The snow is melting. So quickly, in fact, that we’ve had severe flooding in our area. Our basement flooded, but not as extensively as some of our neighbors. We’ve experienced a huge outpouring of love and concern from friends and neighbors over the past couple of weeks and we’ve felt so blessed. We’ve had people bring meals and many thoughtful friends just dropping in to check on us. Jason spent three full days battling to keep water out of the house. We’re back to mostly normal now and are working on replacing flooring and getting the house back in order.
After taking last week off, we’re back to the proverbial grindstone for another term of homeschooling. We are a dedicated Morning Time family. Each morning we gather around our big table in the school room and work on memory work, I read aloud from several books. Depending on the day they could included history, science and literature selections. Or all three on a good day. We also work on art and narration at this time.
Our Morning Time plans for this term include the following:
Memory Work
Hymn: Did You Think to Pray?
Scripture verses: Psalm 23
Poems: Caterpillar by Christina Rosetti (Ethan, 8)
I Love to Live by Hannah Cropper Ashby (Ellie, 12)
The Canyon is Calling by Hannah Cropper Ashby (me)
This term Ellie (12) and I are both memorizing poems that were written by my great-great grandmother, Hannah Cropper Ashby. Her book of published poems is one of the greatest treasures I possess and her words have often been a comfort and have eloquently expressed the feelings I was experiencing during difficult times. I’ve included the poems below so you may enjoy them as well.
The valley is seething with heat.
The young of the forest are roving again
in the depths of their mountain retreat.
Read Alouds
We’re currently reading The Unfinished Angel and Favorite Medieval Tales. Once we finish those books we’ll move on to the following. I’m hoping to read each of these over the next few weeks.
The Kite Fighters
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
We’re also working our way through the picture books on our Medieval History reading list.
Educational Games
Additional Resources
We’re loving the direction given in Drawing with Children We finished the Squilt Baroque Era music appreciation curriculum last term, and we’re on to drawing this term. I plan to keep things really simple. We follow along with the exercises in the book, doing two to three more formal lessons each week. But every day during our Read Aloud time, the kids spend time drawing. We either set up a still life on the table or they each choose a picture to use as inspiration and they draw while I read.
Super simple, but extremely effective. I can’t wait to see how their talents progress over this term.
Draw Europe, Draw Asia (and volume two) and Draw Africa is something my big kids look forward to every day. It’s a simple, fun introduction to European geography. (And, again, easy for Mama!)
