Caralee
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Posts posted by Caralee
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Thankyou Redsquirrel. Your posts are a great help to me!
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:lurk5: I need to learn about this too.
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Thankyou Ladies! This has given me ideas on how to streamline our learning together, and yet get the most out of it for each person. I am a bit of an overachiever, as well as still 'stuck' in some aspects of the 'school way of doing things' mentality. So I think I will need to cut out some things.
Thankyou so much for your input!
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Are you new to homeschooling? A lot of your questions can only be answered through trial and error, in your family. What works for us might not work for you.
Hello Random,
We have been homeschooling for 6 years, but I feel we need to combine everyone together in our studies as much as able except for the obvious things like math so that I can keep up with everyone's readings and learning. I have had them separate and together over the years, and together is just easier for me to manage.
I understand what may work for you may not work for me, but at least it gives me some ideas to try or to tweak to our family needs.
I know about TOG, but I already have history curriculum that I am using. I was hoping to have specific information on how everyone reads together and learns for their level at the same time.
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I am really interested in learning how other mothers practically homeschool their multiple age children in an atmosphere of learning together, especially those that use the classical or Charlotte Mason method.
I have also read through many of this forum's similar or related posts. I have read through what different websites such as Simply Charlotte Mason and Sage Parnassus has stated in how to learn this way. But I have more detailed questions that I am finding are not being answered. If there is something on these or other homeschooling sites that would answer this, then by all means, refer the information to me.
I would like to know how others, who have multiple ages of children, learn together for most subjects using the CM/WTM method? This would mean everyone would be on the same history period, learning the same science, etc. Some subjects would of course be done separately like math.
I am interested in doing this with my children. I am thinking it could be done in a very simple, but rigorous way, but not quite sure how.
How do you cover the various subjects so that everyone can get something from it for their level? How do you plan your year out? How do you read the different books on various subjects? Do you choose one book per subject that everyone listens to? Do you have the older ones read extra books in a subject to supplement their learning? Or do you read multiple books of different levels for each subject to everyone (this sounds like too much)? What kind of books do you use? How do you choose books that everyone can get something from for their age? How do you do narrations, both oral and written? And how do you keep things simple while giving everyone a very rigorous education by learning together in the CM way? Lastly, how do you manage little ones with this type of learning? I presume habit training would be important here. And how to maintain everyone’s attention in learning no matter the level they are at.
Caralee
I have 5 children: ds(12), ds(10), ds(5), dd(3), dd(2 months)
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To Bolt...yes, that was what I was thinking. It is about what you live and believe...then transfering or rather teaching it to your children.
I think I will do as I had thought...be an example as the Bible says, have them study the Word and have lots of discussions...all the while adding or subtracting books as I see fit to enhance our worldview.
Thanks for all the input everyone!:thumbup1:
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Hello.
I have been searching around alot to learn about how to integrate a biblical worldview into our history, science ...basically across the board of our curriculum.
We use the WTM suggestions as our guide. At present, I am homeschooling a 7th and 5th grader in the 1600-1850's of history as per WTM. We are reading from the SOTW 3 and the KFE along with the literature suggestions in the WTM. We are also reading the Story of Science series to give them a sense of science in history as I find it so disjointed otherwise. I will not be buying new spines or literature books.
The thing I do not need is another fully planned and laid out history curriculum or a christian based curriculum that has all the spines, literature suggestions etc in it and costs lost of money. Rather, I just want a guide that (hopefully) follows history chronologically but will give me the necessary questions and discussion ideas that I can use with my children to help them think and discuss from a biblical worldview for history, science etc. And I also want it to be inexpensive.
I have seen suggestions for Truthquest, but I am not impressed with it enough as some have said she implies things that God did/though that one cannot imply.... I have looked at TOG, and others, but they all come with extra books and spines that one needs to buy. The thing I like about these curriculums is that they have questions listed and discussion ideas to use in their lessons to encourage a biblical worldview.
What about Francis Shaffeur's "I then shall live series" Is this something I should read/watch to help me to know how to integrate a biblical worldview into our studies? I understand it is for the high school year students to learn from.
Is there a list of questions/ideas that have been compiled that I can use that will help us think more biblically? Kind of like how the WTM book lists questions to use in discussing literature (listed in the logic stage section).
Should I create my own biblical history plan?...by including Trial and Triumph, christian biographies/stories, using a biblical timeline, etc? I would love to use the Bible in our lessons, but I just don't where to start or have the time to do the necessary study to compile scriptures and teaching together to apply to what we are learning (unless someone has suggestions on how to do this??? :001_smile:)
What about the cornerstone curriculum? Has anyone had any experience with this? Would it give me what I need?
The thing that gets me is how has the pioneer homeschoolers and those that homeschooled many years prior instilled a biblical worldview into their lessons without the use of the current curriculums? It can't be as hard as it appears.
I would really like suggestions from those who have logic or rhetoric level students as they have the experience/knowledge I am looking for.
So any suggestions?
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Hello. I have looked at the threads about chemistry sets, and I am at a loss as to what to order/do for grade 7 chemistry. We live in Canada.
As is indicated everywhere online, the Smithsonian XM 5000 Chem Set is not available anymore. The equivalent that many are recommending, Thames & Kosmos C3000 chemistry kit, is very, very expensive.
Furthermore, some American companies will not ship chemistry sets to Canada due to some of the chemicals are not allowed to enter Canada.
I don't know which chemistry set to buy. I am hoping it would be a reasonably priced.
Can someone give me other suggestions as to what I should do?
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A change of events took place this weekend that I did not expect, but am pleased occurred. My son decided after much thought to wait to go to public school. So I will be continuing to homeschool him for grade 7.
Thankyou one*mom for replying to my post and for your useful questions. I am grateful for your help. I will keep the questions for the future.
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Hello Everyone.
First of all, a quick introduction. I live in Western Canada and have been homeschooling my children for 6 years now using the WTM. This fall, my oldest son with our full support will be trying out a nearby public school for his 7th grade. I will be homeschooling the younger ones as usual. The school system where we live is of good quality. We will be checking out schools nearby to see which one is best for him to be in.
My first request is: I also would like to know what I should focus on helping him learn and build from now until September to prepare him for his first year in public school.
My second question is...how do I afterschool my son. How do I decide what to cover? When do we or should we afterschool?
Thirdly, how do I transition from homeschooling classically to knowing the school will not be covering some material (ie: grammar and its diagramming, lessons, etc) as in depth as we did or will not cover some subjects at all (we did world history, they will be doing social studies)?
I did search for some time on the threads of this board for answers to these questions, but there are so many pages that I could only find bits and pieces of information.
I would really like to hear from parents whose children are in the middle to high school years on how they afterschool. I am also interested in hearing from any Canadian parents like myself.
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Michelle and Christina,
Thankyou soo much for your answers to my questions. It gives me more confidence that we are on the right road for writing.
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Christina,
"There are websites that post student essays, Evaluating Writing was helpful to me as well as some essay rubrics I found online."
Would you be able to refer me to the specific website for "evaluating writing?"
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I welcome any other responses to this post.
Charmayne
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I am sorry if this has been posted previously or if this is like a recent thread I have read. I am still fairly new to the forum. (Sorry for the long post.)
To the parents who have homeschooled more than 6-7 years: have any of you followed what SWB/JW recommend in their book the TWTM and seen your children flourish in their writing when they are in the rhetoric stage? I mean in using the recommendations of WTM at each level and then see your rhetoric or higher level logic students writing really well and with ease? (Sorry for the redundant question. I just want my question to be clearly understood.)
The way SWB explains how to teach writing in her book TWTM and especially on her lecture audios is very different to the way public school teaches it. I really do trust her in her recommendations as it makes complete sense to teach a child in the grammar stage how to take an idea, orally turn it into a complete sentence, and then write it on paper. It makes sense not to require compositions in the grammar stage, but in the logic or especially in the rhetoric stages. It is clear to me to gradually increase/change their writing assignments according to stages and skill development and so on. But can anyone share with me their successful results with doing it this way? Or have you done things differently and still achieved great results?
I have endured a 4 year period of teaching writing with my ds that was a complete struggle, but he is doing very, very well in his 5th year of homeschooling. After listening to SWB writing audios, I now see areas where I pushed him unnecessarily because I followed the public school way of teaching writing which is to start critical thinking and composition writing in grades 1-4. Unfortunately, due to this, we had no time for dictation and narration.
I am presently thinking of cutting back on some composition writing and returning to the basics of building up the weak areas of dictation and writing in order to give all my children a better foundation in writing for the future higher grade work as SWB so strongly suggests in her book and audios.
I was also wondering:
How do you know if your child is writing well/with excellence and at their age level or if their writing is advanced/below their age/developmental level especially if writing is not your strong subject as a parent? Is there a book one can use to evaluate writing? Do you have any guidelines? What resources do you use to know if they are writing a book report, a research paper , or any expository writing correctly and well?
Susan Wise Bauer, could you please answer my questions if you are able? I would greatly appreciate your input.
Sincerely,
Charmayne
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"Do you wake up at night muttering, "A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea?"
How about:
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry..."
:lol:
So true!!!
Charmayne
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Hello.
I have never attended a homeschooling convention. I live in Alberta, Canada. Every year, I think about attending our local provincial homeschooling convention, but I choose not to go in the end though there are a few lectures that appear interesting because most of them are not what I want to hear about. They range from the basics of homeschooling with references to how to write or do unit studies to a religious focus. I have found that my hs convention has a very clear opinion regarding how to homeschooling that I do not entirely agree with or follow. This reflects in their choice of people they bring in. Furthermore, I read their newsletter and I am ashamed to say that the president's ability to write is poor. This does not give me confidence in their leadership I am afraid.
Because we have chosen to follow the WTM way of homeschooling, I would really love to hear Susan Wise Bauer or Jessie Wise speak, but I cannot afford to travel to the US for any of the conferences they speak at. Therefore, I have ordered all their MP3's so I can hear what they lecture about. I have learned so much from their audios! I would hope they would put more up over time for people in my situation to learn from. They have given a lot of clarity as to the why and how to classically homeschool.
The one thing that I would really appreciate is a online convention ( I think this happened once if I am not mistaken) or at least some sort of event where people like me could ask these ladies questions personally. Perhaps it could be limited to a certain number of registrants, so we could get more out of it. Or perhaps we could email them questions personally. I ask this because in Canada, though we are similar in our schooling to the US, we do have some differences, and I would certainly appreciate having the opportunity to ask questions about the concerns we have to deal with.
Do they ever come to Canada to any conventions?
Charmayne
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Sorry. This is a long post.
I have 4 children ages 10, 8, 3, and 1 whom I have homeschooled over the past 4 years.
How do I do it all? I don't.
But I too recently felt like things were very busy. I asked a similar thread (check for the thread
"How do you find time to do it all?" ).
The first is you do what is most important for your family first. For us, that is family time together every evening and weekends (when Dad is home), homeschooling, maintaining the home and lastly, Sunday church.
For myself, I have had to keep my own priorities and they are: make and stick to a basic schedule with which my family adheres to daily with some flexibility. In that schedule, we all work together, homeschool together, and play together. Furthermore, if I haven't trained my children properly, that adds way more stress to me, so I am really working at training the children's character at all times.
I train all my children to do house work. Presently, with my two oldest children and myself, we can get our house cleaned really well in one hour (not including laundry). My children know how to do most cleaning jobs in our home. They clean their own room now and they clean up all their own toys. On occasion before meals, I teach the two oldest how to cook. Now my oldest can fry eggs and make omelets without supervision which is really nice for me.
Now, any other activity that gets done or enjoyed is icing on the cake. I have laid aside activities that I like doing so I can maintain my priorities. We don't get involved in any sports (we just play as a family or meet up with other families a few times per month). We are not involved in any clubs presently (we have been but they have to be very important or very useful for skills like 4H or an excellent class for us to commit to doing it). We haven't joined any support groups as I have not found them beneficial for learning and they don't fit our family schedule. We use holiday trips or Saturdays to see museums, etc. I am not involved in any church ministry or activity outside my home.
As for our curriculum, I pretty much follow what the TWTM book recommends, but I drop those things that are not pivotal in my opinion like memory work in poetry, history, and science or any extra busywork so I can make it manageable for us to complete our work everyday.
I have made out a education plan and schedule for the year for each child as to what subjects they do when and how much so I don't have to try and figure out what to do. We homeschool all year round so I have flexibility for sick days, bad attitude days, holidays, surprise fun days, guests stay at our house, catchup in a subject, etc. If I feel we are too tired or having a really difficult day, then we take it off and start fresh the next day. Sometimes, we will homeschool on Saturdays instead of a weekday.
Everyone is in the same room while homeschooling which is either our kitchen (because I am baking) or in our family room in the basement (because I am doing laundry etc).
My oldest child is used to the hs routine and is trained to complete all his math and L.A. by himself with the occasional need of help.He is very good at being independent in his work.
My second child still requires training in staying focused on his work ,so I have him sit near me so I can keep him focused. I still have to help him alot and I am training him to be independent in his work. Ex: I tell him to do the whole lesson himself. If he has an area he doesn't understand, I tell him to reread it. If he still doesn't understand, then I tell him to reread it aloud. Usually this does it. But there are regular times, he is just not able to get it so I help him.
My biggest struggle is with the 3 yr old as he wants to play with the older two, but is not allowed. So we play/read together while the older two are working. Or I will have him help me with my laundry or cooking in the kitchen. If one of the older two need help, I help them, but I tell my 3 yr old that he needs to be patient and wait for me to come back to him. Often, I do put on a good video like magic school bus or jayjay to keep him occupied while I help the others, but I have also had problems with getting him to stop watching tv once I start this. Occasionally I can get him to play with something on his own like "little people".
But I also have times where my 3 yr old will just lay on me as he is bored....so it is not all rosy here. I have started him on "unofficial" school work which is crayons and a coloring book or one of those preschool or dot to dot books from Walmart so he is "included" in our homeschooling, but I find him still a little young to do this. This has worked only when I do the dot to dot or coloring with him. Another thing that worked for a week was giving him construction paper, glue, a little persons scissor and let him cut and past.
What I am planning to do in the future is have a few select toys or educational activities like playdough, paper, cut and paste supplies, building blocks, flashcards, blocks, cars, coloring supplies, books, puzzles etc in separate containers that we only bring out during homeschooling. He will have to pick out what he wants to play or do for that time. It is similar to the "workboxes" idea that many are doing and talking about. (Look up "workboxes" in the google search engine.)
For my baby, she just fits in whereever. If I need to nurse her then I nurse her. I make sure she has her two 2 hour naps everyday which helps me with homeschooling. I don't let her miss them as it causes her to become grumpy and then we all have a bad day. If she is awake while homeschool, then she is in her playpen or entertainer or on my lap playing and watching us.
As for the other subjects, I try to include the little ones (ages 2-5 yrs) in the history, science, art, languages, etc. They will make narration drawings, read with us and do the projects at there level along with the older ones. They really enjoy this. I keep their work in a binder for them to look back on. In doing this, they become very smart little people and develop a love for learning and interesting topics.
Our day is basically this:
6 am Wakeup- do morning chores
Between 7- 8:30 Breakfast
8:30 Math and L.A. (about 2 hours) (3 yr old with Mom play, read, or working) Baby usually goes to sleep sometime during the morning for about 2 hours
10:30 reading with narration (the 10 yr old, 8 yr old and 3 yr old play legos while I read
11:30 Play and Lunch
1:00 pm 3 yr old nap - Baby with Mom, Two oldest do history or science, math, languages, music, art etc.
2:00 Baby goes for nap. older two still homeschooling.
3:00 3 yr old wakes up. Home ed is usually done by now or will go on a little longer.
Free time for my 3 oldest to play together while I start supper or any chores that need to be done.
5:30 supper
6:00-7:00 time with Dad
7:30 Showers and brush teeth etc
Then they can read till their bedtimes (different times for different ages). Lights out around 8-8:30 unless Dad reads to the older two.
The first half of the year with a new baby, we took alot of days off as I was very tired and couldn't get everything done or we often only completed Math and L.A. as those are the most important in the early years. Then the rest of our homeschooling would be pushed to another day. Now that the baby is older, we are doing more science, history, art, etc. Not each subject everyday, but alternating or only certain days of the week.
I do alot of multi-tasking with meals, food preparation, laundry, cleaning, playing and reading with the little ones during the day. My days are very busy and don't always run as smooth as I like. I don't get the greatest sleep, but I try to get sleep as that is very important for my attitude and energy. I try to eat healthy also. Since having the baby, we often only complete Math and L.A. as those are the most important.
When my dh is away, I maintain a strict schedule of homeschooling, chores, making meals, church, and limit my errands and shopping to one or two days a week. I try to get help with babysitting from family when going grocery shopping, but usually I take all four children.
When I do get overwhelmed, it is because I have added to much to my to do list. At that time, I drop everything on my to do list except essentials (laundry, keep bathrooms and kitchen clean, and homeschool) and do only those things until I feel I am handling life again well. Then I will slowly increase my workload as I can handle it.
I do check and change my schedule to improve it regularly. My children have learned to be flexible because of this. I have in the past only homeschooled while the little ones were done for their naps or only in the afternoon or only in the morning or part am and then part pm. This past year I have tried many different ways and I am finally finding a good basic schedule for us.
So I hope this helps you with ideas. There is more I could tell you, but this should give you a good start.
I won't lie to you. It is alot of work. It is hard at times. I have many days of being very tired and not completing everything I wanted by the end of the day or we didn't have a good day of attitudes etc. I always keep our purpose for homeschooling and training our children in the front of my mind so I don't lose heart and forget why I am doing all this.
Charmayne
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Without reading all the posts, I thought of some reasons for parents not liking to be with their children:
The first being...we as parents are selfish and lazy.
The second being...we as parents have not learned to work and play with our children. We have not learned to create a routine/schedule of work and play for our children whether we homeschool or not.
The third idea is that we have not learned to lead our children to have an interest in something that they can pursue on their own.
Fourthly, parents think that being with children all day requires patience and other virtues that they don't have. I get this answer all the time from mothers who don't homeschool and they tell me I have more patience and other qualities that they lack. This is such a weak argument as you need these qualities in every aspect/experience of life....not just homeschooling.
Another idea is that parents have not trained their children in character. This in turn causes the parents to dislike their children and not enjoy their fellowship.
Just a few ideas.
Charmayne
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I too am interested to know why people like the TTT? What have you read and learned from it that makes you like it. Details would be great?
Charmayne
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I follow the WTM about 90% give or take a bit. I have just complete our first four years (the grammar stage).
One could argue strongly that the recommendations in the WTM are very textbook focused. The thing is that the authors have reviewed many curriculums and have chosen the best. If a curriculum is lacking, they tell you how and with what to supplement and bring it up to par with those that are strong. Furthermore, the WTM book and recommended curriculums tell you what to do and how to do it. There is no prep work except for finding library books and some little things like choosing dictation passages, poetry, etc.
When I went into homeschooling, I did not want to have to create a curriculum as I only have so much time in the day to do everything as a wife and mother and house keeper. Furthermore, I did not want big gaps in my children's education. I also wanted my children to know that learning is hard work...not just play. I was tempted at times to do unit studies or child-interest learning, but it was too much work and free-flying for me. Yes, at times, we have had difficulties with attitudes in doing our WTM curriculum. Some of the work we do is just hard work and we do it because it is necessary (math and L.A.), but some of it is great fun like the history, literature, art, science, music etc. At times it has even been boring. But I wanted to teach my children to persevere through no matter how they felt or how hard or boring it was. And they are doing well and actually are enjoying completing the curriuclum based on the WTM.
Lastly, I am glad we have gone this way because I am seeing my oldest child desiring to be independent in his studies which is a relief for me as I have three others to teach. With our curriculum, I know he will not miss anything important.
Charmayne
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Hello. I also reside in Alberta, Canada.
I do follow the WTM book quite alot. Their suggestions are pretty right on in my opinion.
When I started homeschooling, I followed the WTM book and merged it with the Alberta Public School grammar program (Due to circumstances, I had to merge the two and I was basically doing two grammar programs at once. The Alberta Public School part was alot of work and had children writing very difficult things when they had no reference point nor any experience. So I agree with what the authors of WTM say that alot of children are not ready to write. We have since dropped the APS grammar program and have gone with only what the WTM book recommends which I am much happier with).
Having used the FLL with two boys, I really liked it. It has narration exercises, poetry memorization, learning parts of speech, dictation exercises and more. It covers everything except spelling. The first year we did all the lessons orally which was really good as I have boys who were slow in writing. It took us only 5 (-10) minutes at the most to complete. Barely if any prep work and easy to use. It is definitely advanced in compared to the Alberta Public School grammar program as per my facilitator (who is a public school elementary grammar teacher). The second year, we actually continued doing the lessons orally and began to slowly do the written parts. If I could do it all over again with my children, knowing what I know now , I would probably only do this book with the SWO (the recommended spelling book in WTM book). Oh and I also used Explode the Code. It was great to teach my chldren how to put sentences together. We only completed 1, 1 1/2, and 2 to give them a grounding.
For reading, we used the phonics pathways. It is not really "fun", but I taught my boys that not all learning is fun. We did the games in the book to make it funner which really helped reinforced remembering sounds etc. It took us about a year and a half (at the most) to see my children get really strong in reading (to the point of reading at grade 5 or more level towards the end of grade 2). My facilitator didn't like that I was really focusing on phonics. She wanted me to put more emphasis at looking at the context of the sentence, the pictures...different reading cues. Even though, I did do a little of this, I was determined my children would know how to read words via sounding out rather "guessing" via reading cues. I am so glad I did this. My children are great at reading by the end of grade two. We never did finish the Phonics pathway book. We got about half way through by the time they were reading really well. Then I would spend one hour with them going over the rest of the rules and different words in the rest of the book. Now, if they mispronounce or have difficulty with a word, i remind them of the phonetic sounds and rules, they sound it out and totally get it.
For phonics readers, I ordered the MCP Phonics readers Level 1 sets 1-4 from christianbook.com. Everytime we learned a new sound, I would take the related phonics book out and have them read it over and over. They are very simple with nice pictures and increase with difficulty as they learn more sounds. They re short in length so not overwhelming. They loved it that they could read from early on!
For grammar in grade 3 and on, we follow (as per the WTM), Rod and Staff. They are a full L.A. course (minus the dictation, spelling). They are very christian focused for their examples. But they are very thorough. No prep work needed. And a child can be independent with it if they are responsible. There is alot of bookwork as the books get higher in grade, but they are very good if you want a solid grammar education. My facilitator didn't even know some of the things we were learning from R&S and she is a elementary public school grammar teacher.
The Well Trained Mind book has great suggestions for secular based grammar programs. If you don't have it, the Alberta library will definitely have it for you to borrow.
I hope this helps.
Charmayne
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For ourselves, we are only completing the first 4 years (grammar stage) of world history. We covered the 3rd and 4th year of world history in the the 3rd year. Then in our 4th year,we covered everything about Canada: history, prime ministers, government, geography, etc.
In doing this, we have gotten behind in reading literature related to world history. And since I couldn't find many books on Canada in literature, we continued reading the literature that we got behind with.
I am not sure how we will do it in the logic stage or in the rhetoric stage. We may do Canadian history in the summer or on Saturdays over the next four years... I am not sure yet. It is something that will need take a lot of preparation and planning.
One could replace American history with Canadian history when doing the four years of world history.
I do know that if you view the dvd's "Canada: A People's History," you will get an excellent understanding and overview (and extensive details) about our Canadian history. A family could view this one night each week for the year or however you wish. The are about 4 Cd's per volume and that equals to about 16-20 hours per volume I think. They pack in alot of information and they don't hide anything like some history textbooks do.
I would be interested in how families in the different stages of classical education have included Canadian history while studying world history.
Charmayne
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I had the hardest time finding good books for my grammar stage children on Canadian history. All I could find was"The Kids Book of Canada" by Kids Can Press. www.kidscanpress.com There are many books in this series about Canada (around 10): one on Canada's history, great Canadians, Canadian Aboriginal people's information/history book, Canadian firsts, Canadian geography and so on. They are good and very easy to read with lots of pictures
I also found information from Scholar's Choice website/Store. They have many books on different topics of Canadian history (like The First Explorers, Canadian constitution, Canadian Prime Ministers, Canadian Government, Canadian Geography, etc). These are more grade 4-8 level reading texts/workbooks.
But our favourite resource is Canada: A People's History Dvd's. There are four volumes and they cost me about 100$ total through chapters.ca and amazon.ca. My husband knows history like you wouldn't believe and he said that these dvd's are the best compilation of Canadian history in an accurate form he has ever seen. Our family loves watching them and we have learned so much from them. If small children are viewing it, you may need to screen parts of it and have discussions to explain things.
Charmayne
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Jen,
I really understand what you are saying about not being a fun mom. I have struggled with this very thing for about 10 years. And it was only through prayer and learning to be a servant to my family that I have begun to overcome this. Now, I am much better for it and I am actually enjoying my children and their messes more....though I am still working on this area in my own self.
Something else I thought of was...teach your children from very young to clean up after themselves and to work with you as you cook, bake, clean, garden and whatever you do. They don't have to have a play activity in order to have fun. Working can be great fun when Mom is working with them, talking to them, singing with them, teaching them, make it a game of who can do it the fastest, and so on. Yes again it is sacrifice for you in the areas of actually needing to teach them and supervise their work and then being patient to see them do a good job especially when they are young, but in the long run you are not only teaching them to work hard, but how to do it in a fun way and you are developing a trusting relationship with them.
Again, children most desire a relationship with us that shows them that we love and delight in them.That we take an interest in them, in their thoughts, in their accomplishments etc. They want us to love them and all that they do. They want you to be their biggest fan...their biggest cheerleader. They want to do things with you because they love you and enjoy your company. If we do not do this, they will find someone else who will fill this void.
Charmayne
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How do you handle content in classic literature that you find offensive or just plain gross?
For instance, I found the Grimm's brothers "(various colors) fairy books" very disturbing with all their graphic descriptions in how people killed people in various stories. Another example is: Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Verses. It seems violent and weird to me. Did you still read the books to them or did you avoid them? Did you talk to them about it? What do you do in these situations?
What about when they get older in the teen years and are reading alot of the literature on their own? How do you teach your children about the content? Do you let them read it? What do you talk about etc?
Charmayne
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You could take a subject you are interested in and include your children in your learning. For instance, if you are interested in American history, with your children you can read up on the subject with great books, then watch a video on the subject or a movie that was placed during that time period, ...look up what people wore in that time period...what they invented, listened to music of that time period etc. It is very much like diong unit studies but the topic is something you are interested in. You could have the children find books in the library for you on realted topics and even make a little presentation on what they have learned...just keep it light and fun (not stressful...etc) If there are any activities involved, have them join in like public speaking (in front of you), role playing, art, music, the list can go on and on.
Children just want to spend time with you, feel needed and appreciated and enjoy you. They want you to enjoy them and their accomplishments. If you are enjoying something, then show them your excitement and talk to them about it...what you like/don't like/want to do etc. I am sure they would get excited with you if they saw you were excited about something.
The more difficult suggestion I have (that I have personally learned and continue to learn) is that in being the parent you will need to put aside your dislikes and discomforts and do the things that your children enjoy with them ....whether you enjoy it or not at that moment. This is what a parent does who desires to give good things to their children. Sacrifice is hard for everyone...no matter the situation. And as shown by your honesty about yourself and in making a request on this forum, I think you are wanting to give and do good things with your children. You are on the right track.
Charmayne
Reasons to NOT follow AO or a CM education?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
I just want to say thankyou to the people (in particular: Alte Veste Academy, Michelle My Bel, Kfamily, Serendipitous journey, VeritasMama, Michelle My Bell, kristinannie, Tohru twoxcell) who shared their views on why they follow the philosophies of TWTM &/or CM. Your posts have really helped me to clearly define and articulate what my philosophy is which has always been Christian and classical since I first began home educating my children. Within that, I finally feel free to 'thoughtfully interweave" TWTM with CM, rather than having to chose one over the other. And most importantly, in place of a long standing crises, I have a strengthened confidence and quietness of spirit to continue building upon the foundation of my educational philosophy I started out with years ago. Thankyou.