Hobbits hiking the bluff

Another shelf or two

Moving down the bookcase we have the poetry books--Favorite Poems Old and New compiled by Helen Farris is probably the most used but you will also find a beautiful copy of A Child's Garden of Verses illustrated by Jesse Wilcox Smith, 101 Best Loved Poems, A Child's Book of Beasts (alas illustrated by B.T.B. not G.K.C.), a few of those Poetry for Young People series of books, The World of Christopher Robin, Leaves of Grass and a collection by Robert Browning. The hobbits are fans of poetry and a few books are missing--The Harp and the Laurel Wreath, A Child's Anthology of Poetry and A Treasury of Playtime Poems are about the house somewhere. Also on this shelf are stray CD's for the computer--100 years of back issues of National Geographic, two editions of the World Book encyclopedia, various educational programs like Typing Tutor and Spell It and A Quarter Mile (never used, any of them!) A CD version of Butler's Lives of the Saints is here too and occasionally gets dusted off and placed in the computer, usually in November. The next shelf has my collection of What Your 1st through 6th Grader Needs to Know. These books were published roughly at the same time my oldest was in the corresponding grades and I have them all (I have the updated ones for some too). I never used these much passed the 3rd grade however except for science. The history just gets too confusing. I see Plutarch's Lives is on this shelf as well as Grimm's Fairy Tales, Bulfinch's Mythology, American Indian Myths and Legends and a couple of Shakespeare stories for kids (Nesbit and Garfield, we have Lamb too but it is obviously mishelved). Also on this shelf is six well thumbed volumes of Charlotte Mason, and four volumes of Our Quest for Happiness-a pre Vatican II high school religious course which I haven't read but my oldest hobbit liked alot.

Fun in the Sun

The hobbits and I have been working real hard on those second declensions: servus,servi, servo.....and the weather has been just fabulous of late so we took yesterday off and went to the beach!

Lepanto or why this is the month of the Rosary

It's Battle of Lepanto week at the Hobbit Homeschool! Today, we studied maps of the Mediterranean circa:1571. And we read the entry for the battle in Great Moments in Catholic History (The Neumann Press) and we read the poem by Chesterton out loud. We also started the day with a decade of the rosary (as usual) and read Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue by Bell, Brindle and Lademan. That lead to an emotional discussion on abortion,the presidential election, what a Knight of Our Lady can do to fight the good fight today, Saint Dominic, the power of Eucharistic devotion (when an abortion clinic attempted to open locally, a group of Catholics started an Adoration Chapel nearby, wherein the abortion clinic had no end of trouble getting staff, proper certifications and whatnot to open and eventual gave up, hurrah!). Tomorrow we will re-read the poem with explanations line by line using the excellent annotations by Dale Ahlquist in the Ignatius Press edition.

I was planning Lepanto week anyway but it seemed especially needed after reading this from the Church er..Faith Community bulletin--October is the Month of the Rosary but did you know it was also National PIZZA Month? --well, no I didn't, but I know why it is the Month of the Rosary...St. Michael's on his Mountain in the sea-roads of the north. (Don John of Austria is girt and going forth.)

Spelling Revisited

It's been a couple of weeks since I had my spelling meltdown. In that time we have been using Seton spelling workbooks. One hobbit in grade 7 one in grade 4 and one in grade 3. Yesterday, hobbit-7 asked,"Mom, what do you think of these workbooks?" I replied, cautiously,"I don't know. What do YOU think?" "I like them," he said. "Yeah, me too." "I do, too," was heard from the others. Whew.

Next Shelf

Next to the computer desk is a wall/bookcase my husband made when the books threatened to over-run the house. It has four shelves and the top one holds my homeschooling books. They show my evolution as a homeschooling mom. The oldest are the John Holt books-What Do I Do Monday? and (wow, I only have one actual John Holt book! I expected three at least!) books by his disciple Nancy Wallace--Better Than School (a classic!) and Child's Work.and a few others of the unschool type. John Taylor Gatto is here as are the Colfaxs. Next are the Charlotte Mason type books (not her actual books, for those you have to wait for shelf #3) For the Children's Sake, Charlotte Mason Companion, A Pocketful of Pinecones. There are books by and about Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf schools, Classical education, Catholic education, books about books like Cay Gibson's Literature Alive, Thomas Jefferson education, Real Learning, education by osmosis (okay, I made that up) but all in all a ridiculous amount of books about "school".

Shh...he's reading!

The littlest hobbit is reading a chapter book voluntarily! His usual reading diet consists of Calvin and Hobbes, TinTin and Asterix the Gaul but a new series of books by Rick Riordan has captured the hobbits attentions and they are all racing through them (four available so far).
They center around a modern boy named Percy Jackson who discovers he's a demi-god, fathered by Poisidon. I myself am in the middle of book 3 and they are a refreshing break from presidential politics and imminent financial ruin. In each book there is a quest based on myth or the Odyssey, boon companions, magical weapons, and a climax involving great courage and dumb luck. Yes, they are very similar to Harry Potter but on a much easier reading level. The usage of myth is pretty clever though and relatively authentic. The hobbits are absorbing how the ancient Greeks thought the gods interacted with each other and humans. All in all, entertaining.