Gearing up for AO yr 1, term 2, week 13!

Now that our exam week is done, I'm finishing up  prep for term 2.

I have a few new goals for this term:

• add in folksong (properly)
• add in hymn study (properly)
• have her learn the titles of the pieces (Schubert this term), just like she knows the titles of the paintings
• do nature study, just do it!!!
• start the Baltimore catechism along with our catechism
• do lent stuff
• more intentional with geography
• more intentional with foreign language
• see about Our Island Saints - not really connecting with it
• Our Island Story - doing a recap of who we know, people use timelines etc?
• step it up with our free reads. I thought we'd be through them already (it is fine that we aren't, obviously!) and I have a bunch of "beyond free reads" as I like to call them, that I'd like to read as well. 
• start a one-yard wide timeline à la Laurie Bestvater (see this blog). She also has this accordion style version which I think is cool too.  Or maybe wait til year two to start a timeline at all. I don't know. I have to think about it some more.
• try some different things with our picture study. Celete at joyouslessons does it this way: week 1, show the piece and tell the name, size, media and date (plus any relevant details), quiet looking, cover and narrate, look at it again and discuss with it in front of us; week 2 sketch it (or a detail of it) while looking at it(?).  Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, in For the Children's Sake, says to study it, turn it over and narrate, look at it with interest, checking it again. Then sketch while looking at it. In both cases, the sketch could be of the whole or a detail of a part, whatever she wants to do.

Yikes. A wee bit lofty, but I do want to try to keep these things in mind as we start term 2.

I have a Spotify playlist all ready to go for Schubert. (You can listen along with us, if you'd like!) We had been having trouble with Brahms only because I had made my playlist in applemusic, but we were getting booted off when dad would turn on Beats 1 at work (or we were booting him off!). Either way, we'll give this a try. We really don't need a family subscription (rather than the single person one we currently have) to Beats 1 merely for composer study (which is the only time Fina and I use it)!

I have been keeping a Common Place book for myself. I have a few pages of quotes so far from my current reads (CM's volume VI Ourselves, Karen Andreola's A Pocketful of Pinecones and SSM's For the Children's Sake). I am enjoying doing that.

I have also been keeping up with my scripture writing plan, writing a verse a day as I mentioned here 10 days ago.  I have had to double up on the days a few times, but I am still caught up. I like it and could see continuing on with this and having Fina use it for copywork possibly as well as she gets older.

I'm looking forward to starting term 2 this week. Thanks for joining us!