Italy

Isn't it crazy how our kids are so different. I have one (the oldest) of course, who is pretty much independent in learning. I can give her a list of things she needs to do and she can tackle it with some help here and there. I have another one (the middle) that I have to watch at all times to make sure she stays on task. I wish this wasn't so frustrating but it so clashes with my independent nature. She is creative and an out-of-the box thinker so I try really hard not to squelch that in my need for her to be independent. The youngest...well she is just busy right now...I wonder if she will take on an older child style since she is so far apart from the middle one. Who knows...only time will tell.


We've been studying Italy this week. Just the basics mostly. We have highlighted some famous people from Italy. Today we read a good bit of a book about Leonardo da Vinci. I am sure he would have fit right into the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling...not by choice but just by the mere fate of his growing up. He traveled the country of Italy from relative to relative until finally his father realized he needed to be trained in some sort of vocation. I thought it great of his father (among thinking not so great of him for not putting his love and devotion into his son) that he saw the talent Leonardo had and found him an apprentice to study under.

Who knew that from this meager beginning Itatly would bring us one of the most famous artist of the Renaissance and of all time. I did not realize that Leonardo was not just an artist but a studier of life and that many of the drawings we have used in the medical field are from him because of the way he paid attention to fine details of life.

Anyhow, today we studied about Leonardo's interest in birds and aerodynamic and the way things fly. We made parachutes as a little activity to help re-reinforce what he studied.