SCHOOL STUFF SATURDAY

This week, we continued with our Civil War reading for history. Our favorite books right now are two biographies - the one on Robert E. Lee by Marrin, and one on Stonewall Jackson by Wilkins. We also read from Abraham Lincoln's World (just about finished with it), the American history encyclopedia, and a Landmark biography of Clara Barton. Big Girl is reading the appropriate parts of the Clarence Carson book and Robert E. Lee, the Christian. I know this would not go over well with more academically focused homeschoolers, but all we really do for history is read and discuss. I read the majority out loud. I asked the girls several times if they would like to each read their own books, or do their own history curriculum and they always say absolutely not. They love for us to all be reading the same things together. I love it, too, so there ya go. :-) They are actually learning and retaining, and anything that interests them, they will do further reading and research on all on their own. They often contribute extra information to our readings that they have learned elsewhere. What more could I ask for?

We read about Wagner from The Gift of Music this week. Wagner's specialty was operas, and he is most famous for his Bridal Chorus and Ride of the Valkyries (which you probably will recognize, whether you knew what it was or not.) He was definitely not a very nice or moral person and was greatly admired by Hitler later in history.

We continued to look at Monet paintings online, this being the girls' favorite for the week.

Little Girl started copying The Hobbit to practice her handwriting. It was her choice, and she does 15 minutes per day. She completed level 7 of CLE Language Arts, and will start level 8 next week. I am slowing her down to one lesson per week, split between two days. On alternate days, she will do her copywork for 20 minutes instead of 15. As I have said before, she reads several books at a time, one chapter per day of each. This week she finished another Walter Farley book (she is reading them all), Exploring the World Around You by Parker (a narrative science book), and Alice in Wonderland, which she labeled "interesting but weird."

Big Girl started Clarence Carson's Basic American Government book this week. She finished Dracula and wrote a short report on it. (Spoiler alert.)

Dracula

By Bram Stoker

A review

Time, Setting, and Location: Dracula was a novel set in Victorian England and Europe.

Author's Worldview: It's hard to say. Obviously, there was great evil and self-sacrificing good in the book, but the Vampires were victims as well as enemies. It was not their fault that they were what they were - another vampire had made them so. Even Dracula’s face, upon being killed, had a brief moment of peace as he was finally set free. Such objects as crucifixes and holy water and sacred wafers (I would dearly love to know how exactly the Professor got hold of them. He must have had some connections) were used along with garlic as a defensive against the vampires, but this could be more from the author using myths that were already in existence than from a Catholic worldview.

Who/what did you like? My favorite character was the Professor. This isn’t unexpected. I tend to like professor or archeologist characters. He was a foreigner and so didn’t speak English perfectly and sometimes messed up expressions, which made him endearing. He was the father figure of the group, trying to protect everyone. My second favorite character was Quincy the American. He was loyal to the end and, unfortunately, was killed off.

Who/What did you dislike? Nothing really. Every character fit in his proper place.

Was the book well written? Yes, or I would have never gotten through it.

Would you recommend it: Yes if the person can take a little bit of suspense.