Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ October 14, 2011

In my life this week…The cold that wreaked havoc with my school schedule last week descended upon dh and I over the weekend.  And poor little ds4 developed a hacking cough that this mama did not like.  Thankfully he’s feeling much better, the cough was nothing serious…it just sounded bad to his mama’s ears .

In our homeschool this week…Despite the fact that the teacher was under the weather {me}…school continued.  It was just a small cold, nothing to really complain about…but I still did .  We completed four days of school  {just like I planned} and we are now caught up and ready to go on to the next week in our curriculum.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…baseball practice, the apple orchard for more apples to cook up, and the bank to deposit our yard sale proceeds .

My favorite thing this week was…an unplanned drawing session that was inspired by the poem we studied this week.  In our Bigger Hearts curriculum we study a different poem each week, taking time to learn about couplets and stanzas and different poetic devices.  This week we studied the following poem:

Each in His Own Tongue

by William Herbert Carruth

A haze on the far horizon,

The infinite tender sky,

The rich, ripe tint of the cornfields,

And the wild geese flying high-

And all over upland and lowland

The charm of the goldenrod-

Some of us call it autumn,

And others call it God.

I have never heard/read this particular poem, and I am so glad that HOD introduced me and my kiddos to it…we all loved it!

Day 4 of our poetry study had the kiddos learning about imagery and they were supposed to draw the images that came to mind as I read the poem aloud to them.  What was probably supposed to be a brief 10-minute lesson turned into a 30-minute drawing session with a bit of classical music thrown in . 

All three kiddos really got into their illustrations…even ds4.  After I read the poem aloud a few times so they could develop the imagery, I put our Best of Vivaldi: The Four Seasons CD into the CD player and played “Autumn”.  It made perfect background music for their drawing session.

What’s working/not working for us…Our Heart of Dakota curriculum…I am still in love with it!

I’m reading…a bunch of freebies on my Kindle . 

I’m cooking…Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies {yummy!} and more apple goodness {mostly applesauce for the freezer}.

I’m grateful for…the overall good health of my family.