And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.
2 Timothy 2:24
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.
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"The Rationale of Spelling -- The whole secret of spelling lies in the habit of visualising words from memory, and children must be trained to visualise in the course of their reading. They enjoy this way of learning to spell." --Charlotte Mason, Volume 1, pp 243 Spelling does not come naturally to Mae, as it does to Viola, and as we are preparing for the step up to Year 4 next fall I committed to devouring all I could in CM's works, on the AO forums, and among trusted CM bloggers, the hows and whys of spelling. I was seeking an ah-ha moment. I found it. The first thing I've done is taken a step back from dictation in order to polish our approach to copywork so that it more closely resembles Charlotte Mason's principles of careful study of each word, in whole not part, in the mind's eye of the child--taking a mental picture of the word to imprint it on the brain to effortlessly (eventually) recall it every single time. Well, that is what we are striving for ... slow and steady. The Rationale of Spelling.––But the fact is, the gift of spelling depends upon the power the eye possesses to 'take' (in a photographic sense) a detailed picture of a word; and this is a power and habit which must be cultivated in children from the first. When they have read 'cat,' they must be encouraged to see the word with their eyes shut, and the same habit will enable them to image 'Thermopylae.' This picturing of words upon the retina appears to be to be the only royal road to spelling; an error once made and corrected leads to fearful doubt for the rest of one's life, as to which was the wrong way and which is the right. Most of us are haunted by some doubt as to whether 'balance,' for instance, should have one 'l' or two; and the doubt is born of a correction. Once the eye sees a misspelt word, that image remains; and if there is also the image of the word rightly spelt, we are perplexed as to which is which. Now we see why there could not be a more ingenious way of making bad spellers than 'dictation' as it is commonly taught. Every misspelt word is in image in the child's brain not to be obliterated by the right spelling. It becomes, therefore, the teacher's business to prevent false spelling, and, if an error has been made, to hide it away, as it were, so that the impression may not become fixed. {pp 241} I am blending Mae's copywork to include beautiful and worthwhile passages from her daily readings {day one, scripture; day two, literature; day three, poetry; day four, catch up} as well as further lessons in both a review of phonics and word building, using this resource that I was blessed enough to happen upon by way of other AO moms. I feel now that I am on a smoother and more defined road to seeing growth in Mae's spelling and in her self confidence. The logistics: I printed paper, maybe 60 sheets, from AO's copywork page, the large lines, and ProClicked them into a neat and tidy little book (one for Mae, one for Viola). I then printed a master of their letter formations and laminated them so they have a lovely model to reference, while not disrupting the clean approach of their copywork books. I'm eager to see the treasures these little books will hold come June.
NB~A couple things I have revised since the above picture ... I now use a black dry-erase marker and after we study and work on the passage, I make certain that the board is clean and uncluttered so that all she sees are the black words on the white board, making it easier, I hope, to take the clearest picture in her mind's eye. Our fourth day centers around music and Shakespeare. Today we went to the library and on the way there and home we listed to The Story of Haydn in Words and Music. We've been reading the Opal Wheeler biography each week (we really look forward to these neat books with each composer), as well ... just a few pages at a sitting and the children narrate. I like to play the piece we are studying while we read. We follow the Composer schedule from Ambleside; therefore we are presently studying The Creation. Our purpose in music study is to light a fire of passion for music and its masters ... to enjoy music, really enjoy it and revel in it, and to be able to distinguish between pieces of a composer, and eventually various composers. Right now my kids are completely smitten with the baritone as we learned that Haydn composed many pieces for it, which today is a rather unusual instrument. Have you listened to a baritone? Oh it is rich and melancholy. Just so settling on a grey fall day. Ultimately, we strive for simply exposing our children to beautiful music that may someday blossom into something even more awesome. I will restrain this portion of my post, on Shakespeare. He is one of my true loves and I believe he must know it. Our two favorite books to bring the Bard alive: Even though I do find such worth to studying Shakespeare, I am a bit more conservative than some when it comes to reading the plays, even in story form, to my children. There are certain themes that I prefer to reserve for when they are more seasoned in the ways of life. This year, the plays we are reading from Nesbit and concurrently studying with Ludwig's fantastic book are: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night {possibly my most favorite}, and Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare permeates so many crevices of our culture and it is wise to teach his works to children. He is, in my estimation, the cornerstone of English literature. There is no greater. Literary greats, for centuries, have turned to Shakespeare for his mastery and majesty of words and I am of the belief that my children should be knit closely with his plays and his sonnets, first in exceptional retellings (ala Nesbit or Lamb) and then with Shakespeare himself, line-by-line, over much time and with great heart. What do we do then each week? Again, echoing Charlotte Mason's principles, we keep the lesson simple and fulfilling. I read aloud from the play and we tend to keep a chart on the board of characters and places, almost like a family tree, since Shakespeare can be convoluted with so many names and comings and goings. I stop and the children narrate periodically, and we continue. We marry the reading with recitation from How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare. Why do I choose to have my children memorize Shakespeare? I believe that his works are our lost vernacular and having a fluency in his passages will unlock understanding and vocabulary that will transcend much more than just the poetry and prose; it will serve them well academically and emotionally beyond their school years. For the girls, today is their natural history reading day ... Secrets of the Woods by William Long for Mae and A James Herriot Treasury for Children for Viola, who reads aloud to Zeb. I think that Mae has really found a love with this book. The detail of observation and the preciousness of the animals is a wonder, that and we live in a wooded area, which brings it all the more to life. Our day begins with our morning rituals of gratitude, poetry, and singing. Our principle lesson this morning comes from Visits to Europe, which is a really special resource that bridges map drill, worldview, culture, and picture books in one simple guide. My girls keep a decomposition book and I print out the week's lesson, which they complete, cut, and paste into their notebooks. They do love some time using their hands like this as opposed to only reading and narrating a geography book. We do both, at each child's respective level, but Visits is a very cool way to come together for a worthy purpose, which is ultimately to shepherd them to live the Great Commission, which requires knowledge of place and people.
We are continuing to work on Psalm 23 and Getting Started With Latin. This afternoon we read more from Narnia and delved into our Biblical guide ... just so much good in there to unpack. Chicken tacos are in the crock pot, pumpkin seeds are roasting in sea salt and berbere, and tonight we trick o' treat in our little town. 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. |
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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