Semester 2, Week 7

What I’m Reading: The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte Mason by Laurie Bestvater
I don’t know how long I’ve had this on my TBR, but I finally broke down and bought a copy.  It’s a good how-to on notebooking for the Charlotte Mason method.  Even though I already have a good handle on how to work out narrations/observations, this is an encouraging read and gave me a few new ideas I might be able to implement.

What I’m {nature} Journaling: My son discovered a tiger moth camouflaged on our back door.  It is a pretty moth and has intriguing antennae. I’ve also been seeing some interesting insects that have met their demise in the dogs’ water bowl, but I haven’t fished them out to identify them!

Co-op
We had our last co-op class day.  It was full of excitement as everyone is finally feeling comfortable around one another with better friendships…always just in time for everything to get wrapped up.  It was a busy day for me as we also had open house for new families.  I was completely peopled out by the time I got home.  We still have a few more activities planned with co-op for this school year, so we still have more to look forward to.

Fourth Grade Highlight

My son can now pretty well label a United States map.  Now we’re focusing on state capitals.  It’s always nice this time of year to see the progression of what’s been learned and accomplished over the school year.  We still have another month or so, but I feel like most things learned at this point are just icing on the cake. (I did have my son start writing out a list of things he wants to learn this summer, so the learning never ends in our house.)

History-wise Paul Revere was wrapped up and now my son is moving on to Thomas Jefferson.  I feel like I know very mixed things about him, so I’m looking forward to my son’s narrations to see if I learn anything new.

We also made a small change in dictation this week.  I’ve added in the grammar from Simply Charlotte Mason.  It’s a good review in most cases, but it’s also some new lessons we haven’t gone into depth with.  The way I laid out the week also gave my son more focused chances to study the spelling.  I was giving him a lot of this on his own before, but it’s become more challenging.  I can see that we need to work on better habits. 

Grandpa engineering was this week.  They learned more about energy, potential energy, and pendulums.  They applied this to real life with my son on his bike.  Then my son built a car.

We finished listening to By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  It was good, not quite as enthralling as some of the other books.  It was fun to hear Laura’s very first mention of the Wilder’s crossing her path.

Kindergarten Highlight

My daughter had her very first lesson in math about place value.  I’m not quite sure how much of that actually got across to her.  I guess we’ll see the next time we do math!

Phonics/reading is going well.  My daughter is looking forward to her summer challenge.  I don’t think she quite understands what it entails, but I guess that’s what bribery is for (bribery is anti-CM).

Mom Highlight
I’m feeling far more encouraged about school this week.  I guess it has to do with getting over that middle hump.

Semester 2, Week 6

What I’m Reading: Spring Magic by D.E. Stevenson
What a delightful read.  I saw this book mentioned in a book subscription and put it on my TBR.  I ended up getting a copy while I was ordering school books. I found out that D.E. Stevenson is related to Robert Louis Stevenson of Treasure Island.  What a neat connection!

Frances goes to Cairn for her first real holiday.  Her choice isn’t to do anything in particular but because she once saw a picture of Cairn and thought it would be a nice place to visit.  That’s my kind of travel! She goes there at the same time that troops are coming in (WWII) and befriends several of the wives.  She also befriends some locals, but there isn’t very much a focus on them as a particular young gentlemen who is stationed in Cairn.  It’s definitely a love story, but I found that there was so much more depth as she described the places and people.

I was pleasantly surprised at the richness and recommend this book wholeheartedly.  (I read a couple of the Miss Buncle books about a decade ago when one of them was free on kindle.  I enjoyed it very much but have never read anything else by Stevenson thinking they may all be too light.)

What I’m {nature} Journaling: Baby blue birds and irises.  The baby blue birds have hatched in the bird house.  I saw mama bird bringing a worm while papa bird looked on from the fence.  My irises are blooming too.  I thinned them out in the fall, so it’s so nice to see them growing all nice and straight and sans aphids. 

Fourth Grade Highlight

Right now my son is reading about Paul Revere in his independent history reading.  I like hearing him make some connections to other people we’ve discussed. 

I’ve noticed in the past with other assignments that my son’s reading comprehension isn’t always spot on.  I’m not sure if it’s a maturity thing or something we need to focus on a bit.  Narration is helpful for me to hear what he knows, and I try not to ask too many leading questions.  This summer we’re participating in the library reading challenge but I’m also setting up a reward system of my own for the kids.  I’m hoping this will help me better guage where my son is with his independent reading comprehension.

Kindergarten Highlight

I’m having so much fun listening to my daughter learn how to read.  She really likes Bob books and is not going to be left behind in our reading challenge this summer.  We finished one of her nature books this week, so she asked when she can start picking her chapter books like her brother does.  I told her she’ll get to do that more as she learns how to read, but it’s also coming up in the next school year and I bought a few for to choose from this summer.

Mom Highlight
We (mostly I) needed a school reset this week.  We are half way through our semester (not counting exams), but it’s feeling like February.  And technically, we should have been where we currently are by the end of February. We have had quite the school year.  I drastically reduced our school load, but it seems like we haven’t made any headway.  I’m sure by the time I do our evaluation, I’ll feel differently, but I’m in a will we make it through the hump funk.  We have also received some discouraging news about a close family member who has a cancer battle in the upcoming months.  It’s been a lot. 

Thus, a reset in the form of a nature walk.  I realized while we were at our favorite nature preserve that’s been a year since we’ve been.  I can’t believe it.  We enjoyed a slow walk, stopping at every bench to eat snacks.  We saw so many things that we’ve been studying in recent years.  We saw mushrooms, wildflowers, spring blooms, working ants, butterflies, a caterpillar, nesting birds, chirping birds, bees, deer, nuts.  We also brought along a picnic.  The kids always love running around afterward looking for pecans and walnuts.  You know what we didn’t see? Squirrels and chipmunks.  That’s a first.

I felt far better after our morning out.  We still took it easy with school work since I had to be away for a day and we needed a work day to go through all the kids’ clothes.  I’m not sure how my attitude is doing going into the second half. I’m still feeling a little discouraged that we aren’t farther along, but I also don’t feel like we have so much that we can’t make it through.  I’ve been trying to look on the bright side that school going into June at least gives us some routine. I would love to just be done, but I also really think our curriculum is worthy of our time.  I wouldn’t be soul satisfied if we were to leave things undone.  It’s too good to neglect.

A day has passed since I wrote that.  I received a message from a(nother) friend who is researching Charlotte Mason.  I kept my affirmation brief in reply, but it’s so hard because that’s how much I love CM.  I could talk about all the things we do and the philosophy and the soul feeding we’re doing every day.  My little explosion of how lifegiving our schooling is was enough to encourage me for these upcoming weeks.  Yes, it’s not been a breezy season of school, but school isn’t a burden. If we were to set it aside right now, it would be a break but we would just be seeking these same things to fill our days.  When we miss tea and poetry or art or nature walks or our variety of books and subjects, the kids are sure to be asking when we’re going to do it again.

Semester 2, Week 1

What I’m Reading: Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie Bober
I don’t think I meant to read this book in its entirety, but I did and I liked it.  I’ve checked out a pile of pre-reading books from the library in my usual fashion of seeing what’s available and if I’m going to assign them for next school year. As usual, I’m having difficulty settling on what we’re going to do for history and science.  Even though we follow Amblesideonline in many ways, we’ve gone another route in those subjects in the past.  However, I do skim the books from the list that I’m able to find.  (Sorry, a little tangent there…no need for planning notes here.) Abigail Adams was an enjoyable way to read more about her life.  I’ve read snippets of her relationship with John Adams, but I’ve never read any other books about her.  This was a great biography that wasn’t too detailed to make it boring but also not lacking in substance.  I was able to get a full picture of her character and hopes for her husband, family, and herself.

What I’m Commonplacing: “You only care about the things that you can use, and therefore arrange them in the following order: Money, supremely useful; intellect, rather useful; imagination, of no use at all.” E.M. Forster, Howards End, Warbler Press 2021, p 25 

Co-op
We had our second class day.  My daughter’s classes are about holidays and animals.  She’s having so much fun.  I liked my son’s storytelling class and hearing all the stories the children came up with.  His second class is watercolor painting. I subbed in one of the youth classes.  Nothing like feeling really old than when you realize you haven’t had many conversations with teenagers since you were a teenager…a looooong time ago. (My job was easy.  I only had to be the adult once. They’re self-sufficient.)

Fourth Grade Highlight

Math went very well this week.  I didn’t have to teach any of the lessons, and we only had to review four problems total. 

We finished The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis.  I loved it!  I didn’t remember anything about my first reading of this book.  I loved everything about this book especially after everything I’ve learned through the House of Humane Letters and The Lit Life podcast. 

In preparation for our Shakespeare play, we read through the Lamb’s version of As You Like It. It’s one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, so I look forward reading through it with my son. Z

We started reading Clyde Bulla’s story of Wagner’s Das Rhinegold.  We enjoyed the similarities to The Lord of the Rings. We’re also listening to short selections of the opera.

Kindergarten Highlight

We finally finished reading Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.  Both kids seemed to enjoy the stories. It was a good, nostalgic experience for me.

I’ve been sneaking in a Bob book every other week to introduce new sight words and to work on my daughter’s skill of sounding out words and blending sounds on her own.  She prefers the Bob books to our reading lessons. 

We had perfect weather this week to spend a lot of time outside.  It perfectly coincided with our neighbor’s school break. 

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that we’ve been following the lessons on Children of the Open Air on YouTube.  We’ve been doing it for quite awhile now.  We’re going very slowly through our progression of the videos.  My daughter came in yesterday showing me the hand signs for sol, la, and mi.  It was super cute, and I’m glad that she’s learning from the videos. 

Mom Highlight

After being really slack and laid back in our (non)routine, we are back on track getting up early with mornings free of tv and full of responsibilities and starting on school early freeing up our afternoons for outdoor time. The day that I didn’t enforce our new routine, school took all day.  Being the responsible party is work!

Semester 1, Week 15 a.k.a. the week that took several weeks a.k.a. the time we got two puppies

What I’m Reading: Tex by S.E. Hinton
I was first introduced to S.E. Hinton in eighth grade.  We read The Outsiders and then watched the movie.  The entire experience was great.  I don’t know what took me so long to read more of her books.  The beginning of Tex is even better than The Outsiders and I wondered why this wasn’t the book chosen for us to read.  I got the answer father along in the book.  Tex has a few more scenes that are so relatable that I feel like they might be more influential in real life.  I felt more removed when I read The Outsiders.  Maybe Tex was more realistic since I’m older now.  I guess I’ll just have to go back and reread The Outsiders.  Anyway, I highly recommend Tex. 

What I’m {nature} Journaling:  I made a few notes about our new puppies in my nature journal.  It reminded me of keeping a baby book.

Co-op
Co-op is back in full force.  We started off the semester with our first class day.  My daughter enjoys being with the kids.  My son missed the first day since he was traveling with his dad.  I look forward to hearing his reaction once he’s back in his classes.  I’m helping in his storytelling class and liked to hear the kids retelling about one of their favorite moments.

I went to the mom’s morning out.  It was at a local coffee shop that I’ve been wanting to check out but have never gotten around to.  I had a delicious everything bagel with cream cheese and a honey vanilla cinnamon latte.  If you haven’t had either, go now and get one if not both of these things.

Finally we had our Valentine’s party.  There were several crafts, a few games, and lots of treats.  No card exchange this year.  I liked that it was simple, but I also know how much I enjoyed the card exchange when I was a kid.  I always loved decorating my card box and picking out my valentines.

Fourth Grade and Kindergarten Highlight

This was supposed to be a very quick and easy week.  Of course, every single time management plan immediately got thrown out the moment we decided we were going to get puppies (and we were ready just like you are when you have a child…except a little more because we’ve actually had dogs before). We were completely on track to finish our semester before Valentine’s Day so that I was going to give us a slow start and special few days to gear up for our second semester.  Instead, we were completing the academics during puppy naptime.  The end of the semester is being completely overshadowed by the puppies.

My son has been asking for a puppy for years.  I always said no because our dog was high maintenance.  Since we knew she was reaching the end of her days, we have been saving, planning, and researching for puppies and the best fit for our family.  We decided on two goldendoodles.  We’re in love.  They’re snuggly and playful.

Field Trip or Travel
A perk of homeschool is the flexibility to put school off a few days for last minute travel.  My son accompanied my husband to pick up the first puppy.  They traveled north and I travel west.  The week was chaotic and getting into a new routine even harder.  However, we have faced this bump (is it a bump if it’s joyful) in the road with grace.  I did ask my husband to review geography with my son while they were on the road.  I don’t know if they did, but they did travel through at least one capital, so that’s something!  The trip was definitely a good lesson in responsibility as it was my son’s job to look out for the puppy while my husband was driving.

Semester 1, Week 14

What I’m Reading: Last December/January, I read Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry.  I had heard of WB for some time but was hesitant to read his books thinking they might be too poetically descriptive. I was surprised to like Jayber Crow as much as I did.  I think it really helped with the timing of my read being well matched to a road trip to Kentucky and Tennessee.  I soon added Hannah Coulter to my wish list seeing that it is also on the Ambleside free read list for one of the high school years. (I’ve been trying to read several books a year from the Ambleside free reads list knowing that I will most likely like the selections and to give me a head start on pre-reading.) Anyway, I received a copy of the book for Christmas and began reading it in January.  I liked it.  I liked the themes of place, community, individual personhood, and the influence (or lack of) of one generation upon another.  I also really liked the handling of grief and the cycle of life. I most definitely recommend this book.    

What I’m {nature} Journaling:  I am finally all caught up on my summer drawings.  I was looking through my journal and have a few other little drawings to add, but then I am ready to start on my monthly observations again.

Fourth Grade Highlight

The end of the semester is in sight.  It was halted again this time by me being sick.  We did our best to stay on track doing school when I had energy and me handing over independent work where I could.  We are seeing the difficulty in getting back in a routine and resetting our expectations. 

Kindergarten Highlight

We had one very hard lesson in phonics this week.  However, I really like the way my daughter handled it.  When I said the lesson was over, she went to her room to regroup, to think about the words we were learning.  She came to me later saying she was ready to work on her words again.  The next day she was eager for her lesson and far more patient with herself.

Mom Highlight

I started reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle to the kids this week.  I fell in love with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Amelia Bedelia in third grade.  My teacher would bring in a basket of books from the town’s public library for us to check out. (Our school was new that year, so they were still building up the library.  At some point, I did check out books from the school library – mainly the Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood.)  I started with Amelia Bedelia, read through as much of the series that was available and then moved onto all the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books.  I guess that was the beginning of my love for books about old ladies. 

Winter Rhythms and Mental Health

Our autumn season was punctuated by coziness. Now we’re hunkering down for winter.  I am actively pursuing positive mental health to keep my family and myself not only afloat but buoyant in our winter rhythm.

Several years ago I read a few books that had underlying themes of enjoying the cold or dreary seasons. I’ve since taken the advice to heart and sought out joy or wonder in ordinary, forgotten, or neglected portions of life.

Last spring as we were wrapping up our school year, I focused heavily on creating different seasonal rhythms within our school and home.  Those same rhythms have continued to pull on my heart through autumn and now that it’s winter.  Much of our Christmas break is carrying over into our new year.  While I typically strive to wake up early to get started on our day in a timely manner, I’ve set that aside for this season. I’ve turned off my alarm, and I’ve been letting the kids watch a little extra tv – Tuttle Twins and The Creators for the win! I’m more willing to cook up a warm breakfast or lunch for the children and myself.  I linger over my cup of coffee and time in the Bible.  I brew copious amounts of tea. And I run the space heater.

Routine for Mental Health

We’ve thrown out a rigid routine for this season, but we haven’t thrown out our routine altogether.  We all benefit from a routine and challenging ourselves with hard things.  This is not a season of rest. Routine gives us sense of purpose and place.  We are still going to maintain making beds, brushing teeth, getting dressed, and devoting ourselves to school. But maybe we’ll stay in our pajamas if it’s a rainy day.  Maybe we’ll watch an extra movie or documentary so that we can spend a little extra time snuggling under warm blankets.

Movement for Mental Health

I absolutely have to go out of my way to make it a point for us to get outside.  I’m NOT a fan of the cold, but I know how beneficial it is for us to get outside.  A brisk walk or nature observation is incredibly good for our mental health.  I also have to prioritize indoor exercise.  That is also not my favorite.  When I’m outside exercising, I don’t view it as work, but I sure do when I’m inside.  I open all the blinds to help motivate me, but it’s not quite the same.  I’m also becoming very aware of the types of body movements I’m making.  I’m someone who is often lost in my thoughts and find myself clasping my arms as if to protect myself and my soul.  I’ve been trying to do the opposite – making big movements – big strides, outstretched arms, lifted hands.

Reading for Mental Health

I’m taking more classes through The House of Humane Letters again this year, have a list of books to read along with The Literary Life Podcast, and another long list of books to read for learning and for fun.  I have found that I’ve recently been reading several non-fiction or very heavy fictional books.  I want to have a little more balance, so I’ve thrown in a mystery to help.  I’ve even changed around a few of the books I’m reading with the kids. 

Every year our church spends three days reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  People in the congregation sign up for 20 minute blocks to read where the last person left off.  There is something very powerful in reading Scripture out loud. 

I’m also reading my Scripture cards out loud in the morning and evening.  I have stored up anxiety (hello, living in your mind) that I am actively using ALL my senses to release and heal by storing up new memories and stories.  I also actively pursue at least two if not more daily activities that I know contribute to this new story – movement, cooking, art, knitting, tea drinking.

Music and Art for Mental Health

I cannot quote the book word by word since I don’t have it in my possession, but I read quite a few good things in the book Rewire Your Anxious Brain by Catherine Pittman.  While I already knew that singing was good for you, there is science behind why it’s good for you.  I’m making it a point in this season to sing… a lot… out loud… and often.  Did you know there’s also science behind artist study within the Charlotte Mason method? It’s good for your mind’s attention and for your soul’s rest.  The attention you are giving with your eye movements are triggering rest in your brain.  Again, I don’t have the exact study or brain names, so you’re welcome to link in the comments to some such things if you so desire.

Education for Mental Health

During 2023 my husband was pursuing the phrase “out with the old, in with the new.”  Our spring/summer was ruled by “rhythms” and our autumn by “cozy.”  I planned to be quite a bit further along in school this year.  How are we only at week 13 when we’ve been doing school since August?  As I reflected on what we have and haven’t done, I saw just how much we HAVE done.  We’ve traveled every month; we’ve had sickness every month; we’ve followed our rhythm every month.  Now that I see that our school year is going to linger into June (far later than I planned), I’ve come to the conclusion that we need a goal or mantra to keep us going.  We’re going to use the philosophy of Charlotte Mason and remind ourselves that education is a life. We will keep filling our days with academics but mostly with what is feeding our souls in this moment and for our future. 

Whatever season you are in, I hope you will take full advantage of your winter.

Semester 1, Week 6

What I’m Reading: Joan of Arc by Mark Twain
After I read aloud the Diane Stanley book about Joan of Arc to my son, I wanted to learn more about her.  When I heard that Purple House Press had a good edition of the Mark Twain book, I added it to one of my school orders.  It took me several months, but I finished reading it.  I like it a lot.  However, there were parts that were SO repetitive.  I felt like I was skimming at the end just to finish up.  It’s still worth the read. 

Fourth Grade Highlight

Now that we’re wrapping up September and gearing up for October, I’m changing up our plans.  Every year I say that I’m going to take time off in October for us to go hiking and enjoy the outdoors.  We do a few special days, but I always end up feeling rushed to wrap up our term so that we can fit in a couple weeks before Thanksgiving or December so that I can feel like can take time off and start off in a good place in January.  I have divided our school year into two equal semesters with the hope that I’d finish the first semester in early December.  That isn’t going to be the case.  Instead of cramming in a bunch of academics, I’m going to continue going with our laidback flow.  I am planning to take advantage of the beautiful weather October offers us to get in plenty of hiking and outdoor play.  I do still plan to take off a considerable amount of time in December, but we may fill the first couple weeks with some varied academics in the mornings. (If I tell you this here, I’m more apt to stick to my plan. Thanks for holding me accountable!)

We have changed out the hymn and folksong in our family folder.  My son has also memorized the Presidents of the United States, so now he’s going to move on to memorizing the capitals of the fifty states.  It’s worth mentioning that we attended a hymn singing and ice cream social at our church hosted by the seniors ministry.  There was one other young family, which was a relief to me because I felt like I was dragging my family to an event that I had no clue what to expect but wanted to join since I love hymns and old people. Apparently, I’m not alone because those were the exact words out of the other mom’s mouth.  We found our people doing what we like! Friends, I’ve been trying to do that for the past five years. She is another homeschool mom who has recently been listening to a Charlotte Mason podcast, so I’m hopeful she’ll convert and that we’ll have some friends to do a few CM style school things with.  And if not that, I’m hopeful we’ll have some new homeschool friends.

My son finished reading “Farmer Giles of Ham” by J.R.R. Tolkien all on his own.  I’m super proud of him for reading something at a higher level. I also reread “Farmer Giles” along with some other essays and short stories in The Tolkien Reader.  I’m definitely on a Tolkien and Lewis kick right now.

I’ve discovered the top three lessons the kids ask about are artist study, tea and poetry, and watercolor painting….Shakespeare coming in at fourth.  Artist study is the only one of those that doesn’t take much preparation on my part.  I love the other things too but it takes more effort on my part.  I have to remind myself that the effort reaps great rewards for all of us.   

Needs Improvement

Grammar finally has a challenging lesson.  We have reached the chapter about adjectives.  Finding the adjectives means we have to find the nouns first.  I write a sentence or two on the board by color coding the phrases that have one or two nouns.  My son needs to pick those out, and then we find the adjectives that describe them.  He then transcribes the answers onto his worksheet.  It’s working but slow going.

Kindergarten Highlight

It was a BIG week at our house. My daughter lost her first tooth and graduated from the 100 number chart to Charlotte Mason arithmetic.  The two are not related!  Losing her first tooth was scary and big; and finally, done.  It was the same week in which we happened to read One Morning in Maine. Starting CM arithmetic was also big but not so scary.  We made it through the first lesson, started the second lesson and didn’t make it very far because drawing 2 is hard.

Semester 1, Week 5

What I’m Reading: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
I do not know how long I’ve had this book on my shelf waiting for me to read.  I finally got the audio by Richard Armitage.  I highly recommend it.  It is such an incredibly long book but worth listening (or reading).  I took my time listening to it over many months.  It’s a good story and different than what I expected.  I expected something more destitute, but I found the story rather uplifting.

What I’m {nature} Journaling:  We’re currently having a delightful transitional weather week.  While I am expecting an unseasonably hot week any time now, I’m relishing the cooler mornings and evenings.  We are back to daily walks and picnics.  I’m getting a small crop of tomatoes making up for the really hot weeks when I thought everything died.  I’m also watching closely for the dwindling hummingbird activity. 

Co-op

The kids had their second co-op class day.  I was unable to go.  I am so fortunate to have my mom to help out.  She took the kids and volunteered to assist in my class.  My daughter was worn out, so I imagine that my mom was, too.

Fourth Grade Highlight

We are still living in our homeschool freedom.  Week five took us more than a week due to illness.  However, it was going to take us about that long for other activities, so it all turned out well in the end.  I turned over a little more independence to my son as I had him read his science book on his own and all the narrations for Chronicles. 

I am quite satisfied in our slower days and soaking up the richness of nature, all that we are reading, and delighting in the patterns of our academics. I’ve been very thankful in the reduction of our curriculum this year. 

Needs Improvement

While I find that our school week is well balanced, I think that I could stand to do some shuffling of the individual days. Some days I have heavier teaching days, and my son has heavier independent reading and work. I’ll have to spend some time contemplating how to make changes.  That being said, I am very proud of how well my son is taking on more of his school work. 

Kindergarten Highlight

Even though my daughter is often saying she doesn’t like school, we had a lengthy discussion pointing out to her how she enjoys each subject.  The part she doesn’t appreciate is being told what to do.  She still has some room for growth to see the value of following instructions.  I can completely relate!  She comes by this naturally, so I am using my creativity in how I present the lessons.  I know it is a struggle for ALL of us to make the leap into the hard parts of learning and brain expansion.