I knew our first week back after our long road trip would be pretty non-productive. I was right and wrong.
Monday September 24
I woke up at 8 am with a splitting headache and went back to bed after texting Dom asking him to bring me a coke. I think I finally got up at a quarter to 11. I was delighted to see the four oldest kids sitting at the table working diligently. They all did some math— Sophie and Bella helping Ben when he got stuck, Anthony delightedly digging in to his new Beast Academy book. Sophie also did copywork. And I let it go at that as it was almost lunch time.
We did manage some afternoon stories: Magna Charta, St Louis de Montfort, Story of the World, North with the Spring, and the day’s lectionary readings.
Tuesday September 25
Everyone did math and copywork, I think. Sophie tried to do some French. Ben did Explode the Code as well. Anthony read a bit from his Child’s History. Lucy did some copywork and worked on copying numbers as well. Bella read from Story of the Church, flipping ahead to read about King John of England and the interdict, as we’d read about it in the Magna Charta book. After reading a sentence or two she laid down the book and wondered what St Philip Neri would think if he walked into one of our local parish churches today. We talked a bit about that, and more about the penalties of interdict and excommunication.
Sophie and Lucy played Set.
I took Ben to the doctor— verdict is ear infection and possible sinus infection. Got antibiotics.
No read alouds since we spent the afternoon at the doctor and pharmacy.
Wednesday September 26
Bella: math, composition (she wrote some postcards to friends she met on our trip)
Ben: math, copywork, explode the code, bob book
Anthony: math, copywork
Sophie: math, copywork, Geography
Afternoon stories: Magna Charta, Louis de Montfort, Story of the World, Lectionary readings
Bedtime story: Crow Boy
Thursday September 27
Bella had an orthodontist appt first thing and then we ran a few errands. Sophie did copywork and math while we were gone. Anthony and Ben did math when I came home. And Bella did math as well. Everything else sort of slid away. I knew this was going to be a slow week, everyone struggling to get back into the swing of things.
Watched a bunch of Smarter Every Day You Tube videos: first cannons in slow motion, then dominoes, then the archer’s paradox, finally one on shooting playing cards in slow motion (that also focused on art and the creative process, imitation vs innovation).
Afternoon stories: Magna Charta, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Story of the World, St Louis de Montfort, Lectionary readings. We had a great discussion about what heaven is like. Sophie said it sounded boring. So we started brainstorming things that didn’t sound boring. By the time we were done everyone was excited and someone, I think Ben?, said that they almost wanted to die right now so they could get to heaven.
At dinner Anthony asked how mirrors work and we talked about reflection and refraction and absorption. I guess I should put the chapter on light from Secrets of the Universe on next week’s reading list.
Bedtime: Mitchells Five for Victory
Friday September 28
Ben was up early and did most of a math page before I got out of bed. He later did some work in Explode the Code.
Anthony did math, copywork, and read to me from Child’s History.
Sophie did math, copywork, and French.
Bella did math and Latin.
Afternoon stories: Magna Charta, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Book of Marvels, St Louis de Montfort, Lectionary readings.
We had a great discussion about the universe, the nature of time and space, time travel, hyperspace, black holes, the theory of relativity, singularities, and God. As Sophie says no matter where you start and where you go, somehow the conversation always comes back to God.
Boys had cub scouts. Girls and I talked about the book I got in the mail today, Nella Last’s War. An interesting diary from a British housewife during the Second World War. Written as part of a larger project, Mass Observation, which asked people to keep a detailed journal of their life and the world around them. This book is lightly edited to make it more narrative and to give context and framework for the reader. It looks really interesting and Bella was itching to get her hands on it We were fascinated at how prepared the British were for war and how quickly the evacuation of women and children from major cities happened.
Bedtime stories with Lucy: Oxcart Man, A Poem that Heals Fish, Mother Goose.
