Not art or latin but something between

Our ArtEtc and LatinEtc days have been suffering a temporary hiatus from lack of people and other commitments recently, so yesterday Zoe and I decided we’d carry on regardless and hope other people rejoin as and when they are able to.

We started with some GCSE Biology with all three of the biggest girls, Fran, Skye and C. We’ve made it to the Digestion chapter, having made it through the cells and enzymes sections with a reasonable amount of success and understanding. While I couldn’t do other sciences, I can do this one and they seem to be learning things, or perhaps putting things the do already know into slightly more grown up contexts. Yesterday was mostly about where and how different food elements are processed and what enzymes work on what food groups. I think Fran and Skye are enjoying working as the ones who are the most able and stretching themselves a bit. They think very hard; C was new to the group, so was a bit at sea I think!

Zoe did some couplet poetry with them next; this is an introduction to more formal poetry I guess, something Zoe took from a previous school idea of her girls. They all had a go (very successfully) at writing two lines of poems. I might follow this up with a sonnet or something. I’ll photograph my big girl ones but Josie and I invented this:-

“Monkey and Rattle are my favourite toys,

I think perhaps they both are boys.”

Then she wrote it out and illustrated it.

I had to pop out for an appointment (which was infinitely more cheerful than expected, all is well after all the expected doom!) and when I came back they were all busy doing water colour and pastel bug pictures.

They might have got away with some playing at that point but after the second of my children turned into a pathetic whiny mess over not getting their way in a game (I lack patience with ‘do it my way or I won’t play’ and Amelie was being an a*se), so we got them back to do their final bit of work for the day which was to read and study The Highwayman poem but I enjoyed doing it so much I’m going to give it a post of it’s own.

For the usual bunch, we plan to meet next Wednesday too; I’m doing ‘Invictus’ and anyone who has time to turn up will be welcome.