Busy weekend here so am sharing another wonderful post, this time from my oldest friend on the planet, Jen. Not that you are old, girlfriend. Just that she has remarkable staying power.
If you have ever struggled with perfectionism do go read for much needed perspective. It is more important to keep moving, keep striving, and know that God will fill the gaps. Well done.
Some days I am pretty certain Susan and I were separated at birth. She has posted another installment of her reflections on home education. These are written from the perspective of having now grown children. To me, these are some of the very best kinds of reflections. They have the benefit of hindsight and the fruits of her labor are evident now. In other words, when women in her position speak – listen to them.
: )
Among this post’s gems:
Homeschooling is really not the difficult, complex, scary thing some people make it out to be. It doesn’t require a degree, complicated plans, paperwork, and tedious record keeping. It can be simple, relaxed, and lovely.
this one really hit home this week:
Keep learning yourself, even if it’s about just one thing-
and this one reminds me of what I am forever reminding myself – Be what you want them to be. Because….
Because, besides prayer, the three most powerful tools in a homeschooling parent’s toolkit are:
1. Example
2. Example
3. Example
There is more. Go see.
Ok who is guilty? Find out here at Blissfully Domestic. Are your pictures up too high? Pillow or pattern overload? color phobic?
So last night did not turn out as expected. Allen had told me to pencil in date night. That was a good thing and I had it on my radar all week. But then as we were tossing around ideas for what to do he had mentioned an art show/work function. Eh. Ok. At the last minute the girls got a call to come hang out with friends’. Ok again.
We dropped them off and went to Whole Foods (which is where people who eat funny dine out lol!) and ran an errand and were heading back to the art show. I was trying very hard to be a good sport but in all honestly the arthritis has been flaring and I wasn’t sure how I was going to walk through the rest of the evening. It is such a treat to be alone with dh though I was really trying.
Allen forgot the tickets in his car which we had left at the friends’ home so we had swung by there to grab them. He told me to just knock and tell them we were going to switch cars. That did seem off though the man does love his truck. Whatever. We could switch. I took my pg self to the door, told our friends, and turned to leave only to hear a chorus of “Surprise!!” There was a houseful of our dear friends who, with Allen, had concocted this whole scheme to get me to what was a truly lovely and completely unexpected baby shower. Actually, it was a “mom” shower and shower me they did.
I can’t tell you all what you mean to me nor what last night meant. God knows when we need a little extra oomph to carry on and just who to use to bestow it. From the bottom of my heart I thank you.
I am trying to upload more consistently this school year. We have really enjoyed being “back to school”. It is a simple routine but one strewn with lovely touches which have gone over very well. Here is an example. For first grade we are finishing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons as we have done for the previous six first graders. The lessons include letter practice. Instead of printables destined for the trash we are making main lesson book pages of the best work.
First, we take small crayons and make stripes to serve as general guidelines. These help corral the letters without putting undue pressure on young hands. Then a few of each letter indicated in the lesson are practiced. In this way we can employ some of the creative techniques we love without having to entirely reinvent the curricular wheel. Small adaptations make a world of difference for the child and save a lot of hassle for mom. Before scrapping it all and starting over, see how you can make what you have in hand work in new ways.
Here is a recent grade three narration about Leonardo Da Vinci with illustration. It was dictated to me and then written by the student as is usual at this age. Laura Berquist explains.
This process results in a retelling…that is truly the child’s own work, but the separation of the composition of the retelling and the physical act of writing make it a much less burdensome procedure.
When the child is finished telling his story we talk about why it is written as it is. Where are there capitals? Why are some lines indented? Where are the punctuation marks? Why? He is encouraged to pay special attention to those things when he copies his words onto his main lesson page.
We have moved away from typed narrations to those that can be completed by hand for several reasons. I have found typed narrations to be revisited less often. They have a bit of a colder more sterile effect. The child tends to have less “ownership” of that type of work than he has of things he produced with his own hands. It is also a precious keepsake of imperfect letters and heartfelt drawings that came from inside of him.
Since there is a limit to how much small hands can produce it is necessary to practice summarizing. I remember reading years ago that many small children can retell (at least in the moments right after hearing the story) in exhausting detail but struggle with identifying main/relevant ideas. Discussing the composition with the child as he retells goes far in helping develop this necessary skill.
Later he is asked to illustrate his entry. If he does not yet feel comfortable drawing certain things then a representative drawing is perfectly acceptable. For instance a simple rainbow watercolor for the story of Noah works just as well as several detailed people and animals which may be frustrating for little ones. A plain black pot would work to illustrate the Stone Soup story. Whatever is chosen, have them try to fill the page with color. As you can see the tendency, particularly the younger the child, is to make single, tiny pictures in the middle of the page. We gently help to move them out of that habit as time goes on.
For these narrations we are using the three-day rotation described by Laura Berquist, Marsha Johnson, and others to increase retention. We tell the story (or they read it) on the first day. The next day the child retells and copies his story to page. The last day an illustration is added. The result is that the story is very solid in the mind afterwards. Slow and steady wins the race. Focus on doing a few really well rather than making pages for every experience the child has.
Fire up those printers gals! This one is incredible. I so have to get my sidebars updated and when I do this will be there.
….it falls on field and tree….
So goes the verse although that was definitely not the case with our fields and trees this summer. Lightning meant fire, not rain. We were far more likely to see clouds of smoke than these:
Finally, however, the sky opened this month and blessed us with a number of soaking rans which the thirsty prairie greedily lapped up. After months of stepping out of my front door onto parched ground it was a miracle to see the fields kissed with dew this morning. I walked along in sandals that were soon wonderfully wet.
My dear husband did it again. He completed the Pike’s Peak Marathon this past weekend no thanks to the weather which turned freakishly cold for August. After blazing heat in the previous weeks he arrived at the base of the mountain and looked up at this:
Snow. Three new inches overnight at 27 degrees. In August.
Still they ran. They ran through fog and rain and then snow and then did it all in reverse on the way back down. He said it was the single hardest physical thing he has ever done. But, he did it!
on the way up:
at the peak (he was just feet from the sign)
A friend wrote reflecting about a family member who had chosen a very dry academic program for her little ones. We have talked before, she and I, about how fleeting childhood is. Certainly however our warm feelings for this transitory time in life is not the only reason to cherish and make the most of it. The foundations laid now are those which later experiences – academic and otherwise – will be built upon.
David Darcy says this:
If we deprive children of their childhood in a misguided attempt to harvest quickly what naturally requires time, they may reach adulthood not knowing how to communicate their ideas, how to cooperate with others, how to listen and compromise, and how to access their own innate creativity.
If, instead, we allow time for children to engage in the learning activities that are most natural to childhood, they will, at appropriate times, be able to learn all of the other skills we expect of students. They are more likely to be happy, healthy, confident and creative. Given the choice, why not choose to let children be children?
I would go further and say that later academics are often MORE successful given a rich, solid foundation in childhood. International testing seems to bear this out. Finland, which has ranked first in such testing does not start its children in school before age seven nor do even the high schoolers there have more than 30 minutes of homework. This slower start nets them greater academic achievement later on. Dr Moore was telling us this some decades ago.
Does this mean no Montessori trays and holding them back? No. It means not pushing little people into two dimensional work prematurely. It means lots of hands on, real life experiences. It means a solid grounding in image-rich stories and basic skills (academic as well as organizational and personal) from which to launch and soar later. It means trusting that childhood is not something to be gotten through but there for good reasons. It means that while there is a lifetime to read War and Peace, there is this little window of time to enjoy Tomie de Paola together and to make lovely crayon drawings. Don’t miss it.
Check out this youtube from A Little Garden Flower on chalkboard times tables. Simple as can be and very pretty. Can be done on paper as well using a pencil (or crayon) and string compass instead of chalk.
