Hittin' the Books...and other stuff

I am a distracted blogger this week. My heart is in too many other places. My heart is with a dear friend who waits across town by her husband's ICU bedside waiting and praying for healing. And another friend, who is battling breast cancer...who is fighting hard, but who is also very tired and sick. My heart is with a new friend who aches with the familiar pain I have felt of losing her precious baby boy before he ever came home.

This earth just has pain. And, there are days where I just beg the Lord to come quickly.

And, then in the same breath, I can praise Him for the amazing things He is doing right in front of my nose. It's such an odd mix of emotion.

One more thing before I get to the other stuff.

Some have asked about our plans for next week, as we approach our one year anniversary of meeting our sweet Chase. So many things are happening right now....

And, yes, we do have plans. We are looking forward to the upcoming week, and we feel that God did exactly what we asked. He literally gave us peace and answers...and is turning this day into exactly what Mark and I desired it to be. There is more to come. I don't mean to be secretive. It's really not a secret. It's just not "done" yet. So, you'll hear more this weekend.

I will just say this. I love my sweet boy. I love what he has changed us into. I love the joy he has brought to our lives. And, I can't wait to celebrate his life, just as it has been. I couldn't say any of that this time last year. And, now I can't stop telling it to all who will listen. :)

OKAY! So, now that I've "blog blabbed" for a few paragraphs, let's "hit the books"! This will be exciting stuff! (that was sarcastic, and I am fully aware that no one else likes reading 'curriculum' posts except me. But, if I don't get this stinkin' thing written, I'm never gonna do it. And I want it written down for future reference.)

Our Curriculum

(yes, you can check out now if this bores you)

So, as I said in the last blog, we are really loving homeschool. At the risk of sounding way too dramatic, I have been surprised at how much it has changed us already. I did not think I would be able to say that around Day One. But, it has amazed me how much I love it. And, how much the girls love it. And, really, how much we're able to do and learn and experience together!

I think one of the reasons I'm enjoying it is because of the curriculum and "style" of educating that we have gone with.

It's kind of like parenting books when you first start researching this. There are so many "experts" who all say something completely different, and you feel like you're a bad parent if you go with this one instead of that one. But, truly, they can all be right in their own ways.

You just have to find what works for your kids and your family. And, I'm still doing that...and probably will be for months and months. But, for now, we've found a pretty good groove.

Now, this next statement is not going to surprise any of my family members or good friends.

I am really old fashioned.

I fight anything that is "new" or "technological". I don't like most music, if it involves rapping, hip hop, dumb lyrics, or whiny, loud, instruments. I live for quiet afternoons, and wish so badly that I knew how to do more domestic things like bake or knit or grow vegetables. (Don't worry, I've given up trying on most of that.) I don't own a kindle and most likely never will. I would prefer instead to read original literature with crackling spines and yellowed pages, as I fumble over the author's rich vocabulary and beautiful sentence structure.

And, yes, I love Little House on the Prairie. Alot. I secretly want to be Ma. (And, I am SO not.)

But, I knew very early on that my homeschooling curriculum style would be perfectly aligned with Charlotte Mason. I won't take the time to talk about her, although I think she is an educational genius. Her method of education pretty much involves letting kids be kids. :) Lots of simplicity, time in nature, classic and rich literature, lots of exploring. An emphasis on classical music, appreciation for great works of art, and constant training in good character and habits. She believes in putting a rich assortment of subjects and lessons before children, and above all else, aims to foster a LOVE for learning in children, and a self-motivated curiosity for new information about their world, that leads a child to never stop learning throughout life.

I love focusing on this goal, rather than on gaining information to pass a test or to "get through with it", or to get a child "on grade level".

So, with Charlotte Mason, I have found a home. :) Here's the breakdown....

• We are using My Father's World as our main curriculum, which is based on this model of educating. My favorite part of this curriculum is that it is designed to be taught to children of varying grade levels, all together. The girls are of course learning separately for Math, Language, and Reading. But, we do History, Science, Bible, Art, Nature, and Music all together. Since it comes as a package, it has been great for a "first year teacher" like me too. We have history reading, storybooks, science experiment ideas, and all kinds of other fun resources that I didn't have to go seek and find! Being able to do it as a family has been my favorite part of educating at home and I believe it is very good for my girls too.

• For math, we are using Making Math Meaningful, which has also been very good. I'm not a "math girl", so this is a struggle for me. I like that it's written clearly for me as the instructor (as in "You say this....and show the child this....") And, it really does make math more meaningful. I like that. It's focused more on reasoning, and showing the application behind math concepts, which seems to help the girls understand so much better...and it's a little bit more fun. Well, who am I kidding. Math is just not fun to me. But, it seems to be good for them. :)

• For handwriting, we use A Reason For Handwriting, where they learn to write well by copying scripture. I have used this before and have always been impressed with how it breaks down printing and cursive so well, yet still focuses on the Bible as they learn. (I also love that as they finish their verse for the week, they are encouraged to make a pretty copy to send to someone in the mail! We haven't quite made it to that yet, but hope to do that soon.)

• For language, reading, and spelling, Carlie uses My Father's World First Grade curriculum, plus a few other resources I like. We do phonograms every morning (left over from Providence!), and sweet Bible-based readers and stories from Rod and Staff. (By the way, I LOVE so much about Rod and Staff storybooks. Some of the sweetest stuff I've ever seen.) I also found a great spelling software for the computer, and they both beg to do spelling because of that!

• Kendyll also does a wonderful literature based language arts book (twice a week), called Total Language Plus, where she reads a classic book and does exercises on grammar, comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, art, and application based on each chapter. She seems to be liking this, although we are really doing it supplementally.

Charlotte Mason encouraged parents and educators to teach composition, narration, vocabulary, comprehension, and all the other language arts through simply reading to your children. That is, reading classic, well-written literature and not "twaddle", as she calls overly simplistic or rather pointless books. So, we plan to do alot of read alouds. As we read, I stop every once in a while and have someone narrate what they just heard, or I ask comprehension questions (especially to Carlie) along the way. We also stop at large vocabulary words and define them. Kendyll has a vocab box where she puts new words that we learn. (We don't always do this in the middle of the story...we do it after we are done reading.) I also try to apply Bible verses and moral concepts to what we are reading as we go along, although many of the books we read do this already!

Some of my favorites this year so far have been the Lamplighter Series Fireside Collection. Oh my goodness, if you have children, you have to buy these. :) We have read Little Threads, by Elizabeth Prentiss, and The Little Lamb, by Christoph von Schmid and both are the sweetest books I've ever read. I literally have to stop reading at times because I am choked up.

I could go on and on and on about good books. I'm a complete literary nerd and we have baskets of books all over the house. There are so many good books for children out there!

By the way, if anyone wants a good starting point, I would purchase Honey for a Child's Heart or Books Children Love. I carry both of these with me to the library each time we go, and they are full of wonderful choices.

Okay, I'm finding as I write this that there is too much to list, really. We have some other fun resources like The Story of the Orchestra and Those Amazing Musical Instruments for music, Word Ladders, Mind Benders, and other critical thinking workbooks for "extras", 501 Science Experiments, Things Outdoors, and other Usborne books for science, Art Treasury, 13 Artists Children Should Know, and the Usborne Art Book for art appreciation....hymnals, books on presidents, history encyclopedias...oh my goodness, too much to list. And all so much fun!

I know I'll look back at this list someday and smile, because I'll either know so much more by then, or I will have changed my entire list completely.

But, for now, I am really enjoying what we have selected, and can see this being a way of learning that we ALL benefit from. I am literally learning new things every day, and I pray that the girls are too!

Wow. I am quite impressed if you read this far. If so, you must be a nerd like me. :)