I knew that there would be bad weeks for homeschooling. I thought that they would be later. Like Christmastime, around the baby's birth, or during the February doldrums. But they hit us this October and now we are already behind on all my beautiful plans. Some of the behind I plan to catch up on in November and some of it I have just accepted as permanent. It's been liberating to realize that I am accountable to no one's schedule and that the kids are doing well regardless.
In Kindergarten
The Fisherman and the Jinni - For the first unit of the month, Megan told a story from One Thousand and One Nights that I am not familiar with. She really enjoys doing ethnic fairy tales and usually ends her units with exotic cooking projects. I was really grateful that she was responsible for Kindergarten during the most harried weeks of October, allowing the kids to have continuity while I was otherwise occupied.
The Teeny Tiny Woman- For the unit that ended with Halloween, I chose the story of The Teeny Tiny Woman, a ghost story from England. I actually told this story two years ago, in our very first Kindergarten year, and it really freaked Soren out. But it's so very fun that I decided to revisit it and none of our current Kindergarteners were too scared. I was interested to notice that Soren would hang over the back of the couch and listen; now that he is older, he thinks the story is amusing and not terrifying. To accompany the story (and the season!) I shared a couple of nursery rhymes about pumpkins: Five Little Pumpkins and Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-eater. I also taught the children to sing "Lead Kindly Light" (Hymn No. 97). Our walks were pleasant but increasingly chilly so I seized what may be my last opportunity to teach the kids a few outdoor games: Ring Around the Rosy (which Sven loved); London Bridge; Button, Button, Who's got the button?; and The Farmer in the Dell.
In First Grade
This month, I wanted to write about our 1st grade read alouds, which are taken from the Ambleside Online curriculum. I love them! Doing our read alouds is probably my favorite part of our homeschooling day; they are interesting and nourishing to the soul. These are the books that we are reading from this term:
Fifty Famous Stories - So far we have only read stories about Greek philosophers and Roman heroes from this book but next month we will start in on some British stories as well. I have been most inspired by the Roman virtues of honor and courage demonstrated by the characters in these stories. Soren's favorite story was "Horatius at the Bridge" (he suggested we name our new baby Horatius Clo'cles). Mine was "The Story of Cincinnatis".
The Burgess Bird Book - This delightful book is about Peter Rabbit's adventures in ornithology. Each chapter introduces a couple of birds, describing their plumage and commenting on their habits. Information about the birds is given in the voice of Peter's sassy friend Jenny Wren. Soren struggles to give meaningful narrations from these stories and I have some ideas about how to improve our interaction with this clever volume next month.
Parables from Nature - Most of the time, our nature hour reading is taken from The Burgess Bird Book. But we have completed two readings from Margaret Gatty's Parables from Nature: "A Lesson of Faith" and "Law of Authority and Obedience". The first used the life cycle of a butterfly to teach about resurrection while the second talked about the organization of a beehive to give a very British take on good governance. I think that this is the book that is most difficult for Soren to understand but it's good for him and I enjoy it immensely.
Our Island Story - This is a fascinating children's history of Great Britain. The tone for the book was set in the first chapter, which describes how the islands were given as a gift to Albion, Neptune's son. It mixes myth and legend with characters and events that are larger than life. We have read a chapter every week rather than following the Ambleside schedule because I like it so much and want desperately to know "what happened next". We have read up to the Saxon invasion and will perhaps get to King Arthur before the end of next month.
Paddle to the Sea - Our geography read aloud for this year is called Paddle to the Sea. It's about a little toy canoe that makes a journey through the Great Lakes and out the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean. The chapters are short but packed with details about the natural and man-made features along Paddle's route. This is one of the only books that we are reading in hard copy instead of on my kindle as the illustrations are an important part of the story.
The Bible - Each week, we read one story from the KJV Bible. It is rewarding to see Soren working with the scriptural language and to have a plan for getting these stories into him. Right now, we are reading stories exclusively from the Old Testament.
In Kindergarten
The Fisherman and the Jinni - For the first unit of the month, Megan told a story from One Thousand and One Nights that I am not familiar with. She really enjoys doing ethnic fairy tales and usually ends her units with exotic cooking projects. I was really grateful that she was responsible for Kindergarten during the most harried weeks of October, allowing the kids to have continuity while I was otherwise occupied.
The Teeny Tiny Woman- For the unit that ended with Halloween, I chose the story of The Teeny Tiny Woman, a ghost story from England. I actually told this story two years ago, in our very first Kindergarten year, and it really freaked Soren out. But it's so very fun that I decided to revisit it and none of our current Kindergarteners were too scared. I was interested to notice that Soren would hang over the back of the couch and listen; now that he is older, he thinks the story is amusing and not terrifying. To accompany the story (and the season!) I shared a couple of nursery rhymes about pumpkins: Five Little Pumpkins and Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-eater. I also taught the children to sing "Lead Kindly Light" (Hymn No. 97). Our walks were pleasant but increasingly chilly so I seized what may be my last opportunity to teach the kids a few outdoor games: Ring Around the Rosy (which Sven loved); London Bridge; Button, Button, Who's got the button?; and The Farmer in the Dell.
In First Grade
This month, I wanted to write about our 1st grade read alouds, which are taken from the Ambleside Online curriculum. I love them! Doing our read alouds is probably my favorite part of our homeschooling day; they are interesting and nourishing to the soul. These are the books that we are reading from this term:
Fifty Famous Stories - So far we have only read stories about Greek philosophers and Roman heroes from this book but next month we will start in on some British stories as well. I have been most inspired by the Roman virtues of honor and courage demonstrated by the characters in these stories. Soren's favorite story was "Horatius at the Bridge" (he suggested we name our new baby Horatius Clo'cles). Mine was "The Story of Cincinnatis".
The Burgess Bird Book - This delightful book is about Peter Rabbit's adventures in ornithology. Each chapter introduces a couple of birds, describing their plumage and commenting on their habits. Information about the birds is given in the voice of Peter's sassy friend Jenny Wren. Soren struggles to give meaningful narrations from these stories and I have some ideas about how to improve our interaction with this clever volume next month.
Parables from Nature - Most of the time, our nature hour reading is taken from The Burgess Bird Book. But we have completed two readings from Margaret Gatty's Parables from Nature: "A Lesson of Faith" and "Law of Authority and Obedience". The first used the life cycle of a butterfly to teach about resurrection while the second talked about the organization of a beehive to give a very British take on good governance. I think that this is the book that is most difficult for Soren to understand but it's good for him and I enjoy it immensely.
Our Island Story - This is a fascinating children's history of Great Britain. The tone for the book was set in the first chapter, which describes how the islands were given as a gift to Albion, Neptune's son. It mixes myth and legend with characters and events that are larger than life. We have read a chapter every week rather than following the Ambleside schedule because I like it so much and want desperately to know "what happened next". We have read up to the Saxon invasion and will perhaps get to King Arthur before the end of next month.
Paddle to the Sea - Our geography read aloud for this year is called Paddle to the Sea. It's about a little toy canoe that makes a journey through the Great Lakes and out the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean. The chapters are short but packed with details about the natural and man-made features along Paddle's route. This is one of the only books that we are reading in hard copy instead of on my kindle as the illustrations are an important part of the story.
The Bible - Each week, we read one story from the KJV Bible. It is rewarding to see Soren working with the scriptural language and to have a plan for getting these stories into him. Right now, we are reading stories exclusively from the Old Testament.
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