Horseback riding!!

 We had a fabulous time horseback riding last week!
 Merry was awesome with her horses and we are grateful  to her for letting us ride them.
 Here are a few pictures from the day.

This week we are discussing The Magicians Nephew!  Have it read and be ready to talk about the themes Venus. 

Week 7- Hero Journey in The Horse and His Boy

This week in class, we discussed the hero journey of Shasta in The Horse and His Boy.  I had word searches, mazes and crosswords for them to work on while we talked about random things in the book that we hadn't covered yet.

In the spirit of the Calormans and their story telling art, we ended class by watching an animated video of some of the 1001 Arabian Nights and explained the story of Scheherazade.

I got my days mixed up- THIS THURSDAY IS THE HORSE BACK RIDING FIELD TRIP, not the 24th.  I will look for you at lunch and get your signature for the field trip form and collect $3 for toll and gas. We will be back at the church at 3:40.

IN CASE OF RAIN we will be discussing The Magicians Nephew.  Everyone in the class said that they could have it read by this week in case we needed to have this as a back up.  The planet Lewis used for this book is Venus.  Look for themes of creativity, fruitfulness and love.

Please email me with any questions.

Week 6 Christian Themes in A Horse and His Boy

I am really loving this Lit Wit group, I love how they participate and seriously think about the discussion we are having.  Tell your literature buffs that they are doing a great job in this class!

For week 6, we discussed Christian themes found in The Horse and His Boy. 

This chronicle has allusions to the story of Moses.  Though they begin and end life in opposite circumstances, there are several similarities.  Both are pulled from the water as babies, and both cross a desert.  Both turn their back on the country they were raised, and are saviors to their true people.  (I couldn't remember the last two points in the discussion.  Could you kindly mention it to your student for me?)

Another biblical allusion is Bree as Doubting Thomas.  The horse is explaining what he thinks the nature of Aslan is, denying that he is lion.  Aslan appears at that moment and lovingly teaches them all. 

We had a good discussion about pride.  Rabadash never became humble, Bree was humbled, but still struggled with it even after his meeting with Aslan.  Aravis was humbled, and Hwin never needed to be humbled.  Even Shasta struggled a little with pride.  One doesn't react with sulking and resentment if one is sufficiently humble.  According to CS Lewis, this story is about "the calling and conversion of a heathen,"  so we can also assume that Shasta continued to grow and humble himself even more. 

We ended class with some "iced sherbets," like Shasta experienced for his first time in Tashbaan.  I simply put water, frozen fruit and sugar in a blender.  I used a three berry mix from Costco, but any fruit combination would work.  It was yummy! 

Next week we are discussing the hero journey, general discussion questions and then an activity. 

In two weeks we are going on a field trip!  When one is studying The Horse and His Boy, one just has to go ride horses!!  On March 24, we will drive to the Dial's house in Port Orchard at the normal time that we start class.  We will return 2 hrs later, an hour after school ends.   I'll have permission slips next week and there will be a cost of $2.00 for bridge tolls.

Week 5- Discussing A Horse and His Boy

We had a great discussion of a Horse and his boy.  Lewis used Mercury as the theme for this chronicle.  This theme is worked into the story with references to swiftness, messages, directions, communication, language, adjectives, twins, and even a reference to a hat with wings on the side.  Everyone did a great job picking out the references. 

We realized a connection with the references to Turkey - Alsan is Turkish for lion, Turkish delight, and Tashbaan in Calorman being a fictional representation of Constantinople, Turkey.  

I asked if they knew anything about the Ottoman Empire and everyone burst out laughing before I could say, "not counting Studio C."  I explained that the empire was a real thing and that it lasted for about 800 yrs and ended with WWI.  England and France divided up the Middle East in what is called the Skyes-Picot agreement.  It is this agreement that has ISIS/ISIL up in arms because they want a united empire again.  I briefly mentioned how the whole contest for land started with Arbrahm's sons, Isaac and Ishmael.

Next week we will discuss the Christian themes in the story. 
 

Week 4 The Rocks, Minerals and Gems of Narnia's Underworld

 We studied rocks, minerals, and gems in the spirit of the land of Bism in the deep underworld of Narnia.

I gave a basic lesson on how rocks are formed and categorized. We pulled out the magnifying glasses, flashlights, and rock specimens and had some fun looking at rocks, minerals and semi precious jewelry.

We are discussing The Horse and His Boy next week!  The planet associated with it is Mercury.  Look for references to messages, "swift of foot", language, and directions.  This is my favorite book of the series, so I am really excited to discuss it.  :D

Week 2 and 3

For week 2 we discussed the Christian themes in the Silver Chair and had a great discussion.  We then did a blind obstacle course in the spirit of when the children and Puddleglum fell down into the Underworld and couldn't see. 

Week 3 we reviewed what Joseph Campbell's hero journey is and mapped out the journey for Jill.  We had a little more discussion and then played cock-shies.  We took turns using people as targets for balls of various sizes and stacked cups up to hit them with marbles. Good fun. 

We will discuss The Horse and His Boy in 2 weeks!  It is my favorite chronicle, so I am pretty excited to discuss it.  :D

2nd Semester, Week 1 Silver Chair

We had such a great discussion this week!  CS Lewis used the moon and water as majors themes in the Silver Chair.  I was extremely pleased with how well the kids participated and picked out all the instances of water and luna-cy.

Lunacy was thought to be caused by the moon in the middle ages. Because the moon never stood still, as it moved across the sky and was constantly changing shape, it was associated with unstableness and madness. The "lunatics" in Silver Chair are Prince Rilian and the Head Mistress of Experiment House.  There are references to forgetfulness, and trances caused by enchantments.  Other moon references are sadness, owls, and coming back into the overland during the night.

Water can also be described as unstable because as a liquid, it doesn't hold a shape.  The moon has influence over the water on earth.  There are a ton of references to water in Sliver Chair.  Rain, damp, wet, tears, a river, mist, fog, baths, fountain, waterfall, marsh, marshwiggle, "a wet blanket," snow, lake, and puddles, to name a few of them.

We lookied at pictures of the lions in Trafalgar square, as there is a reference to them in the book.  Holy cow!  Those suckers are huge!!  We ended by drawing characters from the book.  

Next week we are going to discuss the Christian symbolism in the Silver Chair.  The students were encouraged to be thinking of one word that describes what the Silver Chair is about.  To give you an idea, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is about redemption, Prince Caspian is about restoration, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is about transformation. 

Just for a heads up, The Horse and His Boy will be discussed on Feb 25th.