Ackland Art Museum.  Not very large.  Worth seeing.  Some beautiful works of art.  We really enjoyed it. 

The man who left the money and the vision for the museum, William Hayes Ackland, is actually interred right inside the museum, in a sarcophagus below a bronze statue of his likeness. 

My two favorite paintings there?  (These will be large, but you can scroll back and forth and up and down and see the paintings.)

St. John beginning his account of the gospel.

And Cleopatra with the peasant who brought to her the asp.

Breathtaking.

Yesterday was an okay school day.  I guess. 

The snow is still trying to compete with me.  Many neighborhood children were at the door throughout the day to see if Princess of the Universe could come out and play.  A couple of times I let her go.  I mean, how often are we able to go sledding?  Especially if one of the parents is accompanying them to a “really big hill?”

Nevertheless, we managed to get some school work done.

We had fun yesterday looking at

• a piece of dandruff – eewwwwwww
• a seed from a plant — groovy
• a little rosemary leaflet (still very green this time of year) — way cool

Michaela is not really doing any formal botany or biology yet, but I want her to become familiar with a microscope and to develop a sense of observation.   It’s a nice science lesson just to note the differences in what you see and to be able to say them or write them.

Along a Charlotte Mason line, we got serious yesterday about our nature sketching.  Michaela loves to draw, and does so regularly, but I want her to work more on her nature journal and observations.  Since there was not much stirring outside yesterday, we used a little resin robin that sits in my office as a model.

Michaela and I sat side by side in front of the warm heater, sketching our own versions of the little robin perched on the mantle. 

Michaela said she loves mine, but I love hers — the first one.  I love her drawings and the way she sees things, and I think she should further develop her drawing skills.  I see she needs to work more on observing exact colors perhaps, but I love her detail.  Tomorrow we will be placing these into our nature journals and labeling them as American robin, Turdus migratorius.

In preparation for a field trip to the Ackland Art Museum, we have read a bit about Ovid from What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know.

(there’s a newer version of this book, I think, but this is the one I have and use)

We are also reading about Augustus from Famous Men of Rome – a great book, by the way, from Memoria Press.   (Writing a review of this book is on my to-do list.)  Pictures to represent both Ovid and Augustus will go into the timeline notebook.

Finally, for math, we got as far as completeing one lesson in Saxon and then cutting out some fraction manipulatives for the next lesson…

and doing a one-minute math drill sheet. 

I guess I can’t complain, really.  Did I fail to mention how grateful I am that Princess of the Universe is learning from home?  And that she and I are great friends?  And that she really has it all: plenty of social interaction with friends and an amazing homeschool group AND she gets to be taught by the people who love her most and be the boss of her free time?  Yeah.  I can’t complain. 

Lynn