Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
Did you know Vivaldi used the sound of a dog barking for one of his most famous compositions? Vivaldi’s Spring in his great work The Four Seasons is only one of many, pieces of art inspired by this season. Have your students listen to Spring and see if they can hear the dog. How does Vivaldi’s Spring compare to Strauss’s Voices of Spring waltz or Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring?

Visit an art museum with your children and see how many pieces of art they can find that show pictures of spring. If they like, have them try to draw a sketch of their favorite piece. Better yet, send your children outside with a camera to capture their own piece of spring art.

And there is so much literature describing spring! For young readers, Charlotte’s Web and The Wind in the Willows might be good places to start to discuss spring and seasons. For older readers, poetry by John Keats or William Blake might be more engaging. Encourage them to write their own poems about spring.

Many artists use spring as a symbol of new life. Have your readers look at great paintings or books to see how spring is not only significant in itself, it’s also a symbol. What else might it symbolize?

Thanks for joining us this week to think about fun spring activities for your homeschool. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.