Pride goeth before a fall

Our Open House was Saturday. The family was here. I had several things out for them to look through...the lapbbooks the girls have made this quarter; the small display pages they've made for each artist and composer we've studied, as well as food that Izzi made. She made fruit salad, gluten-free cupcakes, and cucumber sandwiches. All the food got eaten, to my surprise. Anyway, I decided to just talk for a couple minutes about how proud I was of how hard the girls have worked during these nine weeks, and then let them talk about a government display board they'd made. (Because neither of them wanted to do anything in front of anyone, and that was our compromise). They did a good job and I was glowing with the knowledge a teacher gets of how she's passes on precious knowledge to her hungry students...then Izzi said quite clearly to the room at large, "I don't really remember any of this." Ahem. Nice.

I love the way the girls and I are learning this year. Our son is still an unknown though.

We're on week number nine! After this week, we will be through the first quarter! We're having an open house for the kids this weekend. I'm anxious to see how it goes!
I love me some exclamation marks!

Oh, I love what we're learning this year. The problem is I love it more than my students. I want my enthusiasm to be contagious...and part of me expects my kids to be as excited as me. But another part knows that's impossible. I mean, how capable were YOU of just bursting with excitement about learning about Napoleon when you were 13?

Anyway, I have basically used all my spare time in ways other than on here. I'd like to say I've used it ALL planning school, but although I've been spending MUCH more time on that than I ever have before, the truth is that when I'm not planning school, I'm planning other things...I just feel like I'll never have enough time to accomplish everything I want.

We just completed week number eight of school. There's nine weeks in each quarter and we're having a school Open House after each quarter. I've never done that before. The girls are going to display their lapbooks that they've worked on all quarter, as well as a government display board and six small boards for the 3 composers and 3 artists we've studied. I wanted to have another display where they write a short blurb about each thing we've studied, but I don't think that's going to happen. We're sending invitations to our family and a few families who support what we're doing. Izzi is making the food and they are each going to read something they wrote this quarter. We'll see how it goes.

So far, I have been able to maintain planning the whole week out on the weekend so I am not tempted to skip certain things because I'm tired and don't really have a plan worked up yet, you know? I pray I'll be able to continue that. Although today is Friday and I usually get a jump on the following week Friday afternoon and here I am blogging. I just don't feel like doing it right now which wouldn't be a problem except that tomorrow I'm going out with a friend for a while, and Sunday is big family reunion birthday day. The weather is gorgeous right now but instead of exercising every morning, which is my norm, I just feel like being lazy and staying in. I hope it's just a few days that I feel like this. I'm capable of forcing myself to do these things...but I've gotten used to doing them because I enjoy them, so it's been easy for a while. I guess it can't always be easy, right?

More about the new school year

So I haven't written for a week. I've been on vacation, but I've been THINKING about school. We're starting August 18th. I don't really know how to feel about it. I just don't know what to expect. I feel unprepared, although I've spent WAY more time than ever before on planning. Actually, I would say I've spent 80% more time this summer on planning than ever before. So why am I so unsure? Because I'm trying something new. Something I've had inklings about before, in ever-increasing amounts, but I'm only now confident enough to try. Teaching the kids DIFFERENTLY.

Here's the plan: (I know this will change when we start really using it)

William (11th grade) and I do school from 8-9

All three kids and I do school together from 9-10
This includes: making and reviewing presidents cards
state cards
classic artists/musicians cards
vocabulary cards
Reading about current events
Adding to timeline as needed
Prayer for people groups (I am using the Usborne book Window on the World)
Singing president's song


Here's the list of the other things the girls (8th and 6th) are doing the rest of the day:

Test Prep
Spelling and vocab review and test
History reading
History discussion
Mom read Lit outloud
Lit worksheet
Dictation
independent lit reading
independent lit discussion
Mom reads classic book aloud
Activities (make lapbooks or paint)
writing (a curriculum that mixes TOG and my own SAT ideas)
letter/note writing
flash card review
math
character building
discussion with Dad about week's work

Let's see. Where did I leave off?

Oh yeah. Timeline.

Well, that isn't going to be a subject, per se, it's just going to be something we add to when I feel they need it to help their understanding.

I used to think that the kids needed to spend at least 30 minutes or more on a specific "subject" for it to be "real" and worthwhile. I thought if we spent less time than that on anything, it meant we weren't doing "real" school and it was a waste of time and I would feel guilty. (There are LOTS of things homeschool teachers find to feel guilty about). My reasoning was that kids in a traditional school setting have classes that are usually 45 minutes or more in length, so anything less than that was just "playing"...and wasn't serious.

My attitudes, ideas and emotions have changed slowly and surely. Now I think, "Why does it matter HOW they learn something, as long as they really LEARN it?"

So in thinking about what I want them to learn and remember, I decided that daily flash cards, ones they make themselves and on the topics I want them to remember, would be effective. Even if we only spend five minutes each day on each topic, if we do it EVERY DAY, they will remember. Just like the president song I remember from the first grade (26 years ago). Who cares how long it takes, if it's effective?

These are the subjects we are making and reviewing flashcards for:
Presidents
Classic artists through time
Classic composers
vocabulary (based on words they question in their reading as well as SAT-prep word lists)
And for Izzi: spelling (Baylee doesn't need these)

I realize that it will take more time to review as our number of cards grows. Each morning will be spent on these topics, as well as Bible reading, prayer, and Daily Grams. (Grammar workbooks) I will also read aloud one current event article from the daily paper. William will be with us for this time.

After that, William will move upstairs to his computer desk area and work independently, while the girls and I do math.

More later.

TOG

Well, I think I've recovered enough from writing that long post about William to write a long post about what I am doing with the girls next year. (Actually, in four weeks...yikes!)

I've usually been eclectic in my homeschooling, mostly because nothing worked with William, so I changed curriculums all the time, searching for that elusive one that might spark his interest. (I never found it.) Two years ago when William went to high school and I just had the girls at home, I started using Heart of Dakota (HOD) which I loved and worked really well for us. It's very gentle and that's what I liked about it. They don't say they are very Charlotte Mason in their approach, but they are.

But after two years of being gentle, not really pushing the girls, and recovering from the strong dislike I had developed towards home teaching when William was home, both Rog and I thought it was time to start challenging the girls a little more and be more deliberate in my approach. I could do that with HOD, but after talking at length with a friend who has been using Tapestry of Grace (TOG) for four years, I felt led to switch to that.

But although TOG is the main framework on which I am hanging the CORE of our studies, it is not everything. I reread the Charlotte Mason handbook at the beginning of the summer, as well as some of my inspiring home education books and going through the curriculums and books I already had, and that combined with my seven years of experience of knowing what works for me and the girls and what doesn't, a bigger picture of our days started forming. I also asked myself what I wish I would have had a better understanding of after graduating from high school. (I graduated 17th in my class of 350 and always loved school, but I never really understood American government, nor did I know all the past presidents, nor did I have a clear understanding of time...who was president when and what was going on in the world with art and music and politics...i.e. I knew who Napoleon was, but didn't know when he lived or why he was important to France. I knew about how our country started and the first 4-5 presidents, as well as the Civil war and the importance of Abraham Lincoln, but ask me who was president when the Wright Brothers invented the airplane or what Watergate was, or who was president during the Viet Nam War or the westward expansion, and I felt lost. I wanted to be able to discuss at least the well-known artists like Degas or Renoir, or be able to intelligently discuss Handel or Beethoven. I guess what I wish I would have had was a general well-rounded education and understanding of significant people and events through history and how they all occurred in time.

So all of that to say that TOG gives me a roadmap that I am using or altering as I put much thought and prayer into what I want the kids to learn during the year. I wouldn't have felt comfortable altering a curriculum when I started. I always felt guilty if I didn't do EXACTLY what they said I should do. I had to check things off...nothing else was as important as that. I was a servant to the curriculum. Now the curriculum is MY servant.

Oh, I should say here that William is doing something different. He is just taking the courses and subjects he needs to take to graduate.

Anyway, TOG suggests having Baylee (8th grade) do a complicated timeline with lots of dates for battles and events like the XYZ Affair and the Tennis Court Oath in France. I think knowing what things are and the general time they took place and their significance to what was going on in the world around them (in other words, a basic understanding of the flow of time and events) is more important than writing the dates of battles. She wouldn't remember specific dates anyway (I know I wouldn't), but I really want her to understand Napoleon and his role in France and why things happened there, and what that had to do with America and how did it affect John Adams (the president at the time)? So I am just going to put four thin white timelines that stretch around our room, one above the other, so they can "see" time and how things happened simultaneously in different places. One for Europe, one for France, one for America (that will start after the others so they can get an idea of when this nation started in relation to other places), and one for the rest of the world. Then as we go, we will just add significant events to their relevant timeline so they can see how they relate to each other.

OK, that is just the tip of the iceberg, but I've already spent a lot of time on this post, so I'll write more tomorrow or the next day. Don't worry. It will only take several installments to explain everything!