Golden Acorn Homeschool

This post is a little late, I know.  But better late than never, right?

A couple weeks ago I taught a two-part Van Gogh class for our co-op group.  (Have I mentioned how much I will miss them?  *sniffles*)  It was a very fun class and I ended up finishing two projects of my own.  We talked about Van Gogh and then the kids created their own Van Gogh inspired art with air-dry clay.  We used the clay to create texture, rather than gobs of paint.  In week 2, we did end up painting our creations.  The idea came from Art Projects for Kids.  Duh.

I think the kids made beautiful and interesting pieces!  I was very proud.  :-)

Last Friday we had a chance to explore the historic Beall-Dawson house in Rockville.  Many thanks to Tamara for arranging the trip!

There was no photography allowed inside the house, but I snapped what I could.  :-)

This is just me posting about my general excitement with homeschooling.  (Yes, I am still excited about it.)

It seems like we have really hit a stride where the kids just know what to expect from the day and I don’t deal with very much resistance anymore.  I love that we have finally sunk into a good routine for the year.  I have realized that I CAN homeschool three kids, still manage to bathe them, wash some laundry, and put a meal on the table (that I cooked myself) nearly every night.  Yes, sometimes we eat out, or I let people fend for themselves.  No shame in that!

Adding Zoey into the mix as an “official” preschooler took some juggling.  Also having Sydni working in Ambleside Year 1 and Cole in Year 3, meant a lot more work and reading (for me) overall.  At this point, I have stopped trying to work with them at the same time.  I was reading/working with one child while another did independent work, but no more!  It worked for the past two years, but this year I was finding that I was being constantly interrupted by the “independently” working child and that everyone was losing focus and getting frustrated, too distracted, or just slipping through the cracks.

Now, I am starting the day with all three kids and doing the things we do together: Bible, hymn, artist study, composer study, Spanish (not everything, every day!).  After we complete the “circle time” session (as I call it), I choose a child to work with one at a time.  Zoey takes about 15-20 minutes a day, so I usually begin with her since she has a much shorter attention span anyway.  Then Cole and Sydni take turns on a daily basis over who works with me first, and who takes a play break first.  I get through all of their work quickly and efficiently, and then move on to the next kid.  We are still finishing up our school work most days by lunchtime or shortly after.

This does mean that for those hours we are doing schoolwork that I get almost nothing else done because I am literally moving from kid to kid to kid.  I used to be able to do some dishes or start a load of laundry while they were working on their own – not so much anymore, but that’s ok.  Cole is working his way to being independent much of the time, as his reading fluency continues to increase, along with his ability to digest more complicated readings.

I am also SUPER excited about some good things happening with the kids and their development and learning.  Sydni has already finished her first Pathway Reader for this school year, and at the rate she is going, will be moving on to the 2nd grade readers by the Spring.  I am also happy about a VERY long and detailed narration that Cole gave on the “Pecos Bill” tall tale.  I think I will type it up and share it this weekend.  The chapter was quite long and I stopped five times during the story and had him narrate.  He did a great job and remembered some really interesting details.

It’s also nice to see additions to our “Staircase of Time.”

(This was taken right after I finished drawing it, I should take a new one!)

Having a huge visual tool for tracking historical events is really helping things stick in the kids’ minds.  Sydni even drew little crowns over the names of Phillip the II of Macedon and Alexander the Great to help her remember they were kings.  CUTE!  Tell me how many 1st graders you know who even have an idea of who those people are?  :-D

Yeah, I really love homeschooling.  WOOT!

I am sure by now that anyone who reads this blog (or knows me in real life), knows how much I ADORE William Shakespeare.  I attribute this love of the bard to my high school AA English AND Shakespeare teacher, Mr. Heck.  In fact, I took his Shakespeare class twice because I loved it so much.  He loved Shakespeare and he was so funny and enthusiastic in teaching the topic that I embraced Will, too.

I really want my kids to be familiar with & love Shakespeare.  We have covered a number of plays over the last couple years, and we use paper dolls, toys, and Barbies to act out the scenes.  We have also done a rendition of “King Lear” by playing the parts ourselves.  Good times!

On the Ambleside Online mailing list, someone mentioned a set of great DVD’s called “Shakespeare: The Animated Tales.”  I looked it up on Netflix and I was hooked.  Now that we know about this great tool, we typically watch the play first (if available), and then read the play and act it out afterward (it’s a children’s version we read).  Shakespeare is performance art, so I feel that people – especially children – best learn to appreciate Will’s genius when they see it acted out.

I haven’t been able to justify the $72 price for buying the set when I can just get the disc I need from Netflix at any time, but I really, really want it.  Maybe some day soon.  I can see myself watching these 30 minutes animated tales over and over again.  They are well done, they pace nicely, and my kids can make out the major plot points.  What more can I ask for?

Someone has been putting them on youtube, so if you are interested in a little peek….enjoy!

(I especially enjoy the puppetry, so I chose Twelfth Night, one of my favorite plays!)

On the 9th we had a chance to go down to DC and see the houses participating in the solar decathlon.  We got there a little late and didn’t get to see as many houses as we wanted to, but we still had a good time and learned some interesting things.

We also dipped into the American History museum and were able to participate in a great science class.  The teacher was great and the kids learned a lot about carbon dioxide, acids and bases.

Hooray for hands on learning!

I know, I know!   I haven’t been blogging all summer.  We’ve been busy and I have been taking something of an internet break.  I have cut back on emails, cut back my time on myspace to almost nothing, and have even been trying to cut back on facebook.

We’ve been camping, visiting family out of state, sending kids to “sleep away” camps, swimming, playing, going to movies, and enjoying the summer.  There were plenty of things I wanted to post about along the way, but a quick photo upload to facebook did the job much more efficiently, and so I ignored my blog for a couple of months.  I want to say I feel badly about it, but I don’t.  I also want to say I feel badly about hitting the “mark all as read” button on my google reader, but I can’t quite feel remorse about that either.  I have skimmed enough to know that you all have been busy and productive this summer as well.

That being said, the school year is starting back up (we begin on the 24th of this month) and I am excited to chronicle what will be our third year of homeschooling.  WOW!  Our THIRD year.  I really can’t believe that I already have two years and four county reviews under my belt.  It has flown by and…I did it!  I really did.  I somehow managed to teach 2nd grade, 3rd grade, kindergarten & Pre-K.  This year I will tackle (gulp) 4th grade, 1st grade and Pre-K (round 2).  I am excited about our new adventures.  I am organizing book shelves, rearranging art supplies, and making up weekly schedules.  Cole will be much more independent this year, reading about 1/3 of his material on his own, and being responsible for assignments that will be due to me outside of our regular school time (kind of like traditional “homework”).  Sydni will be starting AO year 1 (which I loved and am looking forward to doing again).  Zoey will be starting phonics formally (we have done it all along, but not extensively) and focusing on early literacy, and continuing to build on her math skills.

I am excited about more nature studies, new artists, composers and poets.  I can’t wait for co-op to begin again, to explore more of the Smithsonian, and to do “school” outdoors on a blanket during the cooler fall days.  I am hopeful for a year of learning, adventuring and growing in every way.  I hope you are too!

I do my best to keep the math education in our house fun and light-hearted.  Maybe it’s because I detested math when I was a girl (who am I kidding, I am still a literature girl at heart!), but I know that if anything gets tedious in a hurry, it’s page, after page, after page of math worksheets.

I am not sure if I have raved about my admiration of Peggy Kaye’s books before, but if I haven’t, I will now!  Every parent should have these books, or borrow them from the library.  Homeschooler or not.  Games for Learning, Games for Math, and Games for Reading are all great.  If you can only afford one, get Games for Learning since it has a bit of everything.  These books really get my creative juices flowing and helps our family learn without it feeling like a chore.

Yesterday, we played some math games from the Games for Math book (DUH!).  :-P

This is a game called “Counting Stars” and it’s used for multiplication.  (The goldfish crackers were just a snack this time around.)  The players roll a die, and then draw an appropriate number of circles on your paper.  You roll again, and them draw the corresponding number of stars into each circle.  So, let’s say I rolls a 6 first.  I would draw six circles on my paper.  I roll again and get a 4.  I would draw 4 stars into each circle. Then I would have to determine how many stars I have.  For each turn, the player with the most stars wins.  Cole and I ended up having to role a tie-breaker.  Mommy won.  Tough break kid…no mercy from this mama!  ;-)

I think he had fun anyway!

I played a modified version of this game with Sydni, with addition.

And I modified it even further to play with Zoey.  We rolled the die and then counted and ate the appropriate number of goldfish.

Baby’s are so lucky, huh??  ;-)

I am declaring summer 2009 as the official “Summer of Shakespeare” for the Golden Acorn Homeschool.  We have already moved to a more year round format with homeschooling (I think it’s beneficial), but at the same time,  I also think summer is the perfect time to lighten up a bit.  Even with a lighter load of academic work, I still want the kids to have a rich educational experience that doesn’t feel like an educational experience.

Granted, my kids do have some math to finish up from this year, and we will continue reading some great books, but I really want to focus on my main man, William Shakespeare.

I especially want to focus on these plays (which we were meant to do this year, but mostly skipped over for lack of time):

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Romeo & Juliet

All’s Well that Ends Well

Cymbeline

Macbeth

&

The Comedy of Errors

The plan is to read a biography of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley.  Then, as we are reading about him, we will begin reading each play (from Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare), and acting it out in some fashion over the period of a week or two.  We like to do the acting ourselves if we can, but we have been known to use Barbie dolls, paper dolls, and Legos before.  We go where the creativity takes us.

I also plan to play many games at the Folger Shakespeare Library website, and plan a field trip there in July.

I am on the hunt for a live performance in the DC area, which really tops my list of things to do this summer.  But if we can’t find a real performance, I have a list of movies and animated shorts we can enjoy.  Shakespeare the Animated Tales is fabulous and I get it from Netflix whenever I need to.  I would love my own copy…maybe some day!

I am thinking we might do a few fun crafts and art activities to round out the summer, and a stage of some sort is definitely in order.  Even if it’s just fabric and a few curtain rods.  We have a perfect doorway that will work, and I am imagining how it will all come together now.  Some shower curtain rods and a two cheap shower curtains…

I am SO excited!

I have been re-reading one of my favorite books – A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, along with sections of Charlotte Mason’s own writings over the last few days.  Sometimes we get into a school rut, and even though things seem to be Charlotte Mason-y on the surface, I know in my heart that the spirit of her method of education can sometimes lose its luster in the day to day.  This is especially true if we have been fighting illness or dealing with other issues that suck up my time and energy.  Although we are going through the motions, *I* don’t have the same level of joy that I need to have, and consequently, the kids joy in learning is diminished as well.  It helps me to pull out my books, or log onto Ambleside Online, and read writings from Charlotte herself and Karen, who inspires me a great deal.  I regain my joy of teaching, I refresh myself on CM philosophies, and it renews my purpose in homeschooling the kids.

So this week I have been reading up on narration, and it reminded me of why I chose this method in the first place.  Aside from reading amazing books and having the rich education that teaching with the CM  method provides, the real beauty in it (for me) is not testing, but narrating!  My kids can tell me what they know, and be confident in their knowledge.  They are learning to actively listen to a story (or a selection), and to summarize it, and collect the important ideas.  They have time to digest these ideas, and then share with me what they have learned.  This allows them to make personal and LASTING connections to the material, and consequently, to make connections with other material later.  This method of learning, absorbing, and telling is the most natural way there is to learn.  It’s really almost organic.  What do people (and especially children) do when they learn something new?  They SHARE it with someone.  All of us are eager to share what we know and what we have learned.  Most of this happens spontaneously, and it is tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of each child.  Karen Andreola says in her book:

Narration works wonderfully with both the bright, talkative child as well as the slower or more quiet child.  In learning to narrate, each child will adjust, progress and accomplish according to his own ability in a most natural, gradual manner.  Some children cannot be lured to learn by the proposed plan…There will be times of seeming stagnation, when they will need to be refreshed with some diversion or play.  There will be obvious learning explosions (growth spurts) when all of a sudden their interest is piqued and their understanding quick.  In a homeschool it is easy to sense fluctuations.

I love that this education can be tailored to each child and move at his or her pace.  It can be easy going when it needs to, and formal when they are in a spurt.  When it comes to narrations, I don’t always take formal narrations after reading, but I do record many of them with a voice recorder and type them up.  This gives us a paper record of what they are learning for the dreaded county reviews, but also, the kids can go back and read their own narrations, or use them as copywork.  However, the narrations I treasure the most are the ones that come later, sometimes weeks or months after we have read something.  Cole, or Sydni often make a connection to something new we have read, with something we read in the past.  These come out of nowhere, but they are like little road markers that tell me I am doing something right.

The most beautiful thing, perhaps, is the fact that this method of learning and teaching leads to self-education in the future.  A child who can read a book filled with rich images of far away places, of noble ideas and intriguing concepts (and then tell back the information in some fashion), is on the road to being a life-long learner.  Once a child has learned to process the information available in books, and make it work for him, the entire world has opened up.  Karen agrees:

The day a child begins using narration is the day he begins to become an independent learner.  With narration, the mind poses questions to itself.  It is independent of the questionnaire.

Excellent books are what drew me to Charlotte Mason, but narration is what keeps me excited, amazed, and awestruck by what my kids are learning.  Sometimes, it’s hard to see, but I feel as if I a making the ground fertile, and the books are planting the seeds.  I am confident that they will take root and grow.