IIn trying to keep with the more hands-on biology, we recently finished the Incredible Edible Cell project and had a lot of fun creating & sampling our hard work.
And you thought I was going to sing? Nope! Instead I feel like talking about science. This is just not a subject I am strong in. If given the opportunity I will farm this one out to any willing body (usually in the form of co-op). However this year we have chosen not to participate in a co-op and so I must trudge through.
First off what what we use:
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| Apologia Biology |
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| Biology 101 DVD |
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| Handbook of Nature Study |
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| Grammar land Chapter 2 |
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| Grammarland |
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| Chapter 1 worksheet |
We have read much about exposing our children to living books. If you are like me you have probably googled the term "living books" and perused book lists for guidance. If you are like me you may have even had emails or conversations with Charlotte Mason mentors looking for living books.
In our school-house we have been making the transition from traditional school philosphy to one of living ideas like Mason's ideas. There are days when I feel like I have it all under control and then there are days when I am just hanging on for dear life. Both scenerios present great learning opportunities. After all we learn from our mistakes. There are seasons in our school-house when I am uncertain why Mason taught the way she did and it is not until I have one of those a-ha moments that it all comes togther. Last week, I had such an a-ha moment and thought I would share.
For a while now we have been reading living books for history and for literature. We have enjoyed them but I will confess I have wondered how my children were going to make connections or if they were going to make connections. I have seen glimpses of it but I don't think I ever experienced it quite the way I did while with my sisters in Savannah for our FSO Weekend. I dubbed the acronym FSO...Fun Sisters Only.
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| Mercer House |
This week I have opened up my calendar and have begun the process of seeking a vision for our school year. I have already chosen my core curriculum so now it is time to sit down and think about how I will implement my year. Ironically, Pinterest has been a real help for me as I try and figure it all out.
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| Homeschool Board |
Today I have the privilege of speaking to some local moms about spelling and the early years. I am always humbled as I begin preparing for things like this, feeling completely unworthy of such opportunities. I don't have any special credentials or fancy titles. I am just a mom passionate about educating her children.
I am thankful for the journey I am taking. There is no doubt that I have been stretched beyond my comfort zone, doing things I did not think I was capable of. I think that is the point though. We are stretched beyond ourselves because it is not ourselves that are doing it. I am thankful for the strength and sovereignty of God. When we first began this adventure (back when I was a refugee), I knew the basic elements of education we wanted to instill in our children.
Earlier this week I was reading in the Home Educating Family magazine an article Chris Davis wrote about Dream Posters. I couldn't find the identical article online but I did find this one. It reminded me of a project my oldest daughter and I did at the beginning of her senior year and so I thought I would share. I would only like to say that after reading Chris Davis's words, I see room for improvement but hey we were on the right track!
We had spent the previous months struggling with trying to define what life looked like with chronic illness. Days were lost to appointments, fatigue, and just trying to survive. For a planner like myself, this was out of my comfort zone. Beads of sweat would appear on my brow as I pondered how we were going to catch up. School was important but quite frankly we just wanted peaceful days where her breath was not labored or her fatigue was not debilitating. This led me to the decision to spend a day putting it all down.
We divided her board up in to four categories: health, financial, school, and personal. Armed with scrapbooking supplies and tons of magazine, she spent time picking out things that inspired her or were had something to do with her vision of the future. Then the process of choosing what went on the board began. Each section began to fill and after a while she had put her dreams and goals on a board to inspire, challenge, and remind her.
I learned a few things that afternoon. Her personality was expressed through the board. She is a very language-oriented person and her board reflected that with quotes in all four sections. Her most intimate dreams were laid down. One that still sticks out in my mind was the phrase, "breathe easy" placed in the health section. Oh how my heart cried out as I watched this go on the board.
Recently she moved in to her new living space and the board was the first thing she put down there. One night we were moving furniture and her board caught my eye. As I looked over it, I realized that she had already accomplished quite a bit.
After reading the article from Chris Davis, there are a few things I would tweak. The first suggestion he makes is that the parents are removed from the activity. Often, without realizing it, we filter our own thoughts and dreams for our children on to the board. Another suggestion he makes is to use double sided tape. This allows the child to move items around as he continues to think about his dreams and goals.
This year I plan to spend a day with my last two school-aged children and allow them to make a Dream Poster. My hope is that a friend (hint hint) will stop by and help facilitate the activity so that their true dreams will make it to the board. Anyone want to join us?
At the beginning of the school year, I wrote about a new way we were going to do our timelines this school year. We were going to try our hand at Miss Beale's Century Chart. You can read more about that HERE. We spent the year working through Tapestry of Grace Year 4 and put it all down in our Century Chart.
So I thought I would share my thoughts. My first attempts were quite challenging because art and I have never truly gotten along but I persevered and began my first few entries. LOL We also decided to keep a key of our pictures on the page across from the chart. This helped us as we reviewed. I am not sure if there were any true "rules" to this so we may have taken some liberties. For example to illustrate the Red Scare I colored the block with a red colored pencil and wrote the word scare over top. Yes I know very imaginative but I warned you that art and I did not mesh. :-) I also chose NOT to tell the kids what to put in their charts. This is their own personal view history and my job is to be nothing more than a guide. I did not want to intrude on this. As we conclude this year, we will be including a summary of the century underneath.
I can't wait to include this in our history next year as we return to TOG Year 1. We will be studying more than one century so it will be a bit more fast-paced. Using the century chart this year was a great way to introduce the concept and prepare for more. At this time, my vision is to purchase a sketch book and put in the century blocks before we start the school year. This will give us time to walk through the century and choose what we would like to put down.
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| Century Chart example |
Mason's belief of living ideas can still be implemented even when using a curriculum. It just requires an understanding of the curriculum and the freedom to begin stretching yourself. Let me first inform you that I am just a mom. I do not have a special teaching degree. I am just a mom who believes that this is where God has placed me and therefore I must be a good steward of this role. I also believe in self-education and living by example which means I take this very seriously. With all that said, I needed a curriculum that would teach me how to teach spelling. I did not want a workbook to do the job for me but I would need some help along the way.
Enter Spell to Write & Read
My first few years of using this curriculum taught me just as much as my children. We trudged through relying on grace as I wrapped my brain around this new concept of phonics. Eventually I began to understand and felt more liberty with the curriculum. I was learning the how's and why's of spelling and this knowledge would help me in the next phase of teaching.
At the same time I was reading Charlotte Mason's view on teaching spelling. She spoke of a child's first reading lesson and using a letterbox. My youngest at the time was in kindergarden and expressing interest in reading and spelling. (side note: I think one reason for our success is that I waited on him. I did not push him) I used magnet letters and basic flashcards to introduce the letters. During this time I taught him the sounds of the letters and we played short games throughout the day and before bed. It was an ejoyable experience for him. As time progressed I began to introduce multi-letter phonograms.
Teaching Spelling
"But the fact is, the gift of spelling depends upon the power the eye possesses to 'take' (in a photographic sense) a detailed picture of a word; and this is a power and habit which must be cultivated in children from the first." CM
I wish I had read this quote prior to trying to teach my then 6th grader. She could pass a spelling test but after that she could not remember how to spell the words. In frustation one afternoon I asked, "Can't you see the words?" She replied back, "NO!" That was an eye opener for me.
Not everyone learns how to spell the same way but there are some core principles that can be applied. I finally reached the decision that teaching phonics was the key and found that SWR met my goals of learning how to be a teacher as well as teaching phonics in a multi-sensory way. The first year, we just filled in the gaps and strengthened the foundation for my daughter. We were still struggling with "seeing the words" but I was patient. The following year we began to implement Charlotte Mason's dictation method. Over the summer, I attended a class on teaching spelling the CM way. Putting myself in the student's position helped me to see that this was not an easy task. It would require discipline and study. This would be the next layer in our journey. I will try to share specifics in a different post but for now, we used dictation to intentionally build her mind's eye. We progressed from "Mom, how do you spell...?" to "Mom, do you spell it...?" She was beginning to see it!
Illiterate spelling is usually a sign of sparse reading; but, sometimes, of hasty reading without the habit of seeing the words that are skimmed over." CM emphasis mine
Teaching Reading
One evening while his sister was at basketball practice he told me he wanted to learn to read. I had heard this before but procrastinated starting anything official. Quite truthfully because I felt like my plate was rather full at the time and I had a great fear of teaching this particular subject. That night he persisted and so I wrote down on a scrap piece of paper some simple words that used the phonograms he knew. I touched each letter as I made the sounds. I spoke slowly and then repeated it quickly. After understanding what I was doing, he took on the next few words alone. By the end of the night we had made a collection of words and I informed him that he was reading! :-) He was so proud and so I knew that it was time to introduce the next phase.
We began our first official SWR spelling lists and also began using our Pathway readers. The first book was a primer entitled First Steps. As learned in SWR, we "marked" the words that he did not know. Then we began reading about this little family and their adventures. He enjoyed the stories so much that he never thought of this as work. After a while I no longer needed to mark the words. He would get a pencil and do it himself. We progressed through the series and now he is reading chapter books and his Bible.
, has been rolling around in my mind. It seems like each week a new facet is brought forth for me to consider. This week it is the calendar. 
My oldest son, unbeknownst to me at the time, taught me about whole language and the ability to memorize what words looked like. While my oldest daughter taught me that the typical style of spelling (list on Monday, test on Friday) produced no true long-term memory for her. So with these polar opposites in mind I began my quest for a way to teach spelling that would cover all the bases. I found that the more I researched Spell to Write & Read
So what are a few things I loved about Spell to Write & Read
& spelling rules 
give you the tools needed to spell-it takes the mystery out of spelling in our home.
. We also enlarged some of the first charts 
to work on with the magnet letters.
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.  |
| 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. |
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| This is my youngest's handwriting book. He copies an English proverb in cursive and then practices saying & writing phonograms. |
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| In order to give our hands a break, we switch gears and read aloud a lesson. |
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| 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.  In this picture, my youngest is reading Story of the World while listening to the CD |
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| 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. |
After some impromptu presentations of our 20th Century Diner History projects, I decided to put it all together in a little movie. Hope you enjoy!
Handwriting
Ironically this one has evaded me. Cursive? Print? Neatness? Copywork? Workbook? Each child has done it differently and I am plain stumped. The youngest's handwriting is awful. The youngest is also a boy. Does poor handwriting and the male gender go hand in hand? Recently I went back and visited Donna Young and liked her posts on copywork. She suggested using a composition book and writing a sentence for the child to copy down x amount of times on the right hand side of the paper. On the left glue a sample of the handwriting using either the cursive or print font found on her website. The left hand side is also used for practicing problem letters. This sounds fairly simple and yet focused.
Grammar
I am not opposed to a workbook in certain circumstances. Let's face it, there are days where saying, "Turn to page so-and-so" is just what the doctor ordered if you intend to keep your sanity. However I do not want this to be my primary teaching tool. We have been doing oral dictation using the Bible verses and quotes from my favorite planner and that has been going fairly well. The youngest is required to sit beside me so that I can keep an eye on his work and we have tweaked the process a bit from the example I participated in at the Childlight conference. We have added the step of silently raising a finger if there is a word they are unsure how to spell. Then I use fingerspelling (from Spell to Write & Read
Science
I will be frank here and share that I am not a lover of the sciences as I should be. Every year I try to get excited but honestly I struggle. I enjoy sitting outside on my deck or having my quiet time on a bench but this has yet to translate in to my school time. This is where I look for a wonderful co-op or friend to help me. :-) So how do I tackle this subject in a non-literary way and still capture the necessary foundations? I am thinking about trying our hand at journaling the second half of Apologia Physical Science
Literature
This is a subject I think I need to tone down. Being a lover of language I find myself overwhelmed with all the books I hope to share with my children. I am really clinging to the "do not exasperate your child" philosophy and find myself saddened by the books being left along the wayside. I just remember seeing my father sitting in his chair reading. This was a powerful teacher for me and I am praying that my children will remember my love for books with similar fondness.
History
We are still building our century charts and have to admit that I am thoroughly enjoying this new tool. My hope is to build a Book of Centuries with this format as we begin our new history cycle next year. I do think my youngest is not quite ready for it though. He is not as patient with his drawing and this is something I would like to work in with great intention and purpose. He and I are still enjoying building his history book. We recently added two lapbook pages on World War II and it about wore me out. We did add a narration of the war after all our readings and that was enjoyable.
I think for now I will place these thoughts aside...to the best of my ability that is...and put my teaching hat aside. Next week we will be baking, singing Christmas carols, and enjoying some family traditions. Soon enough school will start back up and hopefully I will be prepared! Thanks for listening...
This one has been in the back of my mind for quite some time. We have played around with it while doing Movies as Lit 
, my 8 year old (without knowing) began sharing orally several elements from the Go! Chart. So I pulled out my copy and we started working through it as we continued our reading. I am still in the infancy stages of using it but already some wonderful observations have come to me.  |
| The Go! Chart |
One of the things I have loved about Tapestry of Grace is all the hands-on activities woven into the curriculum. We have played around with the ideas and come up with a good fit for our family, including my 8 year old's history book and the Century charts. One project I have been wanting to attempt in the coming years is the map overlay project.
Here is a wonderful blog on what that entails. I am really looking forward to restarting our history cycle with Year 1 and including the Map Overlay project. Maybe this will inspire you too!
Curse you Charlotte Mason
AHHHH
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| Personal Century Chart |
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| Notice each one is unique |
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| The child's personality is displayed |
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| Add caption |
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