Thursday, January 28, 2010

WR: Tantara Dominates Week

This week we fit in school around drama practice, all of which took place at our house. The notsolittles did math most mornings- Cub is becoming increasingly adept at multiplication and fractions and Flower just keeps crusing through her First Grade book. Cub continues to read 100 Most Important Events in Church History; Pilgrim's Progress has long been a great favorite of his and he read about John Bunyan this week. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. John was a jailbird!
Feche-boy keeps working diligently on the MP study guide to the Odyssey. Like both of his older sisters, he has a love/hate relationship with the book (see new quote on blog side-bar). Nevertheless, I love how deep he is going. Omnibus was great last year and I felt like he was exposed to a lot of quality literature and history, but the pace was soo fast. I like the depth we're getting into better this year. I've been invited to call MP's excellent sales force this spring to work out Medieval Lit/History for 10th grade and I have every intention of doing so!
He also started IEW's Advanced Spelling & Vocabulary program, starting with Ancient Greece and Rome. It is excellent. The words are advanced, like plebian, and clearly relevant to the subject. There are 24 words on a list, along with 8 geography locations (ancient Greece and Rome). Every 8th word, a poem is read, "for your relaxation." Feche-boy went from getting 19 words correct to 28 within 3 days. It uses the same philosophy as Sequential Spelling. Hear the word, spell it, correct it, rinse, repeat, until you have mastered the list. Perfect.
The rest of the week we did play practice. Tuesday, Wednesday and today a dress rehearsal. We have the best kept secret this year- Mz. Michelle- she is seamstress and prop specialist extraordinaire. Our props and costumes ROCK, I tell you. The acting is fine, too. The kids have really worked hard and are excited about the competition on Saturday.
Tomorrow we are going to an all-day history fair at one of the state universities. They are offering 50 workshop/booths, everything from Bee Keeping and Beaver Trapping to Blacksmithing and Buffalo Bill.
Off to bed so we can hit the highway early.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Another great week - can't wait to read all about the competition!

Daisy said...

I loved the Odyssey. What does MP stand for?

Have fun at your living history faire.

Keri said...

Love your blog - sounds like school is fun and top notch at your house. Can't wait to hear how you do in the play competition.

Mandy in TN said...

LOL! Love the quote.

Tonia said...

Looks like you juggled things well! Make sure you post about the competition!

Karen said...

Sounds like a great week. I can't wait to see picture of the plays.

laughinglioness.lisa@gmail.com said...

MP= Memoria Press. I had the opportunity to stop by Highlands Latin School and MP last summer - what a treat!
I'll be sure and post pictures!

MissMOE said...

Sounds like great fun! Hope you enjoyed the history fair. Let us know how the competion goes on Saturday.

Unknown said...

Looking forward to reading how the competition goes!