unEarthingMe

apparently, I never published this last week.

For A

World History - Co-op began with a discussed Ruyard Kipling's The White Man's Burden and what they thought it meant which was basically a justification of the Western World's treatment of peoples in the rest of the world.  Also discussed was an 1899 speech by Senator Tillman of SC quoting part of Kipling's poem to support his opposition of US decision to annex Phillipines.  The kids read through the speech and made note of both things they agreed and disagreed with.  The group concensus was that while Senator Tillman had the right opinion, not to annex the Phillipines, it was for the wrong (racist) reasons.  A. particularly disagreed with the section "...two races side by side that can not mix or mingle without deterioration and injury to both and the ultimate destruction of the civiliztion of the higher."  They moved on to the  Republican Platform of 1900's claim that we needed to invade to elevate other races.  She really enjoyed  Mark Twain's satirical To the Person Sitting in Darkness.  I wasn't exposed to World History like this until college and as a result, of course, never enjoyed it until then.  We have been viewing the series Flambards all week to add to her "feel" for this time period.

Economics - Credit cards pros and cons were reviewed and discussed.  After watching You've Got Mail there was a discussion on monopolies and monopsonies.  Later in the week she responded to questions on how technology effects economy.

For J

Cultural Studies/History - History In Bloom covered Medieval India this week and I led the group in a discussion of Diwali which began last Friday.  We looked at pictures of Rangoli, sand art made by commoners - as opposed to trained artists - to welcome the goddess Lakshmi.  Then the kids made their own pictures with colored sand.  The nice thing about Story of the World is that you can just pull something out of the activity book, you can expand on it (the option I chose this time) or you can come up with your own project.  It's nice to have all of those options depending on what's going on in your life or what your areas of expertise are.  We're enjoying doing this with our old pals.  She has also enjoyed watching Flambards.

Math - We've been playing Pizza Fractions (a fun math game we have with several variations on how to play) and chess.  J started make a little booklet with addition facts.  She received her first trophy this week for her participation in Junior First Lego League.  She was absolutely beaming.

Language Arts - Everyday, J. impresses me with her growing reading and spelling skills and all of it self-taught.  It's so incredibly rewarding.  I will sorely miss some of her invented spelling once she transitions into knowing more and more words.