U N D E R C O N S T R U C T I O N…
We have really enjoyed home educating using Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education. Living books, including the Bible, are our main sources and guides for learning, and our reader devours them! We do oral narrations, but most are done in the form of notebook pages and sometimes lapbooks.
edited: We start the day with prayers, and then we sing unto the Lord. I read a chapter from the Bible for the older child, and we usually have a little discussion afterwards. I made up and printed reflection sheets for her so that once in a while she could write down her thoughts about our reading. Although the little ones usually listen in while we read, I also read to them from the Children’s Bible, while the older one memorizes her assigned verses. The three and five year old memorize the same verse. Once in a while the five year old illustrates from our reading, then she keeps that in her homeschool binder.
Our goal is to finish academics by lunchtime. It doesn’t always happen, but we’ve seen that it is a workable goal. We like to keep the afternoons open for activities- school related or not, baking, nature walks, play and lots of free time.
Math-U-See has made Mathematics our oldest daughter’s favorite subject. That is far from how I would describe her relationship with Math before we gave this program a try. We always use a timer, and that is working wonders!
Art and Music studies are given as much emphasis as other subjects. Music gets easily incorporated with the other activities, and Art appreciation only takes a few minutes each week, unless we decide to draw or copy from the artwork. We are so grateful for the Apologia Elementary books for making science a much welcome subject in our home. It has made teaching science easier and refreshing for me, and learning it fun for the children.
The children always look forward to those read-aloud times with daddy, though they have been few and far in between lately. Winnie the Pooh remains a favorite for years now, but Paddington Bear captures the children’s hearts, too.
to be continued…
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. I must say after reading your posts, especially how you homeschool, we have so many things in common. I’ll be back regularly.
Look forward to getting to know you.
amanda
You have a beautiful family.
I am a big Charlotte Mason fan too.
Blessings on your homeschooling year. Don’t you just love the freedom we have to let our kids just explore their world! :o)
I love Charlotte Mason/classical approach to homeschool, too. I have been interested in TOG, but the projects(hand-on) scared me. Happy Homeschooling!
Funny…I know what you are saying about Bible. We changed how we do it, too. We still do it daily, but now it is more practical. We are doing a rather intensive study of Proverbs 31, but what it involves is focusing on a single verse, talking about it and then applying it. We just looked at how she clothed herself in purple and now my daughter is learning to sew. The morning starts with her working on her sewing project and that is “Bible.”
I started it because I did not want our bible studies to be the most dreaded part of the day. And then I realized that is exactly how I wanted to teach the subject anyway. It isn’t about knowing things, it is about applying the principles. So we are practicing being godly as much as learning about it.
Hi there. I discovered your website when I was looking up a recipe for cassave suman–I saw your daughter’s blog and thought it was the coolest thing to find another filipina out there homeschooling! I have been greatly blessed in all that you have shared about your homeschooling experience and methods. I have 3 children, ages 6,7, and 8. We used to go to a church where almost all the children were homeschooled and so I had a lot of other moms to relate to…we’ve moved to a different church, where I am the only one that homeschools. So, I have a lot of questions and I’d ask them all now,but I’m afraid I may use up all your comment space–he he! Thank you and may the Lord bless you and your family!
Valerie, ask away! My heart in this blog is to be a blessing and encouragement to other moms, so to read comments like yours is a big deal. Thank you for the kind words.
Hope to hear from you again, and hopefully, about your homeschooling family!
Well, since you said I can ask away, here I am again! Looking through your website has been an answer to prayer! I have been homeschooling for 5 years and I’ve been using the traditional method with workbooks, upon workbooks, and more workbooks times 3 children. That’s the only method I was accustomed to. It was easier when it was just my eldest homeschooling because I had the time to devote solely to him. And now, with one in 2nd, another in 3rd, and my eldest in 4th–you can call it a good day if I can get to teaching him his math lesson before he takes off and learns on his own. I love what I’ve read so far about the Charlotte Mason approach. I would like to transition to that method, but I have spent a lot on books for this year already. Do you have any suggestions how I can incorporate the CM approach using materials I have already? I am using the Abeka and Bob Jones curriculum. I combine History, Science, and Bible using the 4th grade books for all 3 children. Any help you have to offer would be greatly appreciated! Bless you again and Thank you!
Valerie, the only suggestion I have for now for incorporating the materials you have and the CM approach is using them as your guides in what to focus on. For example, if for this week your science textbook is covering bugs and slugs, and history- the coming of the Pilgrims to America, then you could read books about those, (the library is our homeschool’s friend!) and use the textbooks for review and the chapter questions for comprehension, or to help them with narrations.
How about trying notebooking instead of answering the questions at the end of the chapters? That might me a nice and gentle way to transition:)
That could be somewhat vague. But first, I want to turn you to Ambleside Online. Have you checked it out? Some families use that as their main curriculum and what more, it’s FREE. It is such a wealth of resources and inspiration! Bask on that for a while and then we’ll talk.
Also, I know you’ve invested a lot of money on those textbooks, and I understand that of course, you don’t want to waste them… but the last thing your kids need is an overworked, not-so-happy, stressed out mom!
Could you afford to take a couple of weeks break from your textbooks?
If you can, pick a few books from the reading selection (let’s say, YEAR 3) of Ambleside Online, and read them aloud to the children, while you are all snuggled in the couch. Maybe with hot cocoa or apple cider?
Listen to Bach or Mozart, and call that MUSIC! Look at a Monet or Renoir painting, have the children retell what they’ve observed, and call that ART!
And I promise you’ll like it:)
Hello again…I checked out Ambleside online as you suggested. I already had the book Pilgrim’s Progress, so I began reading it to the children. They have been looking forward to it every day. It is a little difficult to keep my youngest one’s attention when I’m reading…but the other two seem to really enjoy it. I stop every few paragraphs just to make sure they understand the story, and most of the time they do:) I do have another question…I’m not sure how they make the schedule for reading on Ambleside. Do they incorporate History, Bible, Science in all the books listed for each week? Does that mean all those books have to be read to the children? Are those books text books or books that are mostly available at the library. Not independent reading? There does seem to be a lot of different books to read at once, rather than beginning and finishing with one. How do you do Spelling? To they memorize copywork and go from there with being able to copy it from memory. I hope you understand all my ??? It’s late, so I may lack sense at this point. Thanks again.