Meet our monthly friends

Our music appreciation, art appreciation and poetry studies are going to be done in a monthly format with one musician/artist/poet of the month and study done on both them and their work. This month we're studying Bach, Carl Sandburg and various artists (I know this is contradicting what I previously said but my explanation is coming).
We're listening to various Bach works during music appreciation as well as reading about him using Lives of the Musicians and Why Beethoven Threw the Stew which are both funny, well written books.
Our poetry is worked on during memory work time. I have both kids memorizing a poem by Carl Sandburg this month (although Jess will probably end up doings two). I bought the Poetry for Young People series at a school book sale 2 or 3 years ago and Jess read them all in one day set them aside for a year and only reads occasionally from them. Finally here is a time to use them. There are 1o books each about a different poet. We aren't doing them in any particular order I just thought one day: Sam should memorize Fog and so Carl Sandburg become our first "Poet of the Month". I'm planning on doing Shakespeare last to fit in with our history study but as for everyone else, it's a big question mark.
As for art we're using The Usborne Introduction to Art (Internet Linked) which is written in chronological order beginning with art pre -1400s. We'll skim through this section spending 1 or 2 months on it and then move on to the next section (1400-1600) and spend the rest of our year taking an in depth look at art and artists of that time period. Then we'll have artist friends too.