Friday Findings: Mind to Mind, The Classical Reader, and Andrew Pudewa on Recitation....

Yes, I know it's Saturday....I wasn't able to get this post up yesterday because I was hosting a book sale and our CM Book Club, but there's a few neat resources I didn't want you to miss so here goes...better late than never, right :)

Karen Glass released a new book this summer titled Mind to Mind: An Essay Towards A Philosophy of Education.  It's being touted as a re-write of Charlotte Mason's Volume 6, A Philosophy of Education.  It was not intended to be a dumbed down edition of Charlotte's work, but an abridgement to bring Charlotte's words into modern light.  Here's a quote from Karen's blog...

I have not abridged the vital material about Miss Mason’s methods and philosophy—the parts that you would most want to read. I have removed the outdated references to books, people, and political situations that are not relevant for us today.

I'm not sure where I stand on this quite yet.  I'd like to look at a copy and compare it.  For now, I'm still plugging away with Charlotte's original Volume 6.

In a former post, I mentioned purchasing The Liberal Arts Tradition by Clark and Jain. As part of the bundle, I also bought The Classical Reader by Leslie Rayner and Dr. Christopher Perrin.  This week, Classical Academic Press unveiled a companion website with the recommended book lists.  You can sort by grade, level, genre, author, or notation.  It's an AWESOME list of living books!!

Earlier this week, I started listening to Pam Barnhill's conversation on recitation with Andrew Pudewa.  The first 20 minutes were fabulous and I can't wait to get back to it!  I had never really thought about the importance of recitation, but I'm now seeing it a new light.

It definitely feels like fall here on Drywood Creek with a high temp yesterday of 57-degrees...YIKES!  As mentioned above, we opened our home for a book sale, but no worries, there's lots of great stuff left and I'll be posting updated book sale lists here over the next couple of weeks.

We wrapped up our second week of the 2015-2016 homeschool year, which didn't go quite as smoothly as the first week.  Ruben wasn't as motivated and struggled to stay on task.  Although, he absolutely loves our history read aloud, Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt, and begs for more.  I hate to say, but I've had to use it as a pawn for other subjects. 

We also celebrated RileyAnn's birthday this week.  I can't believe our little girl is 12!  She made a super cute butterfly cake...

Commonplace Book: Across Five Aprils....

Jethro was her youngest child, born in the year of '52, a year in which three of her children died within one week of the dreaded disease they called child's paralysis, a disease which struck the country that year, people said, like the soldiers of Herod.  Ellen knew that she favored her youngest son, that she overlooked shortcomings in Jethro for which her older children had been punished.  It was a weakness of her advancing years, she supposed, but this was the son who had been spared that summer when children all around were dying of the agonizing sickness; it looked as if, somehow, Destiny had marked him.  One didn't talk about such things; the world, she knew, was impatient with women who value their own children too highly.  Ellen kept her silence, but she saw signs of special talents in Jethro, and she watched over him with special tenderness.  - Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt

Enrichment - Charlotte Mason Style Electives: Composer Study...

Composer study is part of the art of music studied in Charlotte's schools along with learning folk songs and hymns. It was called Musical Appreciation, in which, one particular composer was set for each term.  In an article written in The Parents' Review, Marjorie F. Ransom, ex-student of the House of Education, states:

About six works by some great composer are chosen for study each term. These compositions are played or sung to the children constantly and studied carefully. The children are taught something about the form, harmonic structure, thematic development of the composition and some information is given about the life of the composer. An article appears every term in the Parents' Review on the composer and his works, which is a great help to the teacher or parent who is giving the musical appreciation lessons.

Although we don't have the gift of the Parents' Review composer articles, in this day and age, we are blessed with many other resources to draw from.  One of which is Ambleside Online.  They offer a free "Composer Schedule" with biographical information, music downloads, and book suggestions/links on various composers. 

I've decided to incorporate composer study into our schedule this year.  We are studying Johannes Brahms the first term using "The Young Brahms" by Sybil Deucher.  I've scheduled composer study on Mondays in our Circle Time.  I intend to read a section from Deucher's book each Monday, as well as play Brahms music whenever possible over the next twelve weeks.  Ambleside Online has a list of suggested pieces that I'll draw from.  I plan to use Youtube and other online sources to listen to Brahms music.  Today we're listening to Variations on a Theme of Haydn. 

For further conviction on incorporating composer study/music appreciation into your homeschool, check out Delight in Music Appreciation by Tina Fillmer.

First Week of 2015-2016 School Year in Review....

This was our official first week of school here on Drywood Creek.  You may remember the Curriculum Choices I posted on Monday.  Now upon reflecting back, Mon-Thurs went well considering I didn’t feel as prepared to begin this year. Friday, I had appointments so our school day was non-existent, but it was OK since I intentionally schedule a light day Friday for these occasions.  We don’t have real Labor Day plans other than haying, canning, and housework, so we’ll probably do a bit of history reading over the weekend to keep “on track”.  I typically do a bedtime read aloud and we’re in between books so I can easily plug it in there.


Something that worked this week…

Math!! This has always been a huge source of tension in our home. We have bounced and jumped programs too many times. Unfortunately, I have instilled math anxiety.  Anyway, I’m taking a different approach this year to try to build back their love of learning.  RileyAnn, 6th grade, is working through Life of Fred and Simply Charlotte Mason’s Business Math. She voluntarily did an hour of math one day because it was fun.
 
Ruben, 5th grade, also began LOF as well as continuing with ST Math.  He is dyslexic and hates ALL things “school”….except me reading aloud to him. Well, the second day, he picked up Fred and read it himself, continuing the 3rd and 4th day! It was so awesome to see him put forth effort and enjoy it.

Something that didn’t quite work this week….

As you know, I’m a huge Beautiful Feet fan!  This year we’re using the BF Modern American and World History study three days per week. Monday, we started reading Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. BF has scheduled 2 chapters per lesson. Well, if you’ve read this book….which is wonderful, by the way….you know that the chapters are extremely long! Two chapters is averaging 35-50 pages, which takes over an hour, definitely not in line with Charlotte Mason’s short lessons. We will continue, but I need to figure out a way to break these lessons up.

One snag that I ran into while planning that I’m still working out….

Last year RileyAnn completed Michael Clay Thompson’s Town Level in 5th grade and I thought it was wonderful! This year I planned to continue with the Voyage Level for 6th grade. I borrowed as many books as possible and purchased the rest. Unfortunately, I didn’t really look at the content until last Saturday night, when I realized there was a huge step in the composition piece!  It looks more in line with high school.

After sleeping on it, I decided to hold off on the next level of MCT, but now I have no grammar/English plan for her. I’ve started Using Language Well with Ruben and could plug her into that or I have Simply Grammar that I’m considering. Both appear to be review from MCT, but maybe this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I would also like her to work more on written narrations so maybe I’ll just focus on this. Decisions, decisions....

Have you started the 2015-2016 school year?  If so, how's it going?  Feel free to leave a comment below. 

Friday Findings: 10 Best Things, More on Morning Time, Civil War Website, Tomato Preservation...

I appreciate the time and energy Pam Barnhill put into this post.  I agree with all ten of her "best things".  My two absolutes are 1) reading aloud from birth until they leave your home; and 2) becoming a life-long learner yourself.  Children imitate what they see.  Therefore, we need to make ourselves worthy of imitation.

It must have been a Pam Barnhill week :)  .....I also listened to her Morning Time podcast with Cindy Rollins.   I've been doing "morning time" for years, but didn't realize it had a formal name.  We just called it family study because these are subjects we study together as a family.  Either way, it's a hit and I highly recommend it!

Check out this Civil War Trust website.  If you click on "Battlefields" and "Find a Battle", it allows you to choose any battle during the Civil War and it offers information and accompanying animated maps.  We looked at the Battle of Bull Run.

If you're up to your eyeballs in tomatoes like me, you may find Jill Winger's post on 40+ Ways to Preserve Tomatoes helpful.  I have my own recipe for salsa, but I brewed up some Roasted Tomato Pizza Sauce recommended from her blog and it's wonderful!

Slavery and the Underground Railroad....

Go Free or Die, A Story about Harriet Tubman and Walking the Road to Freedom, A Story about Sojourner Truth, both by Jeri Ferris, are great books!  These Creative Minds biographies are not only easy to read, but factual and appealing.   Since they are not twaddle, they could be used for a short overview of the person's life or for beginning readers.  Both books are recommended in TruthQuest American History for Young Students II and Beautiful Feet Early American History Intermediate pack.

RileyAnn's written narration after reading Go Free or Die follows...

Harriet Tubman was born in 1820 in Maryland on a plantation.  She was a slave.  Harriet wanted to be free. She said she would go free or die.  But she had to wait many years before her chance came.  Harriet traveled on the Underground Railroad.  She got help from many kind people along the way.  When Harriet finally got to Philadelphia, she was free!  But she was not satisfied.  Over the next few years, Harriet made 19 trips back to the south and led over three hundred slaves to freedom, she never lost one.  Harriet Tubman died a free woman in 1913 at the age of 93. 

Gone-Away Lake...

Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright is a fabulous summer read!  This 1957 children's classic tells the story of cousins spending the summer together.  When they find a village of abandoned houses circling a muddy swamp, with an elderly brother and sister as it's keeper, the adventure begins. Enright's tale will capture the imagination of young and old.  It is a Sonlight and Ambleside Online suggested book.   

Gone-Away Lake is one of Ruben's new favorite books.  When we were finished, he asked me to find him a copy for keeps :)

Back to School, 2015-2016 Curriculum

It's official, today was the first day of the 2015-2016 school year here at Drywood Creek.  It went fairly well.  I can see there are a few things that will need to be adjusted in our Circle Time.  The reading was just too long....but, I'll save that for another post.  Without further ado, here are our 2015-2016 curriculum choices....

Circle Time (Family Study)

History
Beautiful Feet Modern American & World History (3 days/week)
TruthQuest History for Young Americans II & III (supplement)

Bible Study
TruthQuest History - Beginnings (4 days/week)
Herein is Love, Genesis, A Commentary for Children by Nancy Ganz (3/4 days/week)

Church History
Peril & Peace, Volume 1: Chronicles of the Ancient Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow (supplement)
Trial & Triumph by Richard M. Hannula (2 days/week)

Missionary Study
Hero Tales & YWAM missionary books by Benge (1 day/week)

Composer Study - Johannes Brahms (1st term - 1 day/week)
The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher

Science
Beautiful Feet History of Science (2 days/week)

Natural History
Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton (1st term - 1 day/week)

Geography
Beautiful Feet Geography (finish from last year - 1st term - Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling - 1 day/week)

Plutarch
Timoleon (finish from last year - 1st term - 1 day/week)

Picture Study
Health
Nature Study

RileyAnn Year 6 

Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer
Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt by George Grant (Term 1)
A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter by Miriam Huffness Rockman (Term 2)
Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill by Stephen Mansfield (Term 3)
The Story of Mankind by Van Loon
Alexander Graham Bell Invents the Telephone by Katherine Shippen (Term 1)
George Washington Carver by David Collins (Term 2)
Albert Einstein by Cwiklik (Term 3)
Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day
Captains Courageous by Kipling (Term 1)
Literature ?? (Term 2)
Literature ?? (Term 3)
Poetry for Young People - Robert Frost (Term 1)
Poetry for Young People - Carl Sandburg (Term 2)
Alfred Noyes (Term 3)
Michael Clay Thompson Voyage Level - We opted to hold off on this for the year.  I'm still trying to figure out what else to plug in.  I just may have her focus on written narration.
All About Spelling (finish Level 4 & begin Level 5)
Simply Charlotte Mason Business Math - Pet Store
Life of Fred

Ruben Year 5

Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer (audio)
Variety of living books and audio books
Using Language Well & Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason
All About Spelling Level 1
Poetry for Young People - Walt Whitman (Term 1)
Childhood Poems by Eugene Field (Term 2)
Poetry for Young People - Emily Dickinson (Term 3)
ST Math
Life of Fred
Tutoring at the Children's Dyslexia Center (2 days/week)

In addition, I have also started a Socratic Book Club for 5th/6th graders in our area.  We will meet monthly to discuss great literature, including...

September - Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

October – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

November – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

January – The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

February – Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen

March – Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

April – The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

These books will be our bedtime read alouds for the year.  The kids will also participate in our local homeschool choir and art classes.  

Have you kicked off your 2015-2016 school year?  Feel free to leave links in the comments section regarding your curriculum choices for the year.  

2015-2016 Circle Time Planning

Now that I have books chosen for our 2015-2016 homeschool year, I'm trying to create the schedule.  Last night I worked out our "Circle Time" subjects, or subjects we want to do together as a family, Cindy Rollins coined this "Morning Time".  I took little squares of paper and wrote each subject/book title that I intended to use as well as creating Mon, Tues, Wed, etc., headers.  This I learned from Sonya Shafer while watching the Simply Charlotte Mason Learning and Living DVD series. 

Once all the little papers were written, I could easily manipulate them and place them under a day of the week accordingly.  For example, I knew I wanted to spend three days per week on Beautiful Feet's Modern American and World History study and two days per week on Beautfiul Feet's History of Science study.  These were easily plugged in across the top, altering days.

Next, I plan to study the book of Genesis using the TruthQuest Beginnings guide, along with church history and some missionary stories.  I've chosen the Nancy Ganz commentary, Herein is Love, as the spine of the Genesis study and plan to spend four days per week on it.  The church history and missionary study will rotate with Beautiful Feet's Geography, which we're finishing up from last year.  I will be combining readings from Trial & Triumph by Hannula and the History Lives series by Mindy and Brandon Withrow.  I know the Geography study will only take one day per week, as well as the missionary biography.  A dear friend told me about the YWAM missionary stories on audio.  Since we'll be traveling to choir on Thursday mornings, I thought this the perfect time to pop in a YWAM missionary audio, hence the reason I plugged it into Thursday.  I know the BF Geography study is a little heavier than reading a chapter of church history and given the fact that Ruben has tutoring at the Children's Dyslexia Center on Mon/Wed, I plugged it into Tuesday, one of our days we get to stay home all day!

Lastly, I looked at what I call the, Charlotte Mason Enrichment, that I wanted to incorporate into our Circle Time this year.  I'm outsourcing choir and art, but I still want to do composer and picture study at home.  In addition, I plan to carry on our Plutarch Study from last year, as well as adding Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton, a recommendation from Ambleside Online Year 5 for Natural History.  I simply placed these four items on a different day each week.  Then added Health and Nature Study to our light day, Friday.  This will be a time for outdoor recreation and exploring nature.

Put into table form, our Circle Time week will look something like this....

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
History	Science	History	Science	History
Bible	Bible	Bible	Bible	Health
Church History	Geography	Church History	Missionary	Nature Study
Composer Study	Plutarch	Natural History	Picture Study
Tutoring		Tutoring	Choir

Stay tuned for our full list of 2015-2016 curriculum as we begin our first day of school next week....

Friday Findings: AP Test Revisions, Benefits of Bedtime Read Aloud, Binder Time....

Have you heard about the new AP test revisions?   I find it very alarming, but definitely a sign of the times...

"But if you want to do well on the new Advanced Placement (AP) examination in American history, you’d better know about homosexual activist Harvey Milk, too."

In The Science Behind How Bedtime Stories Help Kids, writer Esther Crain cites scientific reasons supporting reading aloud at bedtime.  We've made a bedtime read aloud habit for the past few years and I agree with Crain's reasoning.  The kids and I love this time together!!...and it really does help them settle down for bed.  We're currently reading Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright.  It's a great summer read!  Ruben laughs out loud and begs for more. 

I'm in full steam planning mode as I intend to begin school next Monday.  I have most of our resources chose and I spent yesterday ordering last minute books.  I'll be posting our final 2015-2016 choices here next week.  In the meantime, check out Celeste's Form II binders.  Mystie Winckler also has a great little video in which she shares her circle time binders.  You may remember, last year, we ditched the binders and went to composition books.  This year, I'm trying to decide.  There are things I like about both.  I think a circle time binder is a great idea for keeping everyone on the same page. 

BTW, here are a couple of planning sheets I've created this year while making book/curriculum choices. 

RileyAnn’s Year 6 Planning Ideas

Subject	Year 5	Year 6	Additional
Bible	Trial & Triumph	Trial & Triumph	Genesis Study Missionary Study
History	STOW 4 or Axelrod	The Story of Mankind	BF World & Modern
History Biography	Passion for the Impossible		Helen Keller
	Carry a Big Stick	Never Give In
Geography		The Story of David Livingstone
Natural History/Science	Wild Animals I Have Known	School of the Woods	Apologia Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day
Science Biography	Alexander Graham Bell	Albert Einstein	BF History of Science
	George Washington Carver (Sower)	Archimedes
		Couldn’t Just Happen
Literature	The Age of Fable	The Age of Fable
	Kim or Captains Courageous	Letters from Rifka
		The Hobbit
Poetry		Robert Frost
		Carl Sandburg
		Alfred Noyes
Daily Work
Math	SCM Business Math; Life of Fred; Fact practice; Misc. living math books
Grammar/Comp	Michael Clay Thompson
Spelling	All About Spelling; Spelling Wisdom
Copywork/Dictation
Foreign Language	Latin
Weekly Work
Nature Study
Shakespeare
Plutarch	Finish Timoleon; Aemilius Paulus; & comparison
Book of Centuries
Recitation
Geography	Minn of the Mississippi
Mapwork	Livingstone
Current Events
Health	God’s Design for Sex: Book 3
Art
Picture Study
Drawing
Handicrafts
Music
Composer
Folksong	Choir
Hymn	Choir

Ruben’s Year 5 Planning Ideas

Subject	Year 4	Year 5	Additional
Bible	Trial & Triumph	Trial & Triumph	Genesis Study Missionary Study
History		STOW 4 (audio)	BF World & Modern
History Biography
Geography		Halliburton or Voskamp
Natural History/Science		Wild Animals I Have Known
Science Biography		Isaac Newton	BF History of Science
		Alexander Graham Bell
		George Washington Carver (Sower)
Literature	The Age of Fable	The Age of Fable
	Robinson Crusoe
Poetry	Tennyson	Kipling
	Dickinson	Longfellow
	Wordsworth	Whittier/Dunbar
Daily Work
Math	SCM Business Math; Life of Fred; Fact practice; Misc. living math books
Grammar/Comp	Using Language Well
Spelling	All About Spelling; Spelling Wisdom
Copywork/Dictation
Foreign Language
Weekly Work
Nature Study
Shakespeare
Plutarch	Finish Timoleon; Aemilius Paulus; & comparison
Book of Centuries
Recitation
Geography	Minn of the Mississippi
Mapwork
Current Events
Health	God’s Design for Sex: Book 3
Art
Picture Study
Drawing
Handicrafts
Music
Composer
Folksong	Choir
Hymn	Choir

Once again, each student is split between two years of Ambleside Online.  This sheet helps me to see book choices from two years.  This visual picture aids me in deciding what will work best.  I still have a few holes, but it's slowly coming together. 

I absolutely LOVE this photo of little brother following big sister....

It shows how powerful sibling relationships are and the responsibility of being a role model.