Pages

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Year 2: Week 9

This week included a trip up to Central California to visit grandparents, and to see one of my best friends perform as Ariel in The Little Mermaid.
Some stuff we read:

  • Understood Betsy ch 9
  • Our Island Story (about Gregory)
  • Trial & Triumph (about Gregory)
  • 50 Famous Stories Retold: The Barmecide Feast
  • Genesis 13
  • Luke 6
  • Hillyer's Architecture ch 10
  • Viking Tales ch 9
  • 2 pages of Pilgrim's Progress
  • Finished Lamb's The Taming of the Shrew
  • Tales of Troy & Greece (a couple of pages)
  • Christina Rossetti poetry
  • Elementary Geography ch 23 (a poem)
  • One chapter of The World by the Fireside
  • Spark of Life ch 5
There was also piano, a little Spanish, a little French, a little Life of Fred: Fractions, a look at a da Vinci, some songs sung...

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Year 2: Week 7


This week included a field trip to Santa Monica College’s production of the musical Madagascar. It was super wacky and Gemma loved it.

Daddy gave Gemma another bike riding lesson.

Stuff we read:
  • Understood Betsy ch 7
  • Spark of Life ch 3
  • Genesis 9
  • Luke 5
  • Tales of Troy & Greece (The Stealing of Helen)
  • Viking Tales ch 7
  • Our Island Story (Hengist and Horsa & Hengist’s Treachery)
  • Trial & Triumph (Patrick: Missionary to Ireland)
  • Discovery of New Worlds ch 12
  • Christina Rossetti poetry
  • 3 pages of Lamb’s Taming of the Shrew
  • 2 pages of Pilgrim’s Progress 
  • Elementary Geography ch 22
  • Bedtime Reading: The Hobbit
Two especially neat-o things that happened this week...

The first was while I was reading aloud Tales of Troy and Greece. I was reading “The Stealing of Helen,” and when I got to the part about Oenone’s reaction to Paris and Helen, Gemma asked why, if Oenone had the power to heal any wound, couldn’t she heal her own broken heart?

The second was while reading aloud Our Island Story about Hengist and Horsa. Gemma said, “Wait! I bet Hengist wants Vortigern to marry Rowena so he can be Vortigern’s father-in-law!!!” I knew of several good reasons to read fairy tales, but being able to predict the motivations of historical figures was not one of them; it is now.
⭐️
Gemma had daily swim lessons, attended a magic show with animals (note the hedgehog) at the library...

...and completed another step of her sewing project.




Monday, July 23, 2018

Year 2: Week 8


Gemma got to play giant tennis with a juggler. 

After the show, Gemma walked up to the stage (I didn’t know why) and politely asked if she could have the self-portrait he drew while juggling.

Some of the stuff we read:
  • Understood Betsy ch 8
  • 3 pages of Lamb’s The Taming of the Shrew
  • Genesis 11 & 12
  • Our Island Story (about Stonehenge, King Arthur, and The Round Table)
  • a chapter of Discovery of New Worlds
  • Spark of Life ch 4
  • The World by the Fireside (South America)
  • 1/3 of a chapter from Tales of Troy & Greece
  • Christina Rossetti poetry


Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Year 2: Weeks 5 & 6


In literature, we read Chapters 5 & 6 of Understood Betsy, some Christina Rossetti poetry, Chapter 3 of Tales of Troy and Greece, some Pilgrim’s Progress, and some Lamb’s The Taming of the Shrew.

In history, we read Chapters 5 & 6 of Viking Tales (Chapter 6 has been my favorite chapter so far because it has such a vivid description of a Viking hall), Trial & Triumph (about Constantine, Athanasius, Ambrose, and Augustine), Our Island Story (about Vortigern), and Synge's Discovery of New Worlds Chapters 9 through 11.

In Bible, we read Genesis 7 & 8, and Luke 4.

In geography, we read a couple of chapters of The World By the Fireside (South America). One was about pampas grass, which we are now seeing everywhere.

In science, we read two chapters in Spark of Life (about everything coming from seeds, and living things being able to thrive in certain environments). We also went to two science shows at the library. The first was Mad Science...
The second was Bubblemania.

For handicrafts, Gemma experimented with my sewing machine, sewing various stitches.



We also went to a 3-D printing class at the library. Gemma learned to make a star lantern using Tinkercad. (The teacher pre-printed the lanterns because each one takes 3 hours to print!)





Sunday, July 15, 2018

Gemma and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Dress


So far, Gemma has stay-stitched the neck (front and back) and sewed the shoulders of the dress she’s making.

Friday, July 6, 2018

Year 2: Week 5: Handicrafts

Gemma got to choose the fabric for her first sewing project today.

Here she is at Sewing Arts Center, showing me the print she’s chosen.

They’re having a 40% off sale tomorrow, so the owner gave me the discount early - thank you!

The print makes me think of popsicles. ☺️

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Year 2: Weeks 1 through 4

These 4 “weeks” were actually stretched over 6 weeks. 
*
In literature, we’ve read chapters 1 through 4 of Understood Betsy, 8 pages of Pilgrim’s Progress, finished Lamb’s King Lear and started The Taming of the Shrew, and chapters 1 & 2 of Tales of Troy and Greece.

We’re also reading poems from Christina Rossetti’s “Sing-Song.” Gemma chose “A diamond or a coal...” for recitation.
*
In history, we’ve read Synge’s The Discovery of New Worlds chapters 1-8, Our Island Story from Boadicea to Saint Alban, Viking Tales chapters 1-4, and Trial and Triumph’s chapters about Polycarp and Blandina.
*
In natural history, we finished The Burgess Seashore Book. 

At the end of 1st grade, we had 4 chapters of Burgess left. Option 1: We could have stopped on chapter 36, and read the last 4 chapters as “free reading.” As this was unlikely to get done, I chose Option 2: Keep right on going.
*
In Bible, we’re reading Genesis and Luke. So far we’ve read Genesis 1-4 and 6, and Luke 1-3.

For recitation, the passages I’ve chosen for revisiting each week are:
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 15
Luke 8:1-15 (The Parable of the Sower)
*
For composer study, Gemma chose Bach, and has been learning to play Minuet in G Major. For artist study, she chose Leonardo da Vinci, and we’ve looked at The Virgin of the Rocks and Ginevra de Benci.
In geography, we’ve continued to read The World by the Fireside, about South America, specifically the llanos (the grasslands in northern South America), and in Charlotte Mason’s Elementary Geography we’ve read chapters 19 (a poem) and 20.
*
In math, we’re halfway through Life of Fred: Fractions. Gemma is also working through Making Friends With Numbers.
*
For handicrafts, Gemma completed cutting out a dress pattern. The pattern has 4 pieces (and no zippers or buttonholes). The next step will be to shop for fabric, and learn to pin her pattern pieces to her fabric.

*
We did two weeks of Vacation Bible School, one here, and one in Central California.

The first was Rolling River Rampage...

The last day of VBS, there was a bird show (nature study ✅). And yes, Gemma is wearing pajamas.



The second was Game On!, a sports-themed VBS, which is why Gemma and the other kids have on eye black. 🏈



*
While we were in Central California, we went with my dad to Fresno’s two most famous homes.

The first is the Underground Gardens.

If you’re ever in Fresno, you must make it a point to see this site. It’s awe-inspiring. It was built over one hundred years ago by a man who had immigrated to the U.S. from Sicily to be a subway tunnel digger on the East Coast. He decided he wanted to be a citrus farmer, and purchased 80 acres of Fresno farmland for $80. One dollar per acre. It was quite the deal, until he realized that he was standing on four feet of hardpan. Because farming was an impossibility, he took a job as an irrigation ditch digger, working 10 hour days, some months in hundred-degree heat. Knowing it was cooler underground, he decided to dig himself a bedroom and a kitchen. Two rooms became a subterranean labyrinth...



The second famous Fresno home we visited was the Meux Home.

The house was built in 1898 by Dr. T.R. Meux. Dr. Meux and his family were from Tennessee. They moved to Fresno because Mrs. Meux had tuberculosis, and Fresno, at the time, was advertising excellent air quality.

My dad had never been to the Meux Home, and neither had Gemma. I, on the other hand, was a docent there when I was in middle school, so I enjoyed seeing the home again, and seeing the love that has been poured into maintaining the house.



















Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Google Mini Golf


Here is Gemma, modeling her new Google golf socks.

During what was supposed to be a quick trip to Old Navy to buy new flip flops, Gemma saw the words “Mini Golf” and dragged me into the line for the pop-up advertising Google’s Mini with - what else? - Mini Golf.

There were two courses, each with 4 holes showing things the Google Mini can do.


There is not yet a Hey Google, make me a French press of coffee; Hey Google, take my clothes out of the dryer and hang them in my closet; or a Hey Google, move my car so I don’t get a ticket on street sweeping day.

Today’s P.E. Lesson


 Today Daddy took off Gemma’s training wheels.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Understood Betsy & Apple Crumble

If you’ve read Understood Betsy, you know there is a line in the book about Northern Spy apples. 🍎(When Gemma narrated this chapter, she called them “Ninja apples.”) This month, Trader Joe’s has a yummy apple crumble, and it’s made with...

How do you like them apples?😏


Sunday, July 1, 2018

Gemma playing the Meux Home piano


 Gemma got to play the Meux Home’s 100 year old piano. Some famous people have played that piano, including Ethel Barrymore.😉