Wednesday, October 24, 2007

43

I didn't expect to have much to report today. We began with E's piano lesson--she played very well and her teacher gave her some challenging sheet music to start learning--which as I told her is a real compliment from a teacher, when they want to challenge you, it means they think you're good enough to need a challenge. Then, as promised last week, we went to the McWane Science Center for a few hours. I tend to think of the place as more fun than science, but I'm sure they do pick up some bits of education here and there, and who said fun was bad anyway? They do have some good resources for later when we are studying magnetism and electricity, and I plan on attending their volcano show next month when we're doing Rome (and Pompeii). So we got home around 1:30, tired and a little cranky (or maybe that was just me) and I told them we didn't have to do any more school today and sat down to read the paper. A few minutes go by, and lo and behold, they come and actually ask to do school! Well, that made me very happy! So E narrated another Heraclean task: "The Huge Wild Boar" from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children. Frankly, I had thought these tasks would have more magic to them, but they seem mostly to be about strength, and to a lesser extent, some craftiness. Anyway, then I read the story of Helios and Phaethon from the Amery book (we read it in the D'Aulaires' book yesterday) and we found out that when the chariot went too high, it scarred the heavens and made the Milky Way, and when it went too low is how deserts were created. Which is why I love reading the same stories in both books--each book has something to offer that the other one doesn't have. Then we read about Pan and the nymphs and river gods, Echo and Narcissus, and Syrinx and the first panpipes, and Daphne and Apollo from the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I read What the Moon is Like by Franklyn M. Branley, and E did her math while T watched Peep. Then E did two pages of the grammar workbook, and I gave her a choice: free time, work on weaving her mat (started yesterday) or a GeeArt lesson. I really expected her to choose GeeArt, or, if she was tired, free time, but to my surprise she chose to weave. Kids always find ways to confound our expectations.

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