History of Music and Art: Part One: Ancient Greece

In these next series of posts, I will be bringing you along on a musical and artistic journey through time. We will meet some famous composers and artists, while creating some interesting art and listening to fantastic music. It is geared for kids between the ages of 5-12, but with some additional modifications it can easily be turned into something an older child could have fun working on, and a younger child would love to do the craft project with help.

Today we are traveling all the way back to Ancient Greece, which is the start of ancient music. Although there was music before this time, we don’t have records of it, so we call it primitive music. Ancient Greece was an amazing civilization. For the first time, besides having farmers, there were historians, playwrights, composers, scientists and mathematicians, and philosophers. This is because Greece was divided into city states. There was a city surrounded by countryside and that countryside would feed the people in the city, allowing them the opportunity to dabble in the arts and sciences.

A Few of my Favorite Quotes

I love quotes written by authors that touch my heart, as if they were speaking directly to me. Today I want to share with you just a couple that define me and seem to have been written out of the same mold that created me.

“When words fail, music speaks.” ~Hans Christian Anderson

Learning to Never Say “I Just Can’t Wait Until…”

Being a mother is hard work. I have four children (and three of them are young!) and this season is the hardest season I have ever lived. There is no sleeping in. I can barely balance the house work, the children’s schooling, my job, being an attentive wife, and getting “me time.” There is no doubt: being a mother is not for the faint of heart! I have suffered from anxiety issues and there were times when my mothering ability was only barely a passable grade. I have made efforts, since having my third child, to slow down and enjoy my life. Now with four children and my oldest being nine already I am making heartier efforts to slow down. The best way for me to achieve peace of mind was to focus it on the positives in life.

Week 6: Home Stretch

I am now in the homestretch of this pregnancy and we could have a newborn any day. Not today, but any day. Instead of trying to move forward in our curriculum, we are doing reviews and other fun things together like Art Hub for Kids on YouTube, creating prayer journals, science experiments, and cartography. It is fun to do other things as a break.