If you’re new here and visiting from Bring the Rain or from Heart of the Matter, welcome.   You can visit more of my homeschool links here or find out why in the world we ever decided to homeschool in the first place here.  We use the classical model with a blend of The Well Trained Mind, Charlotte Mason and the Thomas Jefferson Education.

I have an unnatural love for books.

When I moved from my beloved suburban house with the garage turned schoolroom to the lakehouse {with no schoolroom}, the movers commented more than once that they had never moved anyone with so many books.   I tried to pare our library down a little but I have a very difficult time parting with books.  I want my own copy and I want it in the flesh and I don’t want to get rid of it.   Period.   It’s makes curriculum shopping my favorite activity of the year.   I want to use EVERY possible program and book.  I want to try My Father’s World and Tapesty of Grace and Sonlight and Calvert.    And I would except that I don’t want someone telling me exactly what to do because I want to decide what books we read and what passages we memorize and how long we spend on The Renaissance.   I want to be in charge of the books.

Hello Mr. UPS man, my name is Edie and I love books.

So this year we will continue on our classical homeschooling journey using a mish-mash, a hodge-podge of books and programs.  For my own teacher-training, I’ve been reading The Seven Laws of Teaching by Milton. I’ve gleaned a few pearls from it and it has reinforced some things I read in A Thomas Jefferson Education.

Namely, that you can’t teach anyone anything.

You can only motivate and inspire  them to learn.   I pray I’ll do more inspiring and less requiring this year.

My 8 and 9 year old are both doing 4th-ish grade and we’re in our third year of following the basic outline laid out in The Well-Trained Mind. I have tweaked our program every year to find what works perfect for us.  I finally feel like I kinda-sorta know what I’m doing.  Kinda.  Sorta.

Here’s what we’re using:

New for Us:

1.  Writing–Institute for Excellence in Writing by Andrew Pudewa

I bought the parent CD’s and am about half way through them.  I love this program already.  And I especially love that we will use the content for writing from our history and science and literature books, which will just enforce the things we’re already learning.   Although we don’t start our formal lessons until next week, we practiced the key word outline a few days ago and my reluctant writer said,  “I love writing now mom.”   Wow.   I hope that continues.

2.  Apologia Science Exploring Creation

We tried out the Astronomy book last semester and loved it.   We’re doing chapter one of the Human Anatomy book (cell structure and function) and then moving on to Zoology I—Flying Creatures of the 5th day.   We also plan to memorize Psalm 104 which goes along well with the learning about God’s creation.

3.  Bible—A Bible History by Concordia Publishing House

We have previously used Veritas Press and have completed Genesis Through Joshua and the Life of Jesus.   This year we plan to do Judges through Malachi from the Bible History book and then memorize Luther’s small catechism for the Lord’s prayer.  We will listen together to teaching on the articles of the Lord’s Prayer beginning with the first petition on IssuesEtc.  We also will memorize the books of the Old Testament and possibly the baptism catechism.   In preparation for teaching my girls from this portion of the Old Testament, I’m working my way through this series of wonderful lectures from iTunes university.    For any christian interested in a Christ centered Old Testament class, this one is phenomenal and of course, you can listen at your leisure.   I highly recommend it.  You can find it by opening iTunes university {from the main menu of iTunes} and searching “Concordia Old Testament”.   It consists of video lectures that span Genesis to Malachi.

What we’re still using:

4.  Saxon 4/5

We have a few lessons to finish from book 3 and we’ve been working on flash cards for multiplication.  I bought the DIVE CD and hope my girls can learn to be a bit more independent with math.  Neither of my girls is math minded so we will continue to look for ways to make math come alive.   We’re currently accepting any and all suggestions.

5.  History–Story of the World 3  Early Modern Times

We have about 6 weeks of Story of the World 2 to finish beginning with The Reformation/Renaissance.   I love Story of the World.   Susan Wise Bauer inspires me and has been my constant companion during my homeschooling journey whether from her history books or her books on education.   I recently came across these set of videos from her own homeschool and they were so comforting to me.   She’s washing the dishes while she does dictation with her son or she’s making mac and cheese before she sends her teenagers off to rest time.    I know, amazing isn’t it?   She requires ‘rest’ time  even for her teens.   I consider her my mentor, my teacher—-the master of all things homeschooling—and her school doesn’t look that different from mine.    At least at a glance.  I really appreciated that look into her world.

6.  Grammar–Rod and Staff 4

We switched from Shurley Grammar to Rod and Staff during the middle of last year.   I like it so much better and I’m hoping that this new writing program will help apply more of what we’re learning.

7.  Memory Work

We will memorize:

A portion of Martin Luther’s speech at the Diet of Worms, A Bird Came Walking Down the Walk by Emily Dickinson,   There is No Frigate Like a Book by Emily Dickinson,  ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson,   Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll (thank you Mrs. Brown),  Elizabeth I’s speech at Tilbury (thank you blog friend),  the preambles to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence ,  Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  The Children’s Hour by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  the presidents of the United States, a history catechism,  Psalm 104, portion of the Sermon on the Mount,  Luke 12:22-32.

We will also continue to review all the memory work from the past two years which is a quite a thick stack of poetry and scripture.

I’ve written about my thoughts on memory work and how important I think it is.   It’s also deeply gratifying to have some ‘tangible’ evidence of your learning.   There are so many benefits to memorization and it’s one of my favorite aspects of home schooling.

8.  Literature

Our curriculum is centered around history and we try to correlate some of our literature to that.    We will start this year by reading a biography on Martin Luther and a historical fiction work about the Mona Lisa (we’ll be studying daVinci first in art) called The Second Mrs. Giaconda.  Some of our other books include  The Princess and the Goblin, King of the Wind,  At the Back of the North Wind,  Just David, Stories of Don Quixote,  The Happy Prince and Other Tales,  The Enchanted Castle,  English Fairy Tales, poetry of George Herbert, The Witch of Blackbird Pond,  Johnny Tremain and excerpts from Paradise Lost.    I use Ambleside Online as a resource for good literature and have recently been visiting the Tapestry of Grace website to find additional classic literature.    We also will continue to read an abridged Shakespeare play per week by Charles and Mary Lamb and will also continue to work our way slowly through the unabridged Pilgrim’s Progress.   The girls will be reading books on their own during rest time and free time and having just finished the Harry Potter series, we’re starting the Chronicles of Narnia.  {we’ve never read them all in order.}   The Narnia series will be our leisure read-aloud which we tend to read while having breakfast, after lunch, and at bedtime.

The importance of literature and in particular reading aloud to children has been recently reinforced again.   In my prep for the writing course, I’ve heard Andrew Pudewa say several times that the single most important thing we can do for our kids is read aloud to them and to continue doing so long after they are old enough to read to themselves.     I hope to continue our habit of spending 2-3 hours a day reading various books and passages aloud.

9.  Languages

We are hoping and praying that we’ll have our wonderful Latin/Spanish tutor again this year, Mrs. Harms.   We used Latin for Children towards the end of the school year and will continue to do so.

10.  Fine Arts

The girls take about 7 hours of ballet instruction each week and will again be taking piano lessons.  We will be studying Chopin and Handel  in music history and Leonardo daVinci, Michealangelo and Rembrandt in art history.

11.  Spelling

We’ve been using Spelling Workout but I’m not sure it’s the right program for us.  I’ve been looking into Spelling Zoo and All About Spelling.  I think we need something more auditory.  For now, we’ll finish up our Spelling Workout books and try recording the words on a tape recorder and using that audio recording to help us practice the words.  Any thoughts?

Whew!  Now if we get through all that, it’ll be nothing short of a miracle.

Wish us luck, we start tomorrow!

If you homeschool and would like to share your curriculum resources or would like to find out what others are using, visit the Heart of the Matter blog hop or Angie at Bring the Rain.

I think I’ve been a little gun shy about posting on our schooling progress without even realizing it.   Because I am a person who avoids conflict to a fault,  I don’t tend to deal well with snarky comments and emails and thankfully, they’ve been few and far between.   When they come, however, they seem to either be because of something I’ve posted about faith or homeschooling.  But since this blog has replaced scrapbooking for me, I want to document our lives, even what to others may seem mundane and/or offensive.   This will be a post about the details of our schooling so  if that makes you wanna jab sharp objects in your eardrums (and I don’t blame you one bit), you might enjoy this or this instead.  (the first one is ‘why we can’t keep the law of God’ and the second one is ‘reformation theology–the presence of God’)

The rest of you, come along and I’ll tell you what we’ve been doing lately.

I snapped this photo while the girls were painting byzantine crosses with paint we made from egg yolks and food coloring.  It could be my favorite photo of the year so far.   And it wasn’t posed.  This is just how they were sitting for a brief moment while they painted.   But it reminds me how wonderful it is to see the girls become each others’ best friends.   Knee to knee.   Toe to toe.  And often hand in hand.  (and occasionally not for good and pleasant purposes)

History

We cut the crosses out of sugar cookie dough and painted them with the egg tempera paint and then baked them.   And then ate them, of course.    All the while, we discussed our history lesson about how the Ottoman Turks took over Constantinople and made the Hagia Sophia a muslim mosque.  {We are working our way through the Middle Ages from Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World part 2}.   This week, we’re studying the Black Death and making necklaces of herbs and garlic (to ward off the ‘evil spirits’ that were supposed to have caused all the deaths from the plague).    This history program is phenomenal.   And on days like today when I want to be packing and purging instead of teaching,  it’s the history and literature programs that keep me going strong.   I look forward to the coming chapters on Joan of Arc,  The War of the Roses,  Christopher Columbus, and of course Martin Luther.    I’m pretty sure that I’m learning more than they are.

Literature

In general, we use an amalgamation of Charlotte Mason and the Well Trained Mind for literature which means that we read a lot and  use whole books not textbooks.

We are still working our way through the Harry Potter books and are currently reading book 5.   We read HP anytime we get a chance, usually 30-45 minutes first thing in the morning and then whenever else we have time.   I’m also making my way through The Hidden Key to Harry Potter which explains all the christian symbolism in the books.   It is utterly amazing to me the depths of symbolism and hidden meaning and wonderful christian themes in the books, not to mention the sheer amount of words that we’ve read.  {book 5 is 83o something pages long!}   I can’t wait to do a final analysis and review of the books myself.   Rowling is right up there with Lewis and Tolkein and in my estimation may be one of the most gifted and brilliant minds of our time.   We use passages that we’ve read from Harry Potter for dictation and narration.

We also still read a Shakespeare story a week from Charles and Mary Lamb’s  Tales from Shakespeare .   We have 4-5 more stories to read to finish the book— which we should finish by the end of the year.  These are ~ten page summaries of the Shakespeare plays but told in somewhat complicated old english language so that they are easier to read than Shakespeare but rich in vocabulary and complex sentence structure.   I plan to read through this book every year until they are ready to tackle Shakespeare’s works by themselves.     By the time the girls are in 5th grade, they’ll know more Shakespeare than I currently know.  Heck, they may be there already.

We’re also still plugging along through Pilgrim’s Progress (the unabridged version).   We read about 5-10 pages per week and likely will just keep reading until we finish—which may take another 6 months to a year.

The girls are each reading their own books,  which they read aloud to me everyday.   Sweet 7 year old (almost 8 year old) is reading Eight Cousins.   And 9 year old is reading The Little Princess.

We also check out books from the library related to topics we’re studying in history and science.    And I like the short biographies from the kids’ section of our library.  We just read some books on Marco Polo and the Jewish people for history and then one of the girls checked out a biography on Mother Teresa which we read aloud.   We probably spend a good 3 hours a day just reading.
homeade playdough family by emme

Math

We have gone back to Saxon.   I still use some Singapore for enrichment but despite the fact that Saxon kinda bores me,  my girls need the review.   We’re finishing our multiplication and division tables, learning to calculate area and perimeter, learning to measure to the nearest centimeter and counting back change from a dollar.   I struggle with how to teach math sometimes.  I’m not a math whiz but I’m fascinated by people who are and I love the patterns and beauty of numbers.   I ordered Isaac Newton’s Principia and have briefly read a little in it.  It’s over my head but I really want to give my girls a classical math education and I know that Saxon is not the way to do that.    The problem is—I don’t have the skill set to do it.   I’m sure I’ll be looking for a math tutor in a few years.  Or I may need to take a class myself.   Who else should I be reading to educate myself?   Euclid?  Descartes?   There was a great blog post on Gene Veith’s blog about teaching math classically {his comments’ section is always lively and informative} but some of the commenters were over my head.    I think  most people who are committed to classical education still teach math very traditionally.   Any insight or help would be appreciated.

Grammar

We switched from Shurley Grammar to Rod and Staff.   Bauer (author of The Well Trained Mind) recommends Rod and Staff because she says they are the only grammar program that teaches correct sentence diagramming.  I had been using Shurley Grammar because the classical school my children attended used it—and I didn’t want them to fall behind if I decided to send them back.   But it’s laborious to use at home and many have said that the results just weren’t there.  The kids knew the jingles (This little noun—floating around—-names a person, place, or thing….) but then couldn’t apply that knowledge well.    I love rod and staff and we’ve found a cute online song for memorizing the helping verbs that you might like.   I still also use the Daily Grams worksheets with the girls for extra practice.

Memory

I’ve said this before but memory work is one of my favorites of the classical curriculum.  Kids have an amazing capacity for memorization and if you don’t provide them quality pieces to memorize, they’ll memorize EVERYTHING else.   We’re currently working on Psalm 40,  “The Daffodils” by William Wordsworth Longfellow,  the states and capitals,  “My Dearest Friend”,  the Sacrament of the Altar from the small catechism (the girls are preparing for their first communion), and a poem called  “The Paragraph”.   They often complain about having to do memory work but they LOVE reciting things that they’ve memorized.  Which reminds me of Susan Wise Bauer’s advice:   learning does not have to be made overly fun—-it is a reward unto itself.

Science

We have used various curriculum this year.   I like Considering God’s Creation, which I borrowed from Denise.   We just finished a unit on mammals from the Handbook of Nature and are about to do insects then birds.  I did that so that we’d be doing insects and birds in the spring.   I plan to do some human body stuff over the summer so if you have any good  curriculum suggestions for that, let me know.  I’m sure I will soon switch to Apologia which comes highly recommended by so many .

Latin and Spanish

We are still so blessed to have a wonderful teacher who tutors the girls 2 days a week.   We use Latin for Children and I’ve been very pleased with their progress.  I would curl up in a ball and cry if Ms. Susan decided she couldn’t do this.     I ought to be sitting in on the class and learning with them but I often use the time to run errands or exercise.

Spelling and Handwriting

We use Spelling Workout which I love.   I used to do the traditional “one lesson a week with a test on Friday”.  But I find that my girls can easily do two lessons a week so we just do it at our own pace.  We finished our handwriting books Classically Cursive and now just use various texts to copy in cursive.   We’re now working on copying the Sacrament of the Altar from the small catechism for extra practice.

So that’s the nitty gritty.

Many of you email me about homeschooling and I hope this kind of summary helps.   I would much rather write about the abstract aspect of homeschooling–which I will likely do again soon—-but it’s fun to look back and remember the details too.

I find myself at a bit of crossroads in my homeschooling journey. For the sake of those who are new to this blog, I’m in my second year of homeschooling my two littlest children—7 and 9, both doing 3rd grade*ish work—after quitting my job 3 years ago as a family practice physician. I have loved being a stay-at-home mom, I have loved homeschooling, and I am completely enamoured with the classical model for teaching children. I follow a blend of Charlotte Mason/ The Thomas Jefferson Education/ The Well Trained Mind. I have only had one episode of locking myself in my bathroom for two hours and sobbing uncontrollably. All in all, it’s been a wonderful journey: spending oodles of time with my children, shepherding their hearts and learning alongside them.

The classical model of learning is demanding for parents.

It requires that you and your children read the great classic works of literature, math and science and then discuss these works together. It assumes that when children are inspired by parents or teachers or mentors, they will want to learn and will do the work necessary to gain the knowledge they seek. The end result is a student who is a self-learner, who is motivated by the love of knowledge itself—not for some secondary gain of grades, treats or approval. And it is a delicate balance that seems difficult to attain. If you spend 40-50% of your days reading books, there’s not a lot of tangible evidence that you are acquiring or mastering anything. Worksheets are much easier to hold up as proof of your efforts. It’s not so easy to appreciate and evaluate a head full of adventures and stories and imagination. And it’s sometimes easier to say, “You go do these 7 pages and I’ll see you in an hour.” It can be harder to say, “Let’s go read Shakespeare together and then let’s read Pilgrim’s Progress together and then you read The Magician’s Nephew aloud to me and then let’s talk about it all.”

But a series of worksheets and tests—especially in the home setting, at an early age—- tends to snuff out the fire, the burning desire in all of us to know something, just for the sake of knowing it. For example, I used the Veritas program last year to teach Bible—full of worksheet after worksheet to evaluate comprehension—and none of us liked it. It made the wonderful, harrowing stories of the Old Testament seem dull and dry. This year, we’ve just been reading about the life of Jesus—from the actual Bible— and comparing the differences found in the various gospels. Just the Bible and its’ stories, without an interfering ‘textbook’ , without any way to ‘test’ what they’ve read, and their comprehension is impeccable. They find differences that I miss.   They read the parables and stories aloud for themselves and it is simple, but powerful. Charlotte Mason makes the point in her writing that we put too many obstacles between the child and the material and now I see what she means. Introduce children to the characters of classical literature and they will be smitten.

The classical model is also the ultimate in delayed gratification.

For days, weeks, and months, there seems to be very little to ‘show’ for all your labor. You’ve read all kinds of books, you’ve fallen in love with stories, authors and characters. The books you’ve read have changed you; the stories have become part of the fabric of who you are, you dream of the characters, you call them to mind in certain situations and you feel like you know them . You are becoming part of the ‘great conversation’. You are starting to realize how you ‘fit’ into this big wonderful world and its’ story.

But that rich inner life that is developing cannot be measured or tested. It’s like a fire that needs careful feeding, lest it be quenched. And that fire is what will motivate students to educate themselves—to be lifelong learners. Learning is hard work and if you push too hard and demand ‘work’ for the sake of work—they learn to do the least amount that’s necessary to avoid conflict. But if you inspire, nourish– ‘feed’ the fire, if you will—they will be driven by something strong and unquenchable inside themselves and there are no limits to what they will do to learn. I wish there were an easier way; but this form of teaching succeeds most assuredly when you lead by example. Which sometimes leaves me face to face with my own inadequacies and deficits. And when I get stressed, I start demanding results, which leads to fire-quenching. You see the vicious cycle.

So, here is my dilemma. I know I’m at a critical point with my girls. So far, I don’t think I’ve quenched the fire. But my human nature wants something tangible. I want a report card that says my student made all A’s and here are the worksheets and tests to prove it. I want cold hard facts and all I’ve got is a stack of books with tattered, worn pages. To make matters worse, I faced every homeschooling mothers’ worst fear last month: the soul-shaking, “No offense Mom, but I think I want to go to ‘real’ school next year”. The pleas to go to ‘real’ school have only surfaced when there is conflict between us and I know in my heart that I need more time with them. The fire is started but it’s not blazing yet. Perhaps I need a good pep talk from Charlotte Mason; her books will give you every reason to stay the course. Maybe it’s time to schedule a field trip to a play or a museum. It could be time to watch youtube and learn how to salsa dance. More than likely, it’s just the January blues that all homeschoolers experience. We all grow restless for something bigger and better.

I need a full measure of patience: to stay the course, to snuggle by the fire and read—fighting the pressure to produce something more tangible for the world to see, to mentor my girls by continuing to educate myself and to continue to inspire them by my own love for learning.

The one measurable thing we do frequently is memorization. We’re currently working on Psalm 40, the states and capitals, a poem, and the small catechism. We memorized a poem this fall that the girls recited in the front of the camera today called, ” Rebecca, Who Slammed Doors for fun and Perished Miserably”. There’s something comforting, substantial and verifiable about oral recitation. I guess it’s our form of grades.

Take it away girls! I give you an A+! Then, we’ll resume our post by the fire.

{Update coming soon on how our specific subjects are progressing}