Reading Aloud

Just wanted to jot this idea down before I forgot it.  I was reading about the benefits of reading aloud, not just so the kids can hear good books, but they need to be reading aloud themselves as well.  We do oral poetry recitations from our memory work, poetry tea-time where we all take turns reading a poem aloud, and daily scripture reading out loud.  I read aloud to them at night, but for oral narrations, so I'm reading history, science, Bible, and classics: Iliad next.

My new idea: pick a literature book a little below their reading level and take turns reading a paragraph until we read a whole chapter.  We would do this at lunch time.  They get extra practice reading aloud, I get in a family literature book that I can't seem to squeeze in at night, Madelynn gets a book read to her at her comprehension level, it helps us all transition from free time to quiet time, and we can also discuss it as a family.

Hmm.. I'll have to try that and see how it goes.

Strike that!

It will be interesting to see how many times I change my mind on curriculum.

Ok, new plan.  Keeping them together for history and read alouds.

Read Alouds:  The Story of the World: The Middle Ages
                        The Blue Fairy Book
                        Burgess Animal Book
                     * Castle (Macaulay)
                    ** Seabird
                  *** Cathedral (Macaulay)
                         ..other literature I haven't decided on...

Audio Books: Our Island Story
                        Pilgrim's Progress
                        The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Pyle)
                        Parables of Nature
                        Tales From Shakespeare

Read together with Savannah:      *The Wind in the Willows
                                                    **The Little Duke
                                                  ***Heidi

Savannah reads silently: Along Came a Dog
                                       The Story of Doctor Dolittle
                                       The Door in the Wall

Read together with Charlotte: Little House in the Big Woods
                                                 ?

Charlotte reads silently: not sure yet

Reading Aloud ramblings

I just heard about The Read-Aloud Handbook.  I looked it up on Amazon and read a few pages of it from that site.  Then I ordered it; it will be here tomorrow.  It basically talks about the effects reading to your children has on them, when to begin reading to them, when to stop, and what to read.  It is highly motivating and has, once again, changed my ideas about homeschooling and how to educate my kiddos.  Reading that book in light of studying Charlotte Mason, Charlotte Mason is beginning to make a little more sense.  Or rather, I'm seeing the value of educating FULLY Charlotte Mason style.  I really like Ambleside Online, for example.  But over and over again on that site the creators say not to treat this like another booklist, but to implement it the way Charlotte Mason prescribes.  I've been treating it like a booklist :)  A booklist that is difficult to make time for. 

Our homeschoool day is full.  First the kids do Xtra Math, then a page out of their math books.  By the time we do those two things, in addition to getting everyone dressed, feeding everyone, cleaning up the mess, and reading out of the scriptures, the morning is over.  I let the kids go out to play for a while as a break, then bring them back in at lunch, clean up, do a quick devotional (sing, recite a scripture, listen/read a scripture story or Friend article).  Baby and Zach go down for naps and the rest of us go outside and do some sort of outdoor chore with Isaac.  Babies wake, need diapers, everyone needs fed, kitchen needs cleaned again.  Then I start phonics/spelling/grammar/reading/writing/lit. individually with Savannah and Charlotte.  You know, the beast known as Language Arts.  I also try to get them to do their piano during the day; they are both taking piano lessons now.  I break up fights, clean up the constant huge messes made by Destructo Boy, clean out poopy panties, spray down poopy bums in the shower, clean more messes by D.B., do more dishes, make more food, give hugs, loves, and spankin's, and try not to lose my mind.  I'm just a little busy.  I try to squeeze in a read-aloud when they are in bed, but more often than not I'm too tired.  This is NOT a Charlotte Mason education.  : (  

Can I just say right here and now: I'm OK with just one boy.  That's all we need.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, read-alouds.  So reading aloud, aparently, is SO important, SO foundational to a good education and character, that I really can't afford to miss them.  In fact, read-alouds should become the CORE of what we do during the day.  Which means I need to reorganize our day and our priorities and our approach to education... again.  It is too much of a check list.  Math done.. check!  Phonics Road done... Check!  Scripture reading done.. check! 

It's not meaning anything to the kids and the kids do not love learning : (  But they do like books and they like to listen to stories : ) 

If I took that amazing "book list" called Ambleside Online and made that more important than, say... the Beast, commonly known as Language Arts... and diligently read aloud and required the kids to read widely and often, narrating as we go, copying down the great ideas we read... I think that the Beast can appropriately be slain.  Which hurts.  I'm not sure I have the guts to put Phonics Road to the side.  I'll have to ponder that a little longer.

A Charlotte Mason education is putting a feast of ideas (nature, science, artist, composers, math, geography, biographies, myths, fairy tales, character sketches) in front of the child through worthy books.  The books have to use literary language and be uplifting (think: virtuous, lovly, of good report and praiseworthy).  It is letting the child read, ponder, and then express through narrating or art, so that the ideas become digested and become theirs.  Charlotte Mason education inspires a love of learning.  A Charlotte Mason education is also a life style; it is having the Spirit in our home, being together as a happy family, working in the garden together, taking TIME together.  Reading, walking, talking, singing, laughing together.  JOY.  For instance, DB is currently climbing in my lap trying to turn off the computer screen so that I will sing him itsy bitsy spider.  That means I'm done typing for now.

Later.

McGuffey Readers

I love these books and so do my children.  I use the Primer, First, and Second readers for daily reading practice.  These first three readers contain simple stories with pretty pictures.  They just love them.

Readers 3-6 contain such a beautiful collection of stories and poetry that I just don't want them to miss out.  Yet, I don't want to do a lesson/day like we do with the beginning readers because they increase in difficulty very quickly, for example, the third reader should last a few years.  I also want to spend more time on one lesson so that it becomes more ingrained on their minds. 

I've been looking for a way to bring them more into Savannah's daily schedule lately, as well as incorporate more Charlotte Mason ideas, and I think I have come up with a plan.  We'll try it for the next few weeks to see how it goes.

With Savannah I'm going to start in the Third reader and work on one lesson a week for oral reading, copywork, and dictation.

ORAL READING:  This is to help her learn to pronounce words clearly and correctly, as well as to speak in front of other people.  On day 1 & 2, she reads the lesson out loud to me.  We work on saying the words clearly.  Day 3 & 4 she reads it standing up as if reading to an audience.  This time, in addtion to speaking clearly, she needs to speak loudly and with correct intonation.  Hopefully on day 4 or sometime over the weekend I can provide her with an audience.  Maybe during Family Home Evening.

COPYWORK:  I will choose part of the lesson for her to copy on day 1, and a different part of the lesson to copy on day 3.  She will mark the words phonetically as we do in Phonics Road.

DICTATION: I will dictate her copywork to her on day 2 & 4.  No phonetic marks this time.  Dictation is one of the most effective ways to learn spelling.

I think this is a good plan.  We'll see!

Success!

Today, our first day with our new schedule, was a success. Reading while the kids are still in bed worked out really well.

Additionally, we did The Story of the World today. I figured that if we listened to about 20-30 min. of it on CD, we would make fairly good time... sort of.. if we schooled year round. I ultimately decided to go with it over A Child's History of the World because of the map & coloring activities that come with it. I printed out the student pages for the two chapters we read today and they colored while they listened. I stopped the CD occasionally to check comprehension and explain things. Perfect for us. Exactly what I was looking for.

Tomorrow will not go as planned because I have a meeting in the morning. I'll try to at least cover the basics but I doubt we'll be able to get to Apologia this week. Maybe though.