We solved the mystery! Sir I. and I have been doing Journey North’s Mystery Class in which we used photoperiod data and interdisciplinary clues to find the names and locations of ten mystery sites along the globe. There was a lot more math involved in this class than I’d expected, but it helps that Sir I. is a good calculator. David came to our rescue for a couple of the clues, with the result that we got ALL the mystery sites. Woohoo.
Oil pastels and soft pastels, mmm, mmm: Move over crayons and sidewalk chalk! The kids have been drawing and coloring with oil and soft pastels this week. Miss M. drew her apocalyptic scenario, Sir I. spent a lot of time coloring his nighttime sky a deep rich black, and the Baron made an abstract composition entitled “Blue”.
Fledgling Literary Analysis: I read aloud Marguerite de Angeli’s The Door in the Wall to Sir I. and Miss M. Since the titular “door” and “wall” in the title are mostly metaphorical, Sir I. and I had a good discussion about symbols, problems and solutions, and expectations. It’s pretty neat to hear Sir I. think at that level.
And to round things out, here’s some homeschool humor:
Hmm, that last picture on the bottom looks an awful lot like my schoolroom–but it can’t be because we’re sadly short of bookshelves these days!
Happy Friday!
Love the graphic! Not sure you know that we homeschool too. Email if you ever want to chat about it.
I remember you mentioning it. 🙂 Thanks for the offer of the chat; I’ll probably take you up on it sometime. 😀
Yay for mystery solving! I’m fascinated by your home schooling stuff, as that world is completely foreign to me. The graphic about sums it up! LOL! Which is why I love reading these posts about the process and the incredible things young minds can grasp and conceive. Give me hope for the future!
Thanks, Deb. I don’t write about homeschooling on the blog much, but it is a huge and important part of my life. I’m glad that even non-homeschoolers enjoy my infrequent updates. 🙂
Homeschooling sounds so much fun! I’d love to come and join in 😀
We don’t seem to do homeschooling over here so much. It sounds very hard work but you get to be with your kids and see them learn. That has to be a plus. You know what they are learning so that has to be a plus too.
Those mystery sites round the globe sound fascinating.
Notice I only post the homeschool *highlights*. I don’t talk too much about math drills and copywork sentences (of which we do plenty). I try to make it fun, but sometimes I have to settle for painless instead. 😉
Copywork sentences. Is that the name of the misery my daughter’s going through now? 😉
LOL! Say what you will about copywork sentences, but my 7yo has been doing them for three years and I think they are responsible for the way he’s internalized the mechanics of grammar and why his own sentence structure can be so sophisticated. I’m a big believer in copywork (and now, dictation :D). And reading aloud lots of classic children’s literature. 😀