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So what have we done in 12 weeks?! This is my girls kindergarten year and we're following the Charlotte Mason philosophy, as outlined by Ambelside Online, Mater Amabilis (because we are Catholic), and Karen Andreola's book, A Charlotte Mason Companion. Plus lots of great ideas from some of my favorite books and blogs. This community is so rich and incredible. I'm very thankful to be able to read about how other moms have done it. I'm also in a few facebook groups - those have also helped at times too.
Here's What We've Done
Bible
We start every morning at our prayer board. We write down the the prayers people ask us to pray and then pray over that board. I read the bible to the girls after this. We learn prayers, listen to our hymns, and today we prayed the whole rosary! I also just got the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism, and soon I will get the Angel Food books to accompany that. We also read stories from our Little Visits With God book. Once a week, if our schedule and Silas allows, we start our co-op off at church. This time I would say would be like our Morning Basket.
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| I ordered these little angels on Amazon for the girls to have for Bible/Religion time. |
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| Our prayer corner. |
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| once a week we go to co-op. Mass and assembly takes place in this beautiful church! |
Play, outdoor time, and nature study (science)
The kids all play outside, freely, as much as the day allows. PLAY PLAY PLAY is so important to me!! Research proves there's no better way to learn than through play. We also have more structured outdoor time by taking walks and learning plant, tree, flower, and animal identification. We're part of a CM co-op where we take group walks together, the girls learn about painting, and then paint in their journals.
Learning About
Birds
Trees
Flowers
Bugs
Animals
Weather
Habits
When it comes to habits we've made progress! They have a morning routine that they follow very well. They get up brush teeth, make beds, pick up their room, and get dressed. They come to me with their brush and pony tail. Then we're all ready for breakfast followed by bible and prayer time.
Some mornings I put a small basket of their clothes in the room so they can fold those and put away too. Daily, I continue to focus on attention, helpfulness, and kindness.
Children's Literature
The next most important part of our homeschool...lots of good stories! So what have we read this term?
The House At Pooh Corner
Bears On Hemlock Mountain
Beatrix Potter (We have read all of her stories (the shorter ones) last year, but I still like to read them again from time to time. Plus their little brother Silas is getting close to 3 so he's starting to enjoy them as well. He asked for Peter Rabbit just the other day)
Jame's Herriot's Treasury For Children - The girls LOVED this book!!!
Kindergarten Gems (a few stories)
Little Folks Land (we've just started)
Christian Mother Goose Treasury II (We have I and have read it through a couple of times. We found treasury II at half price books for $5! Dandelion Sea is such a sweet place).
I'm so excited about accomplishing all of this reading with the girls in 12 weeks. We've also been learning to read and they are both making lots of progress! It's so exciting to witness this. I'm not pushing learning to read, we just do a little each day. I use early readers like Bob Books, Dick and Jane, and The Primer combined with Alpha Phonics. We still do lots of review of letters and their sounds. I'm introducing blends as they come up in our reading, naturally. I point them out and we repeat them together a few times. Their little brains are making the obvious reading connections, almost like magic. It's beautiful!
Copywork
We use the pages form Alpha Phonics that we are working on, poems, and prayers for our copy work (handwriting). We write letters and the girls copy all kinds of cards and things they find around the house. We do just a little each day, and I don't stress about handwriting right now.
We've also done some memorizing this term:
Poems
Rober Lois Stevenson
The Sea
A Thought
Rain
Bed In Summer (WIP)
Prayers
The Meal Prayer
Hail Mary
Our Father
Our Lady Of Knock Prayer
A few bible verses
Other
The Pledge Of Allegiance
We've done some Geography:
Introduction to direction N,S,E,W
Maps (we color the states in on a map after we learn something about that state)
Our address
Some nearby Cities (where family members live)
A handful of states
Nearby Rivers, lakes
Oceans
Mexico
Alaska
Globe project
Reading through the books, "We Learn About Other Children" and "Children Just Like Me"
Math
Program wise, we use MEP math and Ray's Arithmetic. We also just discuss the basic concepts of math, numbers, counting, addition/subtraction as often as possible. We work through word problems I make up mentally, play math games, cook, and just do lots of natural every day learning with it comes to math. Right now they love MATH, it's really fun and hands on. It's a nice break between reading. I'm reading Arithmetic For Parents by Ron Aharoni and I love it! He's a mathematician and his book is awesome. Great guide to teaching elementary math based on research, history, and the foundations of math.Handicrafts / Crafts / Projects
Peanut Butter Pine Cone bird feeders
Globe project (HT)
Painted Pumpkins
Cooking
Drawing Lessons
Giraffes for NICU babies and Bundles - The girls help me with my nonprofit work and at meetings!
Clay
Artist Study
Degas
Renoir
Composer and Our Future Tea Time
We've just listend to a variety of classical composers a little each day. Maybe next term I'll choose 1 or 2 to focus a little more on or play specifically during our tea time. We've only had "tea time" once and we did our poetry while we drank pomegranate herbal tea. Sweet memory!! It was so much fun, the girls loved it. I'll be incorporating more of that over the next terms. I want to make it a time to talk about our composer, artist, and poem. Right now that's all been very scattered, particularly the composer and artist. It's fine, but I'd just like to carve out a special time for those types of things and tea time seems like it would be a perfect fit. I know lots of families do it and it's a great idea! It's taken me this whole term to get our bible/prayer corner and time established. Special things take time!
History
We're reading slowly through Stories Of Great Americans and just talk about history.
Other
Spanish class
Dance class
Tumbling class
1 day a week they are a part of full day co-op and all of the learning that comes along with that is just amazing both academically and socially.
Amazing Life Experiences
My sister had her sweet baby girl, Ainsley! The girls were there to meet her the day she was born. They got to witness my sister's pregnancy and be a part of their cousin's birth as they waited for her to be born and met her just hours later. What a blessing! They love her so much!
Preemie Prints 5K and Angel Baby Butterfly Release. We had our 3rd annual event for babies who are born prematurely or critically ill. The girls were a part of the planning process in more ways than one. They participated in the walk and enjoyed the day. The butterfly release for the angel babies is so very special. It's a wonderful experience for them to take part in that ceremony along with all of the angel families.
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We have absolutely had overwhelming moments; however, I want nothing more than to be teaching my children right now. I feel it's part of my vocation as a mother, my calling. I get one shot with these little ones and that weighs heavily on my heart. I want to give them the best that I can. It does not look perfect but it's filled with love. It's been hard at times but the rewards are far outweighing the difficulties. Silas has been a trooper too. Learning right along with us. The girls imaginations are out of this world. All three are full of energy, playfulness, and love. This past week in particular was just about perfect, which is great since it was the end of our term. Next comes the holiday term. I'm a little nervous. I'll let you know how we do! Many thanks and blessings for the continued support.
~ Amber
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