Poetry, History, and A Sprained Toe

I’ve been neglecting this blog lately. I feel like I’ve lost all sense of homeschooling rhythm. However, when I read my previous entry and reflect on what she’s done in the meantime, I see that we are chugging along albeit at a slower pace these days.

                Her poem for this week is Maya Angelou’s “Awaking in New York.”  She has copied it in cursive into her notebook.  The goal is for her to read it aloud a few times throughout this week.  She also did cursive copywork from Emily Dickinson’s poem “To Make a Prairie” last week which is a very short poem. 

                Seneca’s artist for this term is Henry Ossawa Tanner.  Here’s a link to the biography that she read on him. https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Ossawa-Tanner-Boyhood-Dream/dp/1593730926/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1523973307&sr=8-5&keywords=henry+ossawa+tanner

                For history, Seneca read Who Was Daniel Boone? from the Who Is/Was series.  She types her written narrations. I’m fine with her doing it this way because typing is a much-needed skill and this gives her good practice.  She prefers typing to writing.  Her Daniel Boone narration cracked me up. Here’s an excerpt of what she wrote: He built a coffin for himself because he knew he was going to go soon. He would also polish it (which is very weird) he kept it in his sons house, at age 84 he died his last words were quote “My time has come.” end quote. He even said before he died that he had very good naps in it.

 Joke time- can you imagine you knocked on some old guys door and you kept knocking then he finally answers and he says “Sorry I was late at coming to the door you see I’m old and my now life is really awful and you see I’m going to die soon and so I built a coffin for myself and I just was taking a nap in it.” 

Please note that I am very aware of the grammar mistakes. I’m sharing her original typed response.  These written narrations help me to gauge how well she is or is not applying grammar concepts.  It also helps her to just get into the habit of writing. 

Seneca continues to work on multiplication and three-digit addition and subtraction. 

Our big event here was that she was in a ballet production of The Wizard of Oz at the Opera House!  The show was amazing.  They brought in professional dancers to dance the roles of Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion, but all of the other roles were done by the students of the school.  It is so new that the choreographer (Vadim Fedetov) and the composer were both able to come take a bow at the end of the show.  Speaking of bows, Seneca missed the bow because she hurt her toe in the second dance that she did.  Everyone was so proud of her for holding it in on stage and not letting on that she was hurt.  Back stage the tears started, but seemed to subside.  It was when she got into my car that the floodgates opened.  I took her to the hospital for an x-ray. Nothing is broken, but she did perhaps sprain it so no dancing for a couple of weeks. 

Adding Geography to Our Line-Up

               We took a fairly long break for the holidays.  Seneca’s cousins were off of school, so she spent a lot of time with them.  Her big sister was also home from college, and they spent some extra time together with big sis even taking her out to lunch one day.  

                After the holidays, Seneca continued our American history theme by reading a biography of Sacagawea.  From this book, I chose out some passages for copywork and dictation.  We don’t do dictation on a regular basis, but I’m trying to include it more.   

                I write out multiplication for problems for Seneca to work on. The goal is to do a page each day, but that never does seem to happen. However, we have been on a pretty good roll lately. 

                Seneca also worked on a new poem, “My Heart Is in the Highlands” by Robert Burns.  After doing a reading each day, she copied a verse from the poem in cursive into her notebook.  The poem is four verses, so this was spread out over four days.  I also found an audio on YouTube of Prince Charles reading this poem, so that was a nice touch for her to enjoy.  She also listened to the poem set to music.

                Seneca’s older brother participated in a volunteer day at one of our local nature preserves. While he was working, we took the opportunity to go walking through the trails.  It was more of a physical education experience than nature study, but even just spending time in nature can be so beneficial – and we had a great time.

               I was looking over the subjects and reading lists at Ambleside Online which we use for some suggestions.   I realized that we hadn’t done much with geography lately. I looked at Ambleside’s book suggestion for this year and I didn’t find it very appealing. The book is online as it is in the public domain, but it just didn’t seem to have the information that I would have liked to see. So, I did a YouTube search and found a great intro to geography concepts video. Seneca has already learned the seven continents, directions, use of a compass, and done some map work.  The list of things to work on this year as suggested by Ambleside are landforms, bodies of water, island, peninsula, etc.  I like the idea of working on these concepts; I just didn’t like the book.  Anyhow, I found a great video and Seneca has been watching and even re-watching it.  For writing practice, I’m having Seneca write the names of the continents in cursive in alphabetical order.  This is the geography video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsqKTJtK_vw

First Day of Fifth Grade!

  Fifth grade homeschooling year has officially begun!

  For history, S read from Benjamin Franklin by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire.  I had some hesitation about her reading it because although it is not from a religious book publisher, it is clearly a Christian book.  Our homeschool is secular, but I don't want to exclude religion or there's also the argument for having religious (Judeo-Christian) knowledge as part of cultural competency.  The books itself was written in 1950 at a time when it was taken for granted that everyone in America was a Christian.  That, in and of itself, is a great teaching point.  For now, our approach is to be aware that this book was written by Christians for Christians and we will discuss those implications as they arise.  For example, S read about the Franklin family saying grace before a meal. That made no sense to her at all.  I had to explain that to say grace means to say a prayer.  She asked if using the word grace like this was an old-fashioned expression. I said it wasn't so much that it's old fashioned, but since we're not Christians we don't ever use this expression.    One old fashioned expression in the book that had her completely thrown was "knee high to a grasshopper."    "Huh?! What?! Okay, this book makes no sense."
        For science, I pulled a book off of one of our bookshelves that had been bought a little while back, but not used as much as I would have liked. It's a reference book on sharks from the Usborne publishing company.  It is definitely not a living book or a book that would meet Charlotte Mason criteria, but it's in our house, so we are using it.  It's a good book and very informative.  I just don't think it would be considered a Charlotte Mason book.  I think if we were to use it along with a book, such as a biography of shark scientist Eugenia Clark then it would lend itself to being more of a Charlotte Mason resource. For now, our book on Sharks will do for science reading.
     Our artist this term is Edmonia Lewis.

Seneca listened to the first ten minutes of lecture on Edmonia Lewis.  In the lecture, it says that her date of death is unknown. However, I looked up Lewis on her Wikipedia page and it gave a specific date of death. At this time, I don't know why there is such a discrepancy.  Here is link to the lecture that we are watching.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e74ImAzS38  We will continue watching the rest of the lecture next week.
     Ballet is back!   Ballet is three days a week for two hours per day.  She will also have jazz class one day a week, pointe class, and Russian character dance class.  This means four pairs of dance shoes! We have two - ballet and pointe.  In fact, we had to stop at Payless (which has amazing deals on ladies shoes at the moment) and buy a new pair of ballet shoes.
    Our poet this term is Joyce Kilmer. His poem "Trees" is Seneca's favorite poem.  I read aloud some general information about Kilmer.  He was killed in World War I. I told Seneca that this was the war in the movie "Wonder Woman." Her response, "Wait. That was World War I?  That couldn't be because in the movie Steve said that that was the war to end all wars, but then there was World War II."    I couldn't believe that she had remembered that line.  We had a discussion about how there really was a saying that World War I was to be the war that would end all wars.    
    As to the poem itself, S read it aloud five times and almost has it memorized.  We'll aim for a daily reading of the poem.  She is the one who wanted to keep reading it over and over again.  I only asked for two readings.
  I'm going to jump in here and mention our use of technology in our lessons.  On the one hand, I don't want us to become dependent on screens for learning, but they can be a huge money-saver.  We will look at pictures of Lewis's sculptures and access Kilmer's poems online.  We also are listening to the lecture on Edmonia Lewis because it has been posted online.  Free online material is also a time-saver.
   We really should have done some math, but we were too exhausted.  Not only is ballet a two hour class, but it's a forty-five minute drive from our house when the traffic is good.

Human Rights/Social Change: Why Isn't This a Required Course?

Human Rights/Social Change 

            I cannot understand how schools can require a credit for PE and not require a credit in Human Rights.  It's hard for me to even form an argument for such a thing because in my mind it goes without saying.  

Y's study of human rights and social change consisted of discussions and research of the events of The Peasants’ Revolt, the massacre at Wounded Knee, the Trail of Tears, the Armenian genocide of ,the Jewish genocide of World War II, the genocide in Cambodia, the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian/Serbian conflict, the Civil Rights Movement including the murder of the civil rights workers in Mississippi, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the murder of Emmett Till,  the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, and the founding and effects of Amnesty International. I recommend going directly to AI's website for more information and for ways to get involved in human rights.

Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction by Andrew Clapham,

Night by Elie Wiesel

Left To Tell by Immaculee Ilibigiza

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Y used various online sources to study the events listed above.

Some recommended movies:

"The Killing Fields" (Cambodian genocide)

"Hotel Rwanda" (Rwandan genocide)


For more information on human rights or to become involved, please visit: https://www.amnesty.org/en/

High School History Suggestions

The Prince by Machiavelli; *Ancient Rome by Charles Kovacs; *The Age of Exploration by Charles Kovacs; The Age of Revolution by Charles Kovacs; The Yorkist Age by Paul Murray Kennedy ; Mary Tudor: A Life by David Loades; The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman; The Lady in The Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir

*A note on Kovacs: His books are designed for Waldorf students in seventh and eighth grades.  It's more of a teacher's reference, but it does have a lot of good information on parts of European history that are not often covered in American schools. Be aware of some religious imagery.

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn;
 Letters between the Founding Fathers;
 “The Reynolds Pamphlet” by Alexander Hamilton; Martha Washington: A Life by Patricia Brady; Our Country’s Presidents by Ann Bausum

“The Battle Of Marathon” in The Histories by Herodotus

“The Battle of Thermopylae” in The Histories by Herodotus

 “Pericles’ Funeral Oration” in The Peloponnesian War by Eurcydides

“The Plague and Plague Speech by Pericles” in The Peloponnesian War by Eurcydides

“Melian Dialogue” in The Peloponnesian War by Eurcydides

Julius Caesar and Roman Britain by Walter Du La Garde

“Cincinnatus” in Famous Men of Rome

“Emperor Nero” in Famous Men of Rome

Plutarch’s “Life of Themistocles”

Plutarch’s “Life of Alexander The Great”

Plutarch’s “Life of Julius Caesar”

“The Art of War and Sun Tzu” Documentary

“The First Emperor of China” Documentary

“Ancient Athens and The Golden Age of Greece” Documentary

“The True Story of Hannibal” Documentary

The Byzantine Empire by Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst (booklet 48 pages)

The Life of Charlemagne by Eginhard

William Malmesbury’s Account of The Battle of Hastings 1066

“The House of Normandy” in British Kings and Queens – covers William the Conqueror, Civil War between Stephen and Matilda, and the rise of Henry II

Henry II and Thomas Beckett by Walter Du La Garde

“The Magna Charta” http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/magna-carta-english-translation

“Magna Charta In Context” by Claire Breay and Julian Harrison

 “The 95 Theses” by Martin Luther http://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html

“The Transatlantic Slave Trade” article from UNESCO

“The Slave Route” UNESCO

Maps of the Slave Route UNESCO

“The Transatlantic Slave Trade” http://www.inmotionaame.org/print.cfm;jsessionid=f8302320431476677508560?migration=1&bhcp=1

Documentaries:
D: Killer Queens: Queen Isabella of England (Isabella of France)
D: Killer Queens: Queen Matilda (Empress Matilda) D: She Wolves: England's Queens, Isabella [of France] and Margaret [of Anjou]D: The Medici: Godfathers of The Renaissance: Episodes 1-4 by PBSD: Kings and Queens of England: Episode 1: The NormansD: Kings and Queens of England: Episode 2: Middle AgesD: Kings and Queens of England: Episode 3: Tudors D: Kings and Queens of England: Episode 4: StuartsD: Kings and Queens of England: Episode: 5: GeorgiansD: Kings and Queens of England: Episode 6: ModernsD: Reconstructing Richard III's Face

Articles:A: TWOTR: The Battle of Mortimers Cross (www.mortimerscross.co.uk/history.htm)
A: Royalty and Daughters: The Lives of Isobel and Anne Neville by Wendy Zolo (www.triviumpublishing.com/articles/daughters1.html)
A: Marriage and The Neville's: A Brief Overview by Karen Clark (nevillfeast.wordpress.com)
A: Marriage and The Neville's: Richard III & Anne Neville by Karen Clark (nevillfeast.wordpress.com)
A: Marriage and The Neville's: George, Duke of Clarence and Isabel Neville by Karen Clark (nevillfeast.wordpress.com)
A: Theodora (Byzantine Empress) by Encyclopedia Britannia
D: The War of The Roses: A Bloody Crown (2011)
Show: Horrible Histories (BBC) 

Third Grade Social Studies

Social Studies

Story of the World Volume I Chapters 27-42

The First Americans by Kathryn Ernst (We only covered the sections on pre-Columbian history.)

Hatshepsut: His Majesty, Herself by Catherine Andronik

Buddha by Demi

Cleopatra by Diane Stanley

Meet Jesus: The Life and Lessons of a Beloved Teacher by Lynn Tuttle Gunney

We also checked out a couple of books on Julius Caesar from the library and read excerpts from those.

Cartoon:  “Joseph”

Animated film on Confucius

-Living History at DeSoto National Park Feb. 19,  2016

Using Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geogrpahy, Seneca learned about the axis, the equator, latitude, longitude, the Greenwich clock, and maps.

She also worked on the names of the seven continents.

She reviewed the uses of a compass.

Fourth Grade History

History

The Story of the World Volume 2 by Susan Wise Bauer

Who Was Joan of Arc? (read by Seneca)

Who Was Marco Polo? (read by Seneca)

We also read excerpts from the book Henry II and Thomas Beckett.  We also used the book for reading lessons including vocabulary words, use of a semi-colon, and capitalization of proper nouns. 

The Middle Ages were the focus of this year’s history lessons.  After each lesson, Seneca would narrate back to me what she had learned from the lesson.

Movie: “Ivanhoe” (1982)