Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Snow Days


It has been a peaceful week of snow play and relaxed home school. So much more gets accomplished around here when we don't have the option of bustling around town for classes. Vivienne is enjoying her Russian Fairy Tale block, with thanks to Mrs. Marsha's free files. In fact, she is planning a Matryoshka theme for her birthday party this year. Mia is busy with learning North American Geography. Yesterday she cooked Boston Bean Soup and  Colonial Brown bread, delicious! It is quite a task to cover the whole continent and it will take us several blocks to do so. But one thing that I find about home schooling using the lesson blocks, is that the themes of previous lessons tend to carry through the year and enliven daily activities. We will continue our geography game Scrambled States of America, cooking regional foods, listening to American folk music, learning about Native American tribes, reading American poets, and so on, long after we have moved to the next block.  I am awed by how often the Norse Myths jump out at me since our grade four block, and Ancient India continues to deepen my understanding of the world. No doubt about it, home school is an education for myself and my kids. If you want a fun pop culture version of the Ramayana to enjoy, check out Sita Sings the Blues, it streams from the artist, Nina Paley's website for free.  I would not recommend it for kids, but the music is terrific and there is a fun dialogue that happens in the narration.




1 comment:

Tonya Gunn said...

Your days sound wonderful.