What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/26/10

Great day!

Bible: Genesis 42. This time we read from DKs Children's Illustrated Bible that Lee got for Christmas in 2005, from her Grammy. I had forgotten that she had it! While Fox read from the book, Lee keep pace with her KJV bible and let us know of anything that was missed, or added, or just different. The DK book had two interesting pictures of the time of the famine in Egypt. One was a statue that was horribly emaciated from around 2000 B.C. (so it says). The other was a bit of a wall painting showing the Egyptians storing grain in granaries. We compared our readings with the movie Joseph King of Dreams that we had watched last week.

Fox: LoF: Bridge and 3 chapters. He was stumped a few times today but he got 100% on his Your Turn to Play and the Bridge.

LA: last Self-Test in Unit 9.

TCOO: We did this together; pages 456-460 (half of chapter 70). Madison declared war on Britain (War of 1812). Also, Tecumseh convinced the Indians to fight on the British side. At some points in the war the Indians were torturing and killing American prisoners without interference from the British General Brock. Tecumseh asked why nothing was done to stop this and was told that the Indians could not be controlled. Tecumseh allegedly told the Indians that he would 'brain' any Indians that touched any of the American prisoners. At once they stopped. Another interesting point was about Oliver Perry (his middle name escapes me now); he was a 28-year-old, 14-year navy veteran that had never been involved with a battle. His men also were new to the experience, as well as to being on ships! Perry however, brought forth the surrender of an entire British squadron- the first ever in the British history. Quite an accomplishment. We learned a smidgen about "Old Ironsides", aka the Constitution, as well.

CBOM: Finished up chapter X; climbed to the top of Popo- 17,800 feet! Halliburton said that their legs were mechanical by the time they reached the top. Fox asked what that meant and I said that by climbing and hiking that far, and in the cold wind, they probably could not feel their legs and their muscles were so tired, that their legs were going on their own- like a machine that just goes. I have climbed Mt. McLoughlin in Oregon (almost, just short of the top) and it is 9,495 feet. I cannot imagine climbing Popo! It is higher than Mt. Rainier, Mont Blanc, and the Matterhorn! Wowzers! Halliburton was definitely an adventurer. We are really enjoying his book. It's too bad that his life was cut short; he paints great pictures of his experiences.

PftI: I read pages 32-35 out loud. It was talking about Isabella Lilias Trotter's maternal great-grandmother- Isabella Ludisman Strange. Also about Lily's mother, Isabella Strange. Both of these women were described as original, lending to Lily's eventual character traits. Next I believe we will learn about her paternal grandmother. I did not have him narrate but every so often would stop and ask a question pertaining to what I was reading (such as do you know what ___ means? What do you think ___ means?) to see if he was retaining much. It is a difficult book for him to pay attention to.

OCU: His first written narration on OCU. Improvement needed and I am sure it will come with time.

Foreign Language: Byki review of languages (German, Spanish).

Daily News: New York Times, Washington Times, Torrington Telegram

Copywork: George Herbert- Virtue. He is still using the worksheet that I printed out from Worksheetworks.com with the poem on it. This time however he was to correct his copywork. Unfortunately, I don't think I explained it well. He pointed out where his letters were sloppy or not well written by circling them or underlining. I had wanted him to erase and rewrite the mistakes but since he went to the trouble to analyze his work, I let it be this time.

Lee: FWM: pages 70-73. Finished the chapter on Bones.

TBoB: pages 28-30. She also put dates on the timeline. Additions were A.D. 61, 89, 122, 142, 186, 208, 211. Walled London replaces wooden trading settlements in 61; Damitian builds earth rampart on Black Sea, and another connecting Rhine and Danube in 89; Hadrian builds fortress 73 miles long between the Tyne and the Solway in 122; Antonius Pius builds Antonine Wall in 142; Antonine's Wall abandoned in 186; Emperor Severus rebuilds 'the' Wall in 208; Emperor Severus dies in 211 in York.

Math: LIFEPAC: Unit 9 Test.

WHtPC: Chapter 1 & 2 (Money: Coins and Paper; Tanstaafl, the Romans, and Us). I had to make her stop! It's interesting, to be sure! I learned some things about coins. The edges of quarters, dimes, half-dollars, and dollar coins are 'reeded'. The reason for this is because the Romans used to counterfeit their money! They would clip off pieces of silver from the coins collected from taxes and make new coins. The original coins were now worth slightly less. People were not dumb and noticed. One way to tell if a coin had been clipped (or the edges shaved) was by cutting notches in the coin. This is called 'reeding'. If a coin was clipped then there was no reeding. Our coins today are reeded but it is really only so that they will look like silver coins. Today's coins are not 'coins' at all. Coins are really precious metals. Our coins do not have any silver in them at all. Ours are 'clad', which means that they are copper and nickel-zinc squished together. There was more but...moving on.

MC: Book III, Chapter 2: We read about the cardinal virtues of prudence and temperance. Next will be justice and fortitude.

Foreign Language: Spanish plurals on LM.

Daily News: New York Times, Washington Times, Torrington Telegram

Copywork...dundunduuuuun....nope.