Arts Week - Day 2

On the Banks of Plum Creek--Nellie gets suckered

The Mouse and the Motorcycle-Ralph Saves the Day

Esperanza Rising-The cabin & occupants

Runaway Ralph-Ralph on the road

  So today we had spelling, math and history. After that the kids decided to make dioramas of their favorite scenes from the books they recently read. The top two dioramas are from earlier this year (On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder made by Hannah, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary made by Caleb) Today they made new dioramas of the books we just finished. Caleb read Runaway Ralph (second in his series) and Hannah read Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz. There weren't the books that we were sent by the homeschool company, but I didn't feel like teaching the ones they sent. What's the use of a MA in Reading Education if you can't improvise? I'm glad we changed the books. Esperanza takes place in California during the depression and since we traveled to California, we had a lot to compare and talk about. Caleb loves the Ralph books, and I like them better than the basal reader we were sent. Nothing against the basal, but Caleb doesn't get much out of it.

We also had a great discussion comparing the books. Hannah decided upon reflection that Esperanza's life was tougher than Laura's simply because she didn't have a father and wasn't used to being poor. Caleb let me know that if he had to choose friends from the two books he read that he would rather have Keith than Garf. Garf was always making deals, and he didn't seem to be much of a friend if there was nothing in it for him.

Not bad for an art day. And the dioramas were great. Hannah's isn't quite finished. She wants to put some pictures on the wall like Isabelle did in Esperanza Rising. I'm glad she remembered, because I sure didn't.