Paul Revere's Ride
Last week we read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem, Paul Revere's Ride. Ana said she was tired of it after the first read, but Tristan enjoyed hearing it every day, and he did a very nice job reading the poem to us on Friday. I enjoyed hearing him read formal poetry! Of course, the poem is based on the true story of Paul Revere sounding the alarm about the British movement on the colonial supplies. We did not delve into too much history last week. Two summers ago we spent the whole summer learning about George Washington and the Revolutionary war. We quickly reviewed, and we read a book about Boston. We also defined poetry and discussed colonial style architecture. We got two different illustrated versions of the poem. Ted Rand's is the one recommended by Five in a Row. Charles Santore's illustrations are also beautiful. They are very different styles, but both well done. We differed in opinion on which book had the best illustrations.
Tristan is enjoying second grade. Some days I feel that progress is slow, and then other days I'm amazed by how far he's come in just 12 weeks!
Highlights: To compliment The Story of the World, Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer we read The Life and Times of Hammurabi, by Tamara Bryant.
We are also finished memorizing our states and capitals! Wow! Took a little longer than expected, but I'm excited. We need to keep reviewing until Christmas to really commit them to long term memory, then we can move onto memorizing and learning about the presidents.
Tristan (and Ana) are enjoying Code.org.
Our homeschool co-op is on break for the holidays. Tristan really enjoyed a math games class there; he has had more confidence in his lessons at home and is doing really well. Thank God for the support of other homeschool moms!
Tristan learned about storms in earth science this week.
Nana came for a visit and while I was out she read Max's Words, by Kate Banks and then the children collected words from magazines and made little stories out of their words. This activity challenged and entertained them for a few days. We may revisit this at some point. The challenge is collecting enough good words to make a story. It's work!! However, this is an excellent way to reinforce grammar and sentence structure!
Other Stories we enjoyed this week:
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis
Mazes Around the World, Mary Lankford
Finding Winnie, Lindsay Mattick (We now own this one. Thanks Nana!!)
Little Cloud and Lady Wind, Tony Morrison (Is it about the water cycle, or a lesson on contentment?)
Rembrandt and the boy who drew dogs, Molly Blaisdell
Changing Weather: Storms, Kelley MacAulay; Bobbie Kalman
Elmer's Weather, David McKee (I like to get board books related to the school topics to include Gwendolyn in our school day.)
Tristan is enjoying second grade. Some days I feel that progress is slow, and then other days I'm amazed by how far he's come in just 12 weeks!
Highlights: To compliment The Story of the World, Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer we read The Life and Times of Hammurabi, by Tamara Bryant.
We are also finished memorizing our states and capitals! Wow! Took a little longer than expected, but I'm excited. We need to keep reviewing until Christmas to really commit them to long term memory, then we can move onto memorizing and learning about the presidents.
Tristan (and Ana) are enjoying Code.org.
Our homeschool co-op is on break for the holidays. Tristan really enjoyed a math games class there; he has had more confidence in his lessons at home and is doing really well. Thank God for the support of other homeschool moms!
Tristan learned about storms in earth science this week.
Nana came for a visit and while I was out she read Max's Words, by Kate Banks and then the children collected words from magazines and made little stories out of their words. This activity challenged and entertained them for a few days. We may revisit this at some point. The challenge is collecting enough good words to make a story. It's work!! However, this is an excellent way to reinforce grammar and sentence structure!
Other Stories we enjoyed this week:
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis
Mazes Around the World, Mary Lankford
Finding Winnie, Lindsay Mattick (We now own this one. Thanks Nana!!)
Little Cloud and Lady Wind, Tony Morrison (Is it about the water cycle, or a lesson on contentment?)
Rembrandt and the boy who drew dogs, Molly Blaisdell
Changing Weather: Storms, Kelley MacAulay; Bobbie Kalman
Elmer's Weather, David McKee (I like to get board books related to the school topics to include Gwendolyn in our school day.)
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