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Learning Notes Week of March 1

Learning Notes Week of March 1

Anthony contemplates the letter D
Anthony contemplates the letter D

Monday, March 2

I forgot to put the books out. After Sunday’s break Sophie didn’t pull them out. The girls did copywork and math and then went back to their game. I was too tired to hound them to do more. So no reading practice.

Afternoon stories: Canadian Summer, Little Town at the Crossroads, This Country of Ours

They went outside to sled and play. Sunset at around 5:30 means more time to play.

Sophie hides behind her copy book.
Sophie hides behind her copy book.
Sophie has a fit at her copywork.
Sophie has a fit at her copywork.
Making our own spring with daffodils on the dining table.
Making our own spring with daffodils on the dining table.

Tuesday, March 3

Books out but still no one did their work until after breakfast. Sophie sat down and did her copywork and math, but Bella was dragging more than usual even. She finally did copywork on her own. I sat with her in my bedroom to do math. Then we read Calvin and Hobbes together. I read Calvin and she read everyone else: Hobbes, Mom and Dad, teacher, Suzie, etc. Sophie read some Calvin and Hobbes too.

Afternoon stories: The final chapter of Canadian Summer. A chapter of Little Town at the Crossroads. N.C. Wyeth’s Pilgrims, because although we’ve read enough versions of the story that Bella and Sophie really know it well, the pictures are gorgeous. I should do a unit study on Wyeth’s art. Oooh do all the Wyeth family. That would be fun.

Bella snuggles in bed with Calvin and Hobbes, a slow morning
Bella snuggles in bed with Calvin and Hobbes, a slow morning
Sophie does math
Sophie does math
Sophie reads to Ben
Sophie reads to Ben
Sophie reads Calvin and Hobbes to Ben
Sophie reads Calvin and Hobbes to Ben
Sophie reads Calvin and Hobbes to Anthony
Sophie reads Calvin and Hobbes to Anthony
Playing dominoes
Playing dominoes
Ben colors a picture of St Michael
Ben colors a picture of St Michael
Bella colors a picture of a Coptic martyr
Bella colors a picture of a Coptic martyr
Coloring during story time
Coloring during story time
Lucy plays with dominoes, she was yelling the words to the Glory Be as she played
Lucy plays with dominoes, she was yelling the words to the Glory Be as she played

Wednesday

Sophie’s birthday and I declared a school holiday. Sophie helped me bake a cake. We read lots of new books throughout the day: Twelve Kinds of Ice; parts of Pirates of the high Seas, the pirates book that came with a balsa wood pirate ship; Micawber; At the Same Moment All Around the World; The Dragon of Og by Rumer Godden; Do Your Ears Hang Low, and the first part of the first chapter of Friendly Gables.

Also, I put together part of the pirate ship. And Sophie colored in her new Colonial People coloring book as I read stories.

Anthony plays with felt scraps
Anthony plays with felt scraps
Sophie colors in her new coloring book
Sophie colors in her new coloring book

Thursday

We didn’t get an early start, but it wasn’t terribly late either. Sophie did math and copy work and read Dot and Jabber and the Missing Water or something like that. Bella did copywork, math, and read me the Mary Cassatt board book.

I worked some more on putting together the pirate ship.

We read the last bit of the first chapter and all of the second chapter of Friendly Gables; Little Town at the Crossroads; one of Sophie’s new pictures books: Letting Swift River Go, which is the story of the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir in Western Massachusetts; then a chapter of Faith and Life with a really good discussion that involved Bella, Sophie, and Anthony talking about The Good Shepherd, The Eucharist, Penance. Finally, a few sections of This Country of Ours, first about Connecticut and then backtracking to pick up Virginia after the founding of Jamestown, the Cavaliers, the repercussions of the English Civil War, the Protectorate, the Restoration. Really interesting stuff I’d never learned. All in all a pretty good afternoon of schooling. I can’t believe we got in both history and catechism. It’s easy to get them to agree to our literature selections, the history Bella likes, Sophie will listen to, and the others run away from.

Sophie was immersed in her new coloring book as I read, it’s history too, Colonial Fashions. The others drew and played with modeling clay.

They watched an episode of Discover Planet Ocean about Cocos Island.

Anthony with "Craney" his crane truck.
Anthony with “Craney” his crane truck.
Lucy "reads"to Ben
Lucy “reads”to Ben
Anthony gazes at the pirate ship, almost completed
Anthony gazes at the pirate ship, almost completed

Friday

Sophie did math and copywork first thing before breakfast. Bella did hers after breakfast. Just one word for copywork and her brain was having the hardest time focusing on the simplest subtraction problems.

Then we went to the grocery store. Nobody read to me.

We started with SotW which Ben helpfully found this morning, it’s been lost for weeks. The chapter on the Ottoman Turks. Then Friendly Gables. Finished Little Town at the Crossroads. Then the chapter about Bacon’s rebellion in This Country of Ours.

We read the Faith and Life chapter about the Passion and that led us to reading the stations of the cross from the Inos Biffi book The Way of the Cross. And Anthony made a crown of thorns out of clay (with help from Bella) and Bella drew a crown of thorns on construction paper. Then I read Luke 23 at Sophie’s request. I’ve been falling down at planning Lenten activities for the kids, just unable to get in the groove. I love the way God sometimes just makes up for my deficiencies.

The children watched the second episode of Discover Ocean Planet.

Sophie did read a bedtime story to Lucy. I read The Little Brown Jay to Ben.

When I went to turn off Bella and Sophie’s light after putting Lucy down, Sophie was still awake reading Calvin and Hobbes.

Anthony's crown of thorns
Anthony’s crown of thorns
Sophie reads Lucy a bedtime story
Sophie reads Lucy a bedtime story
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2 comments
  • You have a lefty! (I’m a lefty, but I didn’t get a lefty kid.)
    I love the idea of tv trays for coloring during reading time. My kids sometimes try to color while I read, but it’s awkward on the couch. I’ll have to look for a deal on tv trays!

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