School today

I rarely post about an actual school day here on homeschool blogger.  It's not because we don't do school, it's because I can't imagine anyone really wants to hear about our school day!   I enjoy reading some blogs that give details of their day, we're just not that exciting over here.

However, in the interest of trying to preserve some type of memory of us working together, I will try to journal what we did today.  We actually accomplished quite a bit of work, which makes this a good day to journal.

E. age 10 I read to her from This Country of Ours.  We discovered King William's War and Queen Anne's War together.  I, personally, can not remember what we read about that war.      E does a much better job at narration than I do! 

I also read to her from George Washington's World where we learned about Phillis Wheatley and her incredible poetry that amazed all who read it.  We celebrated w/ the marriage of George and Martha Washington as well as the marriage of King, George the III and Princess Charlotte.   We dreamed alongside a young Thomas Jefferson as he imagined his home on top of the mountain.  We went to college with him where he learned about & became entranced with Roman Architecture which influence can be seen on his "Home on top of the Mountain", Monticello, as well as the University of Virginia, the university he helped design.  I shared with E. about the year Daddio and I spent in Charlottesville and Daddio at UVA in particular.  I'll have to share our photos with her tomorrow.  We also saw the end to the bloody Seven Years War, where in the end, nothing was really gained or loss except for human life.   We also learned alongside Goethe as he discovers the complexities of humans.  How can someone be good and bad?  How can someone have the right idea's and yet be wrong?  We discovered how Goethe was able to learn and come to see two sides of an issue and to hope to not be as quick to judge in the future until he has a chance to view both sides of an issue.

We also read from Abigail Adams:  Witness to a Revolution.  We struggled alongside Abigail from her long absence from her beloved John as he left their home in MA to travel to Philadelphia to be part of the First Continental Congress.  What a love story these two have.

E. also read a couple of chapters from Kidnapped, a book she says she really likes and I keep forgetting to have her narrate to me.  oops!  Perhaps this would be a good book for her to narrate in pen and paint.

We also read the second chapter in our George Washington Carver book for Beyond Five in a Row.  Todays lessons centered around Science and nature.  Her writing lessons entailed going outside and observing the trees in our yard.  She was to identify the tree, feel the bark, describe what she feels, draw a picture of the tree and make a charcoal rubbing of the bark.  She also needed to write a paper on what interests her in science or nature.  She naturally picked fish.   Her paper was lacking, well, anything that would make it a writing assignment.  I told her she has a nice outline going, tomorrow we'll work on turning it into an actual paper.  *sigh*

I won't bore you more with details of math, handwriting and grammar.

A. age 8 we read from An Island Story about how King Charles the first was killed.  Depending on what side of the fence you stand on would determine if you called his death murder or justice. 

We finished up our book about John Bunyan's life, John Bunyan, TheTinker of Bedford by William Deal  .  I really enjoyed this book.  It was a nice departure from reading Pilgrims Progress, again. LOL 

In This Country of Ours. we struggled alongside the early Virginia settlers as Powhattan died and the peace that everyone enjoyed ended with a bloody deception and massacre.   We also learned how women were introduced to the colonies.  For 150 british pounds, you could get yourself a nice wife fresh from the Motherland, with a strong reminder they were not their to be your servants!  

We also continued along w/ the Beverly children in Children of the New Forest as they continue to live their lives as Children of the forest rather than the aristocracy that they really are during the turbulent years of fighting between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers. 

R. 6 learned the story of Geoge Washington and his hatchet.  Although, probably a fictional story, it is a nice story to remind us all to tell the truth.  

We learned how armadillos came into existence from the non-scientific but always entertaining Rudyard Kipling's, Just So Stories.  Did you know that an armadillo is really just a hedgehog that learned to swim and a turtle that loosened up his plates so he could curl up in a ball?  It's true o' best beloved, just ask Sir Kipling.  

We also continued on our adventures of the Westward expansion through Holling's Tree in the Trail.  We learned of the death of the great Cottonwood tree along the Sante Fe trail.  The tree that stood for centuries and saw war, peace, buffalo's, indian tribes and wagon trains has finally succumbed to age.  A tornado ripped the tree in two leaving nothing but a tangled mess.  We learned how one scout, who loves the tree, has plans to turn it into a yoke for his oxen. 

We saved R.'s favorite book for last, Aesop's Fables .  Todays tales were, The Fox and the Stork and The Travelers and the Sea.  She enjoys trying to figure out the moral of the tale.

A. R. S and E. all enjoyed listening to our FIAR book, Andy and the Circus by Ellis Credle.  How they all laughed as Andy added more and more to his already precarious load attempting to get to the circus before the big top goes up.  This book is an old one and is very hard to find.  I was able to find a copy that wasn't too crazily priced and with the blessings of Daddio, purchase it.  We all really enjoyed this story.   We did a few Social Studies lessons today with the book talking about family relationships and having a happy and willing heart to help others.  We also talked about how the story was set in a time between manual labor and machine labor.  We discussed how both the old and the new have good points and negative points.  I also asked the girls if they would enjoy riding their bike every morning to the store for a fresh block of ice.  Neither of them thought that was something they'd want to do every day.

Along with piano lessons this morning, some chores and lots of time outside in our beautiful winter weather that pretty much sums up our day.

We had homemade chicken soup for dinner w/ an accompaniment of smoked salmon, monk cheese and crackers for an appetizer (daddio's favorite), 4 loads of laundry washed, dried and put away and all the kids now snuggly tucked into bed.  I think it's time to call it a day.

Oh, before I leave off for the night, I have to share one other thing we did today.  We made Green Smoothies!  The kids absolutely love them, which not only surprises me but makes me very happy. 

Look at those happy faces!

J. age 2 saying "yummy!"

This smoothie was made from a bunch of kale and some spinach, that's the "green".  I also added two banana's and orange some non-fat Vanilla yogurt (this is the plain stuff, no sugar added) and a bunch of frozen strawberries.  I can't tell you how many strawberries I added.  I kept adding them until the taste of Kale wasn't quite so strong.   It took more to sweeten Kale than it has for straight spinach or the other green we juiced.  I can't remember the name of it right now! LOL  The kids love their smoothies, I not only feel good about giving them this "treat" knowing they are getting their green veggies (and fruit) for the day but I'm also able to use up all the greens we previously wasted through our CSA.  It's a win-win situation all the way around.