Plots and Plans #2

HISTORY:

Looking back at this past year, I am somewhat overwhelmed by what we were able to accomplish! I have an abundance of favorite resources. A Pioneer Sampler (including the Thanksgiving and Christmas versions) with the stories, projects, and crafts probably tops the list. Levi has listened to 12 hours of radio theater style stories of our American heritage--Columbus, the Pilgrims, Benjamin Franklin, Yellow Fever, Booker T. Washington, the Man Without a Country and so much more. These CDs will be found often in our CD player.

The Renaissance Faire was a bit out of sync with our other studies, but we had a marvelous time and look forward to attending again. Levi also enjoyed a Civil War Re-enactment with his Dad, and hopefully the whole family will be able to go along next summer.

Come January, we will be leaving American history behind and entering the world of the Ancients. I'm venturing into unfamiliar teritory here, but I'm feeling confident with The Story of the World (and activity guide). I have a large collection of books about Egypt, Rome, Greece, and China, as well as a towering stack of books my sister loaned me now that they have moved on to the Medieval time period.


LITERATURE:

Levi and I have snuggled up on the couch to read many chapter books together this past year (all listed on my side bar). Our read-aloud time is treasured. I have numerous fiction books I'd like to read together this next year (I'll post them later with my to-read list for 2008), but we are really bumping up the amount of history related literature so we'll see what we have time for.

A pleasant surprise came in the shape of Shakespeare plays. Levi and I attended five this past year, and we will be heading back for at least three in the coming year. We read the abridged stories before watching each play and have viewed a couple movie versions, which we will continue to do in the future.

My list of history-related literature seems overwhelming when I glance at it. We will just take it one book at a time. I have abridged versions of the Iliad, Odyssey, and The Aeneid in addition to wonderful books of Greek Myths and fiction stories such as Detectives In Togas, The Bronze Bow, and The Cat of Bubastes.

As always, Levi will be listening to many stories on CD.


SCIENCE:

I've talked about our relaxed approach to science before, but at some point we'll be stepping it up. The boys are receiving microscopes for Christmas, and Russ and I will be covering plants, animals, and the human body (basic biology) in the coming months. Russ will be doing more experiments from More Mudpies to Magnets with the boys. We'll be reading and observing and watching science programs such as Planet Earth.


MEMORY WORK:

This past year we have covered seasons, days of the week, months of the year, phone number, address, parents' names, and other basics.

We memorize poems for each season and many of the holidays.

We memorize 'character' poems such as Try, Try Again and True Nobility.

We memorize Bible verses and prayers (I'll cover that in a little more detail under Bible.)

Much of the memory work we do this next year will be related to other studies such as history or grammar.