Vacation

Just popped in to say that I'm sorry I haven't been posting much. The last couple of weeks have been vacation time for the family. I hope to have something new to post soon!

Foxtrot is 3

So Foxtrot turned 3 recently. Boy does time go by fast. I had to share her birthday cake with you. Of course as we all avoid twaddle (yeah right?) - I'll have to explain. Foxtrot likes "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" - and the cake is on one of the characters... Toodles. I think it turned out really well.

History Rotation 2

~500 - 1453

World History

A Child's History of the World (ch 42-60) - Hillyer Read 1 chapter a week (leaves extra weeks free)

OR

On the Shores of the Great Sea (? chapters) - Synge Read 1 or 2 chapters a week (avg ?)

Canadian History

The Story of Canada (ch 1-2)

OR

My First History of Canada (ch 1-2)

Biographies and Fictional History (WORLD)

Do not feel that you need to do ALL of these. You may also pick books from the younger years.

(This list will likely be added to)

This list is compiled from various sources, which I will be using to decide which books my children will read based on interest, abilities, availability, etc. The year placements are approximate.

Years 1-3

Lief the Lucky

Viking Adventure

Stories of the Vikings - Mary MacGregor

Our Little Saxon Cousin of Long Ago - Julia Cowles

Our Little Norman Cousin of Long Ago - Evaleen Stein

Our Little Viking Cousin of Long Ago - Charles Johnson

Our Little Crusader Cousin of Long Ago - Evaleen Stein

Famous Men of the Middle Ages - Haaren

The Door in the Wall

The Minstrel in the Tower

The Whipping Boy

St. George and the Dragon

Sword in the Tree

Brother Francis and the Friendly Beasts

The Apple and the Arrow

Medieval Feast

Castle Diary

Pippo the Fool

William Tell by Margaret Early

Joan of Arc - Stanley

Marguerite makes a Book

Years 4-6

The Vikings

Beorn the Proud

Galen and the Gateway to Medicine

The Shining Company

Adam of the Road

Castle

Cathedral

Robin Hood - Pyle

The Red Keep

Joan of Arc (Landmark)

The King's Shadow

King Arthur and His Knights

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Adam of the Road

Otto of the Silver Hand - Pyle

Years 7-9

Beric the Briton

Rolf and the Viking Bow

For the Temple

The Bronze Bow

The Dragon and the Raven

In Freedom's Cause (Wallace and Bruce)

Scottish Chiefs (Wallace and Bruce)

The Once and Future King

Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

The Pushcart War - Jean Merrill

The Knight's Fee - Rosemary Sutcliff

The Gambage Cup - Carol Kendall

Sir Nigel and the White Company - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Beowulf - Burton Raffel

The Black Arrow - Robert Louis Stevenson

Hereward, the Last of the English - Charles Kingsley

The White Stage

Story of King Arthur and His Knights

The Book of Arthur

The Shining Company

The Magna Charta

In Freedom's Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce

The Prince and the Pauper

Years 10-12

Men of Iron

Voices of the Renaissance and Reformation

The Second Mrs. Giaconda

The King's Fifth

Haven't Decided on Year Level Yet

How We Learned the Earth is Round by Patricial Lauber

Biographies and Fictional History (CANADIAN)

Do not feel that you need to do ALL of these. You may also pick books from the younger years.

(This list will likely be added to)

This list is compiled from various sources, which I will be using to decide which books my children will read based on interest, abilities, availability, etc. The year placements are approximate.

Years 1-3

Very Last First Time - Andrews

Dragonfly Kites - Highway

Years 4-6

The Dream Carvers - Clark (Viking boy captured by natives)

Lost in the Barrens - Mowatt

Years 7-9

Years 10-12

Haven't Decided on Year Level Yet

Solo Day

It was Solo Day at our violin group class... the last group class of the year.

Echo played Allegro....

And Delta played Etude....

I hope you enjoy!

Moving into Summer Schedule

Summer is fast approaching, and we are starting to finish off some of our resources. I don't want us to drop school all together over the summer, but I don't want it to be a full amount of school either. Here is what I'm thinking...

Scouting - finish up the Otter badges for Delta (and work on some for Echo)

Art - I'm thinking of tackling the "Drawing with Children" book with them as a fun set of activities that will improve their drawing skills - hopefully done in a fun way.

Picture Study - I want to do a Canadian Artist... maybe Emily Carr?

Scriptures - continue with readings and memorizing... probably daily

Copywork - probably about 2x a week instead of daily

German - also just a couple of times a week... try for fun things like Sesame Street in German etc.

Literature & Reading Instruction - mostly just leisure reading - maybe pick one book for a family read

Math - a couple of times a week, to keep skills fresh.

Violin - regular practice - mainly review.

Nature Study - lots and lots of this!!!

Phys-ed - a couple of summer sessions of swimming

Nature Study

With the weather being so nice, we had our "Wild Day" early this week. We headed over to the provincial park and happened to see....

A wild turkey out for a walk with her chicks!

Working Together

An e-friend sent me an email asking about combining the family together to do subjects, as she had looked at the year groupings I had mentioned, and realized that generally she will only have 1 or 2 children together in a group at a time. This is my response to her, to help explain what I am planning.

As for combining subjects... next year Delta will be in Year 3, and Echo will be in Year 1 (and then Foxtrot and Golf follow at approx 2 year intervals.) I don't think I have made things totally clear on my blog yet... it is hard to get what is floating around in my head down in writing in a clear way... but let me try. Although my kids will be roughly put into the 3 year groupings (Forms, hm... I really have to find a good word for this...), subjects will be done together in various ways, depending on the subjects.

History, for example, I plan to have everyone in the same time period no matter what Year they are in. We will use the same spine... either for everyone or for years 1-6, and years 7-12 (haven't totally decided yet.) Then Years 1-3 will have some extra books for that time period... probably just a couple, and probably read together... Years 4-6, etc, will have extra books too - probably ones that they will read on their own then narrate.

Shakespeare would be done Years 1-3 together reading the children's story versions. Everyone Year 4+ will do a Shakespeare play together (reading parts). Years 4+ will do Dickens and Plutarch's Lives together too.

Science will also be together for Years 1-6 doing the rotation I put up. After that point, they would probably do science on their own, or possibly Years 7-12 together (depending on what resources I find or choose at that time.)

Literature (other than the bit mentioned above) I'm still mulling over. I think that I will combine the years 1-3 together because so much of their literature is still read out-loud. I suspect that after that, most of their literature will be read on their own, but I'd still like to have a book that we read outloud together.... like a family read out-loud.....

Subjects like Math, learning to read, handwriting, etc. will be done independently because everyone will likely be at different levels and positions of understanding.

Other subjects, like picture study and nature study have always been planned to be done as a family.

This is very similar to the model provided to me by Milestones Academy and Simply Charlotte Mason. It also is what makes sense to me at this point.