Latin is a breeze this year as I am letting Duane do the lessons via the Visual Latin curriculum. Duane is a guy and that is a huge benefit as the boys relate to him far better than myself or another lady. It says something subtle and that is that Latin is for men. He is also silly and though his lessons are sound and clear they are fun for the boys. The lessons also fit into Charlotte Mason's principles of short, 20 minute lessons. Whether we are watching the DVD or doing the worksheets they never take much longer than 20 minutes. So it is easy, fun, meaty and we all are loving it.
Our lesson plans look like this:
Day 1: Lesson 1: grammar video with Duane
Day 2: Lesson 1: grammar worksheet reviewing the video lesson the day before
Day 3: Lesson 1: Sentence Video with Duane
Day 4: Lesson 1: Sentence Worksheet reviewing what we learned in the video the day before.
Day 5: Lesson 1: Reading Video with Duane
Day 6: Lesson 1: Reading worksheet reviewing what we heard in the video the day before.
Day 7: Review all three videos
Begin with lesson 2.
Before I made the switch to Visual Latin I had planned to continue on with the second edition of Minimus called Secondus. I had purchased the text for the boys and the teacher text for me, but somewhere along the way I lost it. When I went to begin planning for it I did not have it any more. I did have the Visual Latin DVD's and worksheets and as I looked at it I thought the boys would do better with this curriculum this year anyway and I sure liked the idea of having one less lesson to plan each day. I am so glad it turned out the way it did. If I ever find the Secondus I suppose I resell it, it is still in my humble opinion a fun way to learn latin.
We hope you had a wonderful Valentines's Day! I made heart hand pies for the boys and we topped it of with coconut cream YUM! We are in the throws of preparing for our Spring Break that will last three months. We will be doing school partly on the road as we travel about seeing family and friends. When you' all take a break for summer we will be getting back to the books. So if the postings are sporadic form here on out that is why. Now about this week. Bible: 2 Peter with Dad over breakfast.
Latin: We are into Chapter 8 in our Minimus text book. Only 4 chapters left for this year, then we do a few weeks of review of the whole year and we will be onto Secondus.
Copy work: Max is still working through the Aesop's copybook and should be finished this week, so I have begun to review cursive with the twins. We began writing in cursive due to the fact that they all needed help with the left to right orientation of our English language. Then we learned print, so for the remainder of this year they will be doing cursive practice using some copy work booklets from Westvon Publishing.
Zak chose to copy sayings from the civil war, Tj chose sayings about pets, and Max chose to work on sayings about the solar system.
Primary Language Lessons:The boys have been preparing for dictation all week. Two chose to locate hard words in each sentence and copy those each three times each, and Zak preferred to simply copy the whole passage. Then they switched and did the opposite and so after three days of reading, copying and looking at the passage they were given dictation of it and they all did well. They corrected their own mistakes with a red pencil.
Mathematics: This is the second time we have gone through the Everyday Number Stories and on this pass through the material the boys noted for themselves how much better they understand the math. Yeah!
Art: We read Drawing With Scissors, a short book report on Henry Matisse, last week and so this week have been doing some of that....drawing with scissors.
Music: The boys have been doing some music appreciation, filling in of booklets about Robert Schuman for our composer lap books and listening to his lovely music as they play quietly.
Insects: We just completed our reading of The Tale of Daddy Longlegs by Arthur Scott Bailey. Now the boys have chosen to read.....We will decide today.
Nature Notebook:
Geography: The Young Carthaginian by G. A. Henty History of Ancient Rome: We are reading and narrating through The Story of the Romans the story by Gruber and enhanced by Christine Miller. We are almost done making our myth pockets. This week we put together two, one for Pandora's Box and another for The Race for Atlanta.
You may observe as you read more of this post that our schedule has shifted. Last week the boys had a go at rearranging the schedule for project day and as that went so nicely and I wanted to make a change to the existing schedule I let them have a go at that as well, in their free time. We went about it the same with with slips of paper with each lesson title on it and they each fashioned what they thought was the best of schedules. Then they each took turns explaining their schedule and answering questions we each had about it. Then since they were all so similar we talked about the benefits and draw backs of each one.
After that there was a little bit of rearranging of lessons and they glued down the pieces of paper to another and turned in their ideas to me.
I changed only one thing and asked that the reading lesson be at the end of the day and they all agreed my reason for it was a good one so it was established. They all wanted to get the work done before lunch and have the afternoon to be more laid back, so I was very happy with that. They decided to split up art and music so one day we have art before lunch and the next day we have music after lunch because we usually read or listen for those lessons. When we have a work type music lesson it gets put before lunch.My ideas was to put the work t the front of the day and all the reading aloud after lunch and to the end of the day. Cool thing was that the boys all wanted to do that too. However I took the risk of letting them come up with the idea on their own. Makes the transition easier when we all want it.
Now we have a new schedule which I think works so much better than our last one and it gives us a good new feeling right in the middle of the year which refreshes us all. The new schedule is as follows... Bible: Finished reading through 1 Peter, Next week we are on to 2 Peter. (still over breakfast with Dad) Latin: Making paper soldiers the templates are part of the Minimus teachers manual. Most of the week was spent learning to read the dialogue in Ch. 7 called Do As You Are Told!
Aesop Copy Work:Max has just a few more pages to go before he finishes up his Aesop's copywork book, Zak and TJ are both done and enjoying some free time as a result of their hard work.
And we had a conversation about what various animals and plants do to prepare for winter. We focus mostly in this lesson on answering orally in complete sentences.
Then the next day we did a picture study lesson and used the discussion about it as a basis for writing a story using the picture as a prompt. Below is Zak's picture and story. The picture is from Living books curriculum Primary Language lessons Workbook which we use oft and on for these language arts lessons. However I was just at their site and found it not there. Cynce's Place has also made a lovely workbook too and at a better price. It can be found here.
Project Day, how it came about. This is something we started new this year, it is a way to have time for projects or lessons that take more than 20-30 min. to accomplish. Last year, I noticed that in many subjects the lessons the boys would benefit most from would involve lessons that took time. Lessons that gave them the space to think, create and then execute. I was very inspired by the bloggers Kim, Sara, and Tracy over at four& twenty and how they made this extra space in their school days for creativity. After ruminating on the ideas from their blog posts I bought Kim's book Habits of Being. Inspired more I also bought one of their literature guides for Douglas Florian's books of poems. I came up with the idea of adding a day to our 5 day school week to practice doing this type of lesson. So our sixth day of the week has been project day ever since. Recently I found this fun book called Project Based Education which I have only just begun to read through, but so far I have found it useful to provide many very practical ideas of how to implement projects in any style of homeschool of classroom setting you have. I like this idea for I think structure is important for creativity and it is often misunderstood that creativity needs no limits however the limits appropriately set will allow a young creative person to really soar. It also prepares students to develop more skills towards a self education; meaning the child does the work of learning. On our project days I am handing to them little by little the reins of structures and let them make more decisions and have more time to follow them through.
This week we spent a good twenty minutes developing the schedule for the day. I gave them the subjects, some of which they had already helped me decide on, written on strips of green paper. I described what each lesson entailed so they could see how long or short each one was. They each were given a turn to arrange the subjects how they thought the day would go best, and in an orderly fashion the other two gave feedback. Responding in an "orderly" fashion was the difficult part of the exercise. (smile) In this way we talked through the benefits and disadvantages of each schedule. I was pleased to see they were already in a habit to arrange the work so that the hard work would be done first and then the easier lessons would follow. They also already knew it was best to stagger the work with hard lesson next to easy lessons so that they did not tire before the work was done. All in all it was a good exercise for them to think it all through. Here is the schedule they came up with and followed.
In the end the day went much smoother and quicker because the boys had a mental picture of how it would go, they had a say in the plan, and they owned it. The ownership aspect for them is very motivating, and I have seen them thrive knowing they have this amount of control over their education. As they grow and use it wisely they will be given more.
Geography:Our Little Roman Cousin from Long Ago Language Arts: We completed our dictation exercise (PLL Lesson #47) and next week we will learning how to write letter. Looks like fun! Reading Practice: Elson Reader Book Three. As we are getting closer to the end of this reader my mind began to think about what would be next. Although we do own book four it seemed like perhaps the boys would like to pick out a real book of their own to read. I proposed this idea to them and they were very enthusiastic! yeah! So soon the boys will get to have their pick. I am so curious what they will chose. I will put a bottom limit on their choice, nothing easier than this for example but I'll let them shoot as high as they want to. TJ already has a keen interest in Rosemary Sutcliff's book Outcast because he loves the character Beric so much. He is willing to read a page a day until he finishes it. We'll see what the other two decide. Bedtime Read Aloud:Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff Latin: Chapter 7 of Minimus we are working on reading and translating the dialogue entitled "Do as You're Told!" our grammar points this chapter include the command form of verbs. Art: Ode to Matisse Mural still in progress.
Music: We have been enjoying Opal Wheeler's book about Robert Schuman.
Bible: We have begun reading from 1 Peter with our breakfast. Stories of Faith: Polycarp: The Crown of Fire by William Chad Newson. If you haven't noticed we are slowly transitioning into our study of Rome, and stories of faith abound during this historical period so we will be using many Rome based books the rest of this year. Mathematics: Everyday Number Stories can be a little deceptive when you first begin it. It starts out very simple and gets challenging quickly asking the students learn and then use the information presented in each lesson. TJ and Zak came to this frustrating point last week. They have had lessons before this week explaining about the concept of 2 pints making 1 quart and 4 pecks making a bushel and 3 feet equally 1 yard. They have had lessons working out problems asking them to figure how many feet are in 5 yards and what is 1/4 of a bushel etc. but they have failed to really learn these well for when the problems became more complicated 5 qt. - 3 pints = they were lost. They had been focusing on getting the problems done, but not on understanding what it was all meaning. SO we have slowed down, worked on problems slowly step by step, often visually and with manipulative until I could see the light bulb in their little minds turn on.
We continue with our reading about Albert Einstein from Kathleen Krull's lovely book. Aesop's Copy work:
Science, The Study of Insects: We have moved on to reading about insects this week leaving the reading about birds behind, but not the learning, for the boys are now more aware of birds, their habits and their features and they have an affinity for them. Their investigation of birds and the self education of them will continue for as long as they are living. The book we began with our look into insects is by Arthur Scott Bailey entitled The Tale of Kiddie Katydid. After reading a few chapters we got curious as to what a katydid looks like so we looked it up in our field guide.
Last summer we read Children of the Summer and Fabre's Insects, also great living books on this subject. Nature Notebook: We missed doing this this week. :( I was not feeling well, so we ended up having to postpone until next week.
Geography: Our Little Roman Cousin of Long Ago by Julia Darrow Cowles Language Arts: The boys have completed the small unit study we did with the poems in On the Wing by Douglas Florian. This week we wrote a poem beginning with an emotion, then using the information we know about birds to describe it. Then the boys painted a picture to go along with the poem.
Hungry,
is like a hawk who has a wife and children to think about.
He catches a mouse because he has a wife.
But now they all have a mouse to eat.
Zak
Patient,
is like a humming bird that hovers and waits for the nectar to come out.
He takes out the nectar because it's dinner.
But now he feeds his babies.
TJ
Impatient,
is like a roadrunner who is waiting for a dinner.
He catches a snake because his children are hungry.
But now his babies eat.
Max
Then we began a dictation for the short story The Dog In the Manger by Aesop found in PLL . This is the method for doing dictation that we used, and here Sonya from Simply Charlotte Mason explains dictation via youtube.
Reading Practice: I am so pleased with the boys this week as they have done such a wonderful job reading aloud to me from the Elson Reader. We have been reading out of book three and are very close to finishing it. They have made great progress this year. Looking back I would say that reading aloud was their least mastered subject, but this year they are reading with better strategies for unknown words, reading with more fluency, and reading more as to these two factors are becoming easier for them. TJ especially who struggled so much at the beginning of this year is reading well, and reading a lot. He is soaring past his brothers. Yesterday he read for me 6 pages of his own initiative. (I assign 2 pages) Zak has taken to reading from his Bible before bed time and when he has free time. Often he comes to me and reads me a chapter from Genesis. He is so proud! It is great to see them succeeding! Latin: We are now in Chapter 7 of Minimus and I decided to order Secondus for us next year before we begin the Visual Latin course with Duane. They have done so well with this course and the twins will only be eight years old next year so I think we will have better success if we do not rush on until the boys are ready for the level of detail Latin demands.
We have been practicing to read the new dialogue and understand the command form of latin words. They also used little sticky labels to label their armor and weapons they made last week with the latin words for each.
Art: Still working on our 24 page mural the bummer....our pens are drying up. :( this is what we have accomplished thus far...
This week and the last we have been ankle deep in Celtic soldiers and Famous Figures from Ancient Times action figures. The celtic figures above came from our Latin lesson of all places. Aren't they fierce looking? We were studying a dialogue about Britons are Best/ Romans are Best when this celtic warrior grabbed Zak's heart. He has colored, cut out and assembled a whole army of them. (25 or so) Coloring different ones different colors to signify rank etc. The celtic warriors above are the foot soldiers. No pun intended. :) Bible: We have been reading through the book of revelations over breakfast these past few weeks. And because I had it on hand I put up this amazing painting made by Michael Pearl. It depicts the flow of the happenings with references to where in Revelations the images come from. I sticky tacked it to the wall about the head height of the boys so they can really get a good look at it.
Stories of Faith: This week we began to read Twice freed by Patricia St. John. It is a historical fiction novel written around the character Onesiumus from the Bible, a run away slave whom mets up with and is befriended by Apostle Paul while he is in Rome. To be honest, I am a glad to be finished with David Livingston and H.M. Stanley as the many odd African names came up quite frequently in our book about him and made reading aloud a bit daunting for me. The boys were however not fazed by it one bit. Between this read and the greek myths and greek names in our geography books I am getting my fair share of education right along side the boys.
Arithmetic: We have begun a new schedule with our math exercises this week. I made the change as I could see the boys were getting TOO familiar with the Matrix and the meaning and use of it were fading. This was apparent as no one was beating their old time or cared to work to achieve this. I had to freshen things up a bit. Making a change in schedule can often bring a fresh feel to things so we talked together and I gave the boys two choices of schedules I felt comfortable with and asked which one they would prefer. They chose to do Everyday Number Stories five days a week and on project day do the Multiplication Matrix. We will see how this goes. Personally I am happy with their choice as the work in the Everyday Number stories will give them great practice in understanding the ins and outs of the factors they are memorizing for the Matrix Table. I feel the understanding is more important than the time. The time simply reflects how easily it is for them to come up with the answers but understanding shows they know how to use the answers.
We continue to read about Albert Einstein in Kathleen Krull's delightful book about him.
Ancient Greek History: We have been reading through The Heroes by Charles Kingsley. Maybe you like us like to be careful how myths and 'gods' are introduced to your children, then you may enjoy the preface as much as I did. Reading it first, before I read the book to the boys gave me some good ideas for how to place the myths and the greek gods into our faith framework established on God and what we know is true from the Bible. Here is a quote form the final bit of the preface:
"But you shall hear how the Hellens said their heroes worked, three thousand years ago. The stories are not true, of course, nor half of them; you are not simple enough to fancy that; but the meaning of the is true, and true for ever, and that is- Do right, and God will help you." Charles Kingsley at Farley Court Advent 1855.
I am interested also to read another book by Kingsley entitled The Good News of God to see just where he is coming from.
This portrait of Medusa the Gorgon from our Mythology Pocket download went into our History notebook along with this pocket including a short version of the myth we read in Kingsley's book.
Max's Notebook pages.
Geography: We have been reading through Three Greek Children by Alfred J. Church.
Science of Birds: Another lovely book by Arthur Scott Bailey has been on our reading list for science the past few weeks, The Tales of Solomon the Owl.
Nature notebooks: To catch up here are the last two entries the boys made in their nature notebooks.
Language Arts: Seasons of the year writing assignment, and dictation, see, saw, seen writing assignment, Memorize The Brown Thrush by Lucy Larcum. all lessons from Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl. Reading Practice: Elson Reader Book Three. I have been assigning the boys two pages a day from this reader, they can chose to read more but not less. I set the bar a little low for I wanted to allow them the chance to challenge themselves or let the story pull them into reading more. For after all we read to know not to fulfill assignments. This past month I have seen it happening and it is fun! They all read passably well, but not yet do they have enough skill to find reading a pleasurable pass time. Now however they have all taken the lead and chosen to read more either to beat their brother or because the story beckons them on to find out more, not every day but often. This is what I have been waiting for. Bedtime read aloud: Last week we read Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff and have begun another by the same author this week The Silver Branch.
Latin: We are in Chapter 6 of Minimus: Starting out in Latin. A good place to be as we are about midway through the year and midway through the book. These past few weeks we have been looking at a dialogues about britons versus Romans and going to York to go shopping. The boys are catching much better to the way Latin reads and being more confident in their translations without my help.
I also did a little research on Minimus Secundus the next book in the series and found a helpful website with reviews of loads of classic literature and curriculums. Here is an excerpt about Minimus Secundus:
"Further evidence of the book's success is found in more than 1,000 letters Bell has received from children containing highly unexpected remarks such as "Latin is cool" and "Latin is the only thing I go to school for."
Art and Music:
The enjoyment of Chopin's music and story goes on still.
Our drawing lessons have ceased for now and we have begun a study of Henri Matisse and continue our study of Chopin. The boys colored this painting/coloring page from The Artist Study Helper I made last year. One reviewer said this about it:
"What an enjoyable study this is. I'd never done an artist study before and honestly never really saw the benefits in it. This download has just about everything you need to complete a study on this particular artist: lesson plans, montessori cards, biography, full page picture study, notebooking pages, coloring pages and art lessons. It even says there is way more material included than you could ever fit into a 7 week study. Honestly, I think it'll take us 9 weeks to finish this but we're having fun. The guide outlines an 7 week study but of course you can make it last longer or cut it short if you need to. It nicely outlines what activities are included and how to complete them. A great feature for a mom very new to artist study. I recommend this for Kindergarten and up. I say "and up" because artist study can benefit all ages. A fun and neat study and it's affordable. The only drawback I see is that if you print out the works of the artist it takes up alot of ink. I would suggest possibly viewing it from the computer screen or checking out a library book that include his works. But that's not enough of a drawback to give it less than 5 stars."
After they colored this we spent a few days watching this Youtube video about Matisse. However I had to do quite a lot of editing so be forewarned the nudity is prevalent and it is wise to preview before you show it to your kiddos. Other than that it is a wonderfully done documentary about his life and work.
Afternoon Audio: The rest of the Narnia stories, The Silver Chair, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the Last Battle.
And that sums up our last two weeks of lessons, Thanks for dropping in...Have a great week!
