Weekly Report

We had a truncated week because of Thanksgiving. We didn't bother with our usual history and science schedules, opting instead for Thanksgiving related activities. I really overestimated how many we'd be able to do. There was a dentist appointment for the older kids on Monday and by the time we finished our core subjects after that I had to decide between projects and letting them play. Play won. On Tuesday, Eleanor had an early practice and we did some errands so that was where that time went. We finally did our "Thankful Turkeys" on Wednesday and we managed to read most of "If you Sailed on the Mayflower" and watched "This is America Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers" and "Its Thanksgiving Charlie Brown". The Charlie Brown holiday cartoons being the backbone of any good classical education, of course.



In our core subjects we did fine work. Henry started phonics work using Explode the Code 2 which he LOVES. Especially the very silly sentences with very silly drawings. He actually begged to do one more chapter. We also started doing Kumon's "Let's Cut Paper" book to try and help his fine motor skills which seem to be backsliding a bit. Even though its fantastically simple and designed for 2-year olds its hard for him and he hates it. In other words its perfect. Just the challenge he needs.

Eleanor is now memorizing the first part of the William Wordsworth poem "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud" and learned about some of the different types of verbs. The helping verbs were learned in the form of a 'chant' with claps which I called a 'cheer' which made certain sparkly, bejeweled ears perk up instantly. Go Verbs!:

Am (clap)
Is (clap)
Are, was, were (clap)
Be (clap)
Being (clap)
Been (clap clap)

etc, etc...

We continued to read, "Little Women" aloud and she read, "Thanksgiving on Thursday", and the companion guide, "Pilgrims", from the Magic Tree House series. Math has turned into a struggle for her which I don't understand as it came so easily to her before. Maybe its just a phase. Most of her errors strike me as just her being careless but maybe there's more to it than that. We only managed 2 measly days of French.

As early as tonight, I will begin the process of learning Latin in preparation for next year when Eleanor will begin her Latin education. I'm looking forward to it. I'm still on the fence as to which program I'll get for her. I have two in mind now and they have very different approaches (and prices!) so I need to think about what my goals are for the next year and for the long run.

Happy Thanksgiving!