Morning Time this term is, as usual, a mix of old and new: some things we’ve been doing for a while, and some new books we’ve just started, or will start later in the term.
Bible: We’ll continue memorizing Romans 6. For our devotional, we’re reading through Essential Truths of the Christian Faith by R. C. Sproul. I assign one of the Bible passages listed with each chapter to each of the four kids to read, so it’s Bible, theology, and reading practice all in one!
Hymns: I think we’ll be following the AmblesideOnline schedule for hymns, as that’s what the co-op choir has been doing, except for January’s selection which is not in our hymnal. Instead we’re singing Whate’er My God Ordains is Right.
French: We continue to practice our French action words and learn some fun songs with TalkBox.Mom. It’s a good way to add some movement to Morning Time, too. 🙂
Poetry: We have a few more sections of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats left to listen to. I’m not sure yet what we’ll do after that – maybe just read a poem from one of our poetry books. Miss A and Mr. E will continue to memorize their “Cats” chosen last term, and Mr. D is learning John Donne’s Death, be not proud. Mr. L has just started learning Ducks’ Ditty from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows (he practices during our one-on-one time).
Music Appreciation: I was wavering on what composer to do next, but seeing as we had a kind of intro to Purcell when we watched Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra the other day (it’s based on a theme written by him), I think we’ll just go ahead and use AO’s schedule. 😉 And of course we’ll continue to enjoy the Young People’s Concerts.
Picture Study: We’ve started reading a short bio of Norman Rockwell that I had. I’m not sure which of his paintings we’ll “study” yet – need to look at the books hubby picked up at the library…
Geography: We’re reading a 2-page spread from the new Window on the World each week.
Shakespeare: We have two more acts of Twelfth Night to read/listen to, and then we’ll move on to Julius Caesar.
Plutarch: I’m hoping to finish Julius Caesar by about mid-term, and then start Cicero (Demosthenes will have to wait until the fall 😉 ).
Picture Books: I’ve only chosen four books for our Fridays this term, as all of them will take two or more weeks to read.
- Arctic Stories by Michael Kusugak, illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka – this was a Christmas gift from my sister who recently spent three months in Nunavut near the Arctic Circle. 🙂
- William Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale adapted by Bruce Coville and illustrated by LeUyen Pham – I finally found this at a reasonable price a few months ago (it still seems pretty reasonable on Amazon, at least compared to what it was).
- Shaka: King of the Zulus by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema – I think I read this to Miss A years ago, but I don’t think any of the others have heard/read it. Diane Stanley’s picture biographies are always beautiful, and February is Black History Month, so it seemed a good choice for this term.
- Whitefoot: A Story from the Center of the World by Wendell Berry, illustrated by Davis Te Selle – did you know Berry wrote a children’s story? I’ve actually had it for a while and never read it to the kids, so it’s time to remedy that!
We’re using that Sproul book, too. Just added it this week 🙂