Review: Art and Music Appreciation with Living Books

Mary G. at the St. Athanasius Academy blog wrote a terrific review of the Art and Music Appreciation webinar. Thank you Mary!

Did you make it to the Wittman webinar on Wednesday evening (try saying that 5 times really fast)? What a GREAT time was had by all.

This is the first on-line conference I've attended and, although I'm a tech-head, I was a bit wary of the whole concept. I mean, c'mon, I love sitting in front of the computer like most folks but an hour and a half of just sitting (albeit, I'd be knitting), listening and watching ... sounded a bit over the top.

Well, let me tell you -- this is pretty slick. I got to sit and listen to Maureen and her presentation about teaching art and music using living books. AT THE SAME TIME, I could ask questions, chat with others or generally cut-up through the chat feature (just typing, no mike needed). Maureen, pro that she is, was keeping one eye on her presentation and one eye on the chat window so she could add her two bits too! VERY COOL.

Maureen's presentation was, as usual, excellent. Many of the books mentioned are in her classic, living teaching book, For the Love of Literature: Teaching Core Subjects with Literature. As a matter of fact, on of the participants had the forethought to have the book available so she could stick post-its as fast as Maureen commented on one book after another. But more than just repeating what she has in her book, Maureen did a great job of "playing to her audience" by keeping the flow going, by responding to questions or comments lobbed in the chat window, by generally giving us her "full monty" from the comforts of our own homes. I was surprised how quickly the technology took backstage to the presentation and it was almost as if she were in my living room giving the talk!

Walter Crawford, the brains behind the Homeschool Connection idea has partnered with Maureen to increase the number of webinars, making them all free. Additionally, the team is devising on-line classes for high school and middle school students. The first course will be a government course taught by the head of the Michigan pro-life committee! Check out the Homeschool Connection website for further information ....

All the webinars are now free, thanks to some amazing homeschool resource suppliers. For instance, the webinar on Wednesday was sponsored by Love2Learn.net and Margot at Hillside Education gave away THREE one-year subscriptions to her amazing Catholic homeschool quarterly, mater et magistra. I'm proud to say that I write the handcrafts column for this beautifully edited one-of-a-kind magazine!

In addition, you can actually download past webinars (including the one I attended), and you can replay it at your leisure. You'll get not only the presentation but you'll also have the actual "chat room" text that occured at the same time. You can save the webinar to your computer and replay it whenever you feel the need to spunk up your home-education adventure.

I love this stuff!

To view this recorded event: Bringing an Appreciation of Art and Music to Your Homeschool