First Day of School

Long hiatus from blogging. No excuses. Life just got busy. Too busy for my liking really, but my time and attention was focused on the people and beauty and chaos around me and for that I have no regrets. 

The break did give me time (lots of it) to consider and discern the whole issue of blogging. What to write about? We still have that underlying cross to bear but we live a largely blessed and full life. I just struggle with how much of our day-to-day life and my children's childhood that I want to make public. But there are still certain things I want to share and document for my own purposes. One of those things is our homeschooling journey because, for better or for worse, it's where I am right now and it's this topic that consumes the bulk of my time thinking, reading and internet research.

Today was the first day of the new school year. This is my 5th year of homeschooling and I now have a 4th grader and 1st grader. Allow me to take a moment to just let that sink in.

(where did my babies go??)

Anyhow, today may have been the first official day of school but I feel the need to underscore the fact that they really never stop learning. We've been homeschooling them, DH and I together, since the day we brought each of them home. Every parent is a homeschooling parent of sorts whether they know it or not. Babies learn to talk by watching and imitating adults and children around them. What parent doesn't naturally point out colors, shapes, animals and sounds to their toddler? Who doesn't read Goodnight Moon multiple times a night? This kind of natural nurturing is educational in some form or another.

And so it is with formal learning. Reading, writing, math, science, history...the world around them is just saturated with information and it's a beautiful thing to watch a child discover it for themselves. Now, this is not to say that illiteracy is not a real problem today nor does this mean that some children require additional academic support despite their best efforts. However in a nurturing home that is rich in love, affection, parental attention, clear boundaries and good discipline, it's almost impossible to stop a child from learning these things all on their own in time. As John Holt said so succinctly, despite what we do or don't do, children are simply learning all the time. Especially if the written word in the form of books are given precedence over information passively received from a screen.

Excerpt from today's reading of The Life of Our Lord for Children
by Marigold Hunt. This book is really fabulous!

As mentioned above, formal "schooling" (for us) is really just a nature extension of parenting. But I hate lesson plans or any semblance of a rigorous schedule. And I loathe that feeling of being behind in our work. That's because I used to subscribe to a school-at-home approach to homeschooling (I am a graduate of Seton Home Study School after all). Old habits are hard to break and well...schedule, texts, workbooks, exercises ad nauseam, tests...that's how you're supposed to do it, right? Well, it's one way, but it's not the only way. Much like my journey with food and nutrition, I broke away from conventional thinking with regard to schooling. I now realize that my kids and I are stifled by lesson plans and too much structure. I'm lazy. And my kids' attention spans are fragile. But more so, there's nothing that takes the joy out of learning (or teaching for that matter) faster or more efficiently than studying something you are simply told you should learn. Because someone said so. And because there will be a test on it at the end of the week.

I've since embraced a more relaxed, natural, child-led approach that borders a bit on unschooling and a bit on Charlotte Mason. It's my own mix concentrating primarily on the 3 R's (or 4 R's with religion) which I tweak a good deal from year to year depending on the boys' interests and learning what works and what doesn't. What is constant though is our heavy reliance on good, solid literature as the foundation for all we do. Furthermore, I've eliminated the need for tests by simply having the kids narrate (retell back to me) what was just read along with daily copywork as writing practice. From excellent books, they are not only learning how to read but they also have developed an impressive understanding of vocabulary, spelling and grammar--to say nothing of the content and stories of the people, places and events in which we immerse ourselves throughout the pages. History and science come alive through books and these naturally lend themselves to going out into the backyard or on field trips to explore and discover first hand for themselves.

We had a fantastic school year last year and it's one that I'm really proud to say that not only did my children learn a great deal but I DID TOO! We studied ancient and bible history concurrently using a fantastic program to guide us.

I loved this program like peanut butter loves jelly! This served as both our religion and history spine and it's modifiable for use concurrently with multiple children from K-12. Good Catholic that I am, I knew little to nothing about bible history and the heroes and forerunners of Jesus Christ--or how perfectly God orchestrated the development of language, culture and just the right amount of technology to prepare the world for the Redeemer and for the dissemination of His message when He arrived.

That was what worked. What also worked was:

• Math-U-See 

The manipulatives also serve as a distraction toy for resident toddlers.

• nature study 
• piano lessons (for the boys AND myself!)
• combining science and history with both boys so that I'm not teaching multiple subjects at multiple levels 
• the books we devoured and discussed as a family. Some of our favorites:
• The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
• The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
• The Gilgamesh Trilogy by Ludmilla Zeman
• The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde
• Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• The Great Brain Series -- LOVED these!!!
• The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
• A Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli
• Tales From the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osbourne -- an absolute favorite and made the study of ancient Greek culture enjoyable (even for adults!)
• Amon's Adventure: An Easter Story by Arnold Ytreeide

What didn't work:

• formal grammar instruction. I'll say it again. They understand more than I give them credit for if I just give them examples of good literature. Is it really necessary for an 8yr old to label the parts of speech anyway?
• history timeline across our playroom wall. Toddlers--enough said.
• arts and crafts--what can I say? I hate glitter. And mess. And glue. And mess. And paint. Did I mention I hate mess? But I'm also too cheap to pay for outside classes. I know--I need to get over it and just deal.
• Shakespeare--what was I thinking?
• Poetry--give me Mother Goose Rhymes and I'm good
• Latin--over-achieve much?

This year, I'm taking what worked last year, ditching what didn't and loosening the reigns a bit more to allow more time for creative play and rabbit trails on which we are always finding ourselves. I am also once again combining 1st and 4th grade science, history and religion.

• Math: Math-U-See (Delta and Beta levels)
• Religion: Connecting With History Vol. 2 (this is more Early Christian Study than world history)
• History: Early American History casually using the Beautiful Feet study guide as reference
• Making a Book of Centuries instead of a timeline--to be filled in as we go along (I filled in events and people from our Ancient History study last year)

• Science: Sonlight Science B (loosely) along with weekly nature study/nature journaling
• Language Arts: 
• daily reading aloud to mom from age-appropriate books
• daily narration of above
• daily copywork using excerpts from reading or Memoria Press Copybooks 
• weekly dictation (moms types as kid dictates) of history or religion read aloud
• English From the Roots Up (casually...just once weekly)
• Music: piano lessons
• Art: Beginner Watercolor Journaling (I've never done a single watercolor before--am I crazy?)

Since we live in the DC Metro area, historical field trips abound and we plan to hope to take advantage of as many excursions as we can as we journey along the American History path. Williamsburg and Jamestown are on the calendar for next month as they host their Homeschool Days Program. I've been looking forward to studying this period of history for so long! It's my hope that the boys gain a better appreciation for where they live as we go along this year.

As always, I reserve the right to change my mind on any of the above at any point and for any reason. This is the first year I'll be homeschooling with a wrecking ball of a toddler underfoot who makes it her business to interfere with anything and everything. And each day she manages to outdo herself from the day before. I may or may not have plopped her in the crib for 20 minutes today while I oversaw some copywork getting done.

This activity kept her busy today for exactly 14 seconds.