Saturday, October 28, 2006

Week of 10/24 or so

You know it's been a "lost" week when you don't even care to figure out what the date was on Monday.

Actually it wasn't so bad, just not very productive. J was sick and so we didn't get much done, academically. Progressed slightly in math, copywork, etc. The kids are really getting into those Spectrum test prep books; they ask to do those first every day. So some skill advancement happened. Not much.

We did a lot of reading - finished Peter Duck and got well into Pigeon Post, the next in the Swallows and Amazons series. Read the rest of Wings Like a Dove, about Queen Jeanne d'Albret of Navarre (Huguenot history), and a little nonfiction about her and Renee of Ferrara in Trial and Triumph. Started reading Stars, Mosquitos and Crocodiles: The American Travels of Alexander von Humboldt.

Once again I felt validation or vindication, or something for our homeschooling method of a little skill work, a lot of education. The settings of most of Peter Duck and some of Stars, Mosquitos... are the same place. Over and over I see these opportunities to make connections. This is the stuff of real learning. Yes, yes, learning to write and read and do sums is important, no denying that. But I can see these kids really learning when I am reading to them, or they are reading on their own (now that they know how to) and they can make connections about their world!

Today is Reformation Preparation day. Back to the sewing machine!

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