Day 82

History through Reading

I have started reading to Kieron again from Our Country in Story (an old Catholic history reader for 5th and 6th graders, a little simple for him but not inappropriately so, given that we have done little US History in the past and the style is old-fashioned and thus more literate than the modern book written for the 5th-6th grader). Paddy usually listens in too, though I'd be surprised if he gets much out of it. But I've been surprised before.

We just made it to the mouth of the Mississippi, via Father Marquette and Robert de la Salle.

De la Salle was killed by his men as he tried to establish a colony near the Gulf, and Kieron was very indignant about treachery as the worst possible offense. Dante would agree, as he puts traitors in the inmost circle of hell.



Reading (Phonics)

On the left is a production that Aidan directed, with just a bit of advice from Paddy at the end. Aidan wanted me to write the words from his V-tech phonics board and then google for pictures. I would google and then he would tell me which picture he wanted and I would paste it on the word document.

More Reading

I got several Henry and Mudge books from the library. Paddy reads them and gets me to read them, so we've gone through them several times. Not quite great literature but not as deadly as primers, either. I've never found anything that I love as much as Frog and Toad, though, for simple reading level combined with philosophical depth.

More Phonics

Aidan and Paddy both played on the Starfall site for a long time today.

Handwriting

I had Paddy write a few "P's". My goal is to get him writing his name.

Nature

It was snowing today and Aidan was outside in it for quite a while. Clare and Brendan went out hiking in it but Kieron and Paddy were homebodies.

Conversation

Superheroes again, I believe. There was another discussion but I've forgotten.

Movies

Kevin and the older kids are watching Charlie Chan movies at night.

Day 80

Science

Aidan has been fascinated with the Audobon Mammal Field Guide -- maybe because of our up-close squirrel nature study? He keeps bringing me the guide open to different pages and asking me "Which one is different?" or having me watch while he counts the mammals on a given page.

Paddy and I reread MSB Inside a Hurricane -- this time he wanted me to read some of the little sidebars of information, which was a first. He asked about the experiment of evaporating water.... "If you leave water for 3 days, it really disappears?" When I said that water really did disappear, aka evaporate, he went around telling everyone: "Clare, did you know water will disappear if you leave it in a cup for 3 days?" When he told his Dad, his dad set up the experiment for him. Paddy is confident that the process will take exactly 72 hours so we'll see what happens : )

We also read Marshmallow (another Clare Turlay Newberry book, about a bunny). The day before we read Babette. So far we've read about 3 of her books; we have about 6.

We trapped and released into the wild 2 more squirrels.

Reading

Kieron is still rereading lots of Redwalls.
Aidan read a bit from 100 Easy Lessons.

Domestic

Aidan helped me make cookies.
Kieron made chocolate candy.


You will see I am counting this as Day 80 even though the last entry was Day 77. That's because of weekend learning, and because yesterday, Thursday, was a cleaning day but I'm still counting it because the kids helped, and it led to some creative playing.

Day 77

Science and Reading

• I told Paddy we had Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body around the house and he was so excited! Today he asked me about it so I dug it out and he acted like he had gotten a new video game : ). He said (I wrote it down so I'd remember):
  

"I will read it myself first, if you have something else you have to do."

It was quite a skilful interpersonal remark for someone in my family, but I did not know if he was merely expressing a generous sentiment, or if he REALLY wanted to look it over himself before I started reading it and was just trying to say it politely. I've noticed that little ones often like to pore through a picture book and "preread" it this way before listening to it. Either way, though I didn't have anything important to do, I thought it was better to take him up on it. So I sat beside him and wrote a couple of notes in my notebook while he pored through it.

Anyway, we've read it twice. He already knew about white blood cells and attacking germs (from the book "Germs Make you Sick") and he remembered that. There is a silly T/F quiz at the end of the book and the first time, he tried to get all the answers right (only missed one) and the second time he tried to get all the answers wrong. Kieron sort of listened in and we discussed the T/F answers given in the book, so it was actually quite as comprehensive as many a science lesson, and more fun.

Literacy

• Aidan played Starfall.
• I read him Three Little Kittens.

Math

• Paddy played Math Dojo online, but wasn't much into it.
• I played a Tetris like game with addition at the same site while he watched (Kieron watched too).

History

• I read about Father Marquette and the Mississippi to Kieron -- several pages

Religion

• Creed in Slow Motion -- about "And she conceived of the Holy Spirit"

Conversation

• Kieron talked a bit about the readings but he wasn't connecting too much either to history or religion. This seems to happen to every one of my kids once they turn 13. It goes away eventually. Deo gratias. But I wish I knew the SOLUTION. The weird thing is, often they totally remember what they listened to or read during these years even though they have those blank eyes at the time. Brendan totally remembers and so does Clare.
• We also talked about Spiderman quite a bit -- the moral implications of a symbiote who tries to influence you for evil seems to fascinate him.
• Some conflict resolution between me, Aidan and Paddy.
• Paddy and I played a game with his beanie babies for a long time.
  

Life Skills

• Aidan unloaded the dryer, loaded the dryer from the washer, and turned on the dryer ALL BY HIMSELF. He was so proud. Just now he emptied the dryer and brought the basket to the bottom of the stairs like I do.
  
• He also made a "shopping list". Right now he scribbles boldly across the page, probably what he thinks I'm doing with my horrible cursive, but there's definitely a start there.
  

Day 75

The Loneliness One dare not sound
by Emily Dickinson

The Loneliness One dare not sound --
And would as soon surmise
As in its Grave go plumbing
To ascertain the size --

The Loneliness whose worst alarm
Is lest itself should see --
And perish from before itself
For just a scrutiny --

The Horror not to be surveyed --
But skirted in the Dark --
With Consciousness suspended --
And Being under Lock --

I fear me this -- is Loneliness --
The Maker of the soul
Its Caverns and its Corridors
Illuminate -- or seal --

Stations of the Cross and homeschool meeting cancelled today -- Kieron was very disappointed. This is his chance to meet up with his friends.

Lots of good things about living up here, and winter is cozy, but certainly makes it harder for us to connect with others outside the home. I got to chat for a while with the mom who called to say it was cancelled, about K12 (she is involved through the California charter) and special needs (she has a child similar in age to Aidan though less delayed) and about the school financial crunch. But Kieron didn't get to connect at all, and it's hard at his age. The other kids didn't really care.

At home, we continued our unschooly dinosaur unit study -- well, not exactly a unit, more like Five in a Row because we just read Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs and then talked. Kieron again got involved in narrating background knowledge and discussing past books he had read, and Paddy asked lots of questions.... so more like Five in a Row with the kids directing the flow : ). And Aidan keeps working on the dinosaur puzzle.

To console himself, Kieron made cookies. He has been growing quickly -- an inch a month for the past two months.

This weekend I am going to focus on at least preparing some resources and being more present to the kids... that is a problem with our more unschooly seasons, that I just drift off into my own life. I'm looking at AO Year 1 and at the Sonlight/WTM booklist.

Still pouring rain, which makes Sean happy.

Whale Weathervane in Oregon

Day 73 -- Catching Up

A few things going on -- I realize that the heart of learning seems to be the connections between one thing and another, so that's what I am emphasizing here. I know there are things I missed here, but this is a partial list. I'm not sure what "day" we are on but am going to pick it up as Day 73 because I'm figuring we've done 18 weeks of about 4 days each.

Aidan's been very busy these days -- two of his favorite activities here. The physics of spinning, and typing numbers in large font and then cutting them out.



Bleak House (movie) -- older kids and me -- Brendan read a bit of Bleak House to me and Clare and we compared Mr Guppy's marriage proposal in the book to the version in the movie.

The Worm Ouroboros -- Clare is reading this. Originally I requested it from the library for Liam because CS LEwis had mentioned it approvingly. But then I went ahead and bought it for Liam for a late Christmas present. She has been reading bits aloud to me and Brendan.

HMS Mauritius by Patrick O'Brian. Clare has been reading bits of this aloud to me too -- the sloth, and Jack Aubrey's twin babies.

Superhero video games -- Kieron researched which one to get with his Christmas and birthday money, and decided to get Spiderman Friend or Foe. He also read a lot in Wikipedia about the Spiderman cycle. The game arrived today and Kieron and Paddy have been playing (I can hear Paddy getting a bit cranky).

Aidan -- solar system. He found the booklet that went with his felts and pored over it spelling the planet names. Then he asked for the felts themselves and has been playing with those.

Paddy -- his rabbit trail on Magic School Bus continues (mixed idiom there!). We have covered: Bee Hives, The Weather, Dinosaurs and Water Works in this manner over the past couple of weeks. Today as we were reading about the dinosaurs, Kieron came over and expanded on his own past research on dinosaurs.... filling out what the book said, etc. I mentioned how impressed I was by the immensities of time, say between Triassic and Jurassic, or even early and late Cretaceous. Millions of years! This led to a discussion about the Bible creation story and about how scientistis know what they know.

Aidan -- still typing out, cutting out, and reordering numbers up to 100. I think that this has taught him how to identify higher numbers and how to count in sequence past twenty. These were skills listed on his IEP but he has found his own entry point into them, and the work has been his.

A calendar of the dumbest things said in 2008. Sean got this for his Christmas present at the extended-family game of "dirty bingo" (it's a form of White Elephant). He and the whole family have loved it and I realize that humor is really a thing that requires quite a lot of cultural sophistication. You have to know why the things that are said are dumb, which means a broad general knowledge of correct syntax, etc. He read the ones he liked best to me, then went and read them to Clare and then I heard them making up their own spin-offs.

The squirrels.... a bit of impromptu nature study.

Day 49

I guess this is the last day of Week 12!

We actually did a bit of testing today. It was a bit of a sobering experience. I am a "more or less" CMer *(see below) and so that is the context.

I found that Kieron remembered FAR better or at least was able to retrieve far better (those may be two slightly different things) what he had done more or less by rote memory than what he had read in living books, or had read to him.

Now, for context, I rarely ask for narrations. We discuss spontaneously but not after every reading. That's partly what I mean by "more or less". Charlotte Mason insisted on narration after every reading, and for the very reason that I have mentioned -- retention.

She thought the child should do the work of extracting things to remember from the text.... rather than operate by prepared questions and study sheets that would allow the child to soak in passively what needed to be known.

I shall have to reflect. I think also, perhaps, my questions were too broad and general, too much for a child that age. But I also think that he needs a way to "peg" general knowledge on to hooks for retrieval.

Anyway, besides the oral testing he did:

• A geometry test (interior and exterior angles, directions)
• a Renaissance quiz
• a quiz on matter and the four states

I read a bit more of Christ the King to him (finishing chapter 19) and I read him 2 chapters of Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal.

Oh ! and edited to add that the big project today was learning the basics of recorder-playing. I found an old recorder in a drawer and so Kieron and I looked up "how to's" and then he practiced for quite a while.

* "The reader will say with truth,--'I knew all this before and have always acted more or less on these principles'; and I can only point to the unusual results we obtain through adhering, not 'more or less,' but strictly to the principles and practices I have indicated. I suppose the difficulties are of the sort that Lister had to contend with; every surgeon knew that his instruments and appurtenances should be kept clean, but the saving of millions of lives has resulted from the adoption of the great surgeon's antiseptic treatment; that is, from the substitution of exact principles scrupulously applied, for the rather casual 'more or less' methods of earlier days." (see Ambleside Online, What is CM?)

Tomorrow starts Term 3!

Day 48

I did a bit of writing of the Term Exams for Year 7 (google doc form). I will probably be adding to it during the week.

Today was our light day. We finished reading about the Spanish Armada, read a bit more of Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and finished The Tale of Despereaux. It turned out that I liked this book very much indeed and so did Paddy and Kieron both. Such books are not all that common.

Kieron did a decimal and integer place value review at thatquiz.org. He had no trouble.

Paddy did some pages from Developing the Early Learner, and worked on subtraction with visuals from MCP Math A. Then he read a story from Little Angel Reader B on the tortoise and the hare.

He did a couple of games linked from Internet4Classrooms, too.
Aidan did Starfall.

Oh, and also the OT came and played several games with them. She is working on Brain Gym activities with them. We did Owl Movement and Pease Porridge Hot. Aidan caught a ball while on a balance board, and Paddy and I played catch with a ping pong ball. They also played a game where they climbed over a bench and then put their hands in a bag and had to guess what they had grabbed. I really ought to do more of this kind of thing with them; honestly, it tires me out just watching and smiling encouragingly ;-). Bad Mom.

This week I am going to spend some time thinking about the little ones -- I want to make some manipulatives for Aidan since he gets lots of mileage out of them. And think about this kind of creative movement, how to make it work.

Also, I want to plan what to read for the beginning of next term.

Kieron needs more hands-on activities, too. My default is to skimp on these things. I ought to at least introduce them.

Day 47

Light day today:

• Kieron did a couple of simple review tests for math --- perimeters and area, and exponents.
• We reviewed Latin grammar a bit -- it looks like he doesn't thoroughly understand this so I will have to figure out how to give him a chance to practice it.
• He read a section on the Reformation and answered some vocabulary match-up questions.

Morning Reading:

• We read a lot of Despereaux. The pace has picked up and Paddy was extremely interested in it.

I found some study guides which I am going to list here, not because I particularly think I am going to use them, but because I like to read through them after I've read a book to see what the "guiders" come up with. I sort of like literature guides, but am very wary of loading a bunch of educational baggage onto the slender swift thoroughbred that is a good book. This one SEEMS quite good though you never know for sure until it's all wrapped up at the end. Even Clare, who's usually quite severe, liked the author's way of writing. It's certainly fun to read out loud; I particularly like saying Roscuro's dialogue.

• Kate de Camilio (author)
• Candlewick Guide (pdf) (teacher's guide)
  
• Another Candlewick study guide (reader's guide)
• a teacher's lesson plan series for 2nd graders
  

Day 46

Another clear day, not quite as cold as yesterday.

Morning Reading:

• a few chapters of Despereaux
• a section from Christ the King on the Spanish Armada
• more of The Lady of Shalott
• I also read several stories to Paddy from an anthology, while Kieron made cookies.

Then there was an extended break of a sort while I found some Mad Libs for Kieron and he played them (Language Arts). Then Paddy wanted to do some. I hung around for a while and then I took a bath.

Review/Study with Kieron:

• MEP chapter 9 -- Areas and Perimeters, 9.1 and 9.2
• Latin -- answering questions on yesterday's reading, in Latin. Discussed ablative
• History -- review questions on the Babylonian Captivity
• Science -- more review -- we've finished Unit 2.
• Grammar -- "Why the English Language is So Hard to Learn"
• Handwriting -- I forgot to mention that yesterday so I'll put it on here today.
  

Thus concludes Week 11.

This weekend my project will have to be writing out some questions I think he will be able to narrate upon.

Aidan worked with his word box and with number matching.

Object of Interest for the Day (Aidan):



This is the garage door light. Aidan has become fascinated with it. He goes out into the (icy cold) garage to admire it. Brendan took the picture for him.

Day 45

A beautiful COLD day, with ice on the puddles around our house.

We are well into our review week, but this is the first day we really reviewed. I remember my first year homeschooling (with a 3rd grader!) when the correspondence program I was using told me to review the material for tests the next week.

I didn't have a clue what that meant so I ended up just dividing the pages of the workbooks already covered into five sections and then covering a section each day.

Since then I haven't really gotten much better at planning review...sigh. I have figured out that it makes life easier to just focus on one subject per day. Today, since we've been skimping Logic recently, we went through several of the past chapters of the logic book and discussed.

In addition:

• 5 more pages of Legend of Sleepy Hollow
• started reading The Lady of Shalott (led to a discussion about rhyme schemes and emphatic phrases in poetry -- I don't know the real word for the emphatic phrases, but we are noticing them quite a bit "Don John of Austria is riding to the war..." ).
• a bit more of Christ the King -- I had Kieron read the rest of the section independently because the grown kids and DH and I were discussing the election ; -).
• Then, I'm counting the election discussion because Kieron is listening in on it and learning a lot about different povs, etc.
  

(Kieron told me that yesterday when Paddy went outside he was reciting bits of Lepanto. This thrilled Clare who is a huge Chesterton fan.)

Then:

• Next section of History -- from here -- World History 1, unit 11 Renaissance Reformation (PDF)
• A section of science reviewing the states of matter (he knows all this pretty well by now). -- from here -- Integrated Science Unit 2 (PDF)
• Math -- dividing by decimals, and mental division of larger numbers. Here is where my goal-setting this summer with him has paid off. I decided that conceptual problem solving was a priority, because he is such a natural at it and was hating "mechanical math" so much. I can't say he jumps for joy every day with math but once or twice he has said this is FUN! Today for example there was a way to quickly divide by halving. For example 224 divided by 4. If you can half it twice you're set. He actually did some extras with 8's and 16's.
  
• Latin - - a translation exercise.
• Grammar -- more filling in verbs in Peter Rabbit. This seems to be quite interesting.
  

I did something different with Paddy -- I asked him to choose 2 of the books from his "school box" and then those were his academics. Sort of a workbooky Montessori, I suppose.

He chose

• MCP Math A
• Handwriting without Tears.

So we did an addition review page and then a page on "S" -- writing them and then reading some words converted to plural by "S".

I think in future I will try this "pick your own workbooks" and then add in some choices for other things I want him to get to occasionally -- fun things I just never get around to initiating like piano play or drawing, etc.

Aidan

• worked with his word box and made a bunch of words.
• He also rode in the wheelchair to the post office with us.

About the PASS download volumes I linked to above. ... this is dry stuff in several ways, folks. It is basically online textbooks geared for high school students with special needs. Not really enough in itself, but I was floundering a bit without some sort of minimum or base from which to springboard. So I am testing these out on Kieron as a sort of review device, for now. They are dull and as CM said "stultifying" on their own, but they seem to be working OK in the context of all the other things we are reading. And they are standards-based, so I can find all kinds of online things to support them. If I had known about them last year I might have had Sean go through some of them last year to get him used to the high school mode of learning ;-) -- but maybe it's just as well we spent that year reading good books, since that is what his new mode of education lacks most right now.

Day 44

Today turned into a conference day. I'll still "count" it since Sean's school has one teacher's half-day each month, and I thought that was a good idea.

Morning Time

• read some of Legend of Sleepy Hollow (hard going with the little ones around)
• finished GKC's Lepanto
• read a bit more of Christ the King.

Independent

• I had Kieron make a breakfast menu (since he said he wanted to have one).
• Went outside
  
• Devised active games with siblings.
• Baking cookies
  

Aidan worked on the puzzle some more.

At the end of the term I usually try to make lists of ideas and plan things so that it's easier for me later on. So this is what I'm trying to do.

Day 43

Morning Time

• 2 chapters of The Blood Red Crescent -- we finished it!
• 2 more sections of Lepanto by GK Chesterton -- very quick stealth lessons on visual imagery and on background notations about some of the scenes in the poem.

Kieron's Monday Computer School

• Thatquiz.org -- dividing decimals
• An online geography game on identifying regions of the US -- this is in preparation for the next unit on pre-Columbian America.
• Weekly housekeeping jobs
• Went outside for a while.
  

Paddy and Aidan

• both played Starfall reading games for quite a while, notably the Dolch sight words matching game, which is good for visual memory AND word recognition.
• Cut up a hundreds chart with scissors (this is actually a good scissors game -- I cut it into strips by tens and then they cut the tens into ones.
• Both worked on an alphabet floor puzzle. Paddy did it once and Aidan has worked on it several times over the last couple of days.

Other Activities

• Paddy and I did some adding games. I wrote 2 sets of numbers from 1-5 on index cards, and then we each got two cards and had to add and see who got the biggest number.
• Then my two boys' (Kieron and Paddy) gaming instincts kicked in and they made a BUNCH of games. In one, we got two cards and had to arrange them so we got the biggest number possible (place value, comparisons). Then we tried it with 3 digits (Paddy didn't know much about numbers over 100 but he got exposed to the concept today). Then we played a few more games of that sort.
• Aidan and Kieron and Clare and I went to the library.
• Quite soon the OT is coming so there will be more activities then.

Last week I read a bunch of Catholic Treasure Box magazines to Paddy. Also, he is still into the Magic School Bus so we have read those a couple more times too.

This is review week (mostly for Kieron since the younger ones are mostly learning in bits and pieces anyway) and next week is for exams so sometime this week I want to start writing those out.

Day 43

We woke up to rain. The forest around us looks like it is melting in autumn colors -- cool grey-greens and delicate fiery tones of gold and orange-brown, set off by the grey sky.

It's Halloween, so today has been a bit different than usual. For one thing, Paddy is still in sugar-shock from yesterday's homeschool party. The kids wanted to be in the rain, so they were in and out all day. This, I count as part of the curriculum which really ought to include more out-of-doors time than it actually does.

• I read 2 chapters of The Blood Red Crescent to Kieron and Paddy.
• Then I read a bit of Chesterton's poem to Kieron.
• Then we looked for outdoors jackets -- haven't really needed to use them before this so they were buried deep. And they went outside a few times (Nature)
  
• Then I had him do math online -- review on order of operations.
• Then I assigned him a written exercise in Latin. He is groaning about it since we do most of it verbally under ordinary circumstances.

That's about it. On his own time he read a bio of St John Bosco (religion, reading).

This week I read Paddy a few science books which I forgot to mention before:

• Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats
• MSB and the Beehives
• MSB and Weather

Aidan half-listens to these too.

This week 11 will be review week. My project for this weekend is to figure out what and how to review.

Day 42 & Week's Wrap Up

Yesterday we really didn't do much academic stuff at all.

I had Kieron read this story that Liam recommended to me.

• Martian Odyssey
• We had a homeschool Halloween party in the afternoon.

I used a new form this week, so here is an incomplete summary of what we actually got done for Year 7:


You notice that record-keeping is a huge challenge for me. I never find something that works perfectly, and I have a tendency to get bored using the same method week after week.

I am going to try this one again next week, though, because I like being able to see at a glance the areas we did OK at and the weak areas as well..

Here is a blank form in doc.

Day 40

A Time to Review

I have started reviewing with Kieron. It was one of those decisions I started to implement before I even knew I had decided. I had been gathering review-type materials and so I just started handing them to him. I will try to pull together a sheet later on.

Anyway, he did:

• Latin -- finished Unit II
  
• Math -- chapter 7.3 of MEP Year 7.
  
• History -- review of the Renaissance
  
• Science -- review of Matter.
  
• English (grammar) -- started volume 1 of the KISS workbooks.
  
• Literature -- Shakespeare Stealer study guide -- used it as a kind of review/narration starter.
  

and we read five chapters of Shakespeare Stealer (got to an exciting part and couldn't stop).

He really seemed to enjoy the day, even though it was sort of "schooly". I have some thoughts about that but am still trying to decide on what the thoughts are ;-).

He has been doing a lot of writing recently and has been playing several RPG type games.

Comments:

• Paddy and Aidan listened to Shakespeare Stealer, too. I realized that Aidan has basically vaulted from toddler board books to chapter books. Not that he drinks in every syllable of the chapter books, but he does listen, and the funny thing is that he laughs with delight when he hears a familiar word or a cool new one. I don't know if he'll ever hit the intermediate picture book stage, but I'm feeling better about his literary progress now because I realize he doesn't have to comprehend in detail in order to get delight from books. Paddy really does follow the story line and even posed a discussion question -- what does Julian want? What does Nick want? What about Widge? Maybe I'm training a future literature professor ;-).
  
• I'm going to start saving the little ones' learning notes for the next day. My best logging time is at lunch time and I usually am more likely to work with the littlies in the afternoon. Plus, they often do informal things in the afternoon and evening that I "count" for their homeschool. Just writing this down to remind me.

Day 39

Kieron

• Thatquiz.org -- practice on multiplying with decimals
• Quizlet on the Renaissance
• Weekly housekeeping jobs

Paddy and Aidan

• Starfall -- long "a's"
• Occupational Therapy
• picked up toys upstairs
  

More About Exams

We're heading up towards the end of the first trimester, so I've started thinking about exams. Last year we did a bit of Charlotte Mason type exams, at least in the first term.

I went searching online back then for resources and examples, but a few new ones have shown up online since then:

The Tyranny of Exams -- not against CM, but against the "competitive exams" so prevalent nowadays. According to this very interesting blog post, CM wrote:

We absolutely must get rid of the competitive examination system if we would not be reduced to the appalling mediocrity which we see, in China, for example, to have befallen an examination-ridden empire.

CM believed that exams were supposed to be an opportunity for students to demonstrate what they knew, not be caught out in what they didn't.

Ambleside Online has updated their site quite extensively during this summer and has a Exam Project site with examples of CM exams for different age levels. It also has a list of Big Questions that CM tended to emphasize in her exams.

Simply Charlotte Mason has a blog on exams, too.

From the sample PNEU Exams for middle schoolers you find a lot of examples of quotes given and explanations asked for, such as this:

"The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men." Where and by whom was this said? What ancient story is referred to?

You also get lots of:

Describe
Explain
Give an account of....
What do you know of....?
Sketch...
Tell the story of...

and in language

Translate....
Parse...
Take from unstudied dictation...

In some ways, not unlike narration itself, except looking at a bigger picture.

Oddly enough, the verbs in the exams are quite similar to those in the public-school standards such as California's. Where I think they differ is that the CM exams referred to particulars and to specific books of literary quality, whereas the CA standards, for example, refer to general knowledge and often to abstract ideas. I think that CM expected students to read excellent works and dig out the meat for themselves, so to speak. Whereas many of the standard-based lesson plans I find online, at least, are like this, or this. There is a well-meant attempt to pull students in with references to their own experience and conventions, but I think CM would have thought this missed the point of a liberal education, designed to foster the ability to look past one's own time and frame of experience. And the modern standards seem to be designed towards teaching the child what to think about the events he reads about.

It SOUNDS nobler in a sense to say "Study the early strengths and lasting contributions of Rome" than to say "Give an account of Horatius at the bridge". But I fear that the student in the first mode will basically be taught to say what the teacher or the textbook says about "strengths" while the student who has read about Horatius and perhaps then read Macaulay's poem will understand the strengths in a much more lasting way.

I had planned to write down study questions for my Year 7 student as we went through the coursework this term, but it did not happen. Sigh.... anyway, I'll probably work on that in the next couple of weeks. Those verbs I isolated are helpful -- now I just have to relate them to objects. I have to admit I am finding the Standards useful in looking at the big picture in what we're doing. I'll try to write more about that some other time.

Exams are kind of humbling for me because they make me realize how much we haven't gotten to that I meant to. For example, Music and Art, and handwork. Nature Study has taken a back seat too. And by no means the amount of writing I had hoped to do, though I think he's gained some ground in mental idea formation by the discussions we've had.

Week 9 in Review

Summary of what Kieron did this week (gifs on left).

We did pretty well on History and on Shakespeare.

Didn't get to Latin or Greek very seriously.

Next week I'd like to spend a bit more time on Art and Music.

Day 38

This brings us to the end of Week 9--- we seem to maintaining the 4 days per week plus a couple type schedule.

Morning Time

• -- 3 chapters of Shakespeare Stealer
• a bit of Christ the King

Kieron

• Math -- patterns (multiples) -- chapter 7.1-7.3, including making formulas for patterns
• Studied the guide to the Shakespeare Stealer

Projects

• Photography (Clare)
• Made Toll House Cookies
• Sand Art project

Aidan

• Matched numbers

Paddy

• Magic Schoolbus and Weather
• Went outside
  

Day 37

Morning Time:

• 2 chapters of The Blood Red Gauntlet
• a bit of Christ the King, plus discussion

Time for the Bairns(I'm going to try to start having a preschool-type time for the younger ones -- a book and a simple lesson besides the 3Rs):

• Blueberries for Sal
• Sand painting (Paddy)
  

Kieron:

• Math -- chapter 6.3
• Latin -- conversatio, filling in the blanks
• Logic -- the relationship of contradiction

Assigned:

• The first part of Lesson V from Maps, Charts and Graphs
• A reading on the periodic table
• The first couple of scenes of Hamlet from Shakespeare for the Middle School by A Cullum.

Aidan

• Did a bit of math on the computer
• Starfall
• Wrote a couple more words.

Paddy

• Base Ten and a couple more games on the computer.
• Worked on Handwriting without Tears book -- C's.
• Read a bit from Word Mastery word charts
• Lesson VI (review) from Catholic National Primer

Notes:

• Let Kieron read the Shakespeare Stealer study guide.
• Look for an article about the Battle of Lepanto.
• Review/Quiz on Latin grammar.