The Charlotte Mason Girl

Where did My New Year's Resolutions go?

I was all determined to be organized once the calendar was turned over.  I forgot about all the busy times around the holiday season.  Oh, yeah - we had a few parties, shopping, special times with the children, AND we decided to add a new puppy to the family.  (The puppy was a last-minute decision for Hubby and I.  She came available, and so we went for it!)  Having a new puppy is close to having a new baby in the house.  Potty training is very time-consuming!  I'm hanging on to the hope that this will not take as long as it takes to get a newborn all the way to potty-trained!  

I have decided I'm going to give Sue Patrick's Workbox System a try.  I got the ebook, and I'm a little over half-way through it.  Sigh.  I wanted to be done reading, have all the supplies purchased and organized, and start using it the first day back to school!  I have a tendency to be an all-or nothing gal.  If things are good at this moment - I see life as being GREAT!  If, however, things are hard, I feel totally defeated!  As I was wallowing in misery for not being organized enough - STILL! - I thought back to our Christmas break.  We got to spend a lot of time together as a family.  Because of the way the holidays fell this year, my husband got a four-day weekend followed by a three day weekend.  We got a couple of new games for the family, and I spent a lot of time playing games with family.  Sometimes we were all together, and sometimes it was just a few of us.  But, we made it a point to take lots of time playing together as a family.  I also read about four fiction novels!  Reading is a pleasure for me, and I took advantage of the free time during the holidays to get extra reading in.  

So, how should I feel?  Have I failed at the CM way of education?  Have I come up short, again?  Are my children suffering because of my 'lack of organization'?  I think we'll all live through it.  We are continuing to limp along with my less-than organized method we have used so far this school year, and I'll be working on finishing that ebook and getting our workboxes set up.  THEN I'll be a good homeschooler!  Right?

2009 - OVER!

Can you believe that we are preparing to welcome a new year - AGAIN!?  I remember being told when I was 18 that the years go by faster and faster, but I didn't really get it.  Well, NOW I do!

This has been a year of hard work, change, trials, triumphs, and wonder for my family.  I am so glad to have gotten to live it!  My children are growing so fast, and I am working hard to treasure these days in my heart.

Rebekah has already gone through 1/2 of her first year of high school.  Benjamin is going to be more and more involved in our schooling, and so I will soon have five students!  

This is a good time to review goals that we set last summer, see where we are, and make adjustments, if necessary.  This fall has seen so much change for us, that I didn't make it nearly as far as I'd hoped on many of my goals - school or otherwise.  However, I'm praying for guidance as I look forward, and I can't wait to see what the new year will bring for us!

I pray that you will have many good memories to focus on from 2009, and that you will make many new memories in 2010!  

I am looking forward to sharing more encouragement and swapping ideas with you about how we can continue to educate our children in the ways of Charlotte Mason.  Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you next week, as we hit the ground running toward the prize! 

Back to our Regular Schedule!

Hello, everyone!  Whew!  We have been busy as beavers around here getting the new house ready, and our stuff ready to move to the new house.  I believe we will be moved within a month.

 

I have been thinking a lot about Dina’s questions, and I wanted to share a few more thoughts with you on the subject of planning and setting goals.  I know it’s hard as a new homeschooler to know where to begin with this process.  I know I didn’t have a clue when I first began!

 

I believe the easiest way for me to set goals has come from our history curriculum.  I have set up a four year rotation for our history study.  Year one is Ancient History, or creation to Christ (in the curriculum we use, that’s Ancient Civilizations and the Bible by Diana Waring), Year two is Christ to the reformation - I’ll fit in the explorers, also (The first 8 units in Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries), Year three is America’s founding years (I’m using the Knotgrass company’s curriculum for this next year – I’ll let you know how it goes!), and Year four is Civil War to the present time (Diana’s World Empires, World Missions, World Wars, and then some of my own things I’m putting together).

 

I use these curriculums as a guide to help me set my goals for the next year.  As you know, history is our core, and that sets most of my school agenda for the year.  I add in a math curriculum – and this one needs to be individualized for each child – I haven’t figured out how to teach a 2^nd grader algebra, when they haven’t learned division, yet!  I also add in Nature Studies – I like to use the Exploring Creation series by Jeanne Fulbright as my guide for that, some.  I really try to follow Miss Mason’s advice to let the children explore the creation around them as much as possible in the early years, and that becomes a wonderful foundation for later science learning.

 

So, my goals often look something like this:

 

History:  All - Complete units 1-8 in Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries

Math:     Rebekah – Pre-Algebra in Teaching Textbooks

              Jeremiah – 5^th grade math in Teaching Textbooks

              Esther – 2^nd grad math in Making Math Meaningful

Science: Rebekah – complete Building Blocks of Science

              Others – nature study walks once per week, add in readings from Exploring Creation with Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day

Artist Study: I usually list one artist to study for each term

Composer Study:  I usually list one composer to study per term

Life Skills:  I like to make a short list for each child of the next level of chores, grooming responsibilities, and other character issues in this section.  I don’t always share this with the children, I just know what I want to see them work on, and I look for opportunities to teach this area as they come along.

 

Next year, we embark into the scary world of High School!  I’ll be doing some things in more detail, I’m sure, as I work to develop a transcript that will be acceptable for my daughter’s future college, employers, or others who may need to see what her high school time looked like.

 

Well, I hope that helps some of you who are trying to figure out how to set your goals for next year.  I encourage you to pray about it, and see what the Lord has for you to teach your children.  Something Cindy Rushton said that I really took to heart was this – “Teach your children what you have in your hand.”  This is especially true for new homeschoolers.  I’m sure there are many things you would love to teach your children, but you just haven’t had time, or it didn’t seem like ‘real school’, so you’ve not done it, yet.

 

Maybe you love to sew and create clothes or home decorations, maybe you love to garden and can the abundance in the fall to enjoy throughout the winter months, maybe you love to attend the symphony and listen to the great classical composers, maybe you love to study animals because you have a love of biology – all these things and many more that you love, you already know a LOT about them!  Have you not taught them to your children yet?  Well, I say, DO IT!  Show them what you know!  Share the skills and knowledge the Lord has given you!  Your children will benefit from it, and you will strengthen your relationship with them as you share your enthusiasm for life and for the things you love.