Year 1: Week 34

I took Gemma to see the community college's production of A Comedy of Errors. She was the only child in the audience (because who brings their 6 year old to see Shakespeare?). The play was in the black box, and played in three-quarters. The actors broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to audience members, sometimes sitting down in empty seats next to audience members. Gemma guffawed at the funny parts, and - a couple of times - 😬 talked back to the actors. ("Can't you see they're brothers?!") During the curtain call, Antipholus of Syracuse high-fived her and told her she was the cast's favorite audience member. It turned out to be a really great experience. I'm hoping the same director will do more Shakespeare in the future.
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One evening Gemma said, "I really want to know more about the 11th century." I told her she was in luck because I had gotten her a book all about the Vikings (Viking Tales) for 2nd grade. Medieval History here we come!
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Here is my baby Barracuda diving...

We read The Prodigal Son, Hillyer's Sculpture ch 11, Androcles and the Lion, 2 chapters from The World By the Fireside (about Peruvian bark and giant tree trunks), Seed Babies (how eggs are like seeds), The Burgess Seashore Book (worms), The Twelve Huntsmen, Flies and Honey, and poetry from Nature in Verse...

In math - Life of Fred: Fractions. We did a couple of chapters. We're up to the second bridge (Gemma got 8/10 on the first bridge, so she has to do Bridge #2).

In foreign languages - Spanish (reviewed previous lessons) & French (continued to work on counting to 100)

Literature - (Fairy Tales & Fables)

We read 3 more pages of Lamb's King Lear, which Gemma wanted to turn into a fractions lesson. (And why would I argue with that?) Obviously, if Lear divided his kingdom evenly between only 2 heiresses, each heiress would get 1/2 a kingdom. But that means that 1/3 a kingdom plus 1/2 of 1/3 of a kingdom equals 1/2 a kingdom. Gemma wanted to explore how that worked.

King Lear divided the third of his kingdom he was going to give Cordelia in half. 

1/2 of 1/3 = 1/6

1/6 + 1/6 = 2/6 = 1/3

Goneril and Regan each had 1/3 of Lear's kingdom. Then Lear gave them each 1/6 more.

1/3 + 1/6 = 2/6 + 1/6 = 3/6 = 1/2

We drew models. It was super fun.

Free Reading

While I don't do Captain Underpants and Sponge Bob, I do have some fond memories of a few books my public elementary school teachers read to me, one of which is Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. My favorite chapter as a child was "Sammy." It's nonsense, and it's kind of brilliant. Gemma read this book this week.

She also read Mary Poppins, and requested sequels.

She also read Adventures With Waffles and narrated - without prompting - about how funny it was that Auntie Granny dressed up like the groom. (She also narrated the ending. ⚠️ The ending is sad.)

Artist Study

Last week, we looked at Monet's Garden at Saint Adresse. When I asked Gemma to tell me about it, instead of saying the things I wanted her to say, like there are ships, there's an ocean, there are flowers, etc., she said, "Well, Mom, it's like chess."

Tell me more.

"Well, there's a queen and a king, and there's a queen and a king. And the queens are across from each other, and the kings are across from each other. And the queens are on the left side, which is how you see them when you're the white player."

Whoa.😳

Handicrafts - Um, oops. Bad Charlotte Mason Mom.

Music (Piano) - Gemma has been working on Malagueña, which is my favorite piece so far. Her fingers are so fast.

Nature Study - Um, we went outside. I watered plants.

Pete took her on a field trip to The Autry. Here she is pretending to be in a Hollywood western. Get along little doggies.