How am I going to cover....

SHAKESPEARE.

Will it be interesting. ?
Will It keep Brids attention and mine.?
What one shall we begin with?

These were all real concerns for me.
When I studied Shakespeare, it was in a class room full of teens my age, with an enthusiastic teacher, and books and essays.

Well that wasn't going to be the case with Brid. So where do I begin. I just knew I wanted it to be alive.
I was having morning tea with a friend and we both aired our concerns about this topic. We both said
"Let's have the girls do it together"
Great idea.
I had a few ideas of how we would do this and proposed them to my friend. We chose to start with Romeo and Juliet.

Firstly we would meet fortnightly for 2 hours.
Brid and I drive over each fortnight -as its on our way to Ballet.
We have hot drinks and morning tea snack while we read and do our work. It doesn't seem like work though..Its relaxing and enjoyable.

We have chosen to read the story first. This would give the girls a real understanding of the story before we began on the 'Old English'.
our lesson plan is quite loose.
Week 1. read the story and chat about the time place and anything else that comes up.
homework. - where is Verona.

Week 2. Continue reading the story and use the Socratic list from Teaching the Classics to stimulate further discussion and grasp a greater understanding of the story, its time and place, characters, protagonists, antagonists, themes etc. This was quite a lot of fun. some real serious questions were discussed.

Week 3. Read the play aloud. Use a new English version to interpret as necessary.

Week 4. Continue reading the play.

Week 5.( This maybe a night time activity). Craft activity. Decorate Masks. watch the Ballet or drama.

We are putting no pressure on the girls. They are coming up with there own ideas. We are hoping to have the last lesson as a night time fun activity that will embellish the whole Shakespeare play.
Its turning out to be a great adventure.

They are already asking, what one will we do next?
Thats a good indication of its success.
This lead Brid and I on a discussion regarding literature on our way to Ballet.
Brid has a great list of literature books, she is reading her way through. I haven't asked her to write a review or a report for a long time. It creates tension and as Brid says, it makes the novel dead from the beginning.
Les Miserable - Is her latest novel. She has several that she is wanting to read, so I can't ask for anymore than that can I.



  

what are you reading? What are you covering this year?

This year has been filled so far with so many good books.

Brid has read
Literature
The Scarlett Pimpernel
Persuasion.

Faith
A heart for Europe
We are on A mission from God

Culture
A Distant Prospect- Annette Young ( A friend of ours).
The story of Van Trapp family singers
Her next book is The diary of Anne Frank. I read this book after visiting Amsterdam and seeing the house. It is the Pan Books edition.

Now I don't bother with book reports or notebooking.
I know she has enjoyed the book because she explains the book to me. I know many would say this would not be how they do it, but its less restricting and allows flow in our day. Often Brid will have several books on the go...She has plans to read Les Miserables this term too.

I waver between formal learning and child directed learning.
It works best for us.

Brid is working her way through Australian based History Writing IEW. I was going to ask her to read several books along side it. I changed my mind as I wanted her to make that decision. Well she has. She asked if she could buy a book on the Cobb & Co..Of course I was delighted and quickly directed her to my proposed Australian history reading list.
She is looking through the list deciding what she'd like to read.

A lesson in Poetry & short stories by Australian poets, has been a rabbit trail today. Henry Lawson- A drovers wife, A look at various poems like the Bush Girl and reciting A Sunburnt country.

Next week we wil be beginning Romeo & Juliette with a friend. Using this book as a translator. It will be simple but effective. We will look at a play or a Ballet once we complete it.

Our other subjects covered are
 Maths. using teaching textbooks -Algebra I
IEW - fix it Grammar
Biology- Using Apologia.

Of course Brid has been researching and writing about various Ballet companies, Dancers- male & female, choreographers and Ballets. She listens to Ballet as she works and its rather energising.
I was worried at the beginning of the year, that we wouldn't have enough time for all of this but it just seems to flow.
As oiur AP said, if the child has a passion this will flow over to there school work as well.. It certainly has been the case with Brid... 







 

The joy of ereading....

It arrived. Yay!!! We have been waiting patiently for our e reader. I had several books I was planning to download straight away.
We researched and decided that this one, was the one for us.

There was a pre purchase special so we took the plunge.
There was a little hitch with the delivery company. They were unable to leave it without our being there to sign it, but a lovely neighbour was happy to do this for us.
I excitedly opened it up. My first impression, it was a very small thin piece of techno equipment.

We are slowly getting used to how to download, although I didn't do the best job today. I thought I had lost my first purchase.Oh Dear !! My first purchase was this delightful book to the right.
Dermot had downloaded a few books that are in the Literature for Young Ladies recommendations, so I thought I would be OK. I had watched him. I just missed one step. I will be better
 next time.
We still need to configure the Wifi with our Wireless network, but if we can't thats OK. We have several items sourcing the Wireless router so Dermot & I  are reluctant to change the setting to accommodate this feature. When we have added and changed The router in the past, only to find it difficult to reconnect all the other computers and printers etc.
As soon as we had it all sorted we showed Brid. She found a book and  started reading  The Jungle book-taking it outside and enjoying the story.
She also began drawing a couple of unique drawings for me. It has a touch screen.
So there we have it. Our new electronic reader.

Literature and Young Ladies......and more

We are  in process of sourcing books for Literature for young ladies- I stumbled across these again, not so long ago.
When I originally saw this list on Serendipity, I started dreaming. Oh, that would be good to do, but how would we. We have so much more to do. It just didn't fit into my box. But now, it does.
God has slowed us / me down, he has refocused me.
I secretly dreaded the high school years , so much more intense. So much pressure on me as an educator to get every box ticked.
Then the pressure cooker popped- or exploded. Or maybe it was a revelation from God. Slow down Leanne. Stop comparing; let her do it at her pace. That is how it has been for sometime now, its comforting for me.
So back to our reading list.
I showed Brid the list and her enthusiasm was amazing. She perused the list, put her own list together of books she wanted to read. It was a solid list. Realistic and thoughtful.
When I restudied the list, it included many books I desired Brid to read in her high school years.  We will work at Brid’s pace.

We have placed the books we already have in a basket. This is our reading basket.
There are already a few other books from her medieval and religion books in the basket. Each book was picked together, from various sources, including this one and this one.  oh and this.They all fit beautifully together.
Such richness to all the content.  
So what have I learnt?
Let go and let God. He was working it all out anyway. Where was my trust in him.