Dr. Suzuki on Raising Your Ability to Play (summary by Margaret)

If you asked a musician what their favorite part of learning a new song was, their answer is most likely to be performing for an audience and then being done with that song. When this happens, they are not learning to raise their ability in the piece they are working on. Here are two of the most important things for you to work on so that you will learn and never forget your pieces.
One of the biggest things to help you remember a song is reviewing it every single day. Most of us don’t like review at all, but once you have done it, you will raise your ability in playing the piece more emotionally. When you review, always make sure you are playing the piece correctly, that you are using the correct fingering and dynamics, and that you are confident in the music you are playing. By reviewing, you will help your brain to be able to figure out harder music that comes in the future. “Sometimes we think moving on is advancing, but getting better is really by reviewing,” said Dr. Suzuki. I hope you will consider this everyday as you do your review chart.
Secondly, you need to listen at least 15 minutes to your review songs. By doing this, you will cause yourself to remember what comes next in that song. Listening can also help you discover notes that you are playing wrong and then you will hopefully be able to figure out the correct one. Often our excuse is that we don’t have any time to listen to our cd, but if you have time to practice, you can make time to listen. You might even want to put a cd in the car and listen to it on the way to lessons. As you listen, think deeply into the song and ask yourself questions like, “Am I playing that note the way it should be played?” You will find that the song becomes easier to play after you have thought deeply about it and asked yourself questions.
I hope that after you review and listen to your songs, you’ll be able to play them more emotionally and show others the never-ending excitement of playing your instrument. Remember to listen and review your songs every single day.

Madison's First Editorial

This is an editorial that I wrote for Language Arts class. It is about the benefits of listening to classical music. Hope you enjoy!

Have you ever thought that classical music has no point to it? I mean, come on! Why listen to it? It has no words to enjoy and even if it did, it's still weird to listen to classical music, right? If this is what your thinking, I have something important to tell you.
Classical music does have a point to it. There are many reasons why you should listen to classical music.
Did you know that classical music helps you learn easier? There have been tests done to see if music helps you to learn and it has been proven that classical music is the best for your brain.
One test was done with 3 groups of 25 rats. The first group listened to classical music. The second group listened to heavy metal rock music, and the third group listened to nothing at all. While being exposed to the music for a 12 hour period each group was put in a maze to find their way to the food.
It took the group that didn't listen to any music 10 minutes to get through the maze. It took the classical music group 5 minutes, but the rock music group all got mad and ate each other. This proves that classical music helps make your brain smarter, helps you to figure things out, and keeps you from getting angered or stressed out.
Another reason why you should listen to classical music is because it makes you feel better. Classical music is uplifting. Instead of words that make you feel mad or depressed, it brings you music that makes you happy, excited, and even sometimes makes you want to cry.
The third reason is that it was the first kind of spiritual music and many of the pieces were written for the church. Classical music is beautiful. There is a verse in the Bible that says, "Whatever things are true, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praise-worthy, meditate on these things." Philippians 4:8
Classical music sure fits this verse well. It's no wonder they used classical music to glorify God!
So if you want to do better on that test that's coming up, or if you want to feel happier and friendlier, or if you just want to hear some beautiful music, try listening to classical music and see what happens.

By Maddy K. November 21, 2008

Let's Go Berserk!

The vikings lived in the years six hundred through one thousand a.d. When we think of vikings, we think of mean and violent people.That is true, they were mean and violent, but they were also were very clever. In their homes and villages, they would tell stories about their gods and their battles. They were farmers and they grew fruits and vegetables too. They also ate many other things like polar bears, seals, and other animals. Even though the vikings didn't go to school, they were still very clever. One thing they invented was the viking longboat.They used them to sail across the ocean.The boats were able to go very fast and they could also go up on shore. The vikings also believed in many gods like Thor, the thunder god, and Odin, the war god. Those were the main gods that they would pray to and worship. They also believed in spirits and idols. Something that I didn't know was that we got the names of the days of the week from the viking gods. Even though most of the vikings believed in gods, some of them were Christians also. The vikings would often go and attack other places. They stole things and they killed people. When the vikings were mad and furious, they would take their clothes off. We call that "Going Berserk." The vikings were also very good hunters and explorers. They explored many things and found lots of different lands, in fact they discovered North America. The vikings also had many weapons such as swords, shields, spears, and knives. One other weapon that the vikings used was a dragon head. It was placed on the front of the longboat so that it would scare away the enemies. The vikings are a very fantastic subject to learn about. I hope that you will read and learn more about the vikings too.

My Boat is the Best !!!

I learned three interesting facts about Vikings. First, the Vikings believed in gods, such as Thor, the thunder god, and Odin, the god of war. Secondly, they ate animals, fruit and vegetables. Finally, I learned that the Vikings were hunters, farmers, and explorers who liked to trade goods. There are alot of other facts, but these were the most interesting.

Viking Longboat

Vikings had spears, knives, and swords. They also had shields for protection.

Let's Go "A - Viking!"

The Vikings were people who lived from 600-1000 a.d. There was so much more to them then hunting and killing. They were really very interesting people.
When we think about vikings, we usually think about killing and stealing. The vikings behavior was not very pleasant at all. They went to other places and killed anybody and everybody. The stole whatever they wanted for themselves.
They made many different weapons. They used swords and shields made of metal. They also made knives with beautifully carved handles.
The Vikings invented many things, such as a ship called a "longboat", which they used to make surprise attacks with. The ships were long and thin, and could be driven right up onto the shore. This made it very frightening for the people being attacked, they didn't have anytime to run because the vikings didn't take long getting to shore. The ship was also made to move rapidly in the water, for fast get- aways.
Even though the Vikings killed and stole, they really were very civilized. They were not schooled but were very clever. They told stories, farmed, and traded. They loved to explore other places. They had leaders called, "Chieftons" and had different classes, and slaves. They hunted for animals like, polar bears, seals, and fish. They also ate vegetables that they grew, and different kinds of fruit.
The Vikings were very religious people. They believed in many gods. The father of all their gods was Thor, the thunder god. But the most respected god was Odin, god of war. They were superstitions and made idols. The days of the week are named after some of the gods. Thursday being "Thor's Day". But amazingly enough, some of the vikings converted to Christianity.
The Vikings were very interesting and even though we know so much about them, there is still much to discover.

We've finished our Zoology Course!

We've been studying about swimming creatures of the 5th day, which is a zoology 2 course from Apologia Science. Today we finally finished up the course and took pictures of our "ocean boxes." We've been working on them all throughout the school year and each time we learned about a new and exciting creature of the ocean, we would recreate it out of clay, paint it, and put it in our "ocean." I think this has been a great program for us to study together as a family because it is includes upper level vocabulary, but is written in such an insteresting and easy to understand, conversational style, that my 6-12 year olds all got out of it what they needed to at thier individual levels. It was fun...but now we must focus on history, or should I say, "HIS-story" for a semester or 2.

One Good Reason to Homeschool

You get to snuggle up with your little brother and read a book on a cold winter's day.

A Typical Week At Bubba's House

I have had many people ask me how I manage hschooling 4 children and all of their activities. I usually always laugh and say, "I don't, very well." As hschooling mothers, we never really feel like we "get it all done," but over the past 6 years of teaching, I have discovered that my family is much more productive when I have a well-planned schedule. I spend hours upon hours working on a schedule for the 4 children and I. Then I try it for 2 weeks and usually have to rework it. This is time well spent. I also have to consider what locations we do certain subjects in because we have music practices going on all morning. Also, some places just "feel" better for certain subjects. According to the schedule, everyone should know exactly where to be, what to be doing, and who to be doing it with. Very little time is wasted this way.

On Mondays we go out of town for 3 Suzuki Violin lessons and 1 Suzuki Piano lesson. We come home, eat lunch, take naps, read, then do science/history/bible.

This is our schedule for Tuesday through Friday.

8-9
M11 violin exercises
M10 piano practice
M8 math w/mom
B 6 math w/mom

9-10
M11 math
M10 math
M8 Abeka Language Arts w/mom
B6 Abeka Language Arts w/mom

10-11
M11 violin polishing piece / bible & pray
M10 ballet /bible & bray
M8 break & violin w/mom
B6 violin w/mom & break

11-12
M11 grammar/spell/writing/vocab/latin
M10 grammar/spell/writing/vocab/latin
M8 read w/mom
B6 read w/mom

I'm available to answer M11 & M10's questions as needed, but don't do any direct teaching until afternoon.

12-lunch & watch "Andy Griffith" (Did you know that every episode of this show can be made into a bible lesson?)
1 - family read aloud
2 - M8 & B6 room for books on tape and naps
M11 & M10 Check all work w/mom & work on writing or Internet for science (Apologia Zoology links)
3 - read or sleep
4- Everyone up for activities such as dance, violin, football, Upward basketball, (Tuesdays & Thursdays) or Science/History/Bible Class w/mom (Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays.)

Classical music (mostly Suzuki cds) are always playing where we can here them.

We also attend church bible studies & fellowships on Wednesday and Sunday nights.

I highly recommend the "Managers of Their Homes" system for scheduling.

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