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You asked for an update on our homeschooling?  Be careful what you ask for 🙂

This post has been in my drafts for 5 months.  Why the procrastination?  Because even after 5 years, this stuff scares the heebeejeebees out of me.  It brings me to my knees.  It humbles me every.single.day.  I come with fear and trembling.  I don’t pretend to have it figured out.   Not even close.

So, why do I keep at it?  Because I care so much.  Because I’m scared.  Because it keeps bringing us all to our knees.  Because for the life of me, I can’t think of anything else that so regularly pushes me to that raw edge of life—-the edge where war is waged between me and the work I was made to do.  

So, for now, I soldier on.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!   Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is near.

 Do not be anxious about anything,

but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Andrew Kern and the Circe Conference have totally changed the tenor and focus of our homeschool.   I’m going to their conference again this year in Maryland.  It’s amazing and so worth the sacrifice of time and money.  I’ve linked to him before but this talk and some of these podcasts were instrumental in ‘renewing my mind’.  In his talks, both online and at the conference, he helped me to see how stressed and frantic and anxiety-ridden our world is.  And even if I try not to be that way, it’s the water in which we all swim.  We don’t live from a place of peace and rest and so neither do we run our homes and schools and lives from a place of peace either.  We  are all a mess.  Chaos reigns.  Or so it is with me.

I really crave this peace and rest.  I want to cultivate a place where time slows down and where getting lost in a book or a project is still possible and encouraged.

I hope to post soon a ‘day in the life’ of how we try to get it all done.  But for now, these are our curriculum plans!

We start our mornings together with prayer, readings for the upcoming Sunday (following series C of the church calendar), a hymn, memory work and overall themes for the day/week/month/year.   It just so happens to be the season of Epiphany in the church year right now so we talk about what that means and how the readings for the Sundays in Epiphany point to Christ and His light-giving life.

Memory

We continue our memory work in much the same way we have since year 1.   I talk about why we do memory work here but in summary, kids will memorize whether we give them great passages to memorize or not—so we might as well give them great stuff!    We are studying the Ancients this year in our history cycle, so we memorize poetry and writings about and by the people from this time period.   We have continued to memorize the Sermon on the Mount—which we didn’t finish from last year—and then other Bible passages, some related to our studies.  We also memorize lists of facts related to grammar and science and history, including the history time line.  I add and edit things from our list all year but here’s a sampling of what we’re working on and the Paradise Lost passage by the girls!

Genesis 1

Paradise Lost, first 26 lines

Ozymandias  (poem by Keats about an Egyptian pharaoh)

When the Frost in on the Punkin

List of 12 most important Egyptian pharaohs and their dates/accomplishments

List of major constellations and time of year visible in the Northern sky

Latins prayers including Te Deum Laudamas

Greek and Roman gods

Excerpt of Julius Caesar

Kings of Isreal and Judah

History time line (170 dates/important people spanning from Creation to now)

finish Sermon on the Mount

To the Fountain of Bandusia

The Destruction of Sennacherib

the invocation of the Muse in The Odyssey

selection from Augustine

The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats

God’s Grandeur by Gerard Hopkins

The Housewife’s Prayer by Blanche Mary Kelly

passage from The Iliad (yet to be determined, we are reading it now)

Ode to a Grecian Urn

 Grammar

Cue the hallelujah chorus.  I’m a day late and dollar short but I have recently discovered THE most awesome grammar program ever known to man.  I’ve been using Rod and Staff, which is stepwise and thorough and has the same chapters year after year and pretty much makes me wanna poke out my eardrums with a  sharp knitting needle.  It’s SO utilitarian.  Where is the grammar program for someone who LOVES grammar with all her heart and soul and will keep homeschooling solely (almost) to teach her children and herself the beauty of it?   Where is that program?

Well, look no more.  I’ve found it.

Micheal Clay Thompson’s Level 4 Grammar Program.

Here’s an excerpt from the back of the book:

“From a utilitarian point of view, I think grammar is an intellectual pocket knife;  it is small, easily purchased, and so useful that one would not dream of being without it.  Grammar is so lovely that even if it were useless, one would irresistibly explore it, as one explores chess, or architecture, or the spiral geometries of shells.  It is a  sort of magic aesthetic lens, through which we can view the delicate structure of ideas.”

Shut up.  Shut the front door.  If the man who said this (and who wrote this curriculum)  was standing in front of me right now, I’d be tempted to hug him and never let him go.  This man sees language like some people see Renoir or Michealangelo.   He is a genius and I only wish I had found this curriculum earlier.  I’m still learning the nuts and bolts of it but basically, he teaches all the parts of speech in one month and then spends the rest of the year exploring beautiful sentences, written by gifted authors, as a way of immersing ourselves in the best that language has to offer.  The girls and I studied adjectives today by reading a passage from Hamlet.  No ‘made up’ sentences about Sally going to the doctor and any other such contrived nonsense.    Real, stylized sentences from the best classic literature.   I’m so an evangelist for this program.  It’s a no brainer.  Micheal Clay Thompson-—I think you’re swell.  And some day, my girls will thank you.  Amen.

Also, we learn so much grammar in Latin that it almost feels like we do this program for fun.

Latin

We often get strange looks when we tell people we’re learning Latin.  There are so many reasons why I believe that it may be THE most important part of our curriculum but I won’t reinvent the wheel since Andrew Kern wrote a brilliant four part series (1, 2, 3, 4) on why Latin is crucial for classical education.   Until the 20th century, to be educated meant to learn the classical languages and to study the classic texts.  But we’ve dumbed ourselves down and reduced most of education to what is considered ‘useful’ to get a job.  I’m not educating my girls so that they can get a job, I’m educating them to give them a life.  Learning Latin is humbling, difficult, and wonderful, all at the same time.   All good life lessons!

I’m thrilled to tell you that the girls have been taking online Latin  this year and successfully finished their first semester with A’s.  While at the Circe Conference, I find out about Classical Learning Resource Center, which teaches both Greek and Latin with the intent to be able to translate ancient works.   I am so excited about this class and realize what a privilege it is for the girls to be able to take Latin from a classical languages teacher.   The class has not been easy for them but (or me!) but we’ve learned so much and it pushes us beyond our comfort level, which is always a good thing!  The class meets once a week for two hours and then there’s plenty of homework to keep us busy through the week.  The sessions are recorded so that we can go back and listen to concepts we might have had trouble with.  I HIGHLY recommend it if you want to continue Latin but don’t have the skills to do it properly yourself.  I’m so glad we had done Latin for Children because the girls didn’t feel so intimidated by so many new things at once.   The class uses Oxford Latin for textbooks and it is heavily steeped in Ancient Roman history and literature, which I love.  It reminds me of a college course, in the grading and the expectation level but the teacher is so kind and understanding with the kids, while at the same time, expecting alot from them.  It’s perfection!

Do my girls love Latin?  Not yet.  It’s hard.  It’s very hard.  But there’s starting to see the beautiful satisfaction that comes from doing hard things over time.  It won’t be long until they like it.

History

We are studying the Ancients  (Isrealites, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans)  using both The Mystery of History Volume I: Creation to the Resurrection  and The Story of the World, Activity Book 1: Ancient Times – From the Earliest Nomad to the Last Roman Emperor.   I’m taking several online classes through The Teaching Company in order to prepare me to teach the Ancients in more detail.  I finished Ancient Egypt and taught the Egyptians by  teaching about the life and times of ten pharaohs.  We did Egyptian Art and read literature about the Egyptians.  It was a fun couple  of months and my girls thoroughly enjoyed Mara, Daughter of the Nile. It’s a book of historical fiction set during the time of Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III.   We used topics from the Egyptian time period as prompts for writing assignments and  our memory work included a poem (Ozymandias) written about a pharaoh.  We also incorporated the Isrealite history and how it was often intertwined with the Egyptians.

I took a course on The Odyssey and then read it aloud to my girls.   I’m nearly finished with courses on  Ancient Greece  and Greek Mythology and I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to take a college level class for myself and then use that wealth of information to pass good stuff onto the girls.  We read Tales of Troy (junior version of The Iliad) and are now starting The Aeneid together.  We also read Tales of the Greek Heroes, which the girls loved.  I plan to read them some sections from Plato and Aristotle and we will discuss some of the famous Greek tragedies as a way of introducing them to names/stories.

Soon, we will begin our study of the Ancient Romans and all along the way we study the Isrealites and how they fit into chronological history.

We use the topics we are studying in history to guide our literature choices and as topics for our writing, as well.  I love the overlap and the constant reinforcement.

History is probably our favorite subject and we almost always get out our maps and find the places we’re reading about.  We do it after lunch in a more relaxed style than our morning classes.

 Literature

I’ve heard it many times and I believe it’s true.  You could read good books all day and get all the education you need.  I’m committed to classical learning by reading classical books to my kids.  We do a lot of reading and even at their ages of 10 and 12, they beg me to read aloud to them.  Some of the books we’ll be enjoying this year are:

Mara, Daughter of the Nile (Puffin Story Books)

Tales of the Greek Heroes (Puffin Classics)

Bulfinch’s Mythology – All Three Volumes – The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, and Legends of Charlemagne

Odyssey

The Aeneid

The Tale of Troy: Retold from the Ancient Authors (Puffin Classics)

Julius Caesar

Confessions (Oxford World’s Classics) by Augustine

 

These we will read together (or have already read).  They also read on their own and have finished the Lois Lowry books, Suzanne Collins series about Gregor and are working through the Rick Riordan books, a modern day tale of the Greek gods.

Books are everything to us and I saw a study recently that said that the single most important factor in raising well educated kids was how many books they have access to at home.

So, I keep plenty on hand and pray they read and keep reading for the rest of their lives!

(Someone on Pinterest recently wrote about the workroom that she couldn’t decide if she hated it or loved it because she could never get any work done with all that clutter.)

Books?  Clutter?  That’s heresy!

Bible

We use The Mystery of History Volume I: Creation to the Resurrection  to study the Old Testament and the girls are taking a two year catechism class with our pastor that meets every other Sunday for 2 hours.  We also are hoping to read through the Old Testament by the end of this school year.  Their catechism class is very comprehensive and has paralleled our study of the Ancients so perfectly.  I LOVE It when a plan comes together!  And I’m so thankful for a pastor that is so committed to teaching the faith to the young ones.  Steve and I sit in on the class and learn so much ourselves.  We are so blessed by his teaching!

 

Writing

We use the content of our history and science as our writing prompts.   We are still using Teaching Writing/Student Writing Intensive Combo Pack – Level B.    I am a little frustrated with writing because neither of my girls are natural writers and I’m not sure I’m the best teacher for them.  I’m looking into some kind of writing workshop for them this spring.  Let me know if you know of anything like that.  I’ve also considered hiring a tutor to help them as well.  We’ll see.  We do one or two writing assignments per week using the keyword outline method.   What I do love about our writing program is that it reinforces what we’re already learning in other subjects.  Writing is hard and the results come slow.  I’m hoping that what we’re doing will pay off eventually.  They do LOVE watching Andrew’s videos.  He’s a funny guy!

 

Science

We’ve been doing astronomy and physical science this year.  We have used Exploring Creation With Astronomy (Young Explorer Series) by Jeannie Fulbright for Astronomy and have studied the stars and constellations and the origin of their Greek names.   For physical/earth science, we’ve been using How the Earth Works Pb (Eyewitness Science Guides).  We haven’t been very hard core/disciplined with science because I firmly believe that elementary science should be much more focused on instilling a love for nature and its beauty.  We like to bird-watch and star gaze and study weather and trees and water systems.  Next year, I suppose I’ll have to get more ‘serious’ about science but for now, it’s part of our laid-back/fun/afternoon stuff.

Math

We have used Saxon Math 7/6: Homeschool Edition Student Text  this year and are a few lessons away from finishing it.  After some thought and research, we plan to move onto Prealgebra – Special Second Edition for Chalk Dust Company  in a few weeks.   I have a good friend who uses it and I like the idea of the video lectures.  At this level of their education, I can’t teach everything well.  So, I farm out Latin and Math.  I’m there to help and explain and monitor but I don’t have to do the bulk of the teaching.  We do math right after memory and Bible so we’re fresh!

 

We try to schedule plenty of time for cooking and crafting and field trips but as the curriculum gets harder, it seems harder to protect our margins!  The girls are very involved in dance and train 8-10 hours per week.

Let me end the longest post ever known to man by saying this.  Homeschooling is one of many good options available for teaching kids.  It’s not for everybody and it may not always be for us.  We take it one year at a time and try to enjoy our days together.  My goal is to instill a love for truth, beauty and goodness.

But mostly, I just like spending my days with them.  Life is complicated and messy but we’re together, learning to be who we were created to be.

I’ve been meaning to do this post since September. A lot of you have asked about our curriculum and though it hasn’t changed drastically since the beginning, I do tweak it every year in a effort to find what best suits my girls and their learning styles and our classical education goals.
This is our fourth year at home,  learning together. It has gotten progressively easier every year, partly because I’m more confident about what we’re doing but mostly because my girls are older and easy to teach. It took me FOREVAH to do this post so I sure hope it helps some sweet poor soul who’s trying to figure out this whole homeschooling thing 🙂

Bible

Lectionary/Small Catechism/Church Festivals

Our church follows the 3 year lectionary and we are currently on Series B.  I print the readings for the year so that we are able to read the next Sunday’s readings at least 2-3 times before church on Sunday.   Since we’ve been doing this, I find that the girls pay more attention to the readings and almost always nudge me to remind me that,  “Hey, we’ve read that this week.”    We also read about/talk about the church festivals on the day they occur.   St. Lucia day was December 13 and the girls and I made crowns of light and Santa Lucia rolls.   January 18th was the festival of the Confession of St. Peter so we talked about the importance of Peter’s confession for the church.   Issues Etc. is very helpful in this regard because they also follow the church year and have several years of podcasts on the various church festivals.  We talk about the current ‘season’ of the church year (currently Epiphany) and how that season reflects something unique about the life and work of Christ.   We’re also STILL memorizing the Small Catechism.   We take one portion each year or semester and memorize it/talk about it/study it.   We are currently finishing up on the Lord’s Prayer petitions.

We’ve done Old Testament stories twice and New Testament stories twice so I’m thinking of doing church history next year.   I’d love your thoughts on Bible curriculum, especially as your children age and are ready for more ‘meat’.

Memory

Poetry/Scripture/Historical Documents/Lists

I’ve written about my passion for memory work before.  We spend about 30-40 minutes per day on memory work—most of that time on learning new memory. But we also continue to review things we learned in our first 3 years of homeschooling. I know my girls get tired of it sometimes but we have a huge notebook of works we’ve memorized over the past four years and it’s one of the few subjects where there’s instant, tangible evidence that we’re learning great stuff.   We are usually working on 4-5 new pieces at one time along with a comprehensive history timeline that spans the ancient Isrealites through current times.   It has 170 events (corresponding to the Veritas history cards) and sometimes seems daunting.  However, we will repeat it every year and as we get to those topics in history and Bible, the timeline will come alive and be ‘pegs’ on which to  hang more information.    “The destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, 70 AD”  may not mean that much to them right now.   But when we get to that story in history, it won’t be the first time they’ve heard it and they will understand it better as it relates to the history of the Romans and the Jews.   I LOVE the timeline.  This little video clip will give you a ‘feel’ for the timeline and how it CAN be done, despite the fact that there are lots of dates and people and events.

We try to coordinate our memory work with things we’re studying in history, science, math,  and Bible.   So far this year, we’ve memorized:

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
After the Party
The Cow
A list of the 13 colonies
The Presidents
The States and Capitals
Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Romans 8:18-39
George Washington by Stephen Vincent Benet
Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Pater Noster (Lord’s Prayer in Latin)
The World is too Much With Us by William Wordsworth
Introduction to the Declaration of Independence
The Children’s Hour by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Santa Filomena by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
John 1:1-7 in Latin and English
Gettysburg Address
Matthew 5: 1-20
History Timeline

Math

Saxon–We just finished Saxon 5/4 and are starting 6/5.

Literature

The girls spend an hour a day reading their literature books. Books they read so far this year:
Black Beauty
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle
The Secret Garden
The Princess and the Goblin
Anne of Green Gables
Peter Pan

to be read:

The Little White Horse
Anne of Avonlea
The Treasure Seekers
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
The Prince and the Pauper

We also read together at night (Little Women) and they listen to audio books during their quiet time (currently, Hunger Games).   We love books.  It’s the center of our curriculum.  During their reading time, they read aloud to me (usually a page or two) and sometimes I read a few pages to them.  We read classical books and I use Ambleside Online along with The Well Trained Mind to furnish us with good book choices and good authors.

Grammar

We’re still using Rod and Staff and I love it.   We do a lot of diagramming and a lot of review.   They’re finally getting the hang of it!!!!   They can predictably find subjects/verbs/direct objects/predicate nouns/predicate adjectives/prepositions/object of prepositions.   The hard work is finally paying off!   I am passionate that my girls (along with their mother) become proficient at Grammar so I very actively teach it.  We don’t do worksheets very often but instead work through most of it on the board together.   I’m pretty sure this is why they like Grammar.   I hope it continues!

Writing

This is our 2nd year to use Andrew Pudewa’s Excellence in Writing. It’s a great, step-wise program for teaching writing and we use his method (keyword outlines) to write one good paragraph a week based on something from our history or science curriculum.  For instance, this week, we studied the Transcontinental Railroad so the girls read a few short paragraphs about the railroad and then made a keyword outline from the reading.   The next day, we use the outline to write a paragraph and then use the next day or so to edit the paragraph and add writing elements such as -ly words, strong verbs, ‘which’ clauses, sentence openers, adjectives, etc.   On Fridays,  I often have the girls give a short oral presentation where they basically recite their paragraph back to me.    By the end of the week, they’ve really learned a few key things about a pertinent topic and they get to practice their oratory skills along with their writing and editing skills.

Latin

This is our first year without Mrs. Susan, our Latin tutor and it’s been a learning experience for all of us.   I’m very committed to my girls’ learning Latin.   I think it’s so valuable for vocabulary building and even for better understanding English grammar.   We use Latin for Children and are almost finished with Primer A.   We take it slow, usually a chapter a week, and then do lots of review.   We memorize prayers and scripture in Latin which helps to reinforce what we’re learning.  I’ve been checking into online Latin classes for the future because I’m not sure I can learn it fast enough to teach them.  I’m glad I’ve ploughed through it this year though because at least they haven’t lost any ground.   I’d LOVE it if my girls were translating famous Latin works by the time they’re in high school.  It’s just a good foundation for language of all types and I don’t see us giving it up anytime soon.  If you do Latin at home, I’d love to know what works well for you!

French

We use Rosetta Stone and the only thing I provide is the computer and the software.   They seem to really like it and  do a  lesson a day whenever we can fit it in around our other work.  It’s very low key but again, I love the exposure to language at an early age.

History

We are still using Story of the World and are on unit four.  I can’t wait to start the repeat next year where we start over again with ancient times.   I’ve used Mystery of History as a supplement and these wonderful books while studying the Civil War.   We often use historical figures as a topic for our writing and our read-alouds.   We chose Little Women as our nighttime read because it’s set during the Civil War and we read a biography on Lincoln during that study as well.   We do history in the afternoons and call it our ‘fun’ school.   We don’t test history but just try to enjoy it.   We discuss what we’ve read and I’ll  occasionally have them narrate it back to me but usually, we just read and discuss.

Science

We’re doing Jeannie Albright’s Human Anatomy this year and have thoroughly enjoyed it.   It’s been a perfect segue for discussing all things ‘body’ with the girls.   They’re at the perfect age for it and usually sit spellbound when the topic gets a little juicy.   We’ve memorized the bones and have used topics such as digestion for larger writing projects.   We also do this in the afternoons and don’t do testing. We really only test Grammar and Math and Spelling at this juncture but we do participate in standardized tests every year so I can see how I’m doing. So far, so good! Enjoy some of our memory work and a little scrapbook of sorts of the girls and their days.

This has become one of the most frequently asked questions about our homeschool.   How do we fit it all into a day?   And still sleep and eat and relax.

And I remember those early days when I was researching homeschooling.    I wanted to know every detail.  I poured over Susan Wise Bauer’s daily schedule to try and imagine what my days would look like.   I’ve been tweaking our schedule ever since and I think I’ve finally found a method that works for us.   My girls (8 and 9) are doing 4 grade-ish work mostly and we follow a neo-classical curriculum (as classical as it can be in 2010).   I wanted to come up with a method that gave them more ‘ownership’ of their work;  where they would be motivated on their own to work hard and finish on time.   The problem with that is that we still do a lot of work together.   I read on average two hours aloud to them everyday.    So how do we combine our  ‘together’ work in a way that still gives them a sense of independence and accomplishment?

This schedule is how we do it.   I tweak it depending on the day and print this schedule off every morning, giving a copy to  each girlie.   They love checking things off  the list and it’s been a great tool to help them learn self-discipline.   The harder they work during their independent time, the more time they have in the afternoons to play.

5-7:30am I wake up and do my morning thing:  listen to Issues as I unload dishwasher and tidy the kitchen and living area, finalize the girls’ schedule for the day and print it out,  make sure all supplies, books etc are ready for our school day,  go for a run (depending on the day, the mood, the alignment of the stars),  go to the grocery store (depending on the day),  work on blog posts or answer emails, get the laundry going.

7:30 Wake up the girls with a bright sunshine-y song because I’m a very annoying morning person and hope to help them love and appreciate mornings!  They roll their eyes get dressed, have breakfast, do their simple chores (make beds, tidy room, personal hygeine).   We usually put on some classical music (whatever composer we’re studying at the moment) and have it playing in the background as we start.  Right now, we’re studying Chopin so we listen to him.

8 or 8:15 ish   Bible and Memory

Start our school day with ‘together’ time.   We always start with a prayer from the Lutheran prayer book, read by one of the girls.   Each week, they take turns being the helper for the week, so whatever needs to be done (praying aloud, copying, fetching mom’s diet coke) the girl of the week is in charge.    We also do Bible study (we’re working through the OT) and memory period during this time.

Memory period takes us about 30-45 minutes each day because not only are we memorizing new pieces all the time but we’re always reviewing the stuff we’ve already memorized from the last two years.   The girls LOVE this time of day.  Although memory work can be difficult, it’s so rewarding to be able to recite from memory a huge stack of poetry, bible verses,  random facts, etc.

9:00-10:00  Spelling,  Handwriting,  Writing,  Piano Practice {independent}

This is their first ‘independent’ slot.   They can work on anything from their independent list and they tend to do really well with this and can usually check at least two-three things off the list during this time.   For instance, they both almost always do their spelling, handwriting and either piano practice or  their writing assignment, and sometimes all, during this period.    I usually make beds and start dinner.   They often need little bits of help during this time so I stay close and am ready to help.     I’ve been working on my kindness and patience with their questions and pleas for help.   I find that when I’m more patient, they have less questions.   If they sense that I’m frustrated or really distracted (which I sometimes am!) they seem to need an endless amount of help.   So I talk to myself and try to use a kind, encouraging voice and even if it’s the thirteenth time in 2 minutes that someone needs my help, I try to remember that this is why I’m here—to help them and teach them and guide them.    And I think it’s working.    They seem to need me less the more accessible and pleasant I am.   Go figure.

10-10:30 History {together}

We usually read a chapter in our history book or work on a history related project or read a chapter in a biography about one of our history characters.    They often play legos or do handstands or knit while I read.   Those kinesthetic learners will drive you crazy but I often find that they remember more details if their hands and feet are moving.  We try to incorporate some of our extra reading, memory work and writing into our history lesson.   For instance, we’re studying Elizabeth I this week so 1) we’re memorizing a portion of her speech at Tilbury  2) Our writing assignments will all be about her  3) at the end of the week, the girls will use their writing assignments to give a short oral presentation on her life.

Our curriculum is history and literature centered as much as is possible.

short break (10 min) for snack or taking the dogs for a ‘run’ on the golf cart or dancing (them, not me) etc.

10:30-11  Literature

Read alouds together.  On M,W,F, we read Shakespeare from Charles and Mary Lamb’s book.  We usually read one play per week.  The girls love Shakespeare but it’s better to take it in small bites because these writers use complex language structure which can be hard to follow.   I’m usually the one confused.   They’re always explaining to me what just happened.  They each have their own literature book (Elea-The Princess and the Goblin,  Emme- Hedge of Thorns) and sometime during the morning, they read a chapter or two each and read aloud to me.   We work it in

11-11:45 Math, separate but together.

We do a new lesson each day which I teach to the girls together and then they individually work with me on flash cards and timed sheets while the other one works on the new lesson, then we switch.   Math at our house usually involves weeping and gnashing of teeth.  We’re working on this.   I think it’s getting better since we’ve starting doing the review sheets every day.   They both lack a sense of mastery with math facts and thus easily get frustrated.  My goal is to help them truly master the basic facts so they don’t have to think and count and cry and scream.    Wish me luck.

11:45-12:10  Literature

They each have their own literature book (Elea-The Princess and the Goblin,  Emme- Hedge of Thorns) and sometime during the morning, they read a chapter or two each and read aloud to me—usually a page or two.   We usually do it right before lunch.

Lunch and breaktime.   Stevie comes home for lunch so we almost always have lunch together and then the girls play while we visit.

12:30-1:30 MWF  Latin with Mrs. Harms.

We are so blessed to have Susan back with us this year.   The girls and I love her and they’ve learned so much.   They’re working on noun declensions.  I listen in amazement and really should just take the class myself.   I’m always so conflicted because I have so much I could ‘get done’ during this hour.

Usually I clean or craft or cook or blog or run to the store.    Carpe diem, right?

Rest Time:   Cue the drums.  This hour will change your life.

This is the most wonderful amazing brain child of Susan Wise Bauer.    Watch how she does it here. The rules are, you ‘rest’ in your room, by yourself and may listen to books on tape or play quietly with legos or crafts, etc.   You may not come out unless you’re bleeding.   My girls LOVE their alone time.   It’s good for everyone.   We’re thinking of extending longer than an hour.   It’s wonderful and we meet back together refreshed from the solitude.

1:30-3:30  Science and Grammar/More independent time

We usually have science and grammar to finish in the afternoons.    If we have read-alouds we didn’t finish, we do them here too.  We almost always finish by 2:30 or 3.   But alas, today we will have to finish grammar when we come home from dance.   We had a busy, productive day but couldn’t fit it all in.

We follow this basic schedule on Monday-Thursdays and then use Fridays for more literature, art, music, library time and math.   We study one artist at a time and try to relate some of our art projects to our science, history or literature.    This week, it works out brilliantly because we’re studying the Renaissance and King David so we’ll talk about Michelangelo and his somewhat antagonistic relationship with daVinci and their work on the Sistine Chapel.   We’ll study the sculpture of King David and gaze at our own replication of King David’s bust.   We also will paint different birds since we are studying birds in science.

The girls have dance 3 afternoons a week and piano lessons once per week.

To see a host of ‘daily schedules’ visit Heart of the Matter’s Blog Hop.