mason. We will uphold your family in prayer and look forward to hearing you can freely educate your children.
We are also a bilingual family, Russian and English. We school in English but once lessons are over, switch to speaking Russian. We alternate our bedtime stories – one night in English, the next in Russian. Once you are in your new home country and surrounded by English, it will be no time at all before the language feels natural. In fact, we work more at keeping Russian fluid.
One thought, If you have native English speakers with children close by, it would be nice to get together at a park or for play so your children could hear and speak English in a natural, unstudied way with other children.
Grace and peace multiplied to you and yours,
Richele
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