It's another delightful day here in Idaho. The fog has rolled in an obliterated most everything around. It's been foggy since daylight so all the trees and plants are still covered in frozen frost even at four in the afternoon.
It's been a nice, quiet weekend here with lots of reading a several movies. A neighbor came by yesterday morning to gift the kids a huge tin of popcorn, donuts, breads, and oranges from Arizona,
She also brought me a lovely jar of my favorite lemon curd. It's English Provender's Lemon Curd she buys at Trader Joe's. I've had many types of lemon curd, but this is my absolute favorite. She came come from wintering in Arizona for a few days and always bears gifts. She is a delight and my only wish is that she would stay here all year!
I popped in Robin Hood for the kids to watch yesterday afternoon while they enjoyed their popcorn. A movie in the day is a rare event around here. Besides, it matches up with our Middle Ages theme in History, right? ;)
Speaking of History, I must confess to being rather frustrated with it all. I ordered some books recommended by a well known Charlotte Mason website. I thought one of the main points of CM was to teach interesting lessons from living books. Not sure what happened, but so far, the readings are rather dull, long and hard to figure as to how they match up with CM ideals and even just the Middle Ages at all.
I am writing to see if anyone out there has any suggestions. I've been looking at some other books, but find I am afraid to buy any others without better recommendations as I do not want any more money wasted. I'm leaning towards the Oxford Histories and some DK Eyewitness books as well. Any suggestions would be most welcome.
I am currently ready one of Sweetheart's old college textbook's on the first century in hopes of gaining more knowledge myself of Roman times and the Middle Ages. I am almost embarrassed about how little I remember. This of course makes me think I am probably worried about nothing after all I am a fully functioning adult and I don't know it all!
I've also been reading Tolkein. I started The Fellowship of the Rings today and read The Hobbit last week. I've never read any of them before, but find myself enjoying them now.
I read My Antonia the other day by Willa Cather. I hadn't read Willa Cather since high school wherein we read a lot of Willa Cather. I loved in. Soon, I'll be on the prowl for more.
I also finally finished up another Dickens' short story as I still maintain my plan to read everything he wrote. It's taken years, but obviously I've read other things in between. Speaking of Dickens, I somehow found myself rereading A Tale of Two Cities yesterday. I know. We'll just call me an eclectic reader. And somewhere in this week I also read a novel by Tracie Peterson.
So what can I say? I love free books on my Kindle. :) If I can't get them free on Amazon's Kindle store, I get them from Project Gutenberg.
Well, I'm off to brew another pot of tea. I am down to the bottom of my tin of Harney & Sons Valentines Blend. I am afraid I only have enough for two more pots. Sad isn't it? It's a lovely Chocolate Tea with Rosebuds which even I think sounds awful, but really tastes very good.
So what are you brewing these days?
6 comments:
So much great stuff in this post! :) But about history (since you asked)... ;-) I use Sonlight history and absolutely LOVE it. I suppose my two favorite things about it are the way they weave the readings from different books together so I don't have to spend time figuring out how to do that...and the fact that virtually all the books we've read through Sonlight have been winners for us. I don't use Sonlight for science or language arts or Bible or anything except history and the readers/read-alouds, but I am very, very, VERY happy with them.
Am I telling you that you should switch to Sonlight? Not really. :) I mean, if you want to, by all means, do so! ;-) But what I am actually suggesting is this (and it's what an older, more experienced homeschool mom told me when I was just beginning my homeschool journey): get a Sonlight catalog and look through it for book recommendations. If something stands out to you because it looks interesting, try it! Maybe it will make history more fun and memorable. :)
I used Sonlight two different years, one when Christopher was in late elementary and another when he was around his 9th grade year. They were excellent but we ended up not using all the books.
One of my favorite resources for Whole Books about history was Beautiful Feet Books. (bfbooks.com)
Except for the two years we used Sonlight, I always made my own curriculum surrounding a historical period and both Mother and Son enjoyed it.
Those are some great book recs. I love My Antonia! You might also like Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart it's free on Kindle so you may find it on the other site you mentioned. Also, Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls is an interesting fiction/memoir of her grandmother's life - an interesting read! I like Sonlight too. Check out the Met's website too they have a great Medieval collection. Where does one get that tea you mentioned?
Popped over from "Clean." I teach fifth grade and do a combined Middles Ages activity with 4th and 5th. I always use the book The Door in the Wall. It is fiction, but certainly gives you a taste of the times and is a good message.
Thanks everyone!
CSH-Just click on the name of the tea in blue in the post. It will take you right to the Harney website and the tea.
I just read My Antonia for the first time this summer!
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