pageta
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Posts posted by pageta
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I would do something like Ambleside Online where you read lots and lots of stories. Aesop's Fables. The Blue Fairy Book. Stories for Science and such.
SOTW would be a good choice because there seem to be fables aka fanciful tales for every chapter in that book.
Those are just ideas off the top of my head.
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I plan, but I like having a plan. My latest plan is going through many of the Ambleside selections, starting with Year 11 (since its language the most familiar and thus easiest to do - the older a book is, the harder it is to read due to the changes in language). I like having the variety. I generally just get stuck doing literature and such because I have no idea what books in other genres to read, or I see so many in literature that I don't have time for anything else. I did read (and enjoy) the Well-Educated Mind, but I wasn't really crazy about many of the literature selections, especially those in the 20th century.
Bottom line, I plan, but if I find a plan that excites me more, I switch.
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I say, get on your feet with the other three and then get started with her next year, especially if you think she's going to be a challenge (which she sounds like she's going to be). You're first year of homeschooling will be challenging enough with just the other three.
As for her, you might want to consider making it a point to read her lots of stories to get her used to sitting down and listening to you as you read aloud to her. I would suggest Ambelside Year 0, Simply Charlotte Mason Early Years and Honey for a Child's Heart (Gladys Hunt) as great places to find titles of good books to read.
If she's happy playing while they work, I say, let her play.
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We've done both. Right Start is very hands on for both teacher and students. They tell you exactly what to teach and have goals for each lesson, but they don't fill you in much on the big picture so I felt a little lost. Singapore has defined chapters where you work on Addition, then Subtraction, etc. so you know what they're trying to accomplish. With the HIG, I like Singapore better. It is still teacher intensive, especially if you aren't using the Intensive or Extra Practice.
They both use the same logic for math rather than rote memorization, which is what I like.
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Are you having her narrate as you go along? That would be the perfect opportunity to talk about how the specifics of what she is reading - i.e. specifics about Robert E Lee - fit into the big picture - why he is important and thus she is reading about him in the first place. When I discuss books with my ds, many times I give him an overall view of why the story is important rather than just discussing the details of the story.
I also agree that during the grammar years, we are just exposing them to these things so they ring a bell later on when it's time to start knowing some of the key details. She may be in 5th grade soon, but she isn't there yet.
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I had a college professor who required it of us. I hadn't a clue as to what to write and I failed miserably.
In later life, I read the Well-Educated Mind (Bauer) and learned about writing 3-4 sentence summaries of each chapter. Like a narration of sorts. I did that with Jane Eyre and got a lot more out of the book. Totally impressed myself. Now do I do it all the time? No, but I do try to make myself at least do a mental "narration" after I read something. I think it's a good skill to have.
Yes, "passive reading" is much easier, but this is so worth the effort.
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Sometimes, kids are paying more attention than you think they are. I have found that often, when I thought my ds wasn't paying the slightest attention to something, he'll amaze me by reciting the entire thing almost word-for-word later on. Could that be the case with your little guy?
He's done that with stories I've read aloud to him. Two weeks later I'll hear the whole story narrated with great detail. It amazes me.
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We do school in the morning right now (when DS3 was taking naps, we did it in the afternoon).
We start out with "storytime" which is the carrot I offer. I read a story for DS3 and then one for DS6, who is homeschooled. Then we move on and do our core
Reading aloud
Spelling (my bribe for reading aloud, which isn't his favorite)
Handwriting
Math (his favorite)
After this, we do our secondary subjects as we are able/have energy/aren't interrupted by the toddler or the baby. So:
Poetry
History
Science
Bible
Music
Art
We start generally by 9:00 and are done by 11:00.
Right now I'd like to add Tea Time in the afternoon where we do fun read-alouds. I've gotten to where we are now by implementing one thing at a time and making small adjustments where necessary. I find it's easier to find a good flow if you fall into it one thing at a time rather than coming up with an arbitrary schedule. Just my experience.
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Hello and welcome to the journey.
If you can try to relax and only do the 3 R's (Reading, Writing and Math) which is mostly spelling, writing/copywork, read alouds and narration, plus math, and leave the rest to more of Charlotte Mason style (nature walks & studies), etc, and focus on the relational part of this wonderful journey with your family this first year, you may find it easier all the way around to begin adding bits and pieces of all the "extras" (especially since she is still so young and will naturally learn in ways you have yet to discover) next year.
I removed my oldest son from ps before he entered 3rd grade (he is 23 yo now) and b/c he had LDs we moved more slowly anyway, but I wish I had relaxed more and just enjoyed having him and his 2 brothers home and snuggled more with read alouds. The time passes way too quickly.
Blessings!
I second this.
We started in January with a phonics program and BOB books (for reading) and then added handwriting, then math, then SOTW, etc. until we were up to full speed. You might even get a head start now by doing afterschooling and starting a subject or two. I think dipping your toes in one thing at a time is much easier than diving in all at once.
Good luck!
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Yeah, I would just start it when you're doing that chapter and continue it until you're finished while moving on with SOTW.
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I am having trouble getting my ds6 to listen to audiobooks. If I have already read the book, such as Charlotte's Web, and I play it at bedtime, he does okay. But listening to an audiobook for school seems to be a disaster. If I let him look at his globe or at pictures in books, he doesn't seem to be listening at all - I know because he asks me questions about what he is looking at. I want to give him something that will keep his hands busy but not distract him. Any ideas?
I know I listen much better when I am knitting or driving or doing something so I imagine my children will be that way as well. Does anyone make their child just sit still in a chair and do nothing while listening to an audiobook?
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For art, I recommend Artistic Pursuits. I am totally art challenged and I love that curriculum!
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Anyone use this? What is it like? How do you use it? I see it recommended all the time in regards to Charlotte Mason, but no one ever talks about how they use it (i.e. schedule?) and I can't seem to find any sample pages online that tell me what it is or how I would use it.
Just curious...
Thanks!
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The ones we've dropped, I lasted only a week or two. Either something works or it doesn't. We've dropped phonics, math, and grammar programs, in case you're wondering what types of programs we've dropped.
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I was a student like your daughter when I was her age. Only I was in school, either the only one in my grade or with one other person who was very average. I would have my work done for the day by 10:00 (in about an hour and a half) and then I could do whatever I wanted for the rest of the day as long as I sat at my desk and was quiet. So I sat in my seat and read whatever I found in the school library for the rest of the day.
That would be one of the reasons behind my passion for homeschooling. I wish I had been given more challenging work to do rather than having to plod along at whatever gradelevel I was at because the teacher didn't want to come up with things for me to do. There are all sorts of things that i could have done to get ahead which would have made high school and college courses so much easier. I think Ambelside Online has lots of suggestions for readings about history, science, geography, literature, etc. that had someone given them to me when I was in school, I would have enjoyed those years so much more.
I would certainly let her have her afternoons free to pursue her own interests, and I would let her have input in what extras she might take on. It's great that she's efficient, but she should be rewarded for that by getting more interesting above-and-beyond things to do rather than just lots of free time.
That's just my opinion, based on personal experience.
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I organize our books on shelves. I have our core books (math, reading, handwriting) all on one shelf. Then I have our history books grouped together, science books together, picture books together, board books together, etc. Then at least I know where to go to find things. We use a lot of books rather than just a text so having things grouped by subject when there are ten or more books I have checked out from the library is imperative.
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I've been listening to audio books over the past year while I go on my daily walks (which have been put on hiatus due to a new baby and cold weather). I have listened to some classics that I had never read and really enjoyed them. I've also read some good non-fiction before turning out the light. I only get about ten minutes of reading before I am too tired to concentrate, but I've still gotten through two formidable books.
I do have TWEM and found it very enlightening. I wish someone had given me that book at the beginning of high school or at the beginning of college at least (though I doubt it was in print back then). I read a lot of Cliffs Notes in order to get through school because I was lost in the real text. Now I've read a few selections cited in TWEM and am very proud of myself for not just getting through them but actually enjoying them. For me, the key was listening to the audiobooks while I went on my daily walk. It gave me something entertaining to do while I walked as well as a sense of accomplishment when I finished the books.
My latest brainstorm is to work through the Ambleside Online selections starting with year 11 and working backwards. I love their curriculum because it is challenging, and I think it would really broaden my horizons. It would also span more than just literature, which is where I spend most of my time. It might take me more than a year to get through each "year" of AO, but it would be an interesting challenge. It would start with easier selections, too, since they would be from the 20th century rather than something in the language of long ago (which I find harder to get through and sometimes blame as why I stop my reading "plans").
I'm glad to see this thread and know that there are others with great plans as well.
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We school year-round, officially beginning in July and ending in June (I like having goals and deadlines). I set quarterly goals on how far I want to get in each subject, and then we play it by ear. Generally we have four days per week of curriculum-focused school plus our town/library day. My goal is to do 40 days of school each quarter, which is essentially ten weeks out of the thirteen. We take breaks whenever we want. MIL is coming in a couple weeks so we will take a couple days off to spend with her. We'll take a week off for Thanksgiving when we travel to see family. I am sure we'll take some time off at Christmas. Other breaks will happen when we need them.
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I keep a record of what we do every day, like which chapter we read, which math pages we do, etc. If you did that, then at the end of the year you could decide whether you needed to use the short days as school days or not. Last quarter (July - Sept) we did 40 days of school, but 17 of them were actual curriculum days and 23 of them were enrichment days where we did field trips and such. I had a baby in September and we did a lot of off the beaten path learning while I was very pregnant and then when my parents were here. I don't have to count days or report anything I do in our state, but if my husband asked me how many days of school I put in, I would have an answer for him. :)
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My son is a very good speller using basic phonics words that he knows. When we do spelling, I say the words aloud and he spells them aloud. According to Andrew Pedewa spelling used to be done that way because spelling is a list of letters in a certain order which you have to pay attention to if you are spelling aloud while you can just see which letters are used in a word if you see it on paper. I use McGuffy's Eclectic Speller, which groups words together that use similar phonics rules, such as short a, short e, etc.
My son can spell words he isn't even familiar with based on phonics rules (and I don't think he's figured out that we focus on one vowel at a time). However, when I have him do copywork consisting of writing those words underneath where I wrote them and I ask him what the word is, he painstakingly sounds it out as though it's completely foreign to him.
We're really struggling with reading aloud right now, like it just hasn't clicked for him yet. We were using OPTGR but we got to where they were talking about rules that weren't anywhere in the readings he was doing yet, and he hated it anyway so we've put it aside for the time being. He literally spends hours "reading" stories, but I think he's mainly looking at the pictures and guessing at the words based on what he remembers of the story.
So I don't have an answer for you except that it sounds similar to what my child is doing and I, too, am mystified by it.
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We only read the SOTW text, do the mapwork, and then do the library books that I am able to get from the library (average, about half of them). Neither my husband or I are very keen on "projects". I break up the SOTW text if there is more than one section. Then I just space it out depending on what resources I was able to find. It really depends on how much you want to do out of each chapter. We try to do one chapter a week and have done pretty well with that pace. I order my library books two or three weeks in advance so I have them by the time we're ready to use them - we don't do ILL but sometimes books we want are at other branches. Some of the books don't work for us, but most of them do. I just make it up as I go, knowing what I want to accomplish for the week.
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We had that happen with one of our outlets. I replaced the outlet and the lamp works just fine. My boys found the whole thing quite entertaining and talked about it for days.
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Our core subjects (the 3 r's) are done in the same order every day. History, science, poetry and everything else come after and aren't necessarily in the same order because we don't do them every day. It also depends on whether we're running out of steam or if ds is begging for more. As for the subjects we do in the same order every day, I start out reading a story (literature - which he likes) followed by reading aloud (which he hates) but then we do spelling (which he loves and I use as a bribe to get through reading) and then we do handwriting (which is okay) followed by his favorite of all - math. Alternating loves with not-so-loves helps me keep him motivated with as little effort as possible. He's not old enough to have a planner yet, so doing things in the same order every day helps him know how much we're going to do as well.
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We're only using SOTW 1, but there are chapters that we stretch out and others that we cover rather quickly. Just decide how many you want to do during each period of your school year and go from there. SOTW is lots of fun!
Classical Lite?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
You could do narration randomly instead of on ever piece you read. That way she has to be prepared but you don't have to take time to do the whole routine every time. You could break it up - have her draw one time, do just verbal narration another, and only part of the time write down what she says. Obviously she has gotten the point - when it comes time for her to write herself, she'll probably have the same problem. Or maybe even try to get her to start paring things down a little and just summarize the main points rather than every. single. detail.
Just ideas...