Semester 1, Week 9

What I’m Reading: The Tempest and Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

The Shakespeare saga continues.  I read The Tempest in high school and remember liking it but no spectacularly memorable moments.  I liked it this time around too.  Now that I’ve read A Midsummer Night’s Dream aloud with my son, I think that community reading of Shakespeare might be my favorite now.  I have the same feelings about Twelfth Night.  One thing I’ve been enjoying about my reading through the plays are all the quotes that are so prominent in our culture.  It’s been fun placing them in their proper context. 

Fourth Grade Highlight

My son started his third Marguerite Henry book.  You may remember how much I loved Brighty of the Grand Canyon last year.  My son is listening through Justin Morgan Had a Horse.  I am anticipating our crazy schedule and Christmas books, so I needed him to read something kind of short.  I typically read or listen along during free reads, but this year, my son has upped his independence and takes his reading to his bedroom.  I guess I’ll just have to up my pre-reading game and read everything before him.  (Or maybe not, I enjoy children’s literature but more so when I’m sharing it with my kids).

We also started The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis.  Chapter three left us hanging, so my son was eager to start chapter four.  I told him he could read it if he did his written narration covering both chapters.  He opted out and waited a day. (He listens to a chapter and narrates to me that day.  Before we read the next chapter, he narrates the previous chapter to me again, and I write it down.  Every third chapter, he writes his narration.  Since we’re finished with Shakespeare for the semester, and I want to complete this book before Christmas, I’ve added a fourth chapter to the week and shifted narrations to every four chapters.)

Big week over here.  My son finished Saxon Math 3.  Now that I finally have a bigger scope and sequence in mind for Saxon, I don’t mind going slower through new concepts.  Math 5/4 will be a change in format.  I want a little bit of a transition before jumping straight in.  We are going to do a little extra Charlotte Mason Arithmetic and timed math facts practice for several days.  I think there will be a couple weeks of adjusting to the new (for us) format.

We haven’t been able to make it to our living library either due to our schedule or our librarian’s schedule, so I’ve had to make some changes to our history plan.  I decided to get The Erie Canal by Samuel Hopkins Adams.  It’s from the Landmark history collection.  While I know we would have access through our living library, we needed something now.  I do have quite a collection of other history books we could be reading, but we happen to be singing “Erie Canal” as our folksong, and my son was asking questions about it.  I’m quickly prereading several chapters ahead so that we can get started reading it next school week.  We may skip over some chapters for time’s sake, so I want to read through to see what is the most important.  I’m eager to get back to reading through the Discovery biographies through our living library since that is my primary objective for this school year.

We had two special field trips this week.  I had “field trip” listed on our school board one morning, and my son objected.  He said we were going to Daddy’s office to have fun.  I, in turn, informed him that it was a field trip to his place of work, people would be busy working, and we were to be on our best behavior.  I enjoyed myself.  The kids, I’m not sure.  We did learn that we need to do things like that more often so that the kids can work on their manners of holding questions till the end and not pouting.  The next day my son got voluntold to take a field trip to the dump with his dad.  It was educational!

The delightful part of the week? My son made us a pastry for our tea and poetry.  He enjoyed baking it, but he wasn’t a super fan of the cream cheese.  I really enjoyed it, and it was fun to see the puff pastry rising.

Kindergarten Highlight

My daughter is at a precipice in learning.  She’s eager for new challenges but also feeling the stretch of growth.  She has had several lessons now in blending sounds to read words.  It’s a challenge for me, so we’re going very slow.  I guess that’s the good thing about having one who went before her.  I know that she will eventually catch on.  It’s the same in math.  She has moments where it’s easy and others where she doesn’t quite understand what’s going on.

Kindergarten Curriculum – First Semester

What I’m Reading: Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks by William Elliot Griffis
I started reading this book before I left for the Netherlands and finished it several weeks after I returned.  I did not read every single fairy tale as some had a really boring start or seemed too redundant.  I did really enjoy the tales that included oak trees and storks.  My husband asked if I was reading it for the kids or for myself.  I was reading it for myself, but I do think I might read a few of the tales to my children at some point.

What I’m {nature} Journaling: Sunflowers.  I have quite a variety of sunflowers this year.  Teddy bear, common, woodland, and another I haven’t been able to identify yet.  The teddy bears are definitely my favorites, but I generally love all sunflowers.  The entire growth process is fun to watch.  I also love watching them follow the sun. 

*Notes

Preschool Reflections and Kindergarten Anticipations

I have been on the nostalgic struggle bus as all the preschool lasts have wrapped up.  My daughter had her last day in the preschool at church which happens to be the last time in 8 years that we will drop off a child in this area.  She attended her last day of speech.  Did I ever tell you that while she could sign “thank you” she couldn’t say it?  She can say “thank you” with a whole host of long words now.  She’ll be in the kindergarten class at church and co-op and BALLET.  In her mind’s eye, she’s ready to be a teenager, but I’m over here mourning her babiness but also trying to celebrate her personhood.  I did not struggle like this when my son started kindergarten or first grade, maybe it was the anticipation of having more children.  This time around, I know it’s the last.  This is a big transitional year developmentally for my daughter.  I’ll be honest, I’m fighting it at every point until I know I can’t hold on anymore but must gently let her spread her wings.  I’m hopeful that once we transition into our new schedule that I will joyfully anticipate all the discoveries she’s going to make as she grows.

Calendar

My daughter uses a magnetic calendar that is introducing her to seasons, months, days, dates, holidays, special activities and weather.  I used it a little with my son, but my daughter has been wearing out the magnets!  I definitely went overboard buying all the educational tools for my son, so I’m glad my daughter has been getting use out of most of it. We didn’t use the calendar the entire month of July, so right at the very end of the month, she pulled it out on her own and asked questions figuring out what the day and month were.  She also started pulling out many of our other school things, so I can tell she’s ready to get back to our routine…or rather, that she enjoys what I’ve introduced in the past.

Read Alouds

I am following much of the AmblesideOnline Year 0 reading recommendations.  I wasn’t a big fan of the Burgess books, so I’m replacing those readings with Among the Farmyard People by Clara Pierson and Once Upon a Time Animal Stories by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (an original copy gifted to her great-grandfather many moons ago so such a treasure in more ways than one).  I will also be using her selections from our living library to encourage her joy for choosing her own books.

Math

My daughter will be using a 100 number chart to learn how to count to 100.  Right now she’s pretty good at it but needs help transitioning to each new group of 10.  She counts to 19 (skipping 16) on her own, so we will also work on counting without the use of the counting chart.  Once she has mastered the chart counting on her own, I will start her in the Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic series.  Slowly.  My expectation is that we will only devote 5-10 minutes each day to math.

Phonics

I will be using The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading and introducing Bob books along the way.  Right now I plan to follow the way I taught my son, but I will remain flexible.  These lessons will also be limited to 5-10 minutes.

Copywork

Writing is another area where I’m going to be more relaxed with my daughter than I was with my son.  I did purchase the Brain Quest Kindergarten workbook because my daughter feels included in having something to work through.  I also use the Usborne Wipe Clean books to encourage writing practice.

Riches

I still plan to be relaxed in my participation expectations from my daughter when it comes to what we’re doing for school.  I would love for her to join us for everything, but I know she still needs a lot of play time. 

My daughter will be taking ballet classes once a week.  She is so excited about being a ballerina.  I asked her if she’s ready for piano lessons.  She said she’s not quite ready, so I’m not going to push it yet.  I don’t require it until first grade.  My son was far more eager, but he also saw me teaching other students in my home.  My daughter isn’t old enough to remember lessons with other students or that I spent more time at the piano myself.

During our tea and poetry time, I plan to include selections geared toward my daughter.  I will be using Sing a Song of Seasons and A Family of Poems.  She is also ready to memorize poetry.  This is more work for myself while the children can’t read.  I have to be far more consistent in reciting the poems with her if I’m to make this work.   

Outdoor Time

A giant reason why I have reduced school for my son this year is so that we can focus on more outdoor time.  Unfortunately, we do not live in a place where I can send my daughter to place outside without supervision.  This is another case where a lot of the responsibility lays on my shoulders, so I have to consider what the give and take will be.  We eat outside as much as possible and take walks around the neighborhood when weather permits.  My children are willing to play outside when the neighbors are out, but they will be back in school.  I plan on us taking more hikes.  While I think you can very cleverly have nature time at home, we are at a place now that we can pick up and go for short hikes.  My ultimate goal is for us to hike 1-2 times a month building up to one of the larger mountains nearby by next summer. 

Co-op

I am teaching my daughter’s class at co-op for the fall semester.  I’m teaching music and movement.  I plan for us to learn fold songs and dances, play singing games, sing learning songs, keep a steady beat with rhythm instruments, and read a few picture books that go along with music.  I know her second class will be just as fun as the mom taught the class last year, too.

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. 

Summer Break Weeks 2-3

Summer Break Weeks 2-3

What I’m Reading: Macbeth by William Shakespeare

The sixth Shakespeare play to read this year.  I was lost.  I knew the general plot, but I definitely did not pick up on any subtleties.  While I did want to quit reading it at one point, I read all the way through.  I know that each time I read it, I will be able to understand it more.  Thus, there always needs to be a first time!

What I’m {nature} Journaling: I am drawing in each of the blooms in my garden.  It’s enough to keep me busy for the summer.  I am also requiring more effort from my son while he’s working in his nature journal.  He gives minimal effort in several subjects, but I have been talking to him more about how giving excellent effort in little things spills over into bigger things. 

Adventure

Week two started off with a great start – a holiday weekend full of family bowling and games, cooking out on the new grill, and having neighbors over to eat and play. The holiday weekend was so full of fun that I set aside a full day of recovery for myself and home.  Just as we were picking up positive momentum at midweek, a stomach bug came running through the house.  That was fun…  (Have you noticed that one of us has been sick just about every month for over a year now?) Once we did recover, I fit in some reading aloud.

Week three was all about cramming in what I already had planned amongst cramming in very last minute international travel preparation for myself (including getting my passport renewed at the very last moment).  After much contemplation the week before, I have decided that June is our very busy month.  I originally thought we were going to have a restful first half of the month and one really crazy week, but the month has proved to be quite the opposite.

Reading

We are thoroughly enjoying Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen right now.  We are reading the hardback illustrated version by Naomi Lewis.  It is a well told version broken down into seven short stories. 

I have started reading Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls.  This is one of the books my third grade teacher read to us after lunch.  I don’t remember anything about the book.  However, I do remember loving it and imagining that it all took place in my cousin’s side property where they had terraced railroad ties. (I also don’t quite know if this is just tied in because I found out my teacher lived in their neighborhood and this was the age where we were finally old enough to play in that area without supervision.)

Academics/Riches Rotation

On the day I set aside for recovery, we had tea and poetry.  I have made it a point to include it in our summer.  We aren’t doing it weekly, but I am putting it into the rotation since we all love it so much.  I checked out a Tommie da Paola poetry book from our living library.  It’s a good collection of children’s favorites.  This was definitely a sweet highlight of our week that turned out to be so sour.

The only math my son completed for week 2 was an assessment.  He did so well!!!! Since we didn’t get around to doing anymore math for week 2, I decided that it was a good place to break.  We can reasonably pick everything back up again (maybe) when I get back.  (Looking at our calendar, we are really busy in the upcoming weeks, so we will not be doing even half of what I’ve planned.  While I think it’s important for my son to keep practicing math and for us to fit in some good academics and riches into our days, I think it is more important that we are participating in summer fun and reading good stories during our down time. I will continue to plug away at our rotation to give us variety, but I have more reasonable goals now in not getting to everything.)

Pre-K and Third Grade Year in Review

What I’m Reading: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
My Shakespeare reading continues.  I have read Midsummer a couple of times.  We read it in high school, and I liked it then.  I probably would have continued enjoying Shakespeare at this point if it hadn’t been for my teacher.  It’s such a fun play.  I loved that I was able to pick out some of the major themes on my own now that I’ve been taking classes (not making me an expert but far more knowledgeable than before).  This is the play I’ve chosen to do with my son when our school year starts back.

Notes on My Review 

We didn’t reach the end of the last day of school before my son asked if we’d be starting school again the next week.  I think it’s because I told him we’re starting our summer break but that we’d be doing math and a few other things here and there.  Later that night he excitedly pronounced (with a wide grin) to his dad that he had finished third grade.  He then said that he was sad that it was over because he likes school and didn’t want it to end. My daughter is very excited to be starting kindergarten and kept announcing it to anyone at church who would listen. 

Before writing out this year’s evaluation, I reviewed last year’s evaluation.  We reached the goals I set for this year, so I hope the same will be true each year to come.

Pre-K

The Best

My daughter loves poetry.  She’s a fan of tea and poetry and asks for it often.  She loves nursery rhymes and folk songs.  While we were talking today, she started singing “John Kanaka” and asking where the song comes from. She loves helping with household chores and tasks. 

Our year was reasonably planned out.  I looked through my son’s planning sheets at the same age, and his are full of plans for phonics, counting, and workbooks.  I also compared the number of weeks completed, and they were about equal.  My daughter finished 24 weeks of school.  They were far more enriching and far less stressful than my first go-round.

My daughter has learned the alphabet well.  She still needs to be reminded of what a few of the letters are when they are taken out of alphabetical order.  She can write most of the letters.  We have very casually introduced writing and I haven’t laid out any expectation other than getting in the habit of following the arrows (if given) of where to start. At the beginning of the school year, she could not do a floor puzzle of an alphabet train.  She can now do it all on her own.  I think that’s the ultimate pre-k graduation test.

The Worst

I don’t think I ever got around to setting up the easel with tempura paints.  It was one of my favorite activities in kindergarten, and I would set it up for my son at least once a month when he was in preschool.  However, she always did watercolor painting with us.

My daughter didn’t quite fall in love with Beatrix Potter at the level that I had hoped.  She does enjoy it, and I think it will be something she’ll enjoy more over the next couple of years.  She definitely wants to read all the Disney books since she’s familiar with those characters.  When I reflected on this over the year, I realized it’s because my reading life has been different with my daughter than it was with my son.  My husband used to work the afternoon/night shift, so I was usually on my own to do naps, pre-dinner entertainment, and bedtime; I often spent that time snuggled in his rocker reading books.  Now that my husband shares in our evening routine, we have different habits.  My daughter also stopped taking naps at three years old, so I never enforced an afternoon quiet time like I did for my son while he was young and then when my daughter was a baby.  THIS is a big habit we are devoting time to this summer.

Plans / Goals for Kindergarten

We’re still tossing around ideas for what formal lessons we’ll include.  Every so often I casually ask if my daughter wants to learn how to read or start piano lessons.  We will continue down the pre-k path for awhile and take gradual steps as my daughter is ready for more formal lessons.  We will be reading, reading, playing outside, and reading some more.

Third Grade

The Best

Third grade has been fun. We didn’t participate in our museum’s art classes like I had hoped, but we did join a co-op giving my son some great experiences.  I was far more consistent overall in what we accomplished even though we didn’t check every box.  My son was generally enthusiastic about school and worked hard to battle through challenges.

One of the biggest achievements of the year was my son’s independence in reading and narrating, working in his engineering book, and completing math worksheets.  I have been able to hand over a checklist for him to work through on his own.  I will be doing this more and more next school year. 

My son also proved himself in character.  He has proven to be a hard worker.  He has proven to be a boy who wants to follow after God’s ways.  He’s a good caretaker and protector of his sister.  He’s ready to serve and be a gentleman. He’s quick to obey and honor.

My favorite books we read were Brighty of the Grand Canyon, Swallows and Amazons, The Jungle Book, and Stories from the Faerie Queen Told to the Children. It’s always nice being surprised by the books I read to my son.  I’m not always sure if I’m going to like them and don’t always like them to the same extent as my son.  These four books were stand outs and ones I look forward to reading again with my daughter.

I’m definitely glad I followed the advice to just keep going with our plans/weeks even if we had sickness going through the house.  We were able to complete our school year in a normal school year without the feeling of it dragging out and taking forever.

The Worst

I did not like the AmblesideOnline poetry anthology.  I do not think that I will purchase the year’s poetry in this form again.  In previous years I have bought books for each separate poet.  I will go back to doing that again in the future.

I didn’t particularly like slowing down in math. However, I don’t think I would have tried out the Simply Charlotte Mason arithmetic series if we hadn’t. I do like our new routine we’re working out of two new lessons in Saxon, completing two worksheets so that I know my son is getting good practice, a couple facts practice sheets, and one or two oral lessons from CM book 1. We may reach a point where we’re ready to do more in a week again, but I’m not going to push it for now.

On second thought, slowing down in math should be moved to the best. I am incredibly thankful that we have the freedom to go at our own pace. My son loves learning and enjoys math. What is the point in going fast and learning ALL the things quickly? Life goes by quickly enough on its own. Our current math lessons seem like brain games, mysteries.

Plans / Goals for Fourth Grade

Next school year is going to look quite a bit different from this year.  I’m pulling back on some of the things I’m teaching.  I will be lessening work in some areas and also handing over more independent work.  I’m also setting a higher priority on kindergarten.  I know that most people work around their older student and have their younger child go along with it.  However, there are some things about the kindergarten year that need to be a priority for our whole family.  (I will be expanding on this more as I write about our specific plans for next year.) 

I would say that the top priority specifically for my son will be to grow in independence in many areas of school and his education. I want him to use his time and gifts wisely. I want to see him grow in taking initiative, to be engaged in his learning. I want him to become confident in approaching learning.

Most of our days are full of life – the good and the bad. I wouldn’t trade our homeschool for another.

Term 1 Exam Week, Day 5

No exams or school today.  We are having a final celebration that includes Grandma, aunt, and cousins.  My son planned a morning of tea and poetry.  His menu included strawberry cupcakes (made with Grandma the day before), cheese ball (kid friendly) and crackers, icing rolls (Sister Shubert lemon blueberry rolls), fruit (which we forgot to put on the table), chicken wild rice soup (Trim Healthy Mama cookbook p100), and homemade bread. Our tea selections were Sweetie Pie Chai and Caramel Apple from Piper and Leaf. My son read his two recitation poems from William Blake.  He also read some children’s poems from one of our picture books.  It was a lovely way to wrap up our school term and spend some (much overdue) time with family. 

We spent the rest of the day playing and watching movies.

I ran into a Charlotte Mason friend this week.  We had a little checkup with one another as she has switched her curriculum source, and I feel like we’re really getting into ours deeper.  I walked away feeling encouraged about what we’ve chosen to include or keep out.  In certain CM communities, you will hear moms talk about not leaving things out because of their worth in their children’s education.  It leaves moms like me feeling guilty that we can’t possibly fit it all in. Internet CMers are different than real life CMers.  What you see on the internet is not only the lovely layouts but the parts of a CM philosophy that these families are doing well.  You do not see the parts of their curriculum they are leaving out or not doing well.  You aren’t seeing the full line of habits that they are working on (and will always be working on…because I don’t know about you, but I always have areas where I need work) or the activities that are or aren’t occupying their time. 

This is our homeschool.  Take it or leave it.  We don’t have it all together all the time, but we are working toward a full life of learning about God, His creation, and ourselves.  I think we’re doing a good job most days, but I also know that we have so much to learn.

Term 1, Week 6

What I’m Reading: The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge
While I would not say this book is one of my favorites, I’m really enjoying all the connections I’m making to other thoughts in my mind.  In the first part of the book, Daphne is finding refuge in a rock and thinks about the hymn “Rock of Ages” and what the writer must have been going through.  We are learning this hymn right now, and I have been thinking it through for the time we’ve been singing it.  Over the summer, I started going through the names of God cards we would be learning and was leaning heavily upon God as refuge and strength.  The concept of God as Rock and Refuge reflected in the characters and their places within The Rosemary Tree has popped out at me. Margary makes a rock connection too in chapter 8 as she sorts through John’s stamps.  She says, “All this wealth of affection made a solid rock like a fortress, a place very like There” (p174). I haven’t been commonplacing other quotes in the book since there have been so many nuggets, and I have been reading the book in such small chunks as I grab at time.  All of the characters have referenced their need and struggle for refuge and strength.

I would also say that this book is incredibly slow.  It’s very full of character, place, and thought description.  That’s typically not my favorite aspect of literature.  I didn’t want to give up on the book, so I read some Goodreads reviews.  One was particularly helpful in saying that the book got better a third of the way through.  I’m now halfway through the book.  Not having the energy to do more than sit outside, watch birds, drink coffee, and read a book was good for pushing me to this point.  I’m now eager to pick up the book to see where it takes me.

What I’m {nature} Journaling: A Late Harvest
My peppers are finally fruiting, but they are so much smaller than I expected. I planted red and purple bell peppers.  One purple pepper fell off early last month.  I tasted it, and it was terrible.  This week I harvested three red peppers and had to throw a few out that were rotting. I can’t remember if I said that I have also harvested Gold Medal tomatoes.  I haven’t had a very plentiful harvest, but what I’ve picked has been so delicious.  Yellow tomatoes of any kind are my favorite.

Co-op

We had our first co-op class day.  I’m teaching finger knitting to second and third graders.  Most of them got the hang of it.  We are in an awkward space for a class that requires me to give verbal instructions to a lot of kids at once, so I’m hoping to do better with that at our next class.  The first class was all about casting on, knitting, and binding off.  A lot of the kids made their chains into necklaces. I think the class was successful overall because my son can now finger knit without much assistance from me.

Third Grade Highlights

We have completed half of our first term! Hooray! We did it, and I think we’re on the right track.  By the time we reached midweek, I came down with a cold.  BUT I was NOT about to let it hold me back from completing a full week well.  And well we did.  We had a completely full week of every commitment, activity, and school subject.

I never get tired of hearing my son say he loves to read.  I needed to take a lot of voice breaks on Wednesday and Thursday, so my son was at the ready quick to read to me. He is reading American tall tales as part of his literature this year.  Since we already read many of these when he was in first grade, I am finding picture book versions for him to read aloud to me.  This week we took turns reading Pecos Bill by Steven Kellogg.  I might be enjoying these tall tales even more than my son.  I was retelling stories from Paul Bunyan to anyone who would listen, and now I have Pecos Bill on my mind! I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned here how much I love western American history. We’re reading so many good things to fill my heart.

Needs Improvement

Friday felt like a mix between a Monday and a Thursday.  Friday started out well, so we ventured outside to enjoy the beautiful morning.  I was able to fit in some reading while the children played.  When we came in, I made myself a cup of tea to sooth my throat as I anticipated our morning lessons. My daughter noticed my cup of tea and insisted she needed a cup of tea.  I said that I would be making tea and poetry for us later that day, but that wasn’t good enough.  She NEEDED that tea NOW.  I acquiesced thinking we could do a light morning snack to simplify all the prep and clean up that normally goes with tea and poetry.  I made a small pot of tea and a slice of cinnamon toast for the kids.  When it came time to serve the snack, my daughter was upset that she didn’t have a special treat plate with a piece of candy or handful of marshmallows.  I explained that this was a light snack.  My son went eagerly looking for more cinnamon toast, but, again, this was a light snack, so I only made one slice each.  He asked for cereal.  Between the two of them, they drank 2 ½ tiny cups of tea.  My tea was cold by the time I got to drink it. So between the complaints, interruptions going to the kitchen, and cold tea for myself, I have decided to gain more control over a similar situation happening in the future.

Our Monday/Thursday Friday story doesn’t end with cold tea.  It continues. 

I generally keep our Fridays light so that we can been done by lunch or shortly after lunch.  If you looked at our schedule, it was very light even with moving two of our Wednesday/Thursday activities to Friday.  Not the case this Friday.  We were delightfully interrupted to go on some errands and were rewarded with a milkshake and fries on the way home.  We picked up school where we left off because we only had fun things left.  Except, you wouldn’t think they were fun because my son was more interested in playing (which he normally does ALL Friday afternoons).  We finally finished school around 5.  Could we have just ended our day after lunch?  Yes.  But we’ve been looking forward to all the fun things that were on our list.  Do I still consider the week done well? Yes. Even with our Friday challenges, we each had moments of fun and fullness.  My children and I aren’t going to have happiness written across our faces at each moment of every day.  While I do well to balance our days with learning and leisure, we still have the human factor of distraction, illness, and any other negative descriptive word. I did not give up on laying the feast.  We had fun reading our poems.  We had a great watercolor lesson about yellow. 

I do think I might need to lay out a timetable for Fridays so that we are more orderly especially the weeks when I know my husband will be ready for family time earlier in the day.  Our Fridays are usually so laid back that we might stay on track better if we have some laid out expectations and plans.

Another change we are making this week is removing some tv time.  We are now going to limit morning tv time to two weekdays being turned off by 8 (no matter what time my daughter wakes up) and a shorter time on the weekends.  We are constantly being asked if we’re going to watch anything, if we can watch something, etc.  While I love having a morning babysitter to give me time to wake up, I’m willing to make some of my own adjustments if it means more creativity time for the kids.  Perhaps this will help all of us in masterly inactivity!

Preschool Highlight

My daughter can now say her full name.  She stood before her Daddy to show off her knowledge of her full name and then how to spell her first name.  It’s very cute! She’s also obsessed with shapes this week.  We use popsicle sticks and yarn to make the shapes.  When we visit the art museum, we use our hands to make the shapes and look in the paintings to see if we can find the shapes.  While we were driving around, she was very busy asking what the shapes are and listing the ones she knows.  Again, so cute!

Curriculum Spotlight

I use a restaurant menu for our hymns, folksongs, Bible verses, poems, and memory work.  I rotate those pages every six (school) weeks.  I found that when I was trying to go along with a monthly rotation, we were unable to learn anything well.  Six weeks seems to be the magic number because we’re usually comfortable with all the material by week four or five with my son leading us for the remaining time. I usually look at the AmblesideOnline rotation to see if there’s anything we’d like to use, but I also keep a list from a few other places. We are learning Rock of Ages, All Hail the Power of Jesus Name, He Leadeth Me, Sweet Hour of Prayer, I Stand Amazed, and O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing. We are also learning On Top of Old Smokey, Oh Susannah, Goober Peas, If I Had a Hammer, Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, and A Sailor Went to Sea.  I choose Old and New Testament verses that can be found in our readings for that six weeks. I also pick one or two poems for us to memorize that goes with the poet we’re reading through for the term.  Right now we are memorizing “Little Fly” by William Blake. The kids always get excited when we get to the poem we’re memorizing on the day we read it at tea and poetry. At this point I rotate the memory work after we memorize it which is different each time.  We’ve memorized the New Testament books of the Bible and are currently working on the Old Testament books.  We only do memory work once a week (or sometimes more while we’re looking for our Bible reading for the day).

We are following the AmblesideOnline rotation for composers this year.  We aren’t doing anything particularly special for our listening/learning time.  I have decided to save myself some time by using the YouTube links they’ve provided.  I have previously looked at what is available at my library and listened to ALL of it.  This year I’ve divided the pieces into shorter listening times over the term.  I keep a note on my planning page so that I know how long our listening will be for the day.  This has been incredibly helpful.  It’s also been nice to watch the musicians since we haven’t taken the children to the symphony yet.

We have moved on from our short weeks of bird study to wildflower/flowerless plants/nature math/mushrooms nature study.  We are taking 10-12 weeks to study these topics.  I was not planning on spending a lot of time on wildflowers or flowerless plants unless we see some worth talking about on our nature walks.  However, our local library has prepared two different kits that are appropriate for us to use during our weekly nature study.  Right now we’re watching beans sprout (after we read about how plants are fertilized and seeds/pollen move with animals, insects, people, or the air).  This is a term 3 topic for AmblesideOnline, but I moved it to our first term.  We see more wildflowers on our nature walks during this time of the year.  We also see mushrooms galore.  I think that mushrooms are a great bridge between us talking about wildflowers this term going into our study about rocks and minerals in the next term.  I have also been wanting to study nature math and felt like this was a good way to fit it into our full schedule.  It does seem like quite a variety of topics, but I think that these are practical topics for our immediate environment as we transition into a new season.

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?