Monday, Books, and Quotes

Monday in November feels like a Monday from April or May.. It is geeeeorgous outside so what better place to be today. The kids did thier bookwork this morning (math,journal, handwriting, and spelling) and then I let them just have free time. They played outside, hide and seek, swinging, a game they invented called the monkey is loose, and climbing the tree. At lunch time they watched a sesame street video that is designed for use by people who are trying to learn English, but it works great too if you are learning spanish. After lunch they played some more outside. They had a little more "free play" time today but I know the days are coming when we wont be able to be outside very much..and we will be sitting by the fire reading all day :) ..

I declared PE over and we all sat outside under our big pecan tree while I read, then Catherine read to us, then Taylor.. It was great fun but we ran out of time. It is now quiet time and all the kids are in thier spots with books. After quiet time we will have time for Kamie and Kaleb to read their books to us. (Below are the books we read today)

Poetry for Young People: Robert Browning (three poems)
Poetry for Young People: Rudyard Kipling (two poems)

Sir Cumference and the first round table : a math adventure
Neuschwander, Cindy.
Assisted by his knight, Sir Cumference, and using ideas offered by his wife and son, King Arthur finds the perfect shape for his table. (Ruthies note:his wife is Princess Di of Ameter and his son is named Radius)

Amanda Bean's amazing dream : a mathematical story 1st ed.
Neuschwander, Cindy.
Amanda Bean loves to count everything, from the books in the library to the popcorn in her bowl. If only she could count faster! Her teacher tries to persuade her of the virtues of multiplication, but Amanda remains unconvinced--until she has an amazing dream. Full color.

When Pigasso met Mootisse (Catherine read this one to us)
Laden, Nina.
Pigasso, a talented pig, and Mootisse, an artistic bull, live across the road from one another, but when conflicts arise they build fences that ultimately become modern art masterpieces. Includes biographies of the real-life artists, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

It's quacking time (Taylor read this one to us)
Waddell, Martin.
Duckling has never seen a duck egg before and finds it hard to believe that a baby duck can fit inside! Martin Waddell, recipient of the 2004 Hans Christian Andersen Medal, and Jill Barton, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, create a ducky celebration of springtime and family

I love it when learning is just a way of life and done without even knowing it.. when it is just natural.. Last week we went to the zoo and Catherine hopped out of the car with notepad and paper so she could jot down the names and scientic names of the animals. Then last night I sent the kids to bed.. she went to bed with paper and pencil and came back a few minutes later with a paper half full of math problems she has made up and solved.
I hear from Kaleb one of his most favorite board games now is Mancala.. a game from ancient Africa. What fun!

here are some links we have been enjoying lately:

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/toc.htm
this is a site to calculate how much youweight and how old you are on other planets.. there is
also a section to make a Icosahedron .. a threeD form of all the planets.. just print and glue together..NOW this also has film and other stuff and a little part I saw talked about a big explosion but you can just edit that out or whatever.. the rest seems good..

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2005-06/programs/students.jsp
Harvard anyone? this is a link to a site which explains that Harvard has an extension program for secondary homeschooled students..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/phonics/index.shtml
this is a phonic site .. the boys loved it.

http://classicfairytales.com/en/main
this is an animated story telling site.. has fairy tales and folk tales.. cute!

I am constantly amazed at the resources I can find for FREE! on the web or at the library in the form of books..

So.. I was in the mood for some quotes on Education.. here are a few good ones..

Cicero
Learning is a kind of natural food for the mind.

Derek Curtis Bok
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

Smiley Blanton
A sense of curiosity is nature's original school of education.

John Holt
...since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to