Tuesday, June 2, 2009

What are you doing for each subject?

We are following a Classical Curriculum with a Charlotte Mason bent. ...At the moment we are more Classical than CM because I just finished reading A Well Trained Mind. Next I will go back to CM's series so I can add back in her philosophy. For more details on my version of both methods, peruse my blog.

History:
We try to tackle history 3 days. Each boy has a history journal and all the following goes in it. Day 1 we journal last Friday's group activity and hopefully draw a picture. I let them decide if they want to write or dictate.
Day 2 we read the first section of the next chapter then Narrate and draw a picture.
Day 3 we do the same for the last section.
Sometime during the week we read as many supplemental books as possible. We attempt to read the books suggested in the SOTW activity book but can't usually find many so I just pick books from the library.
On Fridays we get together with our coop group for a review and to do one of the activities from the activity book.

Science:
As soon as our book arrives, we will begin science as defined in A Well Trained Mind (search for the post coming soon). In the meantime we have been doing random experiments and readings.

Sign Language:
I have a set of flashcards and each kid gets 10 a day. Tackler has to pass off reading the card AND knowing the sign. Prince just has to know the sign. Any they know on the first try are retired. Cards they don't know are reviewed 3 times in that session then shown again the next day along with new cards to add to 10.

Reading:
Tackler is working his way through toddler reading books. Prince was not doing well with studying phonics. He can sound out each sound but cannot put the three together. So C-A-T but not CAT. I was always of the philosophy that kids will figure out the phonics rules on their own if you present them with enough words and if that DOESN'T work, THEN do phonics. The Lord sends us kids to challenge every philosophy we make up on our own so we're doing it backward with this kid. He couldn't get phonics so we'll go back to letting him figure out the rules on his own. So far it is going better - he is much less frustrated. Once he gets the hang of it, then we can go back and make sure he knows all the right rules.

Journal:
I think keeping a journal is a habit we should all have so I am including it in their boxes on alternating days. Tackler LOVES it. Prince is learning to enjoy it. They either write or dictate to me and can discuss what they did or think or love or whatever as long as it is true. Prince wanted to use his journal as a creative writing outlet but I insisted it be a true journal.

Math:
I have been doing a lot of my own thing for math (see many of my ideas on various posts). I have Schiller Math for Kindergarten and a couple times I tried to work through it with the kids but they balked. I have started going through it and systematically making games and such for each activity suggested in the book. I figure we'll get through the book by the end of the summer.

I think that covers all our subjects. At other times during the day I read chapter books and where there is room in the schedule I throw in other games and activities. I want to get back to our lapbooks (currently we are doing Antarctica) but our schedule is so full. I am always surprised when I am setting up the boxes how quickly I fill all 6. I can see why the lady who started workboxes advises 12 boxes but I think at the moment 6 is a perfect level for us.

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