We are still working at getting caught up after the snows and the concussion which so derailed our regularly scheduled programming. But at this point I'm only about a week behind, and the best part is, I'm OK with it!
SOOO-
We have finished our selections of poet James Whitcombe Reily. I'm going to miss "The Hoosier Poet". MeiWei loved hearing my attempt at reading poetry in the Mid-western twang that he invoked his works with through his unique spellings.
(This is the poetry book I still have from my childhood. Excellent! I don't know why this link calls it "MORE Poems" The title is just what the cover says.)
MeiWei completed Unit 27 of Math U See: Subtracting Money with Regrouping. She always says she hates math. I always counter with, "But you get A's most every time!" Now I've been pointing out that being good at math is a pre-requisite to the sciences, so if she wants to be a vet like she says, she better keep up the good work. Today, I sided with her that she didn't have to LIKE it, but that what she was doing with arithmetic was laying a "good foundation", just like learning her phonics led to reading. Maybe that will strike a chord.
We're almost through The Wind in the Willows. We got really behind on that during the Snow-pocalypse, so this week I laid all other reading aside and just worked on that. It is TOUGH reading. I cannot figure out what age range Kenneth Grahame had in mind when he wrote this "children's book". MeiWei is blessed, if I do say, to have it read aloud (and explained at times). I have a different voice for each of the characters and love doing a British accent whenever I have the opportunity. I like to think through the character when I choose a voice. For instance, I base Toad's voice on Hugh Laurie's interpretation of Bertie Wooster from the Masterpiece version of P.D. Wodehouse's "Jeeves and Wooster" because both characters are upper-crust, ding-dong, ne'er-do-wells. So, even though some of his descriptive passages weigh her down, she pleads with me to keep reading because "It's getting really interesting!"
(The illustrations in this version are spectacular. I find myself feasting on the detail.)
MeiWei wrote (narrated) an excellent book review of The Little Duke. She LOVED this book, something I never would have guessed. Come on!: boys, and knights, and castles, and 13th C Normandy? And the 19th C writing style? For a girl? But she would beg me to read more. (BTW, to be honest, not so in the beginning.) She said her most fav part was the Norman protectors fending off the French in the tower. Her least? When the little duke's dad, William "Longsword", is killed. Awwww.
She has put together her Ancient Egypt lapbook , and minus the cover, it looks great. She really gets into these lapbooks. I'm glad we have started incorporating them. Perfect for a reluctant writer and a great way to show off her knowledge. It will look impressive at the Closing Program night!
A couple of nice nature walks during a blessed streak of gorgeous weather pretty much rounded out the week for some Natural History. We've kept our eyes open for the first flowers of spring--wildflowers that is--and today sniffed skunk cabbage. Not one of the better signs of spring, at least nasally.
Head on over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to meet more like us!
