We've had
a great start to our term, so far!
We are reading some Walt Whitman poems this term. Fina says she doesn't like Walt Whitman as much as our poets from last term. She doesn't care for his subject matter or his style. I find that hilarious, but also lovely! What a blessing to have a 9 year old who cares about poetry this much. I have begged her patience and to give it a fair try, so we are continuing with it. She has conceded that much. (It's true that it's a hard act to follow Wordsworth and Coleridge.)
For our recitation this term, we are working on "Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson. That pome, she loves! We first read it last Monday, and by Thursday morning she was able to recite it by heart. This week she recites it just for fun. Incredible!
“Charge
of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not though the soldiers knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode
the six hundred.
Cannon to
right of them,
Cannon to
left of them,
Cannon in
front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d
at with shot and shell,
Boldly
they rode and well.
Into the
jaws of Death,
Into the
mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
She really loves it! And I love watching her.
We have been so busy, I just haven't had time to
write. But term 2 is going really well!
We finished E. Nesbit's The Phoenix and
the Carpet and Fina loves these stories. She has asked for the third
book in that trilogy, The Story of the Amulet for her
birthday!
Before we hit the minus 40s and even 50s Celsius, Fina spent some time skating. We've basically been hibernating for the last week!
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PSA for Calico Critter loving GoogleSearchers:
(Fina asked some of these questions of Google and found no satisfactory
response. So she has asked me to write them here so that future children can
search and find these answers)
Would you like to know how many Calico Critters fit in a bathtub? 1 adult or 1 child or 2 babies.
Did you know that Calico Critter moms and dads have the same bodies, just with different clothes? And that the kids are like that too? But the babies are different.
Did you know that Calico Critters come with names on the package?
Do you want to know where Calico Critters are from originally? Well, they're from Japan.
Calico Critters' clothes are able to come off. Their clothes have velcro. Everybody has that, except the babies. The crawling baby's clothes are slip on. They are kind of hard to get on and off, though. But it is doable. The sitting baby wears a one-piece, with a bottom that is open on one side, so you put the leg in and then twist the rest around and close it with velcro. It also has an elastic that pulls the baby's top up and around its neck.
All Calico Critters' heads turn. All Calico Critters are furry. All Calico Critters' have arms and legs that are positionable, except for the babies.
Some babies have holes in their mouths for bottles and soothers.
Patsy and Paul Wilder (Pandas)
