Easing Gently into a New Year

Our school year begins on Tuesday.  Next week Finn has his first-ever piano lesson, we have our first Classical Conversations class of the new year, and our first soccer game of the year (my husband is the coach). My best friend is also moving to a different state on Tuesday/Wednesday (and her son is Finn's best friend), and my grandfather just broke his hand and foot and is in a wheelchair.  I think the week will be highly emotional, busy as we get into the groove of new activities, and will entail at least one or two visits to my grandmother and/or grandfather.

In order to be kind and gentle to myself and everyone else, we are easing into the school year.  I want to have time next week to focus on relationships (goodbyes to our friends, and pie-baking and cheer-bringing to my grandparents). 

Next week we'll:

*put people above to-do lists

*have our first piano lesson

*get into the routine of art, piano, soccer practice, soccer game, and homeschool group

*get into the routine of practicing piano *every day*

*gently start back up with some Miquon math work 

*focus on learning to efficiently do our new morning chores (I'm adding a few for Finn this year)

*give grace to everyone! 

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." --Galatians 6:9

An Impromptu Yard Bouquet

Annie and I collected this one over the weekend: crepe myrtle, hosta leaves and a prolific pasture weed--in a jelly jar. 

My Second Grade Checklist

A few people wanted to see the school checklist I described recently--so I am posting bits and pieces of it here.  I get a little anxious at posting things like this for several reasons: 1) a checklist is not real life, it's just a guide; 2) I follow nothing slavishly; 3) your way is probably the best way for you.....

The most important question to ask before developing a system is--what's the point?  For me, the point is primarily teaching math and reading (and not much more, not at this age!), and secondarily introducing our children to beauty through good stories, music, pictures, and ideas.  A longer-term point for me is helping my children become the people God made them to be.  To that end I try to teach to the child I have, not the child I once was.  That means if something doesn't work for us, I change it. 

My checklist is one that I created after looking carefully at the Year One Ambleside Online checklist.  I created my own table in a Word document, changed some things to suit my needs, shrunk it to one page, and color-coded it so that I will know which days of the week I'd like to do which things. No lesson-planning!

The full page has a 12-week schedule; here's a sampling of the first few weeks.  The readings do roughly follow the original at Ambleside but I did some rearranging, adding and subtracting of books in order to meet our own needs.  For Ambleside's full, original term-by-term checklist you'll need to skip over to it on their site. This is just my own version.

The top section contains the readings.  We read from some books weekly, some every other week, and some only once or twice a term. 

The second section contains the daily-ish skills work.  This is the heart of our homeschooling in terms of my priorities. Math, reading, handwriting, piano. If I only check these off on any given week, I'm a happy camper because these are the foundation of our schooling.  

Finally I grouped together 'weekly subjects'--topics we will cover once or twice a week.  "Art" and "Piano" are actual lessons taught by someone else.  The other things are basically activities or readings that we will fit into our lives pretty organically (music, pictures, nature, handicrafts).  The "konos" section is just for a few preschool activities I've chosen for Annie, who is 3.  Health, Responsibility and Geography are just readings we do casually and discuss. All of this is easy, not formal, not schoolish, and--most importantly--not stressful for me. 

School fits into the morning hours for us--after morning chores (which are essential!). I do not do school in the afternoons--there are walks to take, swings to swing, meals to cook, games to play.   The exceptions to this are handicrafts, nature study and some Konos with my preschooler--just fun stuff. We do schoolwork four days a week; one day a week we have our homeschool group and I only schedule in nature study for that day.  

The most important thing is just to make a checklist that works *for you*!

Staying Happy at Home: My Ten Essentials

I'm an affirmed and unapologetic homebody, but this has not always been the case. I've always longed to be home, but there was a season in my life when I ran away from home a lot--frankly, I didn't know *how* to be at home.  When I was at home I distracted myself, and I had a hard time putting forth the initiative to actually create the home I wanted to have.  I don't mean the physical act of decorating, exactly; I mean nuts-and-bolts--functional routines and ambiance. I never learned this when I was growing up, and I entered adulthood with a deep desire to create a home but no actual skills!  When we were first married I had no idea how to hardboil an egg, and I was bemused to the point of giving up when I thought about how to clean regularly.  The routines I eventually began to create and follow were deeply informed by Cheryl Mendelson, in whose debt I will always remain.

Unfortunately housekeeping gets a bad rep as drudge work; I grew up with the idea of a homemaker as an oppressed and pitiful soul who whiled her life away on the most mundane tasks--even though I loved the idea of cleaning and organizing.  Somewhere along the line my attitude was rehabilitated, probably because I began to want to create a home for my family that mimicked the love my own childhood home had...but with more order and passing-on of skills.  I began to see the inherent dignity and value in domestic work.

As this summer has passed my thoughts have centered somewhat on home routines and particularly how to stay happy while engaging in home-based learning.  I created a list of 'ten essentials' that I wish to do each day: 

1. Cook good food and stay on top of the kitchen.  Every day we have to eat, so kitchen work is essential.  I've opted to have a good attitude about all the kitchen work (because cooking is not my favorite thing).  

2. Don't ever stop the laundry. If the laundry train halts for four days, we are in crisis mode!  I can take a day off when we go places, run errands, etc.  but in general in our household of four people, a busy kitchen, a man who does a lot of running/exercising, country life (messy!)--I do laundry each day.  I do take Sundays off. 

3. Figure out the daily housekeeping tasks that make things pleasant and make me happy, and try to do them.  For me: making the beds, keeping the main rooms and our bedroom tidy (the main room gets cluttered during the day, but my children do their tidying before bed and all is well), and keeping the main bathroom fresh are the absolute essentials. When everyone is in bed, I want to sit down in the living room and rest in a tidy room. If I want a hot bath at night, I don't want to feel grossed-out by the bathroom!  

4. Learn with my children.  Don't just administer learning to them; partner with them.  Come alongside and figure out concepts or learn something new together.  It is more fun for everyone that way--and also more effective. 

5. Play with and/or read to my children each day. 

6. GO OUTSIDE.  Even if it's just to read a book or walk around the yard.  Even if it's just to pull some weeds or check the garden.  Kick the soccer ball to a child, take a walk, eat a snack. Fresh air is a cure-all. 

7. Make something that lasts.  (In other words: dinner doesn't count. It doesn't last.) I like to write something or sew something. 

8. Stretching.  Weird?  Maybe.  But I have noticed that stretching (in the form of yoga or pilates--or just stretching) helps me stay happy.  

9. Rest. The days when I feel the most strung-out are, not coincidentally, the days when I've not rested enough.  I like to stay very busy, and I'm amazed at how refreshing it is to have a cup of tea and a little reading for 20 minutes in the afternoon, or how much better I feel if I stretch out for a 10-minute catnap.  Carving out a couple of short rest periods every day, instead of racing to the bedtime finish-line and then collapsing, makes my day so much better. 

10.  Pausing.  I try to pause frequently to just observe a child's smile or look out the window to see what the sunlight is doing or check in with myself to see how I'm feeling.  Pausing for a moment keeps me focused in the moment.  I like that. 

On the nonessential list are: major projects, most cleaning tasks, a lot of 'extra' obligations, tons of exercise (sigh. I love exercise), large chunks of time spent reading for pleasure, watching movies, surfing the Internet, learning new skills, shopping, etc. These are all enjoyable, but during this season of life they take a backseat.  Do I still watch movies, clean, exercise, read books, surf the 'net? Yes! But they are not priorities, and definitely not daily essentials during this season of life. 

That's how I stay happy at home!  

Summertime

Our summer break has been great so far and *very busy*.  On Mondays we have swim lesson, and we stay at the pool to swim and lunch--yesterday we were there for four hours!  Tuesdays we have an art lesson and then errands to run in the city.  Wednesdays we like to go to a library program in the afternoon.  That leaves Thursdays and Fridays for other things--and they fill up quickly with visits with friends, spending the day at the little local private lake, and many other activities. Between all that and meals/laundry, the days are flying past us!

In the tidbits of time I can grab I've painted the trimwork in our master bathroom (we ripped everything out and are redoing it--I'm almost done with the trim, and last week I visited the cabinetmaker to order the new vanity), finished my second grade planning, reorganized our schoolroom, rearranged several bookshelves of books, created a mostly-done schedule for next year, tweaked my housekeeping routines and created some checklists to make life go more smoothly.  I will share a few of these projects soon; I love peeking at how other people organize their lives and I find it helpful, so in the spirit of communal helps I'll do some sharing.

I'm also trying to do some reading, but I'm discovering that winter is a better time for reading.  In my mind I'd while away the summer hours with a book while my children play outside, but in reality I'm too busy washing siding, pulling weeds, etc!  But I try to read for myself for at least half an hour a day, and I try to read to my children for 30-60 minutes.  I read to them much more during the school year, but we are going to make hay while the sun shines this summer!

One thing I will share is a few ideas on what to do with children in the summertime.  I have heard many parents say that they don't know what to do with their children on summer break.  My children are 7 and 3, and I do not organize their free time for them.  If I sense restlessness, I will pull out the baby pool, but otherwise I expect them to entertain themselves with minimal involvement from me.  Here's how they spend their free time:

*sidewalk chalk
*drawing (Finn is an artist and loves to spend hours drawing every day)
*baby pool + swimsuits + water toys
*building train tracks and roads in the basement/schoolroom or playing with the dollhouse or other toys downstairs
*doing random things
*looking at books (Finn is an emerging reader, so he enjoys books)
*creating things out of modeling clay or play-dough
*"crafting"-I will pull out the craft bin and let them have at it in the schoolroom
*sometimes helping us with various chores (Finn helps take care of the vegetable garden, he has his own chores, and I sometimes recruit him for weeding help in the flower beds)
*free outdoor play

I do read to them regularly and sometimes play with them (either toys or games, or make-believe--for instance, last week Finn opened a shop that sells marbled playdough creations, so he'd make some, I'd come buy some, and then I'd organize bookshelves until the next batch got made, etc.). They love to play store with me, too!

We live in the country, so we don't have 'neighborhood kids', although across the road live two little girls who are 5 & 4.  They are sweethearts and our children play together once every couple of weeks.

Those are the primary things they choose to do during free time.  I think boredom and unstructured time are good for children, as it forces them to be creative and come up with things to do!  My children do not watch any television, but I do let them watch a video a couple days a week while I exercise (usually Thomas the Train or LeapFrog), and they typically watch an episode of Blue Planet or Planet Earth once a week.  We also don't have any video games or do any computer-entertainment.  When I had a newborn and a 3 year old and it was the dead of winter....my 3 year old watched 1-2 hours of Thomas videos most days(!)  So I'm not a legalist on this point--but we're in a season of life when we just don't need much screen time.  So we avoid it.

I will say this: only children are a different ballgame.  The only child doesn't have the diversion of a sibling, so that changes the dynamic of the day!

Parenting without Scolding

Shinichi Suzuki, on retraining a bad attitude in a child--

"Scolding does no good and should be avoided....the whole household would do no more grumbling but that we all would have to display better manners and conduct in our daily life. 'If we create such an environment, Koji [the child who had a bad attitude and had been scolded] will, without noticing it, become a good child, and his life will not be harmfully distorted by scolding.'"

This is certainly good food for thought in assessing parenting and the atmosphere we create in our homes.  Are manners and good conduct hopelessly old-fashioned, or do they serve a purpose?  I submit that in a home where people do try to display manners and good conduct to each other, the children absorb this by osmosis.  That is not to say it doesn't take years of polite correction to get a child to practice good manners, but that all the scolding and training in the world is useless unless we as parents are willing to 'walk the walk' in our daily lives.  I also believe that I should correct my children with a kind, gentle attitude, and not by yelling, scolding or acting harsh (easier said than done sometimes, right?  We are all human....) and I try to do this each day. The more practice I get the more naturally it comes to be able to correct and guide my children without losing my own cool...and *they* notice this and take it to heart.

One of my little mottoes is to treat your guests like family and your family like guests.  This fits in nicely with that and provides inspiration to continue trying to live that out in our family life!

Once again, Shinichi Suzuki's advice goes beyond the music lesson!

Second Grade Plans

The plans have been laid!

They are ambitious and exciting, and it will take us a month or two to see whether changes will need to be made. I do not hesitate to make changes--I did last year!  Most of our books are drawn from Ambleside Online's Year 1 program.  Last year most of my first grade books were based on Lindafay's curriculum at Higher Up Further In.  Ambleside and HUFI are both Charlotte Mason curricula, but I felt that HUFI was a better fit for Finn last year, as the Ambleside readings are quite challenging.

Caveat: this sounds like a lot of work.  However, the readings are staggered.  For instance, we never read Parables from Nature *and* Shakespeare in the same week.  An Island Story is read every other week.  The poem is just read at breakfast. The natural history selections are ready every other week or so. D'Aulaire books are only read for a few weeks in each 12-week term. So although the comprehensive booklist looks like a lot, it is not! And the composer study, folksongs, hymns, and picture study just fit organically into our week--listening at lunch or other times, looking at pictures every so often.  Nothing onerous and nothing requiring advance preparation on my part.

We will do all our work between 9:30am-noon, except for some afternoon 'fun' activities (piano, art, nature walks, etc). If it is not done by noon it will wait until another day!

So this year our booklist includes:

Literature
*Primarily drawn from Ambleside's Year One literature list; but I'm eliminating The Blue Fairy Book and using Grimm's Fairy Tales instead.  We'll also alternate Among the People (Dillingham) and Parables from Nature (Getty).  The latter are supposed to be extremely challenging, so I'm allowing at least two weeks for each story. I am also not using the Nesbit Shakespeare, as recommended by AO, but instead  we will use Tales from Shakespeare (Lamb). I am so fortunate to have a very old copy of this book. When I was 10 years old my grandmother gave me four books that had belonged to her late husband, my grandfather, when he was a child. Lamb's Shakespeare is one of them! Shakespeare can be confusing to read (it is supposed to be watched, after all!), so I plan to read through the book slowly and assign characters to toys so we can act the story out as we go. I also won't be reading Just So Stories--Jim Weiss will!

Natural History
*We will finish up our James Herriott treasury pretty early on, and then will read from the Burgess Book of Birds -- a very old book that I purchased used a few years ago.

History
*Exactly the plan from AO Year One. We will also listen to The Story of the World on CD, just for fun.  If we do one term of the AO selections and I'm dissatisfied, I'll make changes.

In addition to his, we'll be doing composer study, picture study, folk songs, and hymns.  These are all easy to do and do not require much work at all on my part.  Look, listen, sing, enjoy.

Our skills work will continue--short lessons in math, phonics, and handwriting. I will continue with the resources I used last year, although we will implement Handwriting without Tears a couple of days a week to assist and copywork the other days.  I have a good list of 'easy readers' that Finn will be using, including Frog and Toad stories, Little Bear, and a big stack of leveled readers (2 & 3) I bought from Amazon that are all American history-related.  We are cycling through American history in our homeschool group this year, and I thought this would be a seamless, easy way to introduce some American history stories. I will post a list of those sometime!

I purchased simple grammar and spelling resources.  I'm torn on whether this is important at this age (I think not) but am basically giving a nod to the standardized testing we are required to do each year.  I will use these resources as guides in alternating weeks.  I'll just do the lessons orally with Finn, using the dry erase board and never the student textbook! I also bought a basic map book (from Scholastic, I think) to work on map skills and we do a lot of informal geography by looking at maps and the globe.

We are following Ambleside's suggestions for Bible stories and I have my own little system for scripture memory work.  I've also got a little character book we're going to read once a week.

Charlotte Mason advocates 'handicrafts' but these are not typical useless kid-crafts.  They are useful skills to learn!  We did a little soap carving last year and will do that again, plus painting Christmas ornaments, candle-dipping, flower-pressing and making a few 'market bags' out of tee shirts.

And of course there's nature study! And read-alouds: I have a list of read-alouds that I will be reading to the children throughout the year--usually at breakfast, or after lunch, or at bedtime. I do not schedule these in with our formal 'school' readings.

Finn will also take art and--new this year, and a little daunting!!!--piano lessons.

We attend a homeschool group once a week that provides fun social interaction, timeline/memory work, science/art/music basics, and a weekly presentation! I don't do any work for this other than attending it one morning a week, and I encourage Finn to practice his presentation in advance.

Finally, I planned a KONOS 8-week unit (very, very simple) on Orderliness. If that goes well, we will probably do one unit in the winter or spring.  I mentioned my approach here.

I bought Annie a few preschool workbooks from Rod & Staff.  We'll see where that goes!

September 2, we are ready for you!