Morning Basket 2015-2016 :: Term 1

First, a note: I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family, even with the littles. Even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: one done over breakfast, and the rest done at the end of our Naptime School block.  Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we have done it for the past few years, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, you can read about how we structure it and prior selections.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for Term 1 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Calendar Work - in English and Italian (daily)

Poetry - a poem from our poets for the term, Alfred Lord Tennyson for Year 4 and Robert Louis Stevenson for Year 1 (daily)

Short Reading - from one of the following:
:: Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World (two chapers per week)
:: Sybil Deucher's The Young Brahms (a bit per week)
:: Hillyer's A Child's History of Art (section on Velazquez)
:: Flos Sanctorum (verses for the week based on the liturgical year)
:: The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (one section per week)
:: Amy Steedman's Legends of Italy (one chapter per week)

Read-Aloud - with any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: Speare's The Sign of the Beaver, Burnett's The Secret Garden (on audio), or Trevor's Sun Slower Sun Faster

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as our current selections:
:: Hymns - Veni Creator Spiritus; Dona Nobis Pacem; O Sacred Heart, O Love Divine; St. Michael Prayer in chant
:: Folk Song - Scarborough Fair; The Ballad of Davy Crockett; Red River Valley; Michael, Michael, Michael of the Morning
:: Bible - The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17), The Salt and Light Discourse (Matthew 5:13-16)
:: Prayers - Confiteor in Latin, Nicene Creed in Latin
:: Poetry - Tennyson's "Sweet and Low," "Crossing the Bar," "Will," "Early Spring"; Stevenson's "Rain" and "At the Sea-Side"
:: Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing 5.1.215-219 and 2.3.205-end of soliloquy
:: Bird Calls - California Quail, Belted Kingfisher (we didn't finish these last year)

We move on to a new selection once we have the previous selection memorized rather than on a regular schedule, so our plans are just that--plans.  I'll update our Memory Work index with the ones we cover.

Italian Memory Work (daily) - The older three and I cover new concepts, games, and conversation during naptime, but we usually do our Italian memory work with the littles around:
:: Rhymes - "La bella lavanderia" from Filastrocche Italiane
:: Songs - "Tu canterai, "Cosi fan," "Giro giro tondo" from Teach Me Everyday Italian
:: Series - "I do something every day"

Picture Study on Diego Velazquez (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch
:: Old Woman Frying Eggs, 1618
:: Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, 1618
:: Juan de Pareja, 1630
:: Christ Contemplated by the Christian Soul, 1628
:: Aesop, 1639
:: Las Meninas, 1656

Music Study on Johannes Brahms (once weekly) - including attentive listening and discussion
:: Hungarian Dance No. 5 (four weeks)
:: Lullaby (2 weeks)
:: Piano Concerto No. 1 (2 weeks)
:: Variations on Haydn (2 weeks)
:: Violin Concerto in D (2 weeks)