Homeschooling moms must fill up their knowledge bank in order to give the best to their kids. The more mom knows, the better she can teach. Research these topics and share the general idea with younger kids. For older kids, you might invite them to pick a topic to research.

The Ballet Class by Edgar Degas

Topics for Week 34

Artists

Charles Darwin

Racial Segregation

Jim Crow

Writing A Few More Funny Poems

Discussion Questions

Artists

Study the artists by looking at their work and talking about the composition, color, details, etc.

Cezanne - View Fruit and a Jug on a Table
Van Gogh - View Enclosed Field with Ploughman
Monet - View Camille Monet and a Child in the Artist's Garden
Explore the work of Impressionists at the Art Institute of Chicago

See Edgar Degas' work at The Met (search Degas)

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin, on his trip with the crew of the HMS Beagle, filled dozens of notebooks with careful observations on animals, plants and geology, and collected thousands of specimens, which he crated and sent home for further study.

Have you ever used a notebook to write down careful observations of the animal and plant life around your home?

What does it meant to carefully observe an animal?

How much can you observe by just looking?

Do you have to kill it to look more carefully?

What animal or plant would you like to observe?

Racial Segregation

Racial Segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. In the United States this separation was mandated by Jim Crow laws passed by Southern states. Even after Jim Crow laws were outlawed, segregation exists de facto through social customs in many parts of the country.
Kids may have a hard time understanding this concept. Read the book A Taste of Colored Water and then discuss the following questions.

What was the basis for insisting on separate entrances/seating/schools/water fountains?

How do you feel when others treat you like you don’t matter/aren’t worth their time?

What actions imply disinterest/rejection/hatred?

When do you see these actions in our family?

Jim Crow

Jim Crow was not a real person. The term Jim Crow refers to the laws that were set up to restrict movement of former slaves and segregate them in daily life.

Writing a Few More Funny Poems

Opposite Day Poems: For this kind of poem, you write short phrases where some action is done "the wrong way." This poem doesn't have to rhyme but it's fun to try and get the phrases to rhyme. Check out this lesson on how to write one

Can You Imagine Poems: This poem takes a look at a commonplace object and imagines how it might be different. For example: what if bananas didn't have peels? What if zoos didn't have cages? Once you have a list of different items with their corollary part, you can try to rhyme two phrases. Usually this poem uses the word "without" in between the two nouns.

Example:
Can You Imagine?
Trees without bark
Noah without his ark
Cows without moos
Hyenas with the blues
Shoes without soles
Buttons without holes
Sheep without fleece
A world at peace