Ten Musical Pieces from Baroque to Romantic

The high school students in our home school co-op just read a lesson from the Notgrass World History Curriculum about music history.   Here is a selection of 10 pieces from the composers featured in the chapter.  I haven't personally listened to all of these.  Some of them are full-length, and the students might want to just listen to several minutes.  I hope they will be inspired to look up more pieces for these composers and for other composers in these musical periods.  I will try to compile a list of 20th century links soon.

For more information, be sure to visit these classical music sites:

• http://www.classicalarchives.com/
• http://www.classical.net
• http://www.classicalconnect.com/

Baroque

 

• Antonio Vivaldi - Four Seasons
• George Frederic Handel - "Water Music" Suite in F Major HWV348 (1)
•  Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concertos No.1 - i: Allegro Moderato 

Classical

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21 - Andante
• Ludwig van Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata - Piano Sonata No. 14
• Johannes Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 5

Romantic 

•  Antonin Dvorak - New World Symphony
•  Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake by the Kirov Ballet
•  Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture 
• Chopin - Valentina Igoshina - Fantasie Impromptu

Web Sites for Free High School and College Level On-Line Learning

Dear friends,

These web sites are recommended by my second cousin Margaret, who is home schooling a high school student this year.   I haven't explored them thoroughly, but I'm sure you'll find something really interesting, either for you or your students!  Christian home educators should be aware that these are non-religious sites, so use at your own discretion.  

www.coursera.org -- free online college-level courses on all sorts of topics. 

www.hippocampus.org -- they have recently revamped the website and have incorporated a bunch of stuff from Khan Academy. 

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm MIT's Open Courseware  

Thanks for the info, Margaret!

What are your favorite web sites for this?  Leave a comment below!

Virginia

Recommended Reading Lists for Teens and Parents

RECOMMENDED READING LISTS

from the outline of

"Read, Reflect & Respond" by Virginia Knowles

You can click on many of the titles to see the books listed at Christian Book Distributors. On this web site, you can click links to view the table of contents and sample chapters.

SPIRITUAL LIFE FOR TEENS AND PARENTS

• Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations / Alex & Brett Harris creators of the challenging Christian teen blog www.therebelution.com/.
• Growing Up Christian: Have You Taken Over Ownership of Your Relationship with God? / Karl Graustein & Mark Jacobsen / P & R Publishing
• One Heartbeat Away: Your Journey into Eternity / Mark Cahill / an evangelistic book with reasons to believe and help in sharing faith. Free copy at www.oneheartbeataway.org/.
• Reaping the Harvest: The Bounty of Abundant-Life Homeschooling / Diana Waring
• Girl Talk: Mother-Daughter Conversations on Biblical Womanhood/ Carolyn Mahaney
• Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) / Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

KNOWLES GIRLS’ TOP PICKS OF LITERATURE
(by Mary, Julia, Rachel, Joanna, and Lydia Knowles)

• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy– immediate top pick of 3 of the girls! It’s a historical adventure of the French Revolution


• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – racism and law in the south – a high school classic!


• The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis – ironic correspondence between two demons who are strategizing on how to deceive and distract Christians – get the Progeny Press study guide


• The Hiding Place by Corrie TenBoom – true story of a Christian family hiding Jews in the holocaust at great personal cost – watch the DVD after you read the book!


• Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth – true stories of a family with 12 kids (there may be some things unsuitable for younger readers – I can’t remember)


• The Giver by Lois Lowry -- futuristic novel usually assigned for younger students but all of my girls listed it AND it addresses some issues that I think are more suitable for high school anyway


• If I Perish by Esther Ahn Kim – true story of one Christian woman’s persecution in Korea


• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – classic Brit lit, get the Progeny Press study guide


• The House of Winslow series by Gilbert Morris – Christian historical fiction series of 50 books covering one family line from Mayflower to modern times, lighter reading


• Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton – for mature readers, set in pre-apartheid South Africa, contains violence and some sexual references, also moves slowly. That said, it is an excellent, poetic, thought-provoking, classic book about a godly black pastor and his wayward son. This book made a huge difference in raising public awareness and bringing an end to apartheid. Watch movie!
  

LITERATURE & READING LISTS

• BJU Press or A Beka literature anthologies don’t provide entire books, but give a variety of selections for American and World Literature


• Meredith Curtis’s high school and adult reading list: www.joyfulandsuccessfulhomeschooling.com/pdfs/AdultReaders.pdf


• Charlotte Mason and classical approach reading list and free e-books www.amblesideonline.org/


• Download free Christian classics on-line at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library www.ccel.org/.
  

WHERE TO BUY BOOKS?

BRIGHTLIGHT BOOKS is a great local place to buy or sell (for cash or double store credit) used home school curriculum, literature, and Christian books. Address: 1099 SR 436 in Casselberry Phone: 407-622-6657.

Three on-line Christian curriculum resources that have terrific selection and prices!

RAINBOW RESOURCE

CHRISTIAN BOOK DISTRIBUTORS

TIMBERDOODLE

FINALLY, A FEW MORE LITTLE QUOTES TO AMUSE AND INSPIRE…

♥ “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” Groucho Marx

♥ “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” Mark Twain

♥ “When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.” Erasmus

Web Sites for Teens and Parents -- Make an Impact!

Jane Pierce kindly sent the following web links and descriptions of organizations that are equipping teens to make an impact on culture.

Do Hard Things (Alex and Brett Harris)
http://www.therebelution.com/
This web site has lots of resources, book lists, etc. They also have a conference tour as well. (Alabama in August & DC in September) This is a YouTube clip from the Do Hard Things Conference.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_iZ9Jvupv4

Generation Joshua
www.generationjoshua.org/dnn/
Civic and political bent. They want to help parents train up the next generation of Christian leaders and citizens. There are meetings, on-line classes in a variety of subjects (that can be taken for credit), etc. Something that particularly interested me was that they have a book club. Students read the specified book and then about 1X month there is an on-line discussion. If you'll be using this for credit, the student can send in a short report and receive back a sort of 'certificate of completion' but their work is not actually graded. They also have scholarships (books and tuition only) that can be earned based on specified activities. This is very hands on, they encourage things like registering new voters, participating in campaigns, etc. Next week there is a national conference in Washington DC, where they'll be meeting a variety of leaders, having tours, classes and activities.

The Big Dig
www.focusonthefamily.com/events.aspx
An apologetics simulcast, sponsored by Focus on the Family. There may be something closer, but a couple of us are going to Plant City for the simulcast on August 8. The Big Dig is geared for teens and young adults.

Teen Pact
www.teenpact.com/
They teach the foundations of government with the legislative branch, beginning with one week at the state capitol. Their focus is on Biblical principles of government and family, and that God is the answer to America's problems, not politics. They also want to train the next generation of Christian leaders and citizens. There is optional 'homework' to do ahead of time (it's an important part of the process). This hands-on course makes 'civics' much more interesting.