Here Comes Autumn

Today is a cool, rainy, autumn-like day. It brought out some creative energy in me, which looks like this on paper....



(the words are from a poem... "big boughs that arch, small ones that bend and blow, and all those fringy leaves that flutter so.)

Back to School

We're back in the swing of the school routine. I'm so glad I found a better way to plan each day's work. Instead of my week to week plan that I used last year, I plan a week's worth of work, then label the days as Day 1, Day 2, and so on. Then if we happen to need a day off, or someone is sick or something, it doesn't throw off my whole schedule! (There is an example of Day 14 below.)

The boys are doing the Lord of the Rings Literary Lessons this year. I have joined them in the study and I'm really liking it. I love to read but I have always had poor comprehension skills. Trying to answer the who, what and why questions was a challenge for me when I was a kid. I remember thinking "why would they ask that question, isn't it obvious?" Of course it might be obvious, but I was missing the point. I couldn't tell back what happened in my own words, or else I was just too lazy. I think narrating will help my boys avoid this problem. Being able to read a passage, then tell back in their own words what they read is the best way to retain what they read. Today, the skill of narration has been replaced by workbooks and oral lectures. Narrating challenges and strengthens the mind, teaching the child to attend to what they read, to remember it, to visualize it, to comprehend it, to articulate it.

This is what the boys will be working on today:

Day 14:
Bible Reading: John 14
Devotional Reading: 15 min. (~N~ is reading "More than a Carpenter" and ~D~ is reading "Adam and His Kin")
Math: N-Lesson 11, D-Lesson 12
Grammar: Simply Grammar Lesson 6 (orally with Mom)
Lord of the Rings: Read LOTR p. 121-131 and Lit Lessons 48-50
Dictation/Copywork: D: Psalm 46:3-6
Land of Fair Play: Mom Reads p. 35,36,39,40
Current Events: read daily newspaper (write in own words several headlines of the week)
Spanish Songs: Learn Song (listen to, sing with, memorize)
History Reading: ~D~In Freedom’s Cause, ~N~Rolf and Viking Bow - Narrate to Mom
Art in Story: Mom will read out loud

Two evenings per week, plus Sunday afternoons, we are working through the Bluedorn's logic book "The Fallacy Detective," as a family. It is a great book! I didn't learn much logic when I went to school (if any!), so I am thankful for this opportunity to discuss it now with my children. One of my favorite things about being a homeschool family is just that... I have the chance to re-educate myself!

The Famous Old City of PULA

Awhile back, I posted pictures from our trip to Venice. In order to get to Venice, we traveled to Pula, Croatia, and it was from there that we took a ferry across the Adriatic Sea. Pula is known to be the oldest town on the Eastern Adriatic coast. At about 40 BC Pula became a Roman colony. Around 1331, the Venetians took over Pula. Between the 13th and 14th centuries there was a plague and more destruction suffered during wars. The city rapidly declined. During the 15th century it still had a population of 5,000, but by the following century it had declined to a mere 1,000. The Venetians carried away everything they could from the city - marble columns, tiles, mosaics. Pula came to be known as the "city of corpses" or the "city of the dead." It was probably while in this state that Dante came to know it and mentioned it (Pola) in his "Divine Comedy." For 3 centuries the death rate was higher than the birth rate. By 1631, Pula only had 300 inhabitants.

Pula is now famous for its Roman Arena, dating from the period of Augustus
(31BC -14AD) and it is the sixth largest remaining amphitheatre in the world. It is remarkably well-preserved and in better condition than the one in Verona. I have read that it is said to be the most magnificent structure of its kind in the world, after the Coliseum in Rome.







The Temple of Augustus stands on what is now the Republic Square. It was dedicated to Emperor Augustus and was built between the year 2 BC and the death of Augustus in AD 14.



The Triumphal Arch of the Sergii was built between 29 and 27 BC in honor of the three Sergii (Sergius Lepidus, Gaius Lucius Sergius and Gneius Sergius) who held high military and civil offices in the Empire. When the city gates were demolished in 1826 and 1829, the arch remained standing alone. It is only decorated on the city side.



Pula is a colorful city.... a beautiful part of the Istrian coast of Croatia.