What I Use for Curriculum

I've been asked by a Facebook friend what I use for my kids, and how much it costs. After fiddling with Facebook's chat system, I decided it would be easier to answer here, where I can have headings and make real links.

First Things

I am heavily influenced by Charlotte Mason (here, here, and here for some online information). I think checking your library for "For the Children's Sake", "A Charlotte Mason Education", or "A Charlotte Mason Companion" would be a smoother introduction to a woman who wrote 6 books on education!  I'm also inspired by the classical education talked about at Circe (Mimetic Teaching, and almost anything by Kern, is good to listen to; there are more here ). I'm rejecting the one-size, assembly line education, and striving to keep beauty and wonder before my children. I want them outside, enjoying nature. I want them reading uplifting stories and biographies of great people. I don't want our homeschool to be "sit down, don't talk, get your worksheet done".

It's actually funny to write this post now. We are easing back into school after our 3 week vacation, and it's been s*l*o*w getting back into the groove. We did almost zero sit-down school on vacation. Of course we learned about the desert, learned camping & nature skills, visited museums & parks, hiked, saw new animals, read about ancient peoples & saw how they lived, went to a hot springs, saw cool statutes (Romans! yay!) & displays (pirates & sirens) in Las Vegas, listened to several fairy tales & a dramatized retelling of the Pilgrim's Progress, made a lean-to, worked on swimming, read a few chapters of The Hobbit, and got a tan. So we learned a lot, but not in a "traditional" school fashion. All that to say I feel like a hypocrite, saying 'we do this', when we haven't done it for a month.

But I still have to answer the question.

Math 

For math we use MEP, a free program from the UK. I like how it teaches kids to really think about numbers, and not just compute. I mainly use the lesson plans (on my tablet, but I used to print them - yuck!) and the practice book (1 page per lesson). This blogger has some great posts on MEP.

MEP is teacher intensive, so if we are in a busy season I use Math Mammoth. You have to print it as well, but the little books are very inexpensive & everything is on the student page (I like simple).  I've also used Math Mammoth to fill in gaps in place value or subtraction with regrouping.


English / Language

For reading and spelling we use Spell to Write and Read. It's very complete, and my eldest son, Jonathan, needed it. It's overkill for some kids in my opinion (like David, who uses it because he likes having a spelling list to play games on Spelling City - which is free). I'm using it with Andrew because I'm used to its methods.

We attack writing from both sides: having something to say & the process of writing down words. For the first we do narration, and for the second, copywork (I started with Penny Gardener's book).  I'm really working with the boys to have nice handwriting, because we are going to start writing letters to their great-grandmothers. We do copywork & narration daily, and spelling on most days. The following programs are used 2-3 times a week.

We use Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons (2nd-3rd) and Intermediate Language Lessons (4th-6th), which cover a wide range of English skills, including composition, grammar, and usage. You can read Serl's books free online, I bought the hardcover versions used on Amazon, and we tend to do a lot of the work orally. I am going to try having Jonathan type his answers next week. (He really does learn better if he does something with his hands, like copy/draw/write. If typing works out he can learn computer skills while learning composition.)

Jonathan has recently started dictation. We are doing it three times a week, and I want to switch this to typing as well. You can do dictation for free, but I decided for $15 over 2 years times 4 kids, I'd take the easy way. David is reviewing touch typing with Dance Mat (free), and I'll drop Spell to Write & Read next year for him when he starts dictation.

We also do Latin and use Getting Started with Latin (best book to start with - short, simple, inexpensive) and First Form Latin (for Jonathan, I like how it makes him think, and he remembers things better when he writes them down). I mention Latin because we don't do heavy grammar or any vocabulary work - you learn a lot of grammar with Latin. (For modern languages, we watch Spanish videos [SALSA, KnowItAll], and I'd like to add more Spanish next year. But it doesn't teach you like Latin does.)

I am testing out the McGuffey readers, as I notice the boys need to work on enunciation. I want to use KISS Grammar (hint: choose a "level" first, then under that level, choose a "grade" so the sentences will be appropriate/interesting for your child), but haven't nailed down how (independently or do it as a group). These would be 2-3 times a week as well.

(Almost) Everything Else

For almost everything else - we read. I use books from Ambleside Online as our base. I assign their biography, geography, literature, natural history and science selections for individual reading. I use their hymn, folksong, nature study, artist, and composer rotations for group work. (We aren't very good about the last two yet, but are working on it.) I choose from their poets, and we enjoy those as a group as well -- currently A.A. Milne and Alfred Lord Tennyson. And we read books together too. (Right now I alternate between Hatchet and At the Back of the North Wind; Kevin chooses a chapter from Fifty Famous People when he does bedtime reading.)

I also like this list (look at the literature selections), and many of these are on Librivox. I LOVE Librivox, with the kids understanding more than they can physically read with their eyes (especially with the older classics), Librivox bridges the gap and saves me time. I've heard from several homeschoolers that having the child follow the words while listening to the audio is good for reading fluency as well. We also memorize poetry (again, you don't need a program, but it makes little kids more independent to have the audio) and scripture. This (also here) is my aspiration for our group learning. (She also wrote this and this, which I love as well.)

I like Charlotte Mason Help's personal devotion selections, and Milestones Academy has a lot of good ideas as well (drawing, financial knowledge, foreign language, Plutarch & Shakespeare), though she seems to be rearranging the site, sometimes leading to blank pages. There are so many good ideas online, the problem isn't finding them, it's not becoming overwhelmed.

Hands-On Stuff

We spend time outdoors - walking, fishing, playing, or even sitting & watching. We draw, paint, and play music (we have a piano and several recorders). I have Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, which I'm trying to use more consistently. The kids do some woodwork/carpentry with their Dad, and we will be doing Leatherwork in 4-H, when I actually buy the book... (it's on my errands list).

What does it cost? 

Very little - I try to time major buying with my tax refund, and I pick up good deals on books year round. Math is free for printing, and I have a B&W Laser Jet (with off-brand toner). I've spent more on English, but if I had to I could teach for free to the younger boys. (I needed it for Jonathan, the boy has struggled on every step of reading. I don't know if he is dyslexic, but I know no part of it is natural for him.) I haunt used book stores when I get a chance, and trade in books I don't need for children's classics & language books. I finally joined the digital age, and am using both a tablet and an ereader. They make using PDFs and public domain books a breeze. They also make it so I don't have to print the lesson plans for MEP - I can use them from the tablet. I decided to move to the ereader when I totaled the cost of hardcopy books that are available free (on google books or amazon kindle) and found the ereader would pay for itself in one year.

I tend to avoid any programs requiring consumable workbooks that aren't available as a PDF (First Form Latin is an exception). I think homeschool costs (except learning challenges/disabilities) are very controllable, especially with access to the internet or a good library.

I'll try to be more exact. Last year I averaged $20/month on Amazon for books, but not all of them were for the boys' school, AND we restarted Ambleside Online, so I had to buy books at 2 levels (I had all of Andrew's), whereas in the future I'll only need to buy for my eldest child. (The local books I almost always trade for, but they would be sub-$5 online with shipping.) This year, since I have the ereader, I expect to spend far less on books. Of course, I bought a balance beam for science and need to buy a microscope, so that can drive up costs, but it's still not a true need.

My Main Sources of Information 

• The Well Trained Mind forum. Just be careful and hold onto your wallet - this is a great place to ask about curriculum, but it's also full of people who love certain programs and will tell you how great they are, which you may not need but may sound really cool.
• Ambleside Online forums. You need to sign up to read (for privacy I assume). They are starting a study group on Charlotte Mason's Twenty Principles, which I plan to participate in.
• Lots of blogs - some are linked in this post, and many others linked from the signatures of the above forum participants. Just remember that 90% (myself included) don't get everything they talk about done every day/week. We all have cars that break, dogs that get loose, computers that refuse to boot, and kids that get sick. Real life with murphy's law in full force. 

Someday I'll do a "real day" post. But not today. Since it's 11 o'clock, we stayed up late last night, we have a house guest, Kevin didn't go to work until 10, and I haven't eaten breakfast (no worries, Kevin fed the kids).

In Conclusion ... 

I hope this is not completely overwhelming. I've been doing this for years, stumbling along, and I like to think I've learned something. And I've learned there is a lot I don't know.

I've been interrupted a gazillion times this morning, and this post isn't as polished as I'd like. I did reread it, and it seems to make sense. Haha!

Feeding the Mind of the Child, or Why "Focusing on the 3 R's" is Not the Best Approach

"Education is lighting a fire, not filling a bucket." 

When a homeschool mom has a struggling reader, she is often advised to let content subjects take a back seat while she works on the basics. As one of those moms, I tried that approach. But a basics only approach is lifeless. I found no joy, school was a chore to check off the list. Just like doing the dishes. Not only was the bucket not being filled, but the fire was in danger of being put out. Even I, the teacher, was dissatisfied. In one of my darker moments, I stopped and asked myself: what if my son never learned to read well? Or, what if he could read 'well enough' for life, but could never read the good and great books for himself? How long would I make him wait? And I knew - I had to find a way to open the world up, despite his ability to read on his own. You can't stay in emergency mode for long: it ignores the beauty of life.

Education is about growing the mind.

The way to mind is a quite direct way. Mind must come into contact with mind through the medium of ideas. (Charlotte Mason, Volume 6, Chapter 2)

Books. That's how you connect to another's ideas: reading. But teaching a struggling child to read is not the most important thing. By all means, keep working on phonics and fluency, but skill work alone isn't enough. You need to kindle the flame, and then feed it. The food of the mind is ideas.

Some of my favorite speakers are "The Two Andrews". First I heard Andrew Pudewa (IEW) talking about how his son, who was unable to read, developed a wonderful vocabulary by listening to audio books. Then Andrew Kern (Circe) pointed out there are stages of reading. What we call reading, he calls independent reading, or "reading with your eyes". But before that is dependent reading, or "reading with your ears".

Around the time I was struggling to put this new information to use, God led me in a circle back to Ambleside Online. Many of AO's books were available in audio format, free, from Librivox. Many of the others I already owned. Due mainly to my personality, I wanted the kids in their own years. But I'm only human, not super organized, and I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew. I didn't know if I could prepare and teach 3 different AO years. I'd been playing with another curriculum that required a lot of teacher involvement: I would have to learn first, and then present to my children. But Charlotte Mason's principles again came to my rescue.

If they do not, it is not for lack of earnestness and intention on the part of the teacher; his error is rather want of confidence in children. He has not formed a just measure of a child's mind and bores his scholars with much talk about matters which they are able to understand for themselves much better than he does. How many teachers know that children require no pictures excepting the pictures of great artists, which have quite another function than that of illustration? They see for themselves in their own minds a far more glorious, and indeed more accurate, presentation than we can afford in our miserable daubs. They read between the lines and put in all the author has left out.  (Charlotte Mason, Volume 6, Chapter 2)

For Charlotte Mason, the teacher's job is to spread the feast before the child, then step back, and let the author speak. And she doesn't require busy work. No work is to be given except what the child can accomplish perfectly. So I wouldn't have to prepare, then give a lecture, then help them form answers to comprehension questions, then help them write out those answers. No, read the book with them (or assign it to them) and have them narrate. Perhaps a discussion afterwards, and some copywork or dictation for writing.

Our business is to give children the great ideas of life, of religion, history, science; but it is the ideas we must give, clothed upon with facts as they occur, and must leave the child to deal with these as he chooses.  (Charlotte Mason, Volume 6, Chapter 2)

How freeing. I estimated the time. I had a year 1 student, but he would only have 2-3 short readings a day. My year 3 student was a fairly good reader. My struggling reader I placed in year 4, and divided his work between reading with me and audio books. The test for him was "Robinson Crusoe", a very challenging book. He listened to it, and loved it. Together we read "Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia". He loved that as well, Ben the inventor and problem solver appealed to my hands-on son who loved to help others. My younger sons also enjoyed their readings. And I started to enjoy homeschooling again.

It wasn't just school time either. Ideas penetrate the mind, they are mulled over and become part of us, changing our thoughts and actions.

We receive [ideas] with appetite and some stir of interest. It appears to feed in a curious way. We hear of a new patent cure for the mind or the body, of the new thought of some poet, the new notion of a school of painters; we take in, accept, the idea and for days after every book we read, every person we talk with brings food to the newly entertained notion. 'Not proven,' will be the verdict of the casual reader; but if he watch the behaviour of his own mind towards any of the ideas 'in the air,' he will find that some such process as I have described takes place; and this process must be considered carefully in the education of children. We may not take things casually as we have done.   (Charlotte Mason, Volume 6, Chapter 2)

My older son, Jonathan, would think of things Robinson Crusoe had done when we talked about camping. We talked about true friends after he listened to the second chapter of "The Jungle Book". When the Happy Scientist posted an eagle for his daily photo, and asked which founding father had wanted a different bird as our national symbol we could connect to why Franklin would have wanted a different bird.

My second son remembered "The Princess and the Goblin" when he saw other books by George MacDonald. We talked about the cruelty in "King of the Wind", and the root of that instance of cruelty: uncontrolled anger. I hope next time he starts to loose his temper, he will remember the pain caused to the horse, and control his anger. (No, he doesn't get angry at our horse - it's usually his younger brother. And yes, I had a hard time not over-moralizing the incident.)

And the benefits of an ideas approach to education continue. Not only the intellect, but the conscience is trained.

It is not only a child's intellect but his heart that comes to us thoroughly furnished. Can any of us love like a little child? Father and mother, sisters and brothers, neighbours and friends, "our" cat and "our" dog, the wretchedest old stump of a broken toy, all come in for his lavish tenderness. How generous and grateful he is, how kind and simple, how pitiful and how full of benevolence in the strict sense of goodwill, how loyal and humble, how fair and just! His conscience is on the alert. Is a tale true? Is a person good?––these are the important questions. His conscience chides him when he is naughty, and by degrees as he is trained, his will comes to his aid and he learns to order his life.  (Charlotte Mason, Volume 6, Chapter 2)

Andrew Kern's favorite thinking question (perhaps something CM would use for the grand discussion) is "should X have done Y?" Should Bilbo have gone with the dwarves? Should Bowane have waited for each of his friends? Reading - stories - they develop the whole child.

Reading does open the world, and my advice is don't wait until a child can do it with their eyes! Read to them. Use CM's principle of short lessons: fifteen minutes of phonics, ten minutes to work on reading fluently, twenty minutes of math. In between, read with your child. Give them an audio book to listen to and narrate. Listen to fairy tales in the car or at breakfast. At quiet time let them use an MP3 player. Read aloud before bed. And read the best books: you'll be surprised what children understand.

As for literature––to introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it from the very first. A child's intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find.   (Charlotte Mason, Volume 6, Chapter 2)

My ultimate guideline for education is Philippians 4:8 "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

I know tough times hit, sometimes all you can do is tread water (I've been there). But when you think of "must do" schooling, include ideas - be they fairy tales, biographies or the wonders of nature. And don't let a lack of reading skill be a barrier to presenting the best books to your child.

Beefing up my 10 yo's Books: Combining AO years 4-6 into 2 school years.

My eldest son, Jonathan, is doing very well with his readings. I'm pleased with his narrations. He is technically a 5th grader, but I started him in year 4 because I didn't want him to miss the history, I had most of the books, and I didn't want to push him to hard.

Now, I know that AO years != grade years. But I also keep hearing how cool Ambleside Online's year 12 is going to be. So if I want him to do year 12, I'll have to bump him or do a combo year at some point.

I decided to do it now. I looked at years 5 & 6, and made a few observations: we're currently reading The Hobbit (that's half of year 6's literature), year 6 has very little geography, while our current year 4 (because I decided not to use Madam How and Lady Why) is very light on science (which he loves) & natural history. I'm also not super worried about history. It's very important, but it's not the center of our homeschool.

So I added year 5's science books (not biographies or Madam How) to this year. And I'm going to read Minn once a week, finishing it this term, leaving term 3 open for year 6's book about David Livingstone, which DS should be able to read himself.

The rest of this year will have ~16 readings a week. I'm hoping to do 4 days for individual work, and 1 day for group study, so that's 4 readings a day. If that is too much I'll spread his readings over 5 days.

In case anyone is interested, here is my plan:

5th Grade (this year)

• Bible (4 days a week)
• (4/5) Greenleaf's Guide to the Old Testament (Samson to the Divided Kingdom).
• (4) New Testament focus on Mark (2 terms)
• History
• (4) This Country of Ours, George Washington's World
• Biography
• (4) Trial & Triumph (match with history)
• (4) Ben Franklin & Abigail Adams
• Geography
• (4) * ** Minn of the Mississippi
• (6) *** David Livingstone (Term 3)
• Natural History/Science
• (4) Storybook of Science
• (5) Wild Animals I Have Known (read aloud) followed by Christian Liberty Nature Reader 5 (transition to him reading)
• Science Biography
• (5) The Story of Inventions (some will be left for summer reading)
• Literature
• (4) Age of Fable -- stay on year 4's schedule
• (4) Robinson Crusoe, Kidnapped, The Incredible Journey and the three short stories. Thankfully most of these have audio books.

6th Grade (next year)

• Bible (4 days a week, but I'm not sure on schedule details)
• (5) Finish Greenleaf's Guide to the Old Testament
• (5/6) Life of Christ (48 readings scheduled)
• (6) Answers in Genesis (year 6 history tales, which I don't want to miss)
• History (modern)
• (5) * ** This Country of Ours
• (5) * ** Abraham Lincoln's World
• (5/6) *** Story of the World volume 4 -- we'll probably extend this past the 'end' of the school year. We will use the MP3 version.
• History (ancient)
• (6) * Story of the Greeks - I might substitute a shorter book: Tappan's "The Story of the Greek People", since I don't want to overwhelm him.
• (6) ** *** Augustus Caesar's World
• (6) ** *** Story of the Romans (spread over 2 terms intead of 1)
• Biography
• (5/6) Trial and Triumph, scheduled to match history reading.
• (5) * Of Courage Undaunted (because I love Lewis & Clark)
• (5) ** Lilias Trotter OR Teddy Roosevelt
• (6) *** Winston Churchill
• Geography (I may only use 1 of Halliburton's books)
• (5) Halliburton's Book of Marvels (I have the 2nd book, still searching for the first)
• Natural History/Science (I may have to move some to free reading, I haven't seen these books)
• (6) School of the Woods & The Sea Around Us
• (6) It Couldn't Just Happen
• (6) Secrets of the Universe
• Science Biography
• (5/6) Choose 3 biographies from years 5 & 6, one per term.
• Literature
• (5/6) Age of Fable - 2 readings per week.
• (5) * King Arthur
• (5) ** Oliver Twist OR Kim (other will be a free read)
• (6) *** Animal Farm

What Was Left Out

• Poetry isn't listed, but will NOT be left out - we will do one poet per term for Jonathan, but since we read everyone's poetry as a group, we will read them all eventually (and more than once), so I'm not worried.
• Only 3 of 6 science biographies will be assigned.
• Madam How and Lady Why is being skipped. (Because I just don't have the energy for it, and most people have mixed opinions. I'll try to read it with my 8yo when he reaches years 4 & 5.)
• Year 6's Old Testament readings are the books of Genesis, Job, Exodus & Leviticus. I'm not sure how to handle those, but I haven't decided on Bible for the HEO years either, as I'd prefer to have DC do studies from Precepts, probably as a group (so it won't be in AO's order). But I will encourage DS to go through the books in his personal Bible time, and I may or may not use SCM's "Book of Doctrine's". I actually have a study guide for Genesis-Deuteronomy from Precepts on the shelf, if we go that route. I'll cross that bridge when we get there.
• Year 6 has the "Story of Mankind" scheduled. I may or may not have him read from it. I imagine that SOTW4 is fairly complete.
• Two (of 8) biographies will not be scheduled, but one of those is a WWII era book to be selected from the free reads, and DH is a WWII buff, so I'm sure DS will hear a few of those for bedtime readings anyway.
• In literature, we are currently reading "The Hobbit" aloud (started before coming back to AO). And we will be reading "Tale of Troy" which is a retelling of the Iliad as a group. I would like to read the full version of the Iliad later on, perhaps during poetry time. The year 5 literature book that gets "skipped" will be a top-priority free read.

Disclaimer

This may all change at any moment! LOL, hopefully not. I haven't seen the year 6 books, so I can't get a super accurate idea of how much reading to assign, and may have to move some to free reading / science shelf. I also don't know how much DS's reading skills will improve, but I've decided I cannot hold him back for one thing. I am completely willing to keep using librivox, purchase audio books for newer works, and read out loud as needed. He is loving CM's generous curriculum of living books, and I am so thankful to AO for having a frugal, high-quality program laid out.

I'm mainly posting this since I've put a lot of thought into it, and I want to have a summary stored online (because computers crash). I also find it helpful to read the ideas & experiences of others, and want to offer something back to the online homeschooling community. Enjoy!

Favorite Things: Book Shelves

You have to love the internet (and pinterest) for all the wonderful ideas floating around. So, here are some of my favorite ways to display books:

Rain Gutter Bookshelves

I've seen this idea in a few places, and since my brother owns a business installing seamless rain-gutters, I have these two in the living room. They are 4-5 feet long each, and sit about 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 feet from the floor. My sons also have a longer rain-gutter bookshelf in their room (about 8-9 feet long, and about 3 feet up). I've been rearranging everything, so my 3 year old daughter helped me re-add books for the picture. Hence these are some of her favorites. I wonder how many times my husband and I have read Goodnight Moon?

After I find the living room again, I will rotate picture books on the bottom shelf, and rotate biographies, living science, living math, history, etc. along the top. This is a great spot to highlight library books or any good books that are gathering dust!

The "Red" Basket

I've not seen this exact usage online, but I'm sure many have used this type of thing. I have seen morning baskets, and that's where I took this idea. This basket has our before bed read-aloud choices.

My husband doesn't read as often as I do, so he has the book Fifty Famous People by James Baldwin (I do recommend the Yesterday's Classics versions, as they are retyped and not just messy scans - I happened to score a hardback at the used bookstore). Usually we have a picture book as well (like Saint George and the Dragon or Winnie-The-Pooh), but I am trying to finish up Adam of the Road, so I'll add a picture book (probably Beatrix Potter) after that. The other book is one of my favorites: The Hobbit.

Next year I am going to attempt to wrap up the chapter books in November, and leave December free for advent and Christmas reading. We had a rather long break from our read-aloud books last month. Poor Adam has been stranded in the middle of winter at the de Lisle house, where he's not really wanted! (No worries, he's headed to Oxford now to find Nick, his dog. And yes, I read ahead because I couldn't wait to get to the end!) And Bilbo, Thorin and company have left Lake Town and just found the back door (but not the key hole!).

The Book Flipper

From another homeschooler, who blogged about her system here. This is actually where my 3 year old daughter's books belong. When I finish moving everything, it will go back on our little end table, in easy reach. I had considered this for the kids' schoolbooks, but most of our books are too thick, and we don't use many workbooks. I would like to get a second dish rack for the boys' Seeking Sammy books (kind of like Where's Waldo?, but funnier.. or weirder).

This has been a fun post for me to write. Writing a LOT more is one of my goals, so I hope to make many more posts this year.

Beautiful Handwriting

Charlotte Mason used a book called A New Handwriting for Teachers, by M. M. Bridges. It contains a few pages of instructions, and then "ten stiff, thick pages" for the children to copy from. 

Since I am trying to remove workbooks/printouts from my life (I solemnly swear that paper breeds!), I decided to see how Ms. Mason used the program, and if I could recreate a sequence for it. I went through programmes 90 - 95 (one programme is one term or 12 weeks of schooling) on Ambleside's archives, and copied the assigned sections. I choose these terms because they are continuous. I copied the relevant sections here. Happily, I found an easy to use sequence, assuming that some of the 8s are really 3s. (I have read a lot of old books, and many times some of the letters and numbers are unclear. Also, common sense says Charlotte would not have assigned card 8 to children still learning their letters. But I could be wrong!)

Beginners

• Use card 4, covering basic strokes and lowercase letters according to stroke or shape.
• Focus on either the right half or the left half each term.
• Two terms:
1. Left-hand half of card 4 (straight lines;letters i, t, u, r, n, m, h, p, f, l, b, v, w)
2. Right-hand half of card 4 (curved lines; letters o, c, e, a, d, q, j, g, k, s, x, y, z)

Form IB (around 1st grade)

• One letter to be mastered each lesson. (Teacher to study instructions.)
• Write, or print, letters and words from dictation as well as from copy. (See Home Education, page 234 - scroll down to "Writing").
• Use card 3 (lowercase) and card 5 (numbers & letter combinations).
• Three terms:
1. Card 3, Lines 1 & 2 (letters a-n; 20 letters including variations)
2. Card 3, Lines 3 & 4 (letters o-z; 19 letters including variations)
3. Card 5, Lines 1 & 2 (numbers 0-9); Card 3, Line 5 (8 letter combinations or variations)

Form IA (around 2nd & 3rd grades)

• Two letters to be mastered each lesson. (Teacher to study instructions.)
• Transcribe (copy) from reading books. Write words and short sentences from dictation.
• Three terms:
1. Card 1, Lines 1 & 2 (letters A-K); Card 3, Lines 1 & 2 (letters a-n)
2. Card 1, Lines 3 & 4 (letters L-T); Card 3, Lines 3 & 4 (letters o-z)
3. Card 2, Lines 1 & 2 (letters U-Z); Card 3, Line 5 (letter combinations & variations)

Form II (around 4th to 6th grades)

• Practice card 3 (lowercase).
• Use card 6 as a model.
• Two perfectly written lines a day, transcribed from favorite passages of Shakespeare or poetry.

Form III & IV (around 7th to 9th grades)

• Use card 6 as a model.
• Choose & transcribe passages from poetry, Shakespeare, and other books.

Notes from "Home Education:

• Children started at the blackboard, then moved to a pencil and finally to a pen.
• Children using the blackboard should rub out any letter that doesn't meet their standards, so that only a perfect word (the objection of early lessons) is left.
• Start with a medium size for letters, not small. Don't make the child 'labor' on large writing. (CM says it is easier for the small hand to become a scrawl, and bad habits are to be avoided. Older children use small hand.)

So I will be using card 4 for Andrew,who is 6 years old and full of energy. I believe Charlotte uses the example of six perfect strokes, so that is what we will do at first. I know his frustration level will go down, because the work will be shorter and simpler than what I asked him! I will have him use the whiteboard. 

My older boys have been doing Penny Gardener's "Italics: Beautiful Handwriting for Children" (again, a great program, I just don't want more worksheets), so they should be able to transition to this slightly fancier style, especially if I print properly lined paper for them.

For my 8 year old, David, I will use cards 1 and 3. He pays good attention to detail, and I think he will like the simpler, freer method. I will also do some dictation with him - he could use the challenge.

My 10 year old, Jonathan, is a big picture guy, hard worker and easy going. I will probably have him study cards 1-3, and then have him decide what letters he needs to practice. When he feels confident, we will move to card 6 and two perfect lines a day.

I plan to use the 12 Rules of Good Handwriting as well (I can't find the regular page, but archive.org has a copy). I'm not sure if I will turn it into a catechism (question & answer), add it to their memory work, or just print a copy (with all the blinking letters, LOL) to review often.

I'm very excited to see what Charlotte used in her schools (simple, but deep), and I hope it will be a help to someone else out there!

Drawing Shakespeare: The Tempest

My 6 yo (Andrew) and I had our second reading from Nesbit's book: Shakespeare's Stories for Young Readers today. I used a lovely idea I've read about on a few blogs / mailing lists: making a cheat sheet for the story. I made mine as we went along, not the smoothest perhaps, but it did have my son interested. He kept wanting to make Ferdinand 'bad' before we read of his character. Once Miranda loved him, my son decided Ferdinand was 'good' and we gave him a smile. Notice my "spirit" Ariel. Oh, and Caliban, who is described as a monster.

Hopefully it's readable! Doesn't everyone love my drawing skills? LOL. So, here's the key we used:

• Smile face is a "good" guy.
• Frown face is a "bad" guy. (Even though our villains changed to good at the end, I didn't redraw. Perhaps I should have.)
• Boys/men have pants (aka 2 lines) and girls/women have skirts (aka a triangle with legs).
• Kings (and queens, if there had been any) have crowns.
• Arrows show two sets of brothers, and three parent/child relationships.
• Hearts are for devotion (Gonzalo) and love (Ferdinand and Miranda).
• X eyes mean the person is dead.
• Sycorax is a witch, so Andrew said she needed a pointy hat!

We added the chess piece just because we like chess. Andrew also wanted to add the ship in, so I sketched one. Overall, he really paid attention. I'd need to smooth out my drawing - it interrupted the reading too much, but we did okay. Since this is my wild child, I am pleased at the involvement he had with the story.

I am also glad I put him in his own year. For many people, combining the kids works wonderfully. But I am not one of that group. I really enjoy the one-on-one time to focus on each child.

And yes, I restarted school the day after Christmas. The vacation has driven me nuts! I need a little routine, and they do better without an all day free-for-all. In my defense, we'll mainly be reading for the rest of the month. We'll write some thank-you letters for English, and putter with a few other things, but we won't go full swing until we start Term 2 mid-January.

A Poem, and Opening Thoughts

I love this poem, and am currently memorizing it:

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter
by J. R. R. Tolkien

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.


So many thoughts about this little poem, but only time for two right now. First, it holds the hope of something better. Isn't that the beautiful thing about poetry? Instead of an essay or a book to cheer others, only a handful of words, but the perfect words. Short enough to be memorized, and thus, always available when needed. Life has not been easy recently, it's been very hard. Those two verses embody the hope I have, despite the fact that no one else believes in us. (And I'm not talking about hope in the government or some other person, I mean the hope that comes from God, and the hope that comes internally from small steps taken in the right direction.)

Second, this is what I want to give my children: deep roots and hope; wisdom and virtue, rooted in God. I want to show them they are never alone, to help them find faith in God. We are learning math and spelling, of course, but the main thing in our home and school is to grow as persons. To nourish the imagination and the soul, while training the will. I've been loving the Circe podcasts I've been able to listen too, and I keep thinking of truth, beauty, and virtue. On one of the lectures the speaker notes that "knowledge with power" is terrifying, instead we should pursue "wisdom with virtue". The first stanza of the poem requires wisdom and virtue, mere knowledge and power are not enough. Self-doubt will rise, and no one is perfect, we all fail. But wisdom and virtue are rooted outside of self, springing from the love of God.

So this might not be a very practical homeschooling blog, and it might be move musings than plans, more philosophical than practical. I'm not promising to make sense, or to answer my own questions. But this is the start of a new journey for us, and a new direction. The time is right.