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"A baby needs not to be taught a trade, but to be introduced to the world."
- G. K. Chesterton
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What We Did, October 8-20
Bible: David and Jonathan, Saul pursuing David, David becomes king, David and Bathsheba.
Memory: Exodus 20:1-11. D2 is really picking this up. In fact, when the pastor announced last Sunday that he was going to read the passage, D2 immediately started reciting it! (Of course, that made it hard to reprimand him for talking in church . . . )
Song: "Now Thank We All Our God" We did this last Thanksgiving, but only the first verse. This year I want to do them all.
I keep wanting to teach the ducklings songs as an introduction to foreign languages, but the language I want to teach them is Spanish, and the only thing I know to sing in Spanish is "La cucaracha, la cucaracha, something, something, something else." So instead I am teaching them "Hodu l'adonai, ki tov" which is "Give thanks to the Lord, He is good" in Hebrew.
Also we are learning "The Fox Went out on a Chilly Night" thanks to Peter Spier.
Books:
Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Trees, by Jim Arnosky: They're still a little young for Crinkleroot, but I'll try again soon. It certainly made me feel like going for a walk with some trees. I'm starting to know the trees around here.
A Medieval Feast, by Aliki. I really got this to preview for a few years down the road, but they have enjoyed it greatly right now. (It is about food, after all.) Maybe when we study the middle ages again, they'll have small siblings ready to enjoy it.
The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night, by Peter Spier. Very fun illustrations. The moon helps, too. D2 latched onto this book the instant we checked it out. After much labor, I think I have the tune down. You would think after years and years of music I could pick up tunes quickly, but it's still a long, slow labor.
As the Crow Flies, by Gail Hartman: Another map book, this time showing important points to various animals.
Homeplace, by Anne Shelby: Beautiful book. I'm usually crying by the end. It traces a family farm through seven generations, with simple text and intricate illustrations that show the changes over two centuries.
Harald and the Great Stag, by Donald Carrick: Another one I was checking out for future use that they latched onto, probably because of the deer. A very cool story, and nice to see a children's treatment of the Middle Ages from a peasant's perspective.
Long Night Moon, by Cynthia Rylant. Another moon book! This one goes through Native American names for the different moons of the year. Some of the poetic phrases strike me a bit oddly, but the ducklings love it. We were all making up our own moon names later: The "Tuber Moon," which shines on fields of potatoes. The "Kicker Moon," in November, shines on late evening football games.
A B C, by Alison Jay: Another lovely book. I'm sort of in a lull with any reading-related activities with D1, until she grasps sounding out better, so I like having a nice alphabet book once in a while to reinforce the basic sounds.
Observations:
D1 has gotten much more comfortable with drawing lately (no longer complaining that she "doesn't know how.") Maybe coloring has helped, maybe watching her friend draw, maybe big drawing outside with chalk. I drew a house plan on the driveway and she would draw various things inside. Another time she wanted me to draw her a bus, and then she drove around in it.
D2 finds walking on the piles of dirt a real challenge, so I'm very glad we've been digging them up for him to work on. Nobody ever brings this up, but one very important thing toddlers get outside that they never get inside is a chance to walk on rough terrain. The rest of the time outside, he's still glued to the seat of his tricycle.
Activities:
Hiked through the woods, waded in streams, and gathered leaves and nuts. Repeat this one several times; it's been cool enough for us to be outside a lot. We're going to try curing our own black walnuts this year, thanks to my friend who is a more daring and persistent scavenger.
Made an apple pie and saw the world, finally. They loved mixing everything, and wow was it a good pie.
Dug in the dirt. Their Majesties visited and one of the things we did while they were visiting was start digging up part of the back for a raspberry bed.
Played with poker chips (Hey, it's a great early math activity. D1 declared she could make a "person" with five chips, and then would figure out how many more she wanted for whatever. Or stack them in different rows.)
Bought a huge globe at a thrift store, so now we can talk about where places are even easier.
Went to a campfire along the river and cooked hot dogs over the flames. D1 made a connection with the pictures in Homeplace and people cooking over open fires. |
Posted: 12:19 PM, Oct. 22, 2007 |
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