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Learning Notes, Week of February 27

Learning Notes, Week of February 27

Busy bees.

Monday February 27

Slow start on a Monday. The roofers were here to re-mortar the chimney and all the kids had to go out to watch. I got Sophie to do math and copywork and read geography. Bella did math, copywork, read to me. Ben did math, letters, and copywork. Anthony was sick with a horrible barking cough that he’s had since Saturday night and so no school work for him.

After lunch I took Anthony to the doctor and he was diagnosed with croup. No afternoon stories we came home rather late. Ben and Sophie had a long game of War. The kids played outside. The girls played dolls.

Bedtime stories: Anthony’s King Arthur book, Of Swords and Sorcerers, and a bunch of A.A. Milne Poems from When We Were Very Young.

Tuesday February 28

Everyone did math and copywork. Sophie read me her geography and did a French lesson on Duolingo. She started copying a new poem today, The Lake Isle of Innisfree.

Anthony copied an short verse, but didn’t try to read aloud with his poor cough. Bella read me a poem.

Afternoon stories: Sun Slower Sun Faster, Africa Trek, Story of the World, St Patrick’s Summer.

At dinner Bella narrated a whole bunch of history to us. She’s re-reading bits of This Country of Ours.

Bedtime stories: a bunch of A.A. Milne Poems from When We Were Very Young.

Bella and Lucy

Wednesday March 1

Ash Wednesday Mass. Then I took the girls grocery shopping while the boys stayed home and did math and copywork with Daddy. I also stopped by the library to pick up on-hold books.

Afternoon stories: we read a bunch of library books plus some of the Lent books I’d pulled off the shelf. And we finished the chapter of Sun Slower Sun Faster and then per Bella’s request I had to look up what the Bristol Reform Bill Riots of the 1830s were about. Not a period of history I know a lot about.

Bedtime stories: more library books.

Most of the library books I picked up today were books by New Zealand authors, fulfilling Bella’s desire to learn more. Mostly picture books, but also a big stack of juvenile novels. Bella already devoured a couple of those.

Sophie doing Duolingo.

Thursday March 2

Everyone did math and copywork. Sophie copied out a whole stanza of her poem. Bella practiced writing with the calligraphy pens. Anthony read me a short saint story. Sophie did a Duolingo French lesson.

Afternoon stories:

Sun Slower Sun Faster, St Patrick’s Summer. Finished Africa Trek and then watched an hour long documentary they made. The sound quality was mediocre and the picture was often pretty blurry, but it was really fun to see after reading the book.

Bedtime story: a Misoso fable, some poems from Milne When We Were Very Young. Then Dom read them the Winnie the Pooh story about the blusterous day and they all giggled and giggled and giggled.

Bella narrated me a chapter from her Spies of the Revolutionary War book.

Ashy Anthony

Hilarious Pooh.

Friday March 3

Everyone did math and copywork. Anthony read to me from Stories of Great Americans, the story of Franklin and the key and the kite. He was thrilled to know the details.

Bella read me part of a Pooh story, The Enchanted Place.

Afternoon stories: Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls, Sun Slower Sun Faster, St Patricks Summer, Maui and the Sun.

Bedtime story: Misoso, Winnie the Pooh: the Wolery.

Princess Lucia.
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5 comments
  • I’d be interested to find out about the Bristol Reform riots as that is my home town. You have made me curious…will have to research them as it could be interesting. Certainly not heard of them.

    • I just did a bit of googling and found enough to sketch in the details. Trying to understand the Reform Bills was tricky without a lot of context, but what I found was interesting.

    • Mostly picture books, which the kids have enjoyed, but many of them are not very distinctively NZ. I’m not sure I’d notice from the book’s content or vocabulary or style that it was by a NZ author. A few are, though.

      One of the chapter books, the Underrunners, was a bit disturbing to Bella. It was a fairly typical sort of troubled kids plot. The main character’s mother has run off to Australia and he meets a girl who is in a home for children after her mother has been institutionalized. She’s trying to avoid being found by her unstable father There’s a scene where the girl’s father shoots the boy’s father in the leg and then kidnaps the children and holds them hostage in an attempt to get the girl to tell him where her mother is. At one point the father contemplates shooting himself but the boy sort of pulls him back with a reference to the Water Rat in Wind in the Willows, which was actually a nice literary moment, but it was all rather too dark for Bella. She prefers happy adventure stories and I’d have nixed this one except she grabbed it out of the bag before I had a chance to preview it.

      Another one looks more promising, about a boy, an only child, whose rather rigid parents object to him spending time with his wild and crazy gang of cousins who they think are just a bit too free-spirited but he loves going on adventures with them.

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