May 2021 Gathering

Last month of school! Oh, wait. We are actually starting our Summer Term next week, so first day of the last term of school! Don’t you just love homeschooling?

This is the last Gathering of the 2020-2021 school year! In the next month I will set to work to bring fresh Gatherings for the summer and start cranking out the Gatherings for next school year! How exciting!

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I created the Gathering Placemats as a sort of, no-fail solution to continuing our Gathering tradition. They are so simple to use – all you need to do is print them out (lamination recommended) and place them in front of your kids. Hopefully something will catch their eye or capture their attention. But I also write a little bit extra each month – some simple things to extend your Gathering tradition with your family.

If you have not gotten the Gathering Placemats for this month yet, I recommend you grab them over in our Shop.

May 2021 Artist – Rembrandt

The Gathering Placemats tend to follow both the term and riches schedules for Ambleside Online. The artist chosen for this term (3) by Ambleside is Rembrandt. I feel Rembrandt is one of the artists we are the most familiar with. We study him as part of Cycle 2 of Classical Conversations. And I took the time last year to create some Artist Mats for our studies of Rembrandt.

I must admit Rembrandt is one of my favorite artists of all time. There are quirks in his art which make me laugh and beauty in his brushstrokes which delight me. I am always most impressed when I look at his etchings – they are worthy of intense study! He was considered a master. And for good reason. I hope you enjoy looking at his art with your family over the next couple of Gatherings.

May 2021 Favorite

My favorite box on the May 2021 Gathering Placemats is the Knock-Knock jokes on page 5. I am sure our family is not alone in loving to tell jokes. But lately our youngest (N) tells the silliest knock-knock jokes.

The punchline is always “in a hurry.” They go like this:

Knock knock

Who’s there?

Apple.

Apple who?

Apple in a hurry.

I cannot help but giggle every time. She calls jokes, “dokes.” And she is always telling dokes at dinner time. It will be fun to see if she can change her punchline this month with help from the Gathering Placemats!

May 2021 Gathering Playlist

My favorite element of the Gathering!

You have free access to the May 2021 Gathering Playlist simply by opening Spotify (you do not have to have a paid Spotify account to hear the playlist – although I am not sure if it will have ads). We use our Google Home Device to play the playlist by saying, “Hey Google, play May 2021 Gathering playlist on Spotify, please.”

Hymns and Spiritual Songs

This month’s hymn is “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood.” Ambleside Online, whose hymn schedule I follow, recommends it for May. Interestingly, this is one of the hymns being rewritten to soften the rough edges of the stumbling stone which the builders have rejected. I noticed as I was creating the playlist some have changed the lyric to “There is a Fountain Filled with Love.”

As always, the Gathering Playlist includes both a vocal and an instrumental version of the hymn. This is intended for families to sing together to the instrumental, having just heard the vocals.

Also included on the Gathering Playlist for this month a Scripture song to go along with this month’s Bible verse I do hope your family enjoys these songs!

Folk Song

Ambleside Online’s recommended folk song for this month is a relatively new song for me. “King John and the Abbot of Canterbury” is a delightful ballad first published in the 1600s. Classical Conversations students will remember King John from the History prompt “Tell me about the Magna Carta.” We have enjoyed reading about him in Our Island Story as part of our Ambleside Online inspired readings.

I put together a page for my kids to read the lyrics and color (if they like). So, I thought I would share it with you. You can download it instantly here.

Classical Music

The Classical selections this term are from George Frideric Handel. This term the artist – Rembrandt – and the composer fit a little better than the previous term.

I recently found a copy of the Handel edition of Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers. My youngest has been asking daily to read it. So we are learning lots about Handel as we listen to his music.

I just included a couple of selections from the opera Rinaldo. It is really long! I think the kids will enjoy it in small doses. However, I am listening to it as a write this article and I like this upbeat aria. The opera is set in the first crusade.

May 2021 Gathering Answers

Scroll no more, the answers are here!

Who am I? (page 3) – a candle

Brain Benders (page 4) – Samantha, a secret, three

What Am I? (page 6) – the Bible

I pray God’s richest blessings on you and your family as you enjoy the May 2021 Gathering!