Spring 2017-2018 Term Three Wrap-Up and Year End Reflections....

I've been reflecting on particular subjects from our 2017-2018 school year over the past few weeks as I prep for the 2018-2019 year. I love to look back at the end of our academic year. It's always shocking and reaffirming to see what we really did accomplish, as it's not always apparent in the day to day. I also like to do my next year's plan shortly after finishing our current year, while things are still fresh in my mind. I have learned that if I wait, our challenges and struggles become rose colored. This prompts me to plan unrealistically, which ultimately leads to failure. If for some reason I can't plan immediately, I make notes and do Mystie's Homeschool Audit at a minimum. That way, when I do plan, I can be more realistic which leads to future accountability and success.

Today, I'm completing a Term 3 wrap-up post, along with our year end reflections. I will post books read and resources used in Term 3 first. Then I will include some overall reflections of the total year at the end, including our hits and misses. You can see our Term 1 here and Term 2 here.

Year 8

You can find RileyAnn's Year 8 initial Curriculum Preview here. The list below is from Term 3.

Bible

Riley finished the AO Year 7 Bible Reading Plan and continued to copy Psalms in Do You Journible?

History

The New World by Winston Churchill (Chapters 1-10)

Riley also finished the Beautiful Feet Books Medieval History Study. I wrote a post specifically about her third term here...Beautiful Feet Books Medieval History It includes sample notebooking pages.

Literature

English Literature for Boys & Girls by H. E. Marshall (Chapters 1-49)
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Poetry

Riley studied the life and poetry of John Keats in Term 3 as suggested in AO Year 7.  She also finished the Prescripts Poetry book for practice with penmanship.

Grammar

Riley finished Easy Grammar 8, which I had on the shelf. I started using it with Angel, our older homeschool graduate, when she was in 8th grade, but it wasn't a good fit. Riley pulled it off the shelf after discontinuing Jensen's Grammar. She preferred Easy Grammar and did well completing it.

Spelling

Spelling had been a challenge for Riley throughout her younger years. However, last year, I started her on IEW's Phonetic Zoo and she showed great growth. This year, she finished Level A and began Level B.

Math

Riley completed Pre-Algebra using Margaret Lial's text through an online class.This was her second year of study under Mrs. Perkins and she has grown to love math. At this point, we plan to continue math online with My Homeschool Math Class through high school.

Science/Natural History

Riley finished the AO Year 7 Science readings, of which you can read more about here.


Year 7

You will find Ruben's 2017-2018 Year 7 Overall Curriculum Preview here.

Bible

Ruben completed the AO Year 6 Bible Reading Plan.

History

We read from Famous Men of the Renaissance & Reformation and finished the following historic literature books this term....

Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thomson
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by AVI
Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley
Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
Good Queen Bess by Diane Stanley
Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley

What in the World? Vol 2 Middle Ages: Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries by Diana Waring (audio)

You can read more about Ruben's Year 7 History here and see sample notebooking pages.

Literature

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Penmanship

Ruben completed Let's Write and Spell by Mary and Warren Johnson. He also copied assigned verses from Proverbs.

Grammar

See Morning Time below.

Composition

Ruben completed a good part of IEW's Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons, of which you can read more about here.

Math

Ruben and I have been working through RightStart Level C. We have approx. 20 lessons left that we hope to finish this summer.

Science/Natural History

See Morning Time below.


Year 0 (Kindergarten)

I did not do formal kindergarten with Levi. Yet, he some how learned his letters with sounds, how to write his name, and some number skills. We read misc. books. He completed notebooking pages along side Ruben and often participated in our Morning Time. Overall, it was a great year. I was surprised by how much he picked up. You can read much more about his informal year here in Term 1 and Term 2. Levi showed much growth and many readiness skills for Year 1.


Morning Time

In our third term Morning Time, we read from and/or finished the following books...

In His Steps by Charles Sheldon
Ourselves by Charlotte Mason (through page 102)
Simply Charlotte Mason's Picture Study Portfolio - da Vinci
How the Heather Looks by Joan Bodger - We read the first few chapters of this book, but then stopped. The chapters were too long for a one sitting MT read. We may or may not pick it back up in the future.
The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin Wiker
The Elements by Theodore Gray
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Man for All Seasons - we watched the movie version
The Story of Painting by Janson (through page 101)
Grammar-Land by M. L. Nesbitt

I wrote several posts about our Morning Time over the year. You can find them here....

2017-2018 Curriculum Preview - Morning Time
2017-2018 Morning Time Reflections - Six Weeks
Middle School Chemistry in Morning Time
Middle School Introductory Chemistry Wrap-Up


Misc. Fine Arts

Riley, Ruben, and Levi also participated in art classes through a local homeschool co-op during part of Term 2 and Term 3. In addition, we attended the Charlotte's Web musical, performed by our local children's theater.


Overall Reflections

Upon reflection of our year as a whole, each child showed tremendous growth. Riley stated math and spelling are both getting easier for her. Ruben picked up several assigned books and read them on his own. Levi was eager and voluntarily participating. He is very excited about beginning Year 1 in the fall. There is a sense of accomplishment as I look back.

Books we didn't get to or decided not to:

The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges (Morning Time)

The Story of the Renaissance and Reformation by H. A. Guerber (Riley's History)

Lost Tools of Writing (Riley's Composition) 

Secrets of the Woods by Willliam Long (Ruben's Natural History)
School of the Woods by William Long (Ruben's Natural History)

The King's Shadow by Elizabeth Alder

My Hits

I loved reading along with Riley and Ruben! I found book discussions more enjoyable when we read independently and then came together to discuss, rather than me reading everything aloud. It was like having our own book club, which was very much something to look forward to.

Both Riley and Ruben made great progress in math this year!

Vol. 4, Ourselves by Charlotte Mason (Morning Time)
The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin (Morning Time)

Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo (read aloud to Ruben)

Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli (family read aloud)

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (read alongside Riley)

Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden (family read aloud)

The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (read aloud to Ruben)

My Misses

I didn't find time to work with Riley on composition. She continued to do independent written narrations, which certainly wasn't all bad. However, as she enters high school, I would like her composition focus to narrow on a few particular types of writing in addition to narration.

Ruben's natural history and science was a little weak. We spent a great amount of time on history, which we both love, as well as writing. However, that didn't leave enough time for some of the science books I had scheduled. Fortunately, Ruben's an avid outdoors man and he loves to tinker. So he does get a broad range of nature study and hands on learning aside from books.

How to Be Your Own Selfish Pig by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (Morning Time)
Daughter in Time by Josephine Tey (read alongside Riley)
How the Heather Looks by Joan Bodger (Morning Time) - didn't finish

Idylls of the King by Tennyson (Morning Time) - didn't finish

Macbeth by Shakespeare (Morning Time)

Riley's Hits

Beautiful Feet Medieval History
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean
AO Year 7 Science

Riley's Misses

How to Be Your Own Selfish Pig by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (Morning Time)
The Once and Future King by T. H. White - didn't finish
Daughter in Time by Josephine Tey
Classical Conversations Prescripts 

Ruben's Hits

The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin (Morning Time)
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard Maybury (Morning Time)
Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli (family read aloud)
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by AVI

The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly

Ruben's Misses

How to Be Your Own Selfish Pig by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (Morning Time)

After reflecting, I have set some goals for our 2018-2019 year which includes me working more closely with Riley on her writing. Also, I will continue to guide Ruben in gaining further independence with his studies. I may lighten his history load in order to add a little more science. Ruben also needs some work in spelling. Levi will begin formal reading lessons. I will also gently begin formal math with him, but the greater focus will be in the area of language arts. Now that I've wrapped up our 2017-2018 academic year, I am ready to focus on the 2018-2019 year! 

Winter 2017-2018 - Term Two Wrap-Up...

As we've finished Term Two of the 2017-2018 academic year, I've been reflecting back and am amazed at the progress the kids have made. You can view our Term One review here.

Year 8

Riley's continued to work diligently on her studies using a mix of Ambleside Online Year 7/8 combined and Beautiful Feet Intermediate Medieval History. Here are some of the books she's finished this term...

The Story of the Middle Ages by H. A. Guerber - although this has been a good fit up to this point, we have opted not to continue with Guerber's Story of Renaissance and Reformation as originally scheduled. Instead, Riley will pick up Term Three with Winston's Churchill's The New World.

The Magna Charta by James Daugherty

Cathedral by David Macaulay

Castle by David Macaulay

The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thompson

Crispin and the Cross of Lead by AVI

In Freedom's Cause by G. A. Henty

In the Days of Alfred the King by Eva March Tappan

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

The Lay of the Land by Dallas Lore Sharp

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Riley also studied assigned poetry excerpts from Alfred Lord Tennyson, as suggested by Ambleside Online Year 7.

Year 7

Ruben has also been working hard in his studies. He's making great progress with IEW's Medieval History-Based Themed Lessons. We've finished reading the following books this term...

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle

Cathedral by David Macaulay

Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden

Magna Carta by C. W. Hodges

Adam of the Road by Janet Elizabeth Gray

Castle by David Macaulay

The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean

Marco Polo by Demi

The Apple and the Arrow by Conrad Buff

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Ruben's been working through RightStart math. The hands on approach with games has been a good fit for him.

Morning Time

I've narrowed our morning time reads down to two per day. This term we finished...

The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer - Ambleside Online Year 7 Devotional

Grammar-Land by M. L. Nesbitt- we finished reading the book, but now we are working through the worksheets as review. If I do this study again with Levi, I will schedule a week of reading followed by a week of review for a full 36-week grammar study.

Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin - Ambleside Online Year 7 Literature

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler - This is also an AO read that will be stretched over the course of the next couple of years. We finished our reading for this year in Term Two, but will pick up again next year.

Kindergarten

Levi has been tagging along in much of what we do, particularly Morning Time. I also started reading to him the Egermeier's Bible Story Book, which I read to Riley in kindergarten. It's kind of been in fits and starts, but either way, he likes it. I pulled Bible Pictures to Color by Martha Rohrer off the shelf and Levi loves coloring the images as I read. He knows many of this letters by sight and sound, but this has simply occurred by osmosis. Levi is also very interested in math. He loves to count and calculate with fingers and objects. Again, this is primarily on his own accord based on what he hears and sees around him. He has had much play time, spends hours in the out of doors daily, and enjoys being read to.

Overall, Term Two has gone very well. It's been a cold, hard winter, but spring is just around the corner. This week we started Term Three and I am committed to finishing strong!

2017-2018 Mid Year Reflections...

We are at the half way point in our 2017-2018 academic year. Having completed Term One, we are now in the midst of Term Two. Last week we completed Week 18, out of our thirty-six week year. Thus far, this has been a very different kind of academic year in many ways.

Over the past couple of years, Riley Ann has been consistently gaining independence. I have since been working on assisting Ruben toward greater independence.  Because of his learning differences and dyslexia, he was a late bloomer in many academic areas. He will continue to need one on one teaching in key areas such as math and language arts, but is now able to read some of his books for himself. Also, over the past couple of years, we mastered an assignment notebook system that suits him, allowing him to see at a glance what needs to be done for the day and begin what he can. In addition, Ruben enjoys audio books and this has been a key piece in his puzzle of learning.

Middle school is a great time to make that transition to independent learning. I want my high schoolers to be motivated self-starters as they prepare for adulthood and life in the real world. This doesn't happen over night. It takes time and habit training. In addition, I've been thinking about Levi coming up. When he starts Year 1 in the fall, he will require complete dependence when he begins his formal lessons. It's important that the older kids have a great foundation and are able to work somewhat, if not totally, independently so as my time and effort can be primarily spent on Levi, the beginning student. The first half of this academic year has been trial and error, as Ruben tests the water toward greater independent learning.

In addition, both Riley and Ruben have jobs. Though they've both been working out of the home for a couple of years now, hours and phone calls for help have increased as they mature. It's been a balancing act on my part to coordinate their working life with their academic life. I feel they are both important areas as they are learning a great deal from their books, as well as working outside the home. I've been thinking a lot about what Cindy Rollins wrote in Mere Motherhood...

As homeschooling became more complicated with so many glitches, hardships, and moves, I started streamlining our days. I made sure that we were having Morning Time and that the boys were doing math, a written narration, and reading for two to three hours each day. Housework, farm chores, and the constant stream of farming neighbors who needed a 'boy' for the day helped all this add up to a decent education. (p. 62)

This is totally my world right now. Thank goodness, we are not moving, but have had a few other hiccups. I most relate with the last sentence regarding the housework, farm chores and constant stream of neighbors needing help. I have come to see that there's so much more to an education than book learning. I too am learning life lessons as I have been called upon for an extra job, though it's an unpaid position.

In July of 2016, we answered a phone call that would change our lives drastically. Our elderly neighbor had fallen and was injured, but refused medical treatment. Her son was trying to care for her, but knew she needed more help so called us to come in and aid. I had no idea what we were walking in to, but knew God called us to take care of the widows and children. It took me three days to talk her into seeking medical treatment, at which time we found her hip was severely broken and required surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery needed to be delayed for another week, because of her ill health from waiting so long to get proper medical help.

Long story short, after surgery, she went for rehab, which didn't go well. She ended up in a guardianship trial with the county courts, in which I was appointed her legal guardian for finance and medical. This undertaking has been much bigger than I could have ever imagined. There has been hours of phone calls and paperwork, filing forms and reporting to the county, in addition to her physical and medical care needs. Initially, we spent days driving to and from various assisted living facilities, until we settled on one that would best meet her needs. Since that time, I have been responsible for making and taking her to all her medical appointments, in addition to the paperwork and finance that comes as part of managing her farm. As part of my guardianship duties, I also have to maintain regular visits and welfare checks to ensure that she is receiving the best care and all her needs are being met. The time spent has definitely altered our home school! However, as Cindy said, I have learned to streamline our days.

This year, I actually brought back Morning Time, which has been a huge blessing. We are conquering many books and beautiful ideas together, that most likely would have other wise fallen by the wayside given our crazy schedule. Riley has continued with her Year 8 plan independently and is doing a great job! Ruben is working through his Year 7 plan and definitely making progress. Some days, it feels like we're schooling on the fly, but some how by the grace of God, it's all coming together. They are reading, writing, and doing math. All things considered, the year is going well.

I am so grateful for home education and the flexibility it allows our family. Over and above book learning, the kids are acquiring valuable life lessons, not only on the farm, but from working for others, and caring for our neighbor. I love that we can do this thing called life together!

Fall 2017-2018 - Term One Wrap-Up...

We finished Term One of the 2017-2018 academic year a few weeks back. Today, I'm going to share some thoughts as to how we fared.

Year 8

Bible - Riley's working through AO's Year 7 Bible Reading Plan. She also continues to copy the Book of Psalms using Do You Journible? This seems to be a good pairing for her.

History - Riley's been diligently working independently on her Intermediate Beautiful Feet Medieval History study. I posted a review of her first term with that program here. In addition, she's been reading The Story of the Middle Ages by H. A. Guerber and In the Days of Alfred the Great by Eva March Tappan. Both of which are going well. The second of which, she writes a narration after each reading. She's also keeping a Book of Centuries.

Literature - Riley started the year reading the following lit books:

The History of English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

I am reading along with her independently so we are able to have discussion. Approximately four weeks into the term, around chapter nine, we mutually decided to scrap The Once and Future King. Neither of us were enjoying it and it seemed like overkill with our other King Arthur readings. We are continuing the other three books much to our delight.

Poetry - Riley read 2-3 poems per week from The Oxford Book of English Verse by Arthur Quiller-Couch. She then translated one poem per week of her choice into modern English. This was a difficult exercise in the start, but became much easier as the term went on. She will study a different poet in the second term.

Grammar - Last year, Riley picked up Easy Grammar 8 from our shelf, after Jensen's Grammar failed. She's continuing it this year until it's finished.

Spelling - Riley's continuing with IEW Phonetic Zoo. I am noticing correctly spelled words carrying over into her narrations!

Penmanship - Riley enjoyed Prescripts by Classical Conversations last year so she is completing another book this year on Poetry. The books offer a combination of cursive and drawing, both of which are lovely.

Math - Riley is taking Pre-Algebra online with Jann Perkins through My Homeschool Math Class. This is a win-win for both of us!! I can't tell you what a relief it is not to have tears and a battle over math. Riley has really taken the bull by the horns and is doing great with this online class.

Natural History - Riley's using AO Year 7 science this year. She has read and notebooked through the following books this term:

The Lay of the Land by Dallas Lore Sharp
Eric Sloane's Weather Book by Eric Sloane
Secrets of the Universe: Discovering the Universal Laws of Science by Paul Fleisher
The Wonder Book of Chemistry by Jean Henri Fabre
First Studies of Plant Life by George Francis Atkinson
Adventures with a Microscope by Richard Headstrom
Signs and Seasons: Understanding the Elements of Classical Astronomy by Jay Ryan and accompanying Field Journal
Great Astronomers by R.S. Ball

Riley's really enjoying Lay of the Land and Adventures with a Microscope. Signs and Seasons has been somewhat of a bust. She started the year by reading it aloud to Ruben and working jointly. However, that didn't go over as well as I'd hoped so she is now working independently, albeit, very loosely from the plan. I think if we are to use that book in earnest, I would need to take the lead, but I just haven't found time. It may very well be a title we set aside for now. 

Handicrafts - Riley is knitting a scarf. 

Year 7

Bible - Ruben's working through AO's Year 6 Bible Reading Plan. In addition, I have him copying random passages from Proverbs. 

History - I settled on reading Famous Men of the Middle Ages aloud to Ruben this term. I read a chapter each Monday and Wednesday. He then notebooks a page each Tuesday and Thursday. This seems to be a good fit for him. He is also listening independently to What in the World?, Vol. 2 by Diana Waring. You can read more about Ruben's history study here. 

Literature - Ruben's literature works in conjunction with his history study. We read the following books in Term One:

Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli

All of which were hits. The Black Fox of Lorne, I ended up reading aloud in the evenings to the entire family. It's a fabulous book if you can get your hands on a copy!

Ruben is also reading Watership Down by Richard Adams and Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott along with Riley and I. 

Penmanship - In addition to Ruben's Bible copy work, he's also working through Let's Write and Spell by Mary R. Johnson and Warren T. Johnson two days per week. 

Composition - Ruben's using IEW's Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons this year. He worked through the first eleven lessons in Term One. I'll be doing a separate post on the status of this program.

Natural History - Ruben read Whitetail and Major: The Story of a Black Bear, both by Robert McClung, which he greatly enjoyed. He tried Secrets of the Woods and School of the Woods, both by Long unsuccessfully. As noted above, Signs and Seasons didn't work for him either. We're still working through how to go about science for the second term. 

Math - We began term one, with Strayer-Upton Primary Arithmetics. Then switched to RightStart Mathematics the last week of the term. Given the games, I think RS is a better fit. We'll see how Ruben progresses in the second term. 

Life Skills - Ruben learned how to run the chain saw this fall. 

Morning Time

I posted a 6-week reflection on our Morning Time here. We are still progressing and nothing has changed since that time.

Kindergarten

I haven't done much in the way of formal lessons with Levi up to this point. Most days, he listens in on Morning Time. We've read picture books, harvested the garden, picked apples, baked pies, canned, and made sauerkraut. He began writing his name and a few random letters. We worked on memorizing The Pledge of Allegiance and the 4-H Pledge, as he's a Cloverbud this year. We've looked at various art prints and listened to a few classical music pieces. I did start reading Egermeier's Bible Story Book aloud to him. He also has a coloring book with Bible story pictures that he likes to color while I read. We've went on nature walks and he participated in a local Kitchen Chemistry Class, where he learned about cohesion/adhesion, physical/chemical change, acids/bases, and density through a variety of hands on activities and experiments. He might tell you this was the highlight of his term. Overall, his first term of Kindergarten has been pretty relaxed as far as formal academics are concerned. 

There you have it!...Our first term reflections. Truth be told, I've been feeling very guilty about Levi's education or the lack thereof. It seems I did so much more with the older kids when they were his age. However, in putting together this post, I was reminded of all the wonderful hands on activities he's participated in over the past twelve weeks. The photos show just a smattering of the totality. What seemed lost in the day to day, turned into a beautiful collage of living and learning experiences. I have come to see, this post has a whole lot of God's grace written all over it! 

Thoughts on Kindergarten...

I have this sweet Little Golden Book - We Like Kindergarten by Clara Cassidy. It's illustrated by Eloise Wilkin, which makes it even more precious. It was originally published in 1965, back when the idea of kindergarten was still thought of as 'garden for children'.

We Like Kindergarten depicts a girl named Carol leaving her puppy and kitten behind to head off to kindergarten. When she gets there, she hangs up her coat and is welcomed by her teacher playing the piano. All the boys and girls begin to sing. Then they take turns feeding the fish and turtle in the aquarium. Next, they finger paint, play with clay and musical instruments, and dance round singing "Farmer in the Dell", before the teacher reads them a story and they have show and tell. Then there is outdoor play and a snack preceding nap time. Lastly, the children wake from their naps to dance some more and draw pictures before saying goodbye to friends and the teacher and heading back home, where Carol is welcomed by her puppy and kitten. The book ends with Carol singing and playing her piano, pretending to be the teacher of her puppy, kitten, stuffed animals, and little sister.

Carol's kindergarten experience is very similar to my own here in rural Wisconsin, back in the late 1970's. (Yes, I'm dating myself.) Mrs. Fuchs and Mrs. Hawkinson both played the piano. We sang folk songs like "Farmer in the Dell" and "She'll be Coming Around the Mountain", which I remember vividly to this day. We made paper crafts, drew, and painted. We also had milk and graham crackers for a snack and nap time. We had outdoor recess and plenty of imaginary play time. There was story time and each week, we were introduced to a new letter of the alphabet via the inflatable Letter People. We also had a deaf boy in our class so we learned each of the letters in sign language.

Before looking ahead, let's take a brief moment to look back. My maternal grandmother is 98 years old. She was born in 1919 and didn't begin formal education until the age of 7 and in 1st grade. (She also purchased her driver's license from the local post office for 25-cents....can you imagine!!) Anyway, the Farmer is a bit older than me. He attended a rural one room school a couple of miles from his home until 4th grade, when the rural country schools in our area shut down and the districts began busing kids to the public school in the village. He began his formal education in 1st grade at age 6. Up until this point, there were no kindergartens in our community. However, a few years later, kindergarten reared it's head in our home town. Because of which, I was sent to school at age five.

Fast forward to the 21st Century, most children in our village and neighboring towns are no longer even beginning school at age 5, but now at ages 3 and 4. So in 100 years, children went from starting school at age 7 to age 3/4. However, children have not changed!! A child born today is still developmentally the same as a child born in the early 1900's. Genetics have not altered the various developmental stages. Children are no more developmentally ready to sit still, focus for long periods of time, and learn to read, then they were 100 years ago. I believe this is why ADHD and ADD are so prevalent today.

In Vol. 1, Home Education, Charlotte Mason had quite a bit to say about early childhood and kindergarten...

II. THE KINDERGARTEN AS A PLACE OF EDUCATION

The Mother the best Kindergartnerin. - It is hardly necessary, here, to discuss the merits of the Kindergarten School. The success of such a school demands rare qualities in the teacher - high culture, some knowledge of psychology and of the art of education; intense sympathy with the children, much tact, much common sense, much common information, much "joyousness of nature,' and much governing power; - in a word, the Kindergarten method is nicely contrived to bring the child en rapport with a superior intelligence. Given, such a superior being to conduct it, and the Kindergarten is beautiful - 'tis like a little heaven below'; but put a commonplace woman in charge of such a school, and the charmingly devised gifts and games and occupations become so many instruments of wooden teaching. If the very essence of the Kindergarten method is personal influence, a sort of spiritual mesmerism, it follows that the mother is naturally the best Kindergartnerin; for who so likely as she to have the needful tact, sympathy, common sense, culture?

The Nursery need not therefore be a Kindergarten. - Though every mother should be a Kindergartnerin, in the sense in which Froebel would employ the term, it does not follow that every nursery should be a regularly organised Kindergarten. Indeed, the machinery of the Kindergarten is no more than a device to ensure that carrying out of certain educational principles, and some of these it is the mother's business to get at, and work out according to Froebel's method - or her own. For instance in the Kindergarten the child's senses are carefully and progressively trained: he looks, listens, learns by touch; gets ideas of size, colour, form, number; is taught to copy faithfully, express exactly. And in this training of the senses, the child is made to pursue the method the infant shapes for himself in his early studies of ring or ball. (Vol. 1, Home Education, p. 178-179)

Here we see, it isn't that Charlotte Mason is directly opposed to Kindergarten, which was a mistaken thought I used to hold, but rather, that she believed the best Kindergarten teacher is mother and the best setting is the home or the child's natural environment. She also advocated for the child to have plenty of sensory experiences, such as looking, listening, and touching the world around them. Charlotte Mason warned us about the perils of a structured classroom kindergarten back 100 years ago. She was also very specific about the qualities of the teacher, advocating that mother knows best.

Home educating affords us opportunities to provide a natural, loving environment for our kindergartners. You, as mother, are THE best teacher for your young child. No fancy curricula is needed. Simply let your child observe their natural world around them through beautiful books and time in the out-of-doors marveling at nature and God's creation. Let them play and pretend, developing their imaginations. Like Carol's kindergarten, sing songs, dance, introduce musical instruments, draw, finger paint, and play with clay. Allow your child those sensory opportunities. Expose them to great art and music. So many things we consider today as enrichment were absolute necessities to a liberal arts education in the past.

Finally, studies are showing better late than early may be the best approach. I recently read this blog that discusses Delaying kindergarten until age 7 offers key benefits to kids. I've been intrigued by Finland's approach to early childhood for some time. Could we come full circle after 100 years? Sometimes progress isn't always what it seems.

Curriculum 2009-2010 and 2010-2011

(Part 2)

Our third and fourth years of homeschooling I started to branch out and experiment.  We were getting bogged down by textbooks.  I started to realize we didn't need to recreate school at home.  If something wasn't working, we tried something else.  Language Arts was a good example.  We read a ton of great literature and tried several boxed curricula and workbooks before I came to realize how much they retained from the literature and how little they got from fill in the blank and rote comprehension questions.  We experimented more with narration and we're on our way to becoming a more Charlotte Mason friendly homeschool.



2009-2010


Angel Grade 8

Sonlight Core 100 - U.S. History in Depth

A Beka Matter & Motion

Total Health: A Health Curriculum for Middle School

A Beka Pre-Algebra

1/2 Easy Grammar 8


1/2 Rod & Staff English


Wordly Wise


Apples Daily Spelling


English from the Roots Up


RileyAnn Kindergarten

Sonlight Kindergarten - World Cultures

A Beka My America and My World - Read aloud

Egermeier Story Bible

We did unit studies for science on creation, air, water, weather, yeast & bacteria, owls, astronomy, cells, Usborne First Book of Nature, and the human body.  We read tons of books, did experiments, created lapbooks, went on field trips, and created a full size human body using My Body by Patricia Carratello.  The kids had fun!

A Beka Arithmetic 1

MCP Phonics Level A


1/2 Spelling Workout Level A


1/2 Wordly Wise K

2010-2011

Angel Grade 9

Oh my...I can't believe we reached high school!  Some say it can't be done, but I say it can!  It was very exciting to see the shift in thinking in writing and math, which had formerly been struggles.

My Father's World Ancient History and Literature - This program covers the entire Old Testament and has great literature.  The student also learns how to write an argumentative paper.  The lessons are geared to the student, which promotes independence and allowed me the freedom to work with our younger kids.  Great program!

Apologia Physical Science - Yup, we're back to Apologia.  I think this is one of the best science curricula for high school.  I'm not as sold on the Young Explorer Series, but it's great for a higher level.  Again, it's written to the student, which is great for independent study.

Math-U-See Pre-Algebra - OK, so we attempted Saxon Algebra much to our dd chagrin as well as Teaching Textbooks Algebra.  Needless to say, neither worked for our family. We were blessed to have a dear friend that was able to borrow us Math-U-See and it was a hit.  We did back up and redo the pre-algebra just to be sure she covered and understood the Math-U-See philosophy and teaching style.

Wordly Wise


Language Arts for the Secondary Child by Queen Homeschool - Our girls LOVE the picture study, copywork, and gentle approach to language arts that this program provides. You certainly do not need to supplement the MFW Ancient History & Lit, but I had this book on the shelf and dd wanted to try it.

Rod & Staff Typing for Christian Service


RileyAnn Grade 1

I combined Riley and Ruben for some subjects and really only used parts of curriculum to create our own thing.  I wanted to study the Old Testament and start with ancients for history.  We're going to do a 4 year rotation to stay on track with Angel.  I think it's easier to have everyone studying the same subjects/time periods at their own levels.

Lessons from History - Creation to 100 BC - I LOVE this series!  It's a very flexible unit study that gives you a chronological list of people and events in history. There are 5 books in the series covering creation through the 1900's.  They are quite inexpensive and provide a wealth of information and resources for studying history, along with geography, Bible, science, writing, communication, and art.  You pick and choose which activities you want to do and which books you want to read.

The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos - Old Testament only

History Pockets - Ancient Civilizations - She completed the first 4 pockets to coincide with the time history period we studied.

Charlotte Mason's Elementary Geography - Read aloud to Riley and Ruben

Simply Charlotte Mason Genesis through Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt - Used bits and pieces

Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans - Read aloud to Riley and Ruben


My Father's World 1st grade - I really only used the Bible and phonics

First Language Lessons - First half of the book for 1st grade

1/2 Spelling Workout Level A - Finished from last year

Sonlight 1 - We read Sonlight books for literature this year

Science - again this was a conglomeration of things including parts of NOEO Physics 1, parts of Janice VanCleave's Science Around the Year, Thornton Burgess animal books, and MFW from A-Z


Math-U-See Alpha


Ruben Kindergarten

My Father's World from A-Z

1/2 Math-U-See Primer

MEP Reception Year

Ruben also participated with Riley for Bible, history, geography, and science


To be continued....