Weekly Wrap-Up: The Week of Books and Tea

Despite a bout of strep throat and some coughing (yes, STILL), we managed to have a decent week.  This is probably due to the fact that we had no activities because of illness, but no one felt sick enough to just lie around.  So we had plenty of time for our lessons, in a less rushed, less frantic atmosphere than is usual for us.  We've also been drinking a lot of tea. Miss Priss's new favorite is Earl Grey with milk and sugar, Tiny Girl prefers peppermint herb tea, and I've been quaffing Sweet Coconut Thai red tea from Celestial Seasonings.

The big news is that both girls have been reading a lot.  Up until a few weeks ago, Tiny Girl only read as much as she was required.  "I read one chapter! Can I be done?"  But no longer.  Last week she read Along Came a Dog, by Meindert DeJong, and this week she read two books:  Addie Across the Prairie, by Laurie Lawler, and The Secret School, by Avi.  She loved all three (emphasis hers).  Miss Priss, who has been more of a reader-for-pleasure than her sister, began Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink.  I'd assigned two chapters; she's already two-thirds through the book.  It's exciting to see their tastes for quality literature bloom!

We began a notebook for artists/picture study.  I bought nice cardstock and a three-ring binder, and then I began gluing in our Dover post cards from the last two years.  My hope is for this notebook to be a resource we turn to through the years.

In other news, we took a break from copywork this week, and both girls wrote letters.  Tiny Girl had thank-you notes to write for her birthday gifts, and Miss Priss wrote a letter to a friend.  They each added a new Hilda Conkling poem to work on for memory.  Miss Priss and I decided to study our Latin more days per week for a shorter lesson time each day.  I'm certain this plan will make things better (shorter lessons but daily study), but she remains dubious.  As I've said before, Latin is not her favorite subject.  We had fun with Secrets of the Woods for both natural history and nature study; see my post here about this week's topic, complete with a video.

I'm still fumbling about with the Book of Centuries project.  There have been posts galore on AO Yahoo group lists, and I've narrowed down my myriad options to a plan I think will work for us.  The trouble is that this is quite a big project and I feel like we're beginning in medias res, as the Greeks say.  It's almost too overwhelming.  More on this later.

Anyway, please comment!  I love to get a conversation going.