Saturday June 20 Today we demolished the old playhouse/swingset which was ancient and starting to rot away. (My dad has already bought a replacement, which is sitting in the driveway waiting to be assembled.) We handed the kids screwdrivers and let...
One day in May Bella started talking about the colors of numbers and how the Cuisinaire rods weren’t the right colors. I wondered if it was possible she has synesthesia. I thought it an interesting curiosity and made some notes but...
Monday June 16 Sophie got off to a slower start, had to be reminded it was a school day because she’d been distracted by Ben’s game. But she did her math— two pages in the new Miquon red book— and copy work and cursive practice. And she read me two...
Monday June 8 Sophie got up and got started on her work. She did math, with a note about the problems she didn’t understand. And copywork. And work in her new cursive book. Ben filled in his calendar and he and I played a store game with him buying...
Ulysses Found by Ernle Bradford. When you have sailed the Mediterranean at the age of nineteen with the Odyssey in your kitbag, and when you have come back of your own volition, to the same sea in your twenties and thirties— and still kept the same...
In the Washington Post an English teacher explains why she doesn’t like teaching Shakespeare and why she doesn’t think it necessary to do so: I am a high school English teacher. I am not supposed to dislike Shakespeare. But I do. And not only do I...
My friend Enbrethiliel of Shredded Cheddar recounts a Twitter conversation in which participants were invited to name their favorite book set in each continent and/or their favorite author from that continent. I had to join in the conversation on...
Monday June 1 I began by reading them the story of St Justin Martyr. We got through everything but not without drama and tears. Lots of distractions. As Bella said, Mondays are hard. Sophie did a page each of Saxon and Miquon math. And a couple...
Responding to Elizabeth Scalia’s challenge: Why do YOU Remain a Catholic? Finding Jesus in the Eucharist. By itself the Eucharist would be sufficient reason to stay. The fullness of our Savior, of his Body, his Blood, his Soul and his Divinity...
A list of our favorite children’s books, both picture books and chapter books, about the American Revolution. (Updated with new books Feb 2017) Picture Books 1. Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George? by Jean Fritz. Tells the story of...