Still going great guns....

I noted in an earlier post, and now, as we sadly come to the end to this great book, I'll say again that Guns for General Washington is not just one of the best read alouds we've done, but one of the best and most inspiring books I've ever read. Like all high caliber fiction, this book provides so much food for thought, so many nice rabbit trails to pursue. This morning we got out several of our geography resources and talked about various geographical and math topics. The Mohawk and Hudson rivers are huge factors in our tale, as well as the little colonial hamlets nearby. The true story takes place during the winter of 1775-76, and the evocative descriptions of overcoming weather and treacherous terrain have led us to discuss many important facts. Who knows, maybe we can make a family field trip to Fort Tigonderoga and Boston in 2009?

Religion: We are trying to memorize The Angelus. Most days, HRM leads it for us at lunch time or tea time. We went to Mass today and had a good chat with our pastor, who gives of himself like few other people I have ever met in my life. I am so grateful for the influence he has had in this family.

Math and Architecture: In being more attunted to the architecture around us, we are discussing and visualizing many math skills. I'd like to do something like a lapbook to put to paper many of the discussions we've had about lines, dimension, area, and perspective. We have not cracked Cathedral yet. (JB is reading Marley and Me on her own and then she is going to lend it to me.)

All in all, I had a good time with all three scholars. It was one of those rare days, when it was only the four of us, and we put in a nearly 9am - 4pm of intense learning, discussion, and good writing. It is days like today that keep me very committed to homeschooling because I see how integrated learning can be when the setting is right. We have been very social lately; and, while this stimulates lots of learning and growing, I also love to "get back to the drawing board," and have our little "one-room schoolhouse", where we do our best to tackle the 4 R's (reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic and religion).

Last, we put copywork pages in both Miller and JB's Language Arts notebooks and quizzed HRM on the geofacts that we put in the notebooks.

We want to make maps of Colonel Henry Knox's "crazy," and, wildly successful and courageous, round trip journey from Boston to Fort Ticonderoga and back to Boston again. There are so many good parallels that could be drawn between this wonderful fictionalization of history and what happens to a person when they say yes to the demands of the Gospel. There is nothing overtly Christian in the text, but it is redolent of Christian values.