This week in history, we have been reading about the 1840s. Big Girl is still reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. She finished up A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Little Girl finished up a Frederick Douglass biography and a book about Sutter's Fort. Together we finished up one book on the Oregon Trail and a book about the early life of Charles Dickens. We are continuing in several other books.
I am still reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and have just started on A History of the American People by Paul Johnson. I was reading More than Conquerers, a commentary on Revelation, but could no longer take his seemingly random interpretations and symbolism. Like when he said the woman with the sun, moon, and a crown of 12 stars who gave birth to the male child represented the church of all time! I don't think I have ever heard it interpreted any way other than that this woman represents Israel, from which Christ came, which is the only thing that makes any sense at all! That was enough for me. Wish I hadn't wasted my money.
Big Girl finished The Story of Art by Gombrich. She really enjoyed that book, but said she hated the modern art when she got to that part. I have to agree with her. A bunch of blobs and scribbles does not make art, no matter who says so. Unless, perhaps, you are three years old. She continues to work on her fan fiction stories, and has some ideas for some stories of her own, which I am hoping she will do some day. She gave up on the guitar and has been practicing on the keyboard. She says she likes it much better because you can play the actual melody and don't have to sing in order to recognize the song. She also commented that, with the keyboard, "the notes actually mean something." :-)
Little Girl is continuing to read her many books. She finished Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH this week. I had to order the next levels of both her language arts and math the other day. She is coming to the end of the CLE 4 math (we sped through it), and her CLE 7 language arts. I have slowed her down to a half lesson a day in her LA because CLE only goes through level 8, and there is no hurry to get through it.
Both girls have been rather obsessed with all things "Sherlock Holmes" lately. They have been reading from a collection of his works and watching the TV series on youtube. They used their allowance to order the set on dvd the other day, and they are impatiently awaiting its arrival.
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