Catching up on my learning notes posts….
Monday November 23
Read about St Clement and Blessed Miguel Pro.
Bella gave Anthony a reading lesson, looking at a board book and helping him sound out words. Then she read to him from a Beatrix Potter book.
Bella and Sophie each did a math page— Bella: Miquon, Sophie: Saxon.
Then we headed to the grocery store to do the Thanksgiving food shopping. We listened to Prince Caspian in the car there and back.
Afternoon stories: My Family and Other Animals. Treasure Island. The Mystery of the Periodic Table. The story of Abram/Abraham and the covenant. The Lord of the Rings.
Sophie did copywork from the Memoria Press book.
Sophie and the boys played on the iPads.
Bella read These Happy Golden Years, Charlotte’s Web, sections we’ve already read in The Fellowship of the Rings.
We listened to a recording of Tolkien reading the poems about Gilgalad, Beren and Luthien, and Sam’s song about the troll.
Bedtime story: Hedgie’s Surprise and Little Blue Truck.
Tuesday November 24
Bella did a page in miquon math and copied out a passage from Peter Duck.
Sophie did a page in Saxon and a line in her copybook and a page of cursive Ys.
I did some math with the boys. Then they copied out some words from Bob books onto the whiteboards.
Anthony read me a Bob book. Sophie and Bella each read me a poem.
Afternoon stories: finished the last chapter of My Family and Other Animals, Treasure Island, Junipero Serra, Microbe Hunters, Lord of the Rings.
Sophie’s been reading the One Small Square books. She loves the one about the coral reef and the one about the tropical rain forest.
Wednesday November 25
Bella did Miquon math, fractions. Yesterday she had to work in her bed. Today she scoffed at the idea and insisted she had to work at the table. Every day a new challenge. She copied out some of Tom Bombadil’s poetry.
Sophie did a page in Saxon. Eventually she also copied out a passage from Peter Duck, but not until late afternoon when she wanted to play on the iPad.
I did some math with Ben and Anthony, finished out the first MEP booklet. Then they played with the alphabet flashcards, copying letters to the whiteboards and playing some games with words that have the same initial letters.
Lots of pre-Thanksgiving cooking.
Afternoon stories: Lord of the Rings, the rest of the Many Meetings chapter. Microbe Hunters, the end of the first Pasteur chapter. Story of the World, the end of the Civil War, the assassination of Lincoln, reconstruction.
Discussions about microbes. Yeast as a microbe, Pasteur’s role in identifying the role of yeast in fermentation. Bread being our example of the day.
Bedtime stories: Something to Tell the Grandcows, about a cow who goes to Antarctica.Green Eggs and Ham.
Bella’s memorizing most of the Tolkien poems. Making up tunes to go with them too. Sophie spent some time writing on the iPad. It’s sort of an ongoing diary. She writes whatever pops into her head.
Ben and Anthony played some phonics games. Ben spent some time with the orchestra app.
Bella continues to dip into a wide variety of books, re-reading favorite passages from books she’s read before. She’s particularly re-reading all the Vision books I’ve read to her before. St Francis, St Benedict, St John Bosco, etc.
Sophie made up a poem about Star Wars, but alas it didn’t get written down or recorded and she couldn’t reconstruct it. That girl needs a voice recorder.
Thursday November 28
Thanksgiving day and a school holiday, of course. We had a family dinner here, just the seven of us. Not super fancy, though Bella did put on a table cloth and set the table rather nicely. After dinner we relaxed a bit and then we all went to Dom’s brother’s house for desserts with the Bettinelli clan, which was also lovely.
Friday November 27
We got a late start to the day after our late night out on Thanksgiving. But we went to Bertucci’s for lunch and then to Borderland State Park for a lovely outing. Last year we went to Borderland the day after Christmas, I believe it was, an unseasonably warm day. This was another of those beautiful, unexpectedly warm days. We had such a lovely time, exploring a different part of the park than where we went last time.
So call it a school holiday or call it a field trip, it was a perfectly lovely way to spend the day.
