Delightful Reading Kit

With Elizabeth, our oldest, I didn't have a specific curriculum to teach her how to read. I bought a blend-and-word book and some easy readers. We sat through a-e-i-o-u. And at-et-it-ot-ut. And an-en-in-on-un. And on.... and on.... I'm sure she was bored to tears. I was. And I didn't see a lot of progress. She eventually could read words. But she never wanted to. That did finally change when Dad bought her an American Girl series when she turned 7. She read the series in two days and has been a voracious reader ever since.

Along comes Jonathan. He would be 5 soon, and I wanted an actual reading program to follow for him. I looked at several. So many out there! I'm sure I could tweak something for him. Hmmmm. I was very much loving Charlotte Mason's philosophy that I had discovered and was now using for homeschooling. She had a lot to say about teaching a child to read. ~It didn't have to be tedious. ~You could teach them using real literature. There were some programs with CM elements, but nothing that followed her method exactly. So I thought I could write something for my son. It became a longer project than intended. I spent an hour or so a day on it, when I could. Before I finished he had turned 5, so I began the part he needed to start with: letter sounds and letter formation (he formed them in the air and in a pan of rice). That's all we did in the area of reading that year.

The reading plans were about finished before Harrison was born. There was enough content and enough people who had also inquired, as I had, about a Charlotte Mason reading program being available, that I thought I'd send it out to some homeschool publishers and see what happened. The whole project had been bathed in prayer throughout. I received 3 answers back (exciting in itself!). Two gentle "no's" and one "interested". Wow! Harrison was soon born, school was on the back burner, and Simply Charlotte Mason and I began to tweak and add to and pretty up the lessons. "Delightful Reading" emerged and I couldn't be more pleased!

Jonathan at age 6 has now been through the poem "Rain" and loves to read it to anyone who will listen. It's a pleasure to teach him how to read and we look forward to moving ahead to learning an Aesop fable next.

Lunar Eclipse

Elizabeth is loving her Apologia Astronomy science book. She's read through all of it, though we still read and do activities at a slower pace together for school. But she heard about a lunar eclipse coming up and was thrilled. She read about it and explained to me what it was. It's when the earth passes between the sun and the moon so that the earth's shadow is cast upon the moon. It gives the moon a reddish glow. This is the first time since 1638 that a total lunar eclipse happened on the winter solstice (shortest day of the year). The next one to happen on a winter solstice will be 2094. I set my alarm for 3 am and Liz and I went outside to see a cool total eclipse of the moon. We stayed about 2 minutes and then went back to bed. It was cold. It would have been cool to see all the phases but that would have taken several hours and we're not THAT into it. :-)

Photo from http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/13oct_lunareclipse/

Gingerbread Houses

Last year we received a book called "Gingerbread from the Heart" for Christmas. It was illustrated by a family friend, so it's kind of neat to read it to the kids. Ever since we received it, the kids have been talking about making gingerbread houses for Christmas! Which means they've been talking about it all year. So I blocked out two days on the calendar to do just that. No school, just gingerbread houses.









A photo really minimizes the mess. There was nothing minimal about it! I don't think this will be a yearly tradition. Worth it and fun, but not every year.






And a picture of Harrison thrown in. This was taken a few days back when it was truly cold enough to wear a sweater. Today it was quite warm.

"Spring"

Elizabeth practiced cake decorating for Handicraft. She had written a poem for Copywork a month ago, and decided to put the first line of her poem on her cake. We had a lot of trouble getting the frosting right, so it was hard for her to make the flowers. But she had several weeks of practice. She baked this cake, tinted the frosting, frosted and decorated it, and served it to the family. I am glad this handicraft is finished! We'll do some more practice in another year or so when she's older. Her poem and cake follow:

"Spring"

I walk in the grass
soft and green.
I walk in the sun
a sunbeam.
Flowers bloom
left and right.
If I didn't know better
I'd think I was right:
Spring was here.

by elizabeth gore

Beach Day

We had a windy beach day (well, a couple of hours anyway) last week. Our homeschool group was supposed to get together at a beach about an hour from our house, but most everyone cancelled at the last moment. My kids had already been researching how to build a good sand castle though, and I really wanted to get out of the house. So I and one of the homeschool families met at a closer beach for a picnic lunch and sand castle building.

Horse Riding Lessons

Elizabeth has been taking Horse riding lessons this month. She's gotten interested in horses from different books she's read (Laura Ingalls series and now the American Girl series).

The lady who is teaching her does half an hour of "groundwork". Brushing the horse and learning how to control it from the ground. I'm not exactly sure what all it is, but I'm glad she's learning about horses and not just how to ride them.

She's trotting. The teacher is holding a rope attached to the horse, so Elizabeth's not on her own yet, but she's getting a feel for what the horse can do.

This was the first day we met the horses and the teacher. Elizabeth was tentative at first, but I think she touched the horse once.

One of the places she had lessons was a farm. There are 5 dogs hanging around. They mostly just lay in the dirt and sleep, but Jonathan and Phoebe are deathly afraid of them. I don't think Phoebe would be so afraid if Jonathan didn't scream so loudly at the sight of them. If one of them starts coming towards us, they'll both scream and cry and try to crawl up my legs. It would be humorous if it wasn't so embarrassing. Elizabeth used to be scared of our neighbor dogs and cats too and now she's riding horses, so I'm hoping these two will get over it also.

Because of the dogs, these two end up in the car.

Zoo I

The Jacksonville Zoo has a new Komodo Dragon exhibit, so we took our afternoon yesterday to go spend some time in the sunshine and animals. A neighbor friend who also homeschools and whom Elizabeth plays with every day if she can, also came with us.
She told him while we were walking along, "I'm glad you're my friend."
"Why? Because you want a BOYFRIEND?"
"No-o! I'm not old enough to have a boyfriend!"
"Because I have money?" (he had money with him from his mom so he could buy a souvenir.)
"No! I'm just glad you're my friend!"
Phillip think she likes him, but I think they truly are just friends. They'll spend hours swinging and talking. I think it's sweet.

Phoebe is very possessive of this stroller. We don't use it anymore except when we go to the zoo and that's mostly so I'll have something to carry my purse and bag of stuff. But she decided to ride in it for most of the day. Anytime Jonathan tried to sit in it, she would yell at him, "No, Jonafun! That's MY stroller! That's for Bebe Ruf! (Phoebe Ruth, if you're wondering.) You git out!" and she would hit at him without actually touching him since she knew I was watching. Kind of cute, but also shows her temper and shows that we have work to do in training her to control herself.

I don't know if you can get past the glare of the window, but one of the komodo dragons is here in the picture. He came up to the window and flicked his tongue at the kids. They screamed in fake fear.

Zoo II

This is one of the most hilarious things I've seen! In one of the bathrooms at the zoo, they have different displays of animal poop lining the wall!! Here are three of them. I just think it's so funny....

Zoo III

The kids at the "Magic Fountain". So named by them because of the way the water parts when you put your finger or hand in the stream.

The zoo has this little clearing where you can take dried Palmetto branches and cover your hut.


Jonathan built a fire and is throwing dirt on it to get it to "smoke".

Book Feast II

We are starting Year 2 of Ambleside Online this coming week. We lengthened Year 1 out for a year and a half and we'll try to lengthen Year 2 out for a year and a half. And then we'll be right on schedule for Year 3.

I love receiving the books I order from Amazon. I kept them all in a stack on the kitchen counter until they all arrived, and then I took them out to look at them. New books are exciting!

Nutcracker

Elizabeth and I went to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra's Nutcracker last night. Very sophisticated, I know. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was 14 or so. I was mesmerized. Elizabeth enjoyed it, though she did get a bit tired (we went to the 8 pm show which lasted till 10). She kept waiting for a certain piece of music which didn't end up playing until the end. The ballet was great and the music was superb and everyone was dressed up so nicely. A very enjoyable experience. I told her we'd have to go to an opera next. She didn't agree.

Today she goes to a friend's birthday party and then this busy week will be over!

Nature Study

Nature study is a big part of a Charlotte Mason education for the younger years. So we try to get out every Wednesday afternoon for at least 2-3 hours to just spend time outside. We've learned how to do this over the year: everyone must wear tennis shoes and it's best to wear long, yet light pants (bug bites and poison ivy have taught us this); Bug spray is a must; we bring our backpack stuffed full of things like notebook, colored pencils, magnifying glass, compass, Handbook of Nature Study, plastic bags, etc, etc; we bring three Tot Spot chairs and sometimes a blanket to sit on; Everyone has their own water bottle (which I freeze; in this hot weather, it melts quickly enough); a snack. I think that about does it!

In these pictures we've gone to the "wood park" (the kids call it that because of the wood structures the kids can play on). We do nature study for a while before I let them play on the toys. The kids threw out bird seed. No birds came, but ants came. I tried to take a picture of an ant, but my camera wouldn't focus well enough. Jonathan is scared of everything (thus his feet up on his chair to keep away from the ants). The longer we stay out in nature, the more we see: we've seen a black racer snake, 4 armadillos, an anhinga (a bird that swims under water to catch its food); we've discovered different flowers, trees, plants (we now have a picture book of poison ivy so we know what to look for), birds, insects... It makes for a tiring day, but it has been beneficial.

Math is not Elizabeth's forte'

Today we were doing an especially long math lesson. Elizabeth was in great distress throughout the whole lesson. Finally she groaned, with her head in her hands, "Mom, numbers are just swirling around in my head, and they're purple!"

School ~ 1st grade for Liz

The first official day of school was last Monday. The kids all got a school supply at breakfast (colored pencils and a kit for Elizabeth). School seems to take 2.5 hours each day which is more than I thought it would take. But that includes breakfast and getting the kids dressed, etc. And exercise 3x a week. So I guess that makes sense. I'm enjoying it! I have to get myself up earlier than normal, but I am enjoying that time alone to get ready and do some reading and eat breakfast alone. Jonathan and Phoebe play in the play room while we do school unless Phoebe throws a fit. Then she goes in the crib and happily plays alone. Sometimes I think she throws a fit just to get put in the crib. All in all, it was a wonderful start to the school year.

Who is Charlotte Mason?

She is the brain-child behind the curriculum I'm using for homeschooling. She espoused the method, and some homeschooling moms put together the curriculum at amblesideonline.org. Here's a short article they wrote to explain her ideas:


Charlotte Mason was a British educator (1842-1923) who believed that education is more than passing exams, getting into the right college or job training. She said education is "an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life." It is about finding out who we are and how we fit in the universe God created.

Her ideas were ahead of her time - while others thought children were empty slates to be filled with information, she believed they were people capable of independent, intelligent thought and that they needed vital ideas, rather than dry facts, to feed their growing minds. She thought children should do the work of dealing with ideas and knowledge rather than the teacher acting as a middle man, dispensing filtered knowledge.

The Charlotte Mason method utilizes narration instead of comprehension exercises; copywork for handwriting; spelling and grammar modeling; nature observation for early science; and literature, poetry, art and music to give children's minds beautiful ideas to feed on.

Books are chosen for the literary quality with which they were written, and even more, their ability to develop the whole person and inspire one's character. The curriculum is geared towards building character with the use of personal habits, quality books, teacher guidance, the work of the Holy Spirit and personal reflection.

the abdication of parents

" A writer of today represents a mother as saying -

' But you are not afraid of me, Bessie?'

'No, indeed; who could be afraid of a dear, sweet, soft, little mother like you?'

And such praise is sweet in the ears of many a fond mother hungering for the love and liking of her children, and not perceiving that words like these in the mouth of a child are as treasonable as words of defiance."

".... Meanwhile, it is well worth while to notice that the causes which lead parents to resign the position of domestic rulers are resolvable into one - the office is too troublesome, too laborious."

from Parents and Children, Charlotte Mason

Taddy

Taddy is our tadpole that will turn into a toad. We've had him for a week and a half and he seems very content and lazy in his habitat. He may eat or he may not. He may swim to and fro or he may not. I figured it was a good educational experience for the kids. I also want to try a caterpillar to a butterfly and an ant farm one of these days. Maybe even an egg to a chicken! Lots of fun stuff to discover....