Thanksgiving ~ Sweet Lola

Thanksgiving ~ Dinner

Ivy dressed up as a Pilgrim last year, so she thought she’d represent the Native Americans this year.

Ivy is Leif’s best friend. He adores her and they play so well together. We had a nice-ish day on Thanksgiving after days of rain, so the kids played and played outside all day (even into the dark).

Casey made our turkey on his Traeger grill. YUM!!

My Loves

I have tons of pictures to post, but I’ve been enjoying some lazy family time. Until I get a chance to finish my editing and posting, here are my big love and my little love.

Doesn’t this smile just brighten your day?! It sure does mine! I hope you are all having a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!

Sneak Peek (Shannon + Ben)

The beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be…

(HT: Raising Real Men)

Advent

Handel's Messiah Family Advent Reader

I thought I’d take a moment to share my most favorite Advent reader before the season begins. This lovely book has 28 readings for the month of Advent, all tied to Handel’s Messiah. If anyone read my post about ‘spaghetti education,’ this book is a perfect example!

We read about Handel’s Messiah, the Dead Sea Scrolls, “The Gift of the Magi,” Christmas during WWII, frankincense trees, goldsmiths, artwork of Mary and baby Jesus, the Puritans, the study of light, swaddling clothes, the dating of Christmas, the history of carols, Anna and Simeon, Charles Dickens, shepherds, the Saami (“the reindeer people” in Lapland), Moravians, the story of “Silent Night,” "the Christmas tree” in western Colorado, the significance of a lamb, and more—accompanied by selections of fine art by Rembrandt and others.

The book includes a “Read More About It” section with details, definitions, related Bible passages, and activity suggestions. It also includes a CD of scheduled selections from Handel’s Messiah.

Highly recommended.

Taking a Breath (of Fresh Air)

The past week has been crazy busy, and I’m finally getting a day to breathe (and begin to dig my way out of the avalanche of mess I’m buried in). The boys had a change in schedule for their swim practices, and I’ve had a rough time adjusting. Wednesday was Russ’s birthday. Leif’s tutor invited us all over Thursday for a nature hike/hot chocolate party so the kids could start on their nature journals. Friday and Saturday were completely consumed by a huge baby shower I threw for my sister with a tremendous amount of help from an awesome crew of friends and family. (Pictures to come, of course.)

My mom was gone for a couple weeks spending time with my grandma who began chemo treatments for cancer (just as grandpa was beginning to feel better). I was glad my mom was able to make the trip, but I sure did miss her! I realized just how much I depend on her. Mondays were a little challenging (but my best friend, Char, stepped in to rescue me). And getting ready for a big party was challenging, especially when I didn’t have the queen event-planner (Shannon) on my team! Mom arrived home in the late afternoon on Friday—just in time to help us set up for the shower. (Russ spent a couple days being a single parent…)

I was exhausted by Sunday (and my house was a disaster), but I worked in the nursery at church in the morning and then we had a late night out with friends. Monday is our busiest day of the week with Classical Conversations, but it is tougher when we aren’t prepared and we’ve all had a little less sleep than we need. (And what a nasty, drenched, dark, blustery Monday it was!!)

So I slept in this morning. And then made a late breakfast of waffles and whipped cream. And then began the little by little process of putting the house back into some semblance of order (forget clean and lovely, I’ll settle for a few bare surfaces). Tackling the towers of dishes and dirty clothes. The bins and boxes of party stuff. The piles of papers. Bleh. And it is still nasty outside.

I’m in denial that Thanksgiving is in two days, kick-starting the blur through the holidays. I’m praying we find some time to sit and savor the season of advent.

Are you all ready for the Christmas season?

To Form Their Souls by Memory

::  Anthony Esolen in the Foreword of Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education by Stratford Caldecott:

“But more than that, we would desire to bring children into the garden of created being, and thought, and expression. Caldecott reminds us that for the medieval schoolmen, as for Plato, education was essentially musical, an education in the cosmos or lovely order that surrounds us and bears us up. Thus when we teach our youngest children by means of rhymes and songs, we do so not merely because rhymes and songs are actually effective mnemonic devices. We do so because we wish to form their souls by memory: we wish to bring them up as rememberers, as persons, born, as Caldecott points out, in certain localities, among certain people, who bear a certain history, and who claim our love and loyalty.

The memory, too, gives the child both the strength and the armor he needs for what comes next, and that is thought itself—strength to search for truth, and armor against easy and plausible falsehoods.”

Mt. Hope Academy Curricula ~ The Simplicity Version

For a variety of reasons, parents may wish for a rigorous core curriculum that is time-efficient and straightforward to implement. Possibly the integration of subjects (and exposure to more content material) will occur in travel, field-trips, child-led interests, wide-spread reading, and/or various hands-on activities. I personally believe it is wise to have a specific plan and method for the teaching of core skills, but the introduction to content can happen in many ways, particularly in the grammar stage.

Following are my top core skill curricula picks for elementary students:

:: Handwriting Without Tears—This is a solid handwriting program that works particularly well for children who struggle with handwriting. I’ve used Handwriting Without Tears for all three of my boys with great success. The workbooks make HWT easy to implement. The program begins with pre-writing instruction (my boys loved the wooden shapes and chalkboard) and goes through cursive instruction in late elementary.

:: All About Reading/ All About Spelling—I have a love-affair with All About Spelling (so much so that I signed up to be an affiliate). It is more teacher-intensive than some other spelling programs, but I believe so strongly in a solid grounding in phonics as well as the multi-sensory, mastery-based approach approach of AAS that it is my top recommendation. We are heading into level four, and I have nothing but praise for this program. All About Spelling instruction includes the memorization of phonograms and spelling rules as well as dictation of phrases and sentences and writing exercises. While there are many components to the program, the teacher’s manual is well-organized, clear, lightly scripted, and extremely easy to use—just open and go. A parent needs no additional instruction in the All About Spelling method. Lessons take just 15-20 minutes daily and can be customized for each child’s needs. There are seven levels to complete spelling instruction in the middle grades; the final level includes Latin and Greek roots.

I’ve approached reading instruction in various ways with my boys. If I feel the need to use a phonics program for Lola beyond my basic recommendations for the LeapFrog Letter and Word Factory DVDs and the incremental phonics readers by Nora Gaydos, I will be purchasing All About Reading. All About Spelling, however, may be all the formal phonics instruction needed. We’ll play it by ear. 

 
:: First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind—Written by Jessie Wise, co-author of The Well-Trained Mind, First Language Lessons is a comprehensive yet gentle introduction to language arts for the elementary student. The program is simple to use and open-and-go. It is fully scripted for the parent who appreciates the hand-holding but can be easily customized for the parent who wishes to have a more natural dialogue with the student. First Language Lessons includes copywork (and later dictation), narration, memory work (in both English grammar and poetry selections), English grammar instruction, and picture study. The lessons are quite short and include a great deal of repetition for reinforcement and review (which can be easily skipped for the child who quickly grasps the memory work). Four levels are available for elementary students.

:: The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease—Susan Wise Bauer makes writing instruction accessible for both parent and student. Bauer provides excerpts from excellent literature and non-fiction selections for narration and dictation material. The textbook gives a broad scope and sequence and how-to for grades 1-4, but the workbooks are invaluable for the time and effort they save the parent. Each workbook is a stand-alone program with parent instruction, literature passages, and workbook pages for the student. The overall text is great for understanding the big picture, but it is certainly not mandatory. My boys have loved the literature passages. Some are selections from books we have already read, and many selections have caused my boys to request the book for free-reading. Some parents may prefer to plan to schedule the books as read-alouds or assigned reading, rather than simply reading excerpts and moving on.

Parents using First Language Lessons for early elementary may find Writing With Ease to be redundant (particularly if doing the dictation with All About Spelling as well), but I would highly recommend the workbooks for upper elementary. The series continues in the middle grades with The Complete Writer: Writing With Skill.

::  Teaching Textbooks Math—I adore Teaching Textbooks. Yes, I do. A complete (math 3 up to pre-calculus) computer-based math program. Independent. No paper. No mess. An infinitely patient math tutor. Silly little ‘buddies’ that give instant feedback. Interactive lessons. Automatically graded lessons. Opportunities for students to watch missed math problems worked through step-by-step. Math drills in the form of a game show. A grade book available for the student to see their progress and grades. A password-protected grade book where parents can see their student’s progress, including grades, which problems were missed, how many tries the student used (many problems have two tries available), and whether the student viewed the solution after missing a problem. AND a parent can change or delete scores so that a student can re-do a lesson or specific problems. No other math program is as easy to implement as Teaching Textbooks.

Teaching Textbooks begins with Math 3, but the first level begins with the basics of addition. Many 2nd graders should be able to work their way through Math 3 and continue to work a level ‘ahead’ of their grade level. I haven’t had enough experience with early elementary math instruction to give a seasoned recommendation. I used RightStart Math early on with Levi, and I think it is an excellent foundation in math instruction, but it is teacher intensive and has many different parts and pieces to organize and keep track of. Singapore Math works well for many families and is somewhat easier to implement.

Core content curricula:

:: The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child—Susan Wise Bauer has written an incredible, accessible world history series for elementary students. We are on our second round through the four volumes, and my boys adore them. They are written in an engaging narrative form, perfect for reading aloud. The books are also available on CD, which allows children to listen to the stories in the car or during quiet time. The corresponding activity guides are well-worth the investment. They include comprehension questions, sample narrations, book lists, a large range of activities, map work, and coloring pages.

:: Christian Kids Explore Science—This science series includes Biology, Earth and Space, Chemistry, and Physics. It is a basic, systematic introduction to science for elementary students, obviously from a Christian perspective. Written by a homeschooling mom, it is realistic in its scope and sequence as well as the implementation. It has narrative style lessons, vocabulary words and definitions in the margins, review questions at the end of each lesson, and coordinating hands-on activities (with more simple alternatives for younger children). Each unit also has wrap-up review questions. The appendix offers coloring pages, additional resource lists (books, science kits, biographies and list of notable scientists to research), and answer keys.

For a more professional, colorful, exciting, and non-faith-based (but faith-friendly) science curriculum that extends through the middle grades and into high school, I am very pleased with Real Science 4 Kids. Each program (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy) contains just ten chapters, so the books would work well either as short unit studies one per year or all four books as a two-year survey of science (one per semester). (Level 1 Geology is scheduled to be released in December.)

And More:

:: Prima Latina—The study of Latin may sound intimidating, but Memoria Press materials make it a simple task. The program is easy to teach using the teacher’s manual and the CD, but the lessons are also available on DVD. Prima Latina is perfect for 2nd-4th grade students. Students can progress to Latina Christiana and then First Form Latin. Why study Latin? Read what Cheryl Lowe has to say here and here.

:: Telling God's Story—I have greatly appreciated this Bible curriculum focused on Jesus: who he was, what he did, and what he taught. Each year, the books have 36 short lessons covering stories Jesus told, miracles Jesus did, teachings of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ early life, Jesus’ disciples, opposition to Jesus, and the end of Jesus’ life as well as three supplemental lessons on the crucifixion. The lessons contain background information for the parent, retellings of the Biblical passages, context information for the student, and life applications. The lessons are short and designed with elementary students in mind, but they are not childish and would be informative for and enjoyed by a larger range of ages. Highly recommended.

My boys and I have also read and re-read The Children's Illustrated Bible. I want my children to have a grasp of the chronological narrative of the Bible as the true story of the world, and this is a perfect introduction. It has beautiful, realistic colored-pencil drawings, background historical and cultural information, and many other visual elements including pictures of geographical areas, maps, artwork, artifacts, animals, people, and architecture. You can read more reviews here, but be sure to get the earlier, larger edition.

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This is a solid line-up of curricula, but it could all be scheduled in about 4 hours of concentrated lessons daily (less for early elementary, and possibly just 4 days weekly), leaving a good portion of time to be spent in other ways according to the needs of a student or the family.

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I would highly recommend adding the Classical Conversations Foundations program for 1st - 6th grade students. (The program starts as early as age 4.) One could either use CC Foundations as a ‘spine’ for history and science (using only the CC history and science cards, history and science encyclopedias, and possibly related picture books and DVDs at home during the week for context) OR use The Story of the World and Real Science 4 Kids programs, as well. The Latin and grammar memory work could serve as reinforcement for the core curricula, or a parent could choose to wait until 4th grade (or above for Latin) to add in formal lessons.

For 4th grade - 6th grade students, I would highly recommend the Classical Conversations Essentials program, which could replace all language arts curricula.

I wrote extensively about the Classical Conversations programs at this link here.

Was that simple? Or overwhelming? Let me know if you have any questions!

Next Up:

Mt. Hope Academy Curricula ~ History (The Tie That Binds)

Mt. Hope Academy Curricula ~ The Great Conversation

This is the first post in a new curricula series here at Mt. Hope.

First up: the driving themes behind my curricula choices.

It is no secret that The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise was my original introduction to classical education. I was smitten from the first pages of the book, and a deep love affair was born.

What is classical education?
It is language-intensive—not image focused…
It is history-intensive, providing students with a comprehensive view of human endeavor from the beginning until now.
It trains the mind to analyze and draw conclusions.
It demands self-discipline.
It produces literate, curious, intelligent students who have a wide range of interests and the ability to follow up on them.

Twelve years ago (before I was even pregnant with Levi), this book launched me on a journey to teach my children and reclaim my own education in the process.

For me, one of the most compelling aspects of classical education is the emphasis on the connection between ideas. Bauer writes:

[T]o the classical mind, all knowledge is interrelated. Astronomy, for example, isn’t studied in isolation; it’s learned along with the history of scientific discovery, which leads into the church’s relationship to science and from there to the intricacies of medieval church history. The reading of the Odyssey allows the student to consider Greek history, the nature of heroism, the development of the epic, and humankind’s understanding of the divine.

And later:

You might read a book about the planet Mars to your second grader. If it's the first time he's heard about Mars, he probably won't grasp all the information you're giving him. But he may hear on the news that night the most recent information from the Mars space probe, and suddenly something that would have passed by him clicks in his mind. You'll tell him, in history, about the Roman god Mars, the father of Romulus and Remus, and he'll hang this detail on the peg you provided when you read that book about planets. When he runs across the word martial and asks what it means, you can tell him that it means warlike and comes from the name Mars, god of war--and the information will stick.

Marva Collins states in Marva Collins' Way:

I taught my students how to add and subtract, but I also taught them that arithmetic is a Greek word meaning to count and that numbers were called digits after the Latin word digitus, meaning finger, because people used to count on their fingers. I taught them about Pythagoras, who believed that mathematics made a pupil perfect and ready to meet the gods. I told them what Socrates said about straight thinking leading to straight living.”

And Parker J. Palmer on teaching well (HT: Mental multivitamin):

Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The methods used by these weavers vary widely: Socratic dialogues, laboratory experiments, collaborative problem solving, creative chaos. The connections made by good teachers are not in their methods but in their hearts -- meaning heart in its ancient sense, as the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self.

 

I think of this as spaghetti education. Everything is intertwined, and one idea leads to another. Nothing is taught in isolation.

 

A few years into our homeschooling journey, I was introduced to the program Classical Conversations. I recently wrote a lengthy post on the subject, so I won’t go into detail here, but the ideas behind CC and our experience within our group served to flame my passion for classical, Christian education. In particular, I was inspired by the book The Core, written by Classical Conversations founder Leigh Bortins.

(pg. 5)
The classical model emphasizes that learning feeds the soul and edifies the person rather than producing employees to work an assembly line. The goal of a classical education is to instill wisdom and virtue in people. We see learning as a continuing conversation that humankind has been engaged in for centuries, and we are concerned that industrialization and technologies reduce contact and context between children and their elders.

(pg. 37)
Today's educators reject the importance of preparing our next generation to enter the great classical conversations of history because they no longer believe there is a core body of knowledge common to man. So personal opinion has trumped universal truth, expediency has displaced goodness, and edginess has shoved aside beauty. Families no longer know that a great classical conversation exists and that their children could become its most interesting participants.

The concept of a Great Conversation in which my children have the opportunity to participate fascinates me.

I don’t want my children to learn information so that they can test well. I want their souls to be fed. I want them to feel alive with thoughts and ideas.

Transmission of shared culture from one generation to the next is also a running theme.

In Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, Canadian doctors Neufeld and Maté confront the problem of peer-centric education:

What they learn, however, is not the value of thinking, the importance of individuality, the mysteries of nature, the secrets of science, the themes of human existence, the lessons of history, the logic of mathematics, the essence of tragedy. Nor do they learn about what is distinctly human, how to become humane, why we have laws, or what it means to be noble. What children learn from their peers is how to talk like their peers, walk like their peers, dress like their peers, act like their peers, look like their peers. In short, what they learn is how to conform and imitate.

And from Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know by E. D. Hirsch, Jr.:

In the technological age, Washington and the cherry tree, Scrooge and Christmas, the fights historical, the oceans geographical, the "beings animalculus," and all the other shared materials of literate culture have become more, not less, important. The more computers we have, the more we need shared fairy tales, Greek myths, historical images, and so on. That is not really the paradox it seems to be. The more specialized and technical our civilization becomes, the harder it is for nonspecialists to participate in the decisions that deeply affect their lives. If we do not achieve a literate society, the technicians, with their arcane specialties, will not be able to communicate with us nor we with them. That would contradict the basic principles of democracy and must not be allowed to happen.

More recently, I’ve been reflecting on how God’s creation speaks to His nature. How man is made in His image. And how our purpose is to reflect and glorify Him.

Classical Conversations states that the purpose of education is ‘To know God and to make Him Known.’

In so many ways, I have discovered that the fullest education (and life) reflects both God’s ORDER and His ARTISTRY.

There is beauty in truth. And when there is a balance and harmony to these two seemingly opposite sides, it can result in great joy and delight.

Another book that has had a significant impact on me recently is Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education by Stratford Caldecott.

As we have seen, the “Liberal” Arts are precisely not “Servile” Arts that can be justified in terms of their immediate practical purpose. “The ‘liberality’ or ‘freedom’ of the Liberal Arts consist in their not being disposable for purposes, that they do not need to be legitimated by a social function, by being ‘work.’” …At the heart of any culture worthy of the name is not work but leisure, schole in Greek, a word that lies at the root of the English word “school.” At its highest, leisure is contemplation. It is an activity that is its own justification, the pure expression of what it is to be human. It is what we do. The “purpose” of the quadrivium was to prepare us to contemplate God in an ordered fashion, to take delight in the source of all truth, beauty, and goodness…"

(pg. 28)
Symptoms of our educational crisis, such as the fragmentation of the disciplines, the separation of faith and reason, the reduction of quality to quantity, and the loss of a sense of ultimate purpose are directly related to a lack of historical awareness on the part of students. An integrated curriculum must teach subjects, and it must teach the right subjects, but it should do so by incorporating each subject, even mathematics and the hard sciences, within the history of ideas, which is the history of our culture. Every subject has a history, a drama, and by imaginatively engaging with these stories we become part of the tradition.

(pg. 29)
After all, science, like poetry, begins with a search for unifying principles, and the unifying factor in creation is its relation to God.

These themes run through my head and my heart as I choose curricula and resources for use in our homeschool and in our family life.

I search for authors who communicate passion, creativity, excitement, and a exhibit a masterful grasp of skills and information. I want to “hear” them speaking through the books and materials. This is the essence of “living books.”

Before I wrap up this lengthy introductory post, I want to talk about one more theme: story.

It began with the Classical Conversations practicum over a year ago. For the afternoon session, we watched the Teaching the Classics DVDs. I was introduced to the elements of story in a way that made sense for the first time.

What is surprising, though, is how the idea of STORY weaves through literature and into other subjects, and even into the very essence of life.

Just after the CC practicum, I attended a teaching conference at a local classical, Christian school. One of the sessions was ‘The Bible as the True Story of the World’ in which I was introduced to God as a master story-teller. The session leader had us fill out a story chart (from Teaching the Classics!) for the Bible as a single (true) story. (I am currently enjoying the recommended book, The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story by Bartholomew and Goheen.)

And then I read One Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. It was an incredible experience, bringing into focus the realization that the elements of story (character, conflict, and theme) are deep truths, even in our lives, because they reflect God as a master story-teller.

p. 59
I’ve wondered, though, if one of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don’t want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgment. We don’t want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn’t remarkable, then we don’t have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims rather than grateful participants.

p. 74
Beneath the surface of characterization,… regardless of appearances, who is this person? At the heart of his humanity, what will we find? Is he loving or cruel? Generous or selfish? Strong or weak? Truthful or a liar? Courageous or cowardly? The only way to know the truth is to witness him make choices under pressure, to take one action or another in the pursuit of his desire.

p. 86
I believe there is a writer outside ourselves, plotting a better story for us, interacting with us, even, and whispering a better story into our consciousness.

p. 87
The real Voice is stiller and smaller and seems to know, without confusion, the difference between right and wrong and the subtle delineation between the beautiful and profane.

From Imago Dei and the Redemptive Power of Fantasy—Part 1 by Angelina Stanford @ Circe Institute:

When a carpenter creates, there is a sense in which he destroys the original in order to create something new. When he makes a table, he has to first destroy the tree. The author, on the other hand, does not destroy Hamlet in order to create Falstaff. This is the closest we experience creation out of nothing. Sayers is echoing the teachings of the church fathers who taught that in creating something orderly and beautiful that did not previously exist, the artist is paralleling what God did in the act of creation.

And from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention for each of us.

This turned out to be a much longer and disjointed post than anticipated, as usual. But if I wait to publish until after I’ve had time to tweak and refine, I’ll never get it finished. That’s just life here at Mt. Hope Chronicles.

In summary:

• SPAGHETTI EDUCATION

• THE GREAT CONVERSATION

• TRANSMISSION OF SHARED CULTURE

• REFLECTING GOD’S ORDER AND ARTISTRY

• LIVING BOOKS

• STORY

 

Next up:

Mt. Hope Academy Curricula ~ The Simplicity Version. (Do you think I’m capable of an abbreviated, simple version? Probably not.)

Even the darkest night will end

…and the sun will rise. ~Les Miserables

Mt. Hope Academy @ The Live & Learn Studio ~ October 2012

{ Voices of Ancient Egypt by Kay Winters }

::  Crying Out For Judgment by Matt Bianco @ Circe Institute:

"One of the young men was describing Prince Henry the Navigator, and asked whether Prince Henry was a leader. Here is where the magic happened...First, they tried to define what it means to be a leader. They got stuck when they could not agree about whether or not a leader had to be leading toward that which is good, or simply towards that which he perceives as good."

And:

"I want you all to recognize what you have accomplished here today. We live in a society, a culture that has us convinced that the end of education is to know the right facts. That is not the end of education. What you just discussed, that is the end of education. You are called to pass judgment on history and to learn from it. Knowing the right facts is not the end; it is the means. It is the means to be able to judge history, to wrestle with definitions for leadership, good, true, beautiful, right, and wrong; it is a means to knowing God and to making Him known."

::  Andrew Comes to Austin by Hannah @ Here in the Lovely Woods (My friend Hannah had the privilege of sitting at the feet of Andrew Kern for a couple days. I would be insanely jealous if I were not registered for The Two Andrews in Tigard, Oregon on December 5th.)

“The reason a book or work of art is great is not because people like it so much, but because it contains so much truth. We were made to worship, to admire. Something in us recognizes truth and beauty for what they are, and finds them deeply satisfying. We believe the truth can be known.”

And:

“Paul offers the solution: "All things are yours." Meaning that all these things -- including literature and art and music, even springing from a pagan mind -- are a gift from a generous and creative God. We can learn from them. But the danger is in US belonging to THEM. In setting those things up as false gods, as our sources of identity and superiority over others, as addictions or sources of strife.”

::  What drives an editor crazy? @ Literary MacGregor:

‘Sixth: Please notice I didn’t write “sixthly.” From a strict editorial viewpoint, there is no reason the word “firstly” or “secondly” exists. To number a list as “first” or “second” is to adverbialize them. To add “ly” is to adverbialize them. Therefore, why in the world would you adverbialize an adverb? Why write “firstly” when all you really need to write is “first”? Besides, if it’s a long list, can you really defend “thirteenthly”?’

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I’m considering a curricula series for this month. I’d love to tell you a little more about what we are using and how. Would that be of interest to anyone?

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Classical Conversations (Cycle 1, Weeks 4-7) Foundations: One morning each week. Memory work in timeline, history, science, Latin, English grammar, math, and geography. Includes weekly hands-on science projects/experiments, fine arts projects, social time, and public speaking. Essentials: (Levi) One afternoon each week; includes grammar, vocabulary, writing, public speaking, and challenging math games. (We are also reviewing the corresponding weeks of memory work from Foundations cycles 2 and 3 at home.)

Faith:
God Our Provider (CD) (Bible memory songs)
The Children’s Illustrated Bible (reading through together, again)
Telling God's Story- Year 2 (lessons 6-12)
Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God (daily family devotions, only managed a few)
The Gospel Story Bible: Discovering Jesus in the Old and New Testaments (corresponds with Long Story Short)
The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story (for me!) 
(Luke and Levi: weekly hymns on piano)
The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Religions (Levi and Luke-IR)
Buck Denver Asks… What’s in the Bible? Vol. 8: Words to Make Us Wise (Psalms, Proverbs, & the Writings—DVD)
Buck Denver Asks… What’s in the Bible? Vol. 9: God Speaks! (Isaiah, Jeremiah, & the Prophets—DVD)

Math:
Teaching Textbooks (Leif: 3, Levi and Luke: 5)
Life of Fred (All boys: Elementary series, Levi: Fractions and Decimals & Percents. For fun free reading.)
Beast Academy (Luke: level 3, just getting started)
CC math memory work (skip counting)
Challenging math games in Classical Conversations Essentials (Levi)
MathTacular DVDs

Science:
CC weekly science memory work (parts of plant cells, major groups of vertebrates and invertebrates, reproduction)
CC weekly science projects and experiments (including crayfish dissection)
Science in Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Woods
Science in Ancient Mesopotamia by Carol Moss
Real Science 4 Kids Biology (ch )
Biology Connects to Language (RS4K) (connects vocabulary from science text to Latin and Greek roots! Love it!!)
The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia (corresponding selections)
The Story of Science series by Joy Hakim (history-integrated science studies, ch 2 )
Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day by Fulbright (Levi-IR)
Crash Course Science (YouTube Videos)
Life Science (Rock N Learn DVD—perfect content: plant and animal cells, characteristics of animal groups, life cycle of a butterfly, parts of a plant/flower, food chains, and more)
The Magic School Bus Bugs: In a Beehive, Gets Ants in Its Pants, and Butterfly and the Bog Beast (DVD)
Popular Mechanics for Kids: Gators & Dragons and Other Wild Beasts (DVD)
(various Magic School Bus and Sid the Science Kid episodes on DVD, especially human body)
On Beyond Bugs! All About Insects (The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library)
Butterfly Battle (The Magic School Bus Chapter Book)

P.E.
Swim team practice 3x week + 2 swim meets

Fine Arts:
CC drawing and music theory
The Story of Classical Music (CD, disc 1)
13 Sculptures Children Should Know (LOVE this gorgeous series of books, LOVE the timeline across the top of each page)
IEW Poetry Memorization
Piano practice
Draw. Write. Now. Book 1
How Artists See Feelings by Colleen Carroll
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by Anna Harwell Celenza
Toulouse-Lautrec: The Moulin Rouge and the City of Light by Robert Burleigh
Mousterpiece: A mouse-sized guide to modern art by Jane Breskin Zalben
Rembrandt (See and Do Children’s Book) by Ceciel de Bie & Martijn Leenen

Language Arts:
Classical Conversations Essentials of the English Language (Levi in class, Levi and Luke at home) 
IEW writing (theme-based: Ancients, Levi in CC Essentials class (Luke listening in @ home)) 
IEW Poetry Memorization
Writing With Ease (Leif: level 1, Luke: level 3)
CC grammar memory work (list of prepositions)
All About Spelling (reviewed phonograms and rules, Level 3: lessons -17)
Paragraph Town (MCT) (Levi-re-read independently for review)

Latin:
Latina Christiana I (reviewed lessons 1-5, lessons 6-8)
CC Latin memory work (Noun Endings-1st, 2nd, and 3rd Declensions)

Spanish: 
None (sigh)
 
Geography:
CC geography (Middle East/Europe/Africa/Ancient Empires, tracing on various dry-erase maps)
Geography Songs (workbook map and song on CD)
Geography games (free online)
Draw. Write. Now. Book 7—drawing the continents (blobbing)

History/Literature/Historical Fiction: 
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World video series on YouTube (Pyramid in Giza 1/7)
Crash Course World History (YouTube Videos)
The Story of the World: Ancient Times (Ch. 3-9)
Note-taking/Narrations from notes
IEW Ancient History-Themed writing assignments (Ziggurats, Gilgamesh, Ancient Egypt 3-paragraph research essay)
Creating our own history timeline (Add-a-Century Timeline) integrating all subjects
SOTW Vol 1 Resources @ Tending Our Lord’s Garden (using the notebooking pages for narrations)
YouTube videos corresponding with SOTW chapters at SOTW Video Links
CC weekly history memory work (7 Wonders, Roman Republic, Fall of Rome, Hinduism/Buddhism)
The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (corresponding selections)
The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (corresponding selections)
CC Timeline Cards (memorizing)
Famous Figures of Ancient Times (movable paper figures to cut, color, and assemble—made Pharaoh Cheops/Khufu of Egypt, Sargon…)
Various Ancient Egypt projects/crafts
The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim (read aloud chapter 2)
Hieroglyphs by Joyce Milton
Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs by James Rumford (another great picture book)
Science in Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Woods
Mysteries of the Mummy Kids by Kelly Milner Halls
Voices of Ancient Egypt by Kay Winters (lovely)
Pharaoh’s Boat by David Weitzman (also lovely)
Mummies and Pyramids (Magic Tree House Research Guide) by Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne
Secrets of the Mummies by Harriet Griffey (Eyewitness Readers, Level 4)
Pyramid by David Macaulay
An Egyptian Pyramid (Inside Story)
I Wonder Why Pyramids Were Built and Other Questions About Ancient Egypt
How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Harland (fun!)
100 Things You Should Know About World Wonders
Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures: Ancient Egypt by Joanna Cole
Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green (chapter book, Luke and Levi-IR, literature)
If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge by Marc Aronson
The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (historical fiction—Ancient Egypt, 248 pp, Levi-IR)
Lugalbanda, The Boy Who Got Caught Up in a War: An Epic Tale From Ancient Iraq told by Kathy Henderson (literature)
Ancient Mesopotamia: The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians by Virginia Schomp
Science in Ancient Mesopotamia by Carol Moss
Mesopotamia (DK Eyewitness, spectacular as always)
The Life and Times of Hammurabi by Tamera Bryant
Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean (literature)
The Gilgamesh Trilogy by Ludmila Zeman (gorgeous picture books, literature)
Joseph by Brian Wildsmith (gorgeous picture book)
One Grain of Rice by Demi (a mathematical folktale from India, literature)
Once A Mouse by Marcia Brown (Indian fable)
India (DK Eyewitness)

Levi’s Free Reading:
The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain (historical fiction—Ancient Rome, 814 pages)
The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare (his pick off the shelf)
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
On the Far Side of the Mountain
Frightful’s Mountain
Five Little Peppers by Margaret Sidney
The Five Little Peppers Midway by Margaret Sidney
The Secret of the Ginger Mice (The Song of the Winns) by Frances Watts
Boxcar Children Beginning by Patricia MacLachlan
The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
The Serpent’s Shadow by Rick Riordan
The Fields of Home by Ralph Moody
Shaking the Nickel Bush by Ralph Moody

Luke’s Free Reading:
Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
(not sure what other chapter books he read this past month)

Miscellaneous Picture Books:
The Tooth Mouse by Susan Hood
No Dogs Allowed! by Linda Ashman
”S.S.” Gigantic Across the Atlantic by Peter Selgin
Over At the Castle by Boni Ashburn
Madlenka by Peter Sis (love Peter Sis and his fanciful way of seeing things!)
William Shakespeare: The Tempest retold by Ann Keay Beneduce
One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway (Africa)

Miscellaneous:
Book Detectives (parent-child literary analysis book club)
Lego Robotics League meetings
Football Games