Me, I am my kids' teacher

Okay, totally. Who has heard of Elizabeth George Speare?

Full of Joy's mom who is a PhD extraordinaire and expert on the subject of early childhood ed, turned her on to this author. Since Dr. S was also MY mom for four months when she was our faculty sponsor on a college European studies tour (like a couple of years ago), I do everything she tells me. Thanks for passing on the Speare love.

Our first borrowed book from them was The Sign of the Beaver. Fantastic book. So good. We chose it for Giles ... a boy book. Wilderness living. Hunting. Fishing. Indians. Surviving. The main character who has to live in the wilderness, hunt, fish, meet (and befriend) indians and survive is 12 years old. It's a fantastic read. We read it aloud, and it knocked off My Side of the Mountain for the top spot.

Then, we borrowed The Witch of Blackbird Pond on audio discs from the library. And listened to that in the car. Rich and awesome book. I was weary of the witch in the title, but it's okay! It's a look at New England in pre-revolutionary years and a struggle in a Puritan community with an outcast (witch) Quaker living by the swamp. Beautiful book. We all loved it and I appreciated the look into Puritans and Quakers, groups I've largely ignored. Sorry.

And, we read The Bronze Bow.

Oh, Elizabeth. Where have you been?

She won the Newberry for The Bronze Bow in 1962 ... and only started writing after she had raised her family. She was born in 1908. She won at least one more Newberry (The Witch of Blackbird Pond), and received the Laura Ingalls Wlder Award for her "fine body of work."

Indeed.

The Bronze Bow. Oh wonderful. This is her only book set outside of her native New England. It's set in Capernaum! Yes, in Bible times! Jesus is a character in the book. Oh, it's great. Especially for lovers of historical fiction.

One of my homeschool mentors, Cheryl Lange, talks about higher level thinking and learning, where we receive information in such a way that we process it and order it ourselves, as opposed to having it fed to us in a textbook. Reading works that expand our vocabulary is one tool to use, and books that help us order events in our mental (or posted on the wall) timelines. Indeed, Charlotte Mason herself told us to lay off of the twaddle! I think they both would recommend this book.

Incidentally, I bumped into a family last night I knew when we were at our elementary school. I was catching up on the news (still the same - teachers don't respect the principal, immeasurable discipline problems with the kids, a Maps for Kids plan that took away a new gym). They were so excited their son loves to read. I was excited for him too! And still am. I always ask what they are reading to make sure we are not missing out. He's reading Captain Underpants. It might be very fine literature and is probably along the lines of Junie B. Jones who has entered our house. But I wonder if these vocabulary words are used by Capt. Pantywaist?

phylacteries
transparent
exhilarated
confident
clamoring
inveighled
avenge and revenge
forge
oblique
gaity
phalanx
litter
centurion
catapult
fissure
niggardly

We wrote those words down as we read, and Giles' assignment is to look them up and write down the meanings. He looks them up on our handy widget dictionary. I know we're missing skill building by not getting out the old Webster's and flipping through, but it's also so cool to be able to have information so quickly.

We also became familiar with the Hebrew calendar ... the months of Ab, Nissan, Tishrei. (Thank you widget Wikipedia on those).

Thank you to the late Mrs. Speare! Calico Captive is next on our list.

Posted in: on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at at 6:11 PM