Last weekend I accompanied my husband on a business trip to Indianapolis. We love visiting the city that we used to live in for ten years! His brother and sister-in-law kept our kids on the north side of town, and we stayed in a fancy hotel downtown. We enjoyed a celebratory dinner with my sister for her new job that Friday night and a delicious meal with my husband's business associates on Saturday evening, both at upscale steak houses. I gained a few pounds before returning home! Here are photos from the weekend.
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| D & I get ready for our HUGE brownie Sundae! |
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| Me, M, my sister H |
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| The view of the Monumental Marathon from my hotel window |
In our homeschool this week…
Monday is always busy, but we so enjoy seeing our friends at Classical Conversations and getting our week going off on the right track! My tutor friends did not feel as "perky" on Monday morning as I did, but I told them it was truly because I was so happy to see them and not be at home all day! It is helpful to start our week off with friends. The rest of the week we worked hard at home and I was happy to be there, but it is encouraging to spend Mondays with friends. During CC Cycle 3, Week 8, we learned about the Missouri Compromise, the circulatory system, more Latin nouns, English grammar, U.S. states & capitals, and we skip counted by 14's. I am thankful for the CC Audio CD with songs to help us with our memory work! Our skills with the tin whistle are improving, too!
This week we finally completed our read aloud, "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch". It was a great book of adventures and lots of information about ships and navigation in early America. This book also provides a fine example of a man who educated himself through the tools of learning, much like the Classical education model. My daughter also finished reading "A Rebecca Mystery: Bundle of Trouble". This American Girl mystery was the first book without pictures that she has really been eager to read. I think she might want to find another mystery, because it held her interest.
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| Reviewing Latin vocabulary and geography |
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| Our CC Journeymen Class |
I am inspired by…
The recent Veteran's Day on 11/11/11. Many people were writing tributes and thank you notes on facebook for our Veterans. The Children's Coordinator at our church had the kids make thank you cards out of red and blue construction paper on Wednesday evening and then they handed them out today during our church worship service. My accompanist for my adult church choir and her husband also put together a video of pictures that they have taken from around our country and added it as a visual presentation while I led the choir in a medley of songs today called, "Heritage of Faithfulness". When I turned around to lead the congregation in singing "America the Beautiful" with the choir, everyone stood, choir members were tearing up, and the we were all touched by something special. We appreciate the blessings that God has granted our nation and the freedom that we have to sing His praises! We also are grateful to those men and women who have served our country and kept it free. We have been studying American history again this year and it reminds me of the blessings that we have here in this land!
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| B's card for the Veterans |
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
I took B to try out a new gymnastics center near our house this week. She has not taken gymnastics for about two years and the owner of this facility was her first gymnastics teacher at another location. We liked what we saw and she tried a class this week. It is a workout for her and she was sore the next day, but I think it is exactly what she needs! Her coach was also positive and encouraging. She tried some things that she was nervous about, but kept a great attitude and didn't even cry. A couple of years ago, she would not have had the confidence to do that. This will be a good winter activity for her and will help her body to stay in shape during the cold weather. She also wanted to practice at home!
I also took my daughter to see our local public high school's performance of "High School Musical". It was a great show, lots of fun, and we enjoyed the familiar music! We knew quite a few of the teens in the show, which was fun, too. "I'm soarin', flyin'!"
My favorite thing this week was…
That moment when I turned around to see the congregation begin singing and standing with the choir. I almost choked up, too!
Questions/thoughts I have…
Do any of you study Latin? What Latin programs do you or your kids enjoy? Are you finding a Latin program that works well for you? Do any of you have experience teaching Latin to a child with dyslexia or dysgraphia?
I studied Latin in high school, because my parents made me take it as a freshman. I thought I would take it for a year and then learn a "spoken" language, however, I ended up enjoying it and taking it for three years. It was helpful to me later in college as a voice major when I had to learn to sing in Italian and Spanish. My husband took Spanish in high school and college and does use it occasionally.
We purchased Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish for our children two years ago and have had them doing beginner lessons with that. Now, we are studying Latin in Classical Conversations and I can see how it might be easier to focus on only one foreign language. My dyslexic child says that he doesn't like the Rosetta Stone Spanish and I wonder it is not the right method for him, because he is learning how to spell and read English in a different way than the "immersion" method that Rosetta Stone uses. I think that Latin would be a good language for him to learn because most of the letter sounds are consistent and there are not as many changing vowels or consonants as in English.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
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| My sister, the birthday girl, and her sleepy boy |
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| D, B, & J in his Perry the Platypus T-shirt |
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| B in her Phineas and Ferb T-shirt, J, and Me |
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