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.
No comments:
Post a Comment