Monday, March 24, 2008

School today

Just a recap of todays fun.  I'll work backwards starting with my 6 yo, then my 8 yo and ending with a snippet from my 10 yo.  She hasn't narrated anything to me yet. 

A run down on R's school today:
We finished Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling and learned about the plaza and the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.  I told R. that she has been there before.  She was only 2, so she doesn't remember being there.  Here's proof that she actually was at the plaza in Santa Fe, Nov. 2002.


R is sitting on Daddio's lap.  I'm pregnant w/ #4 and not enjoying much of this trip.

We also read about heroic Grace Darling who helped rescue sailors who were shipwrecked off the shores of the Farne Islands.  It's an amazing, true story which you can read about here.




 





We also learned about the Saxons defeating the Britons and causing them to retreat to the mountains of present day Wales and Cornwall.  Today, the  citizens of Wales and Cornwall are descendents of the ancient Briton's and their language is very similar to what was spoken by the Briton's of long ago.  With the overthrow of the Saxons, many changes were made.  First, the name of Britain was changed to Land of the Angles or Angleland, which became England.  The land was divided into 7 Kingdoms, each with their own ruler.  The Kingdoms were continually fighting against each other.  The Saxon's were also pagans.  They torn down the church's and killed the priests.  It was many years before England would embrace Christianity again.
Gregory, a Bishop of Rome, had longed to go to England to teach the people about Christianity for years.  He was not able to go himself, so he sent Augustine to go and spread the word.  Augustine was welcomed by the Saxons and eventually every kingdom embraced Christianity again.

We also learned about Woodpeckers and how they sometimes drum for fun.



A's school day recap:
We learned about the Pilgrim Fathers arriving at Plymouth and how the members of the friendly Indian tribes, namely Chief Massasoit, Samoset and Squanto, helped the pilgrims survive.

We also finished Diane Stanley's book Shakespeare Bard of England today where we learned how some people find it hard to believe a person with such a limited education could have written the such incredibly intelligent plays.  They thought that nobles and scholars and maybe even the Queen herself, were the ones who actually penned these plays.  However, those people are in the minority.  Most who have studied Shakespeare and his life believe that he is the true author of these plays.

We learned about one of the greatest inventions of all times and the man behind the invention, Guttenberg and the printing press.  What an amazing tale these inventors have.  To hold on to a dream at the expense of losing everything, including family and friends, and to come out the other end with an invention that is still impacting us today.  Guttenberg was no exception.  He worked hard, toiling long hours, forsaking everything else to come up with the printing press.  That invention revolutionized the world by putting books into common peoples hands.

Lastly, we visited with the Beverly family in our story, Children of the New Forest.  Edward Beverly has gone off, with the intendents blessings, to join with the Kings Army.  Along the way he has met with a man who served under his father.  The two men are excited to meet each others acquaintance and are eagerly anticipating joining the fighting to win back the rightful title and position of King James.

For E.  Her narrations will come tomorrow.  However, we do have some new vocabulary words:
birstle and brae

Anyone want to take a stab at the meanings, without looking up the definitions in a dictionary.  I'll give you the source of the words and the sentence where they were used.

They were found in Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped. 
birstle:  'Lie here,' says he, 'and birstle'.
brae:  Having thus set folks' minds a rest, we came down the brae, and were met at the yard gate (for this place was like a well-doing farm) by a tall, handsome man of more than fifty, who cried out to Alan in the Gaelic.

If you have an answer, make sure to leave it in the comments.



2 comments:

Jen U said...

Loved hearing about your school time Linda. Please keep posting about your school stuff.


Here's my guess on the words...

brae- road?

bristle- rest? or keep quiet?


I love that old picture of you guys too! GREAT picture!

Starlady said...

Good guesses Jen but nope. Neither are correct. :)


Any other guesses? :)