Grade 6 - Roman History - Week 3

All the ressources I am using for this block are listed here, under Roman History. It will be a five week block lesson. Week one is here.

This week we talked about life in the time of the Romans (the roman home, the roman architecture and aqueducs), as well as slavery and we started talking about Julius Caesar.

Day 1 - I read chapter 11 and 16 (NOT 11 to 16) in Kovacs' book and from the book City by David Macaulay. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:

 

Day 2 - I read chapter 17 to 21 in Kovacs' book and kept reading from the book City by David Macaulay. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:

Day 3 - I read Chap. 22 to 27 in Kovacs' book and from the book City by David Macaulay. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:





























Day 4 - I read Chap. 28 and 29 in Kovacs' book and from the book City by David Macaulay. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:

Day 5 - I read Chap. 30 to 35 in Kovacs' book. Here's what the girls put in their MLB:

Attention seeking behavior

In most families, there is at least one child that demands more than the others. And it can be pretty hard when one is homeschooling different grades. 

I get it. It’s easy to get so caught up with work, chores, activities, and responsibilities that we don’t spend enough time specifically interacting with our children. The important thing is to see it and not blame our children for "misbehaving" when in fact, all they need is our time and attention. And when I say attention, I mean, full-on, completely focused on them attention. Not just distractedly listening to their explanation about their Lego construction or complex drawing while thinking about a meeting or eyeing our phone. Kids are smart. They know we are not fully present. And they feel like we do not care.

Still, some children get LOTS of parent's attention and still behave as if they needed more. What I notice most times with these children is that they have somehow misunderstood what they need to do to engage others. And it's our job as parents to teach them these skills (why will some of our children "get it" without us specifically guiding them through this, I have no idea, but that's often the case that 2 out of 3 children will do great with a regular dose of attention and one will require A LOT more).

When I asked for support on an online group about Mathilde a few years ago, here's what someone wrote to me, as if she was talking from the child's point of view:

Because I wanted your attention. Because I want you to see me. Because I want to know I’m important to you. Because I want to feel like I belong to you. Because you are my mom and my dad and that makes you the two most important people in my world, and I want to feel like I matter as much to you as you matter to me. And I will do anything—anything—to find a way into the center of your world.

I can't tell you how many time I reread that (and still do at times). It really speaks to me. I hope it does resonate with some of you.

Grade 6 - Roman History - Week 2 (The Kings of Rome)

All the ressources I am using for this block are listed here, under Roman History. It will be a five week block lesson. Week one is here.

Day 1 - We recited O Roma again (and did every day this week a the beginning of our lesson). The girls know it by heart now. I read chap. 5 and 6 from Charles Kovacs' Ancient Rome book, the story of Numa Pompilius (here)  and the story of The Horatii and the Curiatii (here). They girls draw and wrote this in their MLB: 

Day 2 - I read the story of the Tarquins (here). They girls draw Lucius Tarquinius and wrote about the Seven Kings of Rome in their MLB: 

Day 3 - I read chap. 8, 9 and 10 from Charles Kovacs' Ancient Rome book. They girls draw Horatius on the bridge and wrote about the beggining of the Republic in their MLB: 

Day 4 - I read the beginning of the story of Hannibal that is in the Christopherus' Roman History bundle.They girls draw Hannibal and wrote about him in their MLB:

Day 5 - I finished reading the story of Hannibal that is in the Christopherus' Roman History bundle. They girls draw Hannibal crossing the Alps and wrote about him and Scipio Africanus in their MLB (The top drawing is Mara and the bottom one, Aisha's):

Math : we finished Key to Decimals 2.

Roadschooling

People still ask me why we decided to live on the road.  Here's my attempt at an answer:

We chose this lifestyle because we wanted to have fun together and wished to spend as much time as possible enjoying nature. Our backyard constantly changes and only a small amount of time is necessary to keep our little place clean and tidy, so we have more time to play together!

I remember sitting with JF one night in front of the woodstove at our farm house and asking him what his best childhood memories were. As he turned the question to me, I realized that we both had very vibrant memories of the time we spent traveling and/or camping with our families. We simply decided to create a life that would provide us with tons and tons more memories of connecting together in the wild.

:: Morning lesson. David reading outside with his mom. I wish I had taken a picture of Ellie reading in a kayak on the lake. ::

:: Feeding their soul and their body: Okanagan blue grapes, almonds, organic dried apricots and figs dipped in tahini. :: 

:: Going rock climbing in the afternoon. Much more fun than a phys ed. class in my opinion. ::

:: Botany lesson ::

:: Our friend Marty gave the girls a great lesson on the blood moon eclipse on top of a cliff we had climbed to watch it. Learning from other interesting adults is so important. ::

We want to give our girls the gift of time. The time to live, to listen to themselves, to find out who they truly are and what makes them feel alive and happy and connected to their essence far from the colossal influence of the majority, of mainstream society. We want to offer them a childhood away from the stress, from the life that goes too fast. We want to offer them parents who are truly present, relax and available, but above all, we want to learn and discover the world with them, because this is what makes us the happiest.

What our girls learn in books is important, but what they experience living from the Yukon to the dry desert of Arizona and everywhere in between is priceless.

Grade 6 - Roman history - Week 1 (The Founding of Rome)

All the ressources I am using for this block are listed here, under Roman History. It will be a five week block lesson.

Day 1 - I retold the story of the Trojan war to the girls (since last year history study finished with the Trojan war and Alexander the Great) and then told them a brief version of the Aeneid. You could use the book In Search of a Homeland or like me, create a resume from The Aeneid for Boys and Girls that you can access for free here.

I then read Chapter 3 from Charles Kovacs' Ancient Rome book and the girls wrote about it in their Main Lesson Book (MLB):

Day 2 - I told the girls the Story of Remus and Romulus (Kovacs, Chap. 4) and they wrote and draw this in their MLB:

Day 3 - I read Chap. 5 in Kovacs book and the girls draw the Seven hills of Rome in their MLB and wrote a resume about it:

Day 4 - I recitated the poem O Roma (in lating) to the girls, translated it for them so they could understand it (I'm sure glad I did 4 latin classes in College! Reading this poem reminded me so much of going to mass when I lived in Italy...). Then, they copied it on their MLB and we practice memorizing it together (we will work on this for the next week until they can recitate it easily).

Day 5 - The girls did a beautiful cover page for their MLB

Math : We continued the Key to Decimals Workbook 2.

On skills, time and quiet

In a world of busy and fast-pace everything, most of us relish quiet and time. If there is only one thing that I wish my girls will feel grateful for when they grow up, it's the time we tried to give them to be who they are. Even as homeschoolers, it's easy to overschedule our kids (but they love it! *It* being, the dance classes, the soccer team meets, the guitar lessons...). And we become the family taxi driver, believing firmly that this is in the best interest of our children...

We want to give them the best chances. I get it. But what if giving them the best chances in life was not as much about how many instruments they can play or about enrolling them in as many activities as possible...What if by giving them some time and space to simply be, we were giving them even more important skills. The skill to dig inside them, to not rely only on outside entertainment, on adults' guidance to create something beautiful. To be happy on their own.

I also hope that by seeing us choosing to be present with them and to enjoy life, they will want that for themselves too. By enjoying nature, its quiet, its beauty and its centering effect on all of us, I hope they will want to protect it and come back to it to find their own center, their own peace.

Grade 6 - Physics - Week one (sound)

Since this week was only a 4 day week, I had planned accordingly (Monday was Labor Day).

Day 1 - We talked about what Physics is and we wrote a short description (Physics is the study of nature, in order to understand how the universe behaves. The word physics comes from the Greek word, physis, which means nature.) and created a cover page just like the one from Homeschooling Waldorf (most of this week drawings are copied from that site).

Day 2 - We talked about Acoustics and practiced different pitches with our musical instrument

 

Day 3 - We talked about Frequency. I told the girls the story of Pied Piper and we wrote down that verse in our MLB:

As they reached the mountain-side, 
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed;
And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast.

Robert Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Child’s Story

Day 4 - We talked about how sound travels differently through air, water and matter. We made a few experiments (namely, the string-and-cup telephone, and tried how different it was with shorter and longer strings). We talked about thunder and lightning (the closer together the sound and light, the closer the storm).

We almost finished our Key to Decimals Workbook 1 (that we hadn't finished from last year).