Planning a Tea! :)

Hello! Sarah and I have been doing a literature-based unit study on the Victorian era called "Where the Brook and River Meet" available at Cadron Creek. We have had such fun doing this in-depth study on the era! I am sure I would never have grown to love Sir Walter Scott, John Greenleaf Whittier, and so many others unless I had dissected and poured over long poetry, learning to find the beauty in it! :) I'm also sure that we would never have been able to quote famous poetry, know about the men and women who wrote it, learned about such "obscure" people as Erasmus of Rotterdam and legions of Greek "great ones" unless we had gone though this study! Already, the information we have gathered has been profitable- since the Victorian Era is one of my favorites, I read a lot about it, and now I have a deeper understanding of that time-period; it is SO much fun to be watching a movie and recognize a quote, or two read in an old diary about a certain author and know about that author and his life...it's amazing! :) I'd say that my knowledge about the era has quadrupled at least...this is a super thorough study, and I highly recommend it! I mean, if an author so much as made a reference to a poem in a chapter title, we read that poem, researched the author, wrote a paper about the author, then if in the poem it mentioned something about a classic ancient Greek person, we researched them....it's really great!
But any how, as a final send-off from this study, Mama commissioned us to host a Victorian tea party for a couple of friends! :) We are so excited! We plan to make a meal with all the proper courses and dozens of eatables, then have a "parlor-party" where we will play, sing, and recite anything Victorian, before going outside to take a brisk walk or play croquet! Sarah and I had great fun designing the menu! We are going to have, among other things, Beef Wellington, French lemon tart, and we are going to make Petit-Fours!!!!!!! :D I love those things! They are so...Victorian! :) I wish we girls could get "The Society For The Suppression of Gossip" down in time to perform it for our guests! That is such a funny play! (And one that Anne Shirley and her friends performed at the school concert! :) But Sarah and I are trying to learn "Night of Stars" from "Tales of Hoffman": a truly beautiful song! (The Charlotte Church version anyway! :) Well, I have to go help with dinner so goodbye! -Rachel