CM/Classical October Thread - Page 2

[Bluegoat]

We've had a fairly laid back week, because there was no art or dance classes to get to because it is the Thanksgiving weekend here.

My daughter has discovered the starfall webside, and has been motoring through the books there. We only have five lessons of the Tanglewood phonics reader left, and I'd like to get them done, but she finds them incredibly boring - and really I can't blame her. I think reading real books is more fun too.

I think Latin has a lot of advantages as a way to learn English grammar. I didn't learn much formal grammar in school, everything I know came from my university Latin classes. And I know quite a few older people who said that Latin was taught to them primarily as a means to learn English grammar. We won't be doing Latin for a few years yet though, I'd like dd's reading and writing to be fairly confident first. Since we're still in the oral world (I almost wrote oral phase but then thought better of it) I thought we would stick to a language she could really experience orally at this point.

Craft, I haven't used English for the Thoughtful Child, but I picked it up used. Quite a lot of it is done orally. I think it is something you could easily spread out with other things, and do in a different order than what it is presented in. So you could, if you wanted to, save the more writing oriented tasks for later.

[Mama Rana]

We went to the Walters Art Gallery [Baltimore] and saw the Egyptian collection. DS was quite excited about the mummies, recognized Osiris and cartouches, and did a puzzle of an Egyptian boat. We also saw a few other things, and he did an art project. Fun day!

[Jennifer3141]

Oh, to be within easy traveling distance of a museum with Egyptian stuff!!

We went to a museum this afternoon but it was for the town of Empire, Michigan. They were having their "Heritage Day" festival which was supposed to have apple butter making, a cider press, etc...
There was apple butter on a Saltine cracker and there was a cider press but apparently, you have to 118 years old to volunteer at the festival and when you're that age, you really only want to chat with your neighbors apparently.

My kids did freak out at the schoolhouse though. DD asked how anyone learns without their mama there.

FLL came today though. I intend to curl up in bed tonight and see what it's about.

Bluegoat, you're in Canada! We just checked a book out of our library about Thanksgiving in Canada because all the Halloween books were out. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And we got rainforests done!!! Woot!
Onto deserts and domesticated cats and then dolphins. And Tuesday will be REAL science and history day.

[Mama Rana]

I was so excited to learn we had mummies so close. Apparently there used to be some in DC too, but maybe not anymore. If you google "mummies museums" you'll get a list of museums that have mummies.

It's a tricky thing, really. Apparently Egypt isn't really happy with all these Egyptian artifacts in museums all over the world. Most of them were stolen at some point in history. But if they were all in Egypt then we couldn't take our kids there to see some of them, ya know? DS was SOO EXCITED to see the mummies. I was so proud of all he remembered about Egyptian history and geography. If all the artifacts were returned to their "rightful owners", he'd never be able to experience that. But I understand their point. To a point. *sigh*

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by Bluegoat

Craft, I haven't used English for the Thoughtful Child, but I picked it up used. Quite a lot of it is done orally. I think it is something you could easily spread out with other things, and do in a different order than what it is presented in. So you could, if you wanted to, save the more writing oriented tasks for later.

Thanks for the review! It's good to know that we could still use it and downplay the writing element for now. DD has an excellent grasp of English and has been verbally "gifted" or whatever since she was little---it's funny; the language part comes really naturally to her, but the written word is cumbersome (at least for now).

I think I will probably order it and start looking through it.

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

craftmediahero- I am totally impressed that you have next year all planned out! I am still working on next year's lesson plans. I cannot see planning out math though. I worry I will plan and he will go faster or slower than I planned. We are doing some Shakespeare this year as well and I have planned to do some Robin Hood as well.

Well, I didn't exactly plan out every worksheet, I just looked at the topics that are in both of our programs (Singapore 2A/B and Miquon Blue/Green) for the year and allotted what I think will be enough time for each and kind of re-ordered and re-arranged some so that the topics mostly relate to each other. I think we will have enough time, and with a 36wk year (starting Monday even though we've been working for a month already), we actually have 2-3 wks left at the tail end of our calendar, so we can go back through and hit anything we missed or that needs extra review. I hope.

Here's the Google Doc if anyone wants to see: Singapore 2A/B - Miquon Blue/Green It is for a 4 day week, and I included the Reviews, which we skipped last year, so I think we will have enough time. The fifth day (Friday) just has the topic names right now, but I'm going to try to include some Montessori activities that will help solidify the concepts.

I know we will not get through every page, tho.

Oh, I have decided to order the Child Size Masterpieces materials from parentchildpress. It's years of art appreciation that I can use with both kids, and we can order our own postcards to expand later once we get the hang of the method.

Whoot Getting a handle on it and having fun. Just have to get that Sci/Soc going back in our lives. Adding one at a time so each one's solid.

[Jennifer3141]

Mama, we read NG magazine passionately and watch a ton of their newer documentaries on mummies. It's really sad how the entire world has stolen Egypt's heritage away - even throwing Ramses II's father (or was it his grandfather?) into a Niagara Falls museum with no one realizing who he was. It's sick.

MLW, you're quiet today. You ok?

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by Jennifer3141

Oh, to be within easy traveling distance of a museum with Egyptian stuff!!

We went to a museum this afternoon but it was for the town of Empire, Michigan. They were having their "Heritage Day" festival which was supposed to have apple butter making, a cider press, etc...
There was apple butter on a Saltine cracker and there was a cider press but apparently, you have to 118 years old to volunteer at the festival and when you're that age, you really only want to chat with your neighbors apparently.

My kids did freak out at the schoolhouse though. DD asked how anyone learns without their mama there.

That is the sweetest comment by your dd! We had a mummy exhibit at a local museum about 2 years ago that the boys and I saw - it was fascinating. To look at the mummies and realize someone's remains were in there and that those remains were as old as they were was mind boggling.

Originally Posted by Mama Rana

It's a tricky thing, really. Apparently Egypt isn't really happy with all these Egyptian artifacts in museums all over the world. Most of them were stolen at some point in history. But if they were all in Egypt then we couldn't take our kids there to see some of them, ya know? DS was SOO EXCITED to see the mummies. I was so proud of all he remembered about Egyptian history and geography. If all the artifacts were returned to their "rightful owners", he'd never be able to experience that. But I understand their point. To a point. *sigh*

I can see their point too. I wonder if there was a way to have them on traveling exhibits where not all of them were in the US or other countries at the same time, but some were home in Egypt and some made their way through museums in the US, Canada, and other countries. They wouldn't be here all the time to go see, but then maybe when they were in a particular country/city, it would be a huge deal and actually cause more people to become educated on ancient Egypt because of all the excitement surrounding the limited-time exhibit? Isn't that what was done with King Tut? I remember there being a big exhibit here a year or two ago and it was a huge deal. I see why Egypt would want their mummies (and pharaohs) back, but I also see the need to have them around the world for everyone to enjoy and from which to learn.

Originally Posted by Jennifer3141

MLW, you're quiet today. You ok?

I'm doing fine ... just was busy doing an enormous amount of laundry (usually I do one load a day so I only have a couple extra ones on the weekend, but this last week I did 1 load the whole week), plus a bunch of gardening and grocery shopping. Oh man am I exhausted! But, the boysenberry bush is pruned back (I had no idea that the vines would root themselves every foot or two and put down huge root balls that did not want to be pulled out), the blueberries are mulched, and the grass is mown (dh did that part and the boys helped me with the plants). We still have more to do, but at least most of the big stuff is done. Dh has a furlough on Monday so we have a short day - just Latin (starting a new chapter), math, and probably IEW writing. I told ds#1 that the more we do on Monday the less we'll have on Friday.

We were going to go to a local farm this coming Monday for a corn maze, pumpkin patch, petting zoo, "wagon" ride around the whole farm (25 acres or something huge), and then to buy some fresh produce, but it's supposed to be in the upper 80's and my very pregnant body (and my feet) just can't do the heat anymore. So, either we will miss it this year (we haven't been in a couple years) or my mom & I will take them when the weather cools a bit.

[Mama Rana]

Originally Posted by Jennifer3141

Mama, we read NG magazine passionately and watch a ton of their newer documentaries on mummies. It's really sad how the entire world has stolen Egypt's heritage away - even throwing Ramses II's father (or was it his grandfather?) into a Niagara Falls museum with no one realizing who he was. It's sick.

I know, it's disgusting. [actually I didn't know specifically about Niagara; we go there every couple years; I'll have to look into that] Mummies were people, their resting places have been looted and desecrated, and that's wrong and disgusting. I don't condone it.
But
The damage has already been done. The artifacts are already here, the tombs emptied. It's not like we're burning the mummies to light our cities. I just feel like giving everything back won't really undo the harm that has already be done, and because of it, my son and others have the chance to learn even more about it and become even more passionate about the subject.
And for what it's worth, HE agreed with that guy--shoot, I always forget his first name, the chief Egyptologist, Something Hawass--anyway, DS agreed that the stolen artifacts should be returned. In all the excitement yesterday I didn't think to ask him whether he's changed his mind now that he got to see them.

[Jennifer3141]

The Niagara mummy is a fascinating story...

Some junko museum in Niagara bought a mummy about 100 years ago, when buying/stealing Egyptian artifacts was all the rage. He was on display at one of the freaky Niagara "museums" for a long time.

A mummy collector offered to buy the collection. Then he turned around and sold the mummy to a museum in Georgia which decided to actually examine the mummy. When they started to really dig into the mummy, they discovered some really odd things like the fingers and toes were in REALLY good shape, there were gold caps, etc. Those were the kinds of things that were done only for pharoahs. So they asked Egypt for help. Zahi Hawass (the Egyptologist you're preobably thinking of) became aware of it and through DNA testing and other stuff, they discovered this museum in Georgia was holding onto was Ramses I.

We had a PHAROAH on display as part of the freak show in Niagara. Nice.

Anyway, the Atlantan museum returned Ramses I to Egypt and it was pretty neat because they treated his mummy as royalty and rolled out the red carpet for his return.

I can see what you're saying, Mama. Lots of artifacts have already been scattered to the four winds from Egypt. But I do think that when we become aware of injustices, that we are beholden to correct them. So that doesn't fly in my family's personal ethics.

However, Hawass isn't really doing the whole movement much good when he runs around the planet cursing Britain and making incredibly anti-Semitic statements. Plus, he seems like a bit of an attention 'ho.

I remember when some Tut thing toured the country as a kid. We traveled to Chicago to see it and we spent about a week of our lives doing it. It was amazing. They could do tours like that and it would probably only increase the interest in ancient Egypt. I also think modern Egypt would do this as often as possible because they really do like thousands of people oohing and ahhing over their stuff.

We're going to hit a corn maze this afternoon, MLW. We did history and science this morning. It's time for a lunch/play break and then we'll do a reader or two. And math! It's math day!

[AngelBee]

Typed out a long post and lost internet signal.

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by AngelBee

Typed out a long post and lost internet signal.

I hate it when that happens!

[Bluegoat]

Originally Posted by Jennifer3141

We're going to hit a corn maze this afternoon, MLW. We did history and science this morning. It's time for a lunch/play break and then we'll do a reader or two. And math! It's math day!

We went to a corn maze last year when I was pregnant. We got lost, and I was seriously considering heading into the nether regions of the field to have a pee before we got out.

[crunchy_mama]

We did a cornfield maze last year = I was 38 weeks prego= it was an adventure!

RE; mummies: not sure my thoughts. It of course seems disrespectful of the dead and of course the means of attaining them as well. However, whether or not we will look at a display, probably so, although I imagine there will be some discussion on the matter.

We did a nature walk Sat, nature study is my favorite! Worked on reading as well. Took yesterday off. Excited to get today started but the kids woke up really early and dd is getting sick, so I am not expecting a very good day. I found AAS used and have it coming.

[MyFullHouse]

Oooh! Can I play?

We're mostly-WTM homeschoolers. I recently stopped in the middle of FLL2 and bumped my girls up to FLL3. They like it better b/c of the worksheet factor (not sure if that's been added in to the new 1 & 2 editions), and it starts right back up with nouns and pronouns.

Even though we've moved on to SOTWv2, my kids are still stuck on v1. This week, we're planning the 12yo and 8yo's Roman costumes for Halloween. I'm a bit worried about keeping them warm!

I've also finally faced the fact that I have to clear out some shelves. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to haul 2 big boxes of books down to the used bookstore and then let the kids go wild on store credit.

Anyone prepping for high school? I just finished reading "Setting the Records Straight" on transcripts and course descriptions and feel so much better about planning for next year!

[Jennifer3141]

Welcome Carrie!

Ah, the fond memories we all have of being pregnant with cornfield mazes...

It's going to be a light day for us. We worked all weekend!

[MyLittleWonders]

Welcome Carrie! I recognize you from WTM.

Man, now I feel like I need to make sure we hit the corn field maze while pregnant! I have a feeling we might go next week (our scheduled week off); the weather should be cooler by then.

Today is a light day - Latin, math and IEW. We have yet to start though we are all awake. The older two are listening to Percy Jackson, book 3 I believe. They've listened to all 5 at least one time through and now seem to be picking one at random to listen through. While they do this, they sit in their bedroom building Legos. It's hard to make them stop to do something else because they are quiet and enjoying the story, yet I would like to get our school done for today as my mom and I need to run errands later.

Well, I'm looking into Greek for next year - the boys said they want to learn that too. I'm not quite sure their motivation except that (1) they have been listening to an enormous amount of Percy Jackson lately and have been into ancient Greece because of it and (2) I think they like doing something their friends can't do. (That sounds kind of bad ... they don't hold it over their friends' heads or anything, but more just being a little different, if that makes sense.)

Dh and I also realized we need to make a K-12 "plan" for each boy (ds#1 and ds#2 are on slightly different "tracks" as to when certain subjects/time periods are hit by grade level since ds#2 does what ds#1 is doing for history and science and some language arts right now; ds#3 will have a slightly different lay out than the first two and Little Bean will probably follow a plan similar to ds#3). Our biggest question mark right now is what to do for science once ds#1 hits middle school. I have yet to find a program I totally like - we've done NOEO Chemistry and it was a bit above their heads (conceptually - I don't think it was quite concrete enough for them), we have the Singapore Science My Pals are Here, which are fun to read through but really not meaty enough at all (we plan on reading through the remaining three books at the end of this school year when we finish REAL Science Odyssey), and now we're doing REAL Science Odyssey Earth & Space. I like it the best of them all because the labs are simple enough to do at the table (I'm not a messy or crafty person, nor like experiments that I have to remember to finish on a different day), yet hands-on enough that the boys like them a lot. But, I don't like having to gather all the actual information/books/media myself.

I think next year we might try Oak Meadow science grade 4 and see how that goes. I figure the elementary ages are a good time to just lay some foundation and explore a variety of topics in science. But, I don't have the time nor the desire to completely make it up myself. And, once ds#1 hit middle school age (6th or 7th grade), I want our science to be a bit meatier to prepare him (and his siblings) for college-level science courses.

[crunchy_mama]

Welcome Carrie! I wish I could browse the bookshelf before you get rid of some things- I am itching to buy more books!

Wonderful day here. Started early. Did some singing(which seems intermittent) but I like the idea anyway, so we are learning- I've Been Working on the Railroad. We read some Bible then from Tomie dePaola's bible stories- I LOVE all his books and illustrations. Read some fables.

Then we did math, working on counting by 2s today, handwriting. Did some Latin- ya, finally started. Mostly introduction today, sang the first song several times and went over the story.

Today was art appreciation. I was doing project and appreciation separate but decided that it makes more sense to do appreciation on the artist we are doing a project about so read some from GardenofPraise(I think that is right) he got to see some of the pics and then played w/ their painter- where you can color a famous painting yourself. Today was Raphael- and the picture they had was St. George and the Dragon- coincidentally I just read that a few days ago(and adored it). I really enjoyed it and he seemed to get more out of it. Then we did little potraits outside ourself(as Raphael was a big potrait painter).

We then made up October's calendar(just a few days late there!). We still have to do reading but that is always after lunch sometime. I am thinking we might do our fall leaf nature study this afternoon, but maybe we will wait.

The kids are currently running around like banshees before lunch.

MLW= I am wondering about long term plans as well. I was telling dh the other day that I certainly want to do lots of Spanish as I think it will be very helpful language to know but when to start it I don't know. I also wonder about music. Dh and I really don't know much about music, I did play the flute in hs but that was way too long ago. Piano seems the best/most obvious and useful choice but we don't own a piano.

Oh, and I found out that a girl we know is going to be in a performance of the Nutcracker, which we had planned to attend as part of music appreciation. I think the kids will be even more thrilled if it is someone we know.

I was looking at Charlotte Mason Help some more and am really enjoying their plans, such great ideas! Also,rereading Latin Centered Curriculum. REading it now for the 3rd time I believe as we go along in this journey and read here and there it is interesting how my views change. At first when I started researching I was persuaded by anything and everything. I am (slowly) developing the skill to be able to like an idea but realize it may not work for us. It is nice to be able to pick from here and there and know that there isn't just one right way.

[crunchy_mama]

MLW- I will be interested to hear your thoughts on OM Science I like the idea of their materials. I am content for where we are now, but will perhaps look at something less teacher intensive next year. Our current listening material is Dragon Rider, which we have all enjoyed.

Chrissy- I will be anxious to see some of what you are doing as well- I like some of Waldorf ideas but not sure on implentation.

CMH- thanks for the rundown. We are using RSB but I was thinking it might help to look ahead to what worksheets we need and go ahead and copy them and prepare games and such. It is a great feeling to feel like you know what you are doing! We have the Child-Sized Masterpieces here and I have used it off and on- I need to pull it back out.

I keep forgetting everything I want to respond to.... must fix lunch!

Oh, I am curious about adding in some handcrafts- ideas from anyone? Easy things to learn and teach?

Oh, and I made a list of all the Good Books, all the rest of the FIAR and starting a list of Caldecott honor books for us to read through. I also made a plan of Chapter books as well. I have on the dockett 26 chapter books for the year and - hundreds of picture books. That averages to 2weeks per chapter book- what do you guys think? More or less reading?

We have currently made it through 2 already for the year- Mr. Popper's Penguins and Pippi Longstocking and will finish Stuart Little today, which I guess puts us on track. I know it is kind of crazy to make a list but I keep reading all these lists of things to read then I get in a tizzy about it, thinking we have to read them all now. But doing it this way helps me focus.

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by Bluegoat

We went to a corn maze last year when I was pregnant. We got lost, and I was seriously considering heading into the nether regions of the field to have a pee before we got out.

[AngelBee]

Kinda goofy day. I am sick so that is not helping.

DD3yr wrote numbers

DS5yrs....played with animals

DD8yrs Bible, MUS

DS18yrs Bible, MUS

Cant believe it is already 3pm : We ran out of time!

Will have to do more after work.