Getting back into the school routine after a break is always difficult, and perhaps even more so when you have the post-Christmas/winter blues. But there were some scholé-moments this week to encourage my heart.
Scholé of Intent: One of the new things we’re trying this term is a bi-weekly meeting with my friend Dawn and her kids to draw in our nature journals and/or take a nature walk. Today we went to their house and they shared some of their nature treasures with us to look over and draw, including some items that had been sent to them through the Nature Pal Exchange last fall. Hopefully having a set time and doing it with friends will help us make nature study happen more often.
(The leaves on my page (upper left) were drawn in the fall, but I forgot to date them. And yes, I do wish E wouldn’t scribble over drawings he isn’t happy about in his nature journal – we’ll have to work on that…)
Scholé of Method: Mr. D, Miss A, and I are all reading the Iliad over the next two terms, one book a week. We’ll meet to discuss it on Friday or Saturday of each week, using the Circe Institute’s The Space Between: A Guide to Homer’s Iliad.
I was a bit apprehensive about how it would go, but we had a great first meeting yesterday! We each have our own copy of the Iliad, but just one study guide which I write in – besides the price, I didn’t want having to write the answers to put a damper on discussion, especially in the case of Mr. D. I probably will have Miss A incorporate the Iliad into her writing assignments as we get into The Lost Tools of Writing (another thing we started this week!). My favorite part was Mr. D’s creative title for Book One, quoting his favorite line: Instantly Your Own Black Blood Will Stain My Spearpoint. If he likes that line, there sure are a lot more like it to come! 😀
Scholé of Practice: Mr. E caught the baking bug this week, and really wanted to make something. We had no yeast or baking soda, but I remembered an easy recipe for biscuits which used baking powder, so he happily made some (with assistance) to go with our soup the other night. 🙂
I loved Mr. D’s fave title for Book 1! Such a great line.