A Limping Start

I had originally wanted to start school on the 3rd, but I knew this week would be very busy with all I had planned out of the house. As a result I had changed the start date to the 10th. Then I changed it back to the 3rd. ::sigh:: I should have left it as the 10th since we only completed one day this week.

I'm still working on lesson plans. It seems to be a harder start to this year for some reason & it's not apparently just me. I've seen many others in the homeschooling community say the same thing. But I'm moving on as best I can.

Today I was reading through blogs when I saw something on Harmony Art Mom's site that made me pretty happy. I will be using her Grade 4 Harmony Fine Arts at home this year. It's a full year (or maybe two) of art & music appreciation lesson plans. Happy will participate as much as he is able, but the other two boys will be doing as much of the plans as written.

One book that Barb uses extensively for one of the options is called Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes. This is a really great book on how to teach art to your children. It is for the parent/teacher to read & then teach the child. I had seen this mentioned at one point in time somewhere so I had put in on my wish list at PBS (that's Paperback Swap - seriously - if you aren't a member - get on there!) & I was able to get a very nice copy of this book (for free!!!) just a few months ago. That was even before I went with the Harmony Fine Art plans. I love it when things that that work out (and yes, to me, that's a God-thing. ::smile::).

So back to my original thought...sorry for getting side-tracked there for a moment.

Barb has a Squidoo Lens posted with lesson plans for using Drawing with Children & it even has Amazon links for supplies! I'll definitely be using these to supplement our art studies this year.

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I did spend some time last night looking over the geography book we'll be using this year. I found it at the used curriculum sale back in June. I was originally going to try Galloping the Globe, but found Around the World in 180 Days (and when I went to get that link I see they are having a sale) instead & in great condition & it was what I wanted to try. We have used the two volumes of A Child's Geography & love them (well, I certainly do!!!) but there are only two volumes currently out so we'll have to do something else for a bit.

I did like what I saw in 180 Days. It's a pretty comprehensive study of the seven continents which is something we have not yet attempted. It's a notebooking based study to extra cost is minimal.

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Last night I realized that I should have an inventory of what I have for homeschooling curriculum. I already do an inventory of books but it still needs to be tweaked somehow. I'm thinking of marking the spines to correlate somehow. Anyone have a wonderful method for your home library?

I'm sure I can't be the only homeschooling mom who has completed the year only to discover something tucked away that would have fit wonderfully with that year's study. Or buying something new for a subject only to find you already had something adequate in the closet. I'm sure you get the point. It's frustrating isn't it?

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While reading the introduction to the 180 Days study last night, the author said something that made me go "That's it!!!" (Charlie Brown style of course.) The author, Sherrie Payne, is a mom of six children & covers a lot of different grades among them. She says this,

"And teaching all those grade levels together is not that hard. Granted, there are some subjects that have to be taught fairly systematically and individually, (i.e. the skill subjects of math and grammar), but the content subjects of history, science, and sometimes even literature can be taught to all the children at the same time. By using grade level textbooks and other resources, everyone can glean what they need at their particular level of ability.

It's that last sentence & a half that worked for me. THAT is what I am trying to do. I simply am not capable of teaching three complete school days to the three boys. So we have always done math together - but they work on their own books during that time. We have always done writing together - same thing. We have done history together & they actually do that together. This year I will be expecting more from Lego-Man than the younger two but I will also expect more of Conductor than I will of Happy. That paragraph helped cement what it is I believe works for us in regards to learning here. I guess this year will either prove that it works...or not.

New Master Plan 2009

After having spent quite a bit of time on the Simply Charlotte Mason site last night, I have come up with a new Master Plan for 2009. It implements the Circle Time concept I talked about earlier plus the CM classes that are encouraged. And, in a first for me, I've attached times to each subject. I typically do not do this, but I wanted to be sure that we could cover what I'd like. I think we can. If you'd like to check it out, I turned my table in to a Google Document.

Master Plan 2009

Tell me what you think? Did I bite off too much to chew?

I want to do the four day schedule in order to leave Friday open for other pursuits. I have been asked by a friend to teach a photography class for her son. I'll be including at least Lego-Man if not Conductor & I'm not sure who else will join us. That class will only be twice a month.

I'm also going to attempt to teach the boys piano this year thus the 90 minutes music lessons on Fridays. I only have a keyboard currently but I played growing up & I think I can at least get them started. That is one thing that has been lacking in our homeschool that I really want to remedy. I would love to see the boys graduate knowing at least how to play the piano if not the violin as well.

I'm getting excited for the start of our school year & that is also something that has been lacking lately. I still have a long to-do list of things I want to accomplish before we start. Time to get busy!

Making More Plans

I've been hanging out at Simply Charlotte Mason today & I've found a treasure trove of good ideas to try out this year. I've also been drawn to the CM learning style from the very beginning. One of my favorite sites to visit for ideas is Ambleside Online. If you have never been, check it out. It's a completely free CM style curriculum.

So here is what I've been looking at so far....

• A list of handicraft & life skills to teach your children. Ms. Mason believe all children should be taught these skills. It's nice to have a list like this to refer to.
• Copywork is also important to the CM learning style. I need to start teaching Happy how to write neatly and how to form his letter. On the SCM website there is a spot to download pdf files to practice copywork with hymns, poetry, and scripture. Since I'm planning to implement circle time & have hymn, poetry, & scripture time, I think this will be a great site to use.
• I'm also thrilled to see a booklist for the early years (ages 3, 4, & 5). One thing that has been sorely lacking here is more read aloud time, especially for Happy.
• There are three freebies on the site & I've downloaded them all. I also printed Education Is which seems to be right what I needed right now. It discusses Ms. Mason's philosophy that "Education is a atmosphere, a disciple, a life." I've started reading it. It's excellent. And free.
• The second freebie is called Masterly Inactivity. This discusses disciple & consistency - something I think all mothers struggle with - at least I do. I have this one downloaded & will print it out to read once I get more ink for my printer.
• The last freebie I actually downloaded and printed a while ago. It's called The Swedish Drill Teacher & is the physical education program that Ms. Mason used in her own school.

I may have mentioned here or on my family blog that I will be using SCM science curriculum this year called 106 Days of Creation. It's an inexpensive program & it's designed to be used with a multi-level of students which is perfect for me. It does add in Considering God's Creation for older students so Lego-Man will at least be using that & possibly Conductor as well.

On my wish list from SCM are a few things:

• All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar ($54.95) which is a 3-DVD set explaining how the CM method works, a 4th DVD called Laying Down the Rails which discusses good habit training, and a seminar notebook.
• Laying Down the Rails Package which is a DVD, CD, and book ($37.95) that goes over how to instill good habits. If I buy the first one, I wouldn't get this one since it's included.
• Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education that includes a DVD & book. The DVD is a recorded workshop that goes over the book.

I really enjoy the SCM site. There are tons of ideas on there for planning. If you are at all interested in the CM style of teaching, you should go check it out.

Circle Time

One thing I have discovered this year is that I really want learning to be the focus of our school day. This has been my fault in the past & I really want to change it. Typically I'm all about "Hurry & let's finish this so we can go do our own thing." I don't like the tone that sets to our day. I know this is going to be a big change for my boys (one of many but I'll share those later), but one I think will make things actually easier around here. One can hope anyway.

I also love the Charlotte Mason/Classical type of homeschooling. However, I am not organized to pull it off. I'm working on that too - I'm currently reading The Organized Homeschooler by Vicki Carunana. I want to implement hymn study, nature study, composers, folk song, art, etc. Adding all that in to an already full schedule with teaching three boys (and a toddler & infant as well) makes for really long days!

So all that to say, I think I'm going to try "circle time." I already try to teach the boys together for a lot of the subjects - just at their level. I've spent some time this afternoon doing some research. Here is what I have come up with for a plan**:

• Prayer - each taking a turn
• Talk about the day of the week, month, year, season & weather
• Hymn - learn one new one a week
• Folk Song - learn one a week (things like America the Beautiful & the like)
• Read Aloud - Regular books, Aseop Fables, Book of Virtue, etc.
• Learn a children's song & sign language to go with it
• Poetry- read & memorize one (weekly depending on length)
• AWANA verses

I'm aiming for this to take about 30 minutes at the most. Then the boys would go to their rooms to read/look at their Bibles (starting to work on a daily devotional time) for 10-15 minutes. This will give me a chance to do something specific with Miss H or change diapers or whatever needs to happen with her & Mr. H.

Then we will start on the rest of our day. I posted our schedule the other day but I saw something at Simply Charlotte Mason today that has me rethinking that as well. I may go to a four day week with Fridays reserved for things like nature study, music, art, etc. I'm also looking at starting a homeschool group locally that would meet twice a month on Fridays so this schedule may work better.

Still planning it all out.

**Ideas taken from these sites:

Classical Homeschooling Newsletter (scroll down to the bottom)

How to Plan Circle Time Activities

Portable Circle Time Revisited

Circle Time

My Two Happy Homeschoolers: Circle Time