Monday Morning School

Monday morning...start of school. In her pajamas reading a book with the t.v. remote beside her. "Morgan, can you please start your school work? You actually have to do some today you know." "I know mom. Look"

At least she's reading. And the Anne of Green Gables series is one of my favorite series of books. Plus it has to have something educational in there, doesn't it? If not, at least she's reading.

Oh no, here we go again. "Cerah what are you doing on the computer? You have to do some school work today you know." "I am mom. Look"

Yay. Her least favorite subject and she's getting it done first. And if she's doing it on the computer instead of writing it out so that she can switch back and forth to her online book she's reading that's o.k. At least she's reading.

All is not lost. Our loot from the library!

See, while on the computer Cerah decided to check out halloween outfits. She found a Queen Elizabeth costume which led her to ask me who Queen Elizabeth was. This in turn led to a 30 minute discussion on the various queens throughout England's history. After explaining that there were just a few actual queens who ruled and the rest were wives of kings we ended up talking about Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. If you don't know who they are Isabella and Ferdinand ruled Spain jointly during the time of the Spanish Crusades. Isabella actually ruled Spain while Ferdinand was the King Consort. Ferdinand was also the king of Aragon and the two were responsible for uniting Spain after many, many years of fighting between the many small factions that ruled their own little areas. Anyway, we talked about Isabella and Ferdinand in order to explain who Catherine of Aragon was. Cerah wanted to know why she was more well known than some of the other queens of England who were married to kings and not actually the rulers of their country. Catherine of Aragon was one of Isabella and Ferdinand's daughters who was betrothed to Prince Arthur of England, married for a short time and then widowed. She was then promised to Arthur's younger brother Prince Henry who became King Henry VIII. Anyway, she is mentioned more often in history because she was the first queen ever divorced in English history. Bet you didn't know you were getting a history lesson today did you? So, a browse through halloween costumes turns into a teaching moment and a new interest in King Henry VIII and his many wives for Cerah. Pretty productive surfing time don't you think? And Morgan's interest in Anne of Green Gables led to her interest in Anne Frank. I had given her my Anne of Green Gables book and told her it was one of my favorite books. She liked it so much she wanted to know what else I used to read so then I named a few of them including Anne Frank's Diary. Of course she then wanted to know who Anne Frank was and then what the Holocaust was and so her interest in that era was ignited. Off to the library we went and, well, you saw what the result was. A book on King Henry VIII; two books about the holocaust; and two videos about concentration camps. I think we're doing o.k with this homeschooling thing after all.