This morning I am working on some things that take a while to download and upload, so I thought I'd use this time to post something that has been on my mind. Recently we added a 14 year old boy to our family. He has been working a lot with Corban and other men from our church and I believe this is the best kind of 'schooling' a child could have. Life. However we are also doing some sort of schooling at home in between work and sleep. It has been 'fun' for me to pull out my old ideas and methods and WOW I am enjoying it a lot. All of the children desire brushing up on old skills and we are hoping for a hard winter :) so we'll be able to have more evenings by the fire.
This post may be a bit redundant and silly to seasoned homeschoolers, however it might give you new ones some fresh ideas :) That is what I am hoping any way.
My homeschooling method of choice over the years has been rather eclectic - taking ideas from Charlotte Mason, Raymond Moore, John Holt, John Taylor Gatto, and others that lean more towards a 'child led learning' approach rather than the 'school at home' approach. I also got ideas from a curriculum called "SOW" (Student of the Word) - I did not follow it exactly but I really appreciated the ideas it gave me. And that is what should happen ... no one way will work exactly right for everyone, however we can glean ideas and get inspiration from a variety of places and shape and mold them to fit OUR family and preferences.
One of my favourite things to do was to read "living books" (a phrase coined by Charlotte Mason) and pull further learning ideas from the books ... history, copywork, science, math, vocabulary, spelling, and so on.
I like the way this website said it: "A “living book” is usually written by an author who is very knowledgeable about his subject, many times in an experiential way. The author tends to write from a love of his subject, one that propels him to write with an enthusiasm that excites the imagination of the reader and carries him along as though experiencing the subject first-hand." [my disclaimer - I have NO IDEA what all is on that website! I just googled real quick and found that page]
A good example: my daughter really likes animals and always has. Not only does she like animals, but she has also always been interested in the care of animals. James Harriot is an excellent writer and was a vet; he has/had so many stories to share of all sorts of encounters with a variety of animals while working in the city and the country in England. We also picked her up a very large book (college text I believe) at a yard sale that was about the veterinary care of animals. James Harriot and this other topic-specific book on veterinary care are both considered living books; check out your local library for books like these if you have a child that is interested in animals. A word of caution though ... James Harriot sometimes uses a bit colourful language. Nothing that I would consider defiling [that I can remember???], but I know we all have our own ideas on what is acceptable and what is not. He's just being himself and telling the story as it happened ... and sometimes not-so-appropriate words or phrases are used.
The bible is a living book [in more ways than one]. The last few years I homeschooled I would use the bible as our main text; we started with Matthew. I would choose a chapter or two [wherever it made sense to stop] for the week and read to myself it before the school week began. From those chapters I would choose vocabulary words ... any word I thought the children would benefit from knowing a more exact definition. I would also choose a passage of 3 or more verses, depending on their age and ability. These verses were then used for memorizing, dictation and copywork.
At the beginning of our school week, we would read the chapters together. Then I would dictate the passage to them and check over their work; any spelling errors would become their spelling words for the week. Each day they would practice their spelling words and also copy their passage as nice as they could ... handwriting / copywork practice. Also on the first day they would write out the definitions to the vocabulary words and use them in their own sentence. And then throughout the week they could either write or draw (or both) an outline of the whole reading. Sometimes I would also have them focus on one particular person or character trait (good or bad) in the reading and write about that person. We would then all share what we wrote.
Well, you get the idea, right? We all really enjoyed this way of learning and that is what I am going to implement again ... or at least try to!
Now for a real example.
Ambleside Online has been a great resource for me over the years. I really appreciate their 'living book' or 'twaddle-free' book lists, though I cannot recommend all of them. I am not really sure how some of the books are considered 'living' or 'twaddle-free' when they are filled with witchcraft, goblins, and other such things. No thank you. But ... AO did introduce us to so many good books that I would have never known about otherwise. I recently checked their list again the other day and saw the book "The Endless Steppe". I have never heard of the book before, but the library had it so we checked it out and made it through the first chapter.
SO MANY THINGS flung out at me as I was reading the book. Ideas about geography, geology, history, language, culture, and so much more! And the vocabulary ... wow. This book is packed full of good vocabulary words. In the first chapter alone I got several of them:
Dignified
Facade
Opulent
Baroque
Progressive
Invariably
Aberration
Battalion
Confiscated
Premonition
Explicit
Bayonet
Capitalists
Fastidiously
Surreptitiously
Jaunt
Gawking
Interminable
Do you see that word "baroque"? That could lead to a history study on the Baroque period ... art, music, architecture, geography, people, and so on.
The first chapter talks about speaking Yiddish and making challah for sabbath. That could lead to a culture / religion / language study. There are many directions to go with that.
Geography and geology ... specific places are mentioned as well as rivers and of course the title of the book has the word "steppe" in it.
History: the whole book is a study of history ... Hitler and WWII.
So many things can come out of this one book. Do you get what I'm saying? And each of these subjects can be studied. Your studies can be added to subject-related binders and be used as a portfolio or a scrapbook of memories.
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Here are a few of the books I appreciated:
The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Raymond Moore (and his other books ... but this is my favourite ... and it might actually be at the very top of my all-time favourite list.)
Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto (he has other books and speeches as well, including a new one I just saw and might check in to if the library has it)
A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola (excellent book)
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock
You Can Teach Your Child Successfully by Ruth Beechick (and other books by her)
Well, I am sure I am leaving out several but that's what I have in my head right now.
Please share your favourite homeschool books and ideas!
Thank you for posting this I have not been blessed with children yet, but if it happens, I want to homeschool, and have been tucking a lot of homeschool advice away, it's also really great to see stuff from folks who are still learning as they go, as opposed to seasoned home schoolers. I find any information a blessing, but sometimes reading the advice of someone who is a little closer to my level of understanding is a little more relatable
ReplyDeleteJust a note on James Harriot's language.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend From a foreign country in high school that spoke true "English" as in from England, and used the same words he uses not realizing in our country they were considered quite bad. NOT that I would use them, and she stopped using them as soon as she was informed of this but it was simply the way they talk.
Just like when I tell my kids they are being "ugly". If you are from the south you know what I mean. :-) Meaning "your acting mean, your attitude is mean, your face looks terribly with that frown etc. They know exactly what I mean but some others have looked at me quite crossways, thinking I was being derogatory toward my kids when I wasn't, and my kids know this...
So for our family, until kids are older, we just read the books out loud "editing" as we go :-) And they love them...
I tried to respond to both of you a while ago but for some reason it did not post ... quirk in the system I guess?!
ReplyDeleteJackpines: What a blessing to have homeschooling in mind already. You can practice on any child you are in contact with :) and maybe some day you can homeschool your own, Lord willing. There is SO MUCH information out there that it can really be overwhelming. The truth is, every family is different and every child is different. What might sound so good at the start may end up being a disaster! Don't be afraid to toss it and start over :) :) :)
Ami - YES, thank you for pointing that out. I assumed that was the case but forgot to say anything about it in this post. One word commonly used here in the south is "puny". I grew up in Nebraska and "puny" meant tiny or small, but down here it means sick. I will never forget when someone asked me, "Are you puny?" I didn't really know what to think for a second or two and then of course logic kicked in and I asked them to clarify. Yes, I was puny!
Things like this are actually kind of fun to me :) It's neat how we can speak the same language but not always understand each other.
God bless you both!