Ambleside: Week 3 Review

Dragonfly pond at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve.

We had a great homeschooling week this week. I woke up Monday and decided to haul everyone, against their will, outside for a walk. (Why yes, it was because they were already driving each other and, therefore, me crazy and it wasn't even 9:00 in the morning .Why do you ask?) Walk = torture = judgmental comments from old people = check. But that walk turned into climbing trees. Which was awesome. And then, while hanging from the trees we noticed some dragonflies that were resting on the bushes. Which led to up close inspection and, finally, petting their wings. And noticing all kinds of interesting things about them. Cue nature study and our topic for the week.

Skip to Friday and our weekly hike--this time to Reedy Creek Nature Preserve and Dragonfly Pond Trail. Perfect.

There is nothing like watching your three children flying down a trial in the woods. Noticing them noticing things around them. Helping them to be silent for a few minutes and realize that you couldn't hear a single other human being. Incredible.

It was a good week. For all of us. We ALL learned stuff this week. And that's my favorite.

Summary of this week's reading:
An Island Story: chapter 2 "The Coming of the Rom

ans"-- I'm not sure how much my kids grasped from this story, but we've talked a few times about the idea of a "Standard", as used in the story. I'm wondering if I can apply this to a Family Home Evening lesson about standards--who sets them, why, and how we fight to keep them.
Fifty Famous Stories Retold: "The Brave Three Hundred"
The kids loved this story. We read the story, then watched Part 1 of the documentary on the Battle of Thermopylae on YouTube. They've requested the story several times since.
Aesop's Fables:
"The Boy and the Filberts" (pg. 12 in the Milo Winter version)
"Hercules and the Wagoner" (pg. 13 in the Milo Winter version)
Blue Fairy Book: "The Glass Slipper"
Paddle to the Sea: chapter 3 and project.
Nature Study: Dragonflies and damselflies, observed at the ponds by our home; continued on a nature hike at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve--Dragonfly Lake Trail.

Artist Study: Delacroix's "Entrance of the Crusaders Into Constantinople"
Composer Study: Beethove
New this week: Explode the Code (phonics)
Fell to the wayside this week: morning devotional, daily poetry reading.

Ambleside: Week 3 Planning

Coming up in week 3 (ohpleaseohplease let me do a better job than this week!)...

Reading:
The Bible and Hymn
"Nearer My God to Thee"
3rd Commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4th Commandment: Thou shalt remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

An Island Story: chapter 2 "The Coming of the Romans"

Fifty Famous Stories Retold: "The Brave Three Hundred"
The story of the Spartans taking a stand against the Persian Army and how 300 brave men killed 20,000 Persian soldiers. As I read this, two lines stood out to me:
"No, we will be free."
"To the Spartans there was no such thing as fear."

Aesop's Fables:
"The Boy and the Filberts" (pg. 12 in the Milo Winter version)
"Hercules and the Wagoner" (pg. 13 in the Milo Winter version)

Blue Fairy Book: "Beauty and the Beast" OR "The Glass Slipper"

A Child's Garden of Verses: a poem every day

Paddle to the Sea: chapter 3
This week's chapter is when the ice melts slowly, forming a canyon, until Paddle actually begins his journey to the sea. The little boy gets there just in time to see his boat start down the hill. I think I will freeze a large block of ice that we can place on the table in the morning and watch how it melts--evenly and unevenly throughout the day.

Nature Study

Artist Study

Composer Study

Foreign Language