For Novice Poetry Analysts... like me!

How to analyze a poem!

Prerequisite:
Grammar of Poetry (at least the first half)
In Grammar of Poetry, students will have already gone over and practiced basics of metaphors, similes, meter, personification, alliteration, etc, etc.
Level: AOY7+/-  *Please don't make your young children analyze poetry! It takes all the joy right out of it! Beginning in Form IV (roughly grades 7-9), Mason had the students note the meter and other technical details of the poems. See this post's Helpful Links for some more really great online resources for teaching the technical details in later years.





Please note: The purpose of what I'm suggesting in this initial activity using the following website with your students, is NOT to follow the exercise as perhaps was intended on the website itself. The idea is to use the info as presented there as an example of things to think about and the questions we might ask when WE are analyzing poetry with our students. :) You would probably not do this more than once as a lesson, though I found it interesting to look through a couple of other poems at my own leisure, apart from my kids.

1. Read this 
2. Choose a poem from here (select a poem according to AO year/term? there are lots to choose from). We did this one by Tennyson called Break, Break, Break.
3. Once you've chosen the poem, look/work through the links in order as presented on the site (click and read through all the links in each section) >> Intro (*spoiler alert* you may want to read the intro page last, so as not to give the whole thing away) >> The Poem >> Summary >> Analysis (I definitely recommend skipping links Calling Card ->through-> Steaminess Rating) >> Themes >> actually, by the time we got to Quotes and then Study Questions, we'd already gleaned what we were gonna glean. You may wanna skip those too.

So, to sum up what we learned above:

Analyzing a poem will consist of at least several of the following activities:
Choosing a poem.
Reading the poem (several times!).
Writing a short summary of the whole poem (an overall impression).
Taking a stanza at a time, answering basic questions about each line (who is speaking, about what? etc., see the site again for examples of how to do this).

Giving examples of the following elements using the exact words from the poem (this is where grammar of poetry experience will come in real handy):

• Symbolism
• Imagery
• Wordplay
• Form and Meter (iambic, trochaic, anapest, dactyl)
• Speaker (who is speaking?)
• Sound (lilting, jerky, rhythmic, etc... how does this lend to the poem's overall effect?)
• Where does it's title come from?
• Themes (pick one or two and then quote the parts of the poem that support your thinking)

I'm planning to use some of the above to help form exam questions later on this term. :) OH yeah.

Please let me know if you have any great online poetry resources! Do you have any suggestions? What do you do to analyze poetry? I'm on a poetry kick and I'd love to look at your ideas! :)

A quick carnival reminder...

To those of you who have tried to submit posts to tomorrow's CM Blog Carnival:
If you haven't already done so, please submit your posts by e-mail to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com. Be sure to include your name with your submission! You will receive a confirmation of receipt. :)

The old blogcarnival.com site hasn't been working properly for months (November, 2011?!), and so if you've tried submitting there, there is no guarantee that we've received your submission unless you use the above e-mail address. If you've already submitted your post, then THANK YOU!

See you soon! :)

4 Moms of 35 Kids give A's to your Q's

Great advice coming soon in e-book format (& cheap!) from homeschooling mothers of many! The 4 Moms (The Common Room, Raising Olives, Smockity Frocks, & In a Shoe) have put together a 195 page e-book! Check it out...




AND... starting Monday at 11:00a.m. CST, there will be an amazing blow-out sale:

First 50 customers – 50 cents
Next 100 – $1
Next 200 – $2
Next 300 – $3
Next 400 and holding at this introductory price indefinitely – $4

By letting all your friends know, you could be one of the winners to receive the ebook FREE.
Click for details.

:) HT: Thanks, Anne!

George Washington Carver: A Book Review

So, I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and I thought to myself, 'Hey, George Washington Carver is one of the guys suggested for a biography option in AOy5, this'll be great!'




I especially thought it'd be great because though my kids have, I had never before read a biography of George Washington Carver. I've always wondered about him. All I knew was that he is always especially associated with peanuts. :) Well, what a guy! He's so much more interesting than just some guy who came up with some 300 peanut purposes! Though that in itself is AMAZING. Seriously, 300?! That is remarkable. Born a slave, he was a God-fearing, nature loving, creative mind who became world famous for his inventive intuitive discoveries. Without studying education that I know of, he upheld many principles of education that I myself treasure. I love this guy!

As impressed as I am with George Washington Carver, this isn't a review of George Washington Carver, but of a book about him, so I'll get on with the review. Yes, you're welcome. :)

I'm honestly not sure exactly what engaged me about the book, George Washington Carver, by John Perry. I flew right through it. It could be because I was bedridden and bored, or because GWC had a most inspiring life. It could be because it was really well written. I still can't put my finger on it. I know the language must have been adequately arranged because I certainly didn't trip over it.

Overall, I felt that the author did a good job of providing a well-balanced overview of GWC's life. He touches on the early years just enough to give a good background, then steps carefully through his wandering and then preparation years, before he settles into expounding his later productive years. It was evident that the author's intent was to reveal the motivations of George Washington Carver instead of backing any special interests he might have had. Though obviously an important figure with great contributions during a critical time in our country's history, the author didn't fail to point out some of his shortcomings as well. I feel that the author did a good job of showing a balanced view as he attempted to highlight the person behind the peanut.

Does it achieve Living Book status? The book boasts pretty simple, easy-to-read language, and holds your attention well. Regardless of my rating in this category, I think Carver would have approved the value of Living Books and certainly other other principles treasured by our beloved Charlotte Mason.
Here are a couple excerpts to whet your appetite for the book:

"Students liked him because he encouraged them to explore and learn from experience rather than getting their learning from the textbook."

"His life revolved around scientific study and research, painting and drawing, music, refined conversation, and the joy of learning for learning's sake."

"Carver believed that direct observation and hands-on experience were essential to learning. He also believed that students learned about botany by studying other subjects, some of which seemed completely unrelated to plants. Carver often brought plant samples or results of his experiments into the classroom. Rather than using textbooks, he emphasized seeing and examining plants. Rather than telling his students a set of facts, he had them derive the facts for themselves. He wasn't there to spoon-feed his students, but rather to encourage and guide them on their own journeys of discovery. In an introduction booklet published at Tuskegee in 1902, Carver wrote that

'every teacher should realize that a very large proportion of every student's work must lie outside the classroom... The study of Nature is both entertaining and instructive, and it is the only true method that leads up to a clear understanding of the great natural principles which surround every branch of business in which we may engage. Aside from this, it encourages investigation and stimulates originality.'

In another brochure he added that the

'thoughtful educator... also understands that the most effective and lasting education is the one that makes the pupil handle, discuss and familiarize himself with real things about him, of which the majority are surprisingly ignorant.'

So. In summary, would I read the book again?! You betcha. And now that I have it in our library, I'll also have my up-and-comings try it on for size too!

Year 7: Poetry

Oh the joys of poetry! If we hadn't started reading poetry pretty early on, I might have been of the opinion that some of these poems are somewhat advanced for ME, let alone my kids... but, to the contrary, I'm actually excited to read these with the boys. Javen jumps at the chance when it's his turn to attempt the readings! What fun. :)

While, I personally love poetry, I still would like to learn a LOT more. You'll see that I've added a LOT of Helpful Links below in my search for online resources. They are mainly for my own reference, of course you're welcome to check any of them out that look interesting! ;)

Here are the AO year 7 poetry selections, to be split up over the three terms:  

• Oxford Book of English Verse (listed as Bulchevy's because of the Oxford Trademark); Find a complete table of contents here, use it to search for titles at librivox.org; or Buy the Book!

• Idylls of the King (audio) and The Lady of Shalott (audio); Death of King Arthur; La Morte d'Arthur (audio); Ulysses (audio); The Lotos Eaters (audio); Mariana; and Mariana in the South 

• John Keats, especially The Eve of St. Agnes 10 poems here Audio: Selected Poems of John Keats at librivox.org

Beginning in Form IV, Mason had the students note the metre and other technical details of the poems. See Helpful Links for Students below* for some really great online resources for teaching these details.





In year 7 as scheduled, we've started A Grammar of Poetry, by Matt Whitling. I highly recommend this book for teaching the beginning ins and outs of reading, writing and criticizing poetry. It's presented in a simple, quick and concise way. If you know exactly what you're looking for, you could probably search out all the materials for free on the internet, but to me, it is totally worth it to have bought the book! (The teacher's guide is GREAT!) If you do one lesson a week, your students should be able to begin to apply their new skills (noting meter and other technical details) to the y7 poetry selections by the second term. I'll have to let you know how this goes! ;)

For Recitation:
Praise of Woman (audio) & The True Knight
Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett

Helpful Links:
AO Poetry Schedule
Y7 Poetry Selections

{The following links, I selected because of the potential helpful content for us the teachers. I didn't thoroughly screen the sites, though in most cases I did look through the pages that are actually linked to. I mostly had teacher reference in mind though, so please don't set your students loose with them just because you found the links here ;) }

Schmoop - an online poetry textbook, boasting a great variety of classic poetry, and as they say, 'we speak student'. Shmoop.com is a digital textbook publisher and, as the site describes itself, "every teacher's and student's new BFF." I enjoyed reading this site :)
How to read a poem - in shortest, short, medium-ish and very, very long versions. 
Tips for Teaching Poetry - many ideas, some adaptable for co-ops and homeschools :)
Committed to Memory - an article written by a poet on the whys and hows of memorization/recitation of poetry
Terms for the Tools of Poetry - a great list of important terms, may be of special use to parents.
Listening for Tone - very interesting idea using a poem in Spanish to identify tone w/o understanding the actual language.
Teacher's Lounge - youngpoets.ca has compiled some very interesting articles for teaching poetry
Craft of Poetry - material about the fundamentals of poetry writtne in a fun way from a course used at University of Northern Iowa
Poetrykit.org - offers online poetry courses (not free)
poetrymagic.co.uk - provides a great checklist for critiquing poems
Poetry Glossary - useful for a checklist of sorts
Online Poetry Resources - poet.org
Ablemuse - a poetry forum for submitting and critiquing poetry
OpenUniversity's poetry course (free) - I have no idea if this is good... open course ware is a great idea!


Helpful Links for Students*:

{These links seemed very student friendly, and I did not see any unwholesome ads, but again, please always be careful!}

Poetry Meter
Rhythm, Scansion and Meter Made Easy - a quick reference guide
Poem Structure - Lines & Stanzas
Ryhme Schemes
Poetry Prompts and in that same vein some Story Starters
Types of Poems
How to Write Poetry

Poetry: What we do

Q: For next year, I'm debating how I'll tackle poetry . . . whether each child does it individually, or we do it as a family.

A: For the most part, at Fisher Academy, we do poetry together. I feel that most poetry is best enjoyed when read aloud and with other people (this is not a well thought out or documented stance, it's just my opinion at the moment :) I do personally enjoy reading poetry all by myself quietly, I'm just not sure my kids would feel the same way yet.

I remember as a child being both intimidated and challenged by reading poetry. Intimidated as in, I would have been mortified to have been made to read poetry aloud w/o having read it before and yet challenged because I loved poetry and wanted to do it full justice when I did read it aloud.

I teach my kids poetry, taking those things into consideration.


  random girl reading... poetry? courtesy of bjearwicke, site here

So, for the most part we share it aloud, read by me. Randomly, I will have the older kids prepare to read a medium-ish length poem aloud. I give them time to prepare ahead of time (5min or so depending on length).

I have had my kids read AO year specific poetry some on their own, but didn't follow through with my older boys very well (since we've always read aloud). I hope to do more of that with my youngers. Mostly we have always read together and I leave it up to them to seek it out when they want more. They know where the books are. :) And I'm always pleased when they do this occasionally!

We also use favorite poems as recitation for the older kids. They pick a favorite (usually one they've heard me read aloud or one they already kinda know).

I REALLY like what Brandy shared about incorporating poetry w/ the commonplace noteboook! She said: **For my Y4 student, he does this entirely on his own. He has recently begun a commonplace book, and I asked him to choose his favorite poem from each week to put in it. At the end of the term, he chooses his favorite of his favorites, and that is the poem he memorizes the next term. **

As for handling multiple years, I've done different things. I've selected a poem or two from each year to read aloud in the mornings just after Bible reading (or in the past I've read at lunchtime or tea time). I've also just gone daily through an anthology (currently this is what we're doing), reading several poems each day. Both work. I do really appreciate the AO year specific poetry selections and will be incorporating these again soon (part of the reason I was using an anthology was for convenience sake in this oh-so-busy season we're in... having it all in one book! but I look forward to going back to using the AO suggestions).

My older boys have gotten into writing their own poetry now, which is lots of fun! In y7, the Grammar of Poetry has helped prompt this some, but mostly they've taken it on themselves.

Source: google.com via amy in peru on Pinterest

Helpful Links:

There is tons of info on the AO Poetry page, it can be found here:
http://www.amblesideonline.org/Poets.shtml
Parent's Review Articles:
The Teaching of Poetry to Children
An Address on The Teaching of Poetry by the Rev Beeching
What is Poetry? by H. A. Nesbitt

The books we currently use:

The Oxford Book of Children's Verse (Oxford Books of Verse) - this is my favorite anthology used of late! Jam-packed with familiar and not-as-familiar poems for children, we have really enjoyed this one! It's got 346 pages of poetry + forward and resource material.

Random House Treasury of Year-Round Poems (Random House Poetry Treasury) - I'd recommend this book for people living in climates where there is real seasonal change. It's a cute little book, not a ton of poems, arranged seasonally by month (8-10 poems per month).

A Treasury of Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe, Carl Sandberg, Walt Whitman -We've used this treasury as well as other books in the series for the poets recommended in different AO years. Find the series on individual poets here: Poetry For Young People Series


PS. Dont forget the CM carnival tomorrow!

The upcoming Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival has Poetry as it's theme, so we may have a few posts about poetry in the mix. As always there are a number of blog posts on a variety of CM related subjects, plan to join us!! If you would like to be put on the list to receive a reminder of the CM blog carnival please send an e-mail to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com.

If you have a post to submit on poetry to be included in the post tomorrow (TUES, 3/6), please do so ASAP! You can always submit it or any other CM-related post to the upcoming carnival by e-mailing charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com at any time!



:)

blessings...

Dear Friends,

I'm so thankful to have all of you. :) I want to express my deeply felt thanks to those who have been praying for me. I feel all wrapped up in the love of Jesus via your thoughtful words of kindness and tender prayers.

As I don't usually write so personally on this particular blog... I do feel personally about homeschooling too... this is just how I organize my brain :) I'll share any further thoughts as we go through the healing process at A Pilgrim's Project, my personal blog, (personal, as in all things directly relating to my person besides homeschool :). You are all more than welcome to join me there :). Thank you for understanding. Micah was so concerned (and wonderful, btw. I am SO thankful), and knowing there are praying people who read this blog, he posted his note here as well while I was still pretty much out of it. I am so so thankful for your prayers and even more so to the God who hears them. He is ever and always so very good to me.

These two songs have the most healing for this momma heart today. :)

Scary hours

Dear praying friends,

Amy wrote that last e-mail/blog-post here in Trujillo from our apartment while in labor.  Shortly after sending that letter a tiny, fully formed, lifeless little boy was born.  We thought that the difficulties were over but in reality they were just beginning.  Amy bled all night, got weaker and weaker, fainted a few times and then went into convulsions. 

I woke up the neighbor and we hauled Amy down four flights of stairs to the car and then on to the maternal clinic.  When we arrived her pulse was way down and they thought she might need a blood transfusion.  The big problem was that the placenta had not been expelled which was causing her to lose more and more blood.  She went into the surgery room and about twenty minutes later the doctor came out saying that we had made it just in time. 

In the end she didn't need a blood transfusion and now her hemoglobin count is back up.  Presently Amy is fast asleep at the clinic and gaining her strength back.  Please pray for a fast recovery and for no further complications.  We thank the Lord that this did not happen in the jungle where things would have been more difficult and for God's protection during these last few scary hours.

-Micah for the Tuttle's

Expansion project deferred...

uh, oops... correction!

The theme for the upcoming carnival this Tuesday is: 

Education is an Atmosphere

In two weeks the theme will be Poetry. ::blush::

As always ALL CM related posts are welcome and WANTED! The theme is there mainly for those occasions that you don't have your own ideas of what you want to post about!! We love having a variety of topics! Don't let the theme stump you, be creative! Everyone has something to share!! :)

Upcoming CM Carnival news...

Yay! It's almost time for the CM carnival again! You'll remember last time we met at Barb's on Nature Study among other things, and we'll be heading west this time with Cindy thinking again about how Education is an Atmosphere. The carnival always has something to encourage me every time! There is something special about seeing things from someone else's point of view.

Here's the part where I explain why we need your help!! :)

Cindy hasn't received ANY submissions yet!! That is partly because the blogcarnival.com site has been malfunctioning for months (a year?), partly because in the last weeks I personally have had SO much going on that I completely spaced on sending out the reminder e-mail (or blog posts for that matter!), and partly because I know that the rest of you homeschoolers are probably just plain busy too!! ;)

So... if you have already submitted a post to the carnival, or if you have a post that you would be willing to share, please:

(Re)Submit it by sending your name and a link by e-mail to: charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (d0t) com.

The normal submission form on blogcarnival.com does not always work and we have no way to find out who tried or not. If you did not receive a confirmation e-mail, it is likely we have no record of your submission. Urgh. So, please do try again, but probably the best bet for now is to send a link to the e-mail above.

The theme for the carnival which will be posted this Tuesday is: Education is an Atmosphere!
As always ALL CM related posts are welcome and WANTED! The theme is only for if you don't have your own ideas of what you want to post about!! Don't let the theme stump you, be creative! Everyone has something to share!! :)

All posts submitted before 5pm (PST) will be included in the upcoming carnival, posts submitted after that time will be included in the next carnival. :)

It's official!

We're expanding...

Blog Button for CM Blog Carnival, 2012

We now have a fresh new face for the CM carnival in 2012! Yay!
A special thanks to everyone who voted!

This colorful eclectic collage button received 22 of 70 votes and was created by our very good friend Jimmie from Jimmie's Collage -
We're so thankful for her contribution!!

<a href="http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2378.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Please visit and share with us at the CM blog carnival! We'd love to have you!" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6833590531_b278042b5d_m.jpg" width="150" /></a>

If you'd like to post this button on your blog or website, please do! We're always happy for more bloggers and readers who are interested in Charlotte's philosophy and practice to participate in the Carnival! The more the merrier! ;) Just copy and past the above html portion to do that (if you want it bigger or smaller adjust the width after pasting to your blog. :)


Helpful links:
CM Blog Carnival FAQs
Submit a post to the upcoming CM Blog Carnival
A list of past carnival posts can be found here.
2012 scheduled carnival themes

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As for the winner of the $25 gift certificate redeemable at currclick.com...

drumroll, please...

Random.org's randomly sought after random sequence generator chose #11. And the eleventh commenter on the voting post was Nadene from Practical Pages! Congratulations! Thank you all for participating, I hope you all enjoy the colorful face of the CM Blog Carnival for 2012 :)

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*This giveaway was sponsored by CurrClick.com who has just last month launched a new CM Discussion Group and would love for you to join them (it's online and it's free, take a look here).

Vote now for your favorite CMBC logo/button!

Seriously, ladies!

In the latest Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival, we announced a potential logo/button redesign for the CMBC. A few talented ladies have submitted some pretty nice options for us to choose from!! 

Take a look at all these awesome CMBC buttons! We have some homeschoolers with real design talent among us. I know it's gonna be difficult for me to decide! Make sure to cast your vote and then come and leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to currclick.com!! 

See contest details below :)

Please use the poll in my sidebar, to cast your vote!
Leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

See details below for how to be entered to win:

USE YOUR IMAGINATION 

Here are the details...

• HOW TO ENTER: Send an e-mail with your SQUARE .jpg, .png or .gif attached to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com by 1/31! This is only a week away! (This opportunity has ended, see below for other ways to enter)
• On January 31st, a poll (see sidebar) will be posted here on FisherAcademy where you can vote for your favorite from the newly submitted options, or vote to keep the old one!
• HOW TO WIN: Every logo/blog button submission is worth an entry to the giveaway! Anyone can play! Get your aspiring web-designer-kids to try?! Earn an entry in the drawing simply by leaving a comment on this post after voting (you must vote AND leave a comment!), but note that ONLY those who leave a comment after voting will be entered in the giveaway (I don't have a way to track or get in touch with who votes, that's why you must leave a comment! :)
• The giveaway is sponsored by CurrClick.com who has just this month launched a new CM Discussion Group and would love for you to join them (it's online and it's free, take a look here).
• Drawing for the $25 gift certificate will take place on Monday, 2/6. Winner will be announced Tuesday, 2/7. The new logo/button will be announced in the upcoming CM blog carnival. Stay tuned! ;)

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival - Imagination {vol.1}

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to welcome you to the Imagination edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival! :) While not all the posts are overtly about encouraging imagination in your children or what have you, all of them will involve using your imagination in how apply what you've learned to your situation! :) I'm very excited about this topic, and even though my month has been swamped with too much to do and for that reason I didn't get a chance to post, I've been reading and thinking and imagining all about imagination and it's important role for the learner. I'll intersperse some of my favorite quote finds with the wonderful submissions for the carnival. :)




Imagination, preparing to adorn and crown Truth.
Engraving by Benoît Louis Prévost (d. 1804)

Imagination is Inherent in Children:

"Who shall measure the range of a child's thoughts? His continual questions about God, his speculations about 'Jesus,' are they no more than idle curiosity, or are they symptoms of a God-hunger with which we are all born, and is a child able to comprehend as much of the infinite and the unseen as are his self-complacent elders? Is he 'cabined, cribbed, confined,' in our ways and does the fairy tale afford a joyful escape to regions where all things are possible? We are told that children have no imagination, that they must needs see and touch, taste and handle, in order to know. While a child's age is still counted by months, he devotes himself to learning the properties of things by touching, pulling, tearing, throwing, tasting, but as months pass into years a coup d'oeil suffices for all but new things of complicated structure. Life is a continual progress to a child. He does not go over old things in old ways; his joy is to go on."
vol 6 pg 36

:: Nancy presents Silva Rerum - Commonplacing as a Habit  ::

:: Sarah presents Imagination ::

An Imagination Grows:

"Now imagination does not descend, full grown, to take possession of an empty house; like every other power of the mind, it is the merest germ of a power to begin with, and grows by what it gets; and childhood, the age of faith, is the time for its nourishing. The children should have the joy of living in far lands, in other persons, in other times––a delightful double existence; and this joy they will find, for the most part, in their story books. Their lessons, too, history and geography, should cultivate their conceptive powers. If the child do not live in the times of his history lesson, be not at home in the climes of his geography book describes, why, these lessons will fail of their purpose. But let lessons do their best, and the picture gallery of the imagination is poorly hung if the child have not found his way into the realms of fancy." v1 p153

:: Nadene presents Inspired Imagination ::

:: Barb presents Build An Imagination - Allow Time for Experiences that Lead to Thoughts ::

The Responsibility of Education:

"How do we prepare a child, again, to use the aesthetic sense with which he appears to come provided? His education should furnish him with whole galleries of mental pictures, pictures by great artists old and new;––Israels' Pancake Woman, his Children by the Sea; Millet's Feeding the Birds, First Steps, Angelus; Rembrandt's Night Watch, The Supper at Emmaus; Velasquez's Surrender of Breda,––in fact, every child should leave school with at least a couple of hundred pictures by great masters hanging permanently in the halls of his imagination, to say nothing of great buildings, sculpture, beauty of form and colour in things he see. Perhaps we might secure at least a hundred lovely landscapes too,––sunsets, cloudscapes, starlight nights. At any rate he should go forth well furnished because imagination has the property of magical expansion, the more it holds the more it will hold."
vol 6 pg 43

:: Tammy Glaser presents Fruits of Thoughts :: 

:: Leah presents Love God - Love Geography! ::

:: Katey Kautz presents Eagle Migration ::

 
Dangers of Imagination:

"Imagination may become like that cave Ezekiel tells of wherein were all manner of unseemly and evil things; it may be a temple wherein self is glorified; it may be a chamber of horrors and dangers; but it may also be a House Beautiful. It is enough for us to remember that imagination is stored with those images supplied day by day whether by the cinema, the penny dreadful, by Homer or Shakespeare, by the great picture or the flaming 'shocker.'"
vol 6 pg 55

:: Michelle presents Curriculum Overview: School Year 2012-13 ::

:: Kelly @ The Homeschool Co-op presents Librarian's Picks - WoodsWalk & Night Science for Kids ::

:: Laura Grace Weldon presents How The “10,000 Hour” Rule Can Benefit Any Child ::

Thank you all SO much for your submissions, for reading the carnival and for leaving words of encouragement on the various posts!! 

::

The upcoming CM blog carnival:
Hosted by Barb on February 7th
Theme: Nature Study
Reading Selections: "Sight-Seeing" section in volume 1, page 45-48.

Please submit your posts by no later than Monday 2/6.
You may do that here (or from the link in my sidebar).

If you would like to receive occasional reminders by e-mail regarding the CM Blog Carnival, please send an e-mail to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com.


::

And now an exercise for our imaginations!!

Awhile back, I overheard some whisperings of discontent with our current CM Blog Carnival logo... it's outdated!... and ugly! Well, while we all differ in our aesthetic sense, and I'm not necessarily completely unhappy with it, I wouldn't be opposed to changing it either, so I thought we'd have a game and then a vote.  And voting is always more fun when accompanied by a giveaway!! See details below to see how you could win a...

USE YOUR IMAGINATION 

...and come up with a design for a potential new CMBC logo/blog button!

Here are the details...

• HOW TO ENTER: Send an e-mail with your SQUARE .jpg, .png or .gif attached to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com by 1/31! This is only a week away! 
• On January 31st, a poll will be posted here on FisherAcademy where you can then vote for your favorite from the newly submitted options, or vote to keep the old one!
• HOW TO WIN: Every logo/blog button submission is worth an entry to the giveaway! Anyone can play! Get your aspiring web-designer-kids to try?! Earn another entry simply by voting, but note that only those who leave a comment after voting (on the poll post) will be entered to the giveaway (I don't have a way to track or get in touch with who votes, that's why you must leave a comment! :)
• The giveaway is sponsored by CurrClick.com who has just this month launched a new CM Discussion Group and would love for you to join them (more info to come).
• Stay tuned for more details to be posted on January 31st :)

Here's what the current logo/blog button looks like:




Here are some examples of what a new logo/blog button might look like:

So there you go, please send in your submissions for the upcoming blog carnival 

AND your logo/blog button ideas to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com!

Top 10 things I love about Charlotte Mason's Philosophy

Here are the top 10 things I love about CM's Philosophy... today :)
I'm always learning more, so this list will undoubtedly grow, and there are surely things I've neglected to mention... maybe you can help me in the comments?
Here are my reflections from last year, and from three years ago... 
Uh right, back to this year, here you go:

1. I love to learn and I want make it as easy as possible for my kids love learning too! Like many of you, I didn't always know the joy that comes from learning. I do vividly remember the awe I experienced outdoors when I was pretty young. But it was my experience in school to be uninspired by boring text books taught by bored teachers. It wasn't until I began researching the teaching of my own kids (even before they were born), and then actually watching them learn for themselves, that I realized again how many interesting things there are to know. Charlotte's philosophy of education is the most delightful I have encountered, not just for children, but for learners of all ages!
   
2. Books. Need I say more?
   
3. Charlotte Mason encouraged Nature study as the training ground for keen observance. The ability to focus on something for an extended amount of time, paying close attention to detail, developing knowledge based on personal experience with the diversity of plant and animal life are all invaluable to a wide and varied curriculum.
   
4. Nature Study has multi-faceted value. In our day and age, the need to be outdoors tends to be forgotten; and if not forgotten, then at best undervalued. Charlotte Mason regularly emphasized the benefit of nature study and the necessity for children to have many hours outdoors. I've found that when we spend extended periods of time outside, we tend to be drawn outside of ourselves, out of our self-absorbed existence into the enormous and incredible Creation; we gain perspective and the propensity to acknowledge God as the eternal Problem-Solver is increased.
   
5. The training in CM's way of the will has been key in turning this family around, starting with the parents. :)
   
6. Narration works.
   
7. An appreciation of the arts enriches life through our understanding of the human experience as relates to God, man, and the world around us.
   
8. Children are persons. They will learn because they must. They will learn in spite of us. We get to teach them, because God has given us the privilege. Our children are the people who will lead our future families, our churches, our nation, our world.
   
9. As persons, they are interested in the same things as we are (or as we should be interested in, if we haven't been dulled up and dumbed down!). They don't want silly stories, or kid-i-fied versions of things (they do get spoiled though don't they? generally though, they can tell the difference). They want to know about things from someone else who is interested in knowing things (through personal experience or from the wealth of authors who have written out of their own passion to know).
   
10. As children learn about all the interesting things in the world they form relationships, which as CM taught, is what all of education is – the Science of Relations. It is this science of relations that helps us to understand that people are whole beings, in a whole universe held together by One God, Who made all men and all things and Who is working. As we learn about ideas and things we are really learning how we relate to Him, the world and to others, also how all things relate to other things, because He made and sustains them all.
    

CM offers a short synopsis of her educational theories as practiced in homes and school for many years here.

What are your favorites?? This month's CM blog carnival has "My Favorite CM moment" as theme. Do you have a post about your favorites or another post related to using CM's methods in your school? Submit it here.

Upcoming CM Blog Carnival: January 10th

Theme: What do you like the most about CM educating?
Submit your posts here.

Happy 2012!

 

Homeschool Day Book - A Review.

Here's a relatively inexpensive, no frills, SUPER easy-to-use program to keep track of your homeschool progress. I love to plan, but I have not found a way that I love to keep records. I do something a little different every year. I'm hoping that by high school, I'll have figured something out. The Homeschool Day Book, may just be a step in the right direction!!

Here's my honest review:
So right off I had several problems. There isn't a mac download option! My main computer is a mac, so I can foresee a follow through issue here for me as the program isn't available for the computer I use the most. But if you have a PC (at least as a backup like we do), you'll be okay.

The second minor problem I encountered was on my netbook. The default screen size or resolution is too small or something to that effect. I went ahead without making any changes and it's workable. Of course, if you have a normal size computer screen, you won't have this issue either. One of my criticisms will have to do with this.

The general idea of the program is that you enter your students, your subjects and you make an entry each day filling in the various fields for a record of who did what when. It's pretty much for keeping a homeschool-specific digital diary. It'd be best if you could see it to know what I mean. Don't worry, there's a free trial version. :)


This is where you enter your subjects :)

++ When you first get started, there's a little start up wizard where you add your students and subjects. Once you get past the wizard, it seems you can add as many students/subjects as you'd like; I have 48 so far :) I even entered individual books rather than subjects as it would be more helpful for me to check off the individual readings. In the detail box (what we did today), I can enter the specific pages covered if so desired. When adding more subjects, it would be nice if it were set up as a default action to be able to press enter after each subject so as to not have to use the mouse to press the button.


This is the main page...  :)


When I'm looking at the main home page, the buttons are nearly off the page (I think this has to do with the screen size issue referenced above). But I can still get at them, even if barely. Everything else looks good, but for practicality, I'd like it if the scrolling section with the check boxes for subjects was bigger. I have a lot of individual subjects, so it'd be nice if that were bigger or at least adjustable. I might even like it if there was a sort/toggle option (a-z or z-a), or an option so that I could alphabetize the list in a vertical column rather than horizontal? Though I'd probably get used to it as it is.

++ I like that I can include all or some of my children on any given event, and each entry is fully customizable!!
++ I can make entries for past dates, or for the future. I can foresee the potential of this program being used not only as as you go (you plug in what you did on any given day), , or after the fact, but you could potentially plot out what you'd like to do for the week or term, and use it as you go along as a reference guide.

++ There is an option to print off reports which you can print off per child, per subject, per date range and you can save it as a .pdf or in excel formats! Awesome.

One feature I'd like to see is the ability to copy/paste days, or at least events, that are exactly the same.

I do like this program overall and see that it could be very helpful! I love the simplicity of it and that it has some basic features that will really be helpful: a fill-in-what-we-did-today format, with customizable printable reports. I just wish it had a mac version! Matter of fact, this same exact thing but as an app for iTouch or iPad would be absolutely amazing. I'm sure it won't be long before someone comes up with something similar, maybe the Homeschool Day Book will be the first! :)

of elephants... calendars, copywork and commonplace

On the art calendar:



image courtesy of wiki commons

For poetry, copywork and commonplace notebook:

Tit for Tat: A Tale
by John Aikin

A Law there is of ancient fame,
By nature's self in every land implanted,
Lex Talionis is its Latin name;
But if an English term be wanted,
Give your next neighbour but a pat
He'll give back as good, and tell you 'tit for tat'.

This 'tit for tat', it seems, not men alone,
But elephants, for legal justice own;
In proof of this a story I shall tell ye,
Imported from the famous town of Delhi.

A mighty elephant that swelled the state
Of Aurengzebe the Great,
One day was taken by his driver
To drink and cool him in the river;
The driver on his neck was seated,
And as he rode along,
By some acquaintance in the throng,
With a ripe coconut was treated.

A coconut's a pretty fruit enough,
But guarded by a shell, both hard and tough.
The fellow tried, and tried, and tried,
Working and sweating,
Tutting and fretting,
To find out its inside,
And pick the kernel for his eating.

Strength, quite out of patience grown,
'Who'll reach me up (he cries) a stone
To break this plaguy shell?
But stay, I've here a solid bone
May do perhaps as well.'
So half in earnest, half in jest,
He banged it on the forehead of his beast.

An elephant, they say, has human feeling,
And, full as well as we, he knows
The difference between words and blows,
Between horse-play and civil dealing.
Use him but well, he'll do his best,
And serve you faithfully and truly;
But insults unprovoked he can't digest,
He studies o'er them, and repays them duly.

'To make my head an anvil (thought the creature)
Was never, certainly, the will of nature;
So, master mine, you may repent!'
Then, shaking his broad ears, away he went.
The driver took him to the water,
And thought no more about the matter;
But elephant within his memory hid it;
He felt the wrong - the other only did it.

A week or two elapsed, one market day
Again the beast and driver took their way;
Through rows of shops and booths they passed,
With eatables and trinkets stored,
Till to a gardener's stall they came at last,
Where coconuts lay piled upon the board.
'Ha!' thought the elephant, ''tis now my turn
To show this method of nut-breaking;
My friend above will like to learn,
Though at the cost of head-aching.'

Then in his curling trunk he took a heap,
And waved it o'er his neck with sudden sweep,
And on the hapless driver's sconce
He laid a blow so hard and full,
That cracked the nuts at once,
But with them cracked his skull.

Young folks, whene'er you feel inclined
To rompish sports and freedoms rough,
Bear 'tit for tat' in mind,
Nor give an elephant a cuff,
To be repaid in kind.

Quoted taken from, The Oxford Book of Children's Verse (Oxford Books of Verse)
Or can be found online here.

Mendelssohn mp3 music for $2.49

Ambleside Online's scheduled composer for study this term is Mendelssohn... yay!

I found many of the selections on this mp3 album.
(It has 99 pieces for only $2.49! Sadly, it only has two Songs Without Words, but see below*)




If for some reason this link isn't product specific (I tried!), just type in 99 Mendelssohn and it should come up in the search :)


*Never fear because my compadre Naomi over at Living Charlotte Mason in California has put together a playlist which includes a good selection of aforementioned Songs Without Words on grooveshark - click here.

I'll be posting more on this subject in the weeks to come :)

to do... to day

I'm more than half way through my homeschool planning day.
It's 4pm and here's what I have left to do... we shall see ;)

TO DO:

Picture study files drop off
Buy medicine
Lunch
Haircut - (jac)

P/U pictures, buy: diet coke, boxed milk

transfer...
4 print
4 mp3 players
4 kindle

details...
Handicraft
Music
Drawing lessons
Work projects

if there's time leftover...
Organize folders
Blog post