Spring Break!

Are you taking a break just now?

We are - and really looking forward

to soaking up the beautiful

Spring weather!

The school term has flown by very quickly it seems.

As mentioned in an earlier post, we have used some different materials

 this term in the form of DVDs to supplement for book work and lots of reading

in Science and SOSE.

This has been very successful for us and we will be able to continue this

into next term. The boys have continued on, often independently,

with their Maths and English. Next term, Lord willing, as my energy levels increase,

we will return to a more normal schedule

(for us) taking up the Speech Pathology activities and more art, science etc.

Home schooling through any crisis, be it moving house, illness,

new addition, is challenging.

I feel we have done quite well under the circumstances.

A lot of the boys' day has been devoted to "domestic science"!

We've read this interesting and engaging book this term, I Juan de Pareja.

It is an historical novel set in Spain in the 1600s and though fiction is based

on true characters and events.

The boys really got into this book.

We meet Juan as a slave boy in the service of his kind mistress.

Most of the story is about his life with his new master,

Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez and his family.

Velazquez becomes painter in the Royal Court of the King.

The friendship between Juan and his master is the focus of the story and

eventually Juan is granted his freedom which also allows him to paint.

Both Juan de Pareja and Diego Velequez became noted painters

with works hung around the world to his day.

The great painter Rubens and lesser known Murillo are also featured in the story.

Also of interest to us, aside from the lavish court descriptions and customs,

 as well as the darker side of gypsies and thugs, was the many references

to Roman Catholic rites and traditions.

Coming from this background, references to "Our Lady" and rosaries etc

were not unusual to my ears, but it gave a good opportunity to

explain these differences to the boys.

This book by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino is a Newbery medal winner

and was first published in 1965.

Read about it here.

To start the holidays, we are attending the local Pipe Band's Ceiledh on

Saturday night. A young friend of ours, a homeschoolded lad,

is part of the bagpipe players, so we are looking forward to

watching, hearing! him perform for the first time.

On the bagpipes, that is!