A HOMESCHOOL WEEK IN REVIEW....

Yesterday, we finished up our week long unit on The Great Fire of London 1666, The Great Plague of London 1665 and King Charles the 2nd. I homemade the unit. And, I use the pronoun, "we"... since my entire family of three- enjoyed it immensely.

I found the used children's book, "The Great Fire," at Goodwill for a quarter. As I had hoped... I was able to use it the Charlotte Mason way... with dictation, narration, silent reading, 30 new spelling words, grammar, 6 new vocabulary words, history, and Internet research (not very CM- but kids today, do need computer skills).

My intent here, is not to sound braggy.. believe me when I tell you...my son is far from being a kid-prodigy... but, rather to give you a glimpse of how successful the Charlotte Mason method can be...if the workbooks and all other methods and curriculum's fail or if you were just spinning your wheels with homeschooling and feeling unfulfilled- like I was. Yes. I was.

Here are a few facts we used in this unit...I thought they were worth sharing:

*The fire started in a bakery on Pudding Street. King Charles' baker's maid forgot to put out the fire in the ovens. She died-trying to put out the fire.

*Many people fled in boats down the Thames River.

*Only 5 people died.

*The lead from St. Paul's Cathedral melted and the people watched it flow down the street. (See picture above).

*The Great Fire destroyed The Great Plague and sanitized the narrow streets of London.

*The Great Plague was caused by all the garbage and human waste, which people put in the streets..rats would get into it..they'd have fleas and infect the people. Some rats would burrow into the thatched roofs of people's homes and infect them that way!

*King Charles the 2nd fled to the countryside-where The Plague was non-existent.

*And, whoa that King Charles... he was one wild-hustling dude. (No, I didn't discuss this with Tommie), but he had 17 or was it 13, illegitimate children. I found this on the internet... keep it in your spandex tights King Charles!


I also found a much more kid-friendly website where Tommie wrote his own (short) on-line/printable mini book...it was unlike anything he had ever done and was a really good experience... click here if you're interested: really good!

Lastly, I used this website for my own use- to teach Tommie about the unit... click here if you're interested in learning more.

Next week, we'll be starting Mark Twains, "The Prince and the Pauper." It wil unfold nicely with what we learned this week.

smile-wink-nod.