Aesop's Fables

Our first language arts block focused on Aesop's Fables. What we did with this was really pretty basic: I told Nightowl a fable from memory (they are short) and drew a picture to illustrate. She discussed the fable, came up with a descriptive sentence about said fable and then drew the picture into her Grade 2 Language arts book. At the end of the week we'd recap sometimes acting out a favorite for the Bearcub. On Wednesdays, our water color painting day, we skipped the picture drawing and tried to come up with fable paintings - this was interesting. All in all it's been pretty mellow and has a very tidy feel - which works for us.

I was eager to see Nightowl's response to the fables and I was not let down. My second-grader is sooooo moralistic about everything. These tales really appealed to her sense of right and wrong. It was even more interesting when a fable spoke directly to one of her personal issues - such as the Fox and the Grapes. My little perfectionist has a real tendency to proclaim sour grapes if she cannot complete a task. Her sentence for that particular fable was: The fox was not successful. A true statement and interesting considering the source. We're still discussing this story and the saying.



At the end of last week I gave her the copy of Aesop's to read on her own. She was delighted - for some reason this surprised me. She really does enjoy these literature lessons and seems to get a lot out of them.

Regarding the language arts watercolors: I find we are more apt to include subjects if I can make them work within the block - they just seem to fit better. Thus the watercolor fables. Our routine has been to do two paintings per week. The first deals with something from the block. The second comes from David Darcy's watercolor painting curriculum from Inspiring Your Child's Education - which is great! I highly recommend this resource for Waldorf homeschooling.


Images: #1 - The Cock and The Pearl, #2 - The Fox and the Grapes, #3 - The Dog and the Bone, #4- Belling the Cat