For those wondering about the nitty gritty, here are some of the nuts and bolts of how we are carrying out our homeschool at Corius this year.
Our oldest is in kindergarten, but our two and three year old are both quite ready for some real preschool as well. Therefore, we scheduled two blocks of school time in our day, one involving all three children each morning, and one during the afternoon nap for just our oldest who no longer naps. At least, in theory the younger two nap during this school block.
We are using memoria press kindergarten curriculum, but rather than follow the daily plan that they provided, we opted for the simplicity of a timed approach which I will explain in a moment. We also are beginning our first year in Classical Conversations with a new community here in town. Not only are we paricipating in the program this year and therefore learning the cycle three material, I am also tutoring the five and six year olds in our community. To the memoria press and classical conversations, I am adding phonics pathways which we were already over halfway through in our reading studies, and We Choose Virtues for our biblical character study.
Our time based approach has really allowed us to simplify. Rather than stressing over getting through a certain number of pages in a study each day, or feeling like we cannot move ahead with the next assignment since it is planned in for another day in the week, I have opted to simply allow time to dictate when we stop and start each subject in our day. When the twenty minutes are up for a subject, we move on. We get as much done in the time block as we can and don't sweat if it is a lot or a little. Simply homeschool.
So our morning block which involves all three children involves bible reading and prayer, character study, date/calendar, weather graphing, journaling, geography, classical conversations grammar review, phonics, math and enrichment. Our younger two are free to come and go as they please after we finish the character study. They tend to wander away and come back for enrichment.
Enrichment is an activity and is different each day. Mondays we conduct a science experiment. I find simple ideas online, and from books we own. Wednesdays we practice a life skill, Montessori style. Some the kids have chosen, like Claire wanting to brush her own air or perform a cartwheel. Others just present themselves, like making a sandwich or tying shoes. Thursdays we do art, using Kindergarten Art with Mrs. Brown online. All the children love art days of course. Fridays I read a story or stories related to our history sentence of the week. Many readings come from Bennett's Treasury of Virtues and from books in our personal library. Our morning schooling usually takes around two and a half hours. When the younger two children nap in the afternoon, Claire reads for twenty minutes with me from the phonics pathways book.
On Tuesdays we have classical conversations community in the mornings. Since I tutor, we are there from about 8:30 until 1:30, so I do not do any other schooling on Tuesdays. I do help Claire to create lap books for the material from CC, and she can work on those during the afternoon naps on community days, but many times she opts for look and finds and art projects on her own while I rest with the others. Tuesdays are exhausting!
We school at our kitchen table, which my husband wisely selected for the fact that it has a hinged top with ample storage. I have two magnetic whiteboards hanging over the table, with magnetic letters across the top and dollar tree domino decals strung across in a number line from one to ten. The door to our laundry room holds my enlarged US map, our schedule, family rules and virtues, and the children's chore charts. We do our reading cuddled up on our couch and our classical conversations grammar standing altogether.
So far, so good. Each day we adjust a little and grow more efficient. Each day I work a little more at simplifying my homeschooling and teaching. Each day seems a little easier and a little more normal than the last. It feels like we've been doing this forever, actually, which is great. And that's all I have to say about that for now.
Our School Table
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Spinning Lessons from Rumpelstiltskin
I have been stewing lately over the story of Rumpelstiltskin - specifically about that straw that was spun into gold. I have a lot of unanswered questions in this story. What on earth inspired the miller to come up with the idea of spinning straw into gold to begin with? Once spun, did that gold straw act like gold or like straw (i.e., if lit on fire would it melt or be consumed?)? Did the king ever run out of gold and ask his wife to spin him some more, and if so, what happened when she couldn't do it?
Have you ever seen wool or cotton before it has been spun into thread? It is amazing to me that a big jumbled mess of fluff can be neatly and seamlessly arranged into a fine strand that is strong and smooth. I think this makes a good analogy for what we are doing in rearing our children, not to mention for what God is doing in rearing us as His children. He is taking the jumbled mess of our lives and working it over until it is smooth and strong and useful for playing its part in His kingdom tapestry. And we are to assist in His work in the way we train our children.
The bible tells us that the foundation is God's as the maker of life, but that we will each be judged based on the materials we used for building on it:
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 "According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."
There are times in my life when I am spinning straw and spinning straw and spinning straw and all that is coming out is a tangled mess of spun straw, not useful for anything. No matter how much I want to believe the outcome of my activity will be pure gold, my work is worthless because my material is worthless. Hear me in a different way: the reason my straw spinning didn't result in gold has nothing to do with my effort and work; it has everything to do with what I was working with. I want to be certain that I choose the right materials when I build on God's foundation (Christ being the Cornerstone), in both my life and my children's lives.
My mother and I were talking the other day about the finitude of our capacity for just about everything in this bodily form. This wasn't really a talk about food, but that makes a good analogy for where I'm going. When my kids fill up at snack time, they won't eat dinner for me. Why? Because they are limited in how much they can eat by the size of their stomachs. They can fill that space with all manner of things, some good, some bad. And they will be judged based on what they fill it with, won't they? Whether or not they made good choices in their eating will be reflected in their weight and health years later, or in whether or not they are able to keep the food down in the present!
In our children's eating, our goal as parents should be to encourage a good appetite for what is good. But the stomach is not our only organ with finite capacity. How much can the heart hold? How much can the mind? In our children's reading, we should encourage an appetite for what is good. In our children's watching, we should encourage an appetite for what is good. In our children's buying, playing, time, studies, we should encourage an appetite for what is good. We should put gold in if we want to get gold out.
Because the truth is, there really is a Rumpelstiltskin in this world trying to convince us that we can use straw to make gold in our lives. This world is full of straw disguised as gold. And this world is full of people who are building with and storing up Rumpelstiltskin's gold, not realizing that it is worthless straw.
To save the life of her child, the miller's daughter had to learn Rumpelstiltskin's name. Our challenge as parents is to know the name and teach it to our children. Call the liar the liar. Call gold, gold. Show your children straw and teach them the difference. And begin with identifying and removing the straw in your own life so that your children will be free to follow your example.
Have you ever seen wool or cotton before it has been spun into thread? It is amazing to me that a big jumbled mess of fluff can be neatly and seamlessly arranged into a fine strand that is strong and smooth. I think this makes a good analogy for what we are doing in rearing our children, not to mention for what God is doing in rearing us as His children. He is taking the jumbled mess of our lives and working it over until it is smooth and strong and useful for playing its part in His kingdom tapestry. And we are to assist in His work in the way we train our children.
The bible tells us that the foundation is God's as the maker of life, but that we will each be judged based on the materials we used for building on it:
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 "According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."
There are times in my life when I am spinning straw and spinning straw and spinning straw and all that is coming out is a tangled mess of spun straw, not useful for anything. No matter how much I want to believe the outcome of my activity will be pure gold, my work is worthless because my material is worthless. Hear me in a different way: the reason my straw spinning didn't result in gold has nothing to do with my effort and work; it has everything to do with what I was working with. I want to be certain that I choose the right materials when I build on God's foundation (Christ being the Cornerstone), in both my life and my children's lives.
My mother and I were talking the other day about the finitude of our capacity for just about everything in this bodily form. This wasn't really a talk about food, but that makes a good analogy for where I'm going. When my kids fill up at snack time, they won't eat dinner for me. Why? Because they are limited in how much they can eat by the size of their stomachs. They can fill that space with all manner of things, some good, some bad. And they will be judged based on what they fill it with, won't they? Whether or not they made good choices in their eating will be reflected in their weight and health years later, or in whether or not they are able to keep the food down in the present!
In our children's eating, our goal as parents should be to encourage a good appetite for what is good. But the stomach is not our only organ with finite capacity. How much can the heart hold? How much can the mind? In our children's reading, we should encourage an appetite for what is good. In our children's watching, we should encourage an appetite for what is good. In our children's buying, playing, time, studies, we should encourage an appetite for what is good. We should put gold in if we want to get gold out.
Because the truth is, there really is a Rumpelstiltskin in this world trying to convince us that we can use straw to make gold in our lives. This world is full of straw disguised as gold. And this world is full of people who are building with and storing up Rumpelstiltskin's gold, not realizing that it is worthless straw.
To save the life of her child, the miller's daughter had to learn Rumpelstiltskin's name. Our challenge as parents is to know the name and teach it to our children. Call the liar the liar. Call gold, gold. Show your children straw and teach them the difference. And begin with identifying and removing the straw in your own life so that your children will be free to follow your example.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Simplicitas for the overachiever
Overachiever.
Yep, that's what she said. The word rang in my ears and I wasn't sure if it was a compliment or a criticism. I know she meant it in a positive way, but I'm not sure how I felt about it then, or even now.
So many years of my life could be summed up in that word - namely my school years. But those years were also weighted down by a plaguing sense of guilt. Could've, would've, should've, more, more, more. See, there was always a greater expectation than I could possibly meet. Rarely did that expectation come from any outside source (though I can think of a boss or two I could mention...); I have never needed anyone but me to push me.
Such high expectations, such an extremely huge distance to fall when I fail to meet them.
And what I discovered recently, as I have been trying to pry into why I lose control when I lose it (and trust me, I lose it too much!), is that this place is where the rub is. Somewhere in that space between my expectations and reality.
How do I respond when I don't meet my expectations? Or more importantly, when you don't meet my expectations? How do I deal with disappointment?
Somewhere we have all heard (Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, or some other famous person quoted in Internet memes), that the secret to contentment is not to have more but to want less. Contentment is key, isn't it, the key to not being disappointed? Our consumer society always pushing us to buy more, work more, want more, learn more, play more stands in direct opposition to the cry of our hearts, the cry to live simply. Simplicity is a great weapon in the fight against my overachieving expectations, against my discontented consumer spirit. It is with simplicity that I want to homeschool.
I fight the urge to buy into the gimmicks. Teach your child to read with no tears in thirty days! Have the world's smartest child using this one easy memory trick! You can do it all! I don't spend my time pouring over Pinterest boards searching for that perfect clever way to teach the "ch" sound that involves a month of constructing a full scale train in my living room. I don't need a special school room, or a teacher name, or anything really that I have to buy and don't already possess.
Simply homeschool.
Simply read to your children. Write letters on the whiteboard over your kitchen table. Use your homemade flashcards. Go to the library. Teach your children. Learn with your children. Find what interests them and dive in head first, even if it means plowing through two huge volumes of dinosaur stories full of predators stalking prey complete with illustrations every single time your kids get a choice at reading time (trust me, I feel your pain). Gently turn their faces toward God's truths when their interests carry them away. Stay home. Be fully present and available.
Simply homeschool.
Simply read simply the scriptures and suddenly you will discover that God is the one opening your sweet child's little heart to the truths of His word. The Jesus Storybook Bible, the rhyming bible, those piles of other cutesy gimmicky bibles might have given her a love for David and Goliath and Noah's arkfull of animals, but the word in its glorious simplicity is giving her a love for God Himself!
And that is the greatest blessing a parent can witness, to be the conduit through which God reaches down and touches the heart of your child.
Yep, that's what she said. The word rang in my ears and I wasn't sure if it was a compliment or a criticism. I know she meant it in a positive way, but I'm not sure how I felt about it then, or even now.
So many years of my life could be summed up in that word - namely my school years. But those years were also weighted down by a plaguing sense of guilt. Could've, would've, should've, more, more, more. See, there was always a greater expectation than I could possibly meet. Rarely did that expectation come from any outside source (though I can think of a boss or two I could mention...); I have never needed anyone but me to push me.
Such high expectations, such an extremely huge distance to fall when I fail to meet them.
And what I discovered recently, as I have been trying to pry into why I lose control when I lose it (and trust me, I lose it too much!), is that this place is where the rub is. Somewhere in that space between my expectations and reality.
How do I respond when I don't meet my expectations? Or more importantly, when you don't meet my expectations? How do I deal with disappointment?
Somewhere we have all heard (Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, or some other famous person quoted in Internet memes), that the secret to contentment is not to have more but to want less. Contentment is key, isn't it, the key to not being disappointed? Our consumer society always pushing us to buy more, work more, want more, learn more, play more stands in direct opposition to the cry of our hearts, the cry to live simply. Simplicity is a great weapon in the fight against my overachieving expectations, against my discontented consumer spirit. It is with simplicity that I want to homeschool.
I fight the urge to buy into the gimmicks. Teach your child to read with no tears in thirty days! Have the world's smartest child using this one easy memory trick! You can do it all! I don't spend my time pouring over Pinterest boards searching for that perfect clever way to teach the "ch" sound that involves a month of constructing a full scale train in my living room. I don't need a special school room, or a teacher name, or anything really that I have to buy and don't already possess.
Simply homeschool.
Simply read to your children. Write letters on the whiteboard over your kitchen table. Use your homemade flashcards. Go to the library. Teach your children. Learn with your children. Find what interests them and dive in head first, even if it means plowing through two huge volumes of dinosaur stories full of predators stalking prey complete with illustrations every single time your kids get a choice at reading time (trust me, I feel your pain). Gently turn their faces toward God's truths when their interests carry them away. Stay home. Be fully present and available.
Simply homeschool.
Simply read simply the scriptures and suddenly you will discover that God is the one opening your sweet child's little heart to the truths of His word. The Jesus Storybook Bible, the rhyming bible, those piles of other cutesy gimmicky bibles might have given her a love for David and Goliath and Noah's arkfull of animals, but the word in its glorious simplicity is giving her a love for God Himself!
And that is the greatest blessing a parent can witness, to be the conduit through which God reaches down and touches the heart of your child.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Gearing up
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. - Benjamin Franklin
Three more days until CC orientation and my quiet life in jammies all day with the kids is altered forever. I live in routine, you might say I thrive in it. Always the planner, always knowing what is coming up next. And I am raising three routine gluttons. My oldest can hardly make it through an activity without either asking "what next?" or giving everyone in the room a point by point analysis of the remaining hours of the day. But thus far my routine has been simple, quiet, at home.
The new plan has been spelled out carefully, painstakingly, lovingly in my homeschool planner. In pencil. See, I know that the coming year cannot be inked in anywhere. How quickly will Claire breeze through this reading program? Much too quickly, I am thinking, but the math may keep her attention. When will I fit in time for dishes, laundry, cooking gluten free bread? I have literally scheduled Buddy's potty training when it is most convenient for me during the school break, but will he even be interested or capable then? (Please, Lord, let that answer be yes!) When Evie Jane is four will she suddenly decide to be too old for childcare, and if so where will I find the tuition money to send her to class during CC?
So many variables, and yet one amazing constant and the foundation of it all. I know that God has called me to homeschool my children. I don't have to pencil that in. I am not homeschooling out of a knee jerk reaction to the crumbling standards of public education, or because the city just rezoned our district, or because I can't afford private school, or because I don't want to go back to work. I am homeschooling because God clearly directed Geoff and I to choose this path for our family. And I'm excited!
Three more days until CC orientation and my quiet life in jammies all day with the kids is altered forever. I live in routine, you might say I thrive in it. Always the planner, always knowing what is coming up next. And I am raising three routine gluttons. My oldest can hardly make it through an activity without either asking "what next?" or giving everyone in the room a point by point analysis of the remaining hours of the day. But thus far my routine has been simple, quiet, at home.
The new plan has been spelled out carefully, painstakingly, lovingly in my homeschool planner. In pencil. See, I know that the coming year cannot be inked in anywhere. How quickly will Claire breeze through this reading program? Much too quickly, I am thinking, but the math may keep her attention. When will I fit in time for dishes, laundry, cooking gluten free bread? I have literally scheduled Buddy's potty training when it is most convenient for me during the school break, but will he even be interested or capable then? (Please, Lord, let that answer be yes!) When Evie Jane is four will she suddenly decide to be too old for childcare, and if so where will I find the tuition money to send her to class during CC?
So many variables, and yet one amazing constant and the foundation of it all. I know that God has called me to homeschool my children. I don't have to pencil that in. I am not homeschooling out of a knee jerk reaction to the crumbling standards of public education, or because the city just rezoned our district, or because I can't afford private school, or because I don't want to go back to work. I am homeschooling because God clearly directed Geoff and I to choose this path for our family. And I'm excited!
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