Week 19 – Over the Moon Results

Virtual school started off a little hectic this week. We had been sent an email from the teacher saying that she would not be in class today, and we took that to mean that the class was cancelled. But when we checked for the link just to be sure, class was happening! Oops! So I rushed to get Dragon up, and she got ready to go within ten minutes! We missed Oh Canada and the first part of Le roi, la reine, et le petit prince. Not bad!

Dragon was very tired and a little cranky, especially when there were technical glitches and she wasn’t heard the first time.

They learned about the letter ‘f’ this week. Out of virtual school, we talked about frère, feux d’artifice, foulard, fusée, and fleur.

The story was read by the teacher, which I personally prefer, because they can slow down and make sure the kids are understanding.

Dragon was asked to do counting in math, which she found very easy. Then she was asked to figure out how many buttons were missing to make it look like the example. Once she got the hang of it, she understood exactly what was being asked of her.

Homeschool was good this week. We watched Over the Moon in honour of Chinese New Year, although the festival being celebrated in the movie is the Lunar Festival, which happens in the Fall.

Dance

She did ballet 2 times this week, and practiced doing the spilts.

Music

Piano: She did the clapping and counting the notes and rests perfectly (two weeks in a row). She did the first lesson no problem (letters, no notes). Then they did the second lesson, no problem reading the notes on the staff (C and D). Then they added the E and A. She was able to do the short piece (4 bars), but was having trouble following along with the longer piece (16 notes with no bars), but she was still able to do it, she just took longer to figure out which notes were which.

We have a new French playlist that I can play through the Google, with a variety of artists.

Crochet

She did not do any this week.

Basic Information

We are working on the day before (hier) and the day after (demain) any given day. The months of the year is going well. We’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.

The saisons de l’année are all memorized. We’re working on how each of them feel and the types of things we can do during each of them.

When I ask her “combien” for any of the above, she now responds in complete sentences.

Printing words

Printing went very well this week.

Counting objects/math-type activities

She had no trouble with these. We are now practicing counting up to 30 in French verbally. She still stumbles on 16. I have no idea why.

Math: the easy sheet was very easy. The challenging sheet was challenging. She didn’t like that she couldn’t guess the answer, but she did like that we could draw objects.

Storytime

We read stories from the teacher’s outline that was sent to us on Monday. She enjoyed that, and we will continue to do it next week.

We watched Vampirina in French on Disney Plus, one episode a day. Dragon is enjoying it immensely, and is even recognizing some words!

Activity

Experiment: Nebula Jar – (renamed from Galaxy jar, since it looks like a nebula, not a galaxy). We used Crayola paint, glitter from Walmart, and pillow stuffing rather than cotton balls. We put blue paint in first, with pink glitter. Then we added pink paint with silver glitter, but it turned purple! So when we added the top layer of paint, we used pink again, this time with gold glitter, and we mixed it in a separate jar. We added the stuffing and poured the pink water overtop, to prevent too much mixing with the previous layers. I think it worked pretty well. I wonder if that would have worked for the second layer…?

Make mooncakes – the ingredients ended up being too expensive, so Dragon made spring rolls instead! They… kinda exploded. At least they tasted yummy!

Learn about Chinese New Year – We had a video chat with a very good friend of mine and her son. We learned about the different animals of the Chinese zodiac (Dragon was born in the year of the Monkey!) and about different traditions that happen during the 15 day celebration. This year, the New Year starts on February 12.

Week 19 – Over the Moon

Another non-Disney movie, although we did see another movie by this studio in the Fall semester (Abominable). This one references a beautiful myth about the moon goddess. Again, I wanted to honour Chinese New Year on February 12th, but did not want to encroach on Black History Month.

Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (Please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
Watch movieExperiment: galaxy jarmake mooncakeslearn about Chinese New YearFlex

Summary of the week

Daily details:

Dance

Ballet and martial arts on alternate days

Music

Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano

Crochet

The project she is working on (currently she is making herself a poncho)

Basic Information

We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.

Printing words

In download materials

Counting objects/math-type activities

Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –in download materials

Addition and pattern – worksheet

Storytime

Activity

Experiment: Galaxy Jar (weblink to experiment) Print out made in folder/ or this Crayola weblink for water-based paint (print out made in folder). (Note: we’re going to be using pillow stuffing for our attempt)

Make mooncakes (link to recipe) Print out made in folder

Learn about Chinese New Year – link to a video, link to resources

Next week: A Wrinkle in Time

2020 JenEric Movie Reviews

Hello Movie Lovers,

This year I seem to have watched, and reviewed, 73 films. Wow. Below is a list of them in decending star order. Within each catergory they are in alphabetical order.

5 Stars out of 5

4.5 Stars out of 5

4 Stars out of 5

3.5 Stars out of 5

3 Stars out of 5

2.5 Stars out of 5

2 Stars out of 5

1.5 Stars out of 5

1 Stars out of 5

0.5 Stars out of 5


What do you think? Do you disagree on any films?

Éric

Over the Moon – JenEric Movie Review

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2020 film Over the Moon.

Story

This has all the elements of a wonderful Doorway-style story. (Doorways stories are about youths that find a method of travelling to a fantastic world. Think Alice or Dorothy.) The near-Pixar style sadness at the beginning and the Olaf clone are well done and don’t feel trope-y.

Unfortunately the concept is prettier than the story, and once they reach the moon, the story is disjointed and thin, giving too much room to world building and action.

The ending and the moral are heavy handed and uninspired.

Score: 0

Characters

The kids were interesting and realistic for an animation. It’s great to show a character that is into myth and STEM equally, something that isn’t explored enough. I didn’t really like the whole, “I have a super power” story line, since it was done for cheap laughs and a non-funny gag.

The animal sidekicks are plenty and cute, never detracting from the story or getting too annoying.

The woman on the moon was supposed to feel mythological, like dealing with a god or magic power. She came off more as whiny, entitled, and not too bright. Less like a force of nature and more like a toddler.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue was okay. It served its purpose but compared to the complexity of other animated movies I felt like it was a little simplistic. The word humour was well done and the sassyness of the kids was a mirror of reality.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

Pearl has now, after two movies, established itself as a studio that can do quality animation. This movie is stunningly beautiful. The detail, lighting, and cinematography are all beyond anything anyone else is doing outside of top tier Disney and Pixar.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think making this a musical was the wrong choice. I think it detracted from the emotion and story. The music was however very good, catchy, and insightful.

Score: 1

Fun

This movie was a lot of fun to watch. My kids were enthralled, my wife and I cried, and I still have some of the songs stuck in my head.

Score: 1

Overall

Stunningly beautiful with a mediocre story. The movie could have been so much better, but is still a lot of fun to watch.

Final Score: 3 stars out of 5