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Category Archives: Curriculum
Teaching the Classics
Teaching the Classics is a literature program I just picked up. I had viewed some of the DVD and decided to get the syllabus. I really like it, it lays things out beautifully and has a ton of great information. I don’t think I can even begin to summarize it! 🙂
I like that it’s Socratic method – ask questions and encourage the children to think and make connections. I like that it can be used with really any book, and starts using children’s stories to help lay it out more clearly. It covers the key points of any story and you can make it very simple for little ones or very complex for teens. I like that it has the story chart so you can help the kids lay out visually the plot, theme, characters, etc… And it walks you through some sample ones so you can get the hang of how it works.
It was $25 plus $5 shipping but it was the same shipping for one or two copies so a friend and I ordered together. I think this blends well with A Thomas Jefferson Education and it’s classical approach so it would fit perfectly with Charlotte Mason methods of live books and The Well Trained Mind.
This is a reading program, to supplement our grammar program (First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind) and it will involve some narration as well. We’ll also be adding handwriting (Cursive First) and spelling & composition (Spell to Write & Read.) I’m anticipating they will all blend together well with some overlap but this should cover much of our language arts for the next several years at least…
More later to explain that as C is now a very proficient reader, we’re adding much more in depth lessons.
Memorization Work Ideas
We really like First Languages Lessons for the Well Trained Mind but I’m not so impressed with the memorization work. Some of it is great but some of it is just poems or nursery rhymes that aren’t impressive. I would rather the kids memorize things that they will really need or at least that’s beautiful!
For Christopher (now in book 3) we’re having him memorize scripture mastery cards – you can get them online for $.25 a set (four sets total.) We pulled out the scripture verses that were smallest to start with, but ones that I felt had meaning we could explain to him. Example – last week he memorized John 14:15 – “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” This week it is Doctrine & Covenants 82:10 – “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say ye have no promise.” So we’re starting small! But I like that instead of just poems (and we are still memorizing some of those) he’s learning scripture that will come in handy.
For Moira I was pondering what would be best for her. And inspiration struck! I pulled down our Children’s Songbook and started at the beginning. She knows the first song, of course – “I am a child of God.” The second song is the one they are learning in primary (that is making her cry because it’s minor key) – “I lived in Heaven.” So we went with #3:
I know my Father lives,
And loves me, too.
The Spirit whispers this to me,
And tells me it is true.
Perfect! It’s easier for her to remember because it’s lyrics vs. a scripture (the rhyme helps.) Plus we have the primary songs in my iTunes so I can play the song for her and she memorizes to music so quickly. (And Christopher is learning them, too.) I love that it’s something they’ll be glad to know since they’ll be singing these in primary. I like that they are memorizing teachings of the Gospel. It’s perfect!
Oh, source – the scripture mastery cards, children’s songbook and primary cd you can buy at LDS catalog and it’s free shipping. You can also access the church’s music player through the church website if you want the primary songs for free! I don’t know if you can download them
So whenever there is a new poem for the kids to memorize in either book we’ll use the scripture mastery or primary song instead, unless it’s a poem we like.
Spring 2009 – What We’re Using (w/pictures)
What we’re using for school this next semester:
First, Christopher – this should be his first grade year. He’s in Saxon 2 (which is second grade level) and First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind book 3 (which is 3rd grade level.) He’s reading whatever books strike his fancy and we’re reading aloud to him still. He’s also using his composition book for his handwriting practice and dictation but typing his book reports (and using a new typing program.) He writes letters and is writing in his journal for more writing practice.
Moira is in her kindergarden year. She’s in Saxon 1 (first grade) and First Language Lessons grade 1. She’s also using a workbook for some extra reading practice, Bob books for reading aloud, and her composition book for handwriting practice. For therapy we’re using a phonics book (for speech), Ready Bodies, Learning Minds for motor and sensory work and The Out of Sync Child has fun for sensory issues, speech & motor. Plus the Webber Phonology cards.
For math manipulatives we have geoboards/peg boards, math cubes, tangram pieces and some plastic shapes. And a ton more, but these are the ones they use most. We have toy clocks, calendars, counting bears, flashcards, etc.
For art we’re mostly using the Complete Book of Arts & Crafts right now, but we also have the science arts book, Annotated Mona Lisa, Discovering Great Artists, and some art history books (serious ones) from my family (they all did AP art history & one minored in it in college.) And we have sketch pads for the kids for their nature journals, among other things. And an obscene amount of art supplies. We try to do art on Mondays.
Music – we have a basic beginner piano book C is almost done with and Mo will start with, along with the Primary children’s song book and a simplified hymn book. We have lots of toy instruments like triangles and shakers, the guitar, piano, and drums. We let the kids play on Garage Band, Kit and I play for them (guitar and piano) and we use Pandora to expose them to various composers. We’ll be doing artist & composer studies later this year, picking one of each to focus on per semester. (It will be a good education for me. We do music study on Tuesdays.
Wednesdays we do an Out of Sync activity and focus on some extra motor work/sensory stuff for Moira, though all the kids participate. We do speech on Monday & Friday with Mo.
For history we’re in book two of Story of the World. We also have some geography encyclopedias, Circling the Globe, various atlases, blackline maps to go along with our history curriculum, and the biography books for the kids to read about some famous figures. We’ll be supplementing a LOT more with “living books” and biographies as we get more in depth later on – the Story of the World is a four book series we’re doing twice through so next go round we’ll have a lot more enrichment activities and additional readings. (Ask me if that made no sense at all and I’ll explain later.) Thursdays we do history and every other week we meet with a co-op for an enrichment activity.
Science this year is earth & space, we have a variety of books and posters & the NASA cards. Right now we’re just doing some readings but we hope to add in science experiments again soon. The science readings go along with the history timeline. Life science, earth & space, chemistry, physics on a four year rotation.
We also have some science experiment books and encyclopedias. There are more books for life, chemistry, and physics that I’ll photograph when we get around to those. And the Magic School Bus books. Plus we have the magnifying glasses and other hands on things for the kids. We do science on Fridays.
We do language & math daily, we do the “specials” each once a week. Art, music, sensory (therapy, history, science.
The language & math with Christopher takes about 30 to 45 minutes total. The language & math with Moira takes about 30 minutes total. If they dawdle it takes about an hour. 🙂 They both need one-on-one attention to cover the new math concept of the day and do the language, Mo needing more help than C, of course. The extra subject takes 30 minutes to an hour, depending on what we’re doing. We also doing reading aloud with the kids for at least an hour a day but often two or more hours with them reading to us, each other and us reading to them.
Oh, and cost – we bought the Magic School Bus books from Scholastic for cheap. The Well Trained Mind book 3 and workbook I got off Amazon (it was cheaper that way) and the workbook for Saxon 2 we bought new. Those are the only books we bought new and we didn’t pay full price for any of them. Everything else we got as a gift or free from another homeschool family, bought used from a library sale, or found on Half.com or Amazon.com for used. We’ve not spent a ton on these, though if we find a book we fell would be good we find a way to get it. We did buy the manipulatives new, of course, but we purchased most of them during Mardel’s 20% off educators sale. Homeschooling does not have to be expensive.
Okay, I hope that answers most of the questions re: what we use!
And here are links in the post I wrote up, if you want to find out more about the books we use.
I lied – the Ready Bodies, Learning Mind program we purchased new as well. The therapy things are often harder to find used, but we checked that out so we knew it was something we felt good about.
2008-2009 What we’re doing
Here are the books/programs/curriculums we are using. We rarely buy new, we love www.half.com or used from Amazon. We like books we can pass down through multiple kids and curriculums that can be adapted for several ages at once. We do language and math daily (alternating spelling & grammar for language, but reading aloud daily) and we do the other “specials” usually once a week (science, history.) Some subjects we get at the co-op and at home (music, art.) We do therapy of some sort daily (motor lab/PE, speech, sensory, etc.)
Language:
First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind, we have Mo starting 1st grade and C finishing 2nd and starting 3rd. There’s one book for 1/2 and another plus workbook for 3.
We also have the Bob books, set 1 and 2 (Mo’s in 2, Ben’s starting 1) and the LeapFrog DVD set, which is what taught the oldest three to read. 🙂 Yes, movies. Sigh…
We’re not doing a spelling curriculum, I just have C practice stuff like days of the week, months of the year, prepositions, etc. He’s reading and spelling so well that I’m not worried about spelling this year. Mo I have practice some spelling lists from on-line and do the Starfall website (link to left) for help. We’re having C start the Tux Typing program.
Math:
Saxon 1 for Mo, Saxon 2 for C. We’re using older editions and all the rumors are true, Saxon is a ton of work. We don’t do it all. I check the teacher’s manual to see what new concept is being introduced, teach it (and often not following their script) and then have the kids do their worksheet (it’s front and back.) I don’t make them do the addition/subtraction drills except once or twice a month and we time them. Maybe once a week we do review things like time, calendar, etc. But it’s nice that I know what they know and where they are struggling so I don’t have to waste their time or my time doing all the work included. If C can answer everything orally, I don’t make him write out the worksheets every day. Same for Mo, of course.
But we really like Saxon as a foundation and how it includes hands on things (peg boards, tangrams, etc) and incorporates algebra and geometry throughout. We also let them do Tux Math after they finish their Saxon work.
History/geography/social studies:
Story of the World Volume II this year. We meet every other week with a co-op to do activities related to our readings. We’ll be reading volume 3 over the summer and next fall starting the history class at the co-op, volume 4. (They’re doing volume 3 this year.)
Art:
Complete Book of Arts & Crafts and we’ll also have art at the co-op.
Therapy:
The Out of Sync Child has Fun and Ready Bodies Learning Minds.
And for Mo’s speech, the Webber Phonology cards but just fronting and stopping for now.
Science:
We’re doing chemistry with the co-op this year and we’ve not explored the curriculum at all.
Spanish:
Ditto above, with the co-op and they’re using Rosetta Stone Spanish-Latin America but that price is a bit much for us right now. 🙂 We shall see what we do about spanish…
Music:
They will get music at the co-op, we’re starting Mo on piano and having C start the second book, using the Alfred series. We’re also playing around with Garage Band (on the Mac) and Kit’s drums, guitar, and making our own instruments (from the arts & crafts book.)
Lesson Plans for Postpartum & Fall 2008
Postpartum box to keep us going in weeks after Mojo arrives – will contain August binder, novels, SOTW book, dry erase marker, lined and unlined paper for drawing/writing, pencil & pen, some activities for the toddlers, timer for math tests, math flashcards
LANGUAGE –
2 novels Heidi & Kit read to all kids (SEE BOX)
– The Last Battle & ?
4 books Christopher read to us (SEE BOX)
– Boxcar Children x2
Review definitions of parts of speech (SEE BINDER).
Spelling words (SEE BINDER): days of week, months of years, numbers, shapes, colors, address.
Journal: Friday nature journal (SEE BINDER), Sundays in personal journal
MATH –
timed test with math sheets (SEE BINDER)
flashcards to review basic math facts
HISTORY-
SOTW Volume 1 chapters 37 to 42 (SEE BOX)
SCIENCE –
write/draw in nature journal 1x week (SEE BINDER)
time in yard/park or family walk 5x week
——————————————————————————————————
FALL 2008 (to begin whenever Mommy feels better rested & more sane)
daily – math, reading aloud, outside time
3x week – grammar lessons, motor lab/PE (MWF)
2x week – spelling, speech therapy (TTH)
1x week – history, science, art, music play, sensory activity, journal writing
2x month – science experiments, history project, handicraft (SATURDAYS)
M: art projects
T: music play
W: sync
TH: history
F: science
S: handicraft (Home Depot or Lowes), history project or science experiment
Sun: journal
THINGS TO ADD IN FALL:
– start centuries binder for history w/timeline & maps
– start language binder w/book reports, dictation, compositions, spelling lists, etc.
– start science experiment binder
My hope is that with the postpartum box I can work with the kids still on some lessons & review while nursing and surviving on no sleep. We did plan to take August off but I think keeping some semblance of a routine will help with the transition and I can always read aloud to them or supervise coloring while nursing the baby. We’ll also make C’s and M’s binders relatively independent so they can start working if I’m not able to help immediately.
Once I feel back on my feet we can resume a more consistent schedule with the addition of our extra projects, new binders, art & music, etc. Until then we can focus on the language, math & lots of reading aloud.
THINGS TO ADD IN 2009:
– soccer
– spanish (Rosetta Stone)
How much does it cost?
I was thinking this morning about what we’ve spent on homeschooling so far. I’m not including things like regular books we buy, but actual curriculum related stuff. Though I am including some “fun” stuff and I’ll explain why:
Language –
Leap Frog DVDs – 4 at $8 each (learning phonics, reading, some grammar)
pre-k workbook (all subjects) was $5
First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind (1st & 2nd grade)- $10
First Language Lessons level 3, teacher book & workbook – $30
spelling lists by grade level – free on-line
Complete Book of Handwriting (cursive and print) – $6
plus of course a TON of books to read, many free on-line like Shakespeare for kids
Math –
Saxon 1 – gift
Saxon 2 – teacher’s guide $10, still need workbooks
Saxon 3 – free teacher guide from on-line group, $8 part 1 of workbook, need part 2
Saxon 5/4 – $4 (half.com, that includes shipping!)
The rest of the Saxon books are all less than $2 on half.com
Family Math – $4
Janice Van Cleave math book – $5
Art/Music –
Annotated Mona Lisa – gift
Discovering Great Artists – $12
Complete Book of Arts & Crafts – $6
art history books from AP art history – gifts from my mom & sisters
Alfred’s Basic Piano Library, Prep book & first book – 2 at $6 each
Social Studies –
Story of the World volumes 1 to 4 – $35 for all (from on-line group)
SOTW activity guide for 1 – $12
SOTW activity guide for 4 – $15
still need activity guide for 2 and 3
blackline maps, entire set of digital images to correspond to all 4 volumes plus all of US maps through history and 50 states plus study guide – $40
My First Book of Biographies – $4
DK Geography of the World – $5
Circling the Globe – less $10, can’t remember exact price
Science –
DK Encyclopedia of Science – less than $10
DK Physical Science – less than $10
Janice Van Cleave 101 experiments for biology, physics, chemistry, plus her “messy” experiments book – averaged $5 each ($4 to $6 on-line)
Magic School Bus 12 book collection – $20
So, this pretty much covers all of elementary school (still need First Language Lessons for level 4) and many of them cover through junior high. By high school they’ll be doing mostly their own research and using living books, except for math I imagine. And they can start college classes as teens so that’s a whole new level of expense. 🙂 But I’m confident that with these books and a couple more additions, we’ve got them covered through at LEAST 12 years of age with just some fun books to supplement.
And we’ve not spent more than $20 on any book (teacher guide for 1st language lessons level 3 – it’s a new book, came out this year and list price is $30) and most books we spend less than $10 by buying them used. Workbooks are costing us more than anything else since they must be new and only some allow for copying for siblings (SOTW allows worksheet duplicates within the family.)
Homeschooling can be done very well, using great resources and high quality materials (I am picky! 🙂 ) without costing a ton. We make a lot of use of used book lists on-line (often getting books free) and on-line resources like educational websites and fun games for the kids to practice skills.
Curriculum Thoughts
We don’t use a set curriculum, we are picking and choosing what we love and we’re influenced by a lot of different educational theories. So here are some highlights:
As of November 2007 –
We like a lot of Charlotte Mason and you can learn more about her here. There’s a lot of overlap with classical education (“live” books, chronology of history and literature to accompany, narration/copy work, great books, foreign language, etc.) A difference is Charlotte Mason has a HUGE focus on outside time and no formal lessons for kids before 6 years of age – and we really like both of those points. We still let Mo sit down and do lessons with C if she asks, but they are not required. I also like the emphasis on outside time/exercise for child development and as we’re learning more about Mo’s situation, that gross motor time is crucial for the ability to later develop fine motor skills to do the table work. I also like her focus on short lessons and habit training, teaching kids to focus and have a good attention span for the short time (15 minutes or so at our stage) but not expecting focus for long lessons when it’s not age appropriate. And I like keeping the mornings for lessons while the kids are “fresh” and keeping afternoons free for play and being kids. Oh, and the handiwork – teaching kids hands on skills. I like that.
For actual curriculum/book choices I really like The Well Trained Mind for their book lists and day to day implementation. We are using their books for language and history/geography. We’re doing Saxon for math. Unlike WTM we are NOT starting the kids formally early. We’re not starting foreign languages young. We are rotating science topics (CM suggests staying with nature/life science for the first many years and WTM has you rotate biology, earth, chemistry, physics – we’ve decided to go with the rotation.)
So for these early years, we’re doing classical method with a Charlotte Mason influence. We plan to have this as a guideline for the next 7 years or so at which point we’ll be in the last phase of the classical method and Christopher will be setting his own academic goals (with our input, of course.) The goal is to get the foundation set in the first four years (grammar stage) and then gradually pass more autonomy to them in the next four years (rhetoric stage) and the last four years they should be much more on their own (logic stage)… They can look at apprenticeships or jobs, explore occupational interests, take college courses, etc.
I like this approach because it appeals to the logic side of my brain – the setting of a foundation, then framework. I like the chronological approach, I like the systemic way of exploring literature from the time period of history you are studying. I like the outside time, I absolutely agree now that children should NOT be doing formal learning (table work, sitting down to do math or language or whatever) before age six. Of course we seize informal learning chances, and Moira loves the enrichment activities, but we do not require her to sit down and do lessons the way we have Christopher do his Saxon math (about 15 minutes) or First Language Lessons (maybe 10 minutes and another 10 minutes for writing) each day. And in these early years we are focusing on language, math, and outside time. The history is purely a bonus, the music/piano is fun but not mandatory, science can be just nature observation at this point, etc. We feel a solid groundwork in languages and mathematics is the most crucial items he needs to be ready for more down the line.
And this only took five years of discussion and research and exploring with Kit for us to find what seems to work well for our family – well, for Christopher. (Only five years, you heard my sarcasm there, right?) I believe this approach will be beneficial for ALL the kids but we may find Moira thrives on something else, so we’re open to learning about new theories we run across. I like to know all my options, and I only started studying Charlotte Mason this year when a friend mentioned it and I’m SO glad we did – it’s changed the way we live on a day to day basis. 🙂 So, reminder to self to be open to learning new things…
As of May 2010 –
Yes to all of the above, still loving the Charlotte Mason and the Well Trained Mind but we pick and choose from both. As the kids get older we plan to implement more of the suggestions from A Thomas Jefferson Education but that really doesn’t kick in until around 12 years of age. In the meantime I’m liking the literature & socratic method approach laid out in Teaching the Classics. Read my post about that here. We’ve also added Spell to Write & Read to our language line up.
Posts I wrote on Charlotte Mason.
Posts I wrote on A Thomas Jefferson Education.
Posts I wrote on the classical approach and A Well Trained Mind.
Check out the categories links to the left for more of my ramblings. All of those posts are in reverse chronological order to further confuse you, sorry.
Saxon Math
We were blessed to inherit some Saxon Math 1 materials. We knew we wanted to use Saxon Math for the upper levels but had heard mixed things about the lower levels. And it’s rather confusing to follow their progression since they’ve redone some stuff but I think we’re doing Saxon 1, 2, 3 (which I heard can take two years to complete 3) then we’ll do 5/4, 6/5, 7/6, 8/7 (which is only if the student needs more work before algebra, otherwise you skip 8/7) then Algebra 1/2, Algebra 1, 2, then Advanced Math. I know, weird. The 5/4 means advanced 4th grader or typical 5th grade, up through advanced 7th grader/typical 8th grade. But Algebra 1/2 is pre-algebra, then it moves on – and it appears they include geometry in their algebra 1 & 2 and advanced math is the trig/precal stuff. Have I confused you yet?
I’ve heard across the board that the upper level stuff is great. Kit likes that it’s inclusive & doesn’t have geometry apart. We picked up the 5/4 to check it out when we found a copy for $1 and we’re very impressed – but we have to get to that point so we’re working on collecting 1, 2 and 3. Which is why we were thrilled to get the teacher’s guide and both workbooks for Saxon 1. We checked it out to see where Christopher falls and started around less 35 – we’ve only done it a week but I LOVE it. The teacher’s guide includes lesson plans and game ideas, reviews & answers. We take about 15 minutes to do the little lesson together then he has a 2 page worksheet from his book (they suggest doing one page in morning, one later in day) but Christopher does it so quickly we can complete both sides of the worksheet in under 10 minutes. Sometimes he’ll ask if he can do it orally and I’m fine with that.
The worksheets at this point have him practice writing a number (we skip that, he has great handwriting) and then gives him a word problem to draw out and write as a number sequence – you have six apples and give three to your friend. How many do you have left? So he draws his little apples and crosses them out then writes out 6-3=3. They have them pick a shape that’s different from the others, do some basic addition problems (he’s got those down so it’s super fast) and then something like practicing left & right, tallest or shortest, continuing a pattern. It’s pretty basic at this stage.
We don’t have it but the program has a “meeting book” that has them practice with calendar, patterns, and counting money. The teacher’s manual covers that so we do it with our regular calendar.
It’s nice to have something so clearly laid out and though I don’t follow the teacher’s guide closely (it gives you exactly what to say) I like knowing we’re going to get it all covered. Christopher knows a lot of this but we’ve got other things we’ve not touched on yet so we’re going to race through some and stay on other spots for awhile (calendar, time) and when we finish this I hope to get Saxon 2 and move on from there.
What’s the goal?
I’m re-reading The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling and one of her first chapters is on setting goals – “Determining your Destination.” Kit and I have talked about this but not formally sat down to put something on paper. We’re one month into our first year of officially homeschooling as of tomorrow and we’ve already made ENORMOUS changes in everything – to the point that something I planned to use as a backbone curriculum I’ve given away! 🙂 We’ve also added all sorts of new things and my very detailed lesson plans for the first week have been scrapped because now I’m writing down what we did each day, instead of what we will be doing each day. It’s strangely comforting to sit with my lesson “planner” and fill in each little square (one per day) and see how much we covered. Christopher practiced piano, Moira had occupational therapy, both kids did copy work (practiced writing their address) and we read this chapter in this book and Christopher narrated back to me what he remembers, both kids did addition problems, etc. Instead of seeing a plan of what we should have done (and didn’t accomplish) I get a wonderful sense of contentment knowing we fit in quite a lot. And with much less pressure.
But I think having set our year goals has given us that freedom to work towards them, whichever meandering way we may choose. The odd problem being we’ve already met most of those goals… 🙂 So now we must set new goals. We’ll continue to incorporate the guidelines for math and language so we have some rough outline but here are some of our new goals and our new “schedule.”
New goals:
1. LANGUAGE work daily – “First Language Lessons of the Well Trained Mind” which includes copy work, memorization, dictation & grammar. Covers two years. Plus additional “copy work” – writing down scriptures, poems, whatever to practice handwriting and proper grammar.
2. LITERATURE daily – whatever we read, practice narration back (simply say, “Tell me about the story.”) Working through classics, will do some to correspond with history timeline. Shakespeare, poetry, parables of nature, fables, etc. Will eventually add in book reports (narrated then written by themselves when ready.)
3. PHONICS/READING daily practice for both kids.
4. MATH daily – arithmetic, introduce time, money & calendar (will later use Saxon math)
5. THERAPY daily – “Out of sync” activity, speech practice, Ben’s light box, Mo’s occupational therapy work (Ready Bodies, Learning Minds) scattered throughout week.
6. MUSIC “appreciation” (listen to classics station) and next year we’ll learn more about composers (and then we’ll also pick up art appreciation) but for now it’s just about exposure. Try to incorporate through out week but Tuesday pick special focus/activity.
7. HISTORY – “The Story of the World plus timeline & maps for history & geography (at least one chapter a week and timeline/maps on Fridays.)
8. SCIENCE – time outside whenever possible for nature study and play, keeping nature journal and beginning study of life sciences for Saturday experiments.
Everything else is on hold – spanish, 4H, soccer, dance, book clubs. It all needs to wait while we get settled into a good rhythm. We’ll keep up with our craft & science groups but we’re not taking on anything else new until next fall, is our tentative plan. The goal is still math, language & reading every day plus one special (science, art, music, sensory/PE, history.)
So I just have to remind myself – math, language, read to the kids. “Specials” are bonuses.