Plans for Advent

I don't know about you, but I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation.

We had an AMAZING Thanksgiving holiday.

Truly.

I could not have asked for ANYTHING more (other than for my Daddy and brother to have been with us in more than just spirit).

The family and friends were perfect.
  The food was delicious.
    The laughter was beautiful.
      The joy was contagious.
        The traffic was bearable.
          Everyone made it home safely.

But, now it is back to reality.

Of course, this new reality is an Advent reality, which is SO much better than the usual reality you come back to after a vacation!

Yes, there is laundry to do and there are suitcases to unpack and groceries to buy.

    But, there is also CHRISTMAS to get ready for.

That makes everything better.

I thought I'd share some of our plans for this Advent season in case you need inspiration for your own home. We've already begun to celebrate a few of these around here and the rest will be in full swing come this weekend when we can get all of our decorations out. This list is all that we have planned this month with ideas for how you can do it, too. Read it, enjoy it, make it your own. Whatever you do, do not get stressed out by the list. Just do what YOUR family enjoys doing. This is what WE have going on ...

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The first thing you should do is begin (if you don't already do this) lighting a seasonal smelly candle each morning and as you enter each room. I have candles in "mulled cider" and "gingerbread cookies" and "baking spices" and "pumpkin spice" and things of that nature. As soon as I get my tea in the morning, I light the one closest to me for my quiet time. When I leave that room and enter the kitchen, I blow that one out and light the one in the kitchen. It keeps the home smelling lovely and makes it cozy, warm and inviting. And, whenever you notice the flicker, say a small prayer for PEACE ... peace in your home, peace in your heart and peace in the world.

Next, go ahead and get that Christmas music playing in your home and car. Will it make you crazy after an entire month of it? Maybe. But, your kids will love it and it will get you in the right spirit, even if it IS 75 degrees and sunny where you live. If you don't have any Christmas CDs, borrow some from the library or play one of the Christmas stations on Pandora or the like.

We have already started reading from our massive list of Christmas books (I will do my best to share some of our favorites later in the season, but you can look in the archives for what we read last year). We have not yet gotten out our Christmas boxes (where all the books we OWN are), but I made sure to request about 20 of our favorites from the library before we went out of town for Thanksgiving, so they were waiting on us when we returned. Then, when we got back, I requested about 20 more that are slowly trickling in at the library. Simply place them in a basket in the living room and GET TO READING ALOUD to your children. Morning couch time is perfect for this. Sleep still in the children's eyes, bedhead and pjs make for good listeners. Get them to cuddle up on the couch under a blanket right away (with that seasonal candle burning on the table next to you) and read a few books to them before chores and breakfast. Then, even if the day gets away from you, you've done this one special thing already. Read about the Nativity story, read inspiring stories about love and generosity and peace. Stick to the GOOD stuff and keep your eyes on the "reason for the season" here.

Listen to some Christmas stories on audio at places like www.thestoryhome.com. We've already been listening to them.
 
Devote your morning Quiet time to Jesus. I mean, that's basically what you do anyway, but I mean REALLY put your focus on Him and His message this season.
 
Have a meeting with your children to figure out exactly what all you plan to make for gifts for family and make a list of supplies needed. Then, get to the craft store and GET TO MAKING those gifts! The time to ship them is right around the corner! I don't know about your homeschool, but making gifts and reading Christmas books and baking Christmas goodies and listening to Christmas music and doing all the things of the season is our "school" during this time. So, during that block of time you would normally be doing school, MAKE GIFTS.

Get four candles, some greenery and a larger pillar candle for the Christ candle and set up an Advent wreath or similar for your kitchen/dining room table. Make this with your children (if they are old enough and able) and begin to light the candle(s) at dinner each night. Light one candle this week, two candles next week, three the week after and four candles the final week. Save the center candle for Christmas, in honor of Christ.

Get a special stocking and some scrap pieces of paper and pens. Hang this "Jesus stocking" on the mantle (or whatever you have in your home) all alone so that it is special (save the other family stockings for Christmas eve). Each day, write something you are thankful for and place it in the stocking. Then, on Christmas eve or Christmas day, take the stocking down and read what all the family members placed inside all month.

Get to baking. Bake Christmas cookies and yummy bread and other sweet treats and give them to your elderly (or not) neighbors. The children will love the baking itself and the neighbors will feel loved when your children's smiling faces bring them goodies!

Get your tree and your decorations and get to decorating. Play that Christmas music as you and your children bring life to the home. Drink eggnog with freshly grated nutmeg while you decorate. Drink hot cocoa (add some Bailey's for the grown ups if you're into that sort of thing). Go ahead and bake some goodies just for the family.

Don't forget to do your oranges with cloves! The activity is fun for the family and the results are beautiful and smell amazing.

Read books about the real Saint Nicholas. Have your children set their shoes out on the eve of St. Nicholas Day (December 6th, so set them out on the night of the 5th) and then fill their shoes with treats while they sleep.

Get your hands on a catalog from Samaritan's Purse or something similar. Give your children a "budget" and allow them to pick out a gift (or more if you are financially able) for a family or child around the world. If they want to, they can pool their money together to get something "bigger" for someone, or they can use their own amounts to get smaller gifts. Either way, they are learning that Christmas is about GIVING, not about receiving. And, they are learning to appreciate all that they have ~ they can ask for the latest gadget for Christmas instead of a mosquito net to protect them from malaria or for a pair of shoes because they don't have any.

Find a production of The Nutcracker Ballet in your area and go. We are going to see the Nutcracker ballet with our homeschool group for the second year in a row and we are super excited about it. While you're at it, make Tchaikovsky your "composer" this month and listen to him and the Nutcracker at home. The ballet is much more enjoyable for little ones when they recognize all of the songs.

Find out when your town's Christmas Tree Lighting celebration is and go. Ours includes a bike parade, music and dance performances, hayrides, train rides, face painting, craft tables and more. Unfortunately, Daddy has to work that day, but we will hopefully make it over in time for Santa and Mrs. Claus to arrive via sleigh and watch as the community tree is lit. We went to the entire celebration last year and it was lots of fun. We'll be heading out to get our own tree after Santa's arrival and the community tree lighting this year.
 
Find a live Nativity or a live walk through Bethlehem in your area and go. We have the coolest live Bethlehem nearby that we went to last year and look forward to going to again this year. We get to go to an 8,000 square foot village with merchants, townspeople, artisans, beggars and live animals. There are over 200 costumed cast members that re-create the city of Bethlehem as it might have been on the night of Jesus' birth. There are authentic sights, sounds and smells and we get to walk through and make our way to the manger to see the Christ Child. Seriously awesome! We can't wait.

We will also be attending an Advent Spiral with friends. In this busy season, the Advent spiral is a time to slow down and reconnect with our souls and our inner selves. We will be sharing a meal with friends and the children will be lighting candles around the spiral, reminding us to be a light in the world. The oldest girl will get to be St. Lucia. It is a fun evening, full of both laughter and a quiet reverence. We really enjoyed it last year and look forward to it again.

Don't forget to take a night and go out and enjoy all of the Christmas lights! We love driving around and seeing what all people have done to make their homes beautiful during this time of year.

The last few years we have baked cookies and went out on Christmas eve searching for homeless people to bless. Two years ago we brought along several warm blankets and sweatshirts and socks and delivered all kinds of warmth (of the physical kind as well as the spiritual) to those in need. Last year, we did not have any blankets or clothes, but we still baked the cookies and took them out and delivered them wherever we could find people in need. I cannot tell you the joy on these people's faces to know that someone thought of them during this busy season. And, sharing this with our children is priceless. We will be doing this again this year, but we may get some more blankets and sweatshirts at the thrift store before we head out. We love this tradition.
 
Bake a birthday cake for Jesus and let your children make Him birthday cards to set out on Christmas eve. The card idea comes from the Princess. She wants to make Jesus a card and leave it out for the Angels to take it to Him (her words). I suggested we leave out His card and His cake on Christmas eve and maybe He and Santa could eat cake and cookies together and laugh and be joyful in our kitchen. She liked that idea.

Of course, in OUR family, these celebrations also include a day devoted to the Hippie. Her birthday is two days before Christmas, so we'll be honoring her as well this season. Decorations will greet her when she wakes up, gifts, family breakfast, a family outing (whatever she wants to do) and a family dinner out.

And, finally .... Christmas morning.

I was going to leave you with a few pictures from last year's Christmas celebrations, but apparently I have reached my storage limit and have to purchase additional photo storage space??? I'll have to check into that. In the meantime, I guess this is a photo-free post.

Enjoy.

 

Reflections on learning around here

I've given it some thought and decided that I will do a Monthly homeschool review rather than a weekly one. I'm just trying to simplify and put less pressure on myself. If I can find time to write each week, that is fantastic. But, if we get busy and I can't, I need that to be okay, too. Last year, having that pressure to document each and every week of school became somewhat of a chore at times. I'm thinking that once a month, I can recap what we've learned, what we've read and what we've experienced in the past month. That is a commitment that I hope to feel a bit less pressure about meeting. If you really want to see some of what we're doing as we are doing it, check the three reading logs across the top. I'm trying to update those daily or every couple of days with the books that we read aloud and that the girls read themselves. A book doesn't make it to the list until after it's read, so that is your record of some of what we have actually done.

Anyhoo. Even though I don't intend to do a "Week in Review" for the past two weeks, I wanted to spend some time reflecting on some of the things that have been working for us and some of the things I've already decided to change a bit.

What is working for us?

Music in the morning.
   Monday morning I made a point to stop my quiet time at 8:00 am on the dot. I put in our "Masters of Classical Music: MOZART" CD and headed to the kitchen to start breakfast. When the girls came out (excited to start school) and smelled homemade pear cinnamon oatmeal on the stove, heard Mozart on the speakers and saw Momma in her apron, putting dishes away, they said it felt so good. I made a mental note of that and have since done the same each day ~ 8:00 am on the dot, my computer time ends, Mozart is turned on and I'm in the kitchen doing the work of the day. It works for us. It feels good to me. It signifies the start of the day. It signifies that Momma is plugged in (or rather that Momma is now "unplugged") and ready to hold the rhythm of the family. Plus, I can stop worrying about "scheduling Composer Study" ~ it's now on the agenda each and every day and doesn't take up a bit of our lesson time! The Hippie and I planned out the months of the year with our 10 CDs and we will have a new composer each month. I know that is a bit shorter than the typical "one composer per term" Charlotte Mason recommendation, but if we're hearing the music every single day I think one month is enough. We like it this way.

Ten minutes of copywork and no more ... and from books we are actually reading.
   I spent most of the summer thinking I just wouldn't be able to come up with my own copywork each day and that I needed to just buy something. I'm so glad I didn't do that. It really was easy to sit down the Saturday before and pick out four days worth of copywork from books we are actually reading, plug short sentences into this worksheet maker (cursive for the Hippie and print for the Princess) and be done with it. I really believe they are more interested in the writing when it is something they recognize. They get excited about it. Another key, though is that I have set the timer for 10 minutes and made them stop wherever they were at the end of 10 minutes. Period. I want ten minutes of perfect handwriting instead of 15-20 minutes of sloppy mess. Each day the Hippie was able to finish and the Princess finished about half. But, both were beautifully written and that is what matters!

Dictation with the Hippie. 
   I cannot express enough how beautifully this went this week. My oldest child (up to now) has hated copywork and anything to do with writing (when Momma requested it). Charlotte Mason says not to begin dictation and written narration until the child is in 4th grade or about 9 or 10. Boy, did she know what she was talking about. We did our first dictation exercise on Monday and the Hippie loved it. She wanted to do it every day (she's only going to do it once a week, but I love the enthusiasm). Again, I agonized over buying something, but in the end decided on the more natural route and am so happy that I did. On Monday morning, I asked her if she'd like to do her dictation exercise (she didn't even know what that would be) from Bambi or The Last Little Cat (two books we happen to be reading aloud at the moment). She chose The Last Little Cat because her copywork that day had been from Bambi. I chose a paragraph for her to look at, told her to pick out any words she might have trouble spelling and wrote those on the board. She then took mental pictures of each word and spelled them orally. I asked her to look over the paragraph again, looking at capitalization, punctuation and spelling. I told her to listen closely because I would not repeat myself ~ she would only get the sentence one time. I then dictated one sentence (she did not know which one it would be) a few words at a time for her to write. She ended up doing it perfectly ~ no mistakes at all. She was so proud of herself! Awesome.

Written Narration with the Hippie.
   Just like I said above, I really thought this was going to be met with whining and complaining. But, again the girl totally surprised me ... in such an amazing way. I expected sloppy handwriting, 2 or 3 short sentences and major complaining. What I got was beautiful, carefully written handwriting, an entire wide-rule page and even more detail than the original story. She blew me away, big time. We had just used The Dog and His Shadow in our oral English lesson, so she chose to do her first written narration on that. As I said, she wrote it better than the first one. Double awesome!

English in Momma's bed
   Grammar is another subject I agonized over. I originally planned to have the Hippie just do Intermediate Language Lessons from Emma Serl in the workbook format. Again I was thinking "easier for me" ~ just do it. But, again (even after purchasing and printing over 200 pages ~ ugh, hate to waste paper and ink like that), I ultimately decided to go the gentle,natural route of doing English lessons orally and with me and only having her write the dictation, copywork and written narrations from books we are actually reading. Again, I am so glad I did. Twice this week, the Hippie and I curled up on my bed and went through several English lessons orally and then called it a day. She loved it and it was simple and natural. I'm telling you, natural is better! Once this week, the Princess and I did the same (only going through one or two lessons instead of several). Again, that bonding time is so special. I chose English for the Thoughtful Child because I already owned it. Keep it simple, right?

Fresh air and movement
   This is so important. We started each day with a short walk and I am convinced that it made things better. After breakfast and chores, we headed out the door for just about 30 minutes. We walked and talked and looked at all the nature we could see (tons, by the way). It got each of us some fresh air, some sunshine, a little bit of exercise and got the wiggles out so that they could concentrate when they got home. Success!

Candle and prayer
   In Waldorf circles, school generally starts with "circle time". Well, the typical "circle time" just isnt' me, but we do signify the start of our learning time and this works well for us. We have a special "school candle" (that the girls picked out at the Farmer's Market last week) that we light. We then hold hands and say a prayer ~ going around and letting all three of us speak. We say "Amen" and blow out the candle and get to work. It centers us. It bonds us. And, we always start the day by Giving Thanks to He who deserves it. What could be better?

Tea time after lunch
   What is "tea time", you ask? Well, I had originally planned to do it after quiet time and before they went out to play. I wanted to have a dedicated time, make them some tea and fit in things like Picture Study and Composer Study and Poetry and Shakespeare at this time. Just some time together over tea (theirs was caffeine-free, of course) reading together. Well, as it turns out, no one in this family is coming back to anything "schooly" after rest time. The Princess had suggested doing it before rest time anyway because then the tea could relax her (as she said). So, I thought ~ great idea. We ended up doing our tea time after lunch and clean up. I fixed up tea for each of us, we took it outside and we read aloud. It was great. We read the classic story of Paul Bunyan one day and the next day we took turns reading TONS of poetry to each other. Blissful.

German and typing 
   Again with the subjects I fretted over "scheduling" and didn't need to. The Hippie asks to do her typing every day even though I only "scheduled" it twice a week. And, our German CDs and songs have been on as much as Mozart (by request), again, even though I only "scheduled" it twice a week. Some things really are better left to the natural, Unschooly way. I'll still keep them on my schedule just to remind me, but I don't think I'll have to make it happen!

Scheduling the hair brushing to audio or video
   Sounds silly, doesn't it? Well, we have a lot of hair in this family and although my girls are good at many things, keeping their hair free of tangles is not one of them. In recent history, we had a habit of letting it get pretty bad and then once in a while, Momma would spend an agonizing hour removing dreadlocks from each child's hair. Well, no more! I take a stand, lol. I actually scheduled hair-brushing time! The Princess is on Monday and the Hippie is on Wednesday. We listened to audio history while brushing, so it was part of our school day. And, the girls' hair is beautiful now. Can't beat that! I figure that as long as Momma hits the hair once a week and they continue to brush and fix it each day (which they've done beautifully), then hopefully it will never get that bad again. Let's hope.

God and memory at breakfast
   We started doing our "God readings" at breakfast last year and really liked that. I have their attention when they are eating and can read a bit from the Bible or Wisdom and the Millers (our Proverbs for Children) or something of the like. We can discuss it. And, it doesn't take any time out of our lesson time. It is perfect. This year, I've added Memory to that time slot. We're working on memorizing "Come Little Leaves" by George Cooper at the moment. Perfect for fall.

Keeping the rhythm!!! 
   I cannot stress this enough. It is imperative that Momma keeps the rhythm! If the children come out and find Momma sitting at the computer, not dressed and ready to go, they will follow suit. If they come out and find Momma doing what she is supposed to be doing, they will as well. It's that simple. Whether we like it or not, Momma's make or break the school day right from the start. Whether I feel like it or not, I must get up before them, have my time to get in a good place for the day and be ready for them when they come out. Period.

Reading every day
   The girls have read every day. Period. Some during our "lesson time" while I was working with the other and some more during "quiet time". I made a nice little log for them to record books they read (we all love lists, don't we?) and they read. Period. The Princess also reads aloud to me for 10 minutes each day. I had only "scheduled" that once a week, but she requested it each day, so I'm following her lead. Again, it's a lovely cuddling time on the couch. It's working.

Squirrel math
   This is working well because we have squirrels in our yard that the girls named over a year ago, so I can easily talk about Nutmeg and Peanut Butter (yes, those are two of the names) collecting acorns. If Nutmeg has 8 acorns and Peanut Butter has 4, how many do they have together (8 + 4)? If Cinnamon comes along and they want to share them equally, how many will each one get (12 / 3)? Okay, so they each have 4 acorns ... a new friend comes along with 4 more. Now, how many do they have (4 x 4). Uh oh, winter is here and they have forgotten where they hid 7 of them. How many are there now (16 - 7). You get the idea. Tons of fun. And, it works.

Switching bedtime reading to single stories instead of chapter books
   I decided to change up our bedtime routine to include single stories like fairy tales or picture books instead of a continuing chapter book at this time. The reason was simple ~ too often we would end up not reading before bed, so the chapter books would drag on forever and really not be that great because we barely remembered what was going on. With this new system, I can read the chapter books during "school time" (hopefully following through much more often so that we can actually make some progress) and we have time at night to fit in all the great picture books and fairy tales we love so much but never had time for. It's worked well. With this new plan, we read bedtime stories much more often! I think one story is less pressure or doesn't sound as daunting as one chapter. Whatever it is, it works for us.

Family time and family learning
   Lessons are important, yes. But so is life. Our family bike rides and family beach walks and Nature Study with Daddy and our family Zoo trip and our visit to a local fort and historical Native American preserve and our impromptu night at the Art Walk have been fantastic and have been just as educational as our Squirrel math and dictation and copywork! It is so important not to get so bogged down in "lesson plans" that you forget the good stuff! Get out there and have fun as a family ... and learn a thing or two!

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Wow. If you are still with me, you must be a homeschooler, lol. No one else in their right mind would read this much chatter. I had some ideas to talk about the changes I've made or our daily or weekly rhythm, but I'm thinking this post is long enough. I'll put those into another post for you. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll do my best to get back to you.

What is working so far in your homeschool this year?

Until next time,

IrieMomma 

Second Grade

I thought I would share some of my notes on Second Grade. I am still not 100% sure on the implementation of all of this, but I do have a pretty good understanding of what is important for Second Grade. Keep in mind that this is my understanding, which means that I have naturally focused more on some things and left other things out.

In my education on this year, I have done quite a few things. I've read through the Christopherus Waldorf Curriculum Overview for Homeschoolers, both in the Second Grade portions and in the Subject by Subject portions. I've read through Melisa Nielsen's A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Second Grade. I've listened to a two hour podcast on the Gnomes Home Radio.

I have a bit of an advantage because the Hippie has already gone through Second Grade, but I did have to spend some time thinking about this child. All of that aside, let me share with you my understanding of the Second Grade and what it means in this house. If you are new to the ideas of a Waldorf Education, I suggest you do some research. I don't have time in this post to break it all down for you and I'd love for you to know what I'm talking about.

The skills that are important to me at this age are pretty basic ~ learn to read and build fluency with reading, basic handwriting (which will be practiced via Charlotte Mason style copywork in this house) and basic math. That is really all that matters at this age as far as skills. Grammar and spelling and composition will come with time, but are not my focus just yet.

My second grader can read, but needs practice. I'm planning to do a "100 Book Challenge" with her like I did with the Hippie at this age. My hope is that it will build confidence and fluency and somewhere along the way she will take off. My second grader can do basic math in her head (and really hasn't had a formal math lesson yet), but we want to deepen and broaden that knowledge this year. My second grader can write, but certainly needs practice. I plan to pull short sentences from our Second Grade stories this year for her to copy in order to practice her handwriting. She still writes the occasional letter backwards and still tends to mix capital and lower case all throughout the same word/sentence. But, I feel confident that a year of copywork will resolve those issues.

The subject matter for Second Grade can really be summed up as stories of Saints, Animal Fables, Nature and Math. Second Graders are still somewhat dreamy like a First Grader (and mine most certainly is!). They are ready for a deeper understanding of the material, but are still so young and playful.

The stories of the Saints meet the second grader where she is developmentally. These are stories of other-worldly people who devoted their lives to serving others. The goal here has nothing at all to do with Catholicism (at least not in my home ~ if you are Catholic then this would be different in your home), but has everything to do with showing my daughter that it feels good to serve others. I want to include stories that will speak to her.

The stories of the Animal Fables also meet the second grader where she is developmentally. These are morality tales that teach a lesson, but as the teacher we should never tell them the lesson ~ let the story work deep inside them.

Second grade is also a good time for myths and legends from around the world. I like the Jataka tales because they sort of combine the ideas of the Saints and the Animal Fables into one ~ the Buddha told these tales of himself as various animals and people in order to teach people to be compassionate to all living things. Like the Jataka tales, stories involving Hindu saints would be good this year. I really like the stories that sort of combine the two themes.

Traditional Waldorf Second Grade emphasizes form drawing, knitting, recorder and lots of movement in addition to the academic portions. I have this in the back of my mind and will do my best to bring some aspects of it to my daughter, but I also have to be true to myself and not set myself up for feelings of failure. I have some goals for us in the form drawing and knitting departments, but I am not going to allow myself to feel guilty for "not doing it right" or "not doing it enough". As for music, we hold music in high esteem in this house and the girls hear a lot of it. We have a variety of instruments in this house and they have the freedom to use them. But, learning the recorder just isn't high on my priority list at this time. Movement? Who can keep them from moving? I mean, seriously. Will I be memorizing finger plays and songs with marching? Probably not. I know me. That isn't me. But, we will walk and scooter and bike to the park and the beach. We may do an exercise DVD together or some yoga. We'll stomp and clap some times tables and participate in circle time with friends, but my home will not look like a Waldorf classroom, complete with "lots of movement" and recorder and quality form drawing and knitting going on. And, I'm okay with that. :)

So, while there are many ways one can go with this year as far as the details go, the year can be summed up as:

• Saints
• Fables
• Legends and Myths from around the world
• Nature Stories
• Deepening the understanding of the four math processes
• Reading and writing

On a more personal level, my goals for The Princess are:

• Math ~ Go slow and savor and enjoy the grade two topics, really solidify the four processes, have fun
• Reading ~ Continue reading every day, increase in fluency and confidence, move from easy readers to longer chapter books
• Writing ~ Write something every day, use short sentences of copywork to practice handwriting
• Composition ~ Orally narrate stories and increase confidence in this skill as a precursor to written composition down the road
• Developmentally ~ Bring her lots of stories of saints, animal tales, fables, legends, fairy tales, myths, etc.
• Slow, gentle pace with lots of time for play and exploration, honor her childhood, let her remain "dreamy" as long as she needs to be
• Regular chances to bake, cook, paint, model, build, create, draw and otherwise express herself creatively

How does that look as far as an outline for Second Grade this year?

I hope to get 8 weeks of school in between our return from Germany and Thanksgiving. During that time, my general plan is to focus on Saints for four weeks, Fables for 3 weeks and then spend a week on St. Martin in time for celebrating Martinmas.

During the holidays, I hope to very gently cover Saint Nicholas and Saint Lucia at their appropriate times in December ~ reading stories about them, baking for the neighbors, leaving shoes out for Saint Nicholas to fill, baking Saint Lucia's buns, making Lucia's crown, etc.

When we return from the holidays, I am imagining the flow to go back and forth between math, Jataka Tales, Saints, Fables, Anansi tales and possibly some Burgess tales. I have an outline of blocks here, but I am still undecided about exactly how we will approach it. Either I will have specific "Second Grade Main Lesson" time with the Princess each day and we will follow the blocks specifically OR I will incorporate the appropriate stories into our family read alouds, have her copywork be related to the stories and have weekly drawing and painting times where she can draw or paint from the stories while her sister is drawing or painting form her applicable stories. I am torn between doing separate main lessons and trying to blend us as much as we can. We tend to work well as a family unit. I'll let you know how that all pans out. The important thing is that her year be focused on the things I've mentioned. Again, as long as she reads every day, practices writing, deepens her math understanding, hears me read aloud quality literature and has plenty of time for artistic expression and play, I think we'll be just fine.

Of course, we will also have our other family stuff that isn't specific to Second Grade ~ God at breakfast (Bible, Character, etc), Literature at Lunch, Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, Poetry, Biographies, Nature Study, Classical Music, Art Appreciation, Kitchen time (baking and cooking), Crafts, Zoo field trips, Homeschool Group Field Trips, the local Symphony, our little group day of Form Drawing and Circle Time and Handwork ...

How are your plans coming? Do you spend time really getting a feel for what each child needs or do you just plan the year out and go with it? I love to hear how others handle their planning.

Until next time,
   ~ IrieMomma

Teaching to the CHILD, not the curriculum

If you read my previous post, you know that I've been struggling with some of my homeschool planning this year. It all started about two months ago. We were moving along nicely with our plan to school through the summer and I got summer fever. I also started to notice some things that weren't working in our homeschool and I started to second guess.

Everything.

Then, we moved onto just plain old "Summer School".

Then, we moved onto just plain old "Living" ~ coupled with reading aloud, reading independently, lots of library trips, play dates, homeschool group activities and free play around the house.

My school thought process has run the course all the way from:

• Doing a Waldorf 2nd grade with the Princess and a pretty rigorous Charlotte Mason 4th grade with the Hippie, to ...
• Keeping it Simple and Natural and just making sure we read something every day, write something every day, connect with God every day, do some math every day, DO something every day (with our hands), to ...
• God first, Read Aloud, DO, Play, Live, Get Outside, Enjoy, to ...
• Organic Homeschooling, to ...
• Ruth Beechick, to ...
• Modified Ambleside Online, to ...
• Five in a Row, to ...
• Back to Waldorf for the Princess and Charlotte Mason for the Hippie, to ...
• 100% Waldorf across the board for the entire family, to ...
• Full circle, back to Waldorf 2nd grade for the Princess and more Charlotte Mason-inspired for the Hippie ...

I think you get the idea.

I was truly a mess for about a month there. Then, I thought I got it settled.

Then, I got confused again.

What it boils down to is this ~ my two children are as different as night and day. As much as I wanted to choose the right curriculum or method for our family, I have to face the fact that there is not a blanket way to do things in this family.

The Princess is still dreamy. She is still very much a little princess. She needs gentle. She needs time to play. She needs stories. I interviewed her at the beginning of this charade and she told me that for math she would love to hear stories (Waldorf). She told me that she really doesn't care about history yet (Waldorf again). For "science" she told me she wanted to study animals (Waldorf 2nd grade puts us with animals). Ultimately, I've known in my gut for quite some time that she needed the gentle beauty of a Waldorf 2nd grade year. It is my responsibility to put that together for her.

The Hippie, on the other hand is ready for more. She loves Math U See and has looked rather worried when she saw me looking at Waldorf math ~ "You're not getting rid of Math U See are you?" She really wants to do MUS. Period. She likes to read. She likes to read about things that really happened ~ historical fiction and history, nature, about artists and all sorts of things. She likes Shakespeare and Classical Music and Artists. She seems to be a good candidate for a more Charlotte Mason education. Of course, she still loves all things magical and fantasy ~ she loves fairies, gnomes, believing in everything. She got excited about the Norse myths that would be in a 4th grade Waldorf curriculum. She loves animals and would love to study them this year. A 4th grade Waldorf curriculum would have her starting to work with Geography and map skills this year, and wouldn't you know she has been all about her compass and directions and maps lately. Ultimately, I know in my heart that I need to put together a custom-made curriculum that will meet her where she is developmentally, include the stories and ideas that Waldorf suggests she needs for her spiritual development, but I also need to balance that out with lots of beauty and living books.

So, if you wanted to know what was confusing me recently, there you have it. When you decide to teach to your child(ren) and not to a particular method or curriculum, decisions and plans become more complex than just buying that one-size-fits-all curriculum and making a schedule.

I need to find a way to fit in the gentle rhythm of stories and baking and painting and nature and God and lots of time to play to meet my Princess where she is. And, I need to find a way to fit in the slightly more rigorous structure that my Hippie is ready for.

Above all, though, I must remember what is most important to me and my family (all "experts" aside). No matter where my mind wanders, I know that the most important things in this home are:

• God and family first, always.
• Forming and keeping strong relationships between my girls and me, between these two sisters and between them and Daddy
• Developing Godly character.
• Peaceful home life that includes cooking and baking from real, whole foods, keeping a clean and orderly and above all COZY home and having fun together.
• Getting outside and observing nature, learning from nature and cultivating true reverence for nature.
• Reading aloud to them ~ classic literature, poetry, fables, myths, legends, fairy tales, biographies, nature stories, etc.
• Developing an appreciation for quality music, art and literature.
• Time to play and explore and get bored and create.
• Basic skills so that they can learn anything they want ~ reading, writing and math.
• Creating memories and traditions around holidays and festivals that matter to us.
• And so on ...

I had a bit of an epiphany this morning. I remembered how just a few months ago I was telling my husband that I finally felt like I knew what I was doing with homeschooling. I may have been struggling to manage other areas of my life, but I had this homeschooling gig figured out.

My epiphany was this ~ if I felt like I really knew what I was doing before, then whatever it was I was doing must have been working. So, in reality, I should really just leave well enough alone, right?

At that time, we were doing our own thing ~ predominantly Charlotte Mason and Waldorf inspired. But, our own way of doing it.

And, we were happy with it.

The only exception was my little feeling that things weren't quite right for the Princess. My little feeling that she needed me to slow down and honor her childhood a bit longer.

So, that epiphany tells me that I need to revisit the drawing board. But, not to start over from scratch. All I need to do is figure out a way to continue on the path we were already on, with a bit more relaxed and gentle Waldorf flair for the Princess.

Stay tuned for my thoughts on how to make that happen.

If you're still with me after this long stream of consciousness rambling, I applaud you. I apologize if I've bored you. But, if you are a homeschooler, I have a suspicion that you could relate to much of what I've said.

It's funny how we can do this for years and still come back to that feeling of not having a clue!

Until next time, 
   ~ IrieMomma 

  

•   

Have you missed me?

A shot from LAST fall ... I'm craving fall, are you?

Man. I sure have been quiet lately.

Life has gone on ~ we've been reading and playing and getting things done. We've played games and played with friends. We've been to the library a zillion times. We've seen a Wizard of Oz play. We've ridden bikes, been to the beach, the usual. We finished The Wise Enchanter and started reading My Father's Dragon at night.

Life has gone on, I just haven't been too inspired to write about it. I'm sorry about that folks.

My guess is that my brain has been overloaded with thoughts and ideas about school and until those thoughts and ideas felt "ironed out", I wasn't in the mood to share.

As you may know, we have a BIG trip scheduled in exactly one month. We will not return until the end of September and I plan to start our school year when we return, so I'm feeling the pressure to get every little detail worked out before we go.

But, I'm having a really hard time with that for some reason.

I am so torn.

I want natural.

I want beauty.

I want joy.

I want our days to feel delight-directed, beautiful, joyful and natural.

In that regard, I decided a long time ago what really matters most to me. To keep it simple, the important things are:

• God
• Relationships
• Nature
• Reading aloud to them
• Reading ~ them reading to themselves
• Writing
• Basic Math

At this stage, the rest is inconsequential. As long as a love for God and Family is instilled, reverence for Nature is cultivated, a love of literature is developed and the basic skills are acquired, nothing else matters. The specifics and academics can come later. Content before about 7th grade just isn't that important.

But, then we come to me and my personality type. Although I realize what really matters and I want our days to flow naturally and I want my children to not see the separation of "school" and "life", I still need a plan. I need structure. I just can't let it go, let it flow. I feel like I need every detail planned out.

But, I want that natural, Unschooly flow.

That has been my dilemma. That is why my thoughts have been all over the map. That is why I've been quiet.

Regardless of my internal confusion, we have been settling into a nice rhythm around here. The girls really have been learning a lot (that's what keeps tugging at my Unschooling heart strings).

Our plans for the next month ~ getting some good walking shoes for Germany, making sure we all have jeans and long sleeves that fit, lining up long-term parking, getting some luggage, learning some German ... and getting super excited!

Somewhere along the way I also hope to get some things settled for school. I really have done quite a bit of research, thinking, pondering, note-taking and figuring. I'll start sharing some of that soon.

How are your homeschool plans coming?

Until next time,
   ~ IrieMomma 

Week in Review

It's Saturday, which means you are probably looking for a review of our week. Well, I'll give you a quick run down, but I will also tell you that from here on out, it will mostly just be reading and library events and homeschool group events.

We fly out of here in exactly seven weeks. If I save week 7 for packing and getting ready to leave, then that means I have exactly six weeks to have every little thing planned and ready for school to start when we return.

And I mean really planned. It needs to be completely written out someplace because I know my brain will be mush when we return and I won't remember what I'd been thinking.

So, I have 6 weeks to plan. But, we still have doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, pet appointments, grocery shopping, Homeschool group events, library events and play dates in there as well. If I am really lucky, I might get 3 days out of each week to plan ~ that is only 18 days. Needless to say, my focus has shifted. My brain simply cannot hang on to two things at once like that. It's time to "close up shop" on 1st and 3rd grade and move on.

Anyhoo, here's a peek at what we did this week.

So, did I mention that it is Summer Time around here? Who can concentrate on school when there are pool parties to attend? We went to a fabulous pool party birthday party on Monday with our friends from our Homeschool Group. The girls spent the morning preparing gifts for our friend, M (for her safety, I'll leave her name at that). The Princess decided to give her one of her prized possessions, Napoleum (a nice and big horse that she loves). She spent the morning brushing her mane and tail, getting her all "niced up" for M. The Hippie spent the morning drawing M a beautiful picture of her (M) as a mermaid.

We also read chapter 45 in the Bible about the "grumbling Israelites" at breakfast that morning. You can read my thoughts on that here.

Other than the party and the gift-making, the girls spent the morning reading. The Princess read some more of The Prodigal Cat and The Nine Lives of Aristotle while the Hippie read some more of The Stray.

They also watched a Wild Kratts episode on Wolf pups and how they howl for communication.

To finish off an exhausting day, we listened to Beatrix Potter audio stories and perused our Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit.

Tuesday found us in Unschooling mode, for sure. We started the day by reading another chapter in our Wisdom and the Millers book. This particular chapter was about how when we trust and listen to God, we find ourselves in His comforting embrace. I believe I've talked about that many times here on the blog!

After our morning devotions and chores, Momma moved on to cleaning out the school room (a feat that will take more time, for sure!) while the girls moved into their Unschooling activities. They worked together for a bit on their giant World floor puzzle and the Hippie finished it up while the Princess moved on to playing Shut the Box ... perfect math facts practice for her.

 
Something inspired them both to get to drawing. The Hippie started making a book of the Sleep Fairies (I told her a story a few nights ago about the Sleep Fairies coming when I leave the room. They take her eyelids and gently pull them closed and then they flutter around and down her body, relaxing each and every muscle until she is off to dreamland). She drew King Valerian and made a Table of Contents, listing each of the other Sleep Fairies she intends to draw. We've got Queen Lavender and then their four children, Vanilla, Chamomile, Twilight and Lilac. King Valerian is an adorable little Fairy Man who has his hands on his hips and laughs like Santa Claus.

I guess this inspired the Princess to draw a Fairy of her own. I love the detail in the skirt and the ties up the legs like a ballerina. And, check out the braids in her hair? Too stinking cute!

During Quiet Time on Tuesday, the Hippie read for an hour in the Book of Peace and read for 30 minutes in Freaky Friday. She tells me that Freaky Friday doesn't make any sense to her at all. She says the writing is all over the place and it is hard to understand what is going on and who is thinking what. But, she perseveres and is determined to finish the book.

The Princess read one more chapter of The Prodigal Cat and finished reading The Nine Lives of Aristotle. This is a big accomplishment for her. It is a long book ~ 86 pages. It is not an "Easy Reader" and does not have chapters to divide it up for you. It was a big deal. She loved the book!

We had a wonderful play date with friends on Wednesday. Generally speaking, people who favor Waldorf Homeschooling (which is us ... more on that in a future post) have a hard time finding anyone in real life who shares their educational views. We not only have some friends in real life who homeschool 100% in a Waldorf way, but they have 2 girls, almost the exact same ages and they live in walking distance to our house. How lucky are we?

All the kids enjoyed a wonderful day of playing outside, a lovely real tea party complete with hot apple cider, vegan banana bread, nuts, veggies and hummus and fruit, lots and lots of creative play including dress up and playing vet, lots of drawing and some crafting. The Hippie decided to make a doll out of wool roving and made her some clothes from fabric scraps. We then got out the beeswax and Mr. J (again for the safety) made the Princess a cat while the Hippie modeled a swan, a baby bottle and a ring. Momma enjoyed the day just as much, getting some much needed Momma talk about school and life ... and lots of baby cuddles. :) Ms. J has a new little baby and was happy to have the help, so I got lots of time bouncing around a 6 week old baby boy. Good for all.

Thursday took us out and about. We realized first thing that Daddy had forgotten his sunglasses and ipod ~ both necessities for his job. :) So, after some cleaning around the house, we headed out to take him his goodies. Then, we meandered over to a different library to explore for an hour or so and then spent the afternoon doing some grocery shopping. When we got home, the Hippie finished reading Nim's Island (for the bzillionth time) and the Princess read three books cover to cover and worked some more on The Prodigal Cat. She got excited when she made the realization on her own that it was going to be like The Prodigal Son from the Bible because the cat had gone out and about to various homes, but was coming home to the original home in the end. Oh, and we can't forget the toilet paper tower building. And, the math involved in figuring out how tall it was ~ each roll is 4 1/4" and there are 11 rolls ...

We finished out the week with a full day of free play while Momma immersed herself in planning. Not specific planning just yet, but in the learning part of the planning. As I explained to the girls, teachers go to college for several years to learn how to teach and Waldorf teachers go to even more specialized school to learn how to teach in a Waldorf way. I am just their Momma, who loves them more than anything and wants to teach them at home, but I have to learn a thing or two myself in order to make that happen. I spent the day listening to a couple of podcasts by Melisa Nielsen.  I listened to over two hours about 4th grade, just getting a good feel for the year. I already knew the main elements of the 4th grade year, but it really helped to hear her talking about it in such a gentle way. I also listened to some about planning and read a bunch about rhythm and planning. A big day for me, for sure!


Oh, and there was the Wild Kratts episode about Draco lizards and the Wisdom and the Millers chapter about Proverbs 15:1. We had a nice talk about how when we use kind words when someone is angry with us, we are much more likely to get away without a fight, but if we answer anger with angry words, it will only escalate.


I also spent the afternoon putting together the Princess's First Grade book. I placed all of the things she'd done this year into page protectors and placed them into a binder. I've got some more work to do and I'd like to write up a "First Grade Recap", print it and place it in the binder. But, I think it will be a nice keepsake. I also need to do the same for the Hippie's Third Grade book. Much to do, much to do.


How is your summer going?


Until next time,


   ~ Irie Momma

 
 

Summer School Goals

If you read this post, then you already know that we are moving into Summer School mode around here. I mentioned a few things in the post that I thought you might be wondering about, so I thought I'd quickly share them here for you.

In the previous post, I mentioned that I formulated a plan for summer. I mentioned that I made a list of goals for summer. I mentioned that I made a schedule for summer to include just a bit of time for school, but also some time for other pressing matters and for play.

Goals and Plans for Summer School

So, after starting the work involved in planning our family's trip in September, I realized how little time we really have and how little time and focus I am really going to have this summer to devote to school. So, I sat down and looked at the things we had going in school. I determined what I really wanted to finish before our trip. I determined which things we could just pick up with in 2nd & 4th grades after our trip. Basically, I wanted to finish up all of the skills subjects, finish a couple of read alouds and continue our regular Bible and devotional reading and discussions. Here are some of the goals I came up with for our Summer School Work:

• Both girls finish their respective Queen Language Lessons books.
• The Hippie finish her Cursive book.
• The Hippie finish her current Math level.
• The Hippie read every day (well 4 school days per week) from both a literature selection (her choice from approved choices) and a history selection (listed below).
• The Princess read to me every day (4 school days per week)
• The Princess read to herself every day.
• The Princess finish her Treadwell First Reader (she's almost finished now).
• Finish reading Trumpet of the Swan, Boy of the Pyramids and Seven Sisters books aloud.
• Finish reading all Old Testament chapters up through the death of Moses.
• The Hippie do drawings and copywork for each Old Testament chapter.
• Finish reading all Fairy Tales for First Grade.
• The Princess do drawings and copywork for each Fairy Tale.
• Have Bible/Devotional time each morning with the girls as they eat ~ reading from The Child's Story Bible, Wisdom and the Millers and the Tomie DePaola Book of Bible Stories.
• Listen to classical music.
• Bake and play games and do puzzles.
• Play some math games with the Princess (and drop the pencil/paper math work until 2nd grade).
• Momma spend some time each week planning 2nd and 4th grades.
• Momma spend some time each week planning our trip.
• Spend some time each week on various household cleaning and/or cleaning out/organizing projects.
•  

The Hippie's Summer History Reading:

• A Lion to Guard Us
• Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims
• The Courage of Sarah Noble
• The Matchlock Gun

So, how to get all of that done, you ask?

Girls' Summer Schedule

• Morning Routine (Bible at breakfast)
• Chores
• Summer School
• Project time (Baking/Games, Household Projects, Play while Mom plans)
• Lunch & Clean Up
• Read Aloud
• Quiet Time
• Snack
• Outside Play with friends on the street
• Shower
• Dinner & Clean Up
• Nighttime Routine & Daddy time
• Read Aloud
• Bed

*****

I made up some new checklists for the girls, just for summer. They have about an hour's worth of work, four days a week. I mapped out what lessons to do each day in order to finish ... Their subjects will trail off as the weeks go on. The Hippie will finish up her Language Lessons after 11 weeks, her cursive after 8 weeks, her math after 9 weeks and her Old Testament drawings and copywork after 10 weeks. The Princess will finish up her Language Lessons after about 10 weeks and her Fairy Tale drawings and copywork after 7 weeks.

After that, we are off to Germany to visit my mom and will start our new school year in October when we return. So excited!

Until next time,

    ~ Irie Momma

SUMMER SCHOOL

Summer 2009

I know I've talked here before about how we school year round and I like to have our school year start in January and end at the end of the calendar year.

But, then June rolls around.

Public school kids get out of school.

Homeschool families start talking (either online or in person) about how they are finished for the year.

The Homeschool group plans more beach and pool days.

And, it hits me.

    Distraction.
      
      Lack of focus.

         Excitement about future plans (going to Germany in September).

Ultimately, I start thinking that maybe it is better to follow a typical school year.

SORT OF.

With breaks where we need them and never taking 3 months off completely. 

I start thinking how nice it would be to do something totally different in the summer, like a unit on marine biology or cats or travel to Narnia for the summer.

Or to just plug away at the skills stuff (math, reading, writing), but let the rest be child-directed.

Or, work on that math and reading and then just bake and play games and play with friends on the street and watch documentaries.

Or, have the time to clean out the school room or clean out a closet or organize the junk drawer.

So, this week was not a typical week.

At all.

I knew when it started that Momma had a very intense to-do list of business-type stuff that would completely distract me from school.

Like getting passports for the family and completing the application for my children's health insurance or the paperwork involved in my student loan payment plan and paying bills and balancing the checkbook and doing laundry and going to the post office.

So, I tried to just have a checklist of the basics for the girls to do on their own while I "worked".

In all honesty, that worked well for the Hippie, but not so much for the Princess.

Then, I just let things be this week and I started to formulate a plan for our summer.

I made a list of my goals (what things I do want to accomplish this summer) and how we might meet them.

I made out a "Summer Schedule" that allowed for a small amount of "school time" each day (an hour to an hour and a half) and then some time for baking and games and playing with friends and household projects and getting ready for Germany and Momma's planning time for next school year.

And, I decided that we will start "Summer School" next week.

And, I will plan how we want to proceed and start 2nd and 4th grades when we return from Germany.

I'm excited.

What does your homeschool do during the summer?

Box Day ... Creating your own

If you've been in the homeschool world for even a minute, you've heard of Sonlight. If you've heard of Sonlight, you have probably heard of "Box Day" and the excitement it creates in families that use Sonlight. If you happen to receive the catalog from Sonlight each year, you've probably drooled over it once or twice, wanting to be those little families in the pictures who just love Sonlight. You've probably wished you could have "Box Day" at your house. You've probably thought that the grass was greener at a Sonlight house than at yours.

Now, if you are lucky, you've come to your senses before spending your life's savings. If you're lucky, you've realized that the plans you've already made are just fine. If you're lucky, you've realized that your family is having fun with the materials you have chosen, using them in the way that you have already set about using them. If you're lucky, you've realized that you don't need Sonlight to have a great year. If you're lucky, you've realized that you are those families in the catalog. Your children do love to learn. Your family already uses the best literature to teach the concepts you wanted to cover. You've realized that the simplicity of the Charlotte Mason method works. You've realized that you don't need that giant, confusing Instructor's Guide to teach your children. You've realized that reading the great literature and narrating it is enough. You've realized that copywork and dictation are enough. You've realized that your plan is just fine and you don't need to throw it all away just because it looks better in the Sonlight catalog.

Disclaimer: If you already use and love Sonlight, please do not be offended by what I have said thus far. I most certainly do not think that there is anything wrong with Sonlight. I love Sonlight. I am only speaking to those of us who have already made plans. I am speaking to those of us who doubt our own plans because of the amazing marketing that Sonlight has. If you use and love it, please trust your own instincts and know that you know best what works for your family. That is the beauty of homeschooling!

Back to what I was saying. If you're lucky, you've realized that your plans are good enough. But, "Box Day" still sounds like so much fun, doesn't it? It does to me. So, I recently went about creating my own "Box Day" of sorts. Did everything come in one box? Nope. It came over the course of many days, in many individual envelopes with the occasional box or two. But, the fun can still be had if you create the excitement. My kids were ecstatic to get new books to call their own. They were excited to see the things we would be reading in school. And, my checkbook was much more pleased with the prices you can get when you buy your books used! Plus, I'm doing my part to reduce/reuse/recycle books! I plan to have lots of "Box Days". We are building our home library and having fun with it! Here are a couple of shots of our recent "Box Day" events. :)

Happy box day ... and Happy Homeschooling!