It has been very weird for me this past week or so. We're still not finished June, my niece and nephew are still in school--which means it's still "school" time--but the 17yo has been done for over a week. So, it's not officially summer. To complicate matters, my husband has been home on stress leave since May, so it's like summer--but it's not.
I have not presented any lessons to my kids in the past month, which is pretty typical for June though. They have still been busy with things. Dd has been doing logic problems, art, reading and has been asking to try out an online language learning program we have free access to through our local library. Ds has been reading, being his usual active self, that's about it. I keep trying to entice ds with his science kits, but he's never interested--or rather has an excuse, because they seem complicated and like they will take a lot of time. I think I might just have to say, "Hey, can I look at your kit?" He's had one of the kits since September and has done NOTHING from it.
I've been trying to restructure my time now that it's not being taken over by school. The little guy I babysit is 20mo now, which means he's into EVERYTHING. It's hard to tackle things, be it some spring/summer cleaning or things on the computer, when he's around. I do have some plans for bringing in some "extras" during the summer, things like nature walks and I just took out the first DVD for Canada: A People's History. I don't want learning and these different subjects to feel like they are just for school! I'd also like to bring in art study and some other things I can't think of at the moment.
Which reminds me... I've been reading this book:
It's about the Charlotte Mason method. I have always felt somewhat compelled to include some CM into our schooling, but could never figure out how to do it. Some stuff overlaps with Montessori beautifully--like respect for the child and nature and art and all that--but other things, perhaps they way some people do them or just the way they are written about--seemed too structured, very dull. I didn't understand how kids could supposedly love the approach the way so many people seemed to say their kids did. This book is helping me understand how CM can be applied effectively without necessarily sticking to some of the structure or "rules". There was one part I was going to share, but the book is not next to me--it's actually in my bedroom and hubby is still there asleep. It will have to wait until later. In any case, if you have been interested in CM at all, this is a wonderful book.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
"When Children Love to Learn"
I'm reading a Charlotte Mason book right now called When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy for Today. It's a collection of essays or articles by different authors tied with Charlotte Mason. So far, I'm really liking what I'm reading. It's funny how some CM things can come across as so regimented, so un-Montessori that I don't understand my pull toward incorporating some CM; this book is not one of them. I feel like I can bring in CM in a useful way to our homeschooling, without having the "prescribed" CM structure. Some of what is shared has felt soooo Montessori, from one woman's account of how she ran an after-school kind of program in her house for underprivileged kids (it indicates a certain structure that she started with, but then after a while, she gave them more choice--sound familiar?) to another part where they talk about the importance of the environment; you could've sworn this part came right out of a Montessori book!
I'm not very far into it, but if you have any interest in incorporating CM in a *gentle* way, this feels like a good book to start with. I've read so much from Ambleside Online for years--it's so highly structured and focuses still on texts from the past. This book really gives a feel, so far, for how CM doesn't need to be quite that structured--nor that old. ;)
I'm not very far into it, but if you have any interest in incorporating CM in a *gentle* way, this feels like a good book to start with. I've read so much from Ambleside Online for years--it's so highly structured and focuses still on texts from the past. This book really gives a feel, so far, for how CM doesn't need to be quite that structured--nor that old. ;)
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Almost done, almost done
I'm feeling a little under the weather this week, the weather is under the weather ;), which isn't helping matters, the 17yo stayed home sick yesterday, so his math exam has been bumped to today. It's almost the last thing to do for the current school year. Other than that, just have to help him prepare some stuff for work experience credits, I hope we'll train his laptop a little more with the MacSpeech software and we have to bring in his completed final exams and his resources. Then time to take a little break from everything!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Summer "school" plans
I have all kinds of thoughts running through my head! :D
First, my 10yo ds has a chemistry kit he chose a few weeks ago--and he's still not tried a single thing. There is some prep involved and he doesn't want to do it by himself.
Second, my 13yo dd expressed to me today that she really wants to learn German once and for all. Not that she expects to master it quickly, but she would like to stay committed to it, focused on it, etc. She really feels that the workbook way is not ideal, has asked about Rosetta Stone... I can set up a plan of vocabulary and phrases to use with her each day. I've already been incorporating a bit more German here and there (by a bit, I mean a VERY tiny bit), just to try to get myself more into German-thinking mode and to get them used to it; essentially, slowly building up a habit. A little more of a push on my own habits and I think she could learn a lot this summer orally--and then see the usefulness of the workbooks.
Third, I've been decluttering my den. I tackled a pile of stuff tonight in which there were photocopied pages of a TOPS Science unit. I completely forgot that I had any of these units. I'd tried to use them years ago--and I literally mean years: something like 6 or 7 years ago--and I'm not sure what happened (couldn't find the materials we needed? got caught up in something else? I don't know), but I still have the photocopies of the corn and beans unit. Would just need to buy a few items and we could do this as a project this summer.
Other ideas floating through my head:
*Lots of practical life, aka housekeeping. One idea is to make a list of everything that would be done daily or regularly in a house and have them do everything at least once.
*Lots of meal planning and prep: I want them more involved in planning what they will eat for snacks and meals, more involved in meal planning and preparation. To start, one of them will help me each day for supper. That and first thing each morning, they plan out the fruits and veggies they will eat and when. (A good amount of fruits and veggies is lacking in all our diets!)
*Lots of walks and hiking. I can't forget, though, that I will be babysitting my friend's little guy--20mo.
*I want to get myself a copy of Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye .
Primarily to use with my ds, since he has not had anything incite him to write yet. I figure some games could be a good way to play around with writing while not requiring it nor demanding a lot!
First, my 10yo ds has a chemistry kit he chose a few weeks ago--and he's still not tried a single thing. There is some prep involved and he doesn't want to do it by himself.
Second, my 13yo dd expressed to me today that she really wants to learn German once and for all. Not that she expects to master it quickly, but she would like to stay committed to it, focused on it, etc. She really feels that the workbook way is not ideal, has asked about Rosetta Stone... I can set up a plan of vocabulary and phrases to use with her each day. I've already been incorporating a bit more German here and there (by a bit, I mean a VERY tiny bit), just to try to get myself more into German-thinking mode and to get them used to it; essentially, slowly building up a habit. A little more of a push on my own habits and I think she could learn a lot this summer orally--and then see the usefulness of the workbooks.
Third, I've been decluttering my den. I tackled a pile of stuff tonight in which there were photocopied pages of a TOPS Science unit. I completely forgot that I had any of these units. I'd tried to use them years ago--and I literally mean years: something like 6 or 7 years ago--and I'm not sure what happened (couldn't find the materials we needed? got caught up in something else? I don't know), but I still have the photocopies of the corn and beans unit. Would just need to buy a few items and we could do this as a project this summer.
Other ideas floating through my head:
*Lots of practical life, aka housekeeping. One idea is to make a list of everything that would be done daily or regularly in a house and have them do everything at least once.
*Lots of meal planning and prep: I want them more involved in planning what they will eat for snacks and meals, more involved in meal planning and preparation. To start, one of them will help me each day for supper. That and first thing each morning, they plan out the fruits and veggies they will eat and when. (A good amount of fruits and veggies is lacking in all our diets!)
*Lots of walks and hiking. I can't forget, though, that I will be babysitting my friend's little guy--20mo.
*I want to get myself a copy of Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye .
Primarily to use with my ds, since he has not had anything incite him to write yet. I figure some games could be a good way to play around with writing while not requiring it nor demanding a lot!
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