Mt. Hope Academy 2011 ~ Weeks 20, 21, and 22

It’s Not About You by David Brooks at The New York Times

I found several gems in this short opinion piece. Go read it.

No one would design a system of extreme supervision to prepare people for a decade of extreme openness. But this is exactly what has emerged in modern America.

And:

Most successful young people don’t look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life.

And:

The graduates are also told to pursue happiness and joy. But, of course, when you read a biography of someone you admire, it’s rarely the things that made them happy that compel your admiration. It’s the things they did to court unhappiness — the things they did that were arduous and miserable, which sometimes cost them friends and aroused hatred. It’s excellence, not happiness, that we admire most.

And, then:

Today’s grads enter a cultural climate that preaches the self as the center of a life. But, of course, as they age, they’ll discover that the tasks of a life are at the center. Fulfillment is a byproduct of how people engage their tasks, and can’t be pursued directly.

Which reminded me of this quote I shared back in January:

"If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi desert. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator. He will not be striving for it as a goal in itself. He will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living life twenty-four crowded hours of the day."  ~W. Beran Wolfe

 

We didn’t do “much” in the way of focused academics these past few weeks, but I would say that we definitely have become aware that we are happy in the course of living life twenty-four crowded hours of the day.

Faith:
Bible Memory:
Sing the Word From A to Z (reviewed verses)
Levi: Day by Day Kid's Bible
Luke: The Action Bible
Hymns For a Kid's Heart (Praise to the Lord, The Almighty)
(Luke: weekly hymns on piano)
[patriotic hymns/songs (CDs)]

Math:
Teaching Textbooks or  Singapore workbooks daily

Science:
Inside Your Outside! All About the Human Body by Tish Rabe
Various science-related DVDs

P.E.:
Swim team practice (3x weekly for Levi) and a morning swim camp
Family swim night
Outside play/Park play with friends
Gym time with friends

Fine Arts:
The Importance of Emily Dickinson by Bradley Steffens (Levi)
Piano practice/lessons (Luke)
The Story of the Orchestra: Wagner by Robert Levine
Bravo! Brava! A Night at the Opera by Anne Siberell

Language Arts:
IEW Poetry Memorization (poems #11,12)
Handwriting Without Tears workbooks

Latin:
Song School Latin (review @ Headventure Land)

History:
CC Veritas History Timeline Cards (solidifying memorization, Creation-Pompeii)

Literature:
Dickens: His Work and His World by Michael Rosen (biography, Levi)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (unabridged, Levi)
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott (unabridged, Levi read about half and decided he didn’t want to finish it)
Little Women (Classic Starts) Retold from the Louisa May Alcott original (Luke read most of it, anyway)
Little Women (Eyewitness Classics) (The classic story, plus fascinating background facts and photographs)
Invincible Louisa: The story of the author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs (biography, Levi)
Louisa May & Mr. Thoreau’s Flute by Julie Dunlap and Marybeth Lorbiecki
Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (DVD)

Additional Reading:
Luke:
Snakes and Other Reptiles by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce
Pirates by Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne
Digory the Dragon Slayer by Angela McAllister
Digory and the Lost King by Angela McAllister
The Time Warp Trio: Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka
The Time Warp Trio: The Not So Jolly Roger by Jon Scieszka
The Time Warp Trio: The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy by Jon Scieszka
You Wouldn’t Want to Be Sick in the 16th Century by Kathryn Senior
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great by Gerald Morris
The Adventures of Sir Givret the Short by Gerald Morris
And a bunch of Magic Tree House Books
Levi:
The Copper Treasure by Melvin Burgess
Young Fredle by Cynthia Voigt
Bless This Mouse by Lois Lowry
The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Plus a huge stack of other books which I haven’t kept track of….

EXTRAS:
Three full days of learning camps for all three boys:
(Levi: Trig, Luke: Geo Drawing, Leif: Fine Arts/crafts)
Homeschooling Practicum (three days) for me (wahoooo!)
Math Monday at the park with friends
Library visits
A trip to the beach with family
A birthday party for Luke (with friends)
Park play with friends
A visit from out-of-town friends
Children’s Museum (outdoor play with friends)
Visited a swim meet (and friends…)
Fishing with friends (Luke)
Birthday party for a friend at the carousel

(P.S. Please don’t tell me homeschoolers aren’t socialized…)

(P.P.S. And now we’re all sick and spending the day in bed. Fun times.)