Hello everyone! I hope you all had a lovely bank holiday Monday. We decided to work through ours as Lillie only has three weeks before all her photographic projects have to be handed in, and Charlotte’s exams are starting this coming Monday.
I reached a brick wall on Sunday. I have worked solidly for the past 3 1/2 months without a day off, and by Sunday I was really feeling sorry for myself! Self pity is not something we encourage in this household, so I gave myself a swift slap round the head and continued to create more exam papers for Charlotte!
The problem with doing GCSEs this year is that there were massive reforms to the GCSEs and the way they are tested has changed dramatically. But because last year was the first year of implementing these changes for some subjects (Latin and Classics being two such subjects), there has not been time to build up a library of past papers. In fact the only past papers that exist are the sample paper and last year’s paper. Unfortunately for us homeschoolers, the previous year’s paper is only released to the schools to use as a mock. And no matter how many times I nag them to send me a copy, they keep refusing! So I have taken to creating my own. In Latin. A language I have only learnt over the past three months. It takes time. Lots and lots of time.
However, by the end of Sunday, and having been at the computer all day Saturday, and Sunday afternoon, I was the proud author of five one hour papers based on the prescribed passages of the Aeneid. I had modelled them on the one and only sample paper available to me. This means that Charlotte can now do a Latin language paper each day (which I simply make up from the various text books we own) and a Latin Literature paper (on the Aeneid) each day. Past papers really do help a student, not just to test their knowledge, but to also familiarise themselves with the types of questions they will be asked.
Anyway, today started off as normal with chores. I had given both older girls an hour’s lie in ’til 8am. Charlotte is feeling the strain of studying so hard, and in a bid to keep her rested and fairly relaxed we decided lie ins were the way forward. She was looking much fresher today, so I think it did its job! However, it did mean there was a flurry of activity trying to get baths and chores in before 9. Add to the mix a Thomas, who is back at college today, and chaos ensued. I was in first coffee heaven, so most of it went over my head!
Charlotte made it over to my mum’s in time to be tested on her Latin vocab, after which she sat a Latin Language paper:
Lillie did a maths lesson, and then went over to Granny’s to take more up-close flower pictures for her location photography:
I was with the littles. I tested them on their tables and Latin vocab:
I also read them a Mystery of History lesson about Gideon, and we did the next lessons in Life of Fred: Farm maths, after which they hunkered down for some workbook school:
Before break and devotions, the littles continued with their Art Lab lesson using oil pastels. They are currently studying artist Joe Blajda, and today they tried to copy one of his oil pastel picture of Eeyore:
After devotions, Charlotte went back over to mum’s to take a past paper in Latin Literature, and do a bit more revision of the prescribed passages in the Aeneid. Lillie made up her lunch and got ready to walk to work at the nursery. The littles continued with their workbooks, whilst I proof read some of Lillie’s photography work.
Half an hour later, I read about monocots and dicots from the little’s botany book, and we spent time searching for examples of both. The girls took some photos to stick in their journals:
And then drew and labelled some of both that we had found in the garden:
They also checked for growth in their beans and graphed their progress:
I am giving them the afternoon off from now until the older one’s exams and dead-lines have passed. This will free me up after lunch to help in any which way I can to prepare Charlotte for her exams and be proof reader for Lillie and her course work.
The littles spent most of their afternoon playing outside:
Charlotte spent the afternoon revising the Foundation myths of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, whilst Lillie was at work. I used the time to work my way through some of the pages of Lillie’s Location Photography project, which she is hoping to hand in on Friday. She handed in her Portrait Photography project which charted Charlotte’s journey through ME last Friday and achieved an A- for it! A great deal of work went into it, and at 50 pages long she deserved a good grade. I am going to post more of her photos tomorrow, but for now I will leave you with one of her earlier ones of Charlotte, representing her withdrawal from normal life whilst trapped in a body suffering with ME:
As I say, I’ll post more tomorrow. I was taken aback by some of her photography, which captured Charlotte so accurately (it’s her photo at the top of this post, showing Charlotte’s victory over the illness).
Have a great afternoon and evening everybody!