Monday January 9
Anthony did a page in Miquon, read me St Mary of Egypt, and did a line of copywork.
Ben did a page of Miquon, a page in his letters workbook, and then copied three words.
Sophie did three pages in Miquon, a line of copywork, read me a section in her geography book, and then did a Duolingo French lesson with me.
Bella did part of a page in Miquon, a line of copywork, read me today’s Gospel, reviewed a few Latin sentences.
Everyone went out to play in the snow. We spotted a pair of woodpeckers, much bigger than our familiar downy, but I wasn’t able to get a great look at them for identification. I saw bright red patch on the back of the head and next and the belly looked tan or buff, maybe a red-bellied or maybe a Northern Flicker.
Afternoon stories: Carry on Mr Bowditch, Africa Trek, St Jude.
Anthony built a Trojan warrior on a horse out of linking cubes and told me he had just cut the head off a Latin warrior. So I guess we can take that as a narration on the Aeneid. Ben made a Greek warrior, also on a horse.
Bella was reading The Two Towers, Star Wars books, Crusader magazine. Sophie is reading all the new books, especially her new saint book about Juan Diego and I think Bella’s got her reading the Dear America books now.
Recently she’s been enjoying the new Cobblestone magazine.
Ben and Sophie and Bella and Anthony have all spent time playing with the Set game Ben got for Epiphany. It’s been a big hit.
Everyone spent a lot of time outside playing in the snow. We had a good amount to play in.
Tuesday January 10
Sophie did a page in her Miquon book, copywork, and three Duolingo lessons. She’s definitely much more ready for Duolingo than she was last time she tried, much less frustration. And much excitement when she remembers a word or a bit of grammar.
Bella did half a page in Miquon, copywork in cursive, which she’s suddenly decided she wants to learn, some Latin review, and read me today’s Gospel. Oh and dictation. I was going to give her an antiphon for copywork and she decided to just have me read it to her while she tried to write it down. Not pre-studied, so she misspelled several words and also had some letter reversals and forgot a capital letter. But I was really proud of her for diving in. I wrote out the list of misspelled words and we’ll work on them tomorrow and try again with the dictation on Thursday or Friday.
Anthony did half a math lesson, read me a short paragraph, and copied a short sentence. He’s listening to Sophie do her French and trying to pick up on it.
Ben did a page in Miquon and tried to do a second page but then got distracted. He did a letter workbook page and copied four words.
Sophie and I played a few rounds of speed.
Afternoon stories: finished Carry on Mr Bowditch, read Life of Our Lord and Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls.
Grandma B came and brought some games and craft kits. The boys got into a Battleship game. Ben can’t remember all the letters, but the others were helping him.
Bedtime story: finished The Aeneid and had a long discussion about it, lots of thoughts and things to think about including why the Christians of the Middle Ages liked Virgil so much.
Wednesday Jan 11
Everyone did some math. Ben also did a letter page, Anthony copied a sentence. Bella reviewed a bit of Latin.
We had errands to run: library, bank, store. So that truncated the school day (that and sleeping late, we need to get back on an early schedule)
Afternoon stories: began two new books because I couldn’t decide: Anne of Avonlea and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Also read Story of the World and Jesus Is With Us Always: The Story of the Eucharist by Eileen Cunis.
And then a bunch of picture books for Lucy: The Tiger Who Came to Tea, The Gingerbread Man, The Itsy Bitsy Spider…
Bedtime story: Dom read from Zita while I detangled hair.
Thursday Jan 12
Everyone did math and copywork and then we went grocery shopping.
Afternoon stories: Anne of Avonlea and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Story of the World. Secret Soldier.
Bedtime story: a story from The Bronze Cauldron, myths from around the world by Geraldine McCaughrean.
Friday January 13
Everyone did math and copywork. Sophie also read geography and did a couple of Duolingo lessons on the iPad.
Bella and I spent some time looking at her Latin Hobbit. She read me the day’s Gospel and I illustrated it on the whiteboard as she read. Everyone admired my art and recognized the Gospel story from the picture (the paralytic man lowered through the roof).
I read the first chapter of Derek Walcott’s Omeros to Bella and Sophie. I played Jeremy Irons reading The Four Quartets and Bella was in the room, but only half listening as she read her book. I was only half listening too. But what I did hear was lovely.
Afternoon stories: Anne of Avonlea and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Life of Our Lord for Children. Secret Soldier. Africa Trek
Bedtime story: The Bronze Cauldron.
On Saturday we went to IKEA and got the final pieces for our dining room renovation. We’ve replaced the bulky cabinet full of glassware we never use with more shelves for school and art supplies and a much smaller unit for glassware. Also a new bench so Lucy can finally sit at the table and not in a high chair. She is four, after all!
This is a beautiful snap shot of home education–learning, playing, inside, outside, in the world, in the home–everything. You also reminded me that cuisenaire rods are marvelous, and I should really see if we still have ours. We haven’t used them in years.
Thank you, Alice. That’s exactly what I’m aiming for, trying to give an honest snapshot. In part, to pay it forward because when I was setting out on my homeschooling journey I learned so much from established bloggers like you and Karen and Lissa and Willa and Kathryn what I really liked best of all were the sort of day in the life posts where I got a sense of how things actually played out from day to day. After I’d imbibed all the theory I could hold, I wanted that sort of practicum in the little things.
And I do adore Cuisenaire rods so very much.
Whenever I read your learning posts, I always wish that I could be a kid for a day and come and live at your house! What a great childhood you are providing for your kids! (I hope that doesn’t sound creepy! I don’t, AT ALL, mean it in a creepy way! Just, that I think your days sound delightful!)
Thank you. Not creepy at all. I do try (try being the operative word) to make delight the center of our days. Some days it works better than others.