Writing

Yup, a picture of my oldest modeling a hat I just knit.

Let's talk about writing and CM. This is probably my personal weakest area and my hardest to teach. Now that things are going a little more smoothly with school I can start focusing on trouble areas.

CM recommends just doing written narrations. No actual writing instruction until they reach high school age. This a teaching that really requires trust on my part if I want to try it that way, but it is sooo hard. The oldest can write, sometimes very well and sometimes not so well. Of course, when the extended relatives view her writing I get the "look". You know the "look", the one that says you aren't doing a good job teaching writing and you're ruining my grandchildren. To be honest I am not sure I can this method and I would love to hear if someone else had gone this route with success. I do have this resource, http://www.lulu.com/content/1944866 , which I should try to utilize more first.

Over at Harmony Art Mom she shared a blog post on teaching writing using IEW and I am not going to link IEW. It was pretty compelling to me as she has older children and they seem to be doing well. IEW is expensive and it seems very work intensive on my part. Would I use something like that? What about what CM says? I will admit that I am tempted. I would welcome anyone who has advice on this topic.

Another aspect of IEW is cost. I know for our children's educations we should spare no expense, but well that is a consideration. As it is, next year's stuff is already close to a thousand dollars between LBC and Saxon math. My husband works a blue collar job and we aren't made of money so, yes, cost is a big factor for things. He is willing if I think they really need it. I just don't want to waste money. Perhaps someone with experience here will share their thoughts with me on this topic of writing.

Different Charlotte Mason curriculums

I was thinking today after church about why I like LBC and why I didn't go with making up my own using the planner from Simply Charlotte Mason. I really thought making up my own would be great and so freeing, but underneath it all I like structure. There are other things going on in my life and I don't want to reinvent the wheel be spending all of my time planning. Tweaking is a whole lot easier then just starting from scratch.

If I made up my own, I would have to choose the books. Now I love to choose books, but most likely I would choose to many. I have done that before and overwhelmed the children. What if we would have missed a great book? Oh no, that can't possibly ever happen. Can you see me eyes rolling? After the books are chosen then I have to divide out the pages to be read each day. Lots of work. A few years ago I tried to make up my own and I spent way too much time planning. It was all I was thinking about. I just stopped after realizing I was becoming obsessed and order a complete non-CM style program, My Father's World. It was very good and everyone really enjoyed it. It was planned out for me and I could spend just teaching the children, but we grew out of it and my heart longed for CM again.

With LBC I don't have to choose the books. They did and I think they did a great job of mixing older books with current books. Ambleside's choices were just too dry for us and Simply Charlotte Mason was a little to slowly paced for me. LBC has a sample schedule of what you might want to cover in a week and they may say, read half of such and such a book. Well, it is up to me to plan the day out or the week out. It meets me half way, between being really planned out and being free form. I have added a few things and I have lessened a few things. I added a few more projects for the boys in third grade and few more books. Sixth grade for DD seems to be just right. After our first week with it, I can tell she likes it, even though she won't admit it. She keeps talking about what she is learning. I LOVE that. I am only guiding her and going over math with her. The books are doing the teaching. Let me say that again, the books are doing the teaching. I have more time to do other things. CM says they really don't begin their education until they start reading their school books for themselves. The boys aren't that independent yet, but it is nice to spend some more focused time on their educational needs.

Anyway, with LBC I have a nice framework to start with and can add and subtract a little, with out taxing my brain and still feel like I have customized it for the children.

Singapore Math

We have used Singapore math for almost a year and a half now and I have to say, It just isn't for us. There isn't enough review and when I can't understand what they are asking how am I suppose to teach to my children. Mostly the lack of review just frustrated my dd and is now really frustrating my boys.

I moved DD over to Saxon 7/6 which a friend had given me an old edition of and it she has really taken off with it. I am able to help over the rough spots. Math isn't really my thing, so I need to understand it before I can teach it.

Not enough money to move the boys to Saxon yet. G started crying while trying to do Singapore 2B review today. He is very good in math and can do several difficult problems in his head. Singapore should be great for him, right? Wrong! I think today I am just going to get some third grade math books from the grocery store and just do the basics until next spring when I can buy Saxon 4/5 for them.

I think Singapore introduces some concepts in math a little early. Last year we were really stuck on borrowing in subtraction. I am sure it is a great program, but just not for us. I avoided Saxon because it was textbookish, heck it is a textbook, but at least my limited mind can understand it and I can help them understand it.
Off to piano lessons.

Being Double Minded

Yes, I can occassionally be double minded. I have decided to return to LBC after much thought. All of the reasons I want to use it are still the same. My dd needs to read independently her school books. We will still read aloud some fun books and stories, but the mental effort must be her own. My boys need more one on one with me and their school work. I believe as parents we need to be raising our children to leave us and follow God's direction for their lives, not ride on our coat tails. So, yes, I am returning to a more Charlotte Mason styled school.

I am feeling very peaceful about this.

Let's see, DD will be doing a full grade six from LBC and the boys will be covering just the American history aspect of grade three and then full fourth next year. No on and I mean no one in this house can do any more ancient history.

I am also looking forward to doing nature study again which has always been a highlight for our home. Everyone really gets into it. We will be following along with Handbook of Nature Study.

Let the good times roll.

Life has gotten in the way

It seems life has gotten in my way and this summer turned out to be busier then I expected. I hope to back into the swing of things by the middle the Sept. and possibly not even until October. I have two trips in September and some more major activities left in this month. No wonder winter is my favorite month.

Habits for our School year

Well, I have finally chosen what habits we are going to work on this school year. I wanted to choose more academic type ones because the usual ones will always be there. They I won't have as much time on these and the sooner they are established the better.

For our first 8 weeks it will be reading and remembering. They need to read more for themselves and then remember it. Of course, the remembering will be in the form of various styles of narrations. They will be written, oral, drawn, or acted out. I want focus on encouraging the children to make extra efforts here. These will be habits that are needed all of their lives. Reading it once and then remembering.

The next 8 weeks will be, thinking and accuracy. Thinking is more then just saying, "I don't know", because most of the time my children do know, they just haven't taken the time to think about it. (Especially after I have been asked what is for dinner many....many times) They need to think things through. I don't want to always give them the answer. This goes back to the remembering. Accuracy goes hand in hand with everything else. Are you sure you are right? Maybe you should check again, especially when it comes to math. How many times is it the basic facts that are wrong? These tie in very well with the habits learned in the previous eight weeks.

This time it will a be a little different but still fit in well. Finishing what we start and use of time will be the focus. Use of time is something a dawdler needs help with, I have one of those. We work before we play. That is a great motto for almost any area of life and good habit to start. School should be done before playing. Use of time is also for me too. Now, not every moment needs to be productive but how much time are we wasting cruising the internet. I am guilty here of not always using my time well. Finishing what we start is something to really consider. Charlotte said, "If it was worth starting, then it is worth finishing." This one requires some thinking because not everything needs to be finished. How often do we let our sense of perfectionism keep us at something? Piano lessons leap to mind here. My dd takes fairly intense piano lessons. She is not sure she wants to keep on, but I "know" she does because she keeps learning new pieces on her own and plays for her own enjoyment. She just doesn't like the practice part. So I am helping her finish what she has started. This can also apply to me and my strange curriculum hopping. I should stay with what I started with MFW. Now there will be times when we must quit and change, but we really need to evaluate when that is.

I only have one for our last section and that is self-control. I am not going to talk much about it because we all need to have it. One thing I have done to help my children with it is a little word picture. I remind them that they have a castle, their body. They can not control anyone else's castle. Who is in charge of the castle? Usually a king or queen and when the castle is out of control, the king or queen must take charge and do what is right. Sometimes the jester takes over or those unruly peasants, but the king or queen must win the day.

It would be great if anyone has any comments to share them.

Spooked

I confess that the grass is NOT greener on the other side of the fence. While I was writing up my schedules for using LBC it suddenly dawned on me that they were looking an awful lot like my Ambleside Online schedules looked. While AO is a great program and I soooo wanted it to work, it didn't for our family. In fact, it made me dreaded getting up in the morning and having to do school. So when LBC started to look like AO I was totally spooked and almost started to panic. LBC is a wonderful program and maybe if I would have started it when I had wanted to 2 years ago things would have been different.

I put everything down for a day or two and talked to DH and an online friend. DH reminded me of what our goals for our children are in one talk and then a friend said that my DD said that she doesn't like changing curriculum so much. My friend was totally surprised. When I questioned DD about it, she said, "It is like buying a new house and not living in it very long." Wow, I totally convicted and it hurt. Not more then a couple hours later DH says that we should go back to My Father's World. I felt like David when Nathan came to confront him about what he had done with Bathsheba. The lights in my head and heart went on and I knew he was right. So we will be returning to MFW using Rome to Reformation.

I still plan on reading more CM and Laying Down the Rails . In fact, I want to share more about the habits we are going to be focusing on very soon. Confession is hard and that was why I hadn't posted, but I also wanted to be transparent and share with others that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. Charlotte Mason still has a lot to offer even if I won't be using a curriculum that follows her methods in a more purist style. Habits are worthwhile in any setting.