Week 5 ~ Mostly On the Banks of Plum Creek

On My Mind ~ I am glad that we finally came to a decision about dance this fall.  We are going to put the kids into dance and prepare for the Nutcracker.  Hopefully, Timothy's surgery will not interfere with the performance season, but if it does, we are ready to relocate and be his support team.  It is a relief that our little dance studio understands that we cannot make a definite commitment this year.  Goldilocks also will be in the homeschool choir, and Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Sawyer will be in homeschool chess class.

The World of Charlotte Mason ~ In years past I have had difficulty getting Shakespeare into the kids lives (as Charlotte Mason so strongly suggests).  This year I wanted to make sure that we were getting exposure to Shakespeare, which I happen to love.  Our local city does Shakespeare plays in the park each summer for the nominal fee of a donation.  This year we decided to go even though it was King Richard II (not anyone's favorite in our family).  The stage was very impressive and the kids were excited to be out at night.  I told the kids the synopsis and told them to try to hear as many delicious words or phases as they could.  That is one of the joys of Shakespeare, is it not?  Little Red Riding Hood was still not impressed, but the others found some enjoyment in the storyline. 

Some of the lines the kids caught (at least parts of) ~

• Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest
• Desolate, desolate, will I hence and die; The last leave of thee, take my weeping eye.
• So be thy fortune in this royal fight
• Too far in years to be pupil now!

I am pleased with their first Shakespeare experience and look forward to taking them next summer.  Next time, I'll find out what the play is in advance and spend some time learning the play with them in more detail.

After the play we went to slide down the really tall slide in the dark at the park around the corner.  Sliding at night adds a whole new level of excitement.

Our Unit Study ~  We finished our study of On the Banks of Plum Creek .  Below are the projects we did to accompany the book.

• Made dry fruit
• Did individual book reports
• Played cat's cradle and other string games
• Drew the food chain of a grasshopper
• Watched YouTube videos on water purification
• Studied a willow tree
• Learned geography terms
• Studied lichen
• Talked about water safety in a river and a pool
• Made instant snow with polymers
• Ate plums and turnips
• Made a button string
• Used Draw Write Now to learn how to draw horses and barns
• Played in a stream
• Had a mini-Christmas celebration
• Made a food bag and donated it to the hungry

What Is Working ~ I love my new to me "to go" bag.  We spend lots of time on the road, and with "out of the home" classes starting in a few days, it will be nothing but busier.  This great bag has so many pockets.  I can fit all of the kids' stuff, snacks and my own reading/to do work. 

Counting Blessings ~ I am so thankful that we built our lives around a small radius of our home.  I do drive in a lot of circles, but I am able to get everyone where they need to be, and we are doing much better than expected with one car.  I am glad to be getting such good mileage with our little car now that gas prices are going up.  Little Red Riding Hood was discharged (for now) from physical therapy.  She has lots of exercises to do at home.  I had the opportunity to go out to dinner with seven women in our adoption support group this week. 

Blessings, Dawn