A week in review

Well, I thought I would give you a view into a "normal" week for us.

We use Tapestry of Grace.... loosely like we do everything. If you haven't heard about this curriculum, you will get a pretty good feel of this program in the weeks to come. This week we have been studying to lead up to the Civil War.

Both kids read the book Trouble Don't Last, a great historical novel.. and one not listed in Tapestry, probably because it is too new. So, I squeezed it in. It is the story of a young slave boy and his escape from slavery to Canada(y). Both kids loved the book and it made the study of the Underground Railroad come to life. We also read what Tapestry actually suggested.... Kiera read Caddie Woodlawn, one of my favorite books growing up. (Unfortunately it is not one of her favorites.) And Ryan read the first half of Brady by Jean Fritz. He seems to be doing ok with it but it has not grabbed him.

We also watched the Nest Video on Harriet Tubman. We love this video series and thankfully the library carries many of them. These videos always inspire me. We also read a bit about her in our general book for the week... which covered the Underground Railroad and some of the tensions that lead up to the Civil War.

My son greatly enjoyed our reading on the first battle at Fort Sumter. The description was detailed enough to grab my military strategist of a son. Next week as we begin really studying the war in earnest he will get to use his civil war military figures and stage battles. This is one part of history he always seems to learn.

Of course, we began our study of Abraham Lincoln. Next week we hope to take a field trip to Springfield to the Lincoln Library and Museum. I hope to have a field trip every week during this time because we live in Illinois and there is so much here preserved about Lincoln around here.

We did not get to any art or hands on this week.... I don't expect to next week either. Hmmmm TOG lists many options... we might dig in and do some.... but probably not yet.

Sooooo that takes care of much of our week. But wait... that makes it sound like we don't do anything else... of course we do math and english and science.... but math and english are boring... in 2 weeks we will be starting a more hands on unit in my son's Biology. That will be fun. And in a month or two my daughter begins dissections... but not yet. So nothing really to write about... that is interesting to read, anyway.

Outside of school... we have begun working at the Republican campaign headquarters a few days a week. Next week is also 4H and we are having company... so it will be a full week.