Hymn Study: 2017/18

Fisher Academy loves Hymn Study!

We tend to use AmblesideOnline's 2017/18 hymn selections most years simply because it's so handy to have them thoughtfully picked out for us. We ♡ AmblesideOnline!

Today, we're playing the playlist I created for the 2017/18 school year with the option set to shuffle.* We really like listening to our hymns as background music. While there are other viable options on YouTube, some recordings out there don't lend themselves very well to that!

Sometimes we use the videos to learn a new hymn or one we don't know very well. In that case, we play the video on my laptop during Jovi'oval Time and sing along reading from the screen or from Our Family Hymnbooks. You might like to do something similar. The hymns embedded below should work pretty well.

Enjoy!

*{There are several versions of each hymn, if you listen to the playlist as-is you will hear each hymn 2-5 times in a row. Even if each one is different that's a little too repetitive for me. Setting it to shuffle allows the songs to play out of order. I use bluetooth from my iPhone to my Bose SoundLink mini speaker (it's small enough that I literally travel everywhere with it). It's my favorite way to play the songs at lunchtime or all throughout the day. }

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The hymns in the playlist have been chosen with the following criteria:
1) presentation - must be well sung;
2) listenability - must have a high quality sound recording and be bearable as background music;
3) singability - sing-a-long-able-ness is nice;
4) lyrics on screen - a plus but not a requirement for this list

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The hymns included below meet the standards above but have lyrics on screen (link provided when not):

September: Marching To Zion

October: My Jesus I Love Thee

November: O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

December: Star in the East

January: Thus Far The Lord Has Led Me On

February: Blest Be the Tie That Binds (lyrics here)

March: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

April: On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand

May: Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

June: It Is Well With My Soul

July: Great is Thy Faithfulness (lyrics here)

August: My Faith Looks Up To Thee

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Helpful Links:
More AmblesideOnline Hymn playlists
Center for Church Music: Songs and Hymns
Hymnary.org

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It's March! {NSM! LinkUP!}

Okay, so I've been too busy with getting ready for exams, planning for next term, making a person...
so much so, that I haven't been able to get my {NSM!} post up last week and now it's almost past today and all I have are the pictures, words and the ideas... still in my head. A really tired head, I might add. :)

So, in my upcoming post, I might talk about how our Nature Study exam questions went today,
or, I might talk more about our Squash studies,
or, the cool butterfly we found that seems like it only has four legs...
or, you just never know. I might surprise you. ;)

I'm going to go ahead and post the linky RIGHT here, RIGHT now and then I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully, with everything all tidily bound up in an amazingly interesting blog post. How's that?

So, if you're ready with YOUR nature study posts from March, see if you can beat me getting them all plugged into the linky before I get back with my post... ;)
Hah!

Yeah, I double dare you.

Snag a button if you wanna! :)
Come back and share your nature studies with us any time this month!

The {Nature Study Monday} link up is for ANY nature study-ish blog post written at any time during the current month. Which means, when you submit your link, it will show up in every. single. {NSM} post. during the whole month! Oh, and be not confused, feel free to link up on any day, be it Monday or not! 

Sloyd: Warming the Intellect

No, not Slide nor Sled, even if it IS snowing at your house... apparently they got 4" in Portland!?!

Sloyd. 
Incorporating Paper Sloyd as schoolwork provides great warm-up exercises in strengthening intellectual habits all year round (I've tried it!!). Who would have thought? Paper folding! It can also be great fun and spur one on to make some cool stuff.  Read on and you'll see what I mean.

I learned about Sloyd through Charlotte Mason some time back, but never was sufficiently inspired to do more than schedule it until this summer while attending a workshop by my friend BobbyJo in Minnesota. At that time, I had recently been considering it again, though I can't remember why... maybe due to my friend Richele and its relation to Mathematics or maybe convos with yet another friend Tammy? Either way, for better or worse, I resolved to begin our adventures in Paper Folding the subsequent schoolyear (last fall).


Of course, we didn't start during the first term; that would have been So Very Drastic. :) This term however, we started at the very beginning (which is a very good place to start) in Paper Sloyd for Primary Grades. Even for the elder students who have no experience, Sloyd has it's benefits, though we must keep moving in order to keep attention and not insult pride or patience. We started with the basics as presented in this book. Working in order, we've finished the first nine projects over the last several weeks.

My littles have been especially SUPER excited about each project they can make as-is or adapt for gifts for their siblings and friends' special occasions! Two days after creating the envelope, we had a birthday! Not incidentally, that sister received more than one special note wrapped in a handmade envelope/wall hanger this year. :)


All of us have had to work into this new venue. I had to learn to be clear and careful in GIVING instructions. We have all had to work to maintain a friendly and relaxed atmosphere (struggle on, perfectionists!). The kids have had to make an effort not to get overwhelmed or frustrated while listening and concentrating in a group context with various skill levels represented. We have seen great progress in all of these after the first few projects! Yay!

Every project boasts a series of instructions to be followed including drawing lines, cutting, folding, etc. The comeliness of the final product is in direct correlation to how carefully each instruction is carried out. At every point, each step depends upon the previous step being done exactly. Students must pay attention and concentrate all the way through the verbal instructions. They must follow those same instructions thoroughly and accurately or their project will be wrong or turn out looking 'junky'. 


Here's the low down...

• A perfect product is not the immediate goal (though I would be concerned if they cared not at all, but that hasn't been a problem with mine). My main objective is that the students take care to listen, concentrate and follow instructions thoroughly and accurately. If desired, they may later redo a project that they feel turned out poorly because of lack of skill or as a result of some inadvertent mistake (see below).
• Instructions are succinct on purpose. The student has to audibly process the instructions in order to follow through. I repeat the instructions aloud twice (w/ demo for my year one student when there's any potential confusion). Ahead of time, I emphatically encourage them to *think* before asking a question. It's much easier to ask a question than to think. If they can't seem to figure it out, they may wait and watch how someone else interprets the information (though obviously, I'd rather they figure it out for themselves).
• Everyone must respect others' need for concentration and NOT talk during the process unless asking a necessary question. It's also easy to get frustrated and have an outburst upon making a mistake - great for practicing self-control. (I encourage them that this is a learning process, to look for a way to make up for their mistake, and continue if possible. See next point)
• Disallowing re-do's mid-project obliges the student to experience natural consequences (a less than stellar final result). I have given second chances once or twice in order for my littlest to not feel overwhelmedly discouraged. One difficulty is, allowing one student to 'start over' because they're not happy with their cut or have folded wrong, requires the rest of the group to wait while they catch up. Or, I have to keep track of where two different sets are in the instructions line-up. Asking them to carry on (sometimes it's easy to make amends for mistakes by adjusting the measurements of the initial project size by trimming off a mistake), finish the project and re-do it if desired AFTER they know all of the instructions, seems to have been an acceptable consequence in most cases. This might be explained ahead of time to ward off an emotional blow up mid-project.

Teacher Tips: 
Of vital importance for parents and educators → DO: Initiate & Direct, DO NOT: Control or Dominate.

Pre-work reminders...

• Make sure to have materials ready - mine are kept in a basket and collected at the end (scissors, rulers, hole punches, glue sticks, etc.).
• Have everyone clear their space of everything except scissors, ruler and a sharpened pencil.
• Remind everyone that this is a time for listening, concentrating and working quietly. "We want to be quiet so that others can do the same." 
• Remind them that you will be repeating each of the instructions several times. For that reason also, we will listen carefully and think before asking questions. We might wait and see if watching what our neighbor does will help us to understand."
• Remind everyone that this is practice. "It's okay if we make a mistake. We'll do our best and get better with practice. If we do make a mistake, we'll keep going if possible. If it's not possible to fix it, we'll keep listening and following along to all of the instructions until they are finished and we can start over."

We've been talking about this on the AO Forum, check that out here and here.

The optional topic for discussion during February for the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is: Some Unconsidered Aspects of Intellectual Training. This post is my contribution to that discussion. If you would like to participate, see this post for more information! All CM inspired posts are welcome.

Wanna Share?! 

If you do blog specifically about Paper Sloyd, please come back and link with us so we can see and learn from you!!

Shakespeare: Macbeth

Macbeth & Banquo with the 3 Weird Sisters (Image Source)
Macbeth is the scheduled Shakespeare play this term at AmblesideOnline.org, and as usual, we'll be following the rotation. We will be adding some new things this time around though, and I'm writing those down here, for posterity's sake. Because I may need to be reminded some years down the road, as I am in this for the long-haul. I have a mere 18 years to go... at least if we're done making babies who turn into future students. ;) Speaking of babies, I have lately discovered that I hold a very divergent view to that of Lady Macbeth in regard to suckling babes...

Ahem.

So, Macbeth...

What we usually do: 
Listen to an (abridged) version: Bruce Coville's rendition in audiobook format is what we used this time around.
Do a sketch, or more correctly termed, a schematic sketch of all the characters (everybody usually wants to do their own version):
Read the play aloud as a group, dividing into character parts.
I've decided on a couple monologues from Macbeth that we'll read aloud weekly during the term. The olders will use these for recitation. The littles just benefit from exposure. :)
See links below for sites I used to find the monologues...


What's new:
This year, my eldest AOy4 student is participating in the readings. Traditionally, before each scene, we divide up the speaking characters and then read the lines aloud together. Now, we have another reader! Because of the nature of this play and because of the fact we'll be using a study guide (see next point), I've dismissed my younger AOy4 student from the readings. He can listen/read if he wants to, but otherwise he's free to do something else.

With my AOy9 students, I'm experimenting with using Brightest Heaven of Invention to guide our study. So far, we've covered the Intro and the first two lessons. It's been a little choppy navigating how to divide the readings and commentary and questions and all over 12 weeks as BHI divides the play into four lessons. I haven't figured out a completely streamlined way yet, but I'll be posting my speculative plan (see end of post, if that's of interest to you). Then hopefully, I'll re-evaluate at the end of term what I think could have been done better. You know, for posterity's sake.


Helpful Links:
The University at Adelaide offers the best free kindle versions of Shakespeare that I can find online, with great formatting and linked table of contents! Check out their version of Macbeth here. I also like and have used MIT's version which I push-to-kindle.
Youtube version of the Orson Welles 1948 movie of Macbeth - The author of BHI, recommends this one as the best of the four versions he previewed. We may watch it... I'd really rather see a live performance though...

My friend Nancy just taught through Macbeth with her co-op students, how handy of timing is that? Here is her post: Recommended resources for Macbeth. Matter of fact, upon her recommendation, I purchased the kindle version of Leland Ryken's study guide for Macbeth. While he and the author of BHI have made distinct observations on the play, I definitely think one or the other is sufficient. BHI features six plays (Henry V, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing). There are Ryken study guides for Hamlet (coming soon) and Macbeth.

Monologues for recitation and memorization: here and here.
Arkangel audio version of Macbeth (unabridged) from LearnOutLoud.com

Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays by Peter Leithart, find it on amazon.com here:


Miss Charlotte's commentary and application from Macbeth: 

"Every child, every man, who comes to a sudden halt watching the action of his own reason, is another Columbus, the discoverer of a new world. Commonly we let reason do its work without attention on our part, but there come moments when we stand in startled admiration and watch the unfolding before us point by point of a score of arguments in favour of this carpet as against that, this route in preference to the other, our chosen chum as against Bob Brown; because every pro suggested by our reason is opposed to some con in the background. How else should it happen that there is no single point upon which two persons may reason,––food, dress, games, education, politics, religion,––but the two may take opposite sides, and each will bring forward infallible proofs which must convince the other were it not that he too is already convinced by stronger proofs to
strengthen his own argument. Every character in history or fiction supports this thesis; and probably we cannot give a better training in right reasoning than by letting children work out the arguments in favour of this or that conclusion.

Thus, Macbeth, a great general, returns after a brilliant victory, head and heart are inflated, what can he not achieve? Could he not govern a country as well as rule an army? Reason unfolds the steps by which he might do great things; great things, ay, but are they lawful, these possible exploits? And then in the nick of time he comes across the 'weird Sisters,' as we are all apt to take refuge in fatalism when conscience no longer supports us. He shall be Thane of Cawdor, and, behold, confirmation arrives on the spot. He shall also be king. Well, if this is decreed, what can he do? He is no longer a free agent. And a score of valid arguments unfold themselves showing how Scotland, the world, his wife, himself, would be enhanced, would flourish and be blessed if he had the opportunity to do what was in him. Opportunity? The thing was decreed! It rested with him to find the means, the tools. He was not without imagination, had a poetic mind and shrank before the horrors he vaguely foresaw. But reason came to his aid and step by step the whole bloody tragedy was wrought out before his prescient mind. When we first meet with Macbeth he is rich in honours, troops of friends, the generous confidence of his king. The change is sudden and complete, and, we may believe, reason justified him at every point. But reason did not begin it. The will played upon by ambition had already admitted the notion of towering greatness or ever the 'weird Sisters' gave shape to his desire. Had it not been for this countenance afforded by the will, the forecasts of fate would have influenced his conduct no more then they did that of Banquo." vol 6 pg 140

Divide Macbeth (using BHI as study guide) over a 12 week term:

For now, we're going with the Option 2. (see below)

#1 - Either split the readings in half: read half of the reading selection each week (designated in BHI 'lessons'), read only half of the commentary and deal with half of the review & thought questions (pick several from those that apply to that week's reading).

OR

#2 - Read the whole selection from the play one week, narrate and pick several of the review questions. The next week, read the commentary and choose several thought questions for discussion and/or for essay format of written narration.

Possible 12 week term schedules using BHI:
Option 1	Option 2
wk1 intro (Colville audiobook or Lamb's) and schematic sketch of characters, read BHI intro wk2-3 Act 1.1 - 1.4 + commentary, review and thought Qs (half/week) wk4-5 read Acts 1.5-2.4 + commentary, review and thought Qs (half/week) wk6-7 read Acts 3-4 + commentary, review and thought Qs (half/week) wk8-9 read Act 5 + commentary, review and thought Qs (half/week) wk10 video, choose from essay questions, start paper (outline + first draft), write play wk11 edit paper + second draft, practice play wk12 hand in paper & perform drama	wk1 intro (Colville audiobook or Lamb's) and schematic sketch of characters. y9 - read BHI intro wk2 Act 1.1 - 1.4 + review Qs wk 3 BHI lesson 1 &thought Qs wk4 Acts 1.5-2.4 + review Qs wk5 BHI lesson 2 &thought Qs wk6 read Acts 3-4 + review Qs wk7 BHHI lesson 3 + thought Qs wk8 Act 5 + review Qs wk9 BHI lesson4 + thought Qs wk10 watch video, choose from essay questions, start paper (outline + first draft), write play wk11 edit paper + second draft, practice play wk12 hand in paper & perform drama

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Maybe some of this will prove handy for somebody. Most likely, that somebody will be me come 'bout 15 years from now... Oh my, I can hardly imagine that far out.

Nature Study Monday: January 2014 {NSM! Link up}

The {Nature Study Monday} link up is for ANY nature study-ish blog post written at any time during the current month. Which means, when you submit your link, it will show up in every. single. {NSM} post. during the whole month! Oh, and be not confused, feel free to link up on any day, be it Monday or not! (scroll down for linky).

Well, HELLO 2014!!

Due to holidays and prego woes (think swollen, hot and sweaty), we didn't get out much last month. I'm really proud of my kids as they are getting into the habit of making weekly nature observations on their own whether we go on an official nature walk or not. Nothing can replace the sheer pleasure and amazingness of a real nature walk, but at least they're not going to become nature-deprived by a long-shot. ;)

Thankfully, rainy season is beginning to pick up, which means endless sticky mud, but also promises some periodic relief to the oven like conditions we've been experiencing. Some say, and I'm tempted to agree this year, that 'tis actually hotter during rainy season. Who would have thought?

Before Christmas, we did get to greet this happy little pig on our walk to get honey from a local seller in a nearby town. I say happy because he was probably glad to be just a wee one, for which reason he may still be alive today. Many Tarapotinos eat pork in their Pachamanca for Christmas. (youtube video - kinda long and we're more rustic, but it's similar.)

Lately, I've been working on our nature study schedule for this term. I'll plan to keep loosely following the Nature Study Rotation here. Since we just started reading Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics (which gives signs of being very good - it's very well written and illustrated for a science book!!), and we have LOTS of legumes around here, I think we'll also have another and closer look at vines. Last term was trees/shrubs/vines, but we did a little more with stars/sky which was supposed to be this coming term (our science focus was astronomy). I think we'll just officially swap them.

Though we do a lot of nature study, we generally don't do a ton of formal study on a given subject, though we probably should. Occasionally, we do. Either way, I like to read up ahead of time on the scheduled subject so that I'm ready to point out interesting tidbits as the opportunities present themselves.

AO's Nature Study Rotation for 2013/14:
Summer/Fall: Trees/shrubs/vines
Winter: Stars/sky
Spring: Amphibians

Jungle School! {from the archives}

I thought it'd be fun to have a look back at what we were doing this month five years ago... and it was fun!! I have such cute kids! ;) This is a look at Jungle School before we actually moved here. Now of course, we do Jungle School every single day. heheh.

Originally posted in 2008, from the archives:

Jungle School!

Here's what school looked like for us last week. We spent a total of 40+ hours in the car, 4 HOT nights in hostels and 2 1/2 days in the jungle! woohoo!

The boys had several free-reading books by Roald Dahl that they finished. We kept up on Bible reading and had several nature study opportunities. Fun.



We finished reading Squanto, by Feenie Ziner and Landing of the Pilgrims, by James Daugherty.
These two books coincide perfectly... definitely read these two together for SUPERB living books on pilgrims/mayflower/colonist history!











Jungle school is fun :)



{original post can be found here}

Ah. This is the Life... {NSM! LINKup}

The {Nature Study Monday} link up is for ANY nature study-ish blog post written at any time during the current month. Which means, when you submit your link, it will show up in every. single. {NSM} post. during the whole month! Oh, and be not confused, feel free to link up on any day, be it Monday or not! (scroll down for linky).

We've been on vacation from school since the beginning of June, so any nature study that has happened lately is completely spontaneous and informal. Actually, I've been SO busy between prepping for and hosting a short-term mission team, working on AO projects, holding down the fort for the last week and a half with my husband away, among other super enveloping projects... I wondered if ANY nature study at all would happen.

Oh! Can I just say that I've been SO pleasantly surprised?! One of the wonders of a CM education is the way it changes one's whole way of life. And it makes me want to exclaim... yippety, skippety! Or something.

I mean get a load of this; this is what I'm talking about...
Our days have been spent learning new jumprope rhymes, letter play, catching wasps-of-unusual-size, reading, writing and a whole lot of masterly inactivity on my part.

Doesn't that just sound downright wonderful?! I get happy all over again as I sit here writing it down. These are the days...

Here's some of the spontaneously informal nature-ish stuff we've done last week.

• Kids asked to look at the moon with binoculars.
• Heard and searched for a night bird, can't wait to try and observe it (maybe it's the owl come back?)
• Compared a moth and butterfly.
• Watered plants and observed new growth in all the kids' own edible greenery projects.
• Observed a VERY large spider. Unsuccessfully tried to exterminate said spider. Still looking...
• Listened to thunderstorm.

So, what do you do for nature study over the summer?


Grab this image to share in your post...


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How examining exams can help teachers teach better

There may often be a direct correlation between exam success and the quality of the term's work. Exams ala Charlotte Mason can be a pretty good indicator of whether or not things are going well with books, methods, character, etc. Though maybe not in the way we'd be naturally inclined to think. We are primarily looking for what the student DOES know, not what they missed. Exam week should simply be an extension of term work, an opportunity for the student to remind herself (& you) of the things s/he has spent time caring to know about.

What we have perhaps failed to discover hitherto is the immense hunger for knowledge (curiosity) existing in everyone and the immeasurable power of attention with which everyone is endowed; that everyone likes knowledge best in a literary form; that the knowledge should be exceedingly various concerning many things on which the mind of man reflects; but that knowledge is acquired only by what we may call "the act of knowing," which is both encouraged and tested by narration, and which further requires the later test and record afforded by examinations."   v6, p291

Taking a closer look at how we feel about exams and reviewing the student's given answers, I suspect, we might uncover some clues as to how we as teachers could improve; in order to increase and inspire MORE opportunities for 'acts of knowing' in subsequent terms. If exams are stressful for our kids, maybe we're getting too much in the way, or pressuring them unduly. If their answers are lacking, maybe we're asking the wrong questions. Or maybe the books we're feeding them are leaving them dry as dust? Considering exams can also help us become aware of personal weak spots (ours and theirs).

In this post, I'm going to take a look at a couple areas that recent examinations have exposed in our homeschool. But first, let's look at some of the main perks, guidelines and ideals in term exams.

Boys and girls taught in this way take up ordinary school work, preparation for examinations, etc., with intelligence, zeal, and success. v3, p302

When the terminal examination is at hand so much ground has been covered that revision is out of the question; what the children have read they know, and write on any part of it with ease and fluency... v6, p7

At the end of the term an examination paper is sent out containing one or two questions on each book. v3, p273

They appear to enjoy doing this; indeed, the examinations which come at the end of each term are a pleasure; the only difficulty is that small children want to go on 'telling.' v3, p276

For it is a mistake to suppose that the greater the number of 'subjects' the greater the scholar's labour; the contrary is the case as the variety in itself affords refreshment, and the child who has written thirty or forty sheets during an examination week comes out unfagged. Not the number of subjects but the hours of work bring fatigue to the scholar; and bearing this in mind we have short hours and no evening preparation. v6, p158

It is not the best children that answer the examination questions; the general rule is that everybody takes every question. v6, p297

After the experience of over a quarter of a century in selecting the lesson books proper to children of all ages, we still make mistakes, and the next examination paper discovers the error! Children cannot answer questions set on the wrong book; and the difficulty of selection is increased by the fact that what they like in books is no more a guide than what they like in food. v6, p249

"The terminal examinations are of great importance. They are not merely and chiefly tests of knowledge but records which are likely to be permanent. There are things which every child must know, every child, for the days have gone by when 'the education befitting a gentleman' was our aim. v6, p291

So, now that we have those key things about exams in our minds, let's take as an example a few of the things that our recent exams have made me aware of in our homeschool.

Books (History, Geography, Literature, etc):
This is my kids' strong point. What they read, they know. And I love that. As long as the questions are open-ended, they can usually give me something awesome. (Over the years there have been a very few problem books, when they just don't 'care' and there was serious lack of 'book connect'. But thankfully, that wasn't the case this term. Besides, I'm usually aware of that before exam time anyway).
Teacher takeaway: I can't take credit for all our book choices. But I can take credit for choosing the way we do learning around here. I'm SO glad for Charlotte Mason's philosophy, especially her emphasis on living books, and for AO's attempt at modern day CM programmes! :)
Something we've learned from past years... one issue we have to be careful of in particular is, having two students in the same year, they share the same books. I have to be careful to give the kids their questions a solas or else give them different questions, otherwise they are bent towards comparing.

Artist study:
Not one of my kids knew the name of our artist this term. Um, that's right, nobody knew. And I am a little embarrassed about that. Poor Seurat. While everyone definitely had a favorite painting or two or three, and I did read about the artist and mention his name, somehow it completely slipped ALL of their minds.
Teacher takeaway: Frequently, but unobtrusively, incorporate artist's name, the name of painting and other interesting data into weekly picture studies.

Writing:
Several of my kids don't write their names/dates very well. Though, this is not the end of the world with an 8yo, it is practically unforgivable with a 14yo.
Teacher takeaway: After thinking, I've realized that I rarely ask for assignments where they write their names. I bet it won't take more than a week to fix this little slip.

Also, CM says this, "Children in Class III. write the whole of their examination work." (v3, p288) Yet, my y8 students did about half written and half oral answers. I suppose that's in part because we did exams this year over three days instead of an entire week, and oral work is quicker. But the other part, honest-to-goodness, is due to my extreme aversion to reading cryptic handwriting and diversified spelling (note the courteous phrasing). I can honestly hardly bear reading their written answers. This is my bad.
Teacher takeaway: This is completely lackadaisical on my part. I need to keep them writing and I need to diligently correct a portion of their weekly written work. Even if I hate it. Perhaps not tons, but a regular amount until we see marked improvement. I am failing them as a writing teacher if I don't.

Singing:
Anything musical seems to be the most happy part of all our schooling. Everyone everywhere around here likes to sing everything singable every term, be it folksongs, hymns, harmony... what have you, we like it. Fun, huh?!
Teacher takeaway: Keep up the good work! And on the dull days, sing something to cheer us all up. Make sure to stay positively encouraging in everything musical. And PLEASE get on top of piano lessons before it's too late!!

Recitation and Memorization:
We consider these two separate subjects, even though there can be overlap. All of my kids did well with their recitations considering how little they've actually been taught. They read their selections nicely with good enunciation and inflection, even if their eyes were glued to the page. It was obvious their teacher {ahem!} had failed to teach them of the importance of connecting with the audience (eye contact, body language, etc). The only memorization we do is several Bible selections a term.
Teacher takeaway: While I regularly feel we come up short on the quantity of memorized material each term, my kids are slowly improving their presentation of such. I have given very little attention to the whole read aloud/memorize, prepare and present for an audience thing each week. Next term, I'll set aside some moments to go over this each week and maybe watch some examples on youtube.

"It cannot be too often said that information is not education. You may answer an examination question about the position of the Seychelles and the Comoro Islands without having been anywise nourished by the fact of these island groups existing in such and such latitudes and longitudes; but if you follow Bullen in The Cruise of the Cachelot the names excite that little mental stir which indicates the reception of real knowledge."  v3, p169

So, we know that even with Charlotte Mason style exams, as with other types of exams, at first glance, children might come off successfully from exams without having cared deeply about the term's work. But hopefully, as we listen carefully to their answers, especially to what's between the lines, we'll sense the extent to which they really care about the knowledge they're acquiring. Troubleshooting, we may look into areas of personal habits as well as quality of material. It's the teacher's job to analyze these things, adjusting to make sure we're doing all we can to lay the feast, stay out of the way and encourage the child to take a personal interest in and responsibility for learning. Our ultimate goal being that they and we take advantage of the full life set before us.

“The question is not, -- how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education -- but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?” v3, p171

More Fisher posts on exams:
Nervous about CM-style exams? Don't be.
Our Exams {AO year 8, term 3}

Nature Study Monday :: June!! {LINKup}

The {Nature Study Monday} link up is for ANY nature study-ish blog post written at any time during the current month. Which means, when you submit your link, it will show up in every. single. {NSM} post. during the whole month! Oh, and be not confused, feel free to link up on any day, be it Monday or not! (scroll down for linky).

Have you ever seen AO's Nature Study Rotation page? Well, it just happens to say this:

2012-2013
Summer/Fall: Birds

And whadya know?! Here we are at the dawn of summer in 2013, and we have actually been learning about BIRDS; right exactly at the time when we were supposed to! Honestly, I feel pretty proud of that, even if did happen completely on accident.  Uh... OOPS. Scratch that. We are an entire year LATE. hahahahahahah!

We are supposed to be studying:

2013-2014
Summer/Fall: Trees/Shrubs/Vines

Don't mind me.

It helps that I actually found this nest in the midst of some vines, though right?!


In another part of my brain, I've been thinking about gardening.  Apparently as soon as I had my gardener hat on,  I completely forgot about being a good naturalist... :(  Read more at the end of this post.
Note what else that page says:

"A rotation that covers all the topics in the handbook of Nature Study in five years: This arrangement balances more accessible subjects and more complex (slightly less tangible) subjects evenly throughout the rotation, as well as interspersing living and non-living objects. Although these were arranged to facilitate seasonal observations, feel free to re-arrange terms to suit the region you live in.  [Schedule by Amy Tuttle]" (emphasis mine)

You see, I may have pieced together a Nature Study Rotation, but that does NOT mean that I follow it to a tee. I do like having it all thought out and written down so that I can know that in a period of five years or so we will at least have briefly touched on everything (if I ever get my act together! ;), but I do not feel in the slightest bit bound to the schedule. After all...

"The schedule was created for mom, not mom for the schedule." ~ Amy Tuttle

heheh. And you can quote me on that. ;)

things not seen...

MEP. A math story.

This post has been written in response to some questions on the AO forum regarding our process with MEP maths, particularly how to start students in the middle years, or how we've skipped years when needed. I've added some of my general thoughts about teaching math as well. But, you are formally excused from the table if this is excruciatingly boring fare for your palate. You don't even have to feel bad. Just click away. ;)


So. Here goes...

Another realm open to Intellect has an uninviting name, and travelling therein is difficult, what with steep faces of rock to climb and deep ravines to cross. The Principality of Mathematics is a mountainous land, but the air is very fine and health-giving, though some people find it too rare for their breathing. It differs from most mountainous countries in this, that you cannot lose your way, and that every step taken is on firm ground.    v4p39

Once upon a time, we came to a definitive crossroads in our math story. One boy continued to struggle as he always had, and at the very same time, we ran plum out of math books. While I'm not a big fan of curriculum hopping, if it were ever to come to pass, this was the time. Should I stick with the same ol' or go with something new? If something new, should I go with a non-curricular approach, popular at the time with some of my friends, or with a more traditional math program? Hmmmm. Have you ever asked those questions?

Though my boys could *do* math, I realized that there was a serious lack of understanding of the concepts. This was not necessarily the fault of MUS, but most likely due to the fact that I was not really teaching them math. I didn't know how to teach math. With that said, I really don't think your average later elementary kid is just going to 'pick up' on math on his own. Yes, there are kids who like math and catch on quickly, and can work independently, and can make their way through the elementary years without much trouble. This was me years ago and now this is my second-born. Fast forward, start high school math with more abstract concepts, and if one still lacks a deeper understanding, it is by no means easy anymore.

So, we found as we were working through Math-U-See, on the whole, they could do the lessons that were asked of them, but they didn't really understand what they were doing. Read more MEP transition nitty gritty here.

Enter MEP. It was practically love at first sight.

First of all, the entire curriculum is available for free online for one's perusal. That's convenient. It's all in electronic format. That's convenient. And it's the best math curriculum I've ever seen. That's really convenient!

You see, somehow I had never realized that math could be a living subject. MEP takes complex concepts and breaks them down to the point that most are introduced as far back as YEAR ONE, and are continually touched on and subsequently built upon by lots of roundabout ways, concrete activities, and real-to-life approaches, throughout every year, so that at some point, one just kind of already seems to know how to measure volume and solve for an unknown factor, etc. without really ever having had to struggle to learn it. Well, that's been our experience, anyway, with those children with whom I have used MEP from the beginning.

Trouble was, with my older boys, I didn't know how or where to start. You see, it has been said that MEP is difficult to accelerate because of it's richness. Well, it is that same richness that makes it difficult to know where to begin. When all along your other math program hasn't introduced those building block concepts, how far back do you have to go to fill in the holes? You cannot start a fifth grader back at Y1 simply so that he gets the whole scaffolding thing. Because the fifth grader knows LOTS of it already, he needs some foundation repair, that's all. Foundation repair is more difficult when you have an existing structure, you know. However, that's whats we needs. SO, where do we begin then? We are not going to pour a whole new foundation. We're just going to patch up. And that means, we'll fix problems as we come to them. We want math to be challenging without being frustrating.

For us, this meant, I needed to start the boys about a year behind where I thought they should be in MEP. Get this, NOT where they should have been according to MEP standardized levels. They were approximately 2-3 years behind that schedule. Students taught with MEP are in standardized schools and are started at 5 years old and are given an entire schoolyear to work steadily through each year of the curriculum. In standardized schools students don't have the luxury of skipping up a year or working on a personalized plan. They do MEPy__ because they are __ years old, and are in __th grade. Period. Not so, with my childrens. Almost everything around here is custom built. Including the garden gate and my closet shelves. Custom can sometimes mean makeshift. But not always. In the case of educational plans for my eldest children, they are almost always makeshift because often I have no idea what I'm doing. I learn from them, and hopefully the second batch will turn out better as a result. :)

So, we put them back in MEPy4. With daily one-on-one lesson time, one child picked up quickly and was actually up to speed within that year, I believe. The other, who had been struggling with MUS, now struggled with MEP. It's not magic, after all. Math struggles seemed to run in his veins (he's now built up an immunity!). But, math is a subject that needs teaching. And in 30min/day per lesson, we made the transition. I admit that MEP requires teacher time. But as a homeschooling mom, that's what I'm here for, right? :) Now, wait a second, I totally get the whole 'I have lots of kids though!' thing. I am not saying it's easy. It's not. I was sort of rebellious at first. But I'm SO glad we stuck through.

I had my struggler take a term to do a Life of Fred book. We plowed on with MEP. There were days. Let me tell you there were days. Little by little we worked through the new concepts and the new way of looking at math. I resigned myself to the idea that he might always be a year behind his younger brother. And he would probably never love math. Some people are built for math and others are not. That's absolutely okay. But, they must be disciplined to DO math, to take the time, even if it isn't their strong point. And we learned this.

We are so made that truth, absolute and certain truth, is a perfect joy to us; and that is the joy that mathematics afford. Also, there is great joy in standing by, as it were, and watching our own thought work out an intricate problem.   v4p63

Last year, miracles happened. Or it finally clicked. Whatever. In AmblesideOnline's y7, Javen was in y6 and Cullen in y7. Everything was going fine. Most days. Except for my anxiety that they would only finish junior high math in high school. Uh, slight problem. WAY back when I was researching MEP, I came on a homeschool conversion chart. I don't know who made it, or how true it is, but it says, that since MEP years 7 & 8 have a lot of repetition, they might be skipped. I was pretty much banking on it. So, when we got to the end of that year, I hesitatingly went forward and put them both straight into y9. It worked. And guess what?! I'm not sure when the pivot turned but, struggler, struggles no more.

Can I hear a big “Hallelujah”, please? :)

SO. whether or not MEP was meant to do just that, we've found that it is possible. I think it is a workaround for kids who don't start off in MEP, and I would still recommend going through the years in order, at the regular speed. I think that's best. But, if you didn't start way back at the beginning as did my younger children, there is still hope!

Now. An important note.
I have seen success with my boys and now with my younger kids using MEP, not because it is a miracle math curriculum. Though I am quite infatuated with it. :) I am confident our success is because of time spent every. single. day. with. each. student., working through the lessons, not verbatim mind you, but usually covering 50-80% of the lesson plan. I have learned the hard way, that I must take the time to check their work (this is how to check for comprehension), and go over problem areas (this is how to ensure mastery). As I postulated at the beginning of this post, for 90% of kids, it isn't going to be enough to send them off to teach themselves math. And though it is a significant chunk of my time, at the end of the day, I really believe it to be worth it! :)

I hope this has been helpful!
Please feel free to add your thoughts and experiences in the comments! ;)

an amazing amazon album deal... and thoughts on opera

I just bought this album, and though I have not listened to it yet, I can't see that I could have gone too wrong... It's 12 CDs worth of music for less than $10! Not only does it have TONS of famous classical music, but it includes several of the AO selections for this year's term 3, as well as from other years' selections! As per the AO composer study rotation, until the end of the school year, we'll be listening to opera.

Yep, you read that right... opera.

I never thought I'd see the day.

I can't say I'm overly excited about it either, even if it IS one of my dad's favorites. I remember opera performances oftentimes constituting his television programming of choice when I was little. I was never quite equally convinced of it's pleasure viewing value. Of course, over the years I've often been surprised at how much my kids and I end up enjoying the various AO composer selections. So, we'll see. If it weren't for this aspect of homeschooling, just think how seriously uncultured we'd be!


If you too decide to buy the album based on my recommendation, please use the following link so that we both benefit! (I earn a tiny commission off every purchase made... even a little bit helps!)


A 12 CD Set Of Romantic Classics For Every Month Of The Year


On that note, have I mentioned lately that I am SUPER thankful for everyone who uses my blog(s) to link through to make their amazon.com purchases?! Well, I AM! Thanks to you folks, we've seen a small dent in our homeschool purchases! Those affiliate earnings, as a result of your linking, especially help to offset the cost of transporting things internationally! We regularly spend more than $250 a year in shipping for books, at least that much, and your linkage earned us $104.59 over the last 3 months!

Thank you!

So, as I could hardly bring myself to buy an album entirely composed of opera, this other album was also a great find for me! The operas are all sung in ENGLISH. Oh yeah. While I'm sure the opera elite would grimace, as for me and my house, we're thankful for these 'baby steps' kinds of offerings. :)

Hymn Study: Dear Lord and Father of Mankind

Scheduled in October...  Sung in November... Posted in December... :)

Shakespeare: King Lear

This play is one of the few of Shakespeare´s that can be pinpointed exactly as to when it was written. Isn't it cool to know that this play was performed for King James and his Court in the Christmas holidays of 1606?! And here we are nearing the same time of year ourselves! Interestingly, written into the play, there is a probable reference made by Gloucester to several eclipses that took place in 1605! A story familiar to many of the time, it is taken from a well known fable that was commonly inserted into an undocumented period of English history (which we read about last year in Birth of Britain), is actually referred to in Spenser´s Fairie Queen (which we are reading this year!! ...connections galore!), and had already been made into a play prior to Shakespeare´s version.

Despite the fact that the commentary I read said this play is a particularly difficult one, I still think this is going to be one of my favorite plays so far. It may even come to be a close rival to Cymbeline. The consequences of unchecked pride and unbridled anger are brought to our attention by means of a captivating story. I can´t wait to get further!

I´ve worked out three options for scheduling the play over a 12-week term. See/print the alternate schedules here. We'll read the play in 9wks. We'll include an intro, informal play & movie, if I can find a good version. Here's the schedule we'll follow:

Week 1: Intro: (read Lamb's? draw character map)
Week 2: Act 1, Scene 1
Week 3: Act 1, Scene 2 - 4
Week 4: Act 1, Scene 5 – Act 2, Scene 2
Week 5: Act 2, Scene 3 – 4
Week 6: Act 3, Scene 1 – 6
Week 7: Act 3, Scene 7 – Act 4, Scene 3
Week 8: Act 4, Scene 4 – 6
Week 9: Act 4, Scene 7 – Act 5, Scene 2
Week 10: Act 5, Scene 3
Week 11: Informal play
Week 12: Perform recitations chosen from selected excerpts OR watch movie of play (if applicable).



helpful links:
King Lear on Librivox.org
King Lear on youtube.com (1971 version) - Parents should preview, I have not.
AO Shakespeare Rotation
Site that highlights monologues from Shakespeare's plays - men's parts, women's parts - (thanks, Nancy!)
Shakespeare: Cymbeline
Shakespeare: for all ages
What's so great about Shakespeare?
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Bard? (...seeing local performances adds immensely to the Shakespearean experience)

Narration: A little prep goes a long way {pt.2}

“Let the boy read and he knows, that is, if he must tell again what he has read.”

Charlotte Mason, vol 6 pg 262

If it is true that, as one writer put it – we narrate and then we know – our children's comprehension of the material then, not to mention their retention of it, depends on narration. It would seem that it's of utmost importance and that we had better get it right, hadn't we?


I love this picture as an illustration for this subject.  It reminds me of how we are always there to help if need be. Yet we allow the child to have the full experience in education;  to come face to face with his own reality, his circumstances, himself.

"The message for our age is, Believe in mind, and let education go straight as a bolt to the mind of the pupil." 

Charlotte Mason, vol 6 pg 261

As parents/teachers, just what do we have to do with narration?

"This, of getting ideas out of them, is by no means all we must do with books. 'In all labour there is profit,' at any rate in some labour; and the labour of thought is what his book must induce in the child. He must generalise, classify, infer, judge, visualise, discriminate, labour in one way or another, with that capable mind of his, until the substance of his book is assimilated or rejected, according as he shall determine; for the determination rests with him and not with his teacher." 

Charlotte Mason, vol 3 pg 180

"We as teachers offend deeply in this matter. We think that we shall be heard for our much speaking and we repeat and enforce, explain and illustrate, not altogether because we love the sound of our own voices, but because we depreciate knowledge, we depreciate children, and we do not understand that the mind and knowledge are as the two members of a ball and socket joint, each of them irrelevant without the other." 

Charlotte Mason, vol 6 pg 258

So, the getting of ideas and the putting of them into order belongs to the child. And according to the quote above, it seems there are ways we can hinder our children.

Circumstances and books vary. Some may be starting out with very young children. Others may be coming to a Mason education midway through. Still others will be adapting to special needs in their families. Many times troubles arise, and suddenly, we think we need to take things into our own hands. In order for them to get everything (something?) out of the reading, I've got to ask them QUESTIONS. Especially, leading or probing questions to prompt their memory. Right?!
No way! Listen to what CM says,

"Given a book of literary quality suitable to their age and children will know how to deal with it without elucidation. Of course they will not be able to answer questions because questions are an impertinence which we all resent, but they will tell you the whole thing with little touches of individual personality in the narrative."

Charlotte Mason, vol 6 pg 261

"When a child is reading, he should not be teased with questions as to the meaning of what he has read, the signification of this word or that; what is annoying to older people is equally annoying to children... Direct questions on the subject-matter of what a child has read are always a mistake. Let him narrate what he has read, or some part of it. He enjoys this sort of consecutive reproduction, but abominates every question in the nature of a riddle. If there must be riddles, let it be his to ask and the teacher's to direct him the answer. Questions that lead to a side issue or to a personal view are allowable because these interest children––'What would you have done in his place?'"

Charlotte Mason, vol 1 pg 229

The only really helpful questions then, are those based on the Socratic method which tempt the listener to apply a moral or lesson to their own life.

If lotsa questions don't help, by golly, what else can we do?

Primarily, we help by giving patience, time and practice in narrations. After that, more patience, more time and more practice. And then? Still more patience, time and practice. :) You get the picture. But, Charlotte also recommends several other ways that the teacher can help without getting in the way of the reader and his mind feast. Two of these come in the way of preparation before the work of narration is done.

"The Teacher's Part.––The teacher's part is, in the firstplace, to see what is to be done, to look over the of the day in advance and see what mental discipline, as well as what vital knowledge, this and that lesson afford; and then to set such questions [see acceptable types of questions above] and such tasks as shall give full scope to his pupils' mental activity."

Charlotte Mason, vol 3 pg 181

Pre-reading Prep:
Giving an introduction to a reading is sometimes helpful if not downright necessary. Remember, that as educators, we want to stay out of the way as much as possible. The purpose of an intro would be to aid the student's understanding, in a way so as not to interrupt the reading. It is NOT a supplement to the story. It is not a teacher dictated lesson. It is only soil preparation, as it were, so that the child may listen unencumbered by things too difficult. A helpful introduction might include, explaining difficult vocabulary, noting important names and highlighting any mapwork pertinent to the reading. Books that might benefit from a quick overview include, history titles, science reads, and a few more specifically: Parables of Nature, Our Island Story, Pilgrim's Progress and Marco Polo. But as is often the case, after recalling what happened in the last chapter, an intro won't even be necessary.

"Do always prepare the passage carefully beforehand, thus making sure that all the explanations and use of background material precede the reading and narration. The teacher should never have to stop in the middle of a paragraph to explain the meaning of a word. Make sure, before you start, that the meanings are known, and write all difficult proper names on the blackboard, leaving them there throughout the lesson. Similarly any map work which may be needed should be done before the reading starts."

PR Article, We Narrate and Then we Know

Next, a simple reminder before the reading begins, that the student will be narrating when the reading is over, would not be out of place. Just quickly say, "Listen and let the words paint pictures in your imaginations. When I stop, I'm going to ask someone to tell back the story. If it is your turn to tell, you might even choose to use some of the same words from the story! Everyone should be paying close attention."

Pre-narration Prep:
Don't forget! The goal of the following tips is simply to help the teacher stay out of the way as much as possible.

1. Keeping those names of important people and places in the story written and within eyeshot can be SUPER helpful (use the same list of words/names you used as an intro to the reading). Being able to refer back to these, should help the narrative flow. This is very practical with those books you are reading aloud, but even in those early years if your child is reading some of the more difficult books alone, he/she will still benefit from an occasional intro and/or having difficult vocab and/or names written out ahead of time.

2. It also helps to have a few moments (even a half hour or so) to seriously reflect before giving a narration. Sometimes, when put directly on the spot, a student won't do well. He/she can't think of anything or perhaps their thoughts are still a little muddled and they feel frustrated having to put words to them. Maybe they've gotten hung up on an idea planted by something they heard in the story that they need time to process before having to move on to the work of narration. Giving them just a few minutes to order their thoughts with a few of the following prompts can work wonders.

Sometimes, when the reading was difficult, or we've been a bit distracted, I give my younger kids some extra prompts, "Take a minute to remember back to where we started reading. [pause] Can you remember what happened first? [pause] okay, got it? After you've thought for a minute, start as soon as you're ready." This seems to help them to put it in sequence.

3. And finally, for older children, knowing that they can jot down notes, or make lists or marks in the margins of their books, may help them to better formulate their narrations, and avoid a second reading. The students might write down their own questions that cover the reading, or enumerate a series of points made, or any other variety of activities that will help them to own the material for themselves.

“Let marginal notes be freely made, as neatly and beautifully as may be, for books should be handled with reverence. Let numbers, letters, underlining be used to help the eye and to save the needless fag of writing abstracts. Let the pupil write for himself half a dozen questions which cover the passage studied; he need not write the answers if he be taught that the mind can know nothing but what it can produce in the form of an answer to a question put by the mind to itself."

But let this be a warning to us all...

"Disciplinary Devices must not come between Children and the Soul of the Book.––These few hints by no means cover the disciplinary uses of a good school-book; but let us be careful that our disciplinary devices, and our mechanical devices to secure and tabulate the substance of knowledge, do not come between the children and that which is the soul of the book, the living thought it contains.”

Charlotte Mason, vol 3 pg 181

Join me again next time in thinking how we might approach correcting narrations.

Posts in this series:
And then, like, well... and other narration woes. {pt.1}
Narration: A little prep goes a long way {pt.2}  <- -="-" are="are" b="b" here="here" you="you">
Narration: Correcting sloppy speech {pt.3}

Narration: And then, like, well... and other narration woes. {pt.1}

"To begin with, there is nothing mysterious or magical about narration. We all do it. When we have had a pleasant outing or listened to a beautiful concert or seen an exciting play, our first impulse is to tell our friends about it, and how frustrating it is if, when we get home the friends are out or watching a television programme which must not be interrupted. We tell them about it later on, but our account will not have the same vividness and spontaneity as it would have had if we had told it when it was fresh in our minds. This is an important point to remember when we come to consider the method of a narration lesson."   E.K. Manders, PR Article

During the course of the day, I talk. I tell my kids stuff. They hear me say 'so' a lot. I also connect my thoughts with 'and then', a lot. Sometimes, I use 'like' mid-sentence (I know, it's so west-coast. I am hopeful in my belief that I am overcoming this, however). I ramble and fail to connect my thoughts sometimes. All of this has shown itself clearly, in...  well, the way my kids tell stories. Oh yes. It also sometimes comes out when my kids narrate the stories I read to them.

Have you ever had this problem?

I know that at least some of you have. I am actually quite confident I am not alone in this. I am equally sure that there is hope. It is not the end of the world! With a little guidance, practice and time our kids' will improve in speech and narration... and so will we!

"Given absolute attention, and we can do much with four hundred hours a year (1,600 hours in our four years' course) but only if we go to work with a certainty that the young students crave knowledge of what we call the 'humanities,' that they read with absolute attention and that, having read, they know. They will welcome the preparation for public speaking, an effort for which everyone must qualify in these days, which the act of narration offers."  Charlotte Mason, v6p124

It is important to remember some key points about narration.

Narrating is natural. We want to tell what we think about the things we know. The kids will hear a story, and remember *some* things that stand out to them. That's what we want! We want them to remember *some* details, *some* ideas... the ones that start the wheels a turnin'! The ideas that form thoughts that become not just a name, but a picture, a person, a living idea. It will most certainly differ from child to child. And this may very well happen internally, and you may not be aware of its happening.

Let's help them (by example and other means) to tell their stories well. Over the years, I have seen some marked improvement with my kiddos by using some of the following ideas.

Helpful Hints:

Type out their narration verbatim. You could voice record it on the computer, so as not to interrupt or frustrate them by having to ask them to slow down or repeat something.

Have them listen to it, read it over, or read it aloud to them. If it's obvious, this will be enough! :)

You might ask them to count their 'and thens' (or whatever trouble word), or when typing, ask them where you should put the periods, or some such gentle way of pointing out the error.

If they don't notice their extreme run-on sentence structure, you might explain to them what a sentence is, and give examples of different ways of starting one out. Often, I remind them to start the sentence with the person or thing it is about. That makes it kinda easy. I tell them, "Instead of saying, '...and then after that, Napoleon marched his army to...', skip the 'and then and after that' and just start out with the interesting part, 'Napoleon'!"

Gentle ways of making them hear themselves are best. I'm sure you can come up with many of your own that will fit your context best. I tend to think that we probably should draw their attention to it, but not DURING the narration. Let them finish, and then correct if needed.

More things to remember:

• We teach by example. Even though it may not have occurred to us that we could be part of our children's narration problem, I think a look at some of our own habits of modeling speech would be worth our attention. Enough said. :)
• Thankfully, many problems tend to fix themselves when written narrations and grammar lessons come into play (usually around y4).
• Prepping them for narrations will help (I will talk about this in the next post).
• We correct, by helping them correct themselves (stay tuned for an upcoming post). 
• Relax, enjoy the stories, and practice.
• Take your time. For beginners, don't expect too much too soon. Narrating is a complicated skill!
  (see quote below)

::

"How injurious then is our habit of depreciating children; we water their books down and drain them of literary flavour, because we wrongly suppose that children cannot understand what we understand ourselves; what is worse, we explain and we question. A few pedagogic maxims should help us, such as, "Do not explain." "Do not question," "Let one reading of a passage suffice," "Require the pupil to relate the passage he has read." The child must read to know; his teacher's business is to see that he knows. All the acts of generalization, analysis, comparison, judgment, and so on, the mind performs for itself in the act of knowing. If we doubt this, we have only to try the effect of putting ourselves to sleep by relating silently and carefully, say, a chapter of Jane Austen or a chapter of the Bible, read once before going to bed. The degree of insight, the visualization, that comes with this sort of mental exercise is surprising."  Charlotte Mason v6, p 304

I'll be posting more of my thoughts on narration over the next week or two. So, stay tuned!  


Sometimes, we have fun. Just sometimes. ;)

Upcoming posts:
And then, like, well... and other narration woes. {pt.1}  
Narration: A little prep goes a long way {pt.2}
Narration: Correcting sloppy speech {pt.3}

Shakespeare: for all ages

It was in the early days*, even before we started schooling, that I first knitted my brows* over the idea of introducing Shakespeare to my own flesh and blood*. What a strange thought for me, considering I am not conscious of having read significant Shakespeare during my own education, let alone my early education. It was still all Greek to me*! Yet, as luck would have it,* AmblesideOnline has Shakespeare on the schedules starting with year one. But the truth be out*, I've been on again, off again with my reading of the Bard with my littlest listeners. In my mind, doubts lingered, Can one start too early? Can there be too much of a good thing*? Recently, I decided is high time* to get out of this Shakespearean pickle I'm in* and figure out just what I think about it.



One of our very favorite things to do when we start a new Shakespeare play,  is to do a character sketch...  which has been SO, super helpful!
It is a foregone conclusion*, that my ideas are much better developed now than before. For one, by Jove!* I've discovered that a Shakespeare play, as diluted by Lamb or Nesbit, isn't much different from a fairy tale, the value of which I am quite convinced of. The themes in Shakespeare are more real life too, which helps them deal with stony-hearted villains* within a safe context, and that's good. Also, as the kids are familiar with the storyline, they'll be excited at how much they'll be able to understand when they revisit the play later on. That's good too.

Seemingly without rhyme or reason*, however, I have this recurring feeling that I'm doing my kids a great injustice; big spoilers and all, giving away all the story lines WAY ahead of time. All my newly found reason and resolve begin to vanish into thin air*, until I revisit a quote like these:

"Little by little the people of Shakespeare, filling a larger world than she could know, became as real to her as her friends. That was the great gift he brought her."

~Shakespeare and the Heart of a Child, Gertrude Slaughter

"In [Form 2B] they read their own geography, history, poetry, but perhaps Shakespeare's Twelfth Night... should be read to them and narrated by them until they are well in their tenth year. Their power to understand, visualise, and 'tell' a play of Shakespeare from nine years old and onwards is very surprising. They put in nothing which is not there, but they miss nothing and display a passage or a scene in a sort of curious relief.

Charlotte Mason, v6p182

Source: writersrelief.tumblr.com via amy in peru on Pinterest

or then, there's these:

"...a child has entered into Shakespeare's Temple of the human spirit and come forth charged with a knowledge far beyond his present or his future experience. It cannot all happen on a summer day. Step by step, slowly and serenely, under a clear sky, the child approaches by pleasant ways to an understanding of life... and a sane and healthy joy of life is entrenched in the child's mind against the blows of fortune by the beauty of the medium through which the world has been revealed."

~Shakespeare and the Heart of a Child, Gertrude Slaughter

"The transition to Form IIA is marked by more individual reading as well as by a few additional books. The children read their 'Shakespeare play' in character. "

Charlotte Mason, v6p182

And then of course there are blog posts like this one, that really help me get a grip on things. So, if the truth be known*, I'm feeling pretty good lately about reading Shakespeare with my kids of all ages.

"In Forms III and IV... They have of course a great flair for Shakespeare, whether King Lear, Twelfth Night, Henry V, or some other play..."

Charlotte Mason, v6p184

Like this idea? See my recent Cymbeline post here for more... :)


Helpful Links: 

• Shakespeare: Cymbeline (includes ideas for using Shakespeare with all ages).
• AO Shakespeare Rotation 
• Article, Shakespeare for Christians? 
• Interesting dialogue going on at the AO forum: Shakespeare for Olders: How to study the Real Thing Shakespeare Questions: Years 1-3 

Helpful Books:
**See amazon links below (yep, you can click there to support our homeschool habit!) 

For youngsters:
Shakespeare, Bard of Avon
Shakespeare coloring book (paper dolls)Tales from Shakespeare  (download in various formats) or get the audio @ Librivox.org

For elders:
Brightest Heaven of Invention


Well, that, my friends, is the long and short of it*. *Of course, every time you see an asterix above, you are seeing one of many of our common figures of speech that were invented by Shakespeare. For goodness' sake*, who knew?! See more here and here.