Semester 2, Week 10

What I’m Reading: Much Ado about Nothing, Cymbeline, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
I’m continuing to read through Shakespeare’s plays.  When I’m reading them on my own, I feel like I’m slogging through.  Now that I’m reading Julius Caesar, I’m slowing down even more but intentionally.  I’m just reading one scene per week.  While reading through the first scene, I remembered that we read it in high school and that I liked it.  I don’t know why I didn’t remember that before.  It might be that we didn’t spend quite as much time discussing it.  I think it’s a very straightforward play.

What I’m {nature} Journaling: Despite not planting a backyard garden, I am still getting some wildflowers.  It’s not as pretty as a planted garden, but it’s fun to see what’s going to pop up each week.  This week I got California poppies, chicory, and larkspur.  I’m thankful for past journal entries to help me identify some of the flowers as my usual plant identifying app hasn’t been very accurate lately.  My Shasta daisies are blooming in my front garden.  My mom had planted Shasta daisies by our mailbox when I was a little girl.  They bloomed right before we moved to a new state, so it’s a nice little memory. 

Fourth Grade Highlight

We finished another Shakespeare play together.  We read As You Like It.  I think it might be my favorite (so far).  We also finished The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis.  Before we finished reading it, I asked my son what he thought of the book.  He said it wasn’t his favorite because it didn’t have a lot of action.  Then we got to the last chapter.  His mind was blown.  He decided it might be his favorite.  We just have The Last Battle to read.  I’m not going to require weekly written narrations for it since we’re at the end of the school year, and this will carry over into our summer reading.  Speaking of written narrations, my son has done well this year with a weekly written narration.  Next year I will either have him increase the number of sentences or the amount of writings during the week.

This was our last real week of school.  We have two more weeks of wrapping up loose ends and then one week of exams.  The next few weeks are just a little bit of school each day as we’re already in full swing with summer activities.

We finally attended one of the homeschool Lego days at the library.  I don’t know if I mentioned that last week.  We just haven’t been able to make it to any of them this year.  This time it was only us and another family.  It was good for me because I had the chance to talk to a mom who is wanting to homeschool. 

Kindergarten Highlight

We didn’t have co-op this week, but we did meet up to play with a family to play at the park.  It was nice to get out of the house and spend time with friends. 

We’re wrapping up as many books as we can because I’d rather not carry these books into our summer reading.  I’d rather start fresh with a new summer story.  Our school days now consist of a couple worksheets, reading, and either a phonics or math lesson.  My daughter is obsessed with piano right now, so I’m taking advantage by giving her extra pages to practice.  It would be great if we could finish up the preschool books by Christmas.

Mom Highlight

I’ve been having a lot of good conversations lately with other moms about homeschool.  A few who don’t and several who do.  It really helps talking to others about the pros and trials of homeschooling.  This lifestyle suits us well.

Field Trip

Summer is in full swing.  We kicked it off with a professional baseball game during what would have been a normal school day.  While our team lost, we did have a great time watching the game and eating ALL the snacks. 

Now we’re gearing up for the pool and our summer reading challenge.  I’m wanting to make the summer memorable, relaxing, and lifegiving. 

Semester 2, Week 9

What I’m Reading: Tending the Heart of Virtue by Vigen Guroian
This is another one of those books that’s been crossing my radar for awhile that I’m finally getting around to reading.  I must confess that the main reason why I finally gave into buying this book was the fact that I didn’t enjoy reading Pinocchio with my son.  Even thought I’ve kept it on my daughter’s free read list for next year (my son loved the book), I have been dreading listening to it again. Guroian’s book didn’t convince of the merits for me, but this book and heeding the advice of a few others who’ve said the repetitive nature of the book doesn’t even phase kids but helps solidify the heart of the story.

Tending the Heart of Virtue is definitely a must read for parents who don’t see the value in reading old stories.  I wish I had read this before we started my son in Ambleside Online Year 1 because I removed several of the readings of fairytales because I DID NOT understand them and wanted to avoid the topic of witches since this was a sensitive matter in part of our family. I don’t think if I had read this book before we started AO that it would have changed my mind about reading the specific fairytales, but it would have sparked my interest in doing more research (and fact checking…to say I can be a bit cynical is an understatement).  

I have a completely different view of fairtytales now.  I grew up loving them and remember checking out a particular book from the school library in second grade.  I checked out the anthology so many times because I loved the rhymes and Rumplestiltskin. I liked fairytales until I saw the glorifying of Disney princesses. At that point I had little interest in fairytales (my college class didn’t even redeem them). While I don’t think I’m a fairytale expert or feel like I want to analyze them (with the knowledge I’m acquiring from my class), I am enjoying them more than before.  

What I’m {nature} Journaling:  I’m finally seeing the regularity of a hummingbird.  It’s taken far longer than usual to see activity, but I’m glad to see it.  I was concerned we wouldn’t get any since we cut down our {lone} mimosa tree.

Co-op

Wrapping up co-op was fun! We celebrated with a Mexican dinner for all. Then the kids shopped in the maker’s market.  My kids sold potholders and Mother’s Day cards.  (My daughter quickly spent every penny she earned.) Then the kids moved over to the talent show. Both kids played piano well. (I should also say that my daughter is completely obsessed with playing “Go Tell Aunt Rhody.” She plays it multiple times each day and in every voice on the keyboard and records it and plays the recording as she walks away to do other things. As her piano teacher, I am very proud.  As her mother, I wish her piano teacher would teach her something new!)  They were also asked questions about the art they had on display.  My daughter showed great confidence in handling the mic and explaining the entire process of her watercolor painting.

Fourth Grade Highlight

My son has finally completed the Usborne Engineering Scribble book.  He’s been working through two of the Usborne Engineering books for several years now, so he was expecting the next one.  I’m not buying anymore of the series especially since he does engineering projects with his grandpa. I don’t know if he’s actually learned anything, but I know it was something that he looked forward to on the days we had it in school.

We also did a lazy mom substitution for our nature walk this week.  We watched a documentary about Hawaii’s volcanoes.  And I fully enjoyed my lazy mom substitution.  I’m getting over a respiratory virus, the rain has been unpredictable, and we’re just trying to make it through the last few weeks of academics.  The documentary was so good that we rewatched it with my husband in the same night. 

Kindergarten Highlight

I’m basically done with kindergarten.  We have a few books to wrap up and are maintaining a form of school routine, but I’m not doing all the things anymore.  I’m letting my daughter choose whether she does math or phonics, she does three little worksheets to keep her amused, she plays piano, and we read.  And I’m trying to get us outside during any good weather we may have.  I do really enjoy seeing her interest in specific parts of school light up.  I know it’s her next step of maturity and that she will be really ready for first grade when we start up the next school year.

Mom Highlight

I am in closer to the end of planning for next school year and feeling far more confident in myself in removing certain books and then adding in a few challenges.  And I’m feeling great in being able to set up all the notebooks before school is out in a couple weeks setting me up for a summer free of planning anything for next school year.

I did have a lapse in motivation.  I began to countdown all we had left and planning out each day so that we could cram it all in and finish sooner.  And then I slept on it.  We aren’t doing that.  We’ve set this course and we are sticking to it.  It’s a good course and it is filling our days with goodness.  We are completely flexible to enjoy other things if they arise.

Semester 1, Week 4

What I’m Reading: Gather by Pam Barhill and Heather Tully
I have been waiting a long time for this book to come through the holds system at the library.  It was worth the wait.  I have struggled with motivation for school this year due to the life change of both children completing the preschool portion of their childhoods.  While I’ve been looking forward to so much of big kid life and all the things that my children are going to learn this school year, it hasn’t made the transition easier.  We started school anyway in August to get us in a routine, to work out any kinks we might have in curriculum choices or in time management.  We reached Labor Day weekend having accomplished my goal of finishing at least three weeks of school so that I was able to evaluate our progress.  I like where we stand, and I’ve set reasonable expectations and goals.  On the other hand, I’m still on a personal struggle bus sorting through other life challenges.  I took the majority of Labor Day weekend to sit outside and read and regroup.  Gather was a perfect read to kick off the weekend.  I was able to complete the book in very short amount of time.  I was encouraged by the essays and photos. 

Co-op

We had another park day with our co-op.  The kids had a good time.  My son learned a little about kickball this time around.  My daughter branched out in a small way by playing with a first grader.  One thing that is prevalent in our homeschool group is introverts!

Fourth Grade Highlight

A big highlight of week four was finishing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Reading the book was great, and we made it extra fun by eating Turkish Delight and watching the BBC tv movie on YouTube. We will be starting Prince Caspian next.

My son is enjoying his free read of “Farmer Giles of Ham” by J.R.R. Tolkien.  I read it again over the weekend to reacquaint myself with the story.  While I don’t require narrations of free reads, I do keep asking him what part he’s at to hear how much he likes the story but also to check his progress.  I like to hear that he’s mostly understanding what’s going on since I feel like it’s a little bit higher for his reading level (but not for his comprehension level if I were to be reading it aloud to him).

Shakespeare was super fun this week as we have reached the scene where Bottom acquires his donkey head from Puck.  My son thought it was funny that his name is bottom which led me to explain another word for donkey.  I didn’t go into a full explanation of significance of all the other characters’ names, but I do find my own enjoyment in what I’ve learned.

Tea and poetry still gets the kids excited every week.  I’m pretty sure it’s the extra treats that I serve with lunch on that day.  We have slowed down considerably in Hiawatha because it’s much lengthier than I expected.  However, we will plug along and get through what we get through for the semester. 

Kindergarten Highlight

Another great week of playground time.  I delegated one of the visits off to Grandma, which really helped out. 

My daughter had her first piano lesson, liked it, and has been asking when the next one will be.  Right now we’re just doing lessons without having her do practice time during the week.  I’m going to see how this goes for now since I know practice time would be time consuming on my part.  I’ve always required it of students, even very young students (but with parental responsibility).  Now that I’m the piano teacher and the parent and the school teacher, I don’t know if I’m up for balancing all of the responsibility.

Semester 1, Week 3

What I’m Reading: An Unsuitable Attachment by Barbara Pym
I have rather enjoyed most of the books by Barbara Pym that I have read so far.  They are definitely perfect before-bed reads.  The characters have hidden depths, and the story lines are subtle.

What I’m {nature} Journaling:  The heat has been stifling lately.  However, I’m getting the children outside as much as we can stand.  We spent about 15 minutes outside looking for an insect to journal and were successful finding a mayfly on our garage.  The shade kept us cool for about a minute.  Fortunately, the rain is rolling in for a few days which should give us at least one week of pleasantness.  I would like to find a nature group for us to join at some point.  I think it would be fun and also help us grow in our observations.

Co-op

Since I’m taking our school year slow, we fit in two co-op activities in our “school week.”  We started things off with a kickoff of sorts.  The kids played on the playground and had ice cream.  Both kids were stretched as their usual outgoing friends weren’t there.  They both had to find some other kids.  My son played baseball with a group of boys, which was fun to watch since it was small kids up to high school playing.  My son has not played baseball at all, so it was a great experience for him. 

First class day is under our belts.  My son had a great time in both of his classes. We have a secret message to reveal, and he enjoyed his activities teaching about tornadoes.  My daughter’s second class was about bears; she also really enjoyed the part about alligators.  I was teaching my daughter’s first class, which is a kindergarten music and movement class.  It was crazy.  It was fun.  They did well with the rhythm instruments.  It was quite the experiment.  I’m not good at classroom management, for sure.  It’s a different beast in an eclectic homeschool community. 

A big reason why I didn’t pursue an education degree is that I don’t like to follow other’s rules or setting up major rules for others.  While I’m a big fan of manners and parents raising their children, I’m more of a live and let live kind of person.  Imposing ALL the rules on others is difficult for me.  It works well in our home because (I think) we are balanced in our freedom and personal responsibility.  My children are very well-behaved in public settings because we expect good behavior no matter where we go. I do not know how to translate that to a classroom setting.  Thus, I’m not a school teacher. I’m also a firm believer in letting kids move around while they’re learning, and that doesn’t work really well in a classroom setting.  I think I’d get a C in classroom management if I were to be evaluated. I’d pass because the kids are alive and I had 65-75% participation.    

Fourth Grade Highlight

We have ramped up engineering lessons with Grandpa.  My dad even prepared a lecture and written lesson for my son.  We’ll see how it all goes.  I’m hoping it will challenge him in a positive way to take some initiative to expand on his building skills.

My son finally finished reading Paddington Goes to Town by Michael Bond.  While I know he likes the series, we are still figuring out how to fit in reading time.  The minimum I require each day is 15 minutes because we have so many things that must be done.  He was reading some before bed, but he hasn’t done that much lately.

My son’s new free read is “Farmer Giles of Ham” by J.R.R. Tolkien.  He asked if he could read it on his own, so I have handed it over.  He had a hard time getting into it with the character introductions, but two days in and he’s liking it.  I’ve explained that now that he’s getting older, the books he reads will start giving more character and setting details.  I’m reading a Tolkien compilation of short stories and essays, so I’m going to reread “Farmer Giles of Ham” next.  I remember most of the story, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to read it again.

On the days that my daughter is in ballet, I’m having my son read the Odyssey series by Mary Pope Osbourne.  I’m having him read it aloud to me so that I can hear an easier version for myself (since it has been ages since I’ve read it), and so I can hear his reading progress.  He liked what he read so far and is eager to read more. 

We finally made it to our living library, so my son has started his biography readings.  He chose Charles Lindbergh for his first person.  I’m adding in a little extra reading while our school days are spread over multiple weeks.  I want to pick up a good momentum and then temper it later if necessary.  He is also now responsible for picking out what will go in his Book of Centuries.  I can see from this week’s selection that he has a lot of room for growth.

Charlotte Mason in a homeschool versus a classroom setting is a conundrum for me sometimes.  We are at a disadvantage in that my son does not have someone else’s example to see their school work.  While I do what I can to state my expectations for narrations or drawings, I think that sometimes the work that is provided is the bare minimum.  Sometimes I don’t know if I should require more or if the work done is really the best or the most information gleaned from a lesson. I am most definitely striving toward a more excellent form of work this school year.  As a result, I may be doing something against CM that maybe doesn’t show trust in the process.  We are reading The City Under the Back Steps for science.  I read a chapter each week, and I expect my son to write a sentence about what we read or draw a detailed picture.  He chooses to do pictures, but they are lacking in detail because he’s drawing one little thing that doesn’t take long.  Is it because that’s all he remembers from the story?  I don’t know.  So I’m going through the reading afterwards myself and typing out a list of the insect facts.  I do not expect every fact from my son, but I do want more detail.  We’ll see how all this goes.  I’m still not quite sure where I’m going with all this.

My son is loving A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  I set the timer for 15 minutes.  We use wooden people figures to keep track of the characters. As we go from scene to scene, I assign a character to my son for him to read, and I read all the other parts.  It’s been fun.  He has also almost memorized his Shakespeare memory work, so I may need to add in another passage for him to memorize. 

Homeschool Freedom

We have reached our goal of completing three weeks in August.  It looks like we have the same goal for September.  I’m going to roll with it for now.  We have needed slow mornings, shortened days, and a LOT of time outside.  I think I’ve done a good job so far of simplifying our loads while also striving for excellence.

Kindergarten Highlight

My daughter is doing well with kindergarten.  When it comes to sitting down to do school, she is always so eager.  So it’s super funny that when she’s talking to others or asking about each day, she talks about how I make her do school or wonders when we’re going to have a break from school. 

Phonics lessons are going okay so far.  I am doing formal lessons, but I’m also fitting in as many letter sounds as possible on the sly.  I feel like there can’t be too much exposure at this point. 

We were able to fit in two trips to two different playgrounds this week making that three for the school year.  I would really love to be able to go every week even if it’s for 20 minutes.

New Starts

My daughter is asking for more.  In just about every area.  She told me she wants to play electric guitar.  I told her that it is required that she learns how to play piano first.  It’s a requirement in our home since I can teach the kids for free and it’s a great first instrument.  She has asked several days in a row when she can start piano lessons.  We’ll try it out next school week.

I might be a little ambitious, but I thought that my daughter’s new enthusiasm in music lessons might be a good time to introduce my kids to Children of the Open Air.  I’ve heard of it before, but I have never started my kids on solfeg since I’m already giving them piano lessons.  My daughter is at the perfect age for it, so while I’m going to gear the time toward her, I don’t mind if my son joins in.  Again, we’ll see how it goes in the new school week.

She also says she’s ready for a chapter book read aloud.  While I do have specific ones I want to read from AmblesideOnline, I have decided that we’ll try out Betsy-Tacy a little earlier than I had planned.  This will be another thing we’ll try in the next school week.

Fourth Grade Curriculum – First Semester

What I’m Reading: Keep It Moving by Twyla Tharp

I first heard of this on the Schole Sisters Podcast.  My library has it as an audiobook, so I listened to a bit each day over the course of the summer.  I consumed the book in small increments as a form of daily motivation to keep active for the summer instead of losing my momentum and becoming a couch potato.  This is a good read.  It’s not life-changing, but there is good advice.  Overall, I think the book was a good daily encouragement to just keep moving.

What I’m {nature} Journaling:  I have so many flowers to be drawing in my nature journal.  While my wildflower garden has taken longer to bloom this year, I have had some new and different blooms than in previous years.  I feel like I have an even bigger variety of color this year.  My favorites have been the bachelor buttons and teddy bear sunflowers. 

Bird watching is great right now, too.  I’ve been sitting outside in the early mornings or late evenings to see who will come to my feeders.  I despise the mockingbirds living nearby who have killed my baby bluebirds and have made themselves pests in the backyard; they have also been attacking my dog.  I have loved being able to get a little closer to a nuthatch and cardinal.  It’s fun to observe the cardinal looking down at him turning his head this way and that.  The nuthatch has been rather cautious but takes advantage of the low traffic at the feeder and will come down to feed when I’m standing quietly.  We also have 3-5 regular ruby-throated hummingbirds.  There are definitely two females and one male.  They spend most of their time chasing one another and going back and forth between the feeder and the mimosa tree.  The two females will feed at the same time, but the male always chases everyone away.

* Notes *

We have a couple changes to our schedule this year.  The first change is that my daughter is starting kindergarten.  While it isn’t full-on formal lessons, I will be introducing some school habits into her day that will affect the individual focus I will be giving to my son. (I will have a separate post about her curriculum.  Today’s post is about my son.) The second really big change is moving from three terms into two semesters. I have reduced our curriculum to accommodate our desire to pursue a few of our own educational interests. I am confident that we are living a Charlotte Mason lifestyle following her principles.  I do not think we are veering off into “CM inspired” by making our own decisions about our curriculum selections.

Daily Riches and Skills

Family Folder

Memory Work: We will continue memorizing the U.S. Presidents. I am adding in a few lines from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as this is the play we will be reading this semester. The poem we will memorize is “The Arrow and the Song” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (In the past, we changed the poem every six weeks.  Since I’m adding in more memory work, I am only requiring one poem.  However, I am expecting full memorization since we are devoting more weeks to the poem.) The two scripture passages we’ll be memorizing are Isaiah 40:28-31 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

Songs: We will learn six songs over the semester changing to something new after five weeks. The hymns are “Grace Greater than Our Sin,” “This Is My Father’s World,” and “Be Still My Soul.” The folksongs are “Wade in the Water,” “The Erie Canal,” and “Simple Gifts.”

Bible

I will be reading from Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible. This is the same story Bible that my dad read to me when I was younger.  I will read from the Old Testament two times a week and the New Testament once a week.  Some stories are longer or shorter, so I’m going to read and gauge attention and time each day instead of following a reading list.  On Fridays, we will continue to use the Kids Read Truth Names of God.

Spanish

I am reducing our Spanish checklist.  I have felt so discouraged in the past when we haven’t had time to practice Spanish each day.  I am putting it on our checklist three days a week.  While I would love to have more Spanish speaking in our lives, it isn’t realistic.  I do include it in practical ways of saying vocabulary around the house or when we’re eating out at Mexican restaurants.  However, I’m not a native speaker and I don’t plan on hiring a governess for my children to be hearing a native speaker on a regular basis.  Realistically, I’m laying a feast. If my children plan to travel to other countries in the future, they will have a little better head start than I did.  And thank goodness for Google Translate. 

All that being said, we will continue using Charlotte Mason Simple Languages – Spanish.  We are still in the first year, but we haven’t lost interest,  and have enjoyed the way the curriculum is set up.  I will also be using the Usborne 1000 words dictionary now that we are capable of learning more vocabulary.  I also read “Caracola” by Federico Garcia Lorca this summer; it’s a poem about a snail that sounds lovely in Spanish. Learning it fits well into our Spanish lessons.

Grammar

The BIG add to my son’s days this year is grammar.  I have decided to try out Grammarland by M.L. Nesbitt.  I plan for the lessons to be 10 minutes.  I don’t know the exact amount we’ll get through each day.  I will read the chapter and am hopeful I’ll be able to pass over the worksheet to my son for him to complete on his own.  I also don’t know if we’ll be able to complete a chapter each week, so I guess we’ll see how this resource works out for us.  My biggest goal is for my son to start learning and understanding the parts of speech and the basic building blocks of putting language into sentences so that they can be read easily.

Copywork/Dication

Part of reducing our curriculum is doing copywork one week and dictation the next.  My son gets enough writing practice during the week through his subjects.  I want him to continue improving in his cursive and build endurance, so he will still be using Learning Cursive in Narnia.  I have also really liked Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason.  We’ll continue our normal routine: Day 1 copy the dictation, Day 2 use the magnet board to spell out the passage in entirety or difficult words, Day 3 practice with oral spelling and talking about punctuation, Day 4 test.

Math

We have 10-11 weeks left of our current math routine.  My son has about 15ish lessons left in Saxon Math 3.  He will be introduced to two concepts a week, fully complete the first side of the worksheet and complete the second side according to my discretion. One day a week, he will practice math facts; this year I will be introducing timed practice. Two days a week, we will continue to work on mental math through the Simply Charlotte Mason Arithmetic.

 

Literature

Fairytales

Over the course of the year, my son will be reading Joseph Jacobs’ English Fairytales. This is an AO Year 3 free read or a main read for AO Year 3.5.  I’ve been working on the habit of reading more fairytales to the children as I’ve also been enjoying them for myself. (Have I ever told you about the folklore and storytelling class I took in college?  If not, I should tell you.  It was one of my favorite semesters.)

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia are free reads on Ambleside Online, but I think they are vital for my children’s education.  I know they would thoroughly enjoy them as free reads, and I also think we’d be able to have really good discussions from any reading we did of them.  I’m selfishly putting them in our literature category.  I want to read them slowly enough that I am able to take my own notes on the depths of the books.  I also know that my son will be able to listen to these stories whole heartedly and understand what is going on and perhaps gain a love of the stories where he will read them on his own when he is older. (My third grade teacher read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to us.  When I was in eighth grade, I found out there were more books in the series and received a set for Christmas.  I tried reading them on my own but was lost.  I finally attempted to read them again in college and absolutely loved them.  I can’t wait to read A Horse and His Boy as that was my favorite during that time, and I would love to see if it remains my favorite now.) We will be listening to the series on Audible, but I also have the physical books to follow along. 

This is the first year I will be requiring a written narration.  I will only require a one sentence narration once a week.  We’ll see how this goes.  My son gives great oral narrations for the most part, so I think he is ready for the next baby step. (He will still have oral narrations for most of his subjects as this is the main way I evaluate what he’s learning.)

Shakespeare

We will be reading through A Midsummer Night’s Dream two days a week for 15-20 minutes. I haven’t quite decided how we’ll be dividing up our readings, but I want to make sure my son is following along well.  I will use the wooden characters I painted for our Lambs’ readings and adding in character cards since we’re adding in the full cast of characters.  It’s all an experiment as this is our first reading of a full Shakespeare play.

Poetry

We will be reading through Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha.  Longfellow is a Year 5 poet, but you will see this year and upcoming years that we are making some changes to how we follow AO. On AO they give several selections across Longfellow’s career, but I really want to spend time diving into one work.  (My daughter’s poetry selections are also playing a role in what I choose for our poetry tea time.  I do not read a poem a day as suggested on AO.  I have a weekly (and rarely missed) tea and poetry lunchtime for the kids.  It’s an event to help me like poetry more.)

Free Reads

We will be following suggestions from Ambleside Online Years 3.5 and 4.  I also have a list of books I loved in fourth grade that I want my son to read.  And I’ve added in some suggestions from a few other book lists.  We will not get to all the books on the list.  My typical goal is for him to read one free read per month.  (We are currently read Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls.  My third grade teacher read this to us.  I have it divided so that we finish it the day before we start school.  My son also checked out a Paddington book; I have not had devoted quiet reading times like I planned, so this will be his first free read to complete since he will need to return it to the library at our August trip.) For the most part, I have read the free reads aloud or we have listened to the audiobooks together.  Occasionally, I will have him listen to the books on his own if it’s been an audio I haven’t enjoyed.  We will continue this trend for now.  I think that AO intends for the students to read these books on their own, but my son is not able to consume these at the rate in which I think they intend.  I want to make sure he’s getting really good exposure to good books, so I will continue to use these as our read alouds. I’m sure I’ll have to make some adjustments next year as my daughter starts AO Year 1.

Weekly Academics

The remainder of our subjects rotate once or twice a week. This is how we fit it all into our Charlotte Mason education.

History

We are doing something completely different again this year. (This is our subject that I have consistently changed each year. As a (now casual) historian, I want my children to fall in love with people more than events.  I want them to have a good grasp of a historical timeline, but I want them to learn (and sometimes love) the people who have gone before us.)  Through the living library that we have joined, my son will be reading through the Garrard history books. While I may make some brief suggestions, I plan on him choosing the books he wants to read.  I expect him to read one biography a month.  I will record him giving an oral narration of each week’s reading so that I can use them to create exam questions. (At this point, I expect oral narrations from all independent reading to make sure he’s reading and understanding the assigned chapters.)

I also have the expectation that he will be choosing what goes in his Book of Centuries.  The past couple of years, I have chosen a fact from one of our readings for him to enter into his book (every other week).  This will now be a weekly task.  I may still help him with sentence structure when necessary, but I will also be encouraging him to fill some of the pages with illustrations.

Geography

I have gone back and forth on the intensity of geography and what to include.  I was originally going to continue on in our geography facts with Long’s and Charlotte Mason, but I have decided to keep that paired with Year 4 next year.  I also considered learning the fifty states in a little more depth.  However, I have decided against that as well. I did purchase a short study on the Southern states that I may incorporate here and there, but I’m not prioritizing it.  The biggest goal for geography this year is to locate all fifty states on the map and learn their capitals.  My son will label the regions of the U.S., make his own flashcards with the capitals, and have quizzes to label paper maps and also incorporate some use of Seterra each month. I have not done any map drills in the past, but he is ready.  I will also continue having him map anything we’re reading in literature or other books as this has been a fun activity on Fridays.

Science

Science will be divided into three parts – nature study, nature observation, and engineering. Our nature study topic for the first semester is insects. Each week we will read a chapter from The City Under the Back Steps by Evelyn Sibley Lampman. Again, it’s an experiment, but I plan to have my son either write a short narration (to challenge him in his attentiveness) or to have a labeled entry in his nature journal. I do feel like this is a bit unorthodox way for us to approach nature study this semester.

Every other week, we will be going on a nature walk.  I will expect a nature journal entry.  My son and I had a discussion at the beginning of June about giving his full attention to better entries in his nature journal.  We have been giving more attention in his overall attitude about the energy he gives to meaningful things as opposed to temporary entertainment.  I am now making it a point to draw his attention to the things that matter or why certain parts of school and attention matter. While I will probably give some suggestions to be focusing on insects, my real goal for my son is to be observing and wondering and praising God for His creation.

Building cardboard models and Legos is probably my son’s favorite pastimes (besides watching Star Wars and Sonic).  While STEAM is so appealing in our current culture, what’s more important to me for my son in this realm is that he has opportunities to learn about the hows and whys of what he loves to build.  I want him to grow in his skills as he adapts them to real life.  He still has quite a bit of Engineering Scribble.  He’ll do that once a month.  His grandpa will also be coming once a month to complete one to two kit projects with him.  While I previously had the expectation that he could do these on his own in his free time, I have learned he’s intimidated by the instructions and all the pieces.  He needs assistance.  This is such a great way for him to be learning with someone else.

The handicraft I chose for him this semester also ties (a future pun) into science. He received a book and cords a year or so ago to teach him how to tie knots.  As part of my effort in reducing the vast amount of schooling we are doing, he will be working on tying knots every other week.  I plan on doing some of this with him as I am also interested in learning how to tie good knots.

Riches

Switching over to a 15 week semester is providing plenty of time for us to alternate weeks for our riches providing more time to complete everything on the list instead of always having to let something go. It does mean that we are letting go one artist and composer, but I am keeping the bigger picture in mind that quality is far more important than quantity.

Composer

We will be listening to Ravel.  I am using the list provided by AO.  We listen to the selections on YouTube during lunch or while we’re painting.  I may continue along this line.  Every once in awhile I wonder if I should be doing more, but I think we’re still doing enough at this point.  My children have a good appreciation for classical music and music in general.  They will be getting even more classical instruction during their piano lessons in future years.

Artist

We are studying Raphael.  I really like the resources that Simply Charlotte Mason has.  I also have been previewing a few YouTube videos about Raphael to mix in with our normal list of educational videos.  We usually view and narrate a painting every other week using the alternate week to read portions of the biography.  I’m not sure if I’m going to be following that plan this school year as I plan to have the composer one week and the artist the next.

Art Lessons

Art is the subject we end up leaving off for the sake of other things on our list.  My plan this year is to alternate this chunk of time with our nature walks and journaling.  It’s not feasible for us to include two large blocks a week to these two subjects.  However, we can reasonably plan to do one of these a week. 

We will continue using the Bestowing the Brush lessons that we have purchased.  I have enjoyed doing the lessons together as the way Dallas teaches makes art time approachable for us all at any age and stage.

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu

My son’s chosen sport continues to be BJJ.  We have changed him to the competition class, which will also change our weekly routine considerably.  We are also requiring him to use a BJJ workout 2-3 times a week at home as his P.E.  Being active is definitely a challenge when you’re home so much! 

Piano

I will continue to give my son weekly piano lessons and require at least three days a week of practice.  He’s now considered a late beginner and is slowly making a few transitions into early intermediate.  It’s not a fight to get him to practice, but he rarely goes over to play the piano on his own. If I remember correctly, I was like this until middle school.  (Side note: I realize that his age is the beginning of Form 2 in CM, but I feel like he’s still in this limbo of mastering the life stage of Form 1, being ready in some ways for Form 2 but really just on the precipice where I could push him and risk losing him or holding off for just a little longer with more confidence that he’s fully ready for bigger steps in all areas of his education.)

Co-op

We are continuing with our commitment with our current co-op.  So far only one class topic has been posted for his grade, so I will give more of those details in the future.  Our group has been fairly quiet for the summer.  I know there has still been a learning curve as the group is still rather new.  Last year there were a couple of park days in the summer.  Since we were only able to attend one of them, I’m wondering if there just wasn’t enough interest. 

Term 3, Week 9

What I’m Reading: Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
This book is being discussed on Plumfield Moms and The Literary Life Podcast at some point soon and/or in the future.  It’s part of a trilogy.  I read the final book in the trilogy last year and liked it. I do like this book, but it isn’t a book I would pick up on my own accord. I am rather reliant on others’ deeper explanation of these books.  On the surface level, they seem like space and time travel books.  They are.  However, I now know that anything C.S. Lewis writes is also a treatise on education or religious philosophy or allegorical. Planet Narnia, which I read last month, did outline the significance of the planets within this series.  I did look (listen, rather, as I consumed it on audio) for references to planets, metals, and atmosphere.  I do know that this is set on Mars and is speaking on the condition of man.  The second book is set on Venus and speaks of the condition of woman.  The final book is set on earth and speaks about marriage and family.  This series is one to grow into, to read several times to be able to pick up on all the underlying messages.

What I’m {nature} Journaling:  I’m playing catch up in my journal.  Spring has been so full of observations that I’ve been putting sticky notes on several pages and going one by one drawing in a few pictures.  I would also like to attempt to paint a beautiful sunrise we had last month.

Co-op
We had family night at co-op. The kids had a talent show, art display, and market. My son played “Crown Him with Many Crowns” and “Freight Train” on the piano. I am very proud of all his hard work. He did a great job at the talent show proving himself quite the professional as he played through his (very small) mistakes and remembering to bow at the end. For the art table, he chose to display his painting of DaVinci’s Mona Lisa, and my daughter chose her drawing of a pig. My husband did a small session of sales coaching the morning of the family night. He had my son choose three great things about his potholders. They also discussed two types of customers (adults/children). We all joined in on the roll play as we went through several scenarios. He had a great time interacting with his customers at the sale and sold all fifteen potholders that he made (even selling one to his sister who had been eyeing a pink and blue one for quite some time). My daughter had a very fun time shopping and hanging out with the older girls.

My husband took a vacation day so that we could have a special family day leading up to the family night. We went out for a Waffle House brunch.  We also went to the movie theater to see the new Mario movie.  We haven’t been to the theater with the kids in a year and a half.  It was a fun treat for us all.

Third Grade Highlight

We finished The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. We loved this book! I must confess that after about 5 pages of the last chapter, I skimmed through and decided it was very boring and just ended the book.  I have been doing more research into Charlotte Mason timetables and P.N.E.U. articles about fully reading books, reading only selections, and not finishing books.  I am feeling far less pressure to make it through everything we pick up. 

I had to take a sick day this week as I developed a sore throat and fatigue at the beginning of a cold.  All we had to move around was a math lesson, which ended up freeing up more time to fit in a good nature study lesson and a fun watercolor on another afternoon. (We’ve been so busy doing our art lessons in that time slot with fun time tacked at the end that I haven’t just had a fun art play day.  This was so refreshing and fun.)

Preschool Highlight

We finished reading A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond.  I originally picked this out at the living library when my daughter wanted to get something from the chapter book shelf like her brother.  She listened to the majority of the story. Her attention span is still growing, so I had to be strategic in how I fit in our readings.  My son really enjoyed this book and was disappointed when we reached the end as he wanted more Paddington stories.  He was overjoyed when I told him we have a Paddington book on our shelves and that there are more at the library.

We watched the new Disney Peter Pan movie.  The kids have pulled all the Peter Pan books off the shelves and are now drawing pictures and setting up scenes with their dolls and action figures.  They’ve also been acting out the stories with a little mix of Star Wars.

My daughter often wants to copy the actions of my son.  We use dry erase markers on a number chart and on a gridded white board.  I pulled out the 100 number chart for my daughter a week or so ago.  She has asked to use the dry erase markers on them.  I have told her no that the practice sheet is for learning how to count to 100. (I’m wanting to make the distinction between the educational toys and tools especially as she starts making the transition from kindergarten to formal lessons in first grade.) Then she asked if she could use the markers on the gridded board.  Once again I negated the idea and let her know that once she learns how to count to 100 she will begin math lessons; when she begins math lessons, she will get to write on the gridded board.

As my daughter copied words from her alphabet coloring sheets and asked to spell words on her drawings this week, I was contemplating my son’s pre-k year.  When my son was in pre-k, I pushed far too much for him to learn his letters trying to get him prepared to learn how to read in kindergarten.  I realize with my daughter, I have the knowledge of how to teach phonics and the wisdom to be patient.  While I still feel a pull to jump all in with her to start phonics lessons, recalling the stress I was putting upon myself with my son, I keep delaying as many formal lessons as possible.

Term 3, Week 7

What I’m Reading: Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim
This book is basically another woman voicing so many of my thoughts about being outside.  I filled several pages in my commonplace book of witty, thought provoking, and humorous quotes.  Elizabeth’s book is mixed with the perfect balance of truth and exaggeration creating a page-turning story. She would rather be sitting in her garden all day reading.  She likes her flowers scattered about rather than a row.  She likes to be with people, but she wants to limit her meetings with them for very good reason…it tends to lend to gossip or saying things you didn’t really mean to say.  The best way to get rid of guests who’ve overstayed their welcome – take them on an all day, outdoor picnic in the snow and freezing temperatures.

What I’m {nature} Journaling:  I keep tweaking how we do our special nature study each term.  While each time I think I’ve settled on what will work, I think what I’ve really settled on is making it a little different each time to suit the season.  While we studied rocks and minerals, we kept a specific page in our nature journals devoted to the topic and identified a few rocks each week.  I’m going to keep that same idea for our current bird study.  I’m drawing in little pictures of the birds who come to our backyard.  I’m asking my son to name one bird each week, but I think I will need to add in more for myself each week because my list is pretty long.

Co-op
Field trip week.  We visited a family farm to see how they process their eggs, milk cows, and got to see quite a few new baby animals.  We have been on this field trip before for their fall and spring field trips.  Weather around here has been boiling hot on the fall trips and freezing on the spring trips.  Not this time! We had a perfect day.  There was a nice cool breeze every time you needed it.  The sun was shining.  The sky was clear.  It smelled “farmy” according to my friend, which is the perfect description of hay, animals, and all that surrounds them. The kids’ favorite part is always the play area.  They’ve added more since our early days of going, so it’s always fun to see how they change things up giving us a new experience every time we go.  While we were sitting in the presentation of the cow milking, I kept recalling so much of what I’ve read in The All Creatures Great and Small series by James Herriott.  Keeping a farm is so much work, but it is evident that the family who owns this farm is passionate about what they do and about keeping the traditions alive. 

Third Grade Highlight

We couldn’t have had a more ideal weather week.  We have been able to get outside to walk and play every day.  We are also filling many pages in our nature journals with all the growth around us.  Flowers are blooming.  Bugs and birds are returning.  We also got the Insect Lore caterpillars again this year.  We haven’t been keeping a daily log like we did a couple years ago, but I feel like we’ve been far more curious watching them each day any time we sit at the school table (or even walk by).

We have exactly one month left of this school year.  We are down to the very bare minimum but also maintaining daily math, dictation, and copywork because I don’t want to squelch the momentum we’ve recently built.

We finished the Lambs’ Shakespeare retellings this week.  I think we started reading these in first grade.  We will start on full Shakespeare plays in the fall.  I have been learning an immense amount through House of Humane Letters.  My excitement for sharing with my children is growing.  (My husband is always getting an earful of my narrations that I hope he’s learning a bit too!)

We are also preparing for our co-op’s family night happening in a couple weeks.  My son is weaving potholders every day to sell at the market.  He’s practicing piano for the talent show.  We still need to pick out the art for him to display, but I’m delaying a bit since I will try to fit in one or two more art lessons before then.

Preschool Highlight

My husband has been working with my daughter to help her learn her birthdate.  It’s always nice to see him get involved in parts of the children’s schooling (he’s also been working with my son on his “P.E.”).  I have pulled out the 100 number chart for her to start looking at to see if her curiosity heightens.  She loves to count, but she hasn’t been ready to expand her counting beyond 20 yet.  I’m in no hurry.  I heard from another mother that she doesn’t let her little ones start math until they can count to 100.  I thought I might try this with my daughter, but I’m going to stay flexible and just see what unfolds.  I don’t want to start formal lessons with her for much longer even with all of her eagerness.  I will keep up my casual introduction of formal lesson ideas. I pushed far too early for my son.

Term 3, Week 8

What I’m Reading: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John leCarre.  This is my second attempt to read this book.  I read the first half of it quite a long time ago and didn’t really enjoy it.  It was around the time that I decided it’s okay to abandon a book.  I’m reading it again now because several people have talked about how much they like this book.  We’ll see how it goes.

What I’m {nature} Journaling: I’m keeping track of all the vegetables I’ve replanted.  My cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini are doing well (even though I may have to baby my zucchini a bit after the vast amount of rain my container is holding).  However, my peppers and gold medal tomato have needed replanting.  I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I’ve already noted how all of this is an experiment. 

We have begun a paper chain countdown to the end of second grade.  As of this writing, we have 13 academic days plus 2 days of combined exams. Our summer activities begin before we’re done with academics, so we’ll just continue doing them as we have time. 

The kids grew to love tea and poetry more and more.  My son has asked if we can include extended family in one of our tea times.  I had stopped doing it because it was more work and interrupted the rest of the school day, but I was thinking I might do it once a term.  Otherwise, I try to keep tea and poetry basic.  Read the poems (Rossetti for this term) and either our literature reading for the day or whatever our free read is.  It’s more of a snack lunch with tea and a candle.  Once we did it as a morning snack, which I liked even more because I only had to prep tea and hand out pop tarts.  I like to keep things simple.  The fanciest I got was using a cookie cutter in a special shape to cut cheese and pulling out the special tea cups if there was a holiday.  And cute napkins most times.

We alternated the art lessons with drawing and watercolor (and museum classes when available).  I think this worked well because we just don’t have time to do everything every week.  I’ve noticed some moms doing the same with their artist and composer studies.  I’m considering this for our focused nature studies and maybe for our artist and composer studies in the future.  I’m constantly figuring out what does and doesn’t work for our family.

One lesson that is weekly is piano.  I don’t have a piano studio anymore, but I remain my son’s piano teacher.  He has a weekly lesson and 3-4 days of practice.  I include the lesson in the first day of the school week, and I also include flashcards or other helps during the week as part of school.  I find I’m far more consistent if I keep track of this as part of school. I’m also considering adding in the ukulele for the next school year, but I haven’t decided for sure.  My daughter will be starting very short piano lessons, so I’m still trying to decide if this is something we’re all ready for as I would like ukulele lessons to be part of our family school.

I start planning the upcoming school year fairly early in the year.  I like to work on the booklists, scheduling, hands-on learning, and supplies.  I’m looking forward to upcoming used curriculum sales culminating in the big expo where I can fill in with new things (and hopefully not overbuy all the bright and shiny).  I still feel like I’m learning what works best for us for the beginning and ending of the school year.  Thirty-six weeks of academics seems like too much for early elementary.  Ambleside Online is a very full curriculum.  I don’t want my children to miss anything, but I also don’t want them to get bogged down by academics at their age.  Once again the idea of balance comes to my mind.  One thing I’d really like to look at is the excitement of newness – summer and all its activities – and then when boredom and the need for routine kicks in.  How can I keep the newness alive while adding in spontaneity but bringing us back to the comfort of routine?