Duncan is my third grader. This week he read On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck. He had his violin lesson and went to his math tutor. He worked on Kumon math and went to the center. He went to drama and art classes. He completed some pages in his Spectrum 5th grade Phonics and Word Study and read some in his history book. blah, blah, blah
He finished the third grade social studies section of Time4Learning. He had already finished language arts and started the next level. Now that he is finished with social studies he is completing two language arts extensions in a sitting to work on finishing up that section. Next week will be our last meeting of Classical Conversations. blah, blah, blah
I like that we are wrapping things up, because the wind is blowing. It is time to move on.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Third Quarter is finished- Week 27, 3/12-3/16!
We are moving along. Duncan has finished T4L's 3rd grade LA extentions and is working on the grade 4 grammar. He is sure to be finished with most of the other subjects before we complete the last quarter.
In history this quarter he has finished 10 chapters of America's Story: Land of Liberty and is one week ahead of schedule.
Supporting his history text, he has read When the Circus Came to Town by Lawrence Yep, George Washington Carver by Matt Doeden, Who Was Helen Keller? by Gare Thompson, If You Lived 100 Years Ago by Ann McGovern, The Wright Brothers by Quentin Reynolds, Hero Over Here by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, Ticket to the Twenties by Mary Blocksma, and Rose's Journal by Marissa Moss.
In addition to these, we have looked through books together that support his history readings: Tracks Across America by Leonard Everett Fisher, Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman, and Children of the Depression by Russell Freedman.
We dropped the Essentials portion of Classical Conversations and Duncan began working through Scholastic's Success with Writing Grade 3 finishing through page 16. He also started Killgallon's Sentence Composing for Elementary School and completed the first section that ends on page 17.
We are still going to Classical Conversations- Foundations. There he has continued to do memory work, science experiments, and art history w/ an art project.
This quarter we just did Kumon math alongside T4L, but the upside of this is that Duncan is moving through this level with little resistance.
Duncan is still taking art lessons, drama lessons and violin lessons. He had monologue day not too long ago and delivered Hiccup's monologue from the beginning of the movie How to Train Your Dragon.
I think that this pretty much covers third quarter.
In history this quarter he has finished 10 chapters of America's Story: Land of Liberty and is one week ahead of schedule.
Supporting his history text, he has read When the Circus Came to Town by Lawrence Yep, George Washington Carver by Matt Doeden, Who Was Helen Keller? by Gare Thompson, If You Lived 100 Years Ago by Ann McGovern, The Wright Brothers by Quentin Reynolds, Hero Over Here by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, Ticket to the Twenties by Mary Blocksma, and Rose's Journal by Marissa Moss.
In addition to these, we have looked through books together that support his history readings: Tracks Across America by Leonard Everett Fisher, Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman, and Children of the Depression by Russell Freedman.
We dropped the Essentials portion of Classical Conversations and Duncan began working through Scholastic's Success with Writing Grade 3 finishing through page 16. He also started Killgallon's Sentence Composing for Elementary School and completed the first section that ends on page 17.
We are still going to Classical Conversations- Foundations. There he has continued to do memory work, science experiments, and art history w/ an art project.
This quarter we just did Kumon math alongside T4L, but the upside of this is that Duncan is moving through this level with little resistance.
Duncan is still taking art lessons, drama lessons and violin lessons. He had monologue day not too long ago and delivered Hiccup's monologue from the beginning of the movie How to Train Your Dragon.
I think that this pretty much covers third quarter.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Planning 2012-2013 for Duncan- Grade 4
As sad as it will be to be down to an only, I am also excited to just be looking at curriculum for Duncan. I am planning - neck deep in spreadsheets and surrounded by mountains of books and catalogs. As usually, so much looks so good, but with only one it is all I can do to keep from wanting everything I see!
Duncan’s fourth grade studies will definitely include Religious Studies & Mythology, Math, Language Arts, Political and Cultural Geography, Science, Spanish, and Fine Arts. Within the subject of Fine Arts, I will be including an artist study and a composer study in addition to our violin, drama, and art lessons.
I will definitely be incorporating memory work into his studies. Within the memory work I may attempt to include Latin and Farsi, but I am just not sure that we will have the time. It is difficult to imagine the time stretched before us with just the two of us together every day. I fantasize that it will be easy-peasy with volumes of time to do whatever we can imagine, but you never can tell.
I surfed the net looking at Charlotte Mason schedules, planning sheets, and exams. I designed various schedules attempting to be realistic about how much Duncan could accomplish in a day. In doing this, it quickly became apparent that we could not complete everything Duncan and I wanted and attend Classical Conversations. Although we have enjoyed our time with CC, Duncan and I are both amenable to leaving in order to chase other desires.
We are considering the National Mythology Exam, Lego Robotics, Math Olympiad, Youth Orchestra, and 4-H Shooting Sports. We plan to cover the recommended books for the National Mythology Exam. I have a friend whose dh will be giving Lego Mindstorms a try with their son this summer and has offered to let us join them. If the boys enjoy Mindstorms and work well together, we will then move on to considering forming a team. If there were a Math Olympiad team in place, Duncan would immediately join- alas I do not know of one. I am not keen on starting a team myself, but it is something else to consider. I think that Duncan is not quite ready for junior orchestra and he has never played with a group, so I have contacted the person over the reading orchestra that feeds into junior orchestra to help us decide if that might be a good fit. I am already on the 4-H e-mail loop and I don’t think I need to do anything until fall, but I guess I should check on that. So many choices, so many decisions!
If you have started planning, I hope you are having fun!
Mandy
Duncan’s fourth grade studies will definitely include Religious Studies & Mythology, Math, Language Arts, Political and Cultural Geography, Science, Spanish, and Fine Arts. Within the subject of Fine Arts, I will be including an artist study and a composer study in addition to our violin, drama, and art lessons.
I will definitely be incorporating memory work into his studies. Within the memory work I may attempt to include Latin and Farsi, but I am just not sure that we will have the time. It is difficult to imagine the time stretched before us with just the two of us together every day. I fantasize that it will be easy-peasy with volumes of time to do whatever we can imagine, but you never can tell.
I surfed the net looking at Charlotte Mason schedules, planning sheets, and exams. I designed various schedules attempting to be realistic about how much Duncan could accomplish in a day. In doing this, it quickly became apparent that we could not complete everything Duncan and I wanted and attend Classical Conversations. Although we have enjoyed our time with CC, Duncan and I are both amenable to leaving in order to chase other desires.
We are considering the National Mythology Exam, Lego Robotics, Math Olympiad, Youth Orchestra, and 4-H Shooting Sports. We plan to cover the recommended books for the National Mythology Exam. I have a friend whose dh will be giving Lego Mindstorms a try with their son this summer and has offered to let us join them. If the boys enjoy Mindstorms and work well together, we will then move on to considering forming a team. If there were a Math Olympiad team in place, Duncan would immediately join- alas I do not know of one. I am not keen on starting a team myself, but it is something else to consider. I think that Duncan is not quite ready for junior orchestra and he has never played with a group, so I have contacted the person over the reading orchestra that feeds into junior orchestra to help us decide if that might be a good fit. I am already on the 4-H e-mail loop and I don’t think I need to do anything until fall, but I guess I should check on that. So many choices, so many decisions!
If you have started planning, I hope you are having fun!
Mandy
Thursday, March 8, 2012
What is great art and how can I go about teaching my child art appreciation?
"It is beginning to dawn upon us that Art is great only in proportion to the greatness of the idea that it expresses; while what we ask of the execution, the technique, is that it shall be adequate to the inspiring idea." Charlotte Mason
"We recognise that the power of appreciating art and of producing to some extent an interpretation of what one sees is as universal as intelligence, imagination, nay, speech, the power of producing words. But there must be knowledge and, in the first place, not the technical knowledge of how to produce, but some reverent knowledge of what has been produced; that is, children should learn pictures, line by line, group by group, by reading, not books, but pictures themselves. A friendly picture-dealer supplies us with half a dozen beautiful little reproductions of the work of some single artist, term by term. After a short story of the artist's life and a few sympathetic words about his trees or his skies, his river-paths or his figures, the little pictures are studied one at a time; that is, children learn, not merely to see a picture but to look at it, taking in every detail. Then the picture is turned over and the children tell what they have seen,––a dog driving a flock of sheep along a road but nobody with the dog. Ah, there is a boy lying down by the stream drinking. It is morning as you can see by the light so the sheep are being driven to pasture, and so on; nothing is left out, the discarded plough, the crooked birch, the clouds beautiful in form and threatening rain, there is enough for half an hour's talk and memory in this little reproduction of a great picture and the children will know it wherever they see it, whether a signed proof, a copy in oils, or the original itself in one of our galleries." Charlotte Mason
 |
| Guernica by Picasso |
"We recognise that the power of appreciating art and of producing to some extent an interpretation of what one sees is as universal as intelligence, imagination, nay, speech, the power of producing words. But there must be knowledge and, in the first place, not the technical knowledge of how to produce, but some reverent knowledge of what has been produced; that is, children should learn pictures, line by line, group by group, by reading, not books, but pictures themselves. A friendly picture-dealer supplies us with half a dozen beautiful little reproductions of the work of some single artist, term by term. After a short story of the artist's life and a few sympathetic words about his trees or his skies, his river-paths or his figures, the little pictures are studied one at a time; that is, children learn, not merely to see a picture but to look at it, taking in every detail. Then the picture is turned over and the children tell what they have seen,––a dog driving a flock of sheep along a road but nobody with the dog. Ah, there is a boy lying down by the stream drinking. It is morning as you can see by the light so the sheep are being driven to pasture, and so on; nothing is left out, the discarded plough, the crooked birch, the clouds beautiful in form and threatening rain, there is enough for half an hour's talk and memory in this little reproduction of a great picture and the children will know it wherever they see it, whether a signed proof, a copy in oils, or the original itself in one of our galleries." Charlotte Mason
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Secret World of Arrietty
Let me begin by stating that we love Hayao Miyazaki/ Studio Ghibli here. My oldest has thought Miyazaki was fabulous since the release of of Princess Mononoke. Both my big boys still say that Princess Mononoke is their favorite Miyazaki film. Duncan says his favorite is Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind. Mei likes The Cat Returns. Today, I think that I would have to say my favorite is Howl's Moving Castle, but that is subject to change without notice.
Even though he didn't direct Arrietty, the film really has quite a bit to it that feels like Miyazaki. After all it is a Studio Ghibli film with Miyazaki as a co-writer of the script and as an executive producer. The credits also list him as the planner. The animation feels like Miyazaki. Of course, the story is what Miyazaki took away from The Borrowers. Also, although he didn't take on the full responsibility of directing Arrietty, I think the director and crew must have respected his planning.
But, in addition to all this, something about David Henri's narration (sad, wistful, hopeful, but at the same time somehow just stating how it is) really felt like Miyazaki. I was concerned about David Henri narrating, because I identify him as the oldest child on Wizards of Waverly Place and because when I think of Miyazaki I think of story lines revolving around a female character, but David Henri nailed it. David Henri's narration that had me so concerned initially was so genuine and touching that by the end of the film it won Arrietty a spot as one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films.
(spoiler- Even though the film is titled The Secret World of Arrietty, the story is about the collision of Arrietty and Shawn's worlds and the impact it has on them both, but it is narrated by Shawn and really the ending ties up his story not hers.)
We saw Arrietty last night at the 11:30 show and had the theater to ourselves. The movie was fabulous- very touching. I liked it and definitely plan to purchase it.
Even though he didn't direct Arrietty, the film really has quite a bit to it that feels like Miyazaki. After all it is a Studio Ghibli film with Miyazaki as a co-writer of the script and as an executive producer. The credits also list him as the planner. The animation feels like Miyazaki. Of course, the story is what Miyazaki took away from The Borrowers. Also, although he didn't take on the full responsibility of directing Arrietty, I think the director and crew must have respected his planning.
But, in addition to all this, something about David Henri's narration (sad, wistful, hopeful, but at the same time somehow just stating how it is) really felt like Miyazaki. I was concerned about David Henri narrating, because I identify him as the oldest child on Wizards of Waverly Place and because when I think of Miyazaki I think of story lines revolving around a female character, but David Henri nailed it. David Henri's narration that had me so concerned initially was so genuine and touching that by the end of the film it won Arrietty a spot as one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films.
(spoiler- Even though the film is titled The Secret World of Arrietty, the story is about the collision of Arrietty and Shawn's worlds and the impact it has on them both, but it is narrated by Shawn and really the ending ties up his story not hers.)
We saw Arrietty last night at the 11:30 show and had the theater to ourselves. The movie was fabulous- very touching. I liked it and definitely plan to purchase it.
Friday, February 10, 2012
General Thoughts about our Homeschool
I read The Charlotte Mason Companion back when I was considering homeschooling in the winter of 2002. I have no memory of why I purchased it, so I can't honestly say what drew me to CM philosophy initially.
However, I also bought The Well-Trained Mind and Charlotte Mason was pretty much relegated to habit training. Then, in the summer of 2008 I felt that our homeschool journey had taken a wrong turn. In 2008-2009, I used WinterPromise with both my middle son and little son and began to read and re-read CM. I tried to incorporate more CM not only into my parenting but into our homeschool as well. 2009-2010 and fall 2010 we had a more CM year.
Unfortunately, in the spring of 2011 and this school year my educational choices have gotten lost again. Honestly, I haven't done a very good job of resisting the urge to add more and more to our lives. I want to take a step back and find CM again. I want the educational confidence that CM projects rather than some sense of urgency that my child should perform.
It's funny, but when it comes to parenting I have no problem with habit training or seeing my child as having been born a person. When it comes to education, I get caught in the trap that if my child doesn't meet some imagined goal (higher test scores, the best college whatever) that my homeschool is a failure.
I know that if a family uses the "best" products and spends hours pushing and prodding a child to achieve academically, it doesn't mean they will end up with an self-teaching, academic genius in high school or a homeschool graduate at an Ivy League college. I totally get this. In our homeschool I still get caught up in the urgency of achievement rather than having that peaceful confidence that is CM.
Looking forward to next school year!
Mandy
However, I also bought The Well-Trained Mind and Charlotte Mason was pretty much relegated to habit training. Then, in the summer of 2008 I felt that our homeschool journey had taken a wrong turn. In 2008-2009, I used WinterPromise with both my middle son and little son and began to read and re-read CM. I tried to incorporate more CM not only into my parenting but into our homeschool as well. 2009-2010 and fall 2010 we had a more CM year.
Unfortunately, in the spring of 2011 and this school year my educational choices have gotten lost again. Honestly, I haven't done a very good job of resisting the urge to add more and more to our lives. I want to take a step back and find CM again. I want the educational confidence that CM projects rather than some sense of urgency that my child should perform.
It's funny, but when it comes to parenting I have no problem with habit training or seeing my child as having been born a person. When it comes to education, I get caught in the trap that if my child doesn't meet some imagined goal (higher test scores, the best college whatever) that my homeschool is a failure.
I know that if a family uses the "best" products and spends hours pushing and prodding a child to achieve academically, it doesn't mean they will end up with an self-teaching, academic genius in high school or a homeschool graduate at an Ivy League college. I totally get this. In our homeschool I still get caught up in the urgency of achievement rather than having that peaceful confidence that is CM.
Looking forward to next school year!
Mandy
Friday, September 30, 2011
Week in Review- Duncan (wk9 - 1 day of 36) Woohoo, 1/4 of the Year!
Duncan is my 8yo. Woohoo, we are ¼ of the way through our official year! Tonight I plan to begin putting together a portfolio. I have never done such a thing and oddly I am kind of excited about it. Anyway, here is week 9 minus one day of third grade:
Time4Learning
On Time4Learning Duncan completed at least one activity each day in Language Arts, Language Arts Extensions, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Here is a breakdown of how much time (hours: minutes: seconds) he ended up spending on T4L this week:
LA 3 and LA extensions 3, combined- 2:09:04 (Agreement, Editing)
Math 4- 0:45:40 (Division)
Science 3- 0:47:17 (Energy)
Social Studies 3- 0:51:02 (Charts & Graphs)
So, 4:33:03 is the total time that Duncan spent doing the computer portion of T4L this week.
Classical Conversations
For Foundations Duncan listened to the week 1-4 memory work for English, science, Latin, geography, and timeline from a CD that was made here locally. From the Classical Conversations online tutorial he listened to the songs for history sentences from weeks 1-4.
Duncan continued studying Essentials of the English Language Grammar. This week he began nouns and continued reviewing the previous material.
In Essentials IEW composition this week, Duncan completed lesson 3 in U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons, Volume 1. In this lesson he completed an IEW Key Word Outline from a paragraph about Jamestown. He then rewrote the paragraph and included a strong verb, an adverb, an quality adjective, a vocabulary word, alliteration. This is actually a rough draft. Next week he will be editing it as he learns about sentence openers and who/which clauses.
Math
In Foerster’s Algebra this week Duncan finished Chapter 4 section5 and started section 6. He worked at Khan Academy one day for 12 minutes and received a proficiency in negative number word problems. He also spent between 20 and 30 minutes doing Kumon math four days. This week he began looking at functions in Mathematics: A Human Endeavor by Harold Jacobs.
Language Arts
In language arts he reviewed words from Spelling Plus and finished pages 32-36 in Spectrum Phonics and Word Study Grade 5. He completed week three of Daily Language Arts Review, Grade 4. He read pp.247-285 (seven stories) in The Beginner’s Bible. Duncan finished the second chapter of Edcon Publishing’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (We totally forgot this last week!) He also continued Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Level 1 and completed two more poems.
History
In history Duncan read chapter 9 in Land of Liberty and continued George Washington by Cheryl Harness.
Science
In addition to T4L, in Classical Conversations we reviewed the scientific method and did an experiment about muscle types. Duncan also cut out leg muscles for a human body that we will be assembling at the end of the semester.
Music, Drama and Art
He practiced violin almost every day this week and his lesson this week went well.
Duncan’s art and drama classes were fabulous again. In art they discussed Vincent Van Gogh and it was such a nice day and that they took their sketchbooks outside.
At Classical Conversations we continued our six weeks of drawing with Drawing with Children. We completed some upside down images, reviewed circles, dots, lines, angles, and curves, and drew Leo the Lion.
Time4Learning
On Time4Learning Duncan completed at least one activity each day in Language Arts, Language Arts Extensions, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Here is a breakdown of how much time (hours: minutes: seconds) he ended up spending on T4L this week:
LA 3 and LA extensions 3, combined- 2:09:04 (Agreement, Editing)
Math 4- 0:45:40 (Division)
Science 3- 0:47:17 (Energy)
Social Studies 3- 0:51:02 (Charts & Graphs)
So, 4:33:03 is the total time that Duncan spent doing the computer portion of T4L this week.
Classical Conversations
For Foundations Duncan listened to the week 1-4 memory work for English, science, Latin, geography, and timeline from a CD that was made here locally. From the Classical Conversations online tutorial he listened to the songs for history sentences from weeks 1-4.
Duncan continued studying Essentials of the English Language Grammar. This week he began nouns and continued reviewing the previous material.
In Essentials IEW composition this week, Duncan completed lesson 3 in U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons, Volume 1. In this lesson he completed an IEW Key Word Outline from a paragraph about Jamestown. He then rewrote the paragraph and included a strong verb, an adverb, an quality adjective, a vocabulary word, alliteration. This is actually a rough draft. Next week he will be editing it as he learns about sentence openers and who/which clauses.
Math
In Foerster’s Algebra this week Duncan finished Chapter 4 section5 and started section 6. He worked at Khan Academy one day for 12 minutes and received a proficiency in negative number word problems. He also spent between 20 and 30 minutes doing Kumon math four days. This week he began looking at functions in Mathematics: A Human Endeavor by Harold Jacobs.
Language Arts
In language arts he reviewed words from Spelling Plus and finished pages 32-36 in Spectrum Phonics and Word Study Grade 5. He completed week three of Daily Language Arts Review, Grade 4. He read pp.247-285 (seven stories) in The Beginner’s Bible. Duncan finished the second chapter of Edcon Publishing’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (We totally forgot this last week!) He also continued Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Level 1 and completed two more poems.
History
In history Duncan read chapter 9 in Land of Liberty and continued George Washington by Cheryl Harness.
Science
In addition to T4L, in Classical Conversations we reviewed the scientific method and did an experiment about muscle types. Duncan also cut out leg muscles for a human body that we will be assembling at the end of the semester.
Music, Drama and Art
He practiced violin almost every day this week and his lesson this week went well.
Duncan’s art and drama classes were fabulous again. In art they discussed Vincent Van Gogh and it was such a nice day and that they took their sketchbooks outside.
At Classical Conversations we continued our six weeks of drawing with Drawing with Children. We completed some upside down images, reviewed circles, dots, lines, angles, and curves, and drew Leo the Lion.
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