- Studied Catechism I for 30 minutes each morning.
- Read aloud daily from Saints for Young Readers for Every Day, Vol. 1
- We continued reading Augustine Came to Kent.
- Read two chapters from Our Island Story and Britannia: 100 Great Stories from British History. We finally received The Birth of Britain for Dominic, but he found it "too boring."
- We read Chapter 1 and half of Chapter 2 from The Child's Fairy Geography, or, A Trip Round Europe and identified the United Kingdom and England on a map. The first stop on our "European tour" was London, where on Monday we visited St. Paul's Cathedral (better photos can be found on Flickr) and the Tower of London; we also watched a short video on executions at the Tower. Next, we visited St. Thomas' Hospital, Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court Palace (Richmond), and Windsor Castle. I had hoped to start a scrapbook project, documenting our "travels," but sadly that just didn't happen.
- We watched 4 segments from the video Visions of England; we'll be watching the rest of the video next week as we continue our travels through England.
- On Friday, we read This is London by Miroslav Sasek (wonderful!) and reviewed some current facts about London. We also perused these amazing photos of London.
- On Monday, Maddie read The Wind in the Willows Chapter 2 and had to draw a picture of a gypsy caravan, which led to some impromptu research.
- I am now reading The Hobbit out loud. Dominic was struggling with it on his own (or rather, pretending to) and Maddie preferred it to The Children of Green Knowe.
- We also started a second daily read-aloud: King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle (we had attempted The Once and Future King first, but could *not* get into it!); we'll be alternating between this and The Hobbit daily.
- Continued studying Classical Arithmetic and Latin/Grammar, they're *still* not able to pass the exams!
- Math facts drill on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; Dominic completed Life of Fred Pre-Algebra w/Biology, Chapter 2.
- Maddie missed her cello lesson on Monday because she was sick, but practiced for about 20 minutes each day.
- In music, we backtracked a bit and reviewed the parts of the orchestra and listened to a CD of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf while following along with the book. Later in the week, we watched and discussed this *excellent* animated short film (which won an Oscar in 2008).
- On Monday, we read "The Story of the Cattle Raid of Cooley" from English Literature for Boys & Girls. Tuesday, we read "Beowulf" from Legends of the Middle Ages and on Wednesday, we read "Tom Tit Tot" from English Fairy Tales. Thursday, we began reading about Geoffrey Chaucer in Stories from Old English Poetry and on Friday we read "The Tempest" in Tales from Shakespeare. This will more or less be our new weekly schedule for literature - one selection from each book daily, which gives us a nice variety.
- Finished reading Once Upon a Crime (The Sisters Grimm, Book 4) (Maddie).
- Nature Study: We observed many Sparrows, Chickadees, Juncos, and even two Cardinals at our backyard feeders, and read about them in Nature Study in Elementary Schools (clicking on the bird below will take you to the appropriate section).
- We completed the discussion questions on stars from For the Beauty of the Earth and copied several star poems.
- The kids completed a number of experiments from Nature in a Nutshell on their own. They learned about how pinecones protect their seeds, the effects of acid rain, and cloud formation.
Personal Highlights (This was quite the week for new discoveries, scroll down on the page for *much* more!):
- This year's Doodle 4 Google contest was announced, my kids are quite excited.
- We received the *amazing* (and huge!) Bumper Book of Look and Learn: The Best of the Classic Children's Magazine, which definitely surpassed my expectations and is perfect for the boys (shown below; my photos do not do this book justice!).
- Also received my Google Books order from the Harvard Book Store, they're perfect!
- Discovered Pomegranate ~ a great little shop for fine art books, calendars, note cards, etc. Their coloring books are especially nice (and include designs from William Morris and Carl Larsson) and they have some terrific things on sale currently. I ordered art bookmarks and a few other odds and ends.
- I stumbled across this article about why The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments was banned, and naturally had to find a copy to investigate (the download link in the article is no good). A .PDF of the book can be found here.
- I rescued an enormous stack of vintage Golden Books from my grandparent's house. In doing so, I re-discovered the illustrations of Corinne Malvern and Eloise Wilkin.
- My usual reading was set aside this week so that I could pre-read How the Heather Looks (an Ambleside geography selection for Year 7). Much as I suspected, it's not something Dominic will appreciate, but I am loving it very much! Unfortunately, it's also costing me money as I keep finding references to books which I simply *must* have... Dorothy Spicer books (The Book of Festivals and From An English Oven: Cakes, Breads and Buns of Country Tradition, with Legends and Festivities Associated with Their Origins and Use), The Slow Coach by E.V. Lucas, A Critical History of Children's Literature: From Earliest Times to the Present by Cornelia Meigs, and The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett thus far.
- Snagged a complete set of the 16-volume set The Children's Hour (c. 1953), in great condition, for only $20. on eBay!
- Oh-so-appropriate quote for the week: “When I have a little money, I buy books. If any is left over, I buy food and clothes.” ~ Erasmus
A few of the new Google/Espresso Book Machine Books!
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How the Heather Looks is really an adult book. And it is a really lovely book. I was heartbroken to find out what happened to the family afterward. I'm just giving you that little hint so you won't be as shocked as I was. Sorry, please forgive me!