The Black Death

We are all sick around here. Mostly, the four children are sick. Even little Nutmeg--it's so sad. She barely has the energy to cry, or eat (so it seems. Her outputs are highly demonstrative that she's getting plenty of nourishment). The others can take meds and are in better shape, but I knew last night that homeschool would be pretty "light" today.

After all, were they in public school, they would be kept home. So I decided to cut Bud's math and concentrate on history...which they all love.

Maybe it has something to do with winning M&M's for History questions? Maybe. The love of the Game!

Anyway, ironically enough, this week we are learning about the bubonic plague: beliefs about it at the time, the consequences to the social order, how it traveled, and fun grisly details. I also decided to throw in little science re: germs and how disease is fought. They are all well enough to be read aloud to! And it was fun to look at the picture of the white blood cell "digesting" a germ cell. COOL!

So after our reading together (plus a little geography: the spread of the plague! Again, this is COOL!) I called a break. We'll join back up in a little while. I came in the office to check e-mail, mainly to see whether anyone from our home group has bailed from coming over tonight based on our own personal plague.

I emerged to find the three spending their break in the following endeavors:

Pixie, reading "Plague and Pestilence."



Wombles, thumbing through "First Encyclopedia of the Human Body."



Bud, participating in "Early Engineering 101."


Today, I'm encouraged by feeling like the whole "love of learning" goal is being met at our school. Nobody asked Pixie to sit down and read a textbook-type book on plagues...but she did. Because it's interesting (which it is).

OK, recess is over for everyone, including me!

By the way, I'm back to teaching Spanish this afternoon for the first time since before Christmas...here's hoping Meg will take a bottle!

Happy Germ Theory,
H