Our Thanksgiving book basket is full and ready for the reading over the next couple of weeks. The week of the 17th we will be reading Louisa May Alcott's An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving. It's a simple tradition to fill a basket with books of the season and around here, there is always room for another basket of books. Giving Thanks: Poems, Prayers, and Praise Songs of Thanksgiving by Katherine Paterson Celebrate Thanksgiving by Deborah Heiligman Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin Thank You Sarah, the Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story by Eve Bunting Over the River and through the Wood by Lydia Maria Child A Strawbeater's Thanksgiving by Irene Smalls This First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story by Laura Krauss Melmed Pilgrim Cat by Carol Antoinette Peacock Hardscrabble Harvest by Dahlov Ipcar Thanksgiving Is by Gail Gibbons Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet If You Were at the First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac I read a thread on the Ambelside forum about a mom using popsicle sticks to add some variety and spontaneity to her children's school day. I thought it was fantastic, and since I like things to be pretty and lovely and sweet {Kevin wants to cry sometimes when I say, "hey, I have an idea"} Mae and I got to creating our very own lesson sticks. We wrote down each lesson on a craft stick and then divided them by subjects that inspire (blue) and that discipline (green) and painted the tips in their respective, assigned colors. If you are not familiar, inspired lessons might include singing, picture or music study, a nature walk, history and literature; while a disciplined lesson would be maths, copywork, reading {learning to} and Latin. Charlotte Mason wanted children to move between lessons that stretched and engaged various parts of the brain so as not to become weary of, and in turn exhausted and disinterested, of the lesson at hand. "[B]ut this much is certain, and is very important to the educator: the brain, or some portion of the brain, becomes exhausted when any given function has been exercised too long. The child has been doing sums for some time, and is getting unaccountably stupid: take away his slate and let him read history, and you find his wits fresh again. Imagination, which has had no part in the sums, is called into play by the history lesson, and the child brings a lively unexhausted power to his new work. School time-tables are usually drawn up with a view to give the brain of the child variety of work; but the secret of weariness children often show in the home school room is, that no such judicious change of lessons is contrived." --Charlotte Mason, Volume 1, pp 24 What will this look like in our home school? We always begin each morning with prayer and some singing ... typically songs we've sung during worship at church. The children will take turns drawing a stick, blue, blue, green, blue, blue, green {we have more blue than green by about twice} and we'll work on that lesson. Obviously this will take fine tuning but the girls are excited and so I am excited to impart something fresh into our days, especially as the grey of winter rolls in to our part of the country.
I mentioned in my last post that Laying Down the Rails for Children is probably my most beloved home school resource. Here is a sampling of our lesson today, on Gentleness. First we read a story from Baldwin's Fifty Famous People about St Francis and everyone took turns narrating (even Jack as he like to get in on the fun). In my mama volume of Laying Down the Rails I was directed to various scripture that brings to life the manner of gentleness. I chose 2 Timothy 2:24-25 and we read it from various translations ... the NLT, ESV, HCSB, and the KJ. We talked more about being gentle in all we do, like Jesus who was as gentle as a lamb, including in our ways with animals. All in all, our lesson was probably 15 minutes. I pulled out a book on St Francis will absolutely charming illustrations and had each of the kids read The Sermon of the Birds here and compare to Baldwin's retelling. With every opportunity that arises I harken back to the habit of gentleness in words, spirit, actions, and thoughts throughout the day. Simple and effective and, well, gentle training of the will.
Our curriculum, Ambleside Online, is rich with books very carefully chosen for their living and literary qualities, their beauty, their appeal to their audience whether an 8-year-old or a 17-year-old, and their scholastic nature. I appreciate the breadth and depth of education that is happening in my home as a result of AO with a handful of truly exceptional books. We are closely following Year 1 for Viola and Zeb (as much as he can take in) and Year 3 for Mae (we reorganized the reading schedule for OIS since she wasn't up to the same starting point as Year 3) and I am completely enamored with the time period we are studying this term. I spent my college career drenched in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance ... gosh, those were the days, haha.
We must have eleventy billion baskets of books around the house. I like each room to have several and I have a very good husband who is endlessly tolerant. I sifted through several amazing book lists and compiled a gathering of books that I don't want my girls to miss that touch on the time of Beowulf, King Arthur, Merlin, Sir Gawain, Stonehenge, King Alfred and on an on. They take residence in this basket (along with our Visits to Europe picture books and previously read Van Gogh books ... rereading is always welcome here). Here is what will fill the basket for history literature over the course of the year ... more to come for Mae's studies as well. Robin Hood by Calcutt & Baker-Smith Arthur of Albion by Matthews & Tatarnikov King Arthur and His Knights {audio by Jim Weiss} A Castle Diary by Platt A Medieval Feast by Aliki Beowulf by Morpurgo Brigid's Cloak by Milligan Caedmon's Song by Ashby Merlin and the Dragons by Yolen Saint Brendan and the Voyage before Columbus by McGrew Saint Francis of Assisi by Denham Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Morpurgo Sword in the Tree by Bulla The Kitchen Knight by Hodges The Making of a Knight by O'Brien The Reluctant Dragon by Grahamme I tend to be drawn to people over events in history and I see that is also what resonates most with my children at this time of their little lives. Our "day two" is really such a quiet day that is a favorite around here. As with yesterday, we always begin with giving thanks to God for our blessings. Today we sang a hymn we're learning together to sing as a family ... we started last Sunday when we had church at home. We are also singing the Star Spangled Banner after having learned America the Beautiful the first six weeks of our year. Our poetry today came from Ambleside Online Year 1 and Year 3 ... speaking of thankful ... I am for these compilations so carefully created by the Advisory. The little yellow-spined book is The First Starry Night by Isom; this is our picture book this week on Van Gogh. We are studying The Sower ... a favorite of mine and utterly appropriate for two days before Halloween. It has a gorgeous solemnity to it and I always get excited to tie scripture to the picture with my kids ~ Mark 4:3-23. After our skills we will read one or two fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, likely Rumpelstiltskin and The Frog Prince. I read aloud on the couch and the children narrate. I take it in small chunks for Zeb and longer sections for the girls. Why fairy tales? This can be a sticky topic among Christians, but I look to fairy tales to permeate truths, beauty, and goodness in fanciful ways. We hold everything we read and learn up against God's word and likewise, fairy tales are a timeless way to preserve childhood and make the lessons teachable moments together. There is a magic all its own for children to have the literary richness that comes from fairy tales, fables, mythology, Shakespeare, Plutarch, and the like. I want the repertoire of my children's memories to include fairy tales and folk tales from around the world ... there is so much to be talked through and learned and simply loved about them. Habits. For a long time I had a storehouse of ideas on how Charlotte Mason approached habit training in children after reading her writings in Ourselves and Formation of Character. I also devoured Laying Down the Rails as a guidebook of sorts on how to put Charlotte Mason's writing into practice ... it was eluding me in a practical sense. It got better when Simply Charlotte Mason introduced Laying Down the Rails for Children; this may be my favorite home schooling resource. Twice weekly we turn our eyes to one habit and follow the lesson ... it might be a discussion, a place of scripture to investigate, a puzzle or game, a snippet from a piece of literature. We spend a very focused ten minutes on the habit and then of course I continue to imbue it throughout our day-to-day. {Our first habit was Attention, our current habit is Gentleness.} Each day, as I mentioned before, we spend a few minutes on recitation. Two days a week we study a Bible verse(s) and two days a week we work on a poem, which is at present Smells by Christopher Morley. So, day two. Gratitude, singing, poetry, fairy tales, picture study, habits as a family. Of course we take a walk (maybe yoga today ... it's brisk) and have main lessons of reading, writing, and math. The day would not be complete without our Bible study, either. We began the year with reading the Old Testament from a children's Bible, and I gathered a picture book to go along for each story and neat recipes to cook together, such as apple a la mode when we read about Adam and Eve. I found that this was great for the little boys, but not quite deep enough for my girls. So, on our fifth day I focus on the children's Bible with the boys (and girls) and the other four days the girls and I have a tea time every afternoon and meet with John. I took a different approach this year with them ... typically we simply read the Bible, a little every day, and we discuss and narrate and work through passages together. I asked the girls what book they'd really like to delve into for many weeks. They both said John (and then Esther) so I bought two Kay Arthur inductive Bible studies for kids and they ADORE it. We spend about 30 min, four days a week getting close to John and Jesus. I pulled out my Bible from when I was in 1st grade and showed it to them all marked up, highlighted, colored, and well loved. I went to a Christian school that taught us how to connect with our Bibles and live Ephesians 6:17. I am super excited about walking this road with my girls and soon with my boys. I never miss these moments. This girl has a book in her hand at all times and I have this intense pleasure of walking the road of discovering with her. We are studying the geography of Europe with this incredible resource. I fill a basket with rich, living books on the country and culture we are studying ... at present that is Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) as well as Ireland and North Ireland ... and my kids have beautiful books at their fingertips to enrich their studies, and I don't even think they realize that they are being immersed in learning at all times. A few books in our basket: Megan's Year: An Irish Traveler's Story by Whelan This Is Ireland by Sasek (among our treasured books) Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland by dePaola (oh how I love Tomie) A Walk in London by Rubbino This Is Historical Britain by Sasek This echoes the feast of ideas and books and things that Charlotte Mason encouraged mothers to set before their children. Wise woman. Some of the hallmarks of a Charlotte Mason education are the glories of picture study, music study, nature study, poetry, and hymn study, to name a few that are also hallmarks in our home. These are lessons that may be thought of as extras by some, but for us, they are lovely necessaries. I consider time studying Van Gogh equally as important as studying addition, listening to The Creation by Haydn as valid as a written narration ... they are disciplines of the mind and the children are steeping in beauty and truth and goodness. We live in one of the most charming and stunning parts of the country, and for that we must take great advantage of our King's creation. So, we take our studies outside whenever we can ... Our picture studies focus on one artist per 12-week term; this term we are studying (and loving) Van Gogh. There is such depth and curiosity in the artist's work and soul ... we've truly been reveling in learning more about this master. Each week we choose one work from the artist (we are currently using a picture study portfolio from Simply Charlotte Mason; it is an absolute must ... money thoroughly well spent) and we study the picture for a few dedicated minutes. We then narrate the picture to one another in detail and with a storytelling atmosphere. I tend to include a short picture book each week that highlights the artists and that pulls my little boys more into the habit of studying pictures and artists. Each week I read for a few minutes from a short biography on the artist and the children listen intently and sometimes color their own Van Gogh from an inexpensive Dover coloring book (especially good for the littlers in my home). All in all, we spend about 15-20 minutes a week enjoying our time with Vincent. Next term we turn our eyes to Michelangelo and then on to Monet. Nature study. Our most favorite time of each week {or maybe a tie with reading Our Island Story, hard to say}. A little silliness with Simon Says while out in nature is always a good time. Ah, nature study. How do we *do* it? How do we truly study nature and be content and even moreso, fulfilled, that this is the perfect path to a rich science education prior to more formal studies in jr and sr high school? I spent so much time overthinking this. To a fault. It really is so sweetly simple.
Go outside. Explore. Be reverent. Be intentional. Listen and look. Sketch and use field guides and perhaps a nice study with Comstock. Once a week we dress appropriately for the weather, grab our nature bag that is ready with sketch books, pencils, colored pencils, pocket field guides, insect repelling oil, disinfectant wipes :), a magnifying glass, and a few other odds and ends. Then, we head out. We often have no particular destination in mind ... sometimes we just walk our road, sometimes we head to the riverbank in town, or to the meadow behind our house, or to our town field ... the point is to saturate ourselves in the wonder of God's amazing creation; from the itty bitty water bug to the giant oak to a brambling stream to a nest of Robin's eggs, or better yet, baby birds. Each term I do like to focus, for a time, on something in particular, like a tree or its leaves or bark, or all of it. I try not to dictate or guide my children too much on our walks, but instead I let their delights navigate. |
erin.kate
Adorer of my Jesus. Home school mama to four ... three home grown and one from the far reaches of Africa. Ridiculously blessed wife of a man who loves with a servant's heart. Devotee of Charlotte Mason and clean, humble living. Archives
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