Yesterday was one of those homeschool days you'd like to encase in plastic and pull out every now and then when you need some encouragement. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but it did, and it was delightful!
I'm quite committed to the classical model, but there are aspects of Charlotte Mason that go along well with that model: nature study, picture study, composer/music study, poetry memorization, and some others.
On Thursday, I rolled out a new plan for my younger students incorporating these. Here is our basic plan (new stuff in italics):
Morning Time
Bible reading (at breakfast)
Music (just enjoying while we do our chores: Brahms' Hungarian Dances this week)
Tongue Twister (for enunciation)
Poetry (reading)
Memory: a bible verse and short poem for DD7, and Pslam 23 and "Song of Mr Toad" for DD10
Latin Phrase (we are "memorizing" a latin phrase each week, some quite funny)
Saints & Seasons: Reading from _Trial and Triumph_ each day, or a saint bio on their feast day
Individudal Studies with each student
Math and English Studies, now including narrations and eventually dictation
and what I am calling "Copia", meaning abundance. One of the following each day:
Shakespeare (_Tales from Shakespeare_ for DD7, 1 play per semester, slowly read with DS10. ),
Historical Tales & Bios (_Fifty Famous Stories_ for DD7, _Augustus Caesar's World_ by G Foster for DS10),
Literature (_Winnie the Pooh_ - DD7, _The Hobbit_ - DS10), and
American History stories (various biographies for DD7, starting with _Pocahontas and the Strangers_, and _This Country of Ours_ for DS10).
CC Memory Work and Literary/Classical stories
Quick review of Timeline, Math, Science, Bible on Th, Fr and Timeline, Math, History, Geography on M, Tu.
Alternating between worthy children's literature and classical stories: _Wind and the Willows_ and _The Children's Homer_
Afternoon Time
Science reading and activities (Th, Fr) and History reading and activities (M, Tu). These readings go along with our CC history and science memory work.
Composer Study (Tu)
Nature Study (Tu, Th) - very brief observations, but with "Park Days" here and there.
Picture Study (Thurs)
Book of Centuries (Fr)
Most of this new stuff comes from Ambleside Online's suggested rotations and resources. If you are not familiar with Ambleside and would like to add the poetic to your day, you'll find Ambleside an excellent resource. And it is Entirely Free.
This post is part of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschooler's Weekly Wrap-Up.
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7 comments:
We're doing CC and AO too! This is our first year for both.:-)Where did you find your Latin phrases to memorize??
-elizabeth
That sounds really good. I think I might do some of these. What do you use for your tongue twisters?
Thank you for sharing your rotations. I have been sensing the same lack in our homeschooling. The items of beauty (music, poetry, literature) are often the last on my list to get done, yet they were the top of my list of why I wanted to homeschool our children.
Question - Is your English grammar work done in CC memory work and Essentials only? Or do you do other grammar work?
Thankful for you and your blog,
Sara
Joelle and anon -
Both the Latin phrases and the tongue twisters came from a freebie source. Let me see if I can find the links and I'll post them in a separate post.
Sara -
I'm using Simply Grammar (a Charlotte Mason resource) for my DD7 and Easy Grammar 56 for my DS10. We are also working on memorizing the prepositions, but I don't always follow the CC grammar rotation.
And wouldn't you know that we didn't get our poetry or music appreciation done last week.
I'll go do it now. LOL
Light bulb moment! We always listen to music while we do chores, but it's usually Christian contemporary. I never thought about using that time to squeeze in some classical, which we all typically enjoy. Great idea!
Love the plan! I agree that CM and classical mesh very nicely.
I, too, love the idea of playing classical music at chore time. We often play it during art and/or lunch. It will certainly make the chore time go by much more quickly.:)
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