"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." -John Adams, Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts (11 October 1798)
It's been a busy week! I'm being more careful with my sleep, and the contractions are gradually getting better, which means that the things I usually do are more likely to have been done this week. This is exciting to me! Between that and the amazing efforts of my husband, we've had some good progress on a whole bunch of projects this week. Most exciting to me is that he pulled up, leveled, and added another ring of stones around our "circle garden," which is now ready to be filled with compost and then plants. Plus, the laundry and other housework is doing better than is has been in a while. Monkey also did quite a bit of work with his Daddy in the basement, working on finishing another section of it a little bit more. Monkey loves that sort of thing, and his daddy is kind enough to include him quite a bit.
"A rigid economy of the public contributions and absolute interdiction of all useless expenses will go far towards keeping the government honest and unoppressive" -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Lafayette, 1823
Phonics: Monkey's making good progress. I finally got the brads I needed to put together the "Reading House" from Happy Phonics, and we're doing that quite a bit. He also read a couple of Bob Books to me this week. No new ones, but we're still getting back up to speed after taking a whole month off for Grandma's funeral, so I have no complaints. We may try a new one next week... or we may not. He's still resisting the work of reading quite a bit, and I don't want to turn it into a power struggle or unpleasant chore. We have plenty of time. Just before Grandma died, he was starting to get excited about it; it seemed like he was realizing that he could do it. I'm hoping to recapture that enthusiasm.
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power" -Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted (1775)
Math: I recently re-purchased Anno's Counting Book, since it's been lost long enough that it was clearly not going to resurface in a reasonable amount of time. With that, we've re-started doing some of the math activities from Math Expressions. This week, we focused on "partners" in numbers. We used stickers to show the partners that make up 2-5, and Monkey enjoyed a couple of dot-to-dots. Speaking of dot-to-dots, a friend shared a link to dot-a-pix, which is a ton of fun! I haven't been brave enough to try Monkey on there, but I'm thinking that kids a bit bigger would enjoy it.
"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government" -George Washington, Farewell Address
Kumon: Writing went well; Monkey really enjoys that book. For whatever reason he wasn't really interested in the gluing book this week. That one is more for fun than anything else, so we didn't work on it. I suspect that it just couldn't compete with all the fun projects that Daddy had going this week. Who wants to glue when you could be in the garage helping dismantle an old Firebird?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." -Declaration of Independence
Read-aloud: We're still doing poetry, and having a good time at it. Today we read Winkin Blinkin and Nod, which I really liked. So did Monkey, though I don't think that he caught the double-meanings at all. But the illustration in our book this afternoon was charming, and we spent a long time discussing which of the boys in the picture might be Winkin, and which was Blinkin, and which was Nod. It was entertaining. I'll have to ask him if he wants it to go in his poetry book. We'll probably do another Winnie-the-Pooh book after the poems, but I'm in no hurry; we're having a good time with the poems, and the last time I checked the used book store they didn't have Winnie-the-Pooh, except for the one we already have.
"Real Patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favourite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests" -George Washington, The Farewell Address (17 September 1796)
Scripture: This is the best week for Scriptures that we've had in quite some time. We read from the Book of Mormon every day this week, and are making good progress toward finishing it off. I need to look around and see if I can find a reading chart for just the four Gospels, which is what I plan to read to him next. I think that I'll leave the Epistles for another time. In addition, our Scripture Box is going very well. He's just about ready for a new scripture or two, and a couple of the old ones I think we'll move back for fewer repetitions here shortly as well.
"— the Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government lest it come to dominate our lives and interests" -Patrick Henry, unsourced
See more wrap-ups at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
3 comments:
Glad things are going well, and WOW -- the baby will be here before you know it!
Yeah, the baby will be here awfully soon, but he should wait 2-3 weeks at least yet! I'd prefer that he wait closer to 7 weeks, but I don't know if I'll get that long. I'm hoping to be all ready for him in 2-3 weeks. One of the other projects this week was to build his dresser, which I now need to fill with clothes, which have to be washed... you know how these things go, I'm sure!
How exciting that you have a new baby coming right around the corner! I miss those days! My youngest is now 9 (sniff, sniff and I have a teenager now. But, it's all still good.
This is the first time I've visited your blog - it sounds like you are doing some wonderfully educational things with your young son.
I would urge you to visit a homeschool convention if you are able to do so. There are tons of mothers there with nursing infants so don't let that stop you! Even after 7 years of homeschooling, I still learn new things and find great encouragement every time I attend.
Samantha
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