Poetry With Children

Poetry has always played a large role in our home. We have enjoyed it in various forms over the year & now it is very much a part of who we are.

We used to have 'Poetry Tea' usually once every couple of weeks, sitting around the table, sharing tea & cake.
We have now graduated to 'Poetry Supper'. This is a much anticipated event & we make time for it every week. We settle down on my bed, (tea & cake still play an important part of course!)
Everyone choses a book from which they wish to read & selects a poem or three.

I usually try to read the girls poem's for them first; then we read together, then they read alone. This is a tip I read in The Well Trained Mind & is useful for improving both fluency & the lyrical tone a child puts into their words. MY girls tend to want to dive straight into the poem, however. Everyone gets to have a turn, we read all sorts of poetry, by many authors (our current favourite is Edward Lear)

Children adore poetry. It is so natural to them, to play with words. Reading poetry aloud allows them to hear wonderful & rich language that may be above their own reading level. The language & rhythms can be exciting, comforting, silly, beautiful - many, many things. And this exposure is precious for developing life long readers.

Allow me to share with you our most favourite poetry books & the very simple recipe we use for Fairy Cakes:

The Oxford Book Of Children's verse

Favourite Poems Old & New

Poems To Read To The Very Young

A Journey Through Time In Verse & Rhyme

For our Fairy Cakes, we use the 'all in one sponge cake' recipe from Delia Smith. This is quick, easy & utterly delicious! Instead of making one big cake, we spoon it out into paper cases & make individual fairy cakes instead, baking for around 25-30 minutes.

Chef hat optional :)

Plans for 2012-2013

I have finished our plans for 2012-2013
Hurray!
I have spent a lot of time thinking, praying & generally mulling this over :)

I have two daughters, aged 6 & 9. I think that our scriptures for memory work are rather short, as this year they have memorised much longer passages, so I most likely will update those through the year.

This is the year I decided to bit the bullet & go for a formal maths curriculum. So far we have used living maths & other resources, but no curriculum. Being hopeless at maths myself, I was worried about the girls having huge gaps in their knowledge.
My youngest, Rose, seems to be spot on, with grade level. Elianna is way ahead in some areas & way behind in others, so I have started her on G3 Math Mammoth. I am quite nervous about this formal curriculum, but really looking forward to it.

Without further ado, I present our gentle learning for the next year...

Plans 2012-2013

Bible

Daily read from ‘The Book For Children’ & each child to narrate

Character

I will be looking to develop the following traits in myself & my girls J

Table manners

Mental effort & perseverance

Contentedness

Peacefulness

Forgiveness

Diligence

Discernment

Humbleness

Tactfulness

Being punctual

Memory Work

Ps 145:3

Dan 2:20

Ps 23:1

Luke 1:30-31

Ps 9:2

John 20:29

1 John 4:19

Matt 6:9

Ps 119:105

Ps 69:34

Deut 4:39

Poetry – a poem per month by Christina Rossetti

Elianna:

How many seconds

1+1

Hope is Like a harebell

Oh Lady Moon

In the bleak mid-winter

January cold & desolate

The dog likes his kennel

Oh wind, where have you been

Boats sail on the river

There is but one May in the year

A pin has a head

What is pink?

Rosie:

Hurt no living thing

1+1

Hope is Like a harebell

Oh Lady Moon

In the bleak mid-winter

A motherless soft Lambkin

Pussy

On the grassy banks

When the crows come home

There is but one May in the year

The city mouse

What is pink?

Artist Study

Monet:

Waterlillies after 1916

Water lilies(Nympheas) 1907

Waterlillies 1916-19

Water lilies(Nympheas) 1916

London: Houses of parliament. The sun shining through the fog 1904

The Japenese bridge (part of a series of 236) 1899

Van Gogh:

Starry Night

Irises

Self portrait with straw hat

The Spinner

Still life with sunflowers

Autumn landscape with four trees

Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

Pandora

The blessed damozel

Dante’s dream

Ecce Ancilla Domini

Lady Lilleth

Beata Beatrix

Composer Study

Benjamin Britten – Young persons guide to the orchestra

Sergei Prokofiev – Peter & the wolf

Paul Dukas – Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker

Handel: Water Music

Seasonal & Handcrafts

Celebrate the seasons & festivals of the year

Knitting mittens & hats

Tapestries

Ellie to knit bedsocks

Phonics & Reading

Keep revising phonics:

Ai, au, aw, ay, ea, ee, ei

Eigh, ew, ey, ie

Igh, oa, oe, oi,

Oo, ou, ough, ow

Oy, ui, er, ir

Ur, or, ear, our

Ed, ar, or

Ci, si, ti, sh

Dge, kn, ph, tch

Ch, ck, gn, ng, nk, th, wh, wr

Daily practice from ‘The Ordinary Parent’s Guide To Reading’

Daily quiet reading

Ellie to keep a reading notebook – 40 book challenge

Copy Work

Daily copywork – copy the current poem in cursive

Spelling

Follow the program from Anne Elliot

French

Read a bilingual book each day (monthly selections)

Max etMathilde – colours

Bearin sunshine

Bearat home

Teachme – Joyeux Noel

Max etMathilde – Shopping

Bearin a square

Bearabout town

Bear’sbusy family

Grammar

Ellie – Kiss Grammar L1(3)

Read the following Ruth Heller books:

Merry-Go-round: A Book About Nouns

Behind the Mask: A Book about Prepositions

Mine, All Mine! A book about pronouns

Up, Up and Away: A Book about Adverbs

Kites Sail High : A book about verbs

Maths

Rosie: Math Mammoth 2

Elianna: Math Mammoth 3

Latin

Elianna: The big book of Lively Latin Vol.1

Rummy Roots

Latin Words Sticker Book

Literature & Poetry

UnderstoodBetsy

As Youlike it

Thewind in the willows

Amidsummer nights dream

Pilgrim’s progress

Poetry Tea each fortnight.

History

The Story of The Greeks

Talesof the Greeks

The Story of The Romans

Talesof the Romans

Geography

The seven little sisters who lived on the round ball that floats in the air

Jungles

Arctic Circle

Arabian Desert

Switzerland (mountains)

China (rivers)

Africa (Grasslands)

Germany (river valley)

Review the continents

Memorise European countries

Creating/Working with maps

Science

Life in Woods & fields

Shanlaya’sQuest
R.E.A.L.Science – Life (Human body / animals / botany)

Nature Study

Weekly nature walks & keeping a nature notebook

Out & About

Regular places we go – Brownies / Youthclub etc plus monthly field trips
Elianna's art lessons

Plans...

Things are ticking along nicely at the "Raising Little Shoot's" Home School...

I have been considering how we will progress in the next 'school' year & it will be very much a continuation of what we are doing right now. I have just finished my annual report for our Local Education Authority (did I mention that I now work for them?!?!) and I thought I would share here... I have explored many different styles of education over the years, but I am always called back to the beautiful, gentle style of Charlotte Mason.
 I am not a purist by any stretch of the imagination, employing ideas from Classical educators & even Steiner, but it is Miss Mason that wins my heart : ) I find her ideas inspiring & refreshing for our day to day whole - life needs.

  Key ideas that I employ - Discipline I hope to instil good habits within my girls such as working hard, honesty, manners & so forth. I find that a regular rhythm with our schoolwork helps with the ‘working hard’ part - they know what is expected of them & this (usually !) keeps complaints about settling down to work at bay. They have daily & weekly chores for which they are responsible. Keeping up with these & doing them well is cause for a celebration - we have a fortnightly ‘ice-cream party’ as a reward for jobs well done!

  Free Time I work our schedules to allow plenty of free time - as much as possible to be spent outdoors (weather permitting) Our academic work is done in the mornings when we are all fresh & rested. Afternoons are for further reading / handcrafts / baking / playing etc.

  Wonderful Books I use textbooks occasionally as a ‘spine’ for our studies, but much prefer what Miss Mason referred to as ‘Living Books’ - quality books that were written by people who loved their subject matter and brought their subject alive through action and character development.

  Narration The art of ‘telling back’. When I read to the girls, I require them to tell me about what I have read on many occasions. Elianna is a master at this, Rosie is just getting to grips with it.

  Short lessons We don’t do ‘busy work’. I don’t expect the girls to complete reams of worksheets etc. Everything we do has a point. I do require the girls to focus & give me their best for short periods of time. This does not exclude getting deeply into projects, stories, games etc.

  Our Days - Mornings for us are when we focus on our studies. We have a timetable that I try to follow most days. Mon-Thurs are usually as follows - We start our days with Bible Reading. We do this as we eat breakfast & the girls narrate what we have read. Once chores are over & we start 'School time'- we begin with memory work - Bible passages, poems, phonics, math facts (currently Elianna is working on her times tables, Rosie addition & subtraction facts. Sometimes historical or geographical facts. We also have a ‘word for the day’ I chose a word from the dictionary & we have fun using it throughout the day.

  Latin Elianna has just begun a very gentle study of Latin. I shall see how this goes. I am hoping it with give us a greater understanding of our own language & help with other languages in the future. We are using ‘Getting Started With Latin’ by William E. Linney

  Language Arts
 Spelling
The girls have spellings to learn each week, which they spell out orally & also write out as practice. I make the lists myself, either using the particular phonics rule we are looking at that week, something they are having difficulty with, or choose a high frequency word.

 Read Alouds

I read aloud to the girls each day from a chapter book, as does their dad. Current read alouds are Sea-bird by C.Holling Holling, Well really, Mr Twiddle by Enid Blyton & The Goblet of Fire from the Harry Potter series.

 Grammar

Elianna & I work on grammar daily. So far we have looked at sentences, punctuation, nouns & verbs. I have just ordered a formal grammar curriculum - Ridgewood Grammar Book 1. I have also ordered a fun looking pop-up book called ‘The Great Grammar Book’ by Kate Petty

 Writing

Elianna has begun to work on various writing projects. We have been looking at the elements of stories (Genres, settings, characters & so forth)Currently she is writing her own sequel to ‘The Billy Goats Gruff’ She has an idea for her story & has developed her characters. She hit a problem with the ‘climax’ of the story. We are reading several traditional renderings of other fairy tales & looking at the plots to see how they handle plot development. (A lot of trickery & deceit!) This is one of the beautiful aspects of home education! Working on a project like this - no rush, really digging deep into a topic of interest.

 Copy Work

Daily the girls practice their handwriting. Much to Rosie’s chagrin - this is her least favourite thing to do! Both girls write in cursive for copy work - I taught Elianna print first when she was younger & then she progressed to cursive. With Rosie I chose to begin straight away on cursive, one of the main reasons being that she is left handed & I hoped this would make life easier for her, preventing letter reversal. Most of the copy work we do is letters to the girls pen friends, or letters to family members. They also copy the poems we memorise.

Reading

Each child reads to me daily & also has some ‘quiet reading’ time were they read by themselves.

 Maths I began the school year using Kumon workbooks, internet print outs & various books for maths. We now mainly use www.khanacademy.org for the girls daily maths lessons. This is a great website, with super tuition for a math-phobe like myself! The girls love to do their work on the computer & I love that they are working at a level that suits them & stretches them, allowing them to master topics before moving on, with plenty of opportunity for us to review.

  Afternoons are a time for exploring.
Here is an idea of how things *usually* go (read sometimes, but certainly not always!)

  Mondays & Thursdays
we read a wide range of books that lead us deeper into history, geography, science, art history etc— just simply sitting & reading a pile of books. This sparks interest & the girls often follow up with projects, experiments & such. They are also encouraged to explore crafts & we have a full-to-bursting art cupboard at their disposal. They both knit & both have their own spinning wheels.

  Tuesdays we have our ‘Poetry Tea’s’ - we set the table & have a tea party complete with Strawberry tea & either home-made cakes or shop bought biscuits. We get out our stack of poetry books & sometimes we work to a theme (such as the weather, animals, season etc) or just pick out at random. We read, eat, drink & chat to our hearts content. Elianna has been attending a place at an Art Class for home educators fortnightly on Tuesday afternoons.

  Wednesdays The girls usually visit my parents & go swimming.

  Fridays Fridays we break from the routine of the rest of the week. In the morning we have spelling tests & the girls read to me. Then we have our nature study time - getting our doors if possible, or bringing nature indoors to observe & draw. We keep a year-round nature table which the girls display their find of rocks, mosses, flowers etc. The girls each have a nature journal in which they sketch & paint. Friday afternoons we meet with other home educating families or just hang out together & live our life.

 This year I hope to continue in the same vein as last year - concentrating on basic skills - the Three R’s, I suppose! Mastery of topics is really important for me & something I am prepared to invest time into.
Elianna has really excelled at her drawing & I hope she will continue to seek to develop her skills. She will certainly be encouraged by her dad & I. She is my dreamy, creative girl & we will encourage her skills in creativity -drawing, stories, painting, crafts etc. Her maths are very solid, though she would say she is not very good at it. To me, I think a more accurate meaning would be “I don’t like this very much!’ When doing a more complicated equation, long division, for example, she occasionally needs me to help her think through the process, so she doesn’t forget part (keeping track of the remainder, for example). This is where mastery comes in - keeping reviewing until the idea is solid but still review often.
 This year has been a big one for Rosie! She has joined Elianna for academics in the mornings & has learned to read & do basic maths. (she has gone from saying 1+1=4 - ‘because I want it to’ (!) to competently adding & subtracting ‘simple’ 3 digit sums & beginning multiplication & division. Rosie has a passion for both animals & people - she loves to be outdoors holding toads, insects, caterpillars etc & she really enjoys weekly youth Club. This year our French lessons haven’t worked for us. They just have not been something we have kept up with. It is something I will
considering coming back to.
I look forward to hearing your plans!

Our Plans 2011-2012

Here is a look at our school plans for 2011-2012 - only time will tell if it works better in reality than on paper, or if it will need a revamp!

Main Resources:

Bible:
The Child's Story Bible
Telling God's Story Curriculum

French

Language Arts
Phonics:
The Writing Road To Reading
The Reading Lesson

First Language Lessons

Maths:

MEP

History/Geography

The Story of the world 1
Activity Book
Encylopedia World History

Science

Kingfisher Encyclopedia Of Animals
Kingfisher 1st Human Body Encyclopedia
Growing Up Green
Keeping A Nature Journal

Music/Art

Classics For Kids
Drawing on the right side of the brain

Outside Activities
Girls Friendly Society
Swimming
Brownies
Rainbows
Locally organised nature walks & activities
Knitting Club

Monday

Read from The Child's Story Bible

Prayer, Hymn & Memory Work (includes Bible, Lang Arts, Maths, Hist & Geog, Science, French & General topics)

Language Arts:
First Language Lessons
The Writing Road to Reading for penmanship, phonics & spelling - will see how this goes, is new to me & very teacher intensive to understand & read through all the book! I will see how this pans out...
The Reading Lesson
Daily Reader
Independent 'Fun' reading

Maths

MEP lesson

SOTW
Read the story, work on the colouring page. Narration.

Tuesday

Read from The Child's Story Bible

Prayer, Hymn & Memory Work

Language Arts:
First Language Lessons
The Writing Road to Reading for penmanship, phonics & spelling
The Reading Lesson
Daily Reader
Independent 'Fun' reading

Maths

MEP lesson

SOTW
Read the story. Narration. Mapwork.


Wednesday

Read from The Child's Story Bible

Prayer, Hymn & Memory Work

Language Arts:
First Language Lessons
The Writing Road to Reading for penmanship, phonics & spelling
The Reading Lesson
Daily Reader
Independent 'Fun' reading

Maths

MEP lesson

SOTW
Read from history encyclopedia . Look at related library books
Complete this weeks lapbook booklet


Thursday

Read from The Child's Story Bible

Prayer, Hymn & Memory Work

Language Arts:
First Language Lessons
The Writing Road to Reading for penmanship, phonics & spelling
The Reading Lesson
Daily Reader
Independent 'Fun' reading

Maths

MEP lesson

Science:
We are working as follows:
Animals approx 20 weeks
Human Body approx 10 weeks
Plants approx 6 weeks

At the moment we are working from our animals topic.
We read from the encylopedia about our chosen animal, the girls narrate, draw a picture & make a notebook page.
Then we spend time on further reading. So far this has been a very rich topic for us. With the help of our cat(!) we have had a mouse to observe, and an extremely handsome dragonfly. We have looked at butterflies & ladybirds. The cat is on our list too : )

Thursday afternoons are devoted to our Afternoon Teas
We usually drink strawberry tea & eat goodies baked by the girls. We either listen to Classics For Kids, work on our drawing, or celebrate a festival (such as Michaelmas) or enjoy a nature celebration (such as the harvest moon)


Friday

Read from The Child's Story Bible

Prayer, Hymn & Memory Work

Language Arts:
spelling
Daily Reader
Independent 'Fun' reading

Our Craft time
I always have something planned - often from our SOTW activity guide.

Nature Study
We take a nature walk & make an entry into our nature journals.

Sunday
A weekly reading & activity from God's Story

My year is all planned out. I am not sure how I will fare with The Writing Road To Reading - I am feeling rather overwhelmed by it right now & may go back to spelling workout. It just is so appealing - to have such a thorough spelling course. We shall see.

I spend time every couple of months sitting down & planning out the 'lovely' things - festivals & nature studies etc etc & weekly I plan out our lessons in detail.

History

I have decided that we are going to re-read Story Of The World Vol 1

Having thought long & hard I feel I should have given this book more space in our schooltime.
So we shall re-read. I have purchased the activity guide & I shall be using it along with the wonderful resources from The Chronicle Of The Earth blog.
Elianna shall be making the Ancients Lapbook (all printed out & ready to go!)
I shall be using the extensive resource notes for each chapter
All the wonderful resources are listed here.

Isnt that an exciting prospect!

Lots Of Things...

Firstly, I have finished the shawl I began last January.
It has been a pleasure to knit, but lots of other knitting came along & usurped it! Once the Christmas knitting was done, I made a concerted effort to work on it & get it finished.



Our snow has all gone now, but not in our play -







Our January school has us learning about time.
Here is our blackboard (I copied this drawing from the wonderful Our Little Nature Nest



Time is a beautiful topic that we are particularly enjoying. Such a rhythmic topic, it appeals to our sense of order.
Elianna has begun a calendar & she is illustrating each month & writing a verse from The Months by Sara Coleridge


January brings the snow,
makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes loud and shrill,
stirs the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daises at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy damns.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hand with posies.

Hot july brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm september brings the fruit,
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasents,
Then to gather nuts is pleasent.

Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat.

Another big project Elianna has begun working on is her first knitted jumper!
This has involved a lot of addition, place value work & measurement.
So far she has costed out the garment & ordered the yarn & needles that she needs. Everything arrived this morning, which is very exciting!
The next job is to dye the yarn & ball it up, all ready to knit : )
This morning we sent a while discussing colour theory & making our own colour wheels.

Elianna's Wheel



We discussed Sir Isaac Newton's classic experiment of passing daylight through a prism to break it down into it's components of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo & Violet. We spent a lot of time talking & thinking about how different colours are different wavelengths & why we see colours as we do.
Fascinating stuff!

My girls have gone to visit Grandma this afternoon & I intend having a huge sort out of our books. I want to spend the time re-arranging them & generally tidying them up : )

Our Charlotte Mason Inspired Curriculum

In this post I hope to share with you my Charlotte Mason inspired home school plans.

Our study begins at the breakfast table with Bible reading.
I am following a basic plan for our readings this year:

Mon - Thurs - we read the same reading each day. I am working through a long list of scriptures that teach about the life & gospel of Jesus Christ.
After i have read to my girls, on monday they begin a drawing of what we have read. They have the whole week to finish it, so they have created some masterpieces!
On tues I require my 7 yo to give a narration of the reading.
Wednesday is usually writing a title for the drawing.
Thursday is completing the picture & sometimes acting out a little skit, depending on the reading.

Friday - I have decided to work slowly through Leading Little Ones To God I used this as a daily devotional when my now seven year old was three.
There are 14 Parts in the book, split into 86 chapters. Each chapter begins with an introduction from the author, which the parent is to read to the child. Then 'Something to talk about' - questions to prompt discussion between the parent & child(ren)
A memory verse & scripture to read & finally a hymn.
I shall use this book as a spine for discussing our beliefs. We shall not be reading all of the chapters - some I do not agree with from a theological point of view & some, in my opinion contain ideas too old for my children.
We shall begin by reading the suggested scripture & then & shall read the devotional by the author, & use the discussion questions when appropriate, but we will not be using the memory verse or hymn.

Saturday - I read Genesis 1:1-2:7

Sunday - I read the psalm & gospel reading that will be read later that morning at our church.

Each morning after Bible Study we practice our memory verse for the month.
Here is a wonderful system that we use to aid our Bible recitation.

After breakfast & morning chores comes circle time

Prayer & hymns
We begin with prayer & then sing our hymn that I have chosen for the month. The girls used to add music with a shaker, or tambourine or some such thing, but they have their own hymn book now, of which they are very proud & has produced a more studious atmosphere!

Verses
We then have a poem or two that we are reciting together & a finger play.
I then read a poem from each childs poetry book.
Elianna has A Child's Garden of Verses
Rosie has Mother Goose

Maths Facts
Times tables, counting, skip counting etc is learned via movement - jumping, clapping, throwing beanbags, bouncing balls. We use a lot of energy here : )

French
We are still learning french via songs & rhymes. I am now on the lookout for a french program for us to follow next year, so if anyone has any suggestions, please do let me know!

Reading & phonics instruction
I am using Word Mastery for both my girls.
Elianna also reads from a reader & has spelling words that she learns - I give her five at a time - she writes them out each morning & when she knows them, she knows them! No race : )

We then take a wee break while Elianna makes a snack for both girls & I read from When we were very young for Rose.

Read Alouds
While the girls have their snack I begin the read alouds.

Monday
The Story of the World: Ancient Times v. 1
Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales
Little House in the Big Woods

Tuesday
The Story of the World: Ancient Times v. 1
Parables from Nature
Little House in the Big Woods


Wednesday
The Story of the World: Ancient Times v. 1
A Childs geography of the world
Little House in the Big Woods


Thursday
A Childs geography of the world
The Aesop for Children
Little House in the Big Woods


Friday
Fairy Frisket, Or, Peeps at Insect Life

Science
On mondays, after read alouds we do an experiment from Science Arts: Discovering Science Through Art Experiences
I cant recommend this book highly enough! Simple , quick fun experiments that can be carried out with supplies from around the home.
Fridays are Nature Study days!
We love nature study in our home : )
We use various read alouds & go on nature walks at least once a week.
I have found Handbook of Nature Study & Barb's Handbook of nature study blog
invaluable. Nature study is such a simple thing to do, with little or no preparation, but reaps great rewards.

Copywork
In between read alouds, mon to thurs, we a have a copywork lesson. I am using Peterson Directed Handwriting to teach cursive to both my girls. I decided to teach Rose cursive first as she is left handed. This was a freebie I found on a blog (& I cannot remember for the life of me whose blog!)
As it was a freebie, it cannot be printed out, but this has turned out to be a blessing in disguise!
We begin the week with me writing the letter on our blackboard
This method uses lots of movement & also rhymes to teach the letters. My 7 yo is whizzing along & producing lovely writing & my 5 yo is slowly building up her cursive too.

Maths
Maths Maths Maths!
Every so often I dither about our maths! I am not using a curriculum & have decided (I think! LOL!) to keep it that way for this year.
My goals are to commit to memory the 10, 5 & 3 times tables, master addition, subtraction, division & multiplication, Learn to tell the time for my 7 yo (who is only just beginning to ask about time - so far she has been wonderfully unaware & burdened : )
She is great with the four processes, but I intend to really work on these this year & also mental arithmetic.
We shall be doing a lot of abacus work. Here is a great PDF I would like to share that is very helpful for getting started.

Well, I hope this is clear. I am sure to have missed some parts of our school day out, I am sure - they will come to me if I have!

Picture study & music appreciation will come in another post!

One last thing I would like to mention - here is a great resource for those who are planning their own Charlotte Mason inspired home school:
Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education

I am off to bath my girls - they have just arrived home from the cinema & pizza with daddy : )
Bath time, supper & story for them & off to bed. A little knitting & a G&T for mummy!

Have a great Sunday!

A Tentative New Post...

I miss my blog!
I miss reading & responding to all the lovely comments left for me. I made some great friends via the blogging world. But at the same time, blogging takes time!
So, cautiously, I am beginning my blog again.

The last year has brought some great challenges for my family. I am very tired now. Very tired! But I am delighted to be in the new place that I am.

The changes have caused me to re-think a lot of things, including our education plans. And it is with great delight that I have met with an old friend - Miss Charlotte Mason!

We are nearing the end of our first week 'Charlotte Mason Style'. A week beset with illness & appointments & other interruptions that would normally reduce this home-bird to a quivering wreck. However, our easy pace, short lessons & wonderful read alouds have wrapped beautifully around our family life, like the sumptuous wrappings around an expensive gift.

Peace.

I soon shall be posting our plans for the first 'term' of school. We actually began back in September, but have decided to plan our books etc counting this as our first week.

I also would like to share the following quote, which has really got me thinking:

‎"In this way: give your a child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information."

Vol 1, Part V Lessons As Instruments Of Education, p.174
The Original Homeschooling Series by Charlotte

January Plans

As I mentioned in my last post, there will be no school for the first week of January.
Despite the fact that I have my plans all neatly written out, I have a bit of a panic at this time of year - a vague sense of ' I dont know what I am doing!' I think it relates to us having had the whole of December off regular 'school' - although we maintain circle time, we switch to baking, gift making & card making.
So back to school in January is somewhat of a shock!
I spent time this morning reading over my plans for January & printing out our circle time hymn, verses & songs to put in my little 'Verses Book" that I carry around.
I also planned out what I would like to achieve during our holiday - yes, even our holiday time has structure. I find it works best this way, otherwise the temptation of the television is too much!

Here is my list:

Daily walks in the woods - During school time, our daily walks take us to a local park - which is very pretty - but on days with no school, we have more time to wander that little bit further into the woodland.

"French Day" - We are learning French, so it will be super to cook a traditional French meal for Dinner. We can decorate the table with French flags the girls have coloured & toast our meals 'à la française' - À votre santé : )

Blackboard Fun - the girls can be let loose with chalks on Mummy's blackboard - this is truly an honor!

Play Games We have some lovely games & puzzles A morning spent palying them together with no other tasks will be a lot of fun!

Face Paints I shall strip the girls & let them at each other with face paints : )
A lovely warm sudsy bath will follow : )

An afternoon curled up on the sofa with books & hot chocolate no further explaination needed : )

I hope to be able to take some time this week to work on our second grade plans for September.......but that is another post altogether : )

December Circle Time

December Circle Time

Hymn -
Silent Night

Scripture -
Luke 2:8-14
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Alphabet beanbag toss

Verse -
Hush a bye, hush a bye, holy night,
angels have brought the child of light:
All mankind shall gently bear Him,
all the beasts shall nestle near Him,
all the flowers shall adore Him,
all the stones shall kneel before Him,
all the world shall worship Him,
Cherubim & Seraphim.

Winter - Wynstones

Finger Play -

Mary rocks her baby, (rock)
Joseph holds a light (twinkle fingers)
ox & ass are standing
In the stable bright (‘rainbow’ hands)

Shepherds in the doorway
Comr to greet the child, (bow)
Now they kneel before Him (mime)
And His mother mild

One holds out a lambkin (hold out hands)
soft & white as snow, (stroke)
All shall give their presents (hold out hands)
Ere they homeward go (wave)
Winter - Wynstones

Song -

We are shepherds& we sing of lots of jolly things.
We can dance & we can shout, we can wave our caps about.
The stars shine above us, the snow shines below And we are so happy in this wondrous glow.

Winter - Wynstones


Math Facts -
Counting 1-100 / 100-1 beanbag games

(bean bag toss. Whisper numbers, shout the skip count numbers)

There was a family strange indeed;
Each member had a peculiar speed
They could walk for half a day
Counting footsteps all the way.
Here they come,
Number One

I am proper, neat & prim
My walk is straight, my clothes are trim
That every one’s the same for me.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 (up to 24)

But my two steps are not the same.
For I must lean upon my cane
Although I’m bent & weak & old
I can still count with numbers bold
2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24

Im a lad, light & gay
And I’d much rather play
I can run with my ball
While the numbers I call
3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36


Our French Song -

He is born the divine child
He is born the divine child,
          Play oboe, resonate musette.
          He is born the divine child,
          Let's all sing his accession.
          For more than four thousand years
          We've promised by the prophets,
          For more than four thousand years
          We've been waiting for this happy time.
          A stable is his lodging,
          A bit of hay is his little bed,
     A stable is his lodging,
          For a god such a humble thing.
          O Jesus, o all powerful king,
          Such a little child you are,
          O Jesus, o all powerful God,
          Rule completely over us.

Il est né le divin enfant
Il est né le divin enfant,
Jouez hautbois, résonnez musette.
Il est né le divin enfant,
Chantons tous son avènement.
Depuis plus de quatre mille ans
Nous le promettaient les prophètes,

Depuis plus de quatre mille ans
Nous attendions cet heureux temps.
Une étable est son logement,
Un peu de paille est sa couchette,
Une étable est son logement,
Pour un dieu quel abaissement.
O Jésus, ô roi tout puissant,
Tout petit enfant que vous êtes,
O Jésus, ô roi tout puissant,
Régnez sur nous entièrement.


Rosie’s Story - (preschooler)
The little Fir Tree
Winter - wynstones

Snack time & read aloud -
One Wintry Night

November Circle Time

November Circle Time

Hymn -

Holy Holy Holy

Scripture -

Philippians 4:6-7:
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Alphabet beanbag toss

Verse -

Grey squirrel, grey squirrel,
swish your bushy tail ( wave arm behind back)
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel,
swish your bushy tail ( wave arm behind back)
Wrinkle up your little nose (mime)
Hold a nut between your toes (run on the spot)
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel,
swish your bushy tail ( wave arm behind back)

Autumn - Wynstones

Finger Play -

A Farmer rose at the break of day, (stretch arms)
He got on his horse & galloped away. (gallop!)
He galloped away, he galloped away,
He got on his horse & galloped away. (gallop!)
Oh, come all my men, oh come, said he, (beckon finger)
Our carrots & turnips for to see. (put out hands)
In the warm brown earth they have grown so big
We must bring out our spades & dig dig dig. (mime)
So fetch your spades & come along
To dig up the roots with your arms so strong, (mime)
To lay them out in the sun to dry,
And then in the cart pile them up on high (mime)

Autumn - Wynstones

Song -

Autumn goodbye, Autumn goodbye,
You may no longer stay, Winter is on its way.
Autumn goodbye, Autumn goodbye,

Autumn - Wynstones

Clapping Rhyme -

Remember, remember the fifth of November (clap rhythmically , show 5 fingers)

Gunpowder, treason and plot. (clap rhythmically)

I see no reason, why gunpowder treason (clap rhythmically ( shake head)

Should ever be forgot. (clap rhythmically)

Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent (clap rhythmically)

To blow up king and parliament. (hands ‘burst’)

Three score barrels were laid below (3 fingers)

To prove old England's overthrow. (clap rhythmically)



By God's mercy he was catch'd (clap rhythmically)

With a darkened lantern and burning match. (clap rhythmically)

So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring. (shout!)

Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king. (shout!)

Math Facts -
Counting 1-100 / 100-1 beanbag games

(bean bag toss. Whisper numbers, shout the skip count numbers)

There was a family strange indeed;
Each member had a peculiar speed
They could walk for half a day
Counting footsteps all the way.
Here they come,
Number One

I am proper, neat & prim
My walk is straight, my clothes are trim
That every one’s the same for me.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 (up to 24)

But my two steps are not the same.
For I must lean upon my cane
Although I’m bent & weak & old
I can still count with numbers bold
2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24

Im a lad, light & gay
And I’d much rather play
I can run with my ball
While the numbers I call
3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36

My step is strong
I’ll not go wrong
With all my might
Ill guard what is right
I’ll always know
How far to go
4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36,40,44,48

Like a mouse I go
Fearfully tip toe
Looking to the left
Looking to the right
Watching to & fro
Danger’s not in sight
Lightly I arrive
I an number five.
5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55,60

Our French Song -

Do you know how to plant cauliflowers?


Do you know how to plant cauliflowers?
In the fashion, in the fashion
Do you know how to plant cauliflowers?
In the fashion of our place
We plant them with the finger
In the fashion, in the fashion
We plant them with the finger
In the fashion of our place
We plant them with the foot
In the fashion, in the fashion
We plant them with the foot
In the fashion of our place
Do you know how to plant cauliflowers?...
We plant them with the knee ...
We plant them with the elbow ...
Do you know how to plant cauliflowers?...
We plant them with the nose ...
We plant them with the head ...
Do you know how to plant cauliflowers?...

Savez-vous planter les choux?


Savez-vous planter les choux?
À la mode, à la mode
Savez-vous planter les choux?
À la mode de chez nous
On les plante avec le doigt
À la mode, à la mode
On les plante avec le doigt
À la mode de chez nous
On les plante avec le pied
À la mode, à la mode
On les plante avec le pied
À la mode de chez nous
Savez-vous planter les choux?...
On les plante avec le genou ...
On les plante avec le coude ...

Savez-vous planter les choux?...
On les plante avec le nez ...
On les plante avec le tête ...
Savez-vous planter les choux?...

(I copied this from the internet & now cannot find the source. Please leave a comment for me if you know the writer - I would like to credit Him & link to his website. Thank you)

Rosie’s Story - (preschooler)
Autumn Story -
pg 66 Autumn - wynstones

My New Blackboard! (part 2)

Not long ago, I became the owner of a Blackboard
Oh, how happy i was!!!!!
But soon, dissatisfaction crept in & I began to covert bigger blackboards.
Well, here is my *new* blackboard : )
35" X 60"



Perfect : )

My poor husband says this board will have to stay perfect. We cannot possibly have a bigger blackboard in our dining room, which is where my wonderful board resides.
My poor, long suffering husband ; )

Along with my blackboard, the dining room is host to my beloved welsh dresser, which is home to my collection of blackboard chalk, all lovingly arranged in rainbow fashion.
I buy regular soft artist's pastels for my board & they are working very well, so far.



To be inspired by wonderful blackboard art, have a look at Flickr: Steiner in Suffolk & Creative blackboards.

Happy Chalking!

Alphabet Blackboard Drawings

This post is going to be my resource for my alphabet blackboard drawings.
I hope it is useful to someone else, too!

"W" ~ Waves



"T" ~ Tree



"S" ~ Swan



"M" ~ Mountain



"F" ~ Fish





"C" ~ Cat



"H" ~ Hut



"J" ~ Jug





"B" ~ Bear/Butterfly



"G" ~ Golden Goose



"K" ~ King Thrushbeard