Doing Some Tweaking

Bible-Proverbs---no
Hymn---no
Burgess Animal Adventures---haven't read from this yet
Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers---no
Parables from Nature---no
Burgess Bird Book---haven't read from this yet
James Herriott's Treasury for Children---yes
Apologia Zoology---yes
Apologia Astronomy---yes
Blue Fairy Tales Book---no
A Midsummer Night's Dream---haven't read from this yet
Just So Stories---yes
Aesop's Fables---yes
Children's Garden of Verses---haven't read from this yet
Paddle to the Sea---yes
Mary Poppins---haven't read from this yet
Our Island Story---no
The Mystery of History---yes
The Story of the World---no
Composer Study---yes
Artist Study/Picture Study---yes

To replace reading the proverbs each day we are reading from a vintage book I found at my mom's. It's called Best Stories From the Best Book c. MCM (1900) It's definitely not watered down! Instead of a hymn right now we're going to focus on songs to learn with our church's youth choir. My friend Marla suggested downloading Our Island Story from librovox.com and listening to it as we do other things throughout the day. Mystery of History is much better than The Story of the World in my opinion. There is no need to make myself crazy and try to do both so one must go and SOTW-you are it. As for the rest of the roster that didn't make the cut we'll pick up here and there.

We are going to focus on these things:
Beyond FIAR- Starting with Thomas Edison we'll begin our FIAR lessons and I'll just ask for help on the FIAR boards. :)
Apologia Zoology - Ethan enjoys this. It's reading, narration, notebooking, and experiments and projects complete with an insect collection.
Apologia Astronomy-Eli and Rick are doing these lessons together. On the horizon is a model of the solar system.
Reading Rescue 1-2-3-This is a wonderful resource for helping children increase their fluency and comprehension in reading. I'm using the suggestions for both boys and we are using stories that interest each one individually.
We are almost finished with the Best Stories from the Best Book and when that is done I do believe we'll just read from Egermeier's Bible Story Book. I found a chart which links those stories with Mystery of History lessons.
Mystery of History-This is so amazing. I love the way the author weaves secular world history in with biblical world history.
So, we have: Reading, Science, History covered and our dear FIAR lessons provide more of that plus language arts.
Our art and music is covered with picture study/artist study and composer study and we can always throw in some piano or guitar or drum lessons!

Ahhh... feeling much more balanced!

A School Room for Acorns to Oaks?

For the last three years we've been doing lessons at the kitchen table, on the sofa, in the yard, on the bed...basically anywhere there isn't a pile of laundry or dirty dishes. I like the relaxed atmosphere of having lessons this way; however, I wonder if it wouldn't be prudent to at least have all of our materials in one room and perhaps a couple child-sized desks.

Last night I had a fine discussion with my older son. He told me he likes it quiet when he does his work. We were talking about math and he is a tad upset that he doesn't yet do division like his public school friends. "Well," I said, "you have to take some responsibility for that too, you know. I can teach you how to do the division but you have to take some initiative and practice and study and commit the facts to memory." He said, "I know but I need it quiet to do that." Do you think a room dedicated to lessons would help with that?

I keep thinking about Charlotte Mason's affinity to "atmosphere." I don't want to create a "school at home" atmosphere but I do want to create an atmosphere conducive to learning.

We do have a "spare" room that would lend itself nicely to being made over into a school room. It has room for our two bulging bookshelves, wallspace for our USA map and our world map, wallspace for displying our artist, poet, and composer of the term and a piece for each. There is floor room for two student desks and the plastic stoage bins holding our art, nature study and science supplies.

I would love to paint above the doorway: "Something to Love. Something to Do. Something to Think About."

I also have a vintage children's chalk board that I can see displayed on a wall where I would write this quote from Mark Twain : "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

I don't know. I guess I'd like to try having a school room this year and see how it goes. If we decide to go ahead with it, I'll post "Before & After" photos.

My Lesson Planner: Part Three

I just love this portrait of Charlotte Mason. She looks so wise, yet approachable. She looks so soft, yet sturdy. I printed this portrait making it the back cover of my planner. Under her portrait is another one of her profound quotes. "A child has not begun his education until he has acquired the habit of reading to himself, with interest and pleasure, books fully on a level with his intelligence."

My Lesson Planner: Part Two

These are the next pages in my planner. These are the actual planning pages. I used Open Office. I made a table with 4 columns on one page for Monday-Thursday. The cells of each are divided labeled with the time of day in 20-minute increments. Charlotte Mason suggests short lessons of intense material. On the second page I made 4 columns for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Notes. This is our "weekend" page. On Friday afternoons, I'm planning on an outing of some kind and hope to put a picnic together or at least hit the drive through of Taco Johns and make it a Nature Study--regardless of the weather. Saturday is totally blank--this will be for recording chores and "house blessing" (aka: Saturday cleaning) On Sunday's column I can record the character trait/virtue we're learning about, the Scripture to memorize, and the biography of a missionary or other well-known Christian. At the top of the first page I have a place to jot down the name of the Artist for the term and the artist's piece we are doing Picture Study with each week. On the other page there is a place to record the Composer of the term and the Poet of the term. I'm happy with it. If you'd like me to adjust the times for your use please let me know. I am happy to share my creation with you.

My Lesson Planner: Part One

This is the cover of my 2007-2008 lesson planner for our homeschool. I've figured out that if you don't simply LOVE a planner and if it just doesn't fit your needs you are not going to use the thing.

So....I created one that fills my needs perfectly.

The cover sports my two little acorns in a photo that fills my heart with smiles. The "motto" for our school was "borrowed" from one of Charlotte Mason's writings. She said humans need something to love, something to do and something to think about in order to be content and fulfilled. So that's what we are striving for in Acorns to Oaks Boys' Academy. The next few pages are actually a free e-book that I downloaded and printed from Simply Charlotte Mason called "Education Is." I wanted this information handy and what better place for it than right in my planner! It explains Miss Mason's philosphy in a consise manner. "Education is an atmosphere, adiscipline, a life." I had my husband read this e-book and he agrees with Mason's educational philosophy. After that, I have placed a "year-at-a-glance" page for 2007-2008 that I printed from Donna Young. If you have not had the pleasure of perusing her site you are in for a treat when you do.