Charge of the Light Brigade

We've been memorizing 'Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  Since the older kids have a poetic lament project coming up next semester, we've been using some of the tips from Practice: A Pool of Teaching Tips to learn a little about poetry each day during Morning Time.

Today, we scanned the first stanza of 'Charge of the Light Brigade' and learned about dactyls-appropriate for the poem as they sound like galloping horses!

All I did was Google 'stressed unstressed unstressed' and there was a complete list of the kinds of metrical feet used in poetry. Very cool!

English Assignments: poetry

School is getting off to a good start!

We began the Tuesday after Labor Day (even though schools here start in early August, I'll never think that's a good idea; fortunately, homeschoolers have the flexibility to do it our own way!)

Rebekah, Melody, Eliza, and Joel are working through IEW's U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons this year. The two olders will work through Volume 1 and Volume 2, while the two little work through Volume 1.

The first lesson was about strong adjectives and used a poem as the model, sort of. I must say I wasn't really impressed with this assignment and the kids thought the model was lame (not their word). It purported to be a poem, but had no instructions about rhythm or rhyme (since the lesson wasn't about that, I understand, but I think choosing a real poem as a model would have been a better idea). I know poetry without rhyme and rhythm is considered acceptable, but I've always had a hard time seeing blank verse as real poetry. However, I thought that, since it's only one assignment and things should improve as we go through the book, I wouldn't make a big deal about it.

The two older kids' assignment was due today. Rebekah had the same idea that I did - simply get through it, but Joel added in rhythm and rhyme. Here are their creations:

America

by Rebekah

Land of sunny, shell-strewn seashores,

Dark, mossy forests of evergreens,

Majestic, snow-capped mountain ranges;

Broad, rushing, and lazy rivers travelling

Among rolling, golden plains.

America, a land populated by thriving,

Independent men and women whose

Lives are paving the way for generations.

America

By Joel

Sparkling and sunny seashores,

Sandy and with shells galore.

Forests leafy, mossy, dark,

Mountains majestic and stark.

Rivers rushing, rocky, broad,

Plains great, created by God.

Men who fought for freedom old

Men, courageous, free, and bold.

I'll post the little girls' poems tomorrow. They've been playing with rhyme and rhythm, too! I can't wait to see what they've come up with!

History: Middles, week 2

Revolutions of 1830 and Australia

Mon: look over questions, read and research

Tues: continue research

Wed: write answers to questions/ Ben: write 2 paragraphs on each topic (due Friday)

Thurs: continue reading and writing; timelines

Fri: map work, written answers due, compositions due

Weekly Report: Rebekah

Week 1 of 6, ending 10/3/08

Morning Time: reading Philippians, A Gospel Primer, Northanger Abbey; memorizing Psalm 23 and William Blake's 'The Lamb'

Math: worked diligently, made good progress

English: not so good this week: she didn't do any of her verb/verb phrase worksheets and she only did part of her spelling each day - she'll make up her missed work this week, along with continuing on in both spelling and grammar.

History: not so much done this week; more make-up work next week

Science: reading all week

Rebekah didn't have such a good week. We increased her thyroid meds on Friday and I think she'll be more energetic and not so foggy next week.

French, week 1 (29 Sept.-3 Oct.)

(Sorry about all the edits on this post.  I had to re-work my vocabulary list so it only included things that were fairly stationary and that weren't too small and wouldn't walk away or be tucked away in the fridge or pantry!)

This week, review greetings.

Introduce the following vocabulary, while teaching grammatical gender:

la chaise
la table
la télévision
la porte
la pendule
la fenêtre

le livre
le tiroir
le bain
le lit
le mur
le panier

Have kids write the words on index cards and post them appropriately around the house. Introduce a few adjectives next week, along with the third person singular and plural, est and sont.

Science: Rebekah, week 1 (Sept. 29-Oct. 3)

Read each day from I'm Just Here for the Food, by Alton Brown. His information about how food works is fascinating.

Math, week 1 (29 Sept-3 Oct): Rebekah

Monday: 9E, 10C, 11 DVD & A

Tuesday: 9F, 10D, 11B

Wednesday: 9 test, 10E, 11C

Thursday: 10F, 11D, 12 DVD & A

Friday: 10 test, 11E, 12B

History, Middles: Week 1 (29 Sept.-3 Oct.)

Research: 19th C. missions and missionaries: William Carey and India; Hudson Taylor and China, Japan, and the Opium Wars; missionary biographies; David Livingstone and Africa

Label your map of India with the items on your list.
Write Answers to Accountability and Thinking Questions.

Weekly Report: Eliza, Melody, Rebekah (9/27/08)

Since this was our Sabbath Week and these three kidlets had gotten everything done, they had to do nothing this week but play and relax.  

The two little ones pulled out the dress-up box and had a blast!  They were also read some Grimms' Fairy Tales and a few chapters of Northanger Abbey.  

Rebekah rested and read.  She started on thyroid medication this week and her energy levels are slowly rising, but it will take a bit of time.

Week 1: English, Rebekah, 9/29/08

practice finding verbs and, especially, verb phrases this week.

Monday
grammar: go over pg. 22, and 26-26 in MT2; extra exercise for Monday
spelling: Level C, lesson 1, Day 1

Tuesday
grammar: verb/verb phrase exercise
spelling: Level C, lesson 1, Day 2

Wednesday
grammar: verb/verb phrase exercise
spelling: Level C, lesson 1, Day 3

Thursday
grammar: verb/verb phrase exercise
spelling: Level C, lesson 1, Day 4

Friday
grammar: write 8 sentences, mark the verbs and verb phrases
spelling: Level C, lesson 1, Day 5: Dictation

Annual Reading List, 2008/2009: Rebekah

Literature:
Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen (read aloud by Mama)
The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy (finished in August)
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson (finished in September)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis (September)
Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis (September)
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis (September)
The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis (September)
The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis (September)
The Magician's Nephew, by C.S. Lewis (September)
The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis (September)

History:
Corrie ten Boom, by Sam Wellman (September)
Brother Andrew, by Alan Millwright (September)
Eric Liddell, by Ellen Caughey (September)
David Livingstone, by Sam Wellman (September)
Watchman Nee, by Bob Laurent (September)
Amy Carmichael, by Sam Wellman (September)
Abraham Lincoln's World, by Genevieve Foster (August
Heritage Studies 5, by Eileen M. Berry and Dawn L. Watkins (September)

Science:
I'm Just Here for the Food, by Alton Brown

Miscellaneous:
The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson (late August)

Literature: Middles

{edit} This covers ideas for the whole year, not just the next six weeks!

The Warden, by Anthony Trollope
David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
Pilgrim's Inn, by Elizabeth Goudge
Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madelaine L'Engle
The Good Master and The Singing Tree, by Kate Seredy
Good-bye, Mr. Chips, by James Hilton
How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn
An Episode of the Sparrow, by Rumer Godden
The Book of Three, by Alexander Lloyd

Additional ideas, not in any particular order:
Many Moons, by James Thurber
Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynne Reid Banks
Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell
Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank Gilbraith and Ernestine Carey
A Means of Grace, by Edith Pargeter
"A Modest Proposal" and Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift
Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe
Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana
Mama's Bank Account, by Kathryn Forbes

Weekly Report: Rebekah, 9/20/08

Math: all checked off

English: had to re-do a couple of grammar assignments from last week. The first, about pronouns, is greatly improved. Partly, she didn't understand the directions.

The second, however, still seems to be stumping her. She's not understanding verbs and verb phrases. After our Sabbath Week, I'll go over this assignment with her and then I'll give her more practice in this before we move on. I'll pull in some text from Project Gutenberg and have her split each sentence between the complete subject and complete predicate (practice and preparation for diagramming) and then underline the verb or verb-phrases in the sentences.

Her assignments from later in the week show a beginning understanding, but verb phrases still elude her.

History: she read a bit about the Congress of Vienna, but that's about it.
~~~~~
She's been pretty tired lately. We have an appointment next week with her naturopath to discuss the results of her lab work and to see about getting her on some supplements to help her energy levels. We'll start her science reading (kitchen science) and I hope to get back to our informal French lessons after our Sabbath Week.

History Topics, Middles

Just brainstorming right now - I'll fill in with specific assignments later.

Week 1: 19th C. missions and missionaries: William Carey and India; Hudson Taylor and China, Japan, and the Opium Wars; missionary biographies; David Livingstone and Africa

Week 2: European Society, 1815-1830; Australia

Week 3: Revolutions of 1848, Marx and Communism

Week 4: Crimean War; Unification of Italy

Week 5: Unification of Germany; Prussian Wars

Week 6: Victorian Britain & the British Empire