The first couple weeks
It is Friday. We have just finished our second official week of "school." At home, of course.
It has been such a busy couple weeks with travel, many activities relating to work and education, and trying to get a certain amount of planning and routine in place. I have felt overwhelmed and underprepared already. The amazing thing is that that hasn't mattered so much. Because we've chosen materials that will promote learning and curiosity and stimulate the children's minds and creativity, the children carry themselves through their studies quite eagerly. I am little more than a guide. I don't teach as much as place stategic materials or books or ideas in front of them and then step back to watch them interact with all the natural capacities and eagerness that are natural to children and which, I might add, formal schooling so often seems to strip them of. It is one of the great rewards of home education to have your children begging to get their math books out and complaining when told it's time to put them away.
Part of that is due to Charlotte Mason's encouragement of short lessons. 10 minutes per subject at this stage. Sometimes we might go into 15. It is so their minds stay fresh and they are not overwhelmed or bored by too much information. It has been amazing how much the children take in in just this short amount of time. Even more than that is how much they ENJOY learning, look forward to it every day and how well they retain what they study. It is a fine balance providing challenging and stimulating work while making sure none of their mental faculties are too burdened at any time but we are getting a fairly natural rhythm down of concentration and rest.
One day this week, I noted that we completed very productive lessons in math, copywork (SuperBoy is copying poetry, Dinosaur Man is practicing letter formation), phonics, geography, history, nature study, poetry and literature in 1 hour and 15 minutes exactly. They then took a tea break and had free play in which they made up a ten-act sequel to Star Wars.
I am so surprised, still, after having cultivated this style of learning for the past couple years, of how smoothly it goes and what a joy it is. I still watch with amazement.
Highlights of the last week:
We spent three days camping in one of the best medeival forests remaining in England and discovered that in low traffic it is just a forty-minute drive from our house.
We began studying Leonardo DaVinci last week. For the children's picture study (see note below) SuperDad took them down to the National Gallery to see The Madonna and Child which they came home and described to me perfectly. Then during drawing lessons this week, we looked at some of his studies of wings for a flying machine and designed wings of our own.
(Picture Study is the method by which children study great pieces of art while bringing their own ideas and perceptions to it instead of having adults tell them what they should think of it. The children each week spend a few minutes studying a picture out of an oversized L.dV. book we leave on the living room table and then close the book and describe the picture to me as best they can noting anything they found interesting or unusual about it.)
We blew up balloons and sent off rockets yesterday using Co2 gas.
The boys have been revisiting on story tape and book the Greek Myths we learned last year in preparation for our trip to Greece and have remembered and enjoyed them again. At the same time, in our reading of James' Baldwin's classic "Fifty Famous Stories Retold," we are reading new stories about King Philip of Macedon and his famous son, Alexander the Great, whom we had become fairly familiar with through our readings last year. Super Boy is reading a book of Greek Myths as well as the Yellow Fairy Book (Andrew Lang) for his quiet reading, while Dinosaur Man is picking up new words and reading skills each day and enjoying a half-hour of quiet reading time each day also.
So that's that for a week of "schooling" towards a literary, cultured and well-rounded education for the whole child. Whew...signing off.
Mother Skylark
It has been such a busy couple weeks with travel, many activities relating to work and education, and trying to get a certain amount of planning and routine in place. I have felt overwhelmed and underprepared already. The amazing thing is that that hasn't mattered so much. Because we've chosen materials that will promote learning and curiosity and stimulate the children's minds and creativity, the children carry themselves through their studies quite eagerly. I am little more than a guide. I don't teach as much as place stategic materials or books or ideas in front of them and then step back to watch them interact with all the natural capacities and eagerness that are natural to children and which, I might add, formal schooling so often seems to strip them of. It is one of the great rewards of home education to have your children begging to get their math books out and complaining when told it's time to put them away.
Part of that is due to Charlotte Mason's encouragement of short lessons. 10 minutes per subject at this stage. Sometimes we might go into 15. It is so their minds stay fresh and they are not overwhelmed or bored by too much information. It has been amazing how much the children take in in just this short amount of time. Even more than that is how much they ENJOY learning, look forward to it every day and how well they retain what they study. It is a fine balance providing challenging and stimulating work while making sure none of their mental faculties are too burdened at any time but we are getting a fairly natural rhythm down of concentration and rest.
One day this week, I noted that we completed very productive lessons in math, copywork (SuperBoy is copying poetry, Dinosaur Man is practicing letter formation), phonics, geography, history, nature study, poetry and literature in 1 hour and 15 minutes exactly. They then took a tea break and had free play in which they made up a ten-act sequel to Star Wars.
I am so surprised, still, after having cultivated this style of learning for the past couple years, of how smoothly it goes and what a joy it is. I still watch with amazement.
Highlights of the last week:
We spent three days camping in one of the best medeival forests remaining in England and discovered that in low traffic it is just a forty-minute drive from our house.
We began studying Leonardo DaVinci last week. For the children's picture study (see note below) SuperDad took them down to the National Gallery to see The Madonna and Child which they came home and described to me perfectly. Then during drawing lessons this week, we looked at some of his studies of wings for a flying machine and designed wings of our own.
(Picture Study is the method by which children study great pieces of art while bringing their own ideas and perceptions to it instead of having adults tell them what they should think of it. The children each week spend a few minutes studying a picture out of an oversized L.dV. book we leave on the living room table and then close the book and describe the picture to me as best they can noting anything they found interesting or unusual about it.)
We blew up balloons and sent off rockets yesterday using Co2 gas.
The boys have been revisiting on story tape and book the Greek Myths we learned last year in preparation for our trip to Greece and have remembered and enjoyed them again. At the same time, in our reading of James' Baldwin's classic "Fifty Famous Stories Retold," we are reading new stories about King Philip of Macedon and his famous son, Alexander the Great, whom we had become fairly familiar with through our readings last year. Super Boy is reading a book of Greek Myths as well as the Yellow Fairy Book (Andrew Lang) for his quiet reading, while Dinosaur Man is picking up new words and reading skills each day and enjoying a half-hour of quiet reading time each day also.
So that's that for a week of "schooling" towards a literary, cultured and well-rounded education for the whole child. Whew...signing off.
Mother Skylark
posted by Mary Ellen Phillips | 3:00 AM
2 Comments:
i so love you mary, you are a constant source of inspiration....
It goes both ways, my morning glory!
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