Floundering through Norms and Nobility

I'm thrilled to have this lovely, costly book by David Hicks as an inter-library loan. My goal is to read through the first part before 10am Saturday, when it has to be in the return box. (I cheated and read some of the second part already.) Not only is this book part of the foundation of years 7-12 of Ambleside Online, it's a "must read" from both Andrew Kern and Christopher Perrin.

So I am drowning in chapter 5 "Saving the Appearances". It would help if I even understood the title. Anyway, I'm pushing through. Trying to get the big picture as recommended by Andrew Kern, and also a method recommended for tough books in "How to Read a Book".

The chapter starts on page 52. Finally, on page 57 I am tossed a life preserver, a sentence I understand, and have to suppress the urge to do cartwheels.

A science of numbers feeding on technological or commercial ambitions generates a new attitude concerning the nature of man and of his purposes: it flattens the vertical levels-of-being [aspiring to the Ideal type] conception of man and turns the flow of his curiosity away from the normative toward the analytical.

I thank Kern, again, because while I couldn't define 'normative' to save my life, I know it's the opposite of analytical, which is breaking things into little pieces then putting those pieces under the microscope. Perhaps we could say the normative is concerned with the whole and appreciating the nature of a thing, while the analytical is concerned with dissecting and explaining the parts of the things.

So I still feel like a little kid, standing on my tip-toes trying to see what's on the table. Kindly enough, Hicks throws me another gem on page 58.

Whereas the modern technocrat sees knowledge as a source of power giving him a manipulative edge over nature and over others, the ancients treated knowledge as a source of virtue challenging the individual to improve himself and to look beyond the appearances for truth.

Do you want knowledge & power, or wisdom & virtue? I know what I want.

A Personal Growth: How My Views on Literature Changed Between My Eldest and Youngest Sons

When I think of how I've changed as a home educator, the biggest area is literature. I like to think I understand math, Latin and our English language better. I still believe history should be taught with living books and biographies, even if I waver on the best implementation. I think science is even cooler than before, and that's not all due to the Mythbusters.

But the biggest shift has been my view of literature: especially fairy tales, myths, Shakespeare, and poetry. I'm not claiming to know it all, or even to know much. Actually, the more I learn the more I realize that I don't know.

When my biggest boy was only five, I could not understand why you'd read those awful, violent fairy tales to a child. When I read a few booklist containing myths in second AND third grade, I wondered why they would focus so much on myths and false gods.

When eldest was about six, I read "Peter Pan" for the first time. I really didn't like it. But Ambleside Online and everyone else had it listed, so I tried to read it aloud to all the kids. It shouldn't have been a surprise that we didn't finish it.

That same year, also thanks to Ambleside, we took a stab at reading the "Just So Stories". Oh my. That book, in my not-humble opinion, was a work of torture. All the lil' 'tractions, and the best beloveds, and the svelts, I dreaded it. Due to a huge detour to work on some reading & language issues with my son, we didn't finish the book.

Fast forward to this year. I still haven't read all of Charlotte Mason's books, but I've read large sections of her books and many PNEU articles, plus a few books about her methods. I've seen this quote (often attributed to G. K. Chesterson) a gazillion times in various places:

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

My older two boys and I read some Greek myths. I even read a few picture books about various myths & fairy tales to all three boys. I'm still not to sure about the relationships between the gods and goddesses, but we enjoy Theseus growing strong and lifting the stone, We cheer when Perseus slays the gorgon. I decide myths are kind of cool. Besides, I'm understanding those old Star Gate shows on Amazon Prime a lot better now.

I join in a huge Circe discussion on the Well Trained Mind. I listen to old talks on audio, trying to shift my mind and understand. I hear of a thing called "annotated books" from an experienced homeschool mom. My library has a few, I stick them on hold, the first one I get is Peter Pan. (Imagine my eyes rolling.) It sits on my shelf. Finally I decide I better look at it. I skim the first section about the author's life, and get to the story, fully intent on ONLY scanning the annotations in the margin. Whether it was the added time and contemplation on my part or the annotations, I start to read the storytext as well. I pull my first book binge in what seems like forever, and read the whole book, annotations and all, within twenty four hours. It's back on my "read to the kids" stack.

We also restart Ambleside Online, and I have another 6 year old boy. This one can narrate, but he is all wild, squirrelly, bouncy boy. I strongly consider skipping the "Just So Stories" -- in fact I delay them nearly a term. But the other readings are going so well (including the violent fairy tales, which we enjoy together), and I plunge in. My tongue is still twisted, but this time I start to like the repeating phrases. They are like lifelines. I read a little snippet that Kipling wrote the stories for his daughter. In one of the final chapters, about a cat, I am rewarded. I tell my just turned 7 year old that it's a long chapter, we'll read half. I note my eldest son, now 10 years old, is also staying in the area, listening. I start to read, expecting this to be like the other chapters - cute and good for the kids. I should say I love cats. We read the whole chapter in one session, myself and both boys. It becomes one of my favorite short stories. I anticipate reading it to my daughter in a few more years.

Today's blog carnival is about Charlotte Mason's teaching of literature. I've been struggling to figure out what to say. But she recommends fairy tales (real ones), fables and myths. She includes tough books like Parables from Nature and the Pilgrim's Progress. (Which we are starting this fall with a lovely dramatized audio version!) She has them hear the stories of Greece and Troy from Andrew Lang. Why?

The great tales of the heroic age find their way to children's hearts. They conceive vividly and tell eagerly.

Education is a relationship, development of a person. Literature has a profound impact, and we need to stop worrying about what the child can handle! We need to spread the feast, and trust they will take in what they can.

Why do I read these old stories - the old children's classics, myths and fairy tales? Because there is evil in the world - there are dragons. I want my children to know that dragons can be killed, that evil can be overcome. We need more heroes in our hearts.

Playing with Puppies -- Random Wanderings

I am going to attempt a post, even though my monitor is dying. To shorten a long story, I have black lines flashing horizontally across the screen. Which is making it hard to focus on individual words and check my spelling, punctuation and grammar. So please forgive any errors or typos!

Weekly Workbooks

So in a long winding rabbit trail typical of me, I started on the Well Trained Mind forums. Some moms there have been binding their workbooks by week instead of subject. So instead of a math book and a grammar book, they have the first math and grammar lesson in one book.

Hmmm, instead of big workboxes I fill daily, we could have a small portable booklet for the week, which I could make in advance. (I do well working a few hours on a project, it's the 5 minute daily tasks that I struggle on. So advance preparation is good.)

As the new owner of a wire-binding machine, I've already made books for math, Latin and handwriting. I'm able to get the bindings cheaply as well. I also  had great success the year we used the File Crate System,  I have everything I need.

So I was considering this approach for the next school year when I (again) realized how difficult it would be to separate Memoria Press' Latin by week, let alone by day. Then I remembered how much I dislike (re)buying a physical workbook at all, when I have a lovely old laser printer. So I started a thread on the WTM about Latin programs that are available as PDFs.

Visual Latin

I received several responses, including Visual Latin and I Speak Latin. Since I actually own the PDF of I Speak Latin, I've decided to actually use it. But back to Visual Latin, which:

• Is a video and fits into my goal of more independence for the kids.
• The worksheets are PDFs, which I can print for each child as they use the program.
• It's a LOT less writing than First Form. My eldest is a trooper, doesn't complain, and he is mastering the grammar but ...
• I want them to READ in Latin, not just decline it. Visual Latin's goal is reading the Vulgate, and it starts with simplified readings in lesson 1.
• Plus it leads into Lingua Latina. My favorite program.

I think I read at least half of the entire archives of Visual Latin's blog, and most of the WTM posts about it. But I wasn't seeing enough real-world reviews to answer a few questions about implementing it. So I did a search for reviews and clicked on anything bloggy.

To my delight some of my favorite blogs topped the list: Afterthoughts and Ordo-Amoris. So I searched them for more posts on Visual Latin at Afterthoughts, and ended up on Brandy's Monday Musings. Which led me back to Ordo-Amoris (and Andrew Kern),

Play with the Puppies

Kern has a longer blog post here on the puppies, but with less gory examples. Maybe it's my mood - rather sad - my old kitty is not doing well, and I'm dreading what will come. But the word picture of the beautiful rainbow and the Christmas puppy is really sticking with me. (I'm trying to erase the lawn-mower part from my mind.)

So now I'm walking around, thinking about all the curriculum I have, and asking if it is (or can be) a puppy.

We need more puppies in our day.

Map Drawing Trial: South America

I decided to try my hand at map drawing before assigning it to the kids One of my goals is for us to draw decent world maps from memory as mentioned in The Core.  So I started with an easy continent and am pleased with the result. I know the boys will probably need to memorize a more basic outline first, with country names, but this is an encouraging, and free, resource. Later I'd love to be able to label some of the land features and a few cities. Download the PDF here (for free) from Globalmania.

posted from Bloggeroid

Christmas in May!

Ambleside Online now has grid schedules (years 1-5 so far). The WHOLE YEAR on 6 pieces of paper! This compliments their redesigned weekly schedule pages. Go check them out!!!

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.