Learned in April and May

There’s nothing like a sudden drop into supplementing distance learning from school with “mom school” activities to increase the learning threshold! I may not have gotten a lot of my own normal work done, but I did learn a lot of things that maybe I once knew but forgot, or completely new things. Because we all have been reading so many books, there were also a lot of things I took the initiative to find out more about based on the setting of various books that we devoured.

• I learned to hold all plans loosely these past 8 weeks.
• Quidditch is actually a word in the dictionary! This probably shouldn’t have surprised me, because of course there is a version of this imaginary sport that people now do actually play, but isn’t it kind of interesting to think that when I was a child this word didn’t even exist, and now, thanks to books written when I was in college and a bit after, quidditch is officially a dictionary entry? Language is ever changing.
• I learned about the Shetland Islands: where they are and what life is like there.
• At the cello I’ve been plowing through music for my online lessons, and learned several etudes, in addition to a Sonata by Eccles, a movement of a Sonata by Senaille, two bourrees from the Bach C major cello suite, and half of a movement from a Handel sonata for cello.
• I learned about the island of Guernsey, how it was occupied by Nazis during World War II even though it was part of the United Kingdom, and what life is like there now.
• At the piano I learned two different accompaniments for pieces The Banana is playing on her violin, as well as continuing to polish a nasty Vivaldi accompaniment. I also started learning a Bach fugue.
• One one voyage from the Caribbean to Spain in the 1500’s, 4000 rats were trapped and caught, but there were still so many rats on the Galleon that the crew nearly ran out of food because the rats had eaten nearly all of their supplies. That’s a LOT of rats.
• I learned about the history of Buxton, Ontario, a settlement for slaves who escaped to freedom in Canada.
• I am now able to identify all the states, territories and provinces of Australia and Canada on a map, as well as all the countries in South America and Asia (and so can various kidlets in the family.).
• I learned about the incendiary bombing of Tokyo, Japan during World War II. It made my stomach turn.
• Mr. TOF and I read about the history of London, and it was fascinating.
• I learned about Banks Island, which is part of the Northwest Territory in Canada, the people who live there, and how life has changed for them over the past century. Some of the changes were so complex and full of grief.
• These two months I learned to be very proficient about scanning homework and documents to send to teachers at school and my own students.