Literature

In beefing up daughter's literature program I have decided to add more readers for her.

Another New Plan

Life is fluid. Apparently, so is our school curriculum. *sigh

Once again, I've noticed there are some things that just aren't working for our family and I'm earnestly praying for the Lord's guidance in how and what changes need making. What's bothering me most is my beloved Ambleside Online history. I want it to work! So much that I incorporated it with Simply Charlotte Mason's Module 1. Well, really I use SCM as our Bible study spine.

However, the more I use SCM the better I like it. But its not just me... the kids really love it. SCM Module 1 covers history, geography and Bible. Sonya Shafer has added several resources to her website to coincide with her modules. One is the activities page for each module. I don't want to lose them so I'm adding them here.

• Genesis through Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt projects and tips
• Joshua through Malachi & Ancient Greece projects and tips
• Matthew through Acts & Ancient Rome projects and tips
• Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation projects and tips 

I think (I'm still praying on this one) the Lord is leading me to drop AO history. I will keep 50 Famous Tales, Natural Histories, Literature/Tales, Poetry, and the additional weekly work such as: Nature Study, Timeline, Picture and Composer study, Hymn and Folksong studies, Lifeskills and crafts, and I want to add Virtues.

I've reconsidered our science program too. I want to incorporate a formal science program. We, as a family, have reviewed and really like Jeannie Fulbright's Young Explorers series. The kids want to start off with Zoology I which covers zoology, animal classification, dynamics of flight, birds, bats, prehistoric flying reptiles, and insects from a creation science perspective. Its nice because its geared for K-6, perfect for my 1st and 4th grader.

They have journals that the kids can keep too. One is a junior version for early writers, perfect for my 1st grader.


My 1st grader is enjoying his Math U See Alpha program. My 4th grader has been joining in on the fun too. I'm considering changing her math, which is currently PACES from ACE ministries, to Math U See as well. The program really teaches the "why" behind the math. Sometime this coming week I will have her take the assessment exam on their website and go from there.

I've also discovered issues with our handwriting. The plan was to let the children trace their laminated sheets to get a feel for writing the letters, whether it was manuscript for brother or cursive for sister. But after watching them I realize they need a more formal program for that too. Both brother and sister are "drawing" their letters more than writing them. I have been really focused on cursive for sister but she needs to practice her manuscript as well. So, I will start a copywork program for her in manuscript.

We are moving into our third week and still haven't quite settled into our groove. The kids seem to be enjoying their home education we just want to tweak it some.

Online Support

Sometimes starting something new can be completely overwhelming. Finding someone to share your journey with can be a lifesaver. Partnering up with another newbie is great fun but having a mentor who has been there is an amazing resource too.

In my circle I only know of two people using CM and this is their first year too. But there is this amazing group of people on Facebook, in forums and groups, all online, that is willing to share your journey with you.

A few places I love to frequent are:

AmblesideOnline It's a closed group with nearly 4000 members so far. This is Ambleside Online's "official" fb group. They moderate this group and its purpose is to serve those who are actively using AO in their homeschool or classroom and those interested in learning about AO. (LOVE THIS GROUP!)

Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers Another totally amazing group of nearly 9000 members!! This group strictly supports the traditional CM approach. Its an active and friendly group full of wisdom.

Charlotte Mason Inspired Homeschoolers Is a secret group with a little more than 3000 members. They've had some issues with spammers as of late and are trying to get that under control but its definitely an active group. As the title implies its more for those who aren't strictly CM. They welcome a variety of topics about different curriculum, blogs, apps, so on and so forth.

Marshall County Homeschool Network This is a local group for my county. I post here with the hope that you might find a local group for your area too. This group is really neat because people share local events that might be of interest, they post curriculum for sale, and just general homeschool stuff.

There are some FB groups that strictly sell curriculum too..
Charlotte Mason/Ambleside/ Living Books/USED materials for sale
Used Homeschool Books, Buy, Sell, Trade


Public Domain Books for Homeschooling 
This FB group is really neat because its all out of print, public domain books that can be used in a CM inspired homeschool. Its a non-discussion group and still an amazing resource.


Yahoo Groups are another wonderful resource!!

I will continue this post a later date.....

New Strategy

Yesterday I learned that a few book selections were to difficult for the age of my children. Today I've learned I don't know how to pronounce some of the names in these stories!

Never fear, Librivox is here! Thank goodness!












We read 50 Famous Stories today and Our Island Story today and boy did I ever stumble over some of the language. So I went on the hunt and found these recorded stories. 50 Famous Stories  & Our Island Story


As I began to dig around Librivox I also found Thornton Burgess' book Burgess Animal Stories.

Using this will be a nice break for me and for the kids.

First Day

Today was our first day and it went great!! I have discovered I picked a few read alouds that might be to much of a challenge but I can easily adjust that. I will drop Adam & His Kin and try to locate a copy of Boy of the Pyramids instead. I've also decided I'm going to stick strictly with SCM Genesis through Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt for our Bible study.

After using GreenLeaf's Old Testament study today I felt we needed a bit more substance. I first believed GreenLeaf's questions would be a great addition but they really are to far above my children's heads.

I'm excited for tomorrow. We are starting AO's Island Story , 50 Famous Tales, and Burgess Animal Stories.

I hung our schedules on my bulletin board so I can stay on track. I also noticed my daughter likes to check it out quite frequently to see whats next.

We are waiting on Math U See for my son. So today we reviewed addition facts and different ways to make numbers 10 and 6. I ordered the Language Lessons by Emma Serl for both kids but started daughter out on Intermediate (free on google books) today. She liked it but is excited to use the book.

We are putting off piano until next week. I'm not really prepared for it anyway.

My husband made a comment about putting way to much work into my schedules but I really need them. I added the chores to help me keep up throughout the week. I must say I really felt productive checking those chores off my list.

So there you have it, our day in post!

The Spanish Alphabet Song

Art Appreciaton

I'm so excited I just sent our art appreciation prints to Staples for printing!! The entire term, 18 prints, for less than $12!

I went to AmblesideOnline's Yahoo group (AO Art Prints) and downloaded the pdf files and then just uploaded them onto the Staple website. Then  chose the color prints on 80lb Elite Gloss cardstock. I chose glossy but I might choose matte next time. I'm not sure how they will look. Picking them up tomorrow!

Organizing Our Year

2015-2016

If I don't write this down I will never remember how to do this next year!

First! Figure out your curriculum choices. As you know I pull from a lot of sources. I like using a 12 week per term schedule. We schedule 3 terms per year for a total of 36 weeks. I fill in everything we are using into a grid. (I borrow the grid from Ambleside Online because I use most of their program.)

Then I start breaking things down into manageable chunks. Using Simply Charlotte Mason's "Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education" is a BIG help here!



I wanted to have a good idea of what the week would look like so I made a Monday through Friday grid with all the subjects. This gave me a chance to figure out how heavy or light our days would be.

I realized after doing it this way I still had some steps to cover. I couldn't identify here how heavy the days were for each child in this form. So I created another one (borrowed from SCM.)

Charlotte Mason advised that subjects should be alternated in a way that doesn't tire the student.  "The brain, or some portion of the brain, becomes exhausted when any given function has been exercised too long. The child has been doing sums for some time, and is getting unaccountably stupid: take away his slate and let him read history, and you find his wits fresh again. Imagination, which has had no part in the sums, is called into play by the history lesson, and the child brings a lively unexhausted power to his new work” (Vol. 1, p. 24).

I haven't ordered the subjects. In fact when I made our daily check off sheets (I love checking off completed tasks!) I hadn't even thought of divvying the subjects up between family, daughter and son.  This last form  needs revising but I still want to share the rough draft of what that list will look like. (Just overlook the "scheduling errors" on this form).

So things are coming along! School starts in less than a week so I need to get going!

Cursive Handwriting

My husband has beautiful handwriting. His cursive is what I like to lovingly call "old school." Mine on the other hand is pretty much chicken scratch. I don't remember much in the way of classes in school and then I've allowed my years in nursing and the need for speed to make things worse. Not what I want for my children.

I found this older version (copyright 1927-1931) of cursive that resembles my husband's handwriting. His mother sat with him for hours teaching him to write, teaching him exactly how she learned. There are different styles of script now, even within Zaner-Bloser. You can note the differences mostly in the W's, Q's, and R's.

Because I wanted both my children to have plenty of access to this book I decided to scan it into a pdf for later printing. I've already printed the pages and laminated them so both children can use the pages repeatedly. I thought I would share the book here with you too.

Naming Our School and Logo

It was so much fun naming our school with the kids. I believe it will give them a sense of ownership as they grow and hopefully some fond memories as well.

I sketched the two pines first. I wasn't happy with the results, it was very rough. I thought I would just edit the picture I took in a previous post instead and convert it to a sketch with a phone app. But then I had a light bulb moment! I decided to see what would happen if I took a picture of my sketch and edit it instead. I am very pleased with the results.  I loaded the app picture into Publisher and added the text. So there you have it! Our school name and logo!



Ever the bargain hunter I found out that homeschoolers/educators qualify for discounts. I decided we might need school IDs and decided to make us some. I will redo these with card-stock to make them thicker, but for now I'm happy with these too!