Planning for my 2012 5th Grader: Theme...Must.Read.Aloud

Nope.  That is NOT a typo........I mean for it to say 2012 in that title...because I wrote it last summer.........but I might as well adapt it for 2013-14.........since most of it was a bust. :/


The post below was originally written in late August 2012.  I was planning my youngest's school year 2012-13......and these were the plans which arose.......

I never did post these.  I still had more fine tuning to do.......and then I just never got back to do that.  But, I did get all of the resources into their respective baskets.....so we trodded (did you know that is not really a word????  trotted, then) ahead.  I am posting these here today.......because I have another blog post to publish......and it will make more sense and be more useful if these plans go public. (....though after fine-tuning this post and adding the purple italics may cause me to change the focus of the other post......)

In parenthesis, and in this color, are the up-to-date comments about how the year went in each subject.....and how I expect to utilize them for this upcoming school year.

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     I love my little man.  He is only ten now (eleven now) .....but I know my time with him is going to go fast.  According to my predictions, I only have eight more years left to homeschool him......which sadly translates to only eight years of homeschooling for my home-education career.  Unless, he decides he only needs three years of high school........in which case that number gets reduced to a brief seven years. As I recently posted on Facebook:  Hear that sound?  It is the sound of my heart breaking.  So sad that there is an actual end in sight........(....and if he follows in his older brother's footsteps and attends the Independent Study Program at the local high school to play sports......I only have three years left.  Hopefully, he will stay home for his schooling......)

     But, it is not yet here.  And I need to make the next 7-8 years good for him.  Last year really did feel like a bust.  Oh, we got some math done.....but not as much as he was capable of.  We learned a lot about WWI and WWII.......but not as far as we should have got.  We never reached the Korean or Vietnam Wars.  The art study was brief.  He finally read his first chapter book.....but the fluency still has not clicked.  And, there were not enough read-alouds.  Thanks to his sister adding him to an IEW writing workshop she was leading, we found that he is a prolific and capable writer, in spite of his slow fluency in the reading department.  He probably has a gift of putting pen to paper.  I suppose if I add in to this list his sports accomplishments last year (we call that education, of course)....he improved and excelled in basketball, learned excellent team leadership skills with soccer, and had an amazing year pitching in his baseball league and the All-Stars.



     As I go through the school resources left out and about on the shelves on the boys' rooms for last year's Great School Plan, I will use this space to write my thoughts related to planning for this boy for this new school year. That starts, like, next week, right?  Supposedly.  ;)

     I am also trying to keep in mind that one of the reasons last year was a bit of a bust was because I was working more hours in order to make up for the decrease in income after my husband was laid off.  Since I will definitely be working at least the same amount of hours this year, I must find a way to plan for him to work independently on the days when I cannot be there or when I feel ill.

Keep in mind that most of this is done in a Charlotte Mason style.......or in a strewing kind of unschooly way.......whatever that means.  :)  This is just a guide.  It gives me a place to start.....but most rabbit trails are followed.  The resources are rich enough to give him a well-rounded year.....even if we only do about half of it.  Of course, all of it is literature-based.  Because that is my style. :)



Religion:

A major goal is to give him the resources to complete his First Holy Communion Notebook or scrapbook.  I made a comprehensive plan for him, but never followed through and now his FHC is many years past.  But........he loves scrapbooking, and now that he is older, he will be more independent doing it. So that part will make it easier for me to leave him to his own devices........

I plan to give him the lessons I had planned to go with it......with lots of picture books.  He will grow closer to his faith and create memories and connections while doing a hands-on project......something he thrives on.  I am excited about this.  It will also include using the New Catholic Picture Bible as well.  Nice thing about this project?  It is already gathered in one box with all of the supplies......and the lesson plans.  Please pray this finally works out. (Pleeeeease pray!) He will be too old for it, eventually. 

I might have him read through the appropriate book of Living My Religion series........but we should have enough if the above works out.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST. 

For this next year, I will try yet again.  I looked at the Living My Religion series and picked out Book 6 for him.  He will need to be preparing for his Confirmation and it looks like a good fit for that. I will also use the booklet Preparation for Confirmation According to the Baltimore Catechism because it is what our priest would like him to have memorized for the sacrament. I think that putting the Notebook together will help him to spiritually prepare for confirmation.  I may have to call it a Confirmation Notebook now. :) )


History:

     When I viewed my stack of wonderful picture books on the Revolutionary War time period, I realized that I had never read them to Malachy. In looking back at his homeschooling, I came to see that this kid has had two seasons of ancient history and two seasons of medieval history and two seasons of WWI & WWII.  Yikes.  That is what happens when we follow the high schoolers in their history.

     So, I am going to start with the French and Indian War....and go to the Revolutionary War.....along with anything in between and around.......and that will probably be all we get to.....if we have the same experience my other kids did......loving this time period so much and enjoying all of the rich resources that we could never stop.  :) Know anyone else who has spent a year on the French and Indian War?  Three years on the Revolutionary War period??  Yeah, we really did.  Those are some of my kids favorite years of homeschooling.

I am still trying to decide if there is going to be a spine.....maybe a Genevieve Foster book....or perhaps Father Furlong's sweet little text.

     For the French and Indian War, I am definitely going to use Albert Marrin's book, Struggle for a Continent:  The French and Indian Wars.  This was the first book of his that we had ever read.  And we loved it.  All of us have read several other of his history books.....and we are never disappointed.  He takes his historical research and turns them into great stories, pleasing both this mom and her kids.

     I will also have him listen to the audio version of Madeleine Takes Command, another family favorite read aloud.

     In addition to me reading most of his history aloud to him, I will have him read simple biographies of Americans of those time.......starting with Dan Morgan: Boy of the Wilderness, I think........and also see what American Saints of that time I can throw in as well.  I am thinking Father Marquette, Father Jogues, St. Kateri......

I have a nice "My State Book"......I could have him work on that independently with some books on California so he can have some easy practice doing research.  Not sure yet about this......might be too much.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST........I tried the Foster Book...but it sort of made me crazy....too little info and too many pieces of little info.  We only read about 25 pages of Marrin book. History is a hard subject for a full-time working mama who wants it literature-based for someone who cannot read a lot on his own.  This issue is the inspiration for that other post I am working on.  I need some ideas and help.......

Oh!  Another partial-success was that I realized I could give him his American history through Great Courses Lectures.  I then just wrote little quizzes for him from the info in the booklet.  I would have liked to have had more discussion with him.....but he has a good memory, so I am sure he got something out of them. So, that could be an option for this school year.......


As for this next year, I am not sure what to do.  I could just continue down the path I set above.......And now I think he is old enough to do the My State Book research on his own......I was tempted by my excellent library on Lewis and Clark history.....maybe I should just pick out a few BIG historical things that occurred and give a big focus on those, rather than an huge overview?  I hope to get his Book of Centuries updated and ready for him to use independently.)

Geography:

He loves this kind of stuff......so I should try to find something that he can do that is somewhat independent.  I will probably do something similar to what Simply Charlotte Mason recommends....  We did it a bit this last year (oh!  another pro for last year!) and it went well when we did it.  I will begin with Canada and the United States so it goes with his history.

I will read this book to him:  Maps:  Getting From Here to There by Harvey Weiss.

We had started the Holling C. Holling geography unit a couple of years ago, starting with Paddle-to-the-sea.....the Beautiful Feet Unit.  I might delve into that, too.......I have some of their beautiful maps to use.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  mostly BUST........we did do the Simply CM geography drill for a few weeks....and I utilized another workbook as well, that was mildly successful. 

 For this year, I should just plan to do the same.........)

Maths:

He will move forward to finish up all of the Math-U-See books he has left:  A few lessons of Delta, and then Epsilon and Zeta.  We might not finish all of them.....but it will be our aim. I think he might get to meet with my older kids' math tutor once in a while for some inspiration.  He likes her. 
I hope it will keep him on track more this year.

Since he will finish with the MUS books before he will probably be ready for Jacob's Algebra, after talking with my math tutor friend, I have decided to just have him work through the MUS pre-algebra book...to keep him in practice.....but that is for next year...and I am concentrating on this year......

I found a copy of G is for Googol:  A Math Alphabet Book by David M. Schwartz.....so I will read through that slowly.....over a few weeks or months.

And any other math literature that comes along....like our favorites such as Sir Cumference and the Knights of the Round Table......and the others in that series.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST.......he could, but wasn't motivated to move fast without some prodding.  I finally gave in to try Teaching Textbooks 6........that worked well for about 6 weeks in the spring till we went out of town....and he has not touched it since. I never did read anything math lit. 

For this year, I will resume with the Teaching Textbooks 6.....since he is so independent with it.....and he likes it well enough.  Our Educational Facilitator with our charter school was thinking of having a Math Workshop with some kids his age, working with "real life" math.  She is a Math Major.  I sure hope she follows through with that idea.  I just sent her a text.....to remind and  encourage her.)

Science:

     I am a little unsure about what I want to do.......

    I took a look at some of those Creation Science books by Apologia.....but they did not feel right for right now.  Maybe next year......

     I think I am too tired and busy to create unit studies........like in the old days.....

     So....at this moment, I think I will take a look at doing the Beautiful Feet's A History of Science.  Not sure I will have enough time to do all of the read aloud required......but I might give it a try.

     Nature study is simply a given in this family.  Hopefully the smoke that has choked up all of the month of August will finally pass away so we can get back to the  out of doors.  We have been housebound for entirely too long.

      I hope to set him up with a nature sketchbook.......he loves to draw......and perhaps when I am unable to be with him, he can reproduce those drawings for me.

Take a look at.......
Zingy Science
Khan Academy

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST........mostly.  Finally in the spring, I began reading the Beautiful Feet books to him.....which he enjoyed.  And here it is, August 2013 now.....and it is smoky yet  again. It has been so long since we have had a summer without smoke......that I cannot even remember when that last summer was......maybe 2007?  While I never inspired him to use a Nature Notebook or draw from nature, he certainly got lots of quality time in nature.  That is one area I can usually keep alive around here. ;)

The other way that I was able to salvage some science was to have him go one day a week to my friend's home to do organized chemistry with her daughter.  That was definitely NOT a bust!

I looked at the Khan Academy......and I cannot figure out how I am supposed to utilize it.  Anyone have any advice???

For this year, my friend has agreed to take him again this year.  I think I will continue with the Beautiful Feet science as best I can.......and keep on hanging out in Nature, of course.  And I have like 20 science experiment kits that someone ought to be using..... :/ )

Language Arts:

Reading: 

This kid will be such a lover of literature.....if I can just get him fluent.  He had all of those early reading signs at age four.......and yet still has not fallen in love with reading at age ten (eleven).  It makes no sense.  So, this year, I want to read to him like crazy.....and keep him reading something......till he takes off.  He will, right????

I might make a shelf for him of easy chapter books.

Encyclopedia Brown.....have him read these aloud to me.......till he just wants to dive in on his own.

I need to try to remember to offer him some of the sports stories written by Matt Christopher.  I had a few already....and just picked up three more for free at the library.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  mostly BUST.....he is still not picking up books on his own.......but his fluency has improved, thanks be to God!  I did read aloud to him......just not enough.  We never tried the Encyclopedia brown books......I still might. I did get him to read a few Gary Paulsen books....but I really want him to get lost in books....sheesh.  Oh!  I was able to get a Kindle for him to use.......just to see if that would help.  Not much.

For this year, just keep on reading.....I will have him read aloud to me as I can remember.......and to keep him reading something, always.)

Literature:

     I am going to start the year with Amazons and Swallows by Arthur Ransome.....one of those great classics I missed as a child.  My oldest did not care for it....but two of  my others loved them. Thanks to the generosity of a friend (Hi, there, Helen!), I have the entire series.  I am hoping that we do fall in love with them.......that series should keep us busy the whole year.  This will be only the second time I have read a book just with him as an audience.  I realized this summer that I have to do that now.......I do not have all of the kids available at the same time for our family reads anymore......maybe because they went and grew up on me???  :(

      I will have one family read aloud.....with the three youngest kids (10, 15, 17).  We started The Hobbit this summer.  My two youngest have never heard it read aloud nor have they read it. I want them to have the family-read-aloud memory of  Tolkien's books. And the oldest of the youngest, the 17 year old, says she wants to sit in as well.  We all want to be ready for the movie that is coming out in December......and now I see it will be three whole movies!  How cool is that!?  They cannot leave much out with three movies!

     I will continue to expose him to Shakespeare through the two books: 

            

(August 2, 2013 comment:  This was not a total BUST........we are over halfway through both books, a year later.......sigh.  As for the movie........I am quite angry with them for messing so much of it up. Grrrrrr.  We ended up with an amazing and unexpected World-Class Shakespeare experience last spring.  There will hopefully be more plays for us to see through the end of October.

For this year, the two books mentioned will be our read-alouds. And we will squeeze some Shakespeare stories in there.  We must!)

Writing: 

     This is pretty easy to plan.  IEW, or Institute for Excellence in Writing, is our preferred method of teaching writing.......the one homeschool program I have tweaked the least for our use.  The best part:  my oldest daughter is a very fine writing teacher and will continue to teach Malachy in one of her writing workshops.  I am so blessed. Bonus:  she teaches lots of poetry and grammar and lots of other LA stuff, as well.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  NOT a BUST at all.  Anne was wonderful and Malachy progressed so very well.  I just went through his writings from last year......a very prolific little writer.  And he thrived on the poetry she shared.

For this year, we will continue with the same plan.  My daughter will be able to continue teaching at least one more year......while she works on her graduate degree and teaching certification. More poetry and continue to work through the Continuation Program B.  Did I mention that I was blessed???? So is Malachy.  :) )

Picture Books:  Willa and I are creating a challenge for this......

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST?  We were consistent for a few months........we meant to be stay consistent.  Maybe we need a sign on our bathroom mirrors to remind us? :)

For this year.......Willa and I will have to discuss this possibility.)

Latin:

Phooey!  I had forgotten that I was going to start him in the Latina Primera? this year......but Vicki over at Creating With Wisdom reminded me.....

(August 2, 2013 comment:  partial BUST.  We did get through five lessons.  It was easy for him.

For this year, we should review and get going.  I can give him lessons and he can use the workbook the rest of the week.)


Art:

      Malachy has natural artistic talent.  I always try to keep him exposed to all art stuffs, just in case he makes it a permanent part of his life in some way. Not sure where it will go...but I want him to have a chance to practice all of the skills.......he is generally good at drawing, creating, crafts, painting........etc.

     Having been a lover of art from way back when I was young, I have collected many resources for all-things-art-related.  I just need to decide what to use for him...and then follow through.  For once.

His artsy sister has recently returned home from her year away in Austria....so while she is studying art at the local Junior College, I am hoping there will be some trickle-down teaching from her, to him.

I have an old set of six videos from Calvert School, Discovering Art. I will probably use this until they are done.  I like that they model skills and share art history as well in an ongoing story.....even if they are a bit goofy and over-acted.  The information is sound.

I also have a book I want to read through with him called:  How to Be an Artist:  the Fun of Drawing.......it is just a quick self-published book that I came across.  I like how it seems to give the perspective of what an artist sees when he or she looks at things.

I will provide a blank sketch diary and just assign him to use it on those days when I am not home...in any way he wants.  Some of my kids would be intimidated or put off by this....but not Malachy.  Or his artsy sister.  :)

I just came across my copy of Storybook Art:  Hands-on Art For Children in the Styles of 100 Great Picture Book Illustrators by MaryAnn F. Kohl & Jean Potter.  I may combine this with our Picture Book Challenge. 


Hailstones and Halibut Bones for sure.  Ah.  turns out I will not have to do this one myself.....my oldest daughter Anne, who is teaching his IEW Writing Workshop, wants to do this for his class......off the hook!  This is good...but I am a bit sad........I was looking forward to sharing it with him.  This book needs its own post.  Perhaps I can wait till Anne teaches with it and create the post then.  I love this book and I want all to enjoy it as well.  Excellent poetry and art possibilities!


 (August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST.  Yep. Like all of it.  I did create a Pinterest board for online art lessons and loaded it with watercolor lessons so that he and I could work together.  We got as far as watching a lesson late one night....inspired. Of course he did do art on his own.  Oh!  We did get to take him to an awesome Art Walk in the town south on his 11th birthday.  Very cool.  Loads of fun.

For this year, I would like try to accomplish the above, plus watercolor lessons together, local Art Walks when we can make it......at least one in Ashland, Oregon......and some artist studies.  I have TONS of art and art history resources.  I really need to tap into those for this kid.  My four older kids got lots of artist study.......I want him to get the chance. )


Cooking:

     He has a great interest in food preparation.  Thinks he might want to be a chef someday.......so, I think I will encourage him to choose one recipe a week to try.  I wonder if he will do mostly desserts.  He is quite partial to making pies.  :)

(August 2, 2013 comment:  This was only NOT a BUST.....because he loves to cook.  He made at least five or more different kinds of pies........and some of them up to five different times. Of course, I never did tell him to try something once a week......maybe I will this year.

Once a week may be too much between all his sports, etc.......and I want him to find cooking relaxing and enjoyable.......so I will aim for 1-4 times a month, at his preference.  I think he cooks more in the fall and winter anyway.......)

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      Not sure what subjects will get covered, but I have made arrangements that once a week he will go to my friend's home to "do school" with her daughter who is about 18 months younger.  They are good playmates and she could use a peer for some schooly stuff, like doing science labs.

((August 2, 2013 comment:  NOT a BUST.  But only because I was not responsible for it.  Sigh.  Like I said above, under science, they did chemistry lessons and experiments.

For this year, we will repeat this......)


Using this platform, of blogging, as I sit here and plan, has been so helpful in exciting me about the new school year.  Finally some positive school spirit.  :)

(August 2, 2013 comment:  TOTAL BUST......I was only excited for a moment.  But rereading this post and reevaluating the ideas...is almost inspiring.  And it is only the fourth day in August!!! Yay, me!)


I have told my boy that based on our current crazy and hectic schedule, that he will need to be flexible enough to do schooly stuff whenever I call him to it:  day or not, weekday or weeknight.

(Definitely will need to do that again.....but better this year.)

WOW.  This is quite a project.  Hope I can get at least half of it done!  So, I am now off to get started!

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST.  Yep.  TOTAL.  I doubt we even got 25% of it done.)

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And so, all of that above, not in purple italics, was written about this time last year.  I guess I will probably just keep the same general plan because it was a pretty good one in the first place.  ;)  Definitely ambitious.

I am wondering if it will help if I put his subjects in their own bins instead just one for all subjects......to help me not feel so overwhelmed.

Wow, I am actually going to post my plans for the school year.......before it even starts.  Haha.....only because I had written my plans last year, but never posted.


Smoky Summer Blessings,

                                           Chari

Edited to Add, on August 23rd, 2013:  Really?  I forgot Music!  We have weekly piano lessons with a Classically-trained teacher........he is our sixth homeschool student to take lessons.......and she thinks he may well be our most musical.  It is his 5th or 6th year.....I can't remember. We also need composer studies......

Keyboarding.  He needs it.  Especially with all of the writing he does for his writing workshop.

Strewsday Tuesday: Even the Library Can Strew!

     I am SOOOO excited!  Tonight there is a lecture at our library.  I am so excited to go, I even dreamed about it.....luckily it was only a dream...because as we were getting ready to leave for the lecture in the dream.....I realized that the lecture was in my hometown, not in Los Angeles where we were visiting.  Silly, weird dream.

(Actually, we have already attended this excellent lecture.  I could not finish this post before we went.  My kids were the only youth present :( ......and after them, I may well have been the next youngest person there. : )  )


      And after I awakened, and reflected on the dream, I began thinking about this awesome lecture tonight........which got me thinking about writing a blog post about it.......which made me realized:

My little library STREWED for me.....

.......and I jumped for the bait! 

     Too funny.  I am such a sucker for educational and cultural opportunities.  :)

     So here is how it all came to be.........Our little library had a major crisis  (Wow.  I just re-read that article....a good one!) in June of 2010.  In the time that followed, many people came together and volunteered the time to keep our library running.  And you know what happened???  Our library is better than ever! Well, interlibrary loan would be the last perk we are waiting for.....maybe someday soon.......Some.day.

     (As I am proofreading this article......I just want to make it clear: my library IS a little library because I live in a small town...........in comparison, Willa's library is a closet.  :)  )


      The volunteers and the Friends of the Library have created many opportunities for the patrons since that crisis.  One of them applied for a grant.  She got it!  This grant allows for slecting a book from a specific group of books and providing opportunities in a sort of Unit Study format.  I believc the grant is from Cal Reads. The focus for this year is on democracy. The book she chose for the grant was.....

Farewell to Manzanar

by

Jeanne Wakatsuki

     One of the main reasons that she chose this book is because the site of the largest of the Japanese internment camp is actually in our very own county.  The Tule Lake Camp was recently added to the National Park System as part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, which also includes Pearl Harbor, which I was so blessed to visit last June.  Our family intends to take a field trip to visit the Tule Lake Camp this summer.


     So, the library set a whole bunch of interrelated books on the counter.....STREWING the books right where I would have to pass them.....every time I came into the library.........which is several times a week.  Of course I began fondling the books......and that lead to conversations with the volunteer who coordinates this program.  And that lead to me checking the books out.  Of course.


      Even though the boys and I have been reading about WWI.........I just had to take advantage of the possibilities in front of us, related to WWII and the Japanese Internment camps.  I began reading Farewell to Manzanar aloud to the boys right away.  They good-humoredly put up with me......with a bit of rolling eyes.


     One of the comments from the lecturer was that the camps were not too well known to most people and that the history books in schools pretty much neglect this history.  In my own case, I cannot really remember not knowing about them.  From the time I was sixteen years old, my family drove from Lake Tahoe, where we had just moved to, back to Los Angeles, where we had moved from, frequently enough........along Highway 395, which means that we passed the Manzanar Camp regularly.  It was just a fenced area with an old tower or two.  But we would stop and look at it....and you could feel the historical energy there. 


      Now it is a part of the National Park system, as it should be......and has been developed as an official place to visit, but I have yet to stop there since this took place.  Having passed it so many times, it has almost become my "home" Japanese Internment Camp, if there can be such a thing.......and every time I have passed it with the kids, I have given the lecture about the history of it to them.  At least to the ones that were awake on our nine-hour drive.  :)


     I also read Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida as a preteen, so I definitely knew about the camps.  My oldest daughter read this same book as a preteen.


      It was so exciting to the boys and I that we were reading Farewell to Manzanar.......and that we would actually be getting to meet the author.  As part of the grant........the coordinator has been able to invite a handful of the authors to visit our little community.  We are so blessed!


     Mrs. Houston, the author, was here last week and I was able to get four of my six kids to the lecture.  The ten year old said:  Every time she talked about something in the book, I remembered reading it.  He enjoyed the lecture.  The other kids did, too.  I very much enjoyed chatting with her afterward.  She was very warm and took the time to visit with us.

     Let me pause here, for just a moment, and share an interesting connection to all of this.  My oldest daughter, Anne, will be graduating from college in June with a degree in English Education.  For her Capstone Project (her senior project), she has been focusing on creating an educational plan on using the book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

     Because Anne was doing this project, I read the book, too, so I would know what she was up to.  Hotel (as Anne has come to call it for short) was also one of the books STREWED on that counter for me.  It was the strewing that finally got me to read it.  Perfect timing…..to read this book in time for the topic of Japanese Internment camps.

     When I mentioned to one of the doctors that I work with that I was reading Hotel, she said:  It was good.  But predictable.  I talked her the other day and told her that while it may have been a bit predictable, I found the book was an excellent opportunity to get in close to the emotions of that time…..to get inside of the camp in an intimate way.  The book is totally worth a read…..and an excellent first novel.  If you enjoy Jazz and its history…..there is a nice component to the story with Jazz as an important character.

     Anne, as a formerly homeschooled kid, was thrilled to have this “unit study” going on in her hometown.  She attends college close enough to come home for the lectures.  As a future educator, the experiences of hearing these lectures will only enhance her ability to teach.

     Our learning is all about CONNECTIONS, right?  For the rest of our lives, right?  I love how this opportunity proves that this is so.  I will never be done learning.  I hope that for my kids, too.  So far……..my three homeschool graduates feel that way. Phew.  One goal met.  Three times.

     This graphic book below about Camp Manzanar was perfect for my little guy to read.  I think he enjoyed reading about the camp, knowing the details of its history that he has learned. I am not personally fond of graphic novels……..but, this one was just perfect for our situation.

     Another STREWED book was called Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki.  It was a great picture book for explaiining the camp to the young kids.  The illustrations are lovely.

     Because the creation of the camps and the internment of the Japanese was unconstitutional, this book, Constitution Café by Christopher Phillips was among the books STREWED on that counter.  I picked it up for two reasons.  First, I had previously read Phillip’s other book, Socrates Café, which I enjoyed very much. And second, he was one of the authors that was coming for a visit!  I was not able to read the whole book before his arrival, but I got the first couple of chapters read so I would have an idea about his Constitution Café before we started.  I am currently rreadin it through now......I am loving the history he brings into his book.  I am loving the Thomas Jefferson quotes.

     I was able to drag at least four of my kids to his talk.  I left the little guy with friends.  Good thing, as I think a lot of the vocabulary would have been over his head.  I wish I had time to chat about Phillips’s ideas that were shared, but I am already going at it long here.  Perhaps he deserves his own blog post?  Yeah, probably. 

 

     Suffice it to say that is was a good experience to attend his Café, where we spent time discussing each phrase of the Preamble to the Constitution.  I was planning to just go and sit on the outside of the crowd, listening.  Thus I was quite surprised to hear my voice when I actually contributed to the conversation.  So were my kids!  J  Three of my kids also spoke.  They are smart kids….with some good ideas.  They must get that from their father…….or books.  J

   I am so glad that I did not cave into my desire to just cozy up at home and miss out on his visit.  This was good for all of us.  I believe the dialogue inspired by this Constitution Café will continue for years, just in our own family.

     While we were sitting in the library, I watched the “super moon” rise through our pretty windows.  I wish the cell phone could take the picture as pretty as it really was…….

     The final lecture of the STREWING is the author of the book below.  Lawson Fusao Inada is a past Poet Laureate of the state of Oregon.  His book, Only What We Could Carry, is a compilation of short stories, journal entries, poems, artwork, photos and more …….. from or about the Japanese Internment Camps.  He will be here on the 20^th of May.  He is doing a writing workshop in the afternoon and a poetry reading in the evening.  This is stressing me out just a little bit……because we have two piano recitals the same day, as well as a basketball tournament an hour away from home.  That was already enough for our days total activities.  I hope we can figure out how to make it work.

      My oldest daughter is about to graduate from the university where he used to teach. Over the past two years, her English professors have said to her: You should meet Lawson Fusao Inada. Well, finally, she will. 

+++++++  +++++ ++++++

     So……...there you have it.  All my library has to do for me……is STREW.  And off I go!  Do you know…….that sometimes I have put myself on a self-imposed library fast…….just because I am such a sucker for their STREWING.  J

 

     I may live in a small town, but I live in a culturally-aware town.  Our opportunities may be slim compared to the big city…….but at least we have something to see, do, learn.

     Blessings, 

              Chari

Strewsday Tuesday: What's In Our Closets?

I love this Making It Count feature from Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things.  It made me start thinking about Making It Count in relation to strewing and to my spring decluttering efforts.

After so many years of homeschooling, even after several purges, I still have a lot of homeschool stuff that has made the cut more than once.   Too often, I find these things (books, kits, art supplies, whatever) during my spring inventory and think, "Oh that's right, I was going to use that this year!"  And then of course, I put it somewhere and it goes out of my mind till the next year when I do the same thing, or else finally decide I am going to give it away since if it's sat there this long without being used, it probably just wasn't for us.

It occurs to me though that part of my problem is just forgetting, or getting caught up in the flow of things.  Maybe I can actually profile something I found in my closet or shelf.   Take a picture, talk about what I am going to do with it or what we did in the past.   Then this summer and  fall I can easily go back and see what I listed, and maybe actually, gasp, use the thing.

This week I'm sharing these:

In spite of their appearance, which is that of hanging planters, they are Easter baskets.

Last fall I burned our dollar store Easter baskets in the wood stove.  I don't remember what I was thinking, but I was probably trying to get rid of excess stuff around the house.  Or something.

 So when I got home from Alaska just before Easter, I realized I would have to buy new baskets for my kids as well as for the two friends Clare was bringing home from college.  Eight baskets would be needed.

When I went to the Dollar Store I did find some baskets, but I also found planters, and I suddenly had a sort of vision.  I could dual-purpose the planters, use them as Easter baskets and then use them again as flowerpots or lettuce nurseries or mini-herbal gardens.

This is roughly what they looked like on Easter:

This is what our deck looks like now (it's the sunniest spot on our lot and where I had my micro-gardens last year)    Hey, the snow has reportedly melted in Wasilla, Alaska, but here in central California it's still right here with us, if you live above the mile high marker:

So the planters can wait!

And I know eventually they can look like this, which truly reminds me of what Easter stands for:

Non-Schooling?

Chari coined a new word to describe what we are both going through this year in our homeschools, and we have referred to it several times in our phone calls in the past months.     It is often accompanied by another dreadful thing called Burn Out, and it looks like Chari is drafting a post about that which will either show up before or after this one.

Here's the word:

Non-Schooling.

You probably all know about Catholic Unschooling.   Willa wrote a chapter in a book about it.    Some people think unschooling means the same thing as non-schooling.  But the two things are different, qualitatively different.

Catholic Unschooling is about building on a child's nature... as Aristotle said, all humans by nature desire to know, and this is a truth also recognized by Thomas Aquinas and other thinkers in the Catholic tradition.    With Catholic Unschooling, your family environment is formed in such a way that learning is a natural part of life, not compartmentalized into a certain room, a certain time of the day, or a certain set of books.    Parents and children work and explore and question together, and learning becomes an integral part of the family picture.

Chari and I both strive to have that type of environment in our homes, in our own different ways, even though both of us make use of some structured times and curricula as well.  At least in our planning moments : ).

But this is not Catholic Unschooling I am talking about in this post.

It's Non-Schooling.

This would be described as  "Mom already has a full workload with everything else going on, and Dad is busy trying to provide for his family, and so the kids just don't really do school.  Nor do they unschool. "

Or as Mrs Pepper puts it in The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, in words that are very poignant and heartfelt to me right now!

"Poor things!" she would say to herself. "They haven't had any bringing up; they've just scrambled up!" And then she would set her lips together tightly and fly at her work faster than ever. "I must get schooling for them some way, but I don't see how!"

This Non-Schooling phenomenon has happened to both Chari and Willa more than once during our years of pregnancies and new babies and medical issues and house-building or repairing projects.     We used to call it "Default Unschooling."   But in this season of our lives we seem to agree that it's more like, well, just some kind of scrambling or basically, Not Schooling.

Yet, I don't want to paint too dark a picture.    Because guess what?  God gave us a whole world to live in, even if we barely leave the house because we are too busy or it is too blizzard-y outside.   He put us in a family, even if Mom is distracted and preoccupied and not thinking much about the childrens' education.

I've experienced it before -- after entering some kind of life tunnel where there is hardly any margin, where every day has its own agenda and I feel good if the kids have eaten 3 somewhat square meals and very good if they have brushed their teeth and said their prayers, they still manage somehow to learn.

Paddy showed up the other day and asked me to mail a letter.   He had written it to a good friend of his big sister's, who was visiting us from college at Easter.    I have recently written how Paddy, a longtime reader, has been handwriting on a pre-K level and spelling on an early first grade level.

Well, this letter was handwritten on a late-first grade level and spelt on a second or third grade level.  Pretty good grammar, and no spelling mistakes.   Entirely legible.   This is big progress in about 4 months of nothing resembling a language arts lesson.

And this same Paddy made up his own novena to Saint Patrick praying for the eternal repose of his grandparents, and has invented another nightly prayer which goes, in part:

"Please bring all the robbers and murderers and other kinds of bad people to justice and if it is Your Will and they have any good left in them, help them come to You and become better men."

(I love the firm, conclusive way he rolls out the Better Men part, and I love the whole prayer and am guessing that those robbers and murderers can really use those extra prayers).

Obviously these are small ordinary things and you will have your own list of cool things your 9 year old  says and does.

My point here is that Non-Schooling, though distinct from Unschooling, and often very humbling and discouraging to the beleaguered mom, is still not "Non-Learning."   Kids are human and humans learn because it's in their nature.  They take raw material of life and digest it and use it for energy and growth.

If we are part of the kingdom of God, we have a further factor.  You are furrowing and planting in God's field.   He is with you even if your baby is having multiple surgeries and your 9 year old does not read yet and your 13 year old is spending too much time on the computer.   It's no fun while this is going on, and your mother's heart feels pained and scrambled and crushed, but He is with you.

Non-Schooling, while it may be a painful interlude in our lives, is not the same as the dread Educational or Parental Neglect.   Having lived through several seasons of Non-Schooling  and seen several grown children do well in college and life despite it, I can see there is a difference.   Schooling and Education are two very different things.   They sometimes overlap, but the lack of the first does not mean the lack of the second.

Though I am talking about the value of even these rock bottom seasons in our lives, I am not trying to encourage myself or anyone else to "settle" there.   Rather, I think that the best way to climb out of the troughs is to start by acknowledging that God is there in the details of even these wilderness times.    And one of the signs that He is there is that children can grow and develop even in "scrambling" circumstances.

In future posts I am hoping to have more normal homeschool things to write about!  But it helps me to start from where I am, and if you happen to be there right now, I hope it helps you too!

It's Strewsday Tuesday!

Faith at Unschooling Resources started this feature but while Faith is off for Lent, Maureen at Bread with Honey is continuing it.

 I thought I would join in because Chari and I both rely a lot on strewing as a way of jumpstarting and motivating learning in our households.

In future days, we will probably be writing more about strewing in our households, but if you would like to read up about it now, start with Melissa Wiley's post on strewing and for an example read a story by Melissa, Butterflies, or the Benefits of Strewing, which actually features Chari as the starting point of the article.    For more examples,  Sandra Dodd coined the term and has a page of links about the idea.

This will be the long distance version since I am away from home and so I am not really strewing anything for my children.   But wait.... I don't have to, because I have friends to do it for me.

Paddy taught himself to read when he was only four.    I had told myself when he was a toddler that I really wanted to see if one of my children could learn to read without being taught.  He is my seventh, and all my others had either learned to read at school (Liam) or using 100 Easy Lessons and whatever else was around until it clicked (the other kids, and they learned on their own timetables, Clare at five and Sean at nine and everyone else somewhere in between).    Then there is Aidan, who is still learning literacy, but that is another story for another time.

So for Paddy  I tried something I had read about -- maybe in Cushla and Her Books?    When he was two or three, I started sliding my finger under the words as I read them.   I did it for a while and then stopped, not wanting to be too teachery and ruin the book for him.   He grabbed my finger and put it back on the page under the words, very decisively.    From there I was committed.   Sliding along the words became an essential part of the reading/nursing/cuddling experience.  Sometimes my forefinger would burn from the friction from the page as I read for an hour at a time.  But if I tried to rest it, Paddy put it back. Decisively.

One bonus:  he didn't mind long stretches of text with only one or two pictures.  The moving finger kept it dynamic. So from an early age I could read him things like Winnie the Pooh , which my other kids didn't get into so much until they were older.

Another bonus: he really did learn how to read that way.

The transition into reading was painless and gradual.   At four I would see him reading Tintin  (good for early readers, because it is so lively and visual but has  plenty of text -- Aidan reads them now).   Maybe he didn't read every word, but it didn't really matter.   By six Paddy was reading Narnia, Winnie the Pooh, and the Thornton Burgess books.   He liked to read books that I had read aloud to him first.   I think knowing what the story was about gave him clues in puzzling out words he didn't know.

 He did puzzle out words he did not know, but it was certainly not by means of phonics, because Paddy. Did. Not. Know. Phonics.

Not at all, no way.  When he did the K12 California virtual charter program in first grade, he was doing math at a 3rd grade level and reading at a 6th grade level according to their initial assessment.    But in phonics he was under kindergarten level.  He had trouble with rhymes, and hearing ending sounds, let alone middle vowels.  He usually could get the beginning sound.   He was like the bee who shouldn't be able to fly according to the rules of aerodynamics.  Paddy was the child who shouldn't be able to read according to the laws of reading readiness.   Yet somehow, like the bee, he did it and did well.

In second grade this lack of phonics savvy translated into a horrible time with spelling.    It didn't help that K12 moves ahead pretty briskly in spelling.    I admit that I didn't push hard with it.  It would have taken an hour a day to get him spelling, and one of my firm rules in early education, learned from painful experience, is Don't Take the Joy Out of Learning.  One of the best ways to decrease joy is to push something hard that the child does not yet have an affinity for.   The bee flies well when it is nourished but falls to the ground and crawls painfully when it has run out of fuel.  And joy is fuel for the young learner.

Just recently, when I traveled up to Alaska in January, Paddy mentioned casually on the phone, "I can spell some words now.   Want me to spell "sword"?"  Of course I did, and he spelled it.

A little later he asked me if I wanted him to spell "ring".  He spelled it.  And from then on we had quite a few conversations like that.   Sometimes he would phrase it as a question:  "Mom, is this how you spell HERE?  H-E-R-E?"    He always got it right.  You could tell each word was a treasure to him, like picking up an especially beautiful quartz pebble, or picking up strewn equipment on one of those computer quest games.

This wasn't coming from his phonics or spelling lessons, because he hasn't had any this year or for about half the year before that.  Because of a combination of discerning while praying and default because of traveling, I have decided to mostly go the unschooling route this year.    So his new skill in word-building has come from real words in real books and real computer screens.   They talked to him and he wanted to talk back in their language.  As Frank Smith says, since he has been in the reader's/writer's club since infancy, it was natural for him to want to take the next step in the relationship and learn to speak back their language.



As Melissa Wiley says, quoting Sarah of Knitting the Wind,::

Do you want to know my philosophy and overriding practice of education? Tell them stories. Get them to tell you stories back.

So now you know who my friends are who strewed words for Paddy and patiently helped him to learn them well enough to spell them. 


Thank you Mr Lewis, Mr Milne, and Mr Burgess, for all those hours your books have told Paddy stories and made him want to tell them back.