The Golden Compass

My big girls are in love with all things related to The Golden Compass. We've listened to the entire Dark Materials trilogy and they've just discovered that there's a movie. Thanks to Netflix, we've watched the movie several times over the past few days. I have to say, without some very pertinent information that you get in the book, the movie was rather confusing. So much so, that I didn't even remember that I saw the movie when it first came out on DVD a couple of years ago. I didn't get it at all then. It's a much better movie once you've read the book and can fill in the gaps.
Jena was devastated to find out that there isn't a movie for the Subtle Knife or the Amber Spy Glass. She's decided that she wants to make those movies. I wonder where she plans to find armored bears in Mississippi...

We took a little Golden Compass quiz (which the girls were very excited about). They did a good job. I will have to come up with a quiz for the other two books. These kids love taking quizzes (I'm not sure where they got that gene from).

Back to life...

We are finally back to a regular week around here. Everyone is in good health, all of our guests have returned to their rightful homes and school has resumed. Unfortunately, after almost two full weeks of no school (thanks to illness and holidays) getting back into the swing of things is like pulling teeth (with tweezers!).


I decided to take yesterday to assess where we are academically. In hind sight, it would have been better to do that after everyone's brain had recharged from the extended vacation. But, we all know what they say about hind sight. Anyway, after a slow start and much frustration on my part, I know what we need to spend a little more time on and what area the girls are very strong in. Reading has always been an important factor in teaching the children and they continue to read well above their grade level. Math is also very important. We tend to struggle a bit with various aspects of math. One of the reasons we school 12 months out of the year is because my children tend to forget things if they are not regularly revisited. Math is a subject where things have to be revisited VERY often so that they stick. Assessing their math progress would have probably been easier if I'd done it at the end of the week instead of the beginning, but they both seem to be performing at grade level. I would like to see them work more independently in math, but everyone has to work at their own pace. I'm sure that they will improve with time.


I have also decided that I would like the girls to start reading some biographies. It's female pilot week in our house. Jena will be reading about Amelia Erhart and Ashni will read about Bessie Coleman. Next week, they will switch.


We are still discussing Mesopotamia in history. Yesterday the girls tried their had at cuneiform writing. We shaped sticks into our stylus and used play dough as our clay tablets. Today, we discussed the Code of Hammurabi and built a ziggurat from blocks. I would like to do an ancient Mesopotamian style feast when we get to the end of our lessons. We will see how that works out and what recipes I may be able to find.