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.
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