A Week in the Life: Monday (Lydia's Grade Eight) (updated)

Quote for the day, from today's Latin lesson:  "Moved by sense alone, the beast lives in the present, without thought of the past or future.  Man, endowed with reason, links the future with the past and prepares what is needful for the journey."  --Taken from "On Moral Duties" by Cicero (included in Our Roman Roots).

Hymns:  October's hymn, Lift High the Cross.

Things to do together:

Follow any news on this month's municipal elections.  Make a current events entry in the back of your Book of Centuries.

Plutarch's Life of Crassus, Lesson Six. From the AO study guide: Describe the atmosphere around the Roman elections. What does this tell you about Pompey and Crassus' confidence (or lack of) in their ability to win by a free and open vote?  Cato accused them that "they sued not for the office, but to get such provinces and armies into their hands as they desired." Dryden translates it as "These men did not so much aim at the consulate as at arbitrary government." What did he mean? Compare this to Jesus' teaching that to be first in God's kingdom, one must be the servant of all. What should motivate a Christian who wants to hold a position of leadership and authority?

French:  continue the unit on Internet vocabulary, and practice the present tense and imperative forms of verbs such as "download" and "click."

WHAT HAPPENED AT THIS POINT:  A friend phoned with a last-minute babysitting emergency.  She needed someone to go along to a family resource centre and entertain her toddler while she went to an hour-long class, after lunch.  So okay...we managed to fit in A Man For All Seasons and Lydia's own reading of Hamilton's Mythology (and a short discussion of mythology in the Percy Jackson books), before lunch and her getting picked up.  So that may be most of school for the day. But tonight Lydia starts a new drama class.

Daughter of Time pages 141-149 (chapter 12). "'You know,' Grant said, 'from the police point of view there is no case against Richard at all. And I mean that literally. It isn't that the case isn't good enough. Good enough to bring into court, I mean. There, quite literally, isn't any case against him at all.'"

Latin, Lesson II: "Education can improve our ability to reason."  Copy the Latin quote for the day, along with derivatives of the word rationalis (reasonable).  Meaning and use of the genitive case; practice exercise.

A Man for All Seasons, pages 20-top of 40. "The light is dimmed there and a bright spot descends below.  Into this bright circle from the wings is thrown the great red robe and the Cardinal's hat."

Things to do alone:

Westward Ho! Chapter 14, to the top of page 277. Narrate orally. "'Where is the other?' 'Dead as a herring, in the straw....' 'Carry him in too, poor wretch. And now, Yeo, what is the meaning of all this?'"

Write with the Best, Volume II; "Day 6" of the speech-writing unit.  

Math, a Human Endeavor:  Chapter 2, Lesson 1, Arithmetic Sequences.  "The 100th term of the arithmetic sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... is obvious; it is 100.  The 100th term of the arithmetic sequence 2, 5, 8, 11, 14... however, is not obvious at all.  One way to find out what it is would be to continue writing the sequence until we arrive at it.   There is an easier way, however."

The Easy Grammar Plus:  complete half of the Cumulative Review, Adjective Unit.  This includes review of past units such as past participle forms of verbs, possessives, plurals, and more recent work such as limiting adjectives.

Other AO readings and assignments:  choose from this week's list (history, geography, science, etc.)