Education is a Life...Mornings

As I continue to meditate on Organized Simplicity, I find myself seeking more intentional schooling. I can look back over the conferences I have attended, webinars I have participated in, and books I have read I see that this is what God has been preparing in me for a while...intentional schooling! With that said, I thought I would share the evolution of our typical school day.

This is mainly what the later half of our week looks like. On Monday we host a co-op here in our home and I try to stick to the idea of the schedule but am realistic enough to know that things happen and that my schedule is meant to be my guide not my dictator. On Tuesdays we are out of the home for a different co-op and after school activities.

Mornings:

We begin our morning with dictation.
I use the Well-Planned Day for our choices.
I do love that planner!
After dictating the selection, we read over it again and punctuate the sentence.
This is where we briefly discuss grammar. We will get more grammar during writing.

This is my youngest's handwriting book.
He copies an English proverb in cursive and then practices saying & writing phonograms.

In order to give our hands a break, we switch gears and read aloud a lesson.

After our Thinking Toolbox lesson, we pull out our respective math lessons and work quietly.

Sometimes I will turn on a Pandora playlist depending on our mood!

Then on to my favorite subjects.
Honestly I could spend hours here and try really hard not to be overwhelming.
I let Tapestry of Grace "drive" the subject.

We read a variety of books and work in our Century Charts or History notebooks.
In this picture, my youngest is reading Story of the World while listening to the CD

Once again, Tapestry of Grace is my resource for Literature study.
I find that the pace is a little ambitious for our family so we do slow things down a bit.
Planning helps in this area.
I have also been having great success with the Go!Chart and like pulling this out on occasion.


Afternoons:
One area of weakness I have is science.
Knowing this about me, we have chosen to seek co ops that offer the sciences.
During the week, each one works on the reading and labs and/or activities are done in co op.
This has been a great help

This is the core of our year. We have languages, music study, art study, etc. but these are not daily activities and so they are interspersed throughout the week.
We also have books we read and our Bible study time before school or in the evenings.

Each year our typical day looks a little different as our needs and schedules change. Only recently have I been able to turn over the responsibility of driving the older ones to their work and activities. This has certainly helped to keep the atmosphere of our day in order. I try very hard to guard our calendar and truly pray over our long-term commitments. Each year has different priorities and goals. I am enjoying our mornings quite a bit more but a huge part of that is being prepared myself. It is not enough to say you want to live simplistically. I think the other part of that must be organization. When things become crazy I still have a plan. I still have a system that I can rely on with minimal effort. I am truly enjoying seeing all the threads of my life weaving together and am finding great peace in knowing the God has been the one behind it all. I am finding great joy in my mornings!

Give me Liberty or give me death!

Ok maybe it was not quite as dramatic as all that. But on one particular evening it sure felt like it. This year has been a year of transition in our home. At time, it was hard to keep a steady rhythym. One of my greatest challenges is trying to educate three, sometimes four, different levels of eduacation and of course keep my own sanity.

My 10th grader seemed to be doing a lot of stopping and starting this year. Some of it was from not understanding while some of it was from lack of perservering. At the end of my rope, I declared that I would no longer be helping her plan her education. We had seven weeks of school left and I was growing weary. I have always tried to be a planner so I gave her all of my resources and handed her her education. She was informed that I would be around to help in any way I could but she was on her own. I developed a checklist for each subject so that she would know what was expected and that was it. She was given complete liberty and freedom over her education. She had a deadline and a list of expectations for accountability. Unsure of the outcome, I waited, held my breath...and prayed.

The word liberty literally means the quality or state of being free. While the word freedom means the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. Too often, we confuse freedom with laziness. This is not a "get of work free" card but rather a new way of thinking. By allowing our children to become good stewards of liberty, they can reap the reward of freedom.

The deadline fast approached and I watched as my daughter worked tirelessly to complete all her tasks. There were a few weekends where she opted to stay home rather than go out with friends. As the final day approached she sat down with me and presented everything. Tears began to roll down her cheek as she became overwhelmed by her own accomplishment. She had learned to be a good steward of the liberty she was given. At the time, I implemented this plan out of frustration and desperation never thinking about how this aligned with my ultimate goal for my children's education...to be life-long learners. By owning her education she will continue to develop a love for learning.

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned...

Earlier this year I stumbled upon a reward system for my 6 year old, Ben. A while back, Ben was given limited priviledges on his brother's X-Box. My concern was that this would snowball and Ben would constantly be on the X-Box. As I contemplated this castrophe, a little light bulb went off over my head. OK not literally but still it was a creative idea for me.

Simply put, Ben earns pennies and "cashes them in" for game time. Each penny is the equivilent of 10 minutes. At first we were trying to model good behavior during school time so he earned pennies for displaying those character qualities. As he began to understand what was expected of him, I adjusted how he earned pennies. For example, when we began the penny system he received pennies for completing his work without excessive complaining. As he improved in this area he could then earn pennies for completing his work in a specified amount of time. I'm sure you get the idea!

This summer, we have put together a list of activities that are worth a penny. The vary from doing certain chores to reviewing school material. The other day we decided to weed the garden. I spent time going over how to properly weed and we enjoyed the afternoon getting lost in the garden. I continued to praise him for his patience and his hard work. When he was done, I surprised him by telling him he had earned several pennies for working without being told. He was so proud of himself.

In our house, pennies are like gold!