Phèdre

Alexandre Cabanel Phèdre 1880

After the death of Antiope, Theseus married Phaedra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete. Phaedra saw in Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, a youth endowed with all the graces and virtues of his father, and of an age corresponding to her own. She loved him, but he repulsed her advances, and her love was changed to hate. She used her influence over her infatuated husband to cause him to be jealous of his son, and he imprecated the vengeance of Neptune upon him. As Hippolytus was one day driving his chariot along the shore, a sea–monster raised himself above the waters, and frightened the horses so that they ran away and dashed the chariot to pieces. Hippolytus was killed, but by Diana’s assistance Æsculapius restored him to life. Diana removed Hippolytus from the power of his deluded father and false stepmother, and placed him in Italy under the protection of the nymph Egeria.

Theseus at length lost the favour of his people, and retired to the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, who at first received him kindly, but afterwards treacherously slew him. In a later age the Athenian general Cimon discovered the place where his remains were laid, and caused them to be removed to Athens, where they were deposited in a temple called the Theseum, erected in honour of the hero.

The queen of the Amazons whom Theseus espoused is by some called Hippolyta. That is the name she bears in Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,”– the subject of which is the festivities attending the nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta.

Age of Fable Chapter 20 by Thomas Bulfinch

One of the nice things about studying Shakespeare with AO is learning to also understand and enjoy the language of his playwright contemporaries. Last year we were privileged to be introduced to Molière; this weekend it is Racine.

Racine's Phèdre fits perfectly into our Ancient Greece historical period for this term of AO6, and it will be a real treat to see this rarely performed French Classic.

We've been preparing by rereading the section from Bulfinch, and also reading the synopsis of the play, which Bell Shakespeare kindly provides free as part of their Online Learning Pack.

Saturday's production is Bell Shakespeare performing a translation by the English Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes, of Racine's adaptation of a play by Euripides. Shakespeare-Hughes-Racine-Euripides. Got that? Australians acting in English from French from Greek. Why is it, I wonder, that we call this Racine's Phèdre, not Hughes', or indeed Euripides'. It is a bit of a mystery to me, this translation of poetry.

This video of a British production of the same Hughes/Racine/Euripides play had an interesting look at Theseus's background.

We also had a bit of a look at Plutarch's comments on Theseus, only it seems that he was a bit of a womaniser, so Jemimah and I didn't spend too long on that account. Blush.

Seeing the arts performed is one of our family pleasures. We adore the ballet, Shakespeare, the opera. We do the planning and preparation before we go, so that we know what's going on, and then we make a special occasion of it. I can't wait for tomorrow.

Have you seen Racine performed? What about Shakespeare? Are you neoclassical theatre lovers too? Talk to me!

 

A shelf of books on books

• How Australian Literature Grew by E. Moodie Heddle
• Authors and Illustrators of Australian Children's Books by Walter McVitty
• Hold Fast to Dreams by Leslie Rees
• Seven Little Billabongs by Brenda Niall
• A Journey of Discovery by Ivan Southall
• The Oxford Companion to Australian Children's Literature by Stella Lees and Pam Macintyre
• A History of Australian Children's Literature II by Maurice Saxby
• A History of Australian Children's Literature by Maurice Saxby
• The Proof of the Puddin' by Maurice Saxby
• Drawn from the Heart by Ron Brooks
• The Literature of Australia by Nicholas Jose
• Koalas, Kangaroos and Kookaburras: 200 Australian Children's Books and Illustrations 1857-1988 by Robert Holden
• Dromkeen: A Home for Australian Children's Literature

One of my favourite genres - books about books. Books about Aussie children's books are even better, and this shelf is full of them. If I've ever written anything knowledgable and erudite about a book then I probably found the information in one if these. I am not very clever without them!

Do you have any favourite books on books?

More of my bookshelves here.

 

A case for a creator

• Who Made the Moon?: A Father Explores How Faith and Science Agree by Sigmund Brouwer
• The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins
• Redeeming Science by Vern Poythress
• Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution by Michael Behe
• The Case For A Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God by Lee Strobel
• When Faith and Science Collide: A Biblical Approach to Evaluating Evolution, Creationism, Intelligent Design, and the Age of the Earth by G. R. Davidson
• Belief in God in an Age of Science by John Polkinghorne
• Coming to Peace with Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology by Darrel Falk

It's a sad truism that many young Christians lose their faith when they begin to study science in depth. For some of them, the science has far more evidence that the creation myth their out-of-touch parents taught them. Others are deceived by the dogmatic way evolution is presented as 'proof' that God can't exist. Some take theory as fact. Some study the evidence themselves and take it as more reasonable than the God of their youth.

For me as a young science student, the solution was to always look at things through the filter of my Bible. If a theory was compatible with my beliefs then I could consider it. If not, then I didn't. And then I didn't question any more. Since those days, many years ago, my plan has been to not consider these things too deeply. If I did then I would begin to question and doubt, and that, for me, was not a good thing. There were just too many gaps and inconsistencies. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but it did for me.

Being a mum, though, particularly a homeschooling mum, is different. Here I am at nearly 50 back considering those things that I've studiously ignored for so long. Like the evolution/creation debate. Theistic evolution. Evolutionary creation. Old earth /young earth. The compatibility of God with modern science.

I am becoming more and more aware of the importance of raising a child who can read material from a variety of sources and who is able to separate the gold from the dross. I want Jemimah to be able to read modern science without the fear that I sometimes hold that the science might turn me away from God. I want her to be able to watch educational science shows on TV like David Attenborough and National Geographic and find the content substantially compatible with her faith and not a stumbling block. I am convinced that good science and good theology will eventually be found in agreement, much as they were over Gallileo's discoveries. Eventually the gaps in our knowledge of the universe will be filled in in a way that makes God's words in the Bible true, and his existence to be irrefutable. I want Jemimah to believe this too.

As I work out our science curriculum for the coming years, I will be taking the worldview of the books we study into consideration. They will certainly not all be Christian, but I don't want books that are antagonistic to our faith, especially if that bias is covert and difficult to see. I will also be looking at books written from a Christian point of view.

Which is where the list at the top comes in. It's a list of books that I believe contain good science written by Christian authors. I've only read the top two, but I've heard good things about the rest.

I'm asking you to help me with this list. Have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts? Do you have any young earth books that you consider have excellent science that you think I could include? Which authors resonate with you? What level is the book aimed at? Have your kids read any of these? What are their thoughts?

Have any of you looked at Test of FAITH?

Thank you for your help, folks. You're the best. I know I can depend on you.

 

Autumn beauty

A photo post of today's nature walk in our local wetlands reserve.

Sometimes the Australian bush is every bit as beautiful as a carefully tended exotic garden.

Enjoy.

 

A Pen Licence

Apparently some homeschooled American kids feel that they're missing out on something by not having a locker. Here in Australia, lockers are simply places to store your books and your lunch, but it seems that lockers are a big deal to those kids in a way that they're not over here. Some mums - or I guess that should be moms- have gone as far as to create special lockers at home just to assuage this loss.

Now Jemimah has no locker envy, and in fact, having never been to school, she may not even know what one is, but there is one thing that she does feel sorry about missing out on, and that is a Pen Licence.

It seems that nowadays, getting your Pen Licence is a big deal in Australia's schools. We didn't have them back in the Dark Ages when I was at school, but apparently you are awarded your licence when you write neatly enough to be allow to write in pen. They're fancy beasts too, these licences. My nieces licences are professionally produced plastic cards with photographs and signatures and the whole shebang. They're desirable enough that my nieces still carry theirs even though they've graduated to high school. A Pen Licence carries Status. Style. Class. They're a rite of passage. Apparently.

Now if she were at school, Jemimah would have her Pen Licence. She actually uses a cartridge pen for her written work, and she started using that at the beginning of AO5. At that time she formed all the letters of the alphabet correctly and neatly, and used letter joins... most of the time. Her grip was good, and her posture was correct. These were the criteria I would have used for awarding a licence if we had them.

I sort of felt sad that my daughter was missing out.

Anyhow, to cut a long, waffley story short - I'm good at those - the other day I googled Pen Licences and I came up with this - a customisable, professional, almost as good as her cousins' Pen Licence.

So I opened the Publisher document, changed the header to blue, my pupil's favourite colour, edited the text, added a scanned signature, reduced the size so it would fit in her wallet, pressed print, and laminated the result.

Voila!

It is so cool, and I am feeling such a good mummy.

Insert satisfied smile.

Apparently it's going to change her life.

 

Science without textbooks?

Before I start writing about science, I want to get one thing clear. I use Charlotte Mason's methods with my daughter because they work for her. I consider it Providential that it was the first homeschooling method I looked at, because not only did it resonate with me as a philosophy, but when I did give it a go, it turned out to be the method that worked best for my student. There are certain other methods of homeschooling that also appeal to me in an academic way. Bits of  classical homeschooling, for example, or the method that is used by many gifted homeschoolers (whatever that is called). When I look further into these methods, though, I realise that they just would not work with Jemimah. And given that there is only one child in my homeschool, that would be a bit foolish, wouldn't it?

The reason that I have read so deeply into Mason's writings is not to discover more about her philosophy of education; I am not a philosopher. I read because I learned quite quickly that the Charlotte Mason method worked best when it was followed completely, following not only her 20 Principles, but all of the practices that follow on from these - activities that seem quite simple by themselves but actually link together into a very complex and clever system. A 'philosophy', I guess.  The closer I followed the method, the better my daughter learned. For me, it was as simple as that.

The reader will say with truth,––"I knew all this before and have always acted more or less on these principles"; and I can only point to the unusual results we obtain through adhering not 'more or less,' but strictly to the principles and practices I have indicated. I suppose the difficulties are of the sort that Lister had to contend with; every surgeon knew that his instruments and appurtenances should be kept clean, but the saving of millions of lives has resulted from the adoption of the great surgeon's antiseptic treatment; that is from the substitution of exact principles scrupulously applied for the rather casual 'more or less' methods of earlier days.

Charlotte Mason Toward a Philosophy of Education p19.

Next year with AO Jemimah will begin the HEO years - House of Education Online.  In Australia we call it High School.  She'll be in Year 7.  It's hard to believe.  My little girl.  You've watched her grow up into a delightful young lady here on A Peaceful Day. 

When I first started homeschooling, that was the question people asked: "Will you continue through high school?"  It is a big one, isn't it?  I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and it's raised a lot of questions of its own.

Q. What does Jemimah want to be when she leaves school?
A. At the moment she wants to be a vet.  That may change. She's 11.

Q. Does she have the academic ability to attend my alma mater, The University of Melbourne or one of the other top universities that offer this course?
A. Yes, but she may not have the personal application and determination.

Q. Do I plan on homeschooling right through to Year 12?
A. One day at a time.  Some days yes; others, not so much.

Q. Can I continue to teach her using the methods that work best for her?
A. That's the million dollar question.

These questions naturally lead me to thinking about a secondary curriculum that remained true to Charlotte Mason methods and my daughter's learning requirements, her areas of strength and weakness, but one that will also will cover the key learning areas that she will be required to cover if the does move into Tertiary education in Australia. Now for the humanities I am perfectly happy with Ambleside Online. The Advisory ladies have done a sublime job at designing a curriculum that is as close as possible to Charlotte Mason. It works for Jemimah; it works for me. With maths I am happy with the English style maths of MEP for the time being. Looking through my niece's Year 9 Pearson school maths book, I am satisfied that Jemimah remains a grade or two above her year level (Jemimah is officially in Victorian Grade 5.)

Science, though, had me worried. Maybe that should be in the present tense. In the primary levels, AO emulates CM with an emphasis on nature study and a close, focused observation of creation as a means to know God. (Observation is one of those skills in a CM education that is simple alone, but which done regularly has so many complex outcomes.) I am really happy with the science knowledge that my daughter has obtained thus far using nature study along with AO's wonderful living science book selection. From Year 7 onward, though, AO commences using the Apologia science curriculum. Now Apologia is Christian. That's a plus, but it is so, so, American. That's a huge minus. I wanted an integrated science, I didn't want science as a whole to be separated into one subject - chemistry or physics or biology - per year;  science doesn't work like that. Not in real life. It also doesn't work that way in Aussie schools, where kids just do 'science' until Year 11. The thing that worried me most about Apologia, though, is that it is a boring textbook. I looked through the sample pages online, and my heart sank, because I knew instantly that my daughter would absolutely hate science taught like that.

And so, at the beginning of this year I commenced putting together a Living Science curriculum.  I started rereading what Miss Mason had to say about science.  And in Volume 6 that's quite a lot.

I found this:

The only sound method of teaching science is to afford a due combination of field or laboratory work, with such literary comments and amplifications as the subject affords. p223

And this:

(T)he teaching of science in our schools has lost much of its educative value through a fatal and quite unnecessary divorce between science and the 'humanities.' p223

And this:

Books dealing with science as with history, say, should be of a literary character, and we should probably be more scientific as a people if we scrapped all the text-books which swell publishers' lists and nearly all the chalk expended so freely on our blackboards. The French mind has appreciated the fact that the approach to science as to other subjects should be more or less literary, that the principles which underlie science are at the same time so simple, so profound and so far-reaching that the due setting forth of these provokes what is almost an emotional response; these principles are therefore meet subjects for literary treatment, while the details of their application are so technical and so minute as, except by way of illustration,––to be unnecessary for school work or for general knowledge. p218-219

And this:

It is a wide programme founded on the educational rights of man; wide, but we may not say it is impossible nor may we pick and choose and educate him in this direction but not in that. We may not even make choice between science and the 'humanities.' Our part it seems to me is to give a child a vital hold upon as many as possible of those wide relationships proper to him. Shelley offers us the key to education when he speaks of "understanding that grows bright gazing on many truths." p157

And this:

Where science does not teach a child to wonder and admire it has perhaps no educative value. p224

And this:

We have considered in a previous chapter what we do for children as inhabitants of a world ordered by natural law. Here we have a contention with some teachers of science who maintain that a child can only learn what he discovers for himself de novo. The theory is plausible, but the practice is disappointingly narrow and inexpansive. The teacher has got his knowledge through books; why then are they taboo for the children? Probably the reason is that text-books of science are desiccated to the last degree, so the teacher hopes to make up for their dryness by familiar talk about the Hydra, for example, as a creature capable of close friendships, about the sea-anemone as a 'Granny' of enormous longevity; that is, the interest of the subject is made to depend upon side issues. p275

All of this inspired me to try to put together a science sequence that would engender a wonder and admiration of science.  One that was clothed in literary language. One that provided many wide relationships.  One that was taught the same way the humanities are taught.  One that came from my Christian worldview. One that would work for my student...and her mother.

First things first.  I was not about to throw the baby out with the bath water.  AO has served me well, thus far, and I trust it to continue doing to.  That said, I happily included AO's science recommendations in my year's work.  Secondly, being a tad nervous, I added our science reading into our family read alouds instead of burdening my daughter with extra school work. As a consequence I had to make it fun.  Thirdly, I planned to demonstrate everything I possible could to demonstrate and aid in understanding.

I've been trying our new science plan now for six months, and so far I've been absolutely delighted with how it's going.  I'm going to tell you exactly what we've done, but I'm going to tell you in another post, because blogger has already made me rewrite this post after it disappeared into cyberspace along with the Jubjub, and so I've decided to divide it into two.  Also, this is long enough that you've probably dozed off already.

The biggest challenge for me is finding living books to cover the areas included in Australia's National Curriculum.  Like it or not, it will be in place when Jemimah is applying for University placement, and so I do need to take it into consideration.  When I look at year 7 she has already covered everything but earth science. That gives me hope. There are some great living books out there.  Perhaps I can just teach her the rest myself without a text.  Daunting, but possible. 

I also worry about including enough Christian content.  There are few good Christian science authors out there.  The emphasis there is on the good.  There are some, though.  I realise that I will need to include secular science authors, but I don't want to turn my daughter into an atheist, you know?

There are still many, many i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed.  There are lots of bridges to cross.  I'm really glad my daughter is only in Grade 5.  The thing that makes me determined to succeed, though, takes me back to the beginning of this [post.  Charlotte Mason's methods have served me well so far.  I'm confident they will continue to do so into the high school years as well.

AO6 Living Science Curriculum a la A Peaceful Day coming soon.

Thank you for reading and putting up with my waffle.  Have any of you ever attempted living science through secondary school?  What barriers did you come up against?

A shelf of living science

 

• The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin D. Wiker
• Always Inventing: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell by Tom L. Matthews
• Bomb by Steve Sheinken
• Ordinary Genius: Albert Einstein by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson
• The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday
• A Little History of Science by William Bynum
• A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking with Leonard Mlodinow
• Dr. George Washington Carver by Shirley Graham and George D. Lipscomb
• Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity by Robert Cwiklik
• Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
• The Mould in Dr Florey's Coat by Eric Lax
• Michael Faraday: Father of Electronics by Charles Ludwig
• Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist and Teacher by John Hudson Tiner
• George Washington Carver: Man's Slave becomes God's Scientist by David Collins
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• Longitude: The true story of a Lone Genius who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time by Dava Sobel
• A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionised the Cosmos by Dava Sobel
• A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock by Evelyn Fox Keller
• The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, Father of Genetics by Robin Marantz Henig
• The Boy Scientist: From Gallileo to Einstein and with Do-It-Yourself Experiments Included by John Lewellen

This shelf may not be a pretty as the previous two, but it contains some particularly interesting books. I've been doing a bit of planning for Jemimah's secondary school science, so our shelves of living science books are getting a bit of attention right now.

Have any of you gone textbook-free through to Year 12? I'm going to try.

 

Lost in the bush

My family got lost in Kara Kara State Park yesterday. All of them.  Husband.  Daughter.  Dog.

I first learnt about it by text at 11:48 am, 2 hours and 48 minutes after they'd set out for a short postprandial stroll.  It was probably a good thing that I learned about it so late, actually, since I was supposed to be concentrating on the conference speaker, and I certainly was not after I received that text.  Fortunately, it was not many minutes after that first message that I received a second, letting me know that they had worked out their location using the map on hubby's trusty iPhone.  Only thing was, Taltarni, where they were, was a rather long way from Warrenmang where I was, so I had to wait a good while longer before they actually walked through the door.

I was kinda happy to see them.

Apart from a raging thirst (Who goes for a walk in the Australian bush without water, I ask you.  Easy to see that my husband is a British alien), and rather sore feet, they were no worse for wear, although all three did sleep particularly soundly last night.  The dog, in particular was shattered.

Now that they're home safe and sound, it really is a great adventure - a story to dine out on as it were.  Things like this are always funner after the event, aren't they?

Here are some photos of the first part of their journey.  They stopped taking happy snaps for Mummy when things got serious.

A shelf of Children's classics

• The 23rd Psalm illustrated by Michael Hague
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by Michael Hague
• Alphabears by Kathleen Hague, illustrated by Michael Hague
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham, illustrated by Michael Hague
• Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
• A Siamese Fairy Tale by W. Somerset Maugham illustrated by Fleur Brofos Asmussen
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling illustrated by Nicola Bayley
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll illustrated by S. Michelle Wiggins
• Bonjour, Babar by Jean de Brunhoff
• Stuart Little by E. B. White illustrated by Garth Williams
• A Treasury of Kate Greenaway Stories
• The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi and Roberto Innocenti
• The Wombles by Elisabeth Beresford illustrated by Nick Price
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien illustrated by Michael Hague
• Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie illustrated by Scott Gustafson
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams
• Paddington Treasury by Michael Bond

There are some very beautiful illustrated editions of those-books-children-must-read. Here are some of them. I have a soft spot for Michael Hague's illustrations, as you can see!

I'm enjoying these posts. I hope you are too.  Is your favourite children's classic pictured here?  Tell me about it!  Let me know in the comments if you'd like to hear more about one of the books pictured.

Yes, I'm still loving our new library.  We went to purchase more bookshelves for the opposite wall from IKEA last week, but did you know there is a nation-wide shortage of Expidit bookcases?  We'll have to wait for a month for more to arrive.  The things we need to endure.  Sigh.

Skeletonised leaves

Something is eating our next-door-neighbour's beautiful elm tree.  It's a teensy little white caterpillar that's skeletonising the leaves.  I do hope that the fact that it is autumn and the tree would drop its leaves naturally about now means that it will survive, because its really old and really beautiful, and if it dies, I, for one, will be really sad.

The skeletonised leaves are beautiful though, aren't they?

Anyone have any ideas as to what the little beastie might be?

Grammar-Land worksheets

But a child cannot dream parts of speech, and any grown-up twaddle attempting to personify such abstractions offends a small person who with all his love of play and nonsense has a serious mind.

Charlotte Mason A Philosophy of Education p210

Hey everyone, I know Miss Mason didn't like M. L. Nesbitt's Grammar-Land, but we've been really enjoying it this term.

The little story is a bit contrived - after all, it is about a courtroom of personified abstractions, but it does help illustrate the various parts of speech, and the application exercises at the end of each chapter are excellent.

We rarely use worksheets, since most of them are painful busywork, but these worksheets put together by a homeschool mum have proved to be most enjoyable.  I simply printed them out and bound them with a cover into a book.  Jemimah does an exercise each week, and they take about five minutes.

Some of you might find them useful.

You can find Grammar-Land free online.

Learning Latin the easy way

Latin is a language
As dead as dead can be.
It killed the mighty Romans
And now it’s killing me.

You will know from previous posts that if there is an easy way of approaching a subject, that’s probably the method we’ll be using in our Peaceful Home.  'Keep it Simple' is my motto.

Latin is a case in point. There are some pretty erudite homeschooling mammas out there, and some of them are teaching some rather impressive Latin.  Their kids are learning the five declensions and four conjugations while still in primary school.  They know the indicative, imperative and subjunctive, and are perfect in the pluperfect. Remarkable.

Now I know my student fairly well, and I am quite aware that she is not going to enjoy that sort of teaching.  She really isn't.  To begin with, her English grammar isn't anywhere near the level required for serious Latin study.  Possibly, neither is mine.  Okay, definitely.  Secondly, she just isn't up for the type of rote memorising that goes with that method of instruction.

To be honest, neither am I. It sort of doesn't fit with my philosophy, y'know?  It smacks of Classical homeschooling rather than CM homeschooling, I reckon.  There is a difference.  Even if I'm not quite sure what it is.

Charlotte Mason realised that studies of this type are not attractive to young children.

Of grammar, Latin and English, I shall say very little here. In the first place, grammar, being a study of words and not of things, is by no means attractive to the child, nor should he be hurried into it...Therefore, if he learns no more at this early stage than the declensions and a verb or two, it is well he should learn this much, if only to help him see what English grammar would be at when it speaks of a change in case or mood, yet shows no change in the form of a word.

Charlotte Mason Home Education p295

AO introduces English Grammar very slowly into Primary School at Grade 4 level, the same year that Latin is begun.  Over the next three years the student gradually learns the nine parts of speech and a few other things in preparation for serious grammar study in secondary school. I figure that that's the time for serious Latin study too - Secondary School.

Moods and Tenses
Bother my senses
Adverbs, Proverbs make me roar.
Irregular Verbs
My sleep disturb
They are a regular bore.

When Jemimah moves into AO7 - next year, oh my! - we will be studying Latin using the Cambridge Latin Course that her father and I both used at school.  It's a rigourous English Classical Latin programme (that is, it was published in the UK) and is highly regarded, but the main reason I'm using it is that in my memory, Latin using this course was fun. Each of the first year's lessons contained a little story about Caecilius, a banker in Pompeii, his wife Metella, Quintus their son and Cerberus the family mut. There was a list of vocab, and a little bit of grammar and culture, introduced where it is necessary to proceed.  I want my daughter to learn Latin like this too.  Caecilius and Metella are my friends.  (Pompeii is not the best place for you to be living, people. Please move!)

But enough about Cambridge Latin - we're not using that yet.

In the mean time, while Jemimah's in Primary School, we decided on Minimus Latin.  It, too, is published by Cambridge University Press, which is the reason that I first looked at it, and has a similar layout to the Cambridge books, but the real reason I chose Minimus for Jemimah is because it looked like it kept Latin simple. Simple and enjoyable.  There are two books - Minimus: Starting Latin is for kids 7-10 (We started in AO4 when Jemimah was 9) and Minimus Secondus: Moving on in Latin for 11-13 year olds.

If you were keen you could easily complete a book easily in a year - there are 12 lessons per book. We've managed to find plenty to keep us interested for what will be the three years AO4-6, though, doing Latin for two short lessons a week.

What I have loved is how many of Charlotte Mason's methods we can fit into our study using this course.  The year, in particular, as our history rotation is in ancient times, I've also loved all the overlap between Latin and our history subjects.  Education is the Science of Relations, and it has certainly not been difficult to make connections this term!

Most lessons we read a little story first, which introduces the subject and grammar for the chapter.  The stories are in picture form, so you can guess intelligently at what you're reading without having to look up every vocabulary word. The vocab lists are arranged according to the parts of speech, allowing similarities of form to be discerned more easily. After Jemimah narrates back in English - or occasionally using a few Latin sentences if she really wants to impress, we might have a bit of a closer look at the grammar and do one of the short activities to reinforce what we've learned.  The Teacher's Guide (which is critical unless you're a much better Latin Scholar than I am) contains worksheets - some of which are time-wasting busy work, and most of which are not. Sometimes there's a game to play - Jemimah loves those - or a map for CM style map work - I love those.  Sometimes there are craft activities.  We generally skip them.  Sometimes the book explores the Latin roots of English words and we orally run through a few.  Sometimes, but not too often, there's a written activity. Each lesson also contains historical information about Roman life, and often a myth as well.  This information reinforces what we are learning in our literature and history subjects just beautifully!  All so easy!

The course also contains a series of little readers.  Some weeks we read through one of those for a few days in a row until the vocabulary is learned.  Jemimah tries to narrate these in Latin after she's heard them a few times and know the story well.  These readers are a great way of reinforcing what we've studied in the lessons.



The stories in the Minimus books focus on a real life family who lived at Vindolanda in Roman Britain in 100AD.  Flavius is the fort commander, and his family includes his wife Lepidina, their three children, assorted household slaves, their cat Vibrissa - and Minimus the mouse.  We know of their existence from the famous Vindolanda writing tablets.

This term especially, I've been impressed with the number of times our history and Latin lessons have coincided.  Last week in Latin, for example, we learned about the signifier - standard bearer - the officer that carried the unit's standard into battle.  Today, we read about him in history.  Last week in history we read about Saturnalia.  That features in next week's Latin lesson.  Children can't help but catch connections like those!

Minimus is a really gentle way to learn Latin.  But learning we are.  Recently we commenced translating Latin fabulae mirabiles into English.  The good thing about fairy tales is that we all know pretty well how the story goes, but even so, I have been delighted at how much of these stories we have been able to read. (Don't you love the royal 'We'?  I learn as much as Jemimah, y'know.)

We don't learn Latin in order to honk like a goose when declining pronouns - hic haec hoc; hunc hanc hoc.  We study Latin to understand how languages work. It's logical and teaches us how to think. It will enhance our knowledge of English grammar, but it will also make the study of other languages easier as well.  When you can read Latin you can not only read fairy tales in Latin.  You can read the Classics in the original as well.  I read the Odyssey (which was actually written in Greek, not Roman, but that's what I read), but there is also Virgil, Pliny, Cicero, Lucretius and Tacitus.  Mostly, though, we study Latin because it's fun.

Brutus adsum jam forte
Caesar aderat.
Brutus sic in omnibus,
Caesar sic inat.

A shelf of Australian treasures

• Mr & Mrs Bear and Friends by May Gibbs
• Stout Fellows: Chum, Angelina Wallaby, Um-Pig and Flip by Dorothy Wall
• The Enchanted Forest by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite and Gregory Outhwaite
• Budgeree Bill: An Australian Story for Little Australians by W J O'Neill
• Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner
• Magic Australia by Nuri Mass
• Scott's in Gumnut Land by May Gibbs
• The Muddle-Header Wombat by Ruth Park
• The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay
• Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs
• Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall
• The Gumnut Land Adventures by May Gibbs
• The Flyaway Highway by Norman Lindsay
• A Tiny Story of Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall
• The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall
• The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay
• Nittybub and Nittersing by May Gibbs

It's been one of those super busy weeks where we've sort of had to condense five days of school into three, and every extra minute has been taken up with important stuff that can't be put off.  I do have a couple of posts in the planning, but they're not going to get done this week at least.

In the mean time, and because nobody leaves me nice messages if I don't post, and I'm getting sad and lonely and downright miserable, here's a shelf from our library (I love typing that!) for you to have a browse through.  Don't you love stickying at people's bookshelves?  I do, but you already know that.

Below the photo is a list of books from left to right.  You'll notice a couple of copies of Magic Pudding, and two of Blinky Bill.  That's the way it is sometimes.

It turns out that I've had a bit to say about many of these books, and in that case I've linked to the post.  Some of these are actual reviews; others are just a bit of chat.  Some have photos of the insides of the book too, and if you're anything like me, you'll love looking at the delightful illustrations.

Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more shelves like this. Or if you'd like to hear about any of the books here.

I'll be back next week with something a bit more erudite.  Have a nice weekend!

5 things we did today

::  Swam butterfly laps of the swimming pool.  The girl and her friend Jay, not me. Perish the thought.  I cheered from the sidelines.

:: Went on a Mummy-Mimi Morning date with my beautiful girl.  It's starting to get a bit chilly for much sitting outside, though.  See that huge muffin?  She couldn't eat it all.  Just in case you wondered.

:: Went shopping for new cold weather clothes.  You know that day at the start of each season when you wonder whether you might, in fact, have spent much of last year running around naked, because you have absolutely nothing to wear?  It was yesterday.

:: Began translating Rumpelstiltskin from Latin into English. We thought this was really cool!  Okay, we may possibly be a bit weird.

- Est tuum nomen Marcus, homunculus?
- Minime, nomen meum non est Marcus.
- Aulus?
- Mimime.
- Publius?
- Minime.
Neque ulla nomen homunculo erant.

We're using this book, Fabulae Mirabiles.  It's just the right level to be able to read and understand without having to look up too many words.  Each story is less than 1000 words, and there's a comprehensive glossary in the back.



:: Watched this film.

Having just read The Wizard of Earthsea, it was interesting to see how Ghibli interpreted the mythical world of Earthsea.  The plot diverged significantly from LeGuin's books, but I think a knowledge of the story was important to understand the nuances in the movie.  We all enjoyed it.  Many reviewers have not.

So that's our 5 things.  What 5 things did you do today?  Do tell.

Our new sofa

I must apologise to all my lovely Facebook friends for cross posting this photo, but I'm just so excited about the new sofa in what was our spare room and is rapidly becoming our library that I had to share it with you too! It's a sofa-bed, so we can still accommodate you if you want to come and visit, but in between times it's now a room that we can use and enjoy.

We still need to purchase shelves for the other wall, but I just love the way this room is turning out. Do you?

Of course, all the books will need to be packed into boxes when we finally get around to rustumping/repainting/recarpeting and repairing the damage caused by the flood, but that seems to be a while coming, so in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy this space very much.

If you're looking for me, you'll know where to find me!