Scaling Back

To make a long story really short - at our last local CM meeting, we discussed pressuring kids to read and keep up with math before they're really ready, and the later problems that can cause, and the fact that some people (including The Trivium/The Bluedorns) feel like math shouldn't be started until age 10. So I re-assessed what I'm doing with Miss M (just turned 8 years old, doing AO Year 1), and I decided to cut down on her math.

We're doing Math-U-See, and since we do a CM co-op Fridays, we have a four-day week of "lessons." I've been trying to squeeze a lesson per week into four days (and a week of a scheduled Bible reading). I decided to just stop doing that. It might take us closer to two years to finish the math-U-See book, but that's okay. In fact, I think Steven Demme says he planned for each book to take a couple of years. So now we can do the concept presentation one day (which, for us, means watching the video together), and then start on work sheets the next day, and go ahead and and take a day or two to do the word problems from the teacher's manual 9which I had been skipping!) Yesterday, I let her play with measuring cups to learn how many pints are in a quart. I feel more relaxed, and I think that's appropriate for her, where she is. She has in no way reached a developmental point where fighting over "getting school done" would be a good idea.

The Bible thing is taking some getting used to. The Bible we're using has the readings all laid out and labeled "Monday" "Tuesday," etc., and it's unsettling to see the "Wednesday" label on Monday's reading. (But I suppose I can learn to be flexible!)

School Schedules

It's that time of year again!

I've finished L's schedule for next year; he'll be doing AO Year 7. I broke his readings and things down into 180 daily increments and posted it here. J's is still to come.

Update: Here is J's schedule; he'll be doing Year 10. And here is Miss M's K schedule.

School Schedules Done

I'm getting an early start on our planning for next year. Tim will be in college, and we'll be involved in two co-ops, a high school co-op for J, and a CM co-op (field trips, nature study) with L and Miss M. This past year, J struggled with the amount of schoolwork he had, and I didn't want to repeat that, plus we'll be having four-day weeks (we'll be losing a day to co-op). The recent CM Conference got me thinking that we need to re-focus on relationships, and start fresh with narrations. I had all of these thoughts rattling around in my brain, so I thought the best way to deal with that was to go ahead and have our plan on paper so I could tangibly see what our year will look like, school-wise.

I like to have a daily schedule (because when I don't, it's too easy to get nothing done at all). So I've made up J's and L's daily schedules for next year.

I also did a daily schedule for a student who's new to homeschooling and will be preparing for Year 7 next year - this is a version of Pre7 based partly on her reading level, and partly on the books they already had.

Miss M is four, and will be starting AO Year 0 a year from now.

How's My Reading Going?

I made my own AO-ish reading schedule for two terms along with the boys' school schedules. I'm keeping up with it okay, but narrations have gone by the wayside (except for the ones from Golden Windows, because I might need synopses of each chapter to schedule specific ones later if it's used for AO).

Golden Windows is easy reading, but sometimes a little too moralistic. I think selected chapters may be useful. The nice thing about this book is that the chapters are short and not too difficult to understand, like parables From Nature.

Stories from Herodotus is boring, hard to follow, and unpleasant because it talks about wars, battle plans and cruel deeds - such as kings killing the little sons of men who disappointed them. It confirms my belief that history is nothing more than one bloodbath after another, at least political history. I much prefer to read what people ate, what kind of houses they lived in and how they parented and educated their children.

Stories from the Greek Tragedians isn't so political, but filled with lots of sad episodes. At least it's more interesting.

Scotland's Story is pretty good. Maybe I just like anything by H.E. Marshall. She has a way of adding in the kind of details I like, rather than go through one horrific war after another. After this book, I've decided to read her history of Germany. I've always wanted to know more about these places and their history, and her children's books are an enjoyable and painless way to do that.

My Own Schedule

Why should the kids have all the fun? I've had a list of children's books from www.mainlesson.com that I've been wanting to preview for AO for awhile, so I made myself a reading schedule of my own.

All Schedules Done!

I spend a few days before each school year preparing complete 180 day schedules for each child. The first one is done. This is J's ninth grade schedule; he's doing Ambleside Online's lightened version of Year 8.

L's Year 5 Schedule is done. I discovered last year that he does better if I break up his readings into small portions and have him reading more books each day, but less of each individual book. I also made a few changes from AO's Year 5 because he's already read King Arthur a couple of times with us, and I don't think Kipling's Kim would suit him. So I found a few etexts at the Baldwin Books project that I think he'll enjoy more: The Aeneid for Boys and Girls by Alfred Church, The Story of Siegfried by James Baldwin, and The Story of Roland by James Baldwin. We do Devotion/Plutarch/Shakespeare together as a family, and Picture Study/Composer/Folksongs/Nature Study together once a week - all of those are on their schedules first each day, since we do those first.

Tim's Year 12 plan is posted, and his daily schedules are here.

Senior Year Plan

For Tim's last year, I'm letting him mostly plan his own school. We're following Ambleside Online's history line-up; ancient history is planned, but Year 12 isn't done. So we looked at what people are recommending, especially on the AO lists, and here's what we're looking at:

Term 1
The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton
The Echo of Greece by Edith Hamilton
Histories by Herodotus (Books 6, 7, 8 that tell of the Battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis)
Code of Hammurabi
Chemistry
Latin
The Christian Imagination by Leland Ryken (collection of essays)
Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis
The Gift of Fire Richard Mitchell
Short Stories (4 per term)
Oedipus Rex, Antigone by Sophocles
Medea, Hippolyta by Euripides
2 or 3 Greek Lives by Plutarch
Italian Journey by Goethe (for geography)

Term 2
The Roman Way Edith Hamilton
History of Rome by Livy (Books i, II and III)
Chemistry
Latin
From Socrates to Sartre by T.Z. Lavine (part 1)
Orthodoxy by Chesterton
The Aeneid by Virgil (Books I-VI)
Short Stories
2 or 3 Roman Lives by Plutarch

Term 3
De Conquestu Britanniae (Gildas's Conquest of Britain) I and II (will also count as Latin practice)
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill
Chemistry
Latin
From Socrates to Sartre by T.Z. Lavine (part 2)
Pensees (Thoughts) by Blaise Pascal
The Man Who Was Thursday by Chesterton?
Literature: Beowulf, Gawain, Mabinogion, Sir Orfeo, Pearl, Y Gododdin, Asser's Life of Alfred
Short Stories

I've posted a webpage with his booklist here.

I'll be reading along with him as best I can - which means I'll be using easier versions. And for that, I have my own booklist and schedule.