OrdinaryTime
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Posts posted by OrdinaryTime
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I've been reading over there a bit lately. There is some good discussion and practice advise. My kids are still very young, but I'm finding it to be good continuing education for me.
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I was looking at Miquon. What do you like about it? Do you think it would be math overkill to use this along with another math curriculum?
I like Miquon because it develops deep conceptual understanding in a simple, unpressured way. It fosters true enjoyment of manipulating and understanding quantities. My kids are wide awake and very attentive when doing Miquon, taking real ownership of their work. It's hard to explain, but it's like math magic!
Lots of folks use Miquon as a supplement, so that is definitely possible. I prefer to use it alone so we really hold onto the Miquon mindset towards math. I did use Singapore a bit this past year to supplement Miquon, but we've mainly just use it alone.
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Justamouse, they are from Elizabeth Foss' site.
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I'm planning to try out some of these plans for our foray into formal grammer. They are developed around Ruth Heller's World of Language series.
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I think VIE is Voyages in English, but don't hold me to it!
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Actually, a good friend and fellow homeschooling mom of mine who read the Circe thread was joking with me the other night about the HCC major, which she completed at Franciscan. It seemed so impractical getting the most uber-liberal arts degree possible in college, but it perfectly prepared her for becoming a homeschooling mom! Turned out pretty practical for her!
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I went to Franciscan University of Steubenville, which is a bit of the red-headed stepchild on the academic end of orthodox Catholic colleges. :tongue_smilie: You can get a very solid liberal arts degree there, though. Most of my college friends participated in a major called Humanities and Catholic Culture (HCC). It combined history, theology, philosophy, literature, and political philosophy. Completing the HCC major in conjuction with the University's Honors Program, which is a four-year great books program conducted seminar style, offers a student a very solid liberal arts education. I transfered in as a junior so wasn't able to jump into the Honors Program at that point, but my husband did and loved it. Franciscan isn't just a "Great Books" college, but I think the liberal arts majors there benefited from seeing the same vision being applied to nursing and business and counseling, etc.
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double post
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I know several UD grads; they make up part of my homeschooling gang these days.:) Well-educated, well-formed, balanced people that aren't too straight-laced.
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I can see my son loving this. Thanks for sharing.
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I thought you ladies may have some suggestions for me. I'm teaching RCIA for the first time this year, and one of the young women in my class didn't have a sponsor by Christmas. I offered to sponsor her, and it has been a lovely experience. I'm wondering what I should give her at Easter? I'm used to buying gifts for 2nd grade First Communions and infant Baptism and teenage Confirmations, but never for an adult entering the Church. I'm thinking $50-100. Ideas?
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I want to do a little more with my kids than I did growing up (cradle catholic here). Not that we didn't know our Bible backwards and forwards! I think we were read every children's Bible ever printed, plus spent many hours playing Bible trivia board games. ;) It was definitely "big picture" knowledge overall, though. Still I wish I could call certain passages to mind more completely and more easily for my own personal comfort. I'm planning to focus on the Psalms, Gospels, and some of the Epistles. I find these most helpful to truly know for personal spiritual nourishment.
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Soror, I completely agree with you. Many programs can fit the bill for developing an understanding of working with quantities and shapes. We use Miquon almost exclusively, possibly as "New Math" as you can get. My children are enjoying numbers and are gaining real understanding and skill in moving from the concrete to the abstract in math. Thus far we haven't had a need for extensive rote drill because some of them are still just grasping beginning concepts while my oldest is just mastering his facts through our daily lessons and everyday talks about math. I don't see this method as in opposition to the goals of "classical math." Plus we're really talking about arthimetic here, not math.
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The Simone Weil article was very interesting. Thanks for sharing, one*mom. I found her understanding of "attentiveness" fascinating and familiar. It's leading my children to the practice of attentiveness that is so challenging. How does one guide a student to the place of focus without useless laboring? To staying present with the work but "waiting" with it?
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Thnanks for the description of BFSU, lyniffrec. I'm planning to try it out this coming year for the reason you articulated, mainly, that it helps me , the teacher, how to actually think about and teach science. Science is the area I struggle the most with naturally teaching in everyday situations or even formal lessons. Even if we don't follow the lessons in the book, I'm hoping it simply helps me better teach science.
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We do. I tried touse Singapore as our main program this year, and my math-loving son started glazing over after a few months. Now we're back to Miquon as our main program and the math-love is flowing again. I still use some Singapore, especially the CWP,and some apps for drill, but Miquon is our spine.
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Yes!
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This is perfect for my son right now. Tonight at dinner he was mapping out a chemi,al bonding card game concept. He'll love this! Thanks for posting.
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You have a total right to feel hurt. What terribly selfish behavior!
If you are in Northern Va/D.C. area, I'd love to help you out with babysitting.
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Do you use patterns for the dolls or just wing it? I'd love to get started on something similar.
Here is the link to the Alphabet Path. I think the 8th bullet point down has links to the felt doll tutorial. It just gives you the basic method. Then we just use a saint book/card to decide what colors and ideas we are going to incorporate for each doll. I have my girls stitch on the basic robe. Sometimes we stitch/tie on other items -aprons, shawls, etc. - and then we hot glue on hair and veils.
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For fine arts, I focus on decent art supplies in mediums artists actually use: watercolor and oil paints, oil and chalk pastels, clay, etc. I don't put foam cutouts and glitter in this category so feel no guilt in skipping them. We mainly use watercolors, drawing pencils,and oil pastels because of the age of my kids. We look at real objects or paintings to copy. I find that essential.
We spend time on practical arts as well. We follow Elizabeth Foss' Alphabeth Path and make a felt saint doll weekly. I have my 4 and 5 year old do the sewing themselves as much has possible. We also work on bigger handsewing projects daily as well. We're workung on a large felt doll that has pre-punched holes for the stitching. I can't believe how well the kids are doing with it. And when we are done, we'll have a usable toy, not junk to eventually throw away. Plus sewing is not messy! Bonus. It does take a tremendous amount of patience, but I think the investment is worth it.
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I started making changes after Christmas. I'm still at the beginning -just a K and 1st grader - but I realized the more formal our schooling was becoming, the less actual thinking the kids and I were doing. I unconciously began controlling our discussions and reading so tightly to our formal plans, that we began to suffocate.
I didn't need to buy or change any curriculum, but our history and science schedule were not going to block other avenues of interest. I switched our schedule so that our read alouds happened first thing in the morning. I now begin with fairy tales and poetry, then move on to history science reading. I decided to end the morning read aloud with the Chronicles of Narnia. We've made it through four of the books since January, and the kids couldn't be happier! Our discussions have been wonderful. I was so excited today when my 7yo son quickly equated Aslan's ripping off of Eustace's dragon skin and throwing into the well with Baptism. Score!
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When you all read Till We Have Faces, will you report back? Or maybe we can start a separate discussion of it somewhere? I read that book twice and somehow I think missed the big picture. Very engaging story, not at all hard to read, but both times at the end I felt that I missed the underlying point of it. But that was years ago, and I have read and learned much since then, so it could be that I would have a very different take on it now. If you all hadn't given me so many other things to read and listen to right now (grrr....) I would pick it up and reread it right now, but the Abolition of Man and Norms and Nobility and Leisure the Basis of Culture and many other things are currently in the queue...
You should listen to the Kreeft audio. It isn't a super long or overly difficult lecture, but a fantastic, insightful examination of the underlying point of the book. I've read Till We Have Faces several times, and Kreeft articulates the tensions in the book - and their resolutions - beautifully. I just listened while cleaning my kitchen and mopping the floors and was able to follow along fine. Best time cleaning I've had in awhile!
Happy Easter Crossing the Tiber Group!
in Crossing the Tiber
Posted
Happy Easter all!
I was "that" person at Easter Vigil that made a scene with their candle. By catching my hair on fire. Seriously. I was a sponsor so was right up front. The lovely fragrance of burnt hair mingled with the incense. Besides that minor incidence, though, it was an amazing Easter for me and mine.