Chapter 60

Shota spent the afternoon working on what he'd missed of his schoolwork. Uncle pushed him ahead, and didn't allow him breaks or rest. Shota concluded that this must be his punishment, though it seemed light enough. Schoolwork wasn't organized strictly under Uncle's method, like it was at the boys' school. He preferred that the students learn at their own paces, for some, especially among the girls, came to him very well educated, while others were largely ignorant. For some subjects, like science, he kept the group together, following the seasons and the weather, learning about plants and animals and even performing experiments out of a formerly forbidden Dutch language book Uncle had found somewhere and learned to pick out with help from the illustrations and a small dictionary.