Morning Time plan

Everyone:


Hymn
Prayer
Scriptures
Gospel Art
Phonogram Flashcards (From Reading Lessons through Literature)


(Zach and Caroline go play)


Gospel Principles
Read-Aloud (on a rotating schedule): The Children's Bible, Our Young Folks' Plutarch , Homer (Black Ships Before Troy & The Wanderings of Odysseus), Child's History of the World, Storybook of Science (not sure how read-alouds will go with so many little kids... we'll try though)
Poetry recitation (this year they will each pick their own poems to memorize, write them on a notecard, and rotate them as they are mastered)


(Maddy goes to play)


Grammar flashcards (From English Lessons through Literature)
Latin review

More random thoughts.

I updated "Morning Time" and "English Lessons through Literature" posts.  I'm dropping R&S English (though I love it) and putting all three girls in English Lessons through Literature.  I was hesitant because I wasn't sure the grammar would be as rigorous as R&S.  I asked the author about it and she said, between the lines, that is follows R&S's scope and sequence.  So that made me feel better.  That was my only hesitation.




Edited: I was wrong about Charlotte's comprehension level.  I just had her tested in reading and math.  She will do just fine in 4th grade material. 


For testing I used the DORA (reading) and ADAM (math) tests from www.letsgolearn.com.  Very worth it.  The test is online.  It is fun for the kids to complete.  The results are very detailed with suggestions on how to remediate if needed.  Across the board, Charlotte is only a few months behind Savannah in all skills. 

Morning Time

Every time I am thinking about curriculum choices and how I want the school year to go (like now), I have this nagging feeling that I'm missing the boat.  I'm missing the joy and beauty.  Where is it?  How can I capture it?


I occasionally get a glimpse of it during poetry teatime when we are having fun and reading beautiful words.  It is found on our nature walks.  It is found when I read aloud and the kids are captivated.  It is found during one-on-one discussions of a history chapter or a oral narration.  It is found during our current morning time when we sing a hymn, say a family prayer, and read scriptures.


I want more of this and less of "school work."  I want to plan a Morning Time.


So currently our Morning Time goes like this:


*Sing a hymn (same one until all verses memorized).
*Family Prayer
*Read scriptures (the ones made "For Latter-Day Saint Families" is divided up into short sections with definitions, quotes from General Authorities, and art work.  We read a section a day, everyone taking turns reading or repeating after me.)
*Gospel Principles (I just added this in a few weeks ago and it is going great.  We take turns reading a paragraph and discuss.  For school kids only)


I want to add in a poem a day, picture study, composer study, gospel for the preschool kids like maybe a picture from the gospel art box to read and discuss (I started doing this.  Zach and Caroline like it.  They listen.  It's short, then they go play.  I've caught Caroline coming back to look at the pictures again.  I'm going to hang them on the wall), memory work, Shakespeare/Plutarch, Homer, history, and literature.  My problem is the different ages.  Maybe I should save the older stuff for an Evening Time, that hour after the Littles are in bed, and save Morning Time for things the whole family can enjoy.  Gospel Principles, Shakespeare, Homer, Plutarch, history and literature would need to be moved to Evening Time.


That would leave for Morning Time:


Hymn
Prayer
Scriptures
Gospel Art
Poem
Art Study




***going to update my thoughts on this as I have time**


I've been reading For the Children's Sake again.  Here are some of my notes:


"We are limited to three educational instruments -- the atmosphere of environment, the discipline of habit, and the presentation of living ideas."


"A child's mind is a spiritual organism, with an appetite for all knowledge." --which includes physical exercise, nature, handicrafts, science, art, many living books.'


Have a daily routine.  Make time for the most important things: scriptures, family prayer, read-alouds, game night.


work on habits of character: attention, truthfulness, self-control, unselfishness, concentration.


"Life is sustained on ideas.  Ideas are spiritual.  Ideas are a soul's food."

English Lessons through Literature - update!

I don't know why I can't leave well enough alone.  I just need to stay off the Well-Trained Mind forums.  But if I did, I would have never found this:


English Lessons through Literature, as well as her other products (I think I'm using all of it).


This is a curriculum that combines literature, grammar, composition, copywork, memory work, poetry, narration (oral and written), dictation.  It is Charlotte Mason inspired, but with Classical components that include more grammar, and in level 3 and up (she has planned through level 6 at least) it includes copia exercises that are similar to Classical Writing and other writing curricula like it.  Here is a good review of it: http://www.barefootmeandering.com/eltl.html


I have already decided to start Madelynn in ELtL level 1.  I'm going to start her in ELtL 1 next year.  This year she will only be using Reading Lessons through Literature level 1 (which I only use as a spelling program since she is halfway through Phonics Pathways) as well as Handwriting Lessons through Literature using the Elson Readers as copywork.  I like RLtL because it uses the spelling method I love, and it comes in four different handwriting fonts.  No more HWT.


I'm going to use her free Pathways read-aloud schedule with Zach and Maddy (and Caroline if she wants to listen)
****
UPDATE:  I've decided to move Savannah and Charlotte to English Lessons through Literature as well.  Their least favorite part of school is R&S English.  ELTL teaches the same grammar in R&S, only it is not drill-and-kill and it uses real sentences.  PLUS it has the poetry, short stories, copywork, dictation, picture study, and literature reading all scheduled out for me.  And it includes writing instruction, so I don't need Classical Composition or Classical Writing either.  I love it.
****


 I just really like all of her products.  Check out her Lulu page to see everything she has for sale.  She has a lot of free products too.  Print versions are also on Amazon.  She has also offered to give free e-book versions of her curriculum to those who truly can't afford language arts, which I think is pretty cool. 

Thoughts on writing curriculum

This year I tried Classical Composition-Fable and didn't like the first lesson because it didn't have enough hand-holding.  So I moved on to Classical Writing-Aesop and loved it.


I looked at Classical Writing -Homer last week.  I read it, re-read it, took extensive notes to understand it better, finally got a clear picture of the how and what, and came to the conclusion that I'm not ever going to use CW-Homer.  It could be done, but I think Classical Composition does it better.  Classical Composition cuts right to the chase.  It does everything Homer does and more, yet less painfully and in less time.  After doing CW-Aesop, Classical Composition makes so much more sense.


So Savannah is going to do Classical Composition- Fable and Narrative for 5th grade and Charlotte is going to do another year of Classical Writing - Aesop for 4th grade since she will be a very young 4th grader anyway (her age-peers are going into 3rd grade). 


Charlotte is excellent at writing, btw.  Her written narrations are absolutely beautiful.  She takes her time and puts thought into it.  Savannah is good too, but she just does it to get it over with, so I know she isn't putting forth her best effort.  I want to split them up so they aren't doing the same assignment.  And besides, there's no need to rush through writing curriculum.




BTW- an even better writing curriculum than either of these is the new Writing and Rhetoric series by Classical Academic Press.  It is getting some amazing reviews!!!  I would highly recommend looking at it.  I'm not going to use it because I am stubborn and prideful, and I don't want to spend that much money on yet another writing curriculum.  I'm going to make do with what I already own. 

The plan

Gearing up for next school year.  Here's the plan so far:
5^th grade:

Life of Fred & xtramath
R&S English 5
First Form Latin
Famous Men of the Middle Ages w/ student guide +SOTW 2+ Adam of the Road + Door in the Wall+The Once and Future King
MP's Geography II
Classical Composition Fable & Narrative (+ notebook)
Apologia's Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures w/ notebook + Tiner's History of Medicine & Exploring Planet Earth

MP's Poetry for the Grammar Stage ??
Typing
Duolingo German
Kolbe's Literature guide: The Bronze Box, The Secret of Poduck Island, Where the Red Fern Grows.

4^th grade:

Life of Fred & xtramath

R&S English 4

First Form Latin

MP’s Famous Men of Rome

MP’s Geography I

Apologia's Astronomy w/ notebook + MP Astronomy ??
MP's Poetry for the Grammar Stage ??


Typing
Duolingo German

1^st grade:

Phonics Pathways / McGuffey Readers

Reading Lessons through Literature 1 (spelling)
English Lessons through Literature 1
Pathways literature list

Life of Fred or MM

Just stuff

So I've added more subjects to our day as we try to acclimate back into a regular school day.  It feels like too much, but I think we're just used to less for so long.  I'm not willing to drop any of these right now.  They complained for a few days that it took too long and they didn't have time to play outside.  I mentioned that they had control over how much free time they get and suggested that they start their school as soon as they wake up and not wait for me to tell them to do it.  Savannah led the way and has been waking up at 6 am or earlier, with Charlotte following her lead.  Many days they have most of the independent subjects finished before I even roll out of bed!  Nice.  Hope it continues like that.


Savannah & Charlotte both do:


Math Mammoth, 1 page front and back, daily
R&S English, odds or evens only, daily
Latin lesson & worksheet on Mondays, flashcards and copywork the rest of the week
30 minutes of reading scriptures daily
30 minutes of reading classic literature of their choice daily
History spread over two days: copywork, vocabulary, reading, and comprehension questions or written narration
Geography, one day a week
Computer programs daily:
xtramath, typing instructor, and Duolingo:German
Poetry copywork/memorization, once a week


Madelynn is starting to read the scriptures with us in the morning.  She is getting more confident.  She hates Phonics Pathways and enjoys McGuffey Readers, but PP is very effective, so we trudge along.  Doing the dictation with it helps tremendously.


Thinking about next school year and the value, if any, of doing the Memoria Press workbooks with the Classical Studies.  They don't like them and it would be better if we discussed their readings or something more organic, but at the same time I am a mother of 6 kids...  Is that realistic?  I don't know.  I'll have to think more about that one.  Otherwise, I think we'll just keep doing what we're doing for next year.  It is all working out well.


Still don't know when I'll be adding in Classical Writing again...  that's the last subject that is missing.


Speaking of writing instruction, I shouldn't have skipped the writing lessons in R&S 4.  I think they are valuable and on level with my 4th grader.  I'm going back and having her do a writing lesson or two each week.


And note to self:  don't go for two weeks without checking math and English work.  Both kids are re-doing almost a week of English, and we wasted a day in math correcting missed problems. 

Homeschooling in Deutschland!!

So I survived.  I moved overseas with 6 kids, including a newborn.  We homeschooled lite, only doing math and English on good days.  We're settled in our house, finally have internet since yesterday, and have started on our third full homeschool week since being here: week 21.  Not too bad for such a crazy, interrupted year.  We'll take a few more breaks to see Europe with Dad before he deploys, then we'll finish up the year, hopefully before August.


The two Bigs are working on Math Mammoth, R&S English, MP's Classical Studies, geography, reading, and poetry copywork and memorization.  I still haven't added Latin or Classical Writing back in yet... I might do that this week.


Madelynn is zooming through her phonics and handwriting book.  We're doing our Power Reading schedule, which is reading three lessons a day: one after breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She'll be reading fluently soon.  She was sorely neglected through this huge transition. Trying to catch her up!  Then I will start on Zachary.