Protected: Photos of the Library

Homeschool Choir Update!

Homeschoolers of the Twin Ports community,

Your homeschool choir will begin this Fall! You’ve got the word out, and many families (totaling more 30 students) have replied indicating their interest. I expect a few more may trickle in at the beginning of the school year as well. I’m absolutely ecstatic about this kind of response!

God has provided a location for us to meet in! Mount Olive Lutheran Church, pastored by Rob Franck, a homeschooling father, has graciously allowed us to meet in their facility. Mount Olive Lutheran Church is located at 2012 E Superior St. in Duluth.

Rehearsal times will be on Wednesday afternoons, from 4-5 p.m. We will meet weekly throughout the year, and our first performance will take place early during the Christmas season! The choir will be geared towards students 10 years old to 12th grade. If you have a younger student who’s interested, I suggest bringing them to find out if they can comfortably participate.

In the next couple of days, I’ll send a registration form detailing expectations for myself, the students and the choir. Our first meeting will be on Wednesday, September 7th. You can bring registration forms by that week. And if you need a week or two to think it over, drop it off by the second or third week. This is an important commitment for everyone involved, and I’m sure you’d like to get to know me and fellow choir members before making a final decision. Or you might be ready and raring to go like I am!

I would also like to gauge interest in a children’s choir that would meet from 3:30-4:00 on Wednesdays before the regular choir. This would before for students 12 years old and below. I know there are several families who have students that are right around this age and might benefit from a younger choir. I would encourage students who can to also participate in the older choir.

I’m looking forward to September 7th! So that I can approximate how many students to anticipate, can you reply and let me know if you’ll be joining us for the introductory week?

Yours truly,
Matt Wheeler
www.mattwheelerstudios.com

Current Projects…

So, I’m a guy who likes to keep a lot of things on my plate. I think it makes me feel better when I don’t actually get any work done on them! But kidding aside, I wanted to share some of the things I’m currently working on that I feel you’ll appreciate and/or benefit from.

1) I’m reading through the Gospels, in chunks – it’s been a good way to get a better grasp of just who Jesus was and what he did while here on earth. We are called to be like Christ, and while I felt that I knew all of the stories and the parables and miracles, they’re scattered around my brain, like so many unconnected dots. The stories, and teachings, they’re starting to come together now. It’s pretty neat.

2) I’m working on a new Piano teaching series. My goal is to eventually use this in my own studio. I’ve been dissatisfied with a lot (ok… all) of the modern piano lesson series out there. I hope my curriculum remedies some of the glaring problems. I’ve also come up with a few unique ideas: the music will be published in .pdf form on my website for my students and uploaded to special pages for each student to download/print rather than buy books; because each piece can be printed individually, I can tailor a course for each individual student, emphasizing areas that need extra attention, avoiding music that doesn’t click for the student, and allowing for personal development in desired areas; all of the entries in each category will be tied in, with real, practical application in theory, improvisation and sight-reading – the result is (hopefully) a well rounded musician who’s skills aren’t confined to a few aspects of music, but are enhanced because of intentional integration. Matthew Peiper, a friend from Cedar Rapids, is working on the visual/graphic side of the endeavor.

3) My book! Now, this has been a project in the making for probably the last 10 years of my life – the story has existed in one form or another in my mind for a very long time… but I finally started in earnest last summer, and after a restart, I’m back at it again. You can follow along with Chloe and Christopher Abbot, and Justin Lefaye as they explore a new world full of Faeries and Daemons over at my other website.

Summus Terra

So, for the last several years, I’ve been working on a story – a tale of fantasy and adventure with some Biblical roots. It’s existed in several forms, mostly in my head. Last year I began to sit down and write it out, and after tidying up that initial effort, I’ve started to publish (or re-publish) the story on my website. You can read it over at Summus Terra.

Two siblings from the WWI era suddenly find themselves thrown together with a boy from the present time in a world full of creatures out of Fairy Tales – Trolls and Gnomes, Dryads and Naiads, and Daemons too. At first, they want nothing more than to get back home, but as sinister forces plot the destruction of the Faerie Kingdom and their own Earth, these youth realize that if they want a home to return to, they will have to embark on a journey that will reveal just who they are, and why they’ve been sent.

The website is meant to be a bit of a different reading experience. There’s a custom playlist of background music that you can listen to and you can leave comments on the chapters. Who knows, leave som good suggestions and they might get worked into the story!

Free Christmas Album!