Monday May 15
Ben did math, letter workbook, copywork, and did some phonics games on the iPad.
Anthony did math, read to me from Stories of Great Americans, did copywork.
Bella did math, copywork, Latin.
Sophie did math and copywork.
Afternoon stories:
Rome in the day of Empire, All of a Kind Family, Greek Heroes, St Andre Bessett.
Tuesday May 16
I had two doctor appointments, but everyone did copywork and math in the morning and we read part of a chapter in All of a Kind Family in the afternoon. We took a nature walk. At bedtime we read from Music of the Hemispheres.
Wednesday May 17
Everyone did math and copywork. Sophie did French and read 50 Famous Stories. Bella did Latin and read aloud today’s Gospel, listened to a recording of Derek Walcott reading the first book of Omeros. Ben did his letter workbook, did a phonics app on the iPad.
Anthony read about St John I.
We ran to the mall to get new church shoes for everyone and had a treat of a lunch at the food court. Pizzaria Regina has the best pizza.
Afternoon stories: All of a Kind Family, Famous Men of Greece (Solon), St Andre Bessette, Greek Heroes (Perseus).
Bedtime: Bremen Town Musicians. (Ben is slowly working his way through our picture book library, asking to have everything read.)
Thursday May 18
Bella’s birthday. I declared a school holiday. Anthony decided he wanted to read to me and do copywork anyway, so he read me about Bernardine of Sienna in the Saint of the Day book and then copied a line from a Psalm.
Bella read the others a National Geographic story about an amazingly preserved dinosaur fossil that had the skin intact.
We watched a video about different languages’ words for color. And read an article about why the word “run” has more citations than any other word in the new Oxford English dictionary. And we watched a video that showed computer reconstructions of ancient Rome in the time of Constantine.
Bedtime story: Snow White and Rose Red.
Friday May 19
Everyone did math and the girls did copywork.
Grocery store.
Afternoon stories: All of a Kind Family, Greek Heroes.
Bedtime story: The Music of the Hemispheres, Knight and Dragon
Bella is in love with her new Kindle. Not as satisfying as a paper book, but oh the things she can read.
Everyone is really liking The Music of the Hemispheres, which is a book about poetry and poetics for kids. I should write up a formal review when we’re finished, but for now its playful style and fun typography are a definite hit. It’s led to some great discussions about poetry, rhyme, near rhyme, rhythm, etc. And as expected all the kids love the word onomatopoeia. If it hadn’t clicked I wouldn’t have forced it because force feeding poetry to kids is a crime. But I figured since they generally like poetry they might have fun learning a bit more about how it works. I was right. But I wouldn’t force this book on a resistant kid to try to make him love poetry.
Our robins didn’t make it, alas. Not sure why, though the location right near the front door wasn’t ideal especially as there’s a light on all night.
Farmer’s market Saturdays are back. We’re very excited by the mushroom vendor. And the kids are really loving the beach combing after the market.
On Sunday afternoon we saw a one woman play about Deborah Sampson, a woman from Massachusetts who, disguised as a man, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, was wounded in battle, and after her true identity was revealed (right at the end of the war) received an honorable discharge. Later she was awarded a pension. She was perhaps the first female public speaker in the US as to help ends meet she toured the country giving presentations in full military uniform. (read more about her here.)
The play was written and performed by Judith Kalaora, who researches, writes, produces, and performs several historical programs. She has training at the Globe Theater in London and I was quite impressed with her performance. We saw the show in Sharon, where it was hosted by the local historical society. Deborah Sampson settled in Sharon after the war and her son built a house for her there.
After the show we drove past the Deborah Sampson house (it’s a private residence so you can’t go in) and then visited her grave.
Boston area folks, I highly recommend this show, see here for more dates.
