Second Grade in Our Home :: Exams, Term 3

Now that this school year is all wrapped up, I thought I'd share our exam experience for Term 3 in case you're gearing up for exams of your own.  (You can also read about our exams for Term 1 and Term 2.)

As usual, some of the exam questions are my own and some are from the wonderful sample exam questions over at Ambleside Online.  I usually look at those first and then make changes and additions to suit our family.  And keep in mind that I have two children in Year 2, so they aren't both answering all these questions--I give them options.

The Questions

Italian:

Describe how you get ready for the day in Italian.

Describe what the people in this room are wearing in Italian.

Answer the following questions: "Quando e il tuo compleanno?  Quando e il compleanno di tuo papa?  Quando e il compleanno di tua sorella?"

Translate the following numbers into Italian: 43, 99, 57, 81, 16, 63.

Sing "Pioggia, Vattene Via" or "Testa, Spalle, Ginocchi, e Piedi."

Recite "Filastrocca della Lana" or "Farfallina Bella Bianca."

Poetry:

Recite one of the poems you memorized by Christina Rossetti this term.

Besides the ones you memorized, what was your favorite poem that we read this term?  What was it about?

Piano:

Play your recital songs.

Physical Education:

Play a proper game of bocce ball.

Jump rope for twenty jumps.

See how long it takes to throw the ball into the basket five times.

Math:

Find the remainder: 21,463 - 9,783.

Find the quotient, writing the remainder in terms of a fraction: 970 / 54.

Find the sum: 3 3/4 + 5 1/8.

Find the product: 470 x 52.

What is 1/8 of 64?  What is 1/3 of 90?

Give your best estimate: what is the square root of 67?

Complete the following timed division test.

Complete the following Challenging Word Problems.

Play a game of Percents orFractions War.

Free Reading:

What was your favorite book read during free time this term?  What did you like best about it?

Draw a scene from one of the stories in Tanglewood Tales.  Describe briefly which scene you have illustrated, either in writing or orally.

Hymn:

Sing "Pange Lingua" or "At the Cross Her Station Keeping."

Folk Song:

Sing "Froggy Went a Courtin" or "I Love You, California."

Recitation - Bible:

Recite the Nunc Dimittis or the Magnificat.

Penmanship:

Write the following sentence in your best printing: Hopping frog, hop here and be seen.  Plodding toad, plod here and be looked at.

Copy your name in your best cursive.

Literature:

Tell of Christian's experience in the Valley of Death.  Whom does he meet there, what difficulties does he encounter, and how does he get through it in the end?

What do you remember about Christian's stay at the house provided for pilgrims by the lord of the Hill or about Christian's battle with Apollyon?

Tell your favorite story from Robin Hood.

Tell me your favorite scene from A Comedy of Errors or Macbeth.  You can look at our character chart as you explain the story.

History:

Tell about Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt or the Princes in the Tower.

What do you know about The Hundred Years War?

Describe or draw a favorite scene from Joan of Arc.

Tell all you remember of Christopher Columbus' first journey.

Show me whereabouts on the map Christopher Columbus left from and where he landed with his men.  Now show me where they thought they had landed.

Reading Skill:

Please read this passage aloud in your clearest voice.

Religion - Bible Stories:

Tell me about one of the events from right after Jesus' death, using as many specific details from the biblical text as you can.

Tell about one of the events from right before Jesus' death, using as many specific details from the biblical text as you can.

Religion - Study of the Mass:

Tell me all you remember about the Consecration.

What are some ways we can live out the Mass?

Religion - Catechism:

Tell me a favorite event from the public life of Jesus as described by Mother Loyola.

How can we know that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Our Lord?

Choose one of the apostles and tell me all you know about him.

Geography:

Describe what Ezra and Nate encounter in the Orient or on their voyage across the Pacific to get there.

Where did ships during Ezra's time take men interested in finding gold?  Trace their journey on this map and tell me what you remember about the gold rush.

Tell me about the Andes.  What animals live there, and what is the geography like?

What do you remember about the South American plains?

What city is to the north of us?  south of us?  west of us?

Describe what happens to Brighty at the end of the book.

Fill in this map of the Western and Midwestern states of America, paying careful attention to spelling.

Nature Study:

Tell me all you can about an animal we have read about this term from The Burgess Animal Book, including its looks and habits.

Sketch from memory one new thing we saw on a nature study outing this term and tell me all you can about it.  It can be a bird, wildflower, leaf, or some other discovery.

Art:

Complete this warm-up activity as carefully as you can.

Music Study:

Tell me a favorite scene from Opal Wheeler's Beethoven.

Hum the theme from one of the Beethoven selections we enjoyed this term.

What is a string quartet?

What role does the conductor play in the orchestra?

Tell me about one of the percussion instruments, including what it is made of and what sounds it makes. 

Picture Study:

Choose one of Durer's paintings/engravings/drawings and describe it as well as you can or sketch it.

Handicraft:

Show something you have made in sewing to Daddy.

The Answers

Note: For the drawn narrations here that include written descriptions, I let them choose whether they would prefer to write these themselves or have me write for them.  I helped them with spelling and pronunciation when asked.

From Stanley's Joan of Arc:

Lightfoot, the White-Tailed Deer from The Burgess Animal Book, by Gianna

He is called the light-tailed deer because he has a white patch behind his tail, which he raises as a sign of danger to his friends, the other Lightfoots. He has a yard in which he lives in the winter and is kept pawed down by his hooves and is warm. Mrs. Lightfoot has a few babies and they are camoflaged. This makes an enemy, such as a fox, not able to see them because they are spotted with light spots, like the shadow of the trees with the sun going through their leaves. Lightfoot can run very quickly. He has antlers. They are branched. Mrs. Lightfoot does not. Their ears work very well, and so do their noses. They lose the spots on their coat when they are older and they are now just a light grayish brown. It is a beautiful color. They have fear of hunters, foxes, and many other predators. They are mostly found near trees.

A favorite scene from Pyle's Robin Hood, by Gianna

Robin Hood was once longing for adventure. He hadn't had some for a long time, so he told his men that he would blow his horn three times and they would had to come quickly if he did that. So he started along the road briskly and on the road, he came to a bridge, and on the other side of the bridge was another man. He was tall and stout and broad, and they both wanted to cross first. They were in each other's path. Then there began a fight, and finally Robin Hood was tossed into the river. But then he found his horn and blew three blasts. To show him how strong they were, the archers that came (Robin Hood had some archers, and he was an archer himself, actually) shot at a target and hit it so well that Little John decided to be one of their men. They asked him what his name was. “People call me John.” “Then you shall be called Little John,” said Robin. “And you shall be christened.” So Robin Hood took Little John, as he was now called, home. And he was christened by one of them dressing as a priest christening him in ale.

Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt from Our Island Story, by Vincent

Henry V was afraid that the English, because he was sort of a bad king, might drive him from the throne.  So he made up his mind to try to capture France so that when he was driven out of England, he could still be king of France.  So he set out to siege a town called Orleans.  The Orleans held out bravely, but after a long time, they finally gave up.  Henry V's army was very weak, so he had to go back to England, but the nearest way was Calais, and that's where the king chose to go.  The prince, or Dauphin, who was now ruling because Charles had gone made, set out with an army to fight.  The English thought it was almost impossible to win because they were half-starved and were all tired.  The battle began but even though the English were half-starved they still won the battle.  King Henry V went to a French herald and asked him, pointing to a castle, “Whatever that castle name is shall be the name of the battle.”  The herald answered,  “That castle is called Agincourt.”  “Then this,” said Henry V, “shall be called the Battle of Agincourt.”

Christian's stay at the house of the Lord of the Hill from Pilgrim's Progress, by Vincent

Christian arrived at a house, and he saw that there were two lions in front of the porter. A few minutes before he had met two men who had come running back and said that there were two lions that were guarding that house. Christian almost turned back, but then he heard the porter say that they were sleeping and besides that, they were also chained. Then the porter asked him why he had come, and Christian said, “I took a nap, and I lost my scroll, and now I want to find some lodging.” “Well,” said the porter, “I'll talk to some of the other family, and they'll listen to you, and if they like your story, they will let you come in.” When he was led in after he had told why he had come there, the three girls and Christian discoursed until dinner. “How did you know to come here?” asked one of them. “Because I read that my city was to be destroyed, and I myself did not want to be destroyed,” answered Christian. “Did you try to get them to come with you so that they would not be destroyed?” “I kept telling them that our city would be destroyed,” said Christian, “but they would not listen to me, so I finally went away.” “And did your neighbors try to get you back?” “Yes,” said Christian, “but I just closed my ears to them and went on.” “Did anyone try to follow you?” “Yes,” said Christian, “a man, but when he got stuck in the Slough of Despond he went back, so I was left all alone.” They talked all dinner, and after that, they all went to sleep. In the morning, the three girls took him to the armory, where there was the slingstone that David had used to kill Goliath, Noah's Arc, and other famous things. Before he left, they gave him some grapes and a bottle of wine, and also a suit of armor to protect himself. When he went to the porter, he asked him, “have any other pilgrims passed by?” “Yes,” said the porter, “one of them passed by whose name was Faithful.” “Oh, I know Faithful,” said Christian, and he left the house on his way.

Some Thoughts

:: Last time I noted some changes I needed to make to their cursive instruction, and I did see a nice improvement in their cursive penmanship this time.  Moving from stroke-by-stroke to looking at the full letter and then making it in one swoop turned out to make a big difference.  Over the summer, we'll be moving from full letters to full words.  I have to admit, I'm surprised at how hands-on I have found that copywork needs to be!  But I do see that the habits now really do pay off later on.  Both of them have very nice printing at this point, and that's partly due to my being more careful in my overseeing of their work this year.

:: Great literature and history narrations.  I didn't include them here simply because I didn't feel up to transcribing their wonderful but exceedingly long narrations of Columbus from This Country of Ours and from the Comedy of Errors--so many of our books this year have captured their imaginations!  Year 2 is a wonderful booklist.

:: I spent more time on mapwork this term and saw good progress.  The questions that required them to show me places on the map were answered confidently compared to previous terms.  It really does pay to take a bit of extra time with each reading and pull out the map to set the scene for the story!  

:: That said, they both found the Seabird questions difficult despite enjoying the book.  Their narrations of that story were fine all year, but I think I may move Holling back onto our read-aloud list next year, just to be sure they get the plotline.  My son in particular loved reading about the adventures but had a difficult time following Holling's prose, which I consider short but surprisingly poetic.

:: Some other things I want to consider for next year: more time spent listening to our music study selections and more dedicated handicraft time.  I feel like I have those same resolutions and never quite follow through on them! :)

Second Grade in Our Home :: Fine Arts

I'm doing a recap of some of this year's subjects now that we're finished with our school year.  Today: the fine arts!

Picture Study

As usual, we deviated from the Ambleside Online selections here, simply because I love art history and like choosing our own.  We studied three artists, six pieces per artist, spending two weeks on each, or two 15-minute sessions.

Week 1: For the first session, I show them the piece and tell them its name, size, media, and date.  I then include any relevant details they might want to know, such as its purpose or commission, where it's hanging now, or the historical/literary reference.  They then spend several minutes looking quietly at it, trying to make a mental image of it.  Once they are ready, I cover the print and they narrate all they remember about it.  Once they're finished, I turn it back over and we discuss: this is my chance to add additional details or draw a comparison with a prior work we have studied.

 Week 2: I get out sketch paper and conte crayons and let them do a sketch of the piece.  How and what they choose to draw is up to them, but the goal is not imitation--it's more a further act of narration, encouraging further observation.  Sometimes they choose to block the composition, roughly charting out the positions and shapes of the scene.  Sometimes they choose to focus on one small detail of the print to sketch.  I also use this time to show them comparisons with other pieces and/or studies done by the artist in preparation for this work.

At the beginning of each term, I also add a biography of the artist to their reading shelf and they narrate the pertinent details from it when they have finished.

Term 1 - Manet

The Races at Longchamps, 1864

Le Bar aux Folies-Bergere, 1881-2

The Fifer, 1866

The Railway, 1872

On the Beach, 1873

In the Conservatory, 1879

Term 2 - Jan Vermeer

Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, 1654-5
The Milkmaid, 1657-8
The Little Street, 1657-8
Young Woman with a Water Jug, 1660-62
Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665

The Art of Painting, 1666

Term 3 - Albrecht Durer

Self-Portrait in a Fur Coat, 1500

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1497-8

Young Hare, 1502

The Knight, Death, and the Devil, 1513

Praying Hands, 1508

Feast of the Rosary, 1506

Composer Study

Once again, we study one composer per term, about six selections per composer.  As in picture study, I deviate from the Ambleside schedule here too--I rely heavily on the pieces that they select, but I do them on my own rotation.  That's partly because while my children are young, I want to use composers that have elementary-level books written about them, and partly because I want to take advantage of local performances.  For example, we had the opportunity to hear several of Haydn's pieces performed this winter, so he was on my list for this year.

For the first four weeks of each term, the children read and narrated a chapter from the Opal Wheeler biography of each composer.  These made such a deeper impact on my children than the Venezia biographies that we used last year!  I'm planning to purchase three more for next year's composers once I've selected them.

They also read and narrated a short section each week of the year from The First Book of the Orchestra, which is a vintage text that does a nice job of explaining the families and instruments in the orchestra and how they work together.

Term 1: Haydn

Celenza's The Farewell Symphony

Symphony No. 45, The Farewell Symphony (three weeks)

Symphony No. 94, The Surprise Symphony (three weeks)

Symphony No. 60, Il Distratto (two weeks)

String Quartet Op 76 no. 4 in B flat major, 1st movement, Sunrise Quartet (two weeks)

The Creation: "The Heavens are Telling the Glory" (two weeks)

Term 2: Mozart

Opal Wheeler's Mozart, The Wonder Boy

Piano Concerto 20 (two weeks)

Symphony 40 (four weeks)

Quintet in A Major for Clarinet (two weeks)

Quintet in A Major for Clarinet

Piano Sonata in A Major (two weeks)

Concerto for bassoon and orchestra in B-flat major, K. 191 (two weeks)

Term 3: Beethoven

Opal Wheeler's Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells

Moonlight Sonata (two weeks)

Symphony 9 (two weeks)

Symphony 5 (two weeks)

Piano Concerto 5 Op 73 (two weeks)

Razumovsky Quartets Op 59 (four weeks)

Art and Drawing

I aim for one drawing lesson and one art project each week, but we fell short of that this year.  In actuality, we had a full first term, working our way through twelve more weeks of lessons based on Mona Brooks' Drawing with Children (we began using this book last year) and our weekly art projects as planned.  In our second and third terms (which started with first-trimester woes!), I let weekly drawing warm-ups from Donna Young's site and fun with various doodling books stand in for more formal lessons, and we did an art project every other week.  Thankfully, my daughters in particular spend tons of time daily with their own art projects, so they were certainly getting lots of practice, just not instruction or direction.  

A few of the art projects we did manage to do this year:

ATC saint card swap

sculpey

collage

watercolor placecards

printmaking

beading

painting

I'm already planning how to fit art into our days for next year.  I'll have an infant again, which always makes things a bit challenging, but I'm hopeful!

Handicrafts

My daughter has been faithfully working her sewing all year.  She would love to spend even more time sewing, but all I can commit to now is a weekly session with her--and she does still need my help.  But she has made some nice little projects this year, and I think she'll be working more independently in no time.

As for my son...does anyone else find boys' handicrafts really difficult to teach?  Woodworking doesn't come naturally to me, though I know he'd enjoy it.  I have a leather stamping kit set aside for his birthday this year that I'm hoping will be something we can do together, and maybe paper sloyd or whittling soap for next year?  I think I need indoor activities. :)

Piano

Both children began piano lessons in February.  They have already made great progress and are learning with enthusiasm.  It has been a wonderful addition to our week!

Second Grade in Our Home :: Free Reading

I thought I'd share here the free reading my two oldest did this year in case you're looking for ideas for your own elementary students.  These are the books they read alone or we read together that were not narrated, just for enjoyment.  This list is definitely suitable for older children as well, as my children are advanced readers.  I don't believe you'll find anything objectionable here, but as always, pre-read before handing off books to your children if you're worried about that sort of thing.

From the Ambleside Online list for Year 2

Spyri's Heidi

de Jong's Along Came a Dog

d'Aulaire's Leif the Lucky

d'Aulaire's Abraham Lincoln

d'Aulaire's Columbus

Henry's Brighty of the Grand Canyon

Otto of the Silver Hand

Browning's Pied Piper of Hamelin 

Sidney's Five Little Peppers (read aloud)

Lofting's The Story of Dr. Dolittle (via librivox, read by Roy Trumbull)

A Door in the Wall (audiobook, read by Roger Rees)

The Wizard of Oz (audiobook, read by Brooke Shields)

Nesbit's Five Children and It (audiobook, read by Anna Bentinck)

Hawthorne's A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales (read aloud)

Other Fiction

Edward Eager's Half-Magic

Henry's Stormy, Misty's Foal

Stein's Gabriel and the Hour Book

Spyri's Chel

Spyri's Gritli's Children

Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (audiobook read by Eric Idle)
Charlie and the Magic Elevator

Lovelace's Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Hill

Andrews' Mandy

Fritz's Brendan and the Navigator

Wiley's The Prairie Thief

Nesbit's The Story of the Amulet

Nesbit's The Phoenix and the Carpet

Nesbit's The Treasure Seekers

Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle

Lovelace's The Trees Kneel at Christmas

Kastner's Emil and the Detectives

Steele's The Buffalo Knife

The Bobbsey Twins series (my childhood copies)

The Great Treasury of Brer Rabbit

Jones' Twig

McClung's Wings in the Woods

Willard's Augustine Came to Kent

Godden's The Kitchen Madonna

Fleming's Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang

McCloskey's Homer Price

Barker's The Lord of the Rushie River

Estes' Ginger Pye and Pinky Pye

Estes' Miranda the Great

Estes' The Hundred Dresses

Estes' The Sleeping Giant

Estes' The Moffats series

Estes' The Alley

Estes' The Curious Adventures of Jimmy McGee

Clara Pierson's "Among the" books (free on Kindle)

Authur Scott Bailey's nature stories (most free on Kindle)

Lucy Fitch Perkins' Twins books (most free on Kindle)

the rest of Sidney's Five Little Peppers series (most free on Kindle)

Fairy Tale Collections

The Barefoot Book of Giants, Ghosts, and Goblins

The Sleeping Beauty and Other Tales by the Brothers Grimm

Andrew Lang fairy books (free on Kindle)

Lang's In Fairyland

Andersen's Fairy Tales

Three Golden Oranges and Other Spanish Folktales

Bates' Once Upon a Time: A Book of Old-Time Fairy Tales

Enid Blyton's Bedtime Bookshelf

Provensens' Legendary Animals

d'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths

Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Religious

Mary Fabyan Windeatt saint biographies

Ignatius Vision saint biographies

Encounter the Saints biographies

Pochocki's Once Upon a Time Saints series

I'll post soon our list of planned free reading for this summer and into fall--I've got a lovely stack piling up.  In the meantime, any not-to-miss favorites?

Summer School

Well, schoolwork and exams are finished (I'm planning to wrap up our Year 2 studies and share on our exams another day!) and we are officially on break!  We'll start up again in July, most likely, depending on how we've adapted to having a newborn in the house once again.  That gives us about two months off.

But we won't be entirely off; I see a lot of value in keeping a lightened summer school routine for us, as we did last year.  My plan has always been to school year-round for some subjects and on a more traditional schedule for others.

I like to keep skill-based subjects going a few times a week, not necessarily looking toward getting ahead but just focusing on keeping memory and skills fresh and keeping traction in areas we have progress in.  For us, that means math, penmanship, Italian, memory work, and piano.  But unlike during the school year, I aim to hit those "daily" items just three times a week (we aim for four during the school year), taking a bit over an hour:

Math - 25 minutes

Penmanship (printing and cursive) - 10 minutes

Italian - 15 minutes

Memory work - 10 minutes

Piano - 20 minutes

I also have casual plans for some of our other subjects, like...

:: time listening to our composer selections from the previous year

:: lots of read-alouds and audiobooks

:: a monster stack of books to stock my big kids' shelf, who will have more free (reading) time on their hands and are always happy to have something new to read

:: our weekly nature study outing and journal entry

:: a few nature projects: raising butterflies, monitoring our (tiny) garden, working on learning the calls of our local birds, building our wildflower collection

:: revamped chore routines as we re-calibrate life with a new little one in our home

:: a read through of Beatrix Potter's collection (I did this a few years ago with my two oldest but the littles have only read a few favorites--time to remedy that!)

And then my kids have their own projects in mind:

:: some beginning cooking lessons (my girls' request)

:: lots of hours out back, particularly in the cool mornings (my boys' request)

:: more time for handicrafts, drawing, and piano (my oldest daughter's request)

:: continuing our simple reading lessons (my soon-to-be-kindergartener's request)

:: more chess with Daddy (my big kids' request)

...and I'm hoping to have a bit more time to read picture books while snuggling on the sofa with my littles. :)

I'm happy to say that this Charlotte Mason approach to education has done a wonderful job so far at educating my children's sensibilities: when I ask what they would like to do with the time that stretches before them over the next couple months, I get heart-pleasing answers that I am happy to help satisfy!

So what do you have planned for summer?  Do you keep up with school year-round, or do you love a complete summer break?  

The Argonauts Set Sail

No, I don't have this gorgeous edition.  I wish I did!

Immediately the fifty heroes got on board, and seizing their oars, held them perpendicularly in the air, while Orpheus (who liked such a task far better than rowing) swept his fingers across the harp.  At the first ringing note of the music, they felt the vessel stir.  Orpheus thrummed away briskly, and the galley slid at once into the sea, dipping her prow so deeply that the figure-head drank the wave with its marvellous lips, and rose again as buoyant as a swan.  The rowers plied their fifty oars; the white foam boiled up before the prow; the water gurgled and bubbled in their wake; while Orpheus continued to play so lively a strain of music, that the vessel seemed to dance over the billows by way of keeping time to it.  Thus triumphantly did the Argo sail out of the amidst the huzzas and good wishes of everybody except the wicked old Pelias, who stood on the promontory, scowling at her, and wishing that he could blow out of his lungs the tempest of wrath that was in his heart, and so sink the galley with all on board.

We're reading the last chapter of Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales as we finish up Year 2 over the next month, and this morning we came across this description of Jason and his Argonauts setting out on their quest for the Golden Fleece.  For some reason I found it very inspiring as I embark on the busy week ahead.  Something about the spray of the water, the brisk notes of the harp, the lightness of the ship as it courses through the waves, the grand triumph of Jason and his band in the face of the greedy king?  Not sure what struck me exactly, but I'm hoping the literary refreshment will help me carve out some free time amidst the busy-ness to do a bit of writing here this week.  I have my next post on The Living Page ahead of me as my seemingly-impossible quest, and my to-do list leers at me from the promontory.  No harp or huzzahs, though I do have big kids thumping intervals on the piano and happy toddler shrieks spurring me on...

(As a side note, can I rave a bit about how wonderful The Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales are?  This Hawthorne set is scheduled as free reading for Year 2, but I decided to spread them out over the course of the year, ten pages each week, for us to enjoy together, rather than handing them off to the children to gobble up as they usually do with their free reads.  I am so glad I did!  We have loved every minute of these books.  Not only are the stories a wonderful introduction to ancient mythology, but they are also a delight to read aloud (for me) and to listen to read aloud (for them).  I highly recommend not skipping these two!)

Making Connections :: Geography Close to Home

We spent a beautiful long morning at the coast last week.  We got in some lovely nature study, which I'll share about in a different post, but another highlight (besides the sunshine, clam chowder, and sea breezes!) was the connections we were able to make to our Year 2 reading.  Amazing how that Science of Relations works, right?  These connections were completely unplanned yet completely enriching.

As we went through a hotel lobby alongside the wharf, we came across this model ship along the wall.  On reading the placard, we found it was a model of a ship from the 1850s that sailed from the Atlantic coast around the horn of South America and on to the gold country, docking in San Francisco.  My kids immediately recognized: Seabird!  

Sure enough, this carefully-constructed model on loan from the local maritime museum is clipper very similar to the one described in Holling's Seabird.  It was such fun to make the connection to this replica (something I honestly would have walked right by any other day)!

And on a related note, guess what we found outside...

Funnily enough, we had just read the chapter on anchors in Seabird the very day before!

We have passed these anchors every time we have come, but I've never taken any notice of them.

Another fun connection to this year's reading: the wharf and harbor at this seaside town are occupied by a fascinating group of sea lions, whose antics and barking are such fun!  The children always spend quite a long time watching them in awe--they're really pretty amazing, as large and loud as they are.  And then off to the side, along the boatline, we spotted another animal "friend," not as common as the sea lions here but still local to the area...

Can you see him there, tiny in the center?  It's Little Joe Otter, as Old Mother Nature and my two oldest call him! Though the children have seen otters at the bay aquarium, they don't often get to see the in their natural habitat.  Just as they read about in the Burgess Animal Book (which they both absolutely adore--definitely a favorite this year), he was floating along on his back, lunching with his belly for his table, while two gulls pursued him and his leftovers.  So fun.

She thought it was absolutely fascinating as well ;)

We have also had some happy connections with a book I added to our curriculum this year: the Kirbys' The World at Home.  It's a geography text mentioned by Miss Mason herself, and when I came across her mention of it in my reading about geography last year, I decided to add it to this year's schedule.  It's composed of over a hundred short chapters about everything from the Northern Lights to monkeys building bridges across the Amazon, all in a charmingly conversational tone, and we all love reading from it.  We read two chapters a week, moving through the book in order, so I don't know what topics are going to be covered when and I never know what's coming up next.  

The funny thing is how very often the chapters we read in The World at Home coincide perfectly with what we're reading about in our Year 2 studies!  

We talked of reindeer and the Eskimos during the chapters about Viking explorers in This Country of Ours.  

We read about buffalo and American Indians through Term 1 of this year, alongside Holling's Tree in the Trail.  

We read about the region of Patagonia the very week Ezra's crew crossed the equator and rounded the horn of South America in Seabird.  

And there have been more besides.  These rich connections are partly due to the breadth of our studies this year, partly due to our heightened awareness, partly due to our broad approach to geography, and partly just one of the joys of this style of liberal arts education.  Thank you, Miss Mason, for living books, the Science of Relations, and "learners awake"!