Gorgeous weather here today.  I am so thankful for beautiful weather on my days off.  We may get rain on Friday and we need it.  I won’t complain either way. 

Today we set outselves down in chairs on the front porch to do our school work.  I love that my son enjoys just sitting and talking and allows me to read things aloud to him.  He has plenty of reading he does on his own as well. 

This book, Real Life Stories and Literary Selections is one of my favorite book finds.  I have both volumes — 1 and 2 — and I found them at the thrift store.

Today we read A Letter From A Pioneer which is a letter from the book Letters of Polly the Pioneer.  The letter was written in 1826 by lady living in a settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains.  It was so interesting to read aloud.  She told of:

• the iron crane in her stove and her good fortune at having two cast iron kettles when other ladies may only have a pot made of clay that oozes fat and stays aflame the whole cooking time, leaving the home full of smoke
• making hoe-cakes by taking the handle off the hoe and cleaning the hoe well and then greasing it with bear’s grease to cook on it
• making and using a hominy-block (the device they created to grind their corn)
• making a sieve from a raw deerskin
• making dishes, baby rattles, and milk pans from gourds
• a beautiful wooden bowl that was made for her by Henry (her husband?) from poplar wood

Something I love about Real Life Stories and Literary Selections is that each story has questions for discussion at the end.  This is good for every age reader as it encourages good comprehension.

Something I’ve been doing lately is printing a map to go with whatever we are studying.  For example, this story today was about a settlement in the Allegheny Mountains.  I printed this map:

I had Joseph circle the area that includes the Allegheny Moutains and then make a note at the bottom. 

How did I get this great map?  Well, I have a CD that came in this book:

This is a great book which I picked up at a thrift store awhile back.  I also have another volume and would love to have all 4 volumes in the set.  Anyway, the CD is awesome and allows one to pick a geographic area to learn about and print.  There is audio to help in pronunciation of cities and so forth, and you can print either blank maps or maps that include all sorts of information. 

I am hoping that this will help Joseph have a great understanding of world geography when he graduates.  He seems to think it’s okay. 

We had a good day all in all.  I am pleased with our discussions about what he would like to focus on in his studies next year for 12th grade.  But the highlight of the day may have been this fresh fruit tart:

I made two of them today.  We devoured one of them tonight sitting around the kitchen table.  Yum.

Lynn