Questions I was asked when I first started home educating

Was thinking today about the questions people used to ask me (or the statements the would make), when I started home educating! (Been HEing since June 2000). Here are some of the things I was asked and the response I would have loved to say, but was too polite...

Q1 - (after the initial shock of hearing I HE) Is it legal?
A - No, not really, my husband and I felt like breaking the law

Q2 - But what about socialisation?
A - Well after we take them out of the cupboard they are allowed to mix with other kids

Q3 - But they won't learn to live in the real world...
A - Where in the 'real' world is one incarcerated in a room with their peers. When you go for a job, one isn't placed with all 18 year olds (or whatever age).
At least outside of school we visited real libraries, used real money to pay for things, cooked using real weights etc. 

Q4 - They are being isolated
A - Isolated from what? Bullying, swearing, blasphemy, riot control in the classroom etc - Praise the Lord they didn't go to school!

Speech given by A Hitler in 1937

"The youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."

 Part of a speech given by Adolf Hitler in 1937 before he banned home education. 

Germany has never repealed this law. 

It is convenient for our governments to undermine parenting, make parents feel like they're not doing a good job, by bringing in 'experts' to tell parents how they should be bringing up their offspring. A lot of 'experts' haven't even had their own children so what do they know?

Parents don't hand your responsibility of raising your children over to schools (I don't mean home educate, if you can't do that, but be aware of what they are being taught in the classroom)!

Mnemonics to remember circle of fifths

I love Mnemonics because they help me to learn. They can be as silly as you want. 

Remember in an earlier post the ditty to remember the order of sharps and flats:

Flats:
Battle End And Down Goes Charles Father

Sharps:
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

How about something to remember the circle of fifths?

Major scales - sharps (starting with no sharps or flats ie C)

Carolyn Goes Down And Eats Bread Fast (just remember the F is F# Major)

Major scales with flats:

Carolyn Flattens BEADs Good (the BEAD - Bb, Eb, Ab, Db) Don't forget G is Gb

Now for the Minor Scales (sharps):

Always (0#) Emily (1#) Beats (2#) Four (3#) Cymbals (4#) Gongs (5#) Drums (6#)  (don't forget the FCGD are all sharps)

BUT go the other way and start with 6bs after the A

Emily (6b) Beats (5b) Four (4b) Cymbals (3b) Gongs (2b) Drums (1b) Always (0b) (don't forget the E and B are Eb and Bb)

Below is the Circle of Fifths

More Chords (Major scales)

I will try and explain making up chords on here BUT there is a fabulous video on YouTube called 'How to Make Chords from a Scale' presented by Karen Ramirez.

Let's take the scale of C Major (again - I keep choosing that because there are no sharps or flats :) ) and look at each note to make up the chords.

C D E F G A B C

C
E = Major chord (I)
G

D
F = minor chord (II) 
A

How do I know it's a minor chord? If the key signature was D Major, then the F would be F# but as it isn't it must be a D Minor chord (D minor has 1b in the key signature)

E
G = minor chord (III) (E Major scale would have a G#)
B

F
A = Major chord (IV)
C

G
B = Major chord (V)
D

A
C = minor chord (VI)
E

B
D = diminished chord (VII)
F

I think Karen Ramirez explains these really well (although she doesn't explain the diminshed chord VII)! BUT I have been looking at it! 

I was wondering what made it a diminished chord? I looked at my circle of fifths to check this out! Well this is the conclusion I've come to:

It can't be B Major - because the B Major chord would have a D# and an F# in it.
Ah-ha, I thought, it must be a B Minor - oh not it's not (I hear you cry)! It can't be a B Minor either because the F would have to be sharpened (F#).

a diminished chord is made up of 2 stacked minor 3rd chord! (i think i have that correct!)

If anyone can explain it more thoroughly - feel free to use the comment box below :)

Names of the notes of a scale

By this I don't mean a particular scale or all scales BUT each note of every scale has a name.

1st = Tonic

2nd = Supertonic

3rd = Mediant

4th = Subdominant

5th = Dominant

6th = Submediant

7th = Leading Note

8th = Tonic

Example - C Major:

C = Tonic

D = Supertonic

E = Mediant

F = Subdominant

G = Dominant

A = Submediant

B = Leading Note

C = Tonic

And so on...

Chord Inversions

For the ABRSM Grade 5 exam you have to know about chord inversions (got to admit, until about 3 months ago - I didn't even know they existed, despite learning various instruments from primary school age - about 6 years old). At first I struggled but now I think I have the hang of them!

The Chords you have to find for G5 are I, ii, IV and V (always use Roman Numerals!). Now that doesn't mean a thing to anyone until you know the chords! The chords are made up of the Tonic (1st note of the scale), Mediant (3rd note of the scale) and Dominant (5th note of the scale). Let's take a look at C Major...

C D E F G A B C - CEG

Now when working out the inversions that would be a Ia. Let's describe this in a bit more detail to get the inversions (read left to right):

Ia = CEG (root position)
Ib = EGC (first inversion)
Ic = GCE (second inversion)

See how the first letter moves to the end and the other 2 shunt forward to get the different inversions. (I am hoping to add some examples on the stave). Now let's find chord II

Take the second note up from C and do the same as finding the root chord - starting from the D, take the first (D), 3rd (F) and 5th (A):

C D E F G A B C

Now you have a IIa chord -  

iia = DFA (root position)
iib = FAD (first inversion)
iic = ADF (second inversion)

To find chord IV (count 4 notes along from C F and count from the F 3notes and 5 notes to make the chord)

C D E F G A B C

IVa = FAC (root position)
IVb = ACF (first inversion)
IVc = CFA (second inversion)

Now a chord V

C D E F G A B C D  (I have to go beyond the octave at this point)

Va = GBD (root position)
Vb = BDG (first inversion)
Vc = DGB (second inversion)

This works for any scale.

NB I will try and put some examples in which use the notes on the stave as well as the above!

Working out Relative Major and Minor Scales

Start again at C Major - it's easier, because it contains no sharps or flats. To find out its relative Minor (ie the Minor scale with no Sharps or flats) Count BACK 3. (to keep it short, instead of writing (for example) C major's relative Minor = I'll just write C Major = A Minor etc)

Starting with #s

C Major = A Minor (C B A) = 0#

G Major = E Minor (G F E) = 1#

D Major = B Minor (D C B) = 2#

A Major = F# Minor (A G F#) = 3#

E Major = C# Minor (E D C#) = 4#

B Major = G# Minor (B A G#) = 5#

F# Major = D# Minor (F# E D#) = 6#

Notice how the last 4 minors (F# C# G# D#) are in the order that the sharps would be in a piece. Remember the ditty:

Order of Sharps:
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle





Now for the relative Minors (bs)

F Major = D Minor (F E D) = 1b

Bb Major = G Minor (Bb A G) = 2b

Eb Major = C Minor (Eb D C) = 3b

Ab Major = F Minor (Ab G F) =4b

Db Major = Bb Minor (Db C Bb) = 5b

Gb Major = Eb Minor (Gb F Eb) = 6b

Order of Flats:
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father

Don't forget with Minor Scales you have Melodic and Harmonic

Melodic Scales - raise the 6th and 7th  Notes when ASCENDING
And flatten them when DESCENDING

e.g. 

A Minor Melodic ascending: A B C D E F# G# A 
A Minor Melodic descending: A G F E D C B A 

Harmonic Scales raise the 7th note when ASCENDING and keep it raised when DESCENDING

e.g. 

A Minor Harmonic ascending: A B C D E F G# A
A Minor Harmonic descending: A G# F E D C B A 

D# Minor Melodic would be:

D# E# F# G# A# B# Cx D# - ascending
D# C# B A# G# F# E# D# - descending

Cx = C double sharp! The enharmonic of Cx = D, but you can't have 2 of the same notes in a scale (D and D#) therefore the C# has to be sharpened again thus making it a double sharp.

D# Minor Harmonic would be:

D# E# F# G# A# B Cx D# - ascending
D# Cx B A# G# F# E# D# - descending

Eb Minor Melodic 

Eb F Gb Ab Bb C D Eb - ascending
Eb Db Cb Bb Ab Gb F Eb - descending

Eb Minor Harmonic

Eb F Gb Ab Bb Cb D Eb - ascending
Eb D Cb Bb Ab Gb F Eb - descending