Regarding Mary Tudor...

Today Gemma said, “Why does she have to be ‘Bloody Mary’? Why not just ‘Mary-Who-Had-a-Bunch-of-People-Executed’? That sounds so much better.”

One month away from 3rd grade...

• History: Pete just finished reading Gemma Little Duke. (He LOVED it.)
• Tales: This year, I had Gemma read half of Pilgrim’s Progress and half of Tales of Troy & Greece, two books on Charlotte Mason’s original programmes. She’ll read the second half of each book in 3rd grade. We have less than 90 pages of Robin Hood. 
• Last song learned on piano: Arkansas Traveler; She’s two songs from completing Alfred Prep E so I’ll need to order Book F soon. One of the things that I like about the Alfred Prep series is that it’s filled with folk songs, so I don’t feel the need to add additional folk songs to her schedule.
• A couple of the (many) books Gemma read this month: Green Ember & Matilda
• Bedtime: We finished Cleopatra Confesses (with a couple of minor edits), and started The Tarantula in my Purse by Jean Craighead George (which is wonderful!!!).
• Math: We’re on Lesson 16 in LOF Algebra.
• Currently reading Trees and Shrubs. (Gemma said she misses natural history books with dialogue, so I’m looking at some dialogue-filled natural history options for 3rd grade.)
• Foreign Language: Currently reading El Raton Pablito and Brandon Brown Veut Un Chien. 
• Shakespeare: Gemma chose Merchant of Venice for Shakespeare, but is scared of the “pound of flesh.”
• Bible: We’re finishing Genesis & Luke. Looking ahead to 3rd grade, we’ll be doing Exodus and Matthew. 
• Poetry: Eugene Field
• Artist: Mary Cassatt
• Composer: Haydn
• P.E.: Dance, swim, jiujitsu 
• Handicrafts: Slowly cross-stitching a large cat picture
• Geography: Currently reading The World by the Fireside. Recent passages have been set in Asia (examples: the Mongolian steppe, Tibet).

Gemma (age 7) playing Daddy’s song

You might be a homeschooler if...

...your 7 year old opens a cardboard box “general store” and calls out, “Grapes a shilling! Bananas a farthing!”

P.E.

For the past two years, Gemma’s weekly P.E. schedule has included Brazilian jiujitsu, tap, ballet, and swim. 

Best Day Ever!

Gemma often says, “Today was the BEST DAY EVER!” This evening, as we were walking in the door after seeing the teen musical variety show her big sis had worked on as musical director, and after Gemma had said today was a “best day ever,” I said, “You have more best days ever than any other kid.” And she giggled agreeably.

Geography

Today we read in The World By the Fireside about the Tartar princes going to the Chinese emperor to prostrate themselves and pay tribute. This led to looking up where Pekin/Beijing is, and reviewing where the Steppes are in Kazakhstan...and this led to Gemma pulling out her Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and turning to probably her favorite biography in the book: the falcon huntress - Aisholpan Nurgaiv.