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Learning Notes Week of January 25

Learning Notes Week of January 25

The prettiest storm trooper.
The prettiest storm trooper.
The prettiest storm trooper.
The prettiest storm trooper.
The prettiest storm trooper.
The prettiest storm trooper.

Sunday January 24

We put crayons on the snow to see how the different colors absorbed heat. Bella and Sophie grasped the principle that was being illustrated at once.

Crayons on the snow
Crayons on the snow
Crayons sinking into the snow
Crayons sinking into the snow

Dom showed the kids a documentary about the making of samurai swords.

Bella was thrilled to find a picture in the history book of a float from a parade in honor of Alexander Hamilton after the ratifying of the Constitution. Also a picture of Monticello. Our hours of listening to Hamilton are paying off.

Hamilton parade image from History of US
Hamilton parade image from History of US
Monticello image from History of US
Monticello image from History of US
Watching a video about the making of cast iron pans.
Watching a video about the making of cast iron pans.

Monday January 25

Everyone was tired and draggy. The girls and boys all did some copywork and math. Sophie played a spelling app.

Afternoon stories: Coot Club, Then There Were Five, Story of the World, Mystery of the Periodic Table, Lord of the Rings. Australian picture book: Are We There Yet.

Bedtime story: picture book version of Aïda.

Tuesday January 26

Everyone is coming down with a cold. Sophie did copywork and math. Bella did copywork and part of a math page. The boys did a bit of a math lesson and each did some letter practice.

I did a grammar lesson with the girls: identifying subject and verb.

Afternoon stories: Coot Club, Then There Were Five, Lord of the Rings.

Bedtime story: Owl at Home, Rose Red and the Bear Prince, Little Blue Truck.

Ben plays with pattern blocks and bears.
Ben plays with pattern blocks and bears.
Ben plays with pattern blocks and bears.
Ben plays with pattern blocks and bears.

Wednesday January 27

I took Ben to the dentist for fillings then we came home and he watched movies and played on the iPad all day. The other kids were feeling under the weather

Afternoon stories: Coot Club, Then There Were Five, Lord of the Rings.

Sophie plays bird calls to her stuffed penguin.
Sophie plays bird calls to her stuffed penguin.

Thursday January 28

Sick day. Ben had a fever in the night. I woke up with chest congestion, and later in the day Bella spiked a fever too. The kids watched movies— Robin Hood, Finding Nemo, Mater’s Tall Tales— and documentaries— two episodes of Life of Mammals— and played on the iPad while I read in bed.

Bella read The Hobbit and Sophie spent some time playing with the Bird Song book, looking at the pictures and listening to the sounds. Ben and Anthony I spent some time looking at art on the computer, helping my friend Rebecca pick out religious art for her CCE class. Then Ben and I flipped through the Tissot book. We did a serious picture study of Botticelli’s Agony in the Garden and I retold them the story, so count that as Bible study too. And Tissot’s scourging at the pillar and the whole via dolorosa. Sophie said it would be perfect for Lent. So she must have been in the room too.

No afternoon stories. I’m too short of breath. Bedtime story: Mouse Soup.

Friday January 29

Still sick. Bella did a line of copywork and then was done. Her copywork is looking really nice these days. I want to try to push her to do more at a time.

Bella read me from The Fellowship of the Ring. I read the kids some Elizabeth Bishop poems: The Fish, One Art, The Fishhouses. I read some picture books to Anthony. Bella and Sophie sang a bunch of hymns from the Adoremus Hymnal, mostly off key and sometimes they had no clue what the tune was at all, but they were having a grand time.

Afternoon stories: we began Pigeon Post, read half a chapter in Then There Were Five, half a chapter of The Two Towers. And then my voice was done.

Bella reads me The Fellowship of the Ring.
Bella reads me The Fellowship of the Ring.
Anthony plays with the nativity scene.
Anthony plays with the nativity scene.

Saturday January 30

We’re having a schoolish sort of Saturday. Bella got out the magnet set she got last year on her birthday and did the first activity. And she and I did the first of the Journey North Mystery Classes, which is really cool, perfect for her age, Sophie and Ben are definitely not into it.

And Sophie’s new Bible came in the mail and she’s been reading it to Lucy.

And Bella is reading a book about St Thomas More.

+ + +

This week Bella has been reading At Her Majesty’s Request, a book about an African princess who was saved from death as human sacrifice by a British naval officer, who took her home and adopted her into his family. She became a protege of Queen Victoria and a frequent visitor of the royal family. The biography isn’t extensive, based on a handful of letters and some entries in Queen Victoria’s diary, but it’s got some nice primary sources and in a way that’s simultaneously frustrating and satisfying doesn’t push to tell the story beyond what the sources say. Thus he doesn’t impute ideas, thoughts, or motivations to Sarah but instead leaves the reader with many questions and uncertainties. And yet I admire the integrity, allowing her the dignity of her real story, and confronting the young reader with the true frustration of historical documents which often tell only a partial and tantalizing story. Lovely period photographs and the full text of letters.

She’s also been reading books about Massachusetts and Maine, re-reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. And dipping into who knows what other books. I can’t keep track of her reading.

Sophie and Bella have been reading the Rush Revere series of time travel novels written by Rush Limbaugh, which they received for Christmas. They really love them, they’re full of humor.

Oh and Bella was paging through Landmark History of the American People book and was happy to find a picture of a parade in honor of Hamilton as the signer of the Constitution and a picture of Monticello. More Hamilton-the-musical-inspired history enthusiasm.

All in all this week feels like a pretty big wash, even though the record shows plenty of stuff was happening in the margins. I was hoping to be more robust with Bible reading, science, Latin. And well, life got in the way. Next week promises to be busy with the dentist and Lucy’s 3-year checkup and a much-anticipated visit from a friend. But maybe a little slim on school? We’ll see.

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1 comment
  • I hope you are all feeling well again by now.
    What a clever experiment with the coloured crayons in the snow!
    I hope you enjoy “Pigeon Post” – as ever, marvellous writing, some humour, science, an exciting and memorable story.

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