Anthem

When I was little, I believed I was, and always would be, an artist. I don't really know why I gave up on that belief as I approached adulthood.  I floundered and flopped my way back to very, very self conscious attempts at art in college... and off and on throughout my twenties.

And now, midway through my thirties, 

I am finally ready to be whatever kind of artist I am, without worry over whether or not its good.

 Just a humble offering from a willing servant. 

The old voices and old ways (perpetual failure and doubt) want to worm their way back in. 
 I hear them and then tell them: they have no power over me anymore:
My God is a Creator and He made me in His image.

 I may never be a famous or good artist, but I can paint, and I am a child of God.
I have something to offer.

Can I tell you how Leonard Cohen helps me through my doubtful and worried moments? The ones where I feel... this is stupid. I hate this. I give up.  (How many artists put on music to create? I am sure many. All?) I put on music and play the same songs over and over. Leonard Cohen makes me want to move to Paris. I get lost in his poetic and moody lyrics. Two of his songs, in particular, push me beyond myself and help to move me forward (to refuse to be stagnant/stuck or even worse-- look backwards) during, this, my renaissance of creativity. 

The first is Anthem...

"Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. 

There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

  

There is no perfect offering. 

Now, Cohen is Jewish, but so was Jesus. This song, I feel it so spiritually. We are flawed and cracked beyond our own ability to repair. But the Light of the World pours in through those cracks and makes us whole and useful.

  

Whatever it is that you have to offer, it will never be perfect.
 But please, make your offering.

Lay it at the feet of the Lord
and be at peace.

More on the second song soon...

Elijah Recites Psalm 23

This is his first lengthy memorization. He worked on it a little everyday for a couple of weeks. When he consistently got it all right I thought it was time to make it official. I am really proud of him.

So far, so good!

Apple still life paintings: (clockwise- Mommy's, Elijah's, Adah's)

 Our first week of homeschooling is going wonderfully! I do believe my planning worked! The days have been smooth and easy. The difference, for me, between "winging it" and planning, cannot be understated. Last year's attempt at "winging it" resulted in fizzled enthusiasm on all of our parts. 

I know this about myself.... I know, and everyone close to me would agree, that I am often filled with great bursts of enthusiasm and determination about one thing or another, becoming absolutely consumed with an idea or a plan for a month or two and then,

 just like that....  over it.  

(or discouraged and confused and giving up)

Having made concrete goals and objectives, planned out and prepared, having materials organized and ready, having a schedule and purpose in mind everyday.... 

this is going to be the secret to our success. I just know it. 

That, and the goodness of the Lord who knows my weakness and, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." 1 Cor 2:9

Our 2012-2013 School Schedule

Bible  OT Mem.Verse	Bible   NT Mem. Verse	Bible   OT Mem.Verse	Bible  NT Mem. Verse	Devotional Hymn Mem.Verse
Math	Math	Math	Math	Math
Literature  Read Aloud	Literature Read Aloud	Literature Read Aloud	Literature Read Aloud	Literature Read Aloud
Copy work letters Bible	Copy work letters Poetry	Copy work  letters Character	Copy work letters Literature	Copy work letters Personal Journal
History/ Geography Ancient World	Science	History/ Geography  American	Science	Nature Walk and Journal
Spanish  Salsa	Spanish Pronunciator	Spanish  Salsa	Spanish Pronunciator	Spanish flash cards and Review
Hymn Review and Practice	Artist Study	Composer	Art/handicrafts	Folk Music/ Movement
Piano	Piano	Piano	Piano	Piano
Elijah Free Read for 15 min Adah Computer phonic	Elijah Free Read for 15 min Adah Computer phonic	Elijah Free Read for 15 min Adah Computer phonic	Elijah Free Read for 15 min Adah Computer phonic	Elijah Free Read for 15 min Adah Computer phonic

I realize this looks like an awful lot!  But one of the major tenets of CM philosophy is short lessons for young children. For Elijah and Adah's age, each of these lessons is about 15-20 minute max. Fifteen minutes is about the length of time that a child their age can give undivided attention on any subject; there should always be an expectation for undivided attention when having lessons. When they are no longer able to fully focus, the lesson should end and move to another subject.

Also, lessons should feel relaxed and enjoyable. And most of this will be me reading to them from wonderful books, so don't feel too bad for them. We are not going stress out over any of this. Many of these subjects (history, science, art and music) we are only doing once or twice a week. At this age, I just want a gentle introduction to a wide variety of topics. I am expecting to spend 2-3 hours a day on school, broken up between morning and afternoon.

We will do most of this together as a family, though Adah will be free to join in or not depending on her level of interest. She will also have a separate phonic study with just Mommy while Elijah is required to read silently from any book of his choice daily.

Bible
Read from Old Testament and New Testament, choosing verses to memorize and practicing them. Also, Little Visits with God devotional weekly.

Hymn
Learn to sing 1-2 new hymns per term

Math
Review Kindergarten math, begin 1st grade math (using Singapore Math now, will be changing soon)

Literature
Read aloud from Aesop's for Children by Milo Winter, 50 Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin, A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Lewis Stephenson, The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. Also choosing 1-2 novels to read starting Charlotte's Web by EB White.

History/Geography
World History- Starting with ancient civilizations, one day a week, and Early American History beginning with Native Americans, one day a week. Will use a selection of living books to tell stories from these periods and Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World as a spine text. Geography will happen naturally as we study times and places.

Science
Will cover a wide variety of Earth, Physical and Life Sciences using living books and personal experience and observation as a core. Plan to emphasize the world right around us by doing nature walks and nature journals. Also reading, A Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock, books from the series The People of the... by Clara Dillingham Pierson and James Herriot's Treasury for Children. Will learn 6 native trees, 6 birds, 6 wildflowers/ plants each term.

Copy work
Daily practice copying very short verses, poems, songs, etc. to introduce handwriting practice and grammar as well as reinforcing memory work (1 sentence at this age).

Memory Work
Strive to memorize 2-3 bible verses, one hymn and one short poem each term ( short 5-10 min, casual practice sessions)

Spanish
Watch Salsa videos online 2/ week ( free children's show with puppets speaking entirely in Spanish- very cute), use Pronunciator 2/week ( free language learning database offered through my local library system- amazing! Casual review using flash cards.

Artist study
Introduce 2 artists per term, look at their art, talk about their lives. Going to try to cover Artists from all different periods, styles and mediums.

Music study
1-2 per term, listen to music by composer, talk about the life of the person. Once weekly Folk Music intro with some dance thrown in for fun.

Art/ Handicraft 
Introduce 1-2 forms of art or hand craft or useful life skill each term for each child to practice.

Piano
Daily piano practice using Adventures in Piano by Faber and Faber.


For More information about where I gathered these studies or specifics about techniques in teaching in each subject look here:
Ambleside Online Year 1 book list
Simply Charlotte Mason Free Curriculum
Charlotte Mason Help Free Curriculum Year 1

Homeschooling: Charlotte Mason Style

One advantage of homeschooling is being able to design the child's education to suit his or her unique mode of learning. This is also advantageous for the parent- educator as they can make allowances for their own style of teaching/learning and for the needs of the family as a whole.

There are many different methods and philosophies of teaching in the home school world. This website outlines them well. Most families pick and choose aspects from different styles, creating a custom course of study that fits them just right. Many families try several different methods over the years until they find the one or the combination that suits them best.

As a brand new homeschooler, I have no idea what's going to work best for our family. By nature, I am a bit scattered and eclectic; wanting to use a little of this style and a little of that style. Unfortunately, I drove myself mad trying to tie them all together into something cohesive that I could actually plan around.  In order to get past my confusion and get started, I found I needed more structure.

After much praying and consideration, I have decided to lean heavily on the Charlotte Mason methodology for our first year of home school. Charlotte Mason was a very well known educator in the late 19th century in England. Ambleside Online offers this terrific summary of Charlotte Mason's approach of education, if you are interested in learning more about how and what she taught. Its easy to see why her methods have inspired home schooling families for generations.

Today, most of the well known methods of home schooling include some parts of her philosophies in their methodology, most notably a reliance upon "living books" for curriculum.  Here is a great explanation of what makes a "living book" and what is the opposite that, something Ms. Mason referred to as "twaddle".

For me, it was the lovely emphasis on God, nature, and "great and noble ideas" in art, literature and science that swayed me to pursue her methods as a backbone in our school. I don't think of myself as a strict devotee of CM; I imagine I will still draw upon other philosophies as we home school through the years. But for now, I am rather enamored with her ways and I want to try to implement many of them in our school.

Take a look at this Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six.  This is what Charlotte Mason expected from a six year old studying with her. (Elijah is six). It's so beautiful to me. I would love to say that my six year old could do all of this or some variation on this.

But how on earth do I put these noble goals into practice? Where do I even begin? I need some major hand holding at this stage of my homeschooling life. Fortunately, there are some really amazing resources on the good ol' trusty internet!

Two, in particular, have really shown me how to use her methods. As a HUGE bonus, they have outlined yearly programs for home schoolers to follow. They are Ambleside Online and Simply Charlotte Mason.

Both are great, both follow the CM methodology beautifully and, best of all, are free! They are chocked full of great information. Therefore, you really have to dig in and spend sometime familiarizing yourself with their websites to make the most of what they offer. You cannot hop on there and get a quick overview of what they offer, but what they offer is well worth the time and effort.

They differ, mostly, in the specific books and resources they recommend for the varying subjects. After reading through the CM support sites, I have discovered some respectfully strong opinions about who has the better lineup, Ambleside or SimplyCM. In the end, it seems most CM moms pick and choose from both sites to develop the curriculum that they are most excited about. Which, is what I am going to do, as well. CM is not a book list but a practice. (There are no hard fast requirements about which books to read in CM, other than that be living and not twaddle, as I mentioned before. Therefore, I also plan to add books recommended from Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt and Books Children Love by Elizabeth Wilson to create our reading lists for the year. I am also going to tweak the history and the science recommendations from both sites to suit our family.)

I am also using these wonderful sites devoted CM education to draw upon as I finalize our schedule:

Higher Up Further In
Charlotte Mason Help
A Charlotte Mason Education

After all these months of indecisiveness about what and how to teach, it feels good to have some direction and structure. I pity my husband and my mother who were subjected to many a long, grueling conversation with me as I sorted through all of this. The last step in this process is laying out our schedule exactly. I am putting the finishing touches on it over the next few days and I will post it when I am done! (Some of you may be thinking whoop-di-doo, who cares? For me, this is a way to create some accountability for myself by putting my intentions out there for all the world, all three of you, to see:)