Lower Grammar
We enjoyed reading the story of the song Silent Night. The book TOG recommends includes information not only about the beginnings of the song, but also other stories associated with it. One such story is about the Christmas truce that happened in 1914 in the trenches during World War I. That story touched me so we also read Christmas in the Trenches by folk singer John McCutcheon. Youtube has various videos that feature the song by the same title.
Presidential card for James Monroe. In the interest in saving paper, John Quincy Adams is also included.
Here's a poem from Mother Owl:
Monroe Doctrine The famous Monroe Doctrine
Was proclaimed by James Monroe,
When he was our country's president,
Many years ago.
He said if any nation
Should plainly show intent
To set up a form of government
Upon our continent,
Such act he would consider
Sufficient cause for war,
And proceed to give intruders
What they were looking for.
So Uncle Sam approved it all,
And posted on a card
A warning to all nations
"Keep out of my back yard."
Ethan's Facts to Know:
*Pedro II was the 2nd and last emperor of Brazil.
The Amazon River is the 2nd longest river in the world.
Brazil has many coffee and sugar cane plantations.
James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States.
The Monroe Doctrine told Europe to Keep Out! of America.
*Copywork available by clinking on link above.
Dialectic Zachary finished Frankenstein in two weeks and I've decided to go off schedule for literature for a short while. We are working through a mini-unit on Charles Dickens, starting with an unabridged version of David Copperfield. Zach and I are reading along as we listen to a version purchased from audible.com, narrated by Frederic Davidson, it is excellent.
I'm hoping to pull together a study guide and if I manage to get it done I'll post it. It will include some literary analysis, vocabulary, and essay questions.
After we finish David Copperfield (all 36 hours and 17 minutes!), Zach will read "A Christmas Carol" on his own, we will discuss, and that should bring us to Christmas break, during which we plan on watching movies based on the previous reads, along with Oliver Twist. Then I think we will be Dickensed-out.
Grammar
This week's literature, Ox Cart Man, provided an opportunity for discussions about life on a 19th century farm and economy. We completed page 7 of a free Progeny Press study guide we found on the internet; basically students need to list which activities are done in which month(s).
Ethan's Facts to Know:
*Jose de San Martin was a general from Argentina who fought for independence from Spain.
Bolivia was named for Simon Bolivar.
The Andes Mountains are on the west side of South America.
Gauchos are the cowboys of South America.
*Copywork available by clinking on link above.
Rhetoric
For literature this week we read not only Goethe's version of the tale of Faust, but a few short stories including The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving. Washington Irving is scheduled for week 9 rhetoric reading and perhaps you'd like to read it then. We also watched The Devil and Daniel Webster available from Netflix. In addition, on November 22 we will go to our local movie theater to view La Damnation de Faust live in HD. It may be playing near you, check it out! Thank you Janice in NJ for mentioning it.
All
Check out this very interesting South American travel blog that contains lots of video, especially wildlife on the continent.
Lower Grammar
This week began our mini-unit study of South America. I put together a South American Lotto game. I made it slightly different from the directions in TOG, instead of matching pictures, students need to match the card with the correct answer on their playing board. Make two copies of the cards and one copy of the boards, there are four boards.
I'm not sure how long it will be available, but I really can't say enough good things about the book South America: the Continent and Its Countries by Lauren Rohwer. Get it while you can.
Ethan's Facts to Know:
*Simon Bolivar is known as the George Washington of South America.
Antonio de La Sucre was a general who fought for South American Independence.
The capybara is the world's largest rodent.
Venezuela means "little Venice."
Columbia is named after Christopher Columbus
*Johnny Appleseed's real name was John Chapman.
*Copywork available by clinking on link above.
Dialectic
Weeks 7-9 have information students need to gather for all the countries in South America, but week 8 is the only week that includes a chart in the dialectic SAPs. I used the 3 way comparison supplement found on the Loom under Helps For All Year Plans:Dialectic/Rhetoric Helps. The teacher's notes has a filled in chart in each week's discussion script.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric Literature - We took a short rabbit trail into the life of the notorious surgeon William Lucas. I can certainly see why Keats chose a different profession.
Grammar:
We colored a president card for James Madison this week. I bundled it with Jefferson so you may have it from week 4, but if not download here.
Ethan's facts to know:
James Madison was the 4th president of the United States.
James Madison served for 2 terms.
Madison's nickname: The Father of the Constitution
The war of 1812 lasted till 1815
It is also known as Mr. Madison's War.
Tecumseh was a great chief of the Shawnee Indians.
Tecumseh fought with the British in the War of 1812 and died in battle.
Francis Scott Key wrote a poem that became the "Star Spangled Banner," our National Anthem
The U.S.S. Constitution won many naval battles and was nicknamed Old Ironsides.
The Battle of New Orleans happened after the war was over.
The National Park Service has some useful lesson plans on Fort McHenry, including the complete words to the Star Spangled Banner, short bio on Frances Scott Key, and history of the fort.
Building Our Nation has a portion on the fall of Aaron Burr. Download here.
Ethan's Facts to Know:
The Constitution was written in 1787
The three parts of the Constitution are The Preamble, The Articles and the Amendments.
There are three branches of government in the US; the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch.
Article 1 of the Constitution deals with the Legislative Branch
Article 2 of the Constitution deals with the Executive Branch
Article 3 of the Constitution deals with the Judicial Branch
The Legislative Branch makes the laws
The Executive Branch enforces the laws
The Judicial Branch makes sure the laws are not against the Constitution
Congress is part of the Legislative Branch
The President is part of the Executive Branch
The Supreme Court is part of the Judicial Branch
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the US
There are nine judges on the Supreme Court, one is the chief justice
John Marshall was the 4th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Thomas Jefferson's home is called Monticello which means little mountain
Dialectic/Grammar:
We reviewed the writing of the Constitution this week, Ben and Zack memorized The Preamble.
Building Our Nation had surprising little information about Jefferson or Lewis and Clark, but I typeset what was available. Download here.
I am keeping an ongoing list of facts I want Ethan (1st grade) to know each week. We review them often. I will post them here each week. Ethan's Facts to Know:
Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd President of the United States
Thomas Jefferson was president for 2 terms
During Jefferson's first term he bought land from France known as The Louisiana Purchase.
Napoleon was Emperor of France when Jefferson purchased Louisiana Territory
Merriwether Lewis and William Clark explored the Louisiana Territory and beyond, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Sacajawea and her husband helped guide Lewis and Clark
Dialectic and Rhetoric
Zach (dialectic) is learning a minuet by Mozart. We downloaded the sheet music from Piano Street. There are a limited number of free, well known pieces on Piano Street, sheet music and mp3. Here's a video on Youtube with someone playing the piece.
We are watching Pride and Prejudice (CFV) as a family for the first time ever, of course I have seen it many times, but the male members usually flee when I put it on, not this time.
Grammar and Dialectic
The first antique school book I ever purchased was Building the Nation by Charles C. Coffin. It is a bit of a narrative history book that I think is excellent for grammar stage and a nice read for dialectic. The vocabulary is rich and some terms are outdated and might need explanation (e.g., go to meeting instead of church.) Mr. Coffin incorporates his Christian worldview into the text. I think I will be posting a lot from this book, at least through unit 3.
This week's excerpt is on the Industrial Revolution, download here.
Dialectic and Rhetoric
Ben and Zach are working on the Invention project scheduled for dialectic students for the next seven weeks. Both are required to write a biographical report and create a display board, for extra credit they make make a small scale version of a invention produced by their inventor.
Philosophy ~ This week covered the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. We enhanced our studies with online resources (Scott Somerville suggested this site) and Peter Kreeft, who has a wonderful CD available called What Would Socrates Do?The CD includes various philosophers through the ages and deals with ethics; the lecture on Kant is called Being Good and Being Fair: The Ethics of Kant. Also, available for free is an article written for The National Catholic Register called The Pillars of Unbelief, which includes a piece on Kant.
Lower Grammar
In addition to copy work and Primary Language Lessons, I am using Writing Aids with Ethan. We pull words from our reading from the week for his word bank cards. We also memorized this poem about grammar:
A noun's the name of anything; As, school or garden, hoop or swing.
Adjectives tell the kind of noun; As, great, small, pretty, white, or brown. Three of these words we often see, Called articles - a, an, and the.
Instead of nouns the pronouns stand; John's head, his face, my arm, your hand.
Verbs tell of something being done; As read, write, spell, sing, jump, or run.
How things are done the adverbs tell; As, slowly, quickly, ill, or well. They also tell us where and when; As here, and there, and now, and then.
A preposition stands before A noun; as in, or through, a door.
Conjunctions sentences unite; As kittens scratch and puppies bite.
The interjection shows surprise; As, O, how pretty! Ah, how wise!
Dialectic and Rhetoric PBS produced a film in 2000 chronicling the life of Napoleon. It is very good and available on Netflix. The web site linked provides some helpful information for students and some useful lesson plans if you have the time, which we didn't. We also spent some time, more time in fact, over at the BBC web site. There you will find articles and interactive content that will enrich your student's week.
We spent a marvelous eight days in Walt Disney World and our start day for school was delayed. Of course this means we jumped right into school, were shocked back into reality, and didn't get to everything I hoped. Hopefully you will find something useful here :-)
Lower Grammar
You all probably know about the wonderful coloring pages that whitehouse.gov offers, but I'll link them anyway. I am using the coloring pages for Ethan's presidential flash cards, I reduced them to half size and printed them on card stock. Ethan colored Washington and Adams as we reviewed the first presidents of our country. The information we added on the back was very simple since Ethan is only in 1st grade. You can download the cards here to print yourself, if you want more information on the back simply use my front and design your own back.
I found a great old book that I have a feeling I'll be using a lot this year. It's called "Mother Owl's Rhymes" by Kate Perkinson Howard. I'll let the book's introduction speak for itself:
Mother Owl is a wise old bird;
She said: "Now, what's the use
Of learning all the silly things
We find in Mother Goose?
Why not teach children things
Worth while, a rhyme, a fact, a rule,
To store away within the mind
Before they go to school?
'Twill help them up the rugged path
Of learning's hill to climb;
For things we learn in childhood
We remember for all time."
I offer you this little book,
I hope to please you well,
And if it does, 'twill not offend
The author if you tell.
I wish it had some illustrations, but will be content with the lovely rhymes. This week Ethan worked on a piece called "Geography." You can download it here.
Dialectic and Rhetoric
We started a Year 3 co-op. Yipee! I am the leader of the dialectic and rhetoric discussions. I didn't prepare any extras this week though, too busy. I hope to add some in the coming weeks.
This blog is a look into our homeschooling journey as we use Tapestry of Grace. You'll also find stories from various books I have collected that are now in the public domain and real life slipping in occasionally. Most posts from the public domain books have a pdf that you may download and print. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
