Here is what is new here in our house.
I’m teaching 6yo piano. I had initially planned on waiting until he was 7 ½ because I heard the older the better, but he has been asking and the other day he brought over some of my piano music and said, “Mom, I just need to know what each note means and then I can play a song. Can you teach me?” So I went and got him some beginner books and he has been excited since. Of course, it has only been two days so it is still quite novel. I started piano when I was six, but a lot of teachers recommend age eight.
I have been looking for swim lessons for the older boys, but everywhere close only has lessons that are every single day for two weeks. I don’t like that because it takes over your life for those two weeks. I would rather a month of twice a week. Well I decided to teach them myself. (A random fact about me is that I started swimming at a very young age and when I was in high school I got my first state title when I was a sophomore in a relay swimming race and then I took my first individual first place when I was a junior in high school and defended my title my senior year.) SO I plan on teaching them when I start feeling a little better. Hopefully that will be in a week or two. It is better to teach with about four kids so I might invite a friend and ask her to watch my 1yo while I teach the older kids. We will see what I feel up to. I may just teach my two in the evening when dh can watch 1yo.
We went to meet a midwife. I really like her. She has attended over 3000 births. We heard the baby’s heart rate and that was really exciting. DH was singing the entire way home.
DH and I went to play games tonight with three other couples. We met at a friends’ house that don’t have kids and the rest of us got sitters. It was lots of fun and a great break. Things like that always make coming home and being patient with the kids so much easier. The cat had an accident in the house while we were gone, but other than that, everything was fine. An interesting side note, you can sure learn a lot about marriage relationships when people play game together. Plato said something like you can learn more about a person in one hour a play than you can in one year of conversation.
I’m really looking forward to feeling well again. I really want to get on a schedule again and feel productive. I devised a new one for the coming school year today. I’m excited to implement it.
I also want to stop eating ALL the time. Just before I got pregnant I was really good at restricting and controlling my eating to healthy amounts. I will not change that now, but during my second trimester I plan on implementing Dr. Beck’s Diet Solutions and not restricting, but choosing more wisely and judiciously.
I finished Jane Eyre. I read part of it and listened to the other part on CD. The reader on the CD was so excellent that it felt like I was watching a movie. I would like to own the CD. She reads so well that I went back to the parts I read myself and listened to them with her being the reader. She gave them new spirit and excitement. If you are looking for a book on tape I HIGHLY recommend Jane Eyre.
6 comments:
Here's my $.02 as a piano teacher. Yes it is true that children who start at 8 catch up in a matter of a few months to children who started at 6 two years earlier. However, research has shown that the children who are typically the best piano players by age 18 started the youngest. The factor that comes into play is the total number of hours of practicing before age 18, and even if progress at an early age is less apparent, all those hours do count for something.
I started my six year old last year because he was interested and I felt decoding musical symbols would help him get ready to read. He's doing great with the piano. Alfred has a new method for beginners that is based on rhythm patterns and is good for early learners. That is what we are using and it wasn't too much for him at age 5.
PS-I love love love Jane Eyre!
Jen,
I'm so glad to get your input on piano. I actually just went to the store today and got Alfred's Prep Lesson Course. Is that what you use? It looked good. The first time I was in there the worker guy said Faber is the way to go so I've got both and 6yo will do lessons from both, but the Alfred looks a little easier and so it will give him more chances for change and success. Just curious as to what level your 6yo is on now.
I just had a modern day dream that was like the story of Jane Eyre. It was one of those fun dreams that you wake up so happy.
The method is Alfred's Premier piano course, and I like it better than anything else I've used as a beginning method (Bastien, Alfred Prep, Faber, Fletcher, Thompson...) J is about halfway through--we started last fall, but we took off December through April because of my work schedule, and then started up again in the spring when I quit work, stopped again because of the move. We will be starting up more regularly this fall when school starts. He has not had to review anything in between, he's remembered what we've covered really well so I haven't had to reteach anything after these long breaks.
Faber is OK, I really like some of the songs in their recital books, but the overall method doesn't impress me. After kids are reading music well, I switch them off to a combination John Thompson & Bastien. I know a lot of teachers don't like Bastien, but I felt like the theory I learned from that method when I took lessons was what I remembered most when I got to college.
I think I got 6yo the easy book down from what you got. he seems to like it and not want too much of a challenge right now. We'll see what happens.
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