Monday November 6
Anthony: math, read History, copywork.
Ben: math, Explode the Code.
Sophie: math, copywork, dictation, French, read Geography.
Bella: Khan academy, dictation/copywork, read St George, read Bible.
Stories: Francie on the Run, King of Ireland’s Son, Augustus Caesar’s World, Book of Angels.
Bedtime stories: Elephant and Piggie.
Tuesday November 7
Anthony: math, read History, copywork.
Ben: math, Explode the Code, read a Bob book to Bella.
Sophie: math, copywork, dictation, French, read Geography.
Bella: Khan academy, copywork, spelling.
Ran errands, listened to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, our current car audiobook.
Stories: Francie on the Run.
Bedtime: various library books.
Wednesday November 8
Anthony: math, read History, copywork.
Ben: math, Explode the Code, read a Bob book to Bella, found-word copywork.
Sophie: math, copywork, dictation, French, read Geography.
Bella: Khan academy, copywork.
Stories: Finished Francie on the Run. St Francis Xavier, King of Ireland’s Son, Story of the World, North with the Spring.
Bella is reading— and loving— A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm by Edwin Way Teale, who wrote North with the Spring.
Thursday November 9
Girls and I listened to today’s readings and briefly discussed the feast of St John Lateran.
Anthony: math, read History, copywork.
Ben: math, Explode the Code.
Sophie: math, copywork. Narrated book about St Frances Cabrini
Bella: Khan academy, copywork. Read and narrated from Microbe Hunters.
Grocery store day. Listened to the end of Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the car.
Stories: Pegeen, Book of Angels, King of Ireland’s Son, Augustus Caesar’s World, North with the Spring.
Took a nature walk with everyone but Anthony. Picked up leaves and catalpa pods. Discovered some mushrooms and Sophie noted they were helping the leaves decompose.
Friday November 10
We went on a field trip to Weeden Farm in Kingstown Rhode Island. The subject of the trip was geology. With a guide who is an amateur geologist, we took a tour that looked at rocks incorporated into the recently rebuilt stone walls on the farm property.
Our guide, Mr McGovern, was a little unsure at first, this being his first presentation to children and not to adults. I could tell he wasn’t sure how much information the children could take in (we had a wide range in children aged from 14 to about 3 or 4) and was trying to be informative but not overly technical. He opened with a little lecture about rocks and minerals, with some basic guidelines as to how to identify the rocks. He had samples and passed some around.
After that we all put on our coats and winter gear and headed out to walk the property and look at the rock walls. He paused to look out over the fields and gave us a brief overview of geological history, talking about glaciers. Then we walked along several walls and examined the stones that had been selected as interesting and notable. On the way the children picked up stones and asked questions and we learned a bit about the ongoing rebuilding of the walls, a bit about the farm, and about our guide.
It was the coldest day we’ve had this season, down in the lower 30s with driving winds that snatched our breath away and chilled us. But the children were troopers and we had a nice walk. After the walk we returned to the barn to examine the samples he’d brought more closely, to ask more questions, and so that everyone could use the restroom before we journeyed back to Massachusetts. Our guide gave the children a few rock samples that he’d collected himself from various sites in New England: a large sheet of mica, a lovely piece of translucent quartz, and a piece of flourine.
We had a picnic lunch in the car— too cold to eat outside. Then drove back home. On the way down and back we listened to The Silver Chair. Everyone remarked on how we finished a whole disk each way— and then still had another half hour or so until we reached our destination.
When we got home Bella pulled out some of the rocks we’ve collected over the years and organized them and examined them.
We listened to Silver Chair on the way there and back. A Long trip, but worth it.
When we got home Bella spend some time organizing her rock collection.
Ben and Anthony had their first cub scout meeting after dinner. Dom took them and the girls and I had a quiet evening. The boys were quite thrilled to become scouts after Dom has spent so much time regaling them with stories of his own scouting adventures. The boys and Daddy were all very excited and quite happy.
