A good day - and a rant.

It's been a really good day so far. I managed to get up at 7.50, which is a bloomin miracle for me! As a result, we got through a lot of work, and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. Maths, Literature, Science, Latin and Plutarch. Well done them girls!

I'm not happy with the Plutarch though. Even I have trouble understanding it, so I'm going to look for a more modern translation.As I was reading it to them, I could see them getting more and more perplexed by the language and sentence structure. I ended up reading it all again, stopping every couple of sentences or so to ask if they understood and paraphrasing it so they could! I think it's a great idea, just don't like the archaic language used.

Sometimes it's hard to get to grips with the Charlotte Mason curriculum. For one thing I'm not a christian (we have no religious beliefs), so I don't do the whole praying and devotion thing. I agree with the broad aims of a CM education, and the Ambleside Online website is a fabulous resource, but I don't see the need to use texts in the archaic (and in my opinion) elitist translations. I appreciate that many of the texts they link to are from the Gutenberg Project; out of copyright and therefore old, but I get the distinct impression that some people think these old texts are intrinsically better just because they use more words, and words that have fallen out of common use. Well I don't agree! I am aware of the dangers of dumbing down, and I do agree that children should be able to read books that haven't been sanitized (fairy tales should be scary - that's the point!!), BUT that doesn't mean we can't read a good, up to date version in modern English! Possibly my only exception would be Shakespeare, but there are so many study guides available that studying the original should be too difficult!

I'm still looking for resources for helping us with art appreciation. I just haven't a clue where to start. I wish I still had my course books for the O U course A103, as they had a great introduction into art history, and of course I can't remember any of it now!

I went to N's house on Saturday, and her bookshelf was crammed full of great books that she said I could borrow. When I got home, I realised I'd forgotten to pick any of them up! Ah well, another excuse to visit her, I think ;-)