7-Quick Takes

1.

It was certainly interesting to talk to the children in our co-op class about the Bubonic Plague this week at our homeschool co-op. One of the exercises that was fun and effective was to have the kids number off – 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, etc. until everyone had a number. Then we had all students with the number one stand up and away from the other students and told them, “Sorry, but you did not survive the plague!”

But that wasn’t the end of it. The remaining kids had to bury the dead or perform religious services for the dead. That took about half of the survivors. Everyone else had to do all of the chores that weren’t being done anymore. I think it was an effective exercise for the kids to see how devastating this disease was for the population at that time.

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2.

Maybe because of all the Covid hype and hysteria, some of the students seemed actually concerned about their chances of getting the plague. I think I was able to console one young lady with the idea that now we have antibiotics so it’s easily treatable. It’s also very rare because of our sanitation.

Interestingly, even now we have 15 or so deaths a year because of plague – probably because doctors don’t see it much and so they can’t treat it immediately. That was a fun, slightly scary fact. I’ll bet some of those kids make sure to tell their doctor next time they’re sick, “Check me for plague!”

3.

One audio book that I used to help prepare for the discussion on the plague was The Black Death: The World’s Most Devastating Plague.

This is actually just the audio of one of the Great Courses, but I have found it quite interesting just to listen to and learned quite a bit myself!

4.

Speaking of good books, Miss C. and I came upon two good ones this week.

Miss More Thought Otherwise is a wonderful picture book that talks about the history of Children’s Libraries and the contributions of Anne Carroll Moore. This would be a great book to do as a Five in a Row read. Miss C. is 8 and it still grabbed her attention. The illustrations are beautiful.

Little Gold Star has everything! A beautiful young girl with a wicked stepmother, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus, retribution like Pinocchio and the bad boys, and quests to be accomplished before true love can happen. This lovely picture book has it all!

5.

I’ve been watching the reboot of Sex in the City on Showtime this winter. I doubt there will be a season 2 because it’s being criticized badly on Youtube and Twitter.

I’m not sure how old the writers are, but they seem to think that being over 50 is like being in your 80s. Or that your eyesight gets so bad that you don’t notice that you’re wearing plaids and prints.

6.

Just as encouragement for those of you homeschooling parents with kids that don’t want to go to college – my homeschool graduate son who started his own business without any kind of college training has a business that was so successful that he was able to go on a two-week vacation to Greece of Christmas, all paid, no credit cards.

7.

Today is also the feast of St. Agnes!