We just finished up our second term of the school year!
At the beginning of this year we switched over from using Ambleside Online’s book list and schedule to the history rotation as outlined by the wise and wonderful women of A Delectable Education podcast.
Ambleside Online was a fabulous place for us to start. An acquaintance mentioned it to me in passing when my oldest was in first grade and it was exactly what I was looking for. That is what put me on Charlotte Mason’s trail and things have gotten better and better each year since then.
But it got too hard for each of my three school-aged children to be reading about different periods in history and did not lend itself well to doing much as a family. I realized the more kids you bring into morning lessons, the more important it is to be able to do as much as possible together.
Switching over was an agonizing process, and if any of you reading are thinking about it, know that if you’re Type A like me, you will want to pull your hair out trying to make sure everyone gets every time period about the same number of times and getting over some kids repeating what they just did last year, etc. But persevere! It is well worth the struggle. This year has gone so great, as smoothly as could be expected with three energetic boys. We’ve had lots of great discussions about our readings and I am at peace knowing exactly where we’ll be each year, all together, and having a solid steady plan.
Students
Form 2A: Elliot
Form 2B: Gus
Form 1B: Linus
History Rotation
American/British : 1900-present
Ancient : Early Middle Ages (476-1000AD)
8:00 Morning Time/Devotional
Scriptures :: We spend the first 10 minutes of our school day doing independent scripture reading. After the time is up I ask if anyone has anything to share and we have a short discussion/sharing session.
Singing :: Our folk songs (I define “folk songs” very loosely) for the term were
- The Friendly Beasts
- Christmas is Coming
- Deck the Halls
- Grandma’s Feather Bed
- The President’s Club (the names of the US presidents in order)
Our hymns were
- In the Bleak Midwinter
- Teach Me to Walk in the Light
- I Need Thee Every Hour
Recitation :: We read Psalm 100 out loud together every day. I do other recitation differently…instead of having one selection they read once a week, I had them go through a bunch of our poetry books and pick out poems they wanted to memorize. I printed them up and they would pick a poem, read it aloud once a day during morning time until they had it memorized, then picked another one.
I know this isn’t how CM did recitation, but there are some subjects and methods that my kids really resist so we adjust and tinker until we end up with something that contributes to the atmosphere of education in our home. I try not to be too legalistic about the method and give myself room for flexibility. I can do recitation my own way while still giving my kids a Charlotte Mason Education, and you can too!
Poetry :: We studied A.A. Milne this term and read completely through When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. That was a source of delight for us all.
Poetry is a subject I was afraid of and I find CM’s method of picking a poet and reading his/her poetry each week so gentle and easy. If I can learn to love poetry, anyone can! This has gone from being something I felt completely intimidated and wary of to one of my greatest enjoyments.
Map Drill :: This is another way we have adjusted to make geography delightful. We do do map work and geography, but once or twice a week during our morning time we will go to the map and I will name off several countries for each child to find. It’s been something they have really enjoyed and it’s super easy to do on the fly.
We take a break for breakfast here before resuming the remainder of morning lessons. Right after breakfast we do our table work.
9:00 Table Work
Everyone gets out their table work and we all do it together so I can float from child to child helping where necessary. If they don’t need my help, I work on a knitting project or something else I can start and stop easily. My three younger children are usually running around the table or playing rambunctiously in the adjacent living room.
Math :: Math is always first and we use Saxon. My oldest (2A) does a timed lesson (25 minutes and then checks his answer). My next son (2B) does half a lesson and my 1B student does one whole lesson each day.
Copywork :: They each copy for 10 minutes from their school books. I printed up enough selections to last them the whole year so they have a spiral bound book of their copywork pages to work from. 1B is printing and my 2B and 2A students have their selections to copy from in cursive.
Mapwork :: We do a 10 minute mapwork lesson each Monday. They study a large map of Europe on the wall for a few minutes and then fill out a fresh map each week as many countries as they can remember.
Grammar :: On Tuesday we do a lesson or half a worksheet from Winston Grammar. We’re moving slowly through it. They do their best and we work through them together, often with the help of the solutions.
Dictation :: On Wednesday they spend 10 minutes studying, rewriting, spelling out loud or writing their prepared dictation passage.
Independent Work
From here we move to independent work. Each of my students has a checklist of lessons to do or books to be read for the week. I sometimes give them some guidance about what to do and when (especially my two younger students), but we are working towards total independence and autonomy.
This is something new to our homeschool this term. Previously, we all moved through subjects together with each child doing their own work but everyone doing the same subject at the same time and that got really exhausting for me. Now we have some motivation (Fancy Friday Dinner and a movie) for everyone who completes all their school work for the week. It has changed my life. I am feeling so much more peace with the burden of responsibility shifted more towards their shoulders.
This is what their weekly lists look like.
2A – Elliot
History :: Flying Aces of WWI, Never Give In, Famous Men of the Middle Ages
Natural History :: Elements, Periodic Table, Couldn’t Happen, Robert Goddard, Archimedes, Special Study
Literature :: Sword in the Stone, Animal Farm, Age of Fable
Geography :: Halliburton’s Book of Marvels, The Orient
Citizenship :: Young Citizen’s Reader
WEEKLY WORK :: 2 – 20 minute Spanish lessons (We use ULAT), 2 – 30 minute Latin lesson (Visual Latin), 1 Book of Centuries entry, 1 Nature Journal Entry, 1 session of typing practice, 5 written narrations, 2 pages of Music Theory, 1 Drawing Lesson, 1 Painted Narration Card, 3 Handwork projects, Weekly Meeting
2B – Gus
History :: Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt, Who Was Winston Churchill, Viking Adventure
Natural History :: Wild Animals Have I Known, John Muir biography, Nature Myths, Story Book of Science, Special Study
Literature :: D’Aulaire’s Myths (Greek/Norse), Stories from Don Quixote
Geography :: Snow Treasure
Citizenship :: Mrs. Beesly’s Stories from the History of Rome
WEEKLY WORK :: 2 – 20 minute Spanish lessons (We use ULAT), 2 – 30 minute Latin lesson (Visual Latin), 1 Book of Centuries entry, 1 Nature Journal Entry, 1 session of typing practice, 3 written narrations, 2 pages of Music Theory, 1 Drawing Lesson, 1 Painted Narration Card, 3 Handwork projects, Weekly Meeting
1B – Linus
History :: Medieval Tales, Viking Adventure, Shakespeare biography
Natural History :: Here Come the Lions, Secrets of a Wildlife Watcher, Charles Drew biography, Special Study
Literature :: Dr. Doolittle, Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Geography :: various geographical picture books
WEEKLY WORK :: 2 – 20 minute Spanish lessons (We use ULAT), 1 Nature Journal Entry, 1 session of typing practice, 1 Drawing Lesson, 1 Painted Narration Card, 5 Handwork projects, Weekly Meeting
10:30 Group Work
Sometime during the morning we gather again for a few group subjects. This is our schedule and it takes about 20 – 30 minutes, depending on the day. For the most part, this is our favorite part of the day. Sometimes they work on their handwork while I read, but not always. I break the readings into sections and have each child take turns narrating.
Monday :: For American History
- America Moves Forward by Gerald Johnson
- A story from either
- A Child’s First Book of American History or
- The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History
For Drawing I read aloud a section from All About the Desert and/or Wild Folk in the Desert while they do a drawing or painting of the animal we are reading about.
Tuesday :: We studied Georgia O’Keefe and read a few pages of a book about her and looked at one of her paintings.
The rest of the lessons are pretty self-explanatory…
11:30 Music
And that is how our homeschool goes! Not without bumps and fights and frustrations, for sure, but this is how we spend our weeks, learning so many different things together and trying to live up to our goal, that Education become an “Atmosphere, a Discipline, and a Life.”
We begin Term 3 tomorrow, and I am excited! I read my own books from the time period alongside my kids and share what I’m learning and there are some great books about 20th century people, issues, and events. I’ll have to write up another post all about that.
Have a great week!!
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