What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/27/10

You might be wondering why I am posting this now, since it is only 11am. The reason is because I have a feeling that not much 'school' will be getting done today. Wow! The weather is just beautiful today! I feel a lot of outdoor time coming on and I want to make sure I get this done before I get swept away and forget.

Bible: Matthew 16:1-26. We used the 1599 Geneva Bible today. Usually we use our KJV but I thought I would mix it up a bit. I would like to instill in my kids the fact that regardless of the version of the Bible it is still from God and that is what we need to be focusing on. Granted there are some Bibles out there that I personally do not like. My kids have seen them and can judge for themselves why we don't use them. Oh, so what did we talk about: Picking up from where we left off last time, the disciples were sailing to the parts of Magdala. Again, Jesus refers to 'leaven'; this time I think that he is using it in a negative way. The doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees were the 'leaven' and Jesus was warning the disciples to not let that ruin the truth that Jesus is teaching them. By speaking of leaven, the disciples think that Jesus is referring to the fact that they had forgotten to bring bread with them on their trip. Jesus again wonders at their lack of faith and reminds them of feeding the 5,000 and 4,000 not long ago with plenty to spare! In verse 18 Jesus tells Peter he will be the rock upon which the foundation will be set for the church. Jesus then tells of the suffering that he will endure and likens it to the Prophet Jonah. Peter disbelieves and tries to assure Jesus that these things are not so. Because it is Satan that is preventing Peter from seeing and/or Satan is the one responsible for Peter's words countering what Jesus is saying, Jesus tells Satan to get behind him. And we finished up with Jesus telling the disciples that any man who takes up the cross to follow him, he must forsake himself. Also that those who lose their life for Jesus' sake shall find it and those that save their lives will lose it. Verse 26 reminds me of the song by Tobymac I believe: "For what shall it profit a man though he should win the whole world, if he loses his own soul?" Rather the song reminds me of Jesus' words.

The kids had much to discuss on these verses. Especially about souls, and losing them. We talked about babies that die; about treating others who come in Jesus' name poorly and our judgement because of our deeds; when we die will we be put in a 'holding cell' until Judgement Day?; martyrs for Christianity. It was a good discussion time :) I enjoy so much the fact that we can have the time to discuss things. There is no rushing if we don't want to.

Saints & Heroes: Ambrose: This one I'm not so impressed with. It seems that Ambrose was elected as Bishop simply by peer pressure; he had no intention of being what a Christian needed to be. He wanted power and was on his way to that end by being a Roman noble with high hopes of ascending the ladder of power. His father was controlling Europe at the time and that's the kind of power he wanted. So when the time came to elect a new bishop a child is what began the election of Ambrose, perhaps because the child's voice was higher pitched than the others and easier to hear. What a way to elect a Bishop! In Saints & Heroes it says that

"nothing was further from the plans of Ambrose...He was interested, indeed, in the Christian religion; but he had never been baptized. He had never thought of the possibility of entering into the work of the Christian ministry. He was both astonished and displeased." (underlining mine)

It goes on to say that he was made Bishop of Milan in a matter of a week (beginning with, of course, his baptism and all the other steps and titles necessary to qualify). But he had found the power he was looking for! We are only half way through the account of St. Ambrose so I should hold my opinion until the end, I suppose. I didn't voice my opinions yet to the kids either. I will wait to see what they think of it all when we are done. Not much in the way of discussion on this because they were obviously bitten by the it's-Spring-outside-we-must-be-outside bug and could not sit still or focus. So that is where we are now...they are outside and I am finishing this up.

To be updated throughout the day, I am sure.

Update #1: We went for a walk down to the Main St Market to get a drink (yes, soda..yum). We took along our cameras. I will hopefully get some pictures put up after they have edited theirs.

So after we got home we started on Shakespeare but sigh, not going well. It's difficult to do something if people just aren't willing to participate-or apply themselves. Got through our lines partially, once. Perhaps next time.

Then on to art. We were drawing ellipses and ya, not a favorite, that's for sure. Granted it is not a simple thing but since they did so well on their value scale I suppose they expected it to be easy to do the next exercise. We did eventually get them to look like ellipses instead of lumpy snakes ;)

Now they are working on Math. Fox is on Unit 9 of LIFEPAC and Lee is doing LoF. Here is a picture of our Art time :)

They made swords out of the kneadable erasers! Here's the picture that shows then working on art ;)

Update #2: Final update. We didn't do Latin :( They aren't upset in the least but I am disappointed. Of course not terribly. We will get to it. It was just so nice today we couldn't resist. They are still outside playing.
Lee: TFD: straw man fallacy (exaggerating the opponents argument to make it easier to refute). Science LIFEPAC: 6 pages (about fossils). Oops, no copywork. But she did do Daily News: New York Times, Washington Times, Torrington Telegram.
Fox: TGSET, chapter 7 (Samuel comes back from Jerusalem and spends some time with Joseph. Samuel wonders about Joseph's belief in the Messiah and what happened to Joseph's attraction to Mary, who he had never even met last time Samuel was in the story. In chapter 6, Joseph had asked for Mary's hand in marriage and it was acceptable to her parents. They -Mary and Joseph- decided on a date to be married but that night Mary was visited by the angel telling her that she was to bear a son that would be the Messiah. She left her home in Nazareth and went to Elizabeth's for 3 months. She simply left a note for her parents and Joseph saying that she would explain when she returned. At the end of chapter 7, Mary's father comes to tell Joseph that Mary has returned. I wanted to keep reading!). Science LIFEPAC: 2 pages (about fossils). No copywork or daily news.
And that is our accomplishment for school today :)