This month was much better than last month. We got right back into the swing of things and I didn't feel behind at all, which is very encouraging. There is a lot of flexibility to homeschooling and I am grateful that. The amount of work we get done can ebb and flow according to the energy level in our home. On high energy weeks for me, we can do extra readings and projects that require more preparation. On high energy weeks for the boys, they can take charge of their own projects and bug me until I get the bare minimums done.
I took on two day care kids (age 2 and 4) this month and the older one has been doing Kindergarten with Carl. He has also joined us for Morning Exercises, which has made that time more fun. It's surprisingly easy to incorporate the two extra kids into my routines and hasn't thrown us off at all. And I'm always glad to get more "socialization" for my boys. Sometimes the apartment does get noisy, though.
In Kindergarten
Stone Soup - I think that Megan and I were both really excited about Thanksgiving cooking this month because we both did stories about food. For her unit, she told the story of "Stone Soup". I actually used that story in November two years ago but I don't think Carl remembered it and I know that Megan based her telling on a different adaptation than I did. On one of the Kindergarten days, all the kids helped to make a stone soup.
The Magic Porridge Pot - For my unit, I told the Grimm's fairy tale of "Sweet Porridge". I accompanied it with rhymes about cooking ("Peas Porridge Hot", "Bat, Bat, Come Under My Hat", and "Pat-a-cake") and hymns about Thanksgiving ("Come Ye Thankful People Come" and "Because I Have Been Given Much"). On our walks, we got to enjoy the autumn leaves and unseasonably warm weather. One of the picture books I got to accompany this unit (The Magic Porridge Pot) has become a favorite of Sven's and he asks me to read it several times a day.
In First Grade
This month, we finished our first term with Ambleside Online. Very little actually changes term to term but we will start studying a new composer and a new painter next month. For the past three months, we have been listening to the music of Hildegard von Bingen and enjoying the paintings of Fra Angelico, two religious medieval artists. I was pleasantly surprised by how much Soren and Carl enjoyed being exposed to their works and how easy it was to apply Charlotte Mason's ideas about Composer Study and Picture Study in our home.
For Composer Study, we would listen to a new song every week. Usually, we would listen to it while Soren did his handwork (knitting) but sometimes the kids would want to just sit and listen. Nothing else is required to fulfill Charlotte Mason's expectations of a successful Composer Study. There is no need to give information about the composer or require a response from the child. They are supposed to forge their own relationship with the work, whatever that may be. In spite of that, I did begin the term with a short story about Hildegard von Bingin, who was an extraordinary woman. Soren was impressed that she called herself "a feather on the breath of God". Carl said that the music was beautiful.
For Picture Study, we would study a new painting every other week. I would bring the image up on the computer and Soren would sit at the table and look at it. I set a timer for 5 minutes and told him to look at the picture and memorize the details of it until he could see it in his mind with his eyes closed. Being quiet and looking at a painting for five minutes was much harder for him than being quiet and listening to music for five minutes. His eyes and mouth would begin to wander off-task. But I could refocus him easily. At the end of 5 minutes, I would close the computer and ask him to tell me everything he remembered about the picture. Many of the paintings we studied were very busy and so there were lots of interesting details to look at and remember. And after he had listed everything he could remember, we opened the computer and looked for three more things that he had missed. Soren liked that all the artwork was religious in nature and about stories from the scriptures that he knew. I wanted to do a project at the end of the term from the book Discovering Great Artists but we didn't get around to it.
I took on two day care kids (age 2 and 4) this month and the older one has been doing Kindergarten with Carl. He has also joined us for Morning Exercises, which has made that time more fun. It's surprisingly easy to incorporate the two extra kids into my routines and hasn't thrown us off at all. And I'm always glad to get more "socialization" for my boys. Sometimes the apartment does get noisy, though.
In Kindergarten
Stone Soup - I think that Megan and I were both really excited about Thanksgiving cooking this month because we both did stories about food. For her unit, she told the story of "Stone Soup". I actually used that story in November two years ago but I don't think Carl remembered it and I know that Megan based her telling on a different adaptation than I did. On one of the Kindergarten days, all the kids helped to make a stone soup.
The Magic Porridge Pot - For my unit, I told the Grimm's fairy tale of "Sweet Porridge". I accompanied it with rhymes about cooking ("Peas Porridge Hot", "Bat, Bat, Come Under My Hat", and "Pat-a-cake") and hymns about Thanksgiving ("Come Ye Thankful People Come" and "Because I Have Been Given Much"). On our walks, we got to enjoy the autumn leaves and unseasonably warm weather. One of the picture books I got to accompany this unit (The Magic Porridge Pot) has become a favorite of Sven's and he asks me to read it several times a day.
In First Grade
This month, we finished our first term with Ambleside Online. Very little actually changes term to term but we will start studying a new composer and a new painter next month. For the past three months, we have been listening to the music of Hildegard von Bingen and enjoying the paintings of Fra Angelico, two religious medieval artists. I was pleasantly surprised by how much Soren and Carl enjoyed being exposed to their works and how easy it was to apply Charlotte Mason's ideas about Composer Study and Picture Study in our home.
For Composer Study, we would listen to a new song every week. Usually, we would listen to it while Soren did his handwork (knitting) but sometimes the kids would want to just sit and listen. Nothing else is required to fulfill Charlotte Mason's expectations of a successful Composer Study. There is no need to give information about the composer or require a response from the child. They are supposed to forge their own relationship with the work, whatever that may be. In spite of that, I did begin the term with a short story about Hildegard von Bingin, who was an extraordinary woman. Soren was impressed that she called herself "a feather on the breath of God". Carl said that the music was beautiful.
For Picture Study, we would study a new painting every other week. I would bring the image up on the computer and Soren would sit at the table and look at it. I set a timer for 5 minutes and told him to look at the picture and memorize the details of it until he could see it in his mind with his eyes closed. Being quiet and looking at a painting for five minutes was much harder for him than being quiet and listening to music for five minutes. His eyes and mouth would begin to wander off-task. But I could refocus him easily. At the end of 5 minutes, I would close the computer and ask him to tell me everything he remembered about the picture. Many of the paintings we studied were very busy and so there were lots of interesting details to look at and remember. And after he had listed everything he could remember, we opened the computer and looked for three more things that he had missed. Soren liked that all the artwork was religious in nature and about stories from the scriptures that he knew. I wanted to do a project at the end of the term from the book Discovering Great Artists but we didn't get around to it.
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