Homeschooling Thoughts

Like every mother experiencing changes in her family, I’ve been doubting my methods (this is the first time that I’m officially following a curriculum and doing schooling every day). But I have to remind myself that Brooke’s trouble in remembering details isn’t that unexpected when we’re reading stories like The Sword of Damocles.

It’s been an awesome adventure though. We’ve been using a ‘Word Dominoes’ phonics activity pack given to Brooke by grandma for her birthday, and in practicing the word parts and using the small readers, Brooke has been slowly learning to recognize words. When she sees a word she doesn’t know she tends to guess what it is, but I’m trying to remind her to sound it out instead.

Today was more of a hands-on day rather than lots of reading. The morning was spent with the kids watching a stray cat on our patio. I’m pretty sure he has a family. The kids were in love though. We didn’t get in math practice or handwriting practice, but Brooke did try out a harder reader from her phonics pack, and she and I listened to Ralph Vaughan William’s Symphony 1 (selections, anyway). I had her close her eyes and try to imagine images in her mind. Jaycen thought the music sounded like Star Wars. I personally want to purchase the album.

We also did our first art study. We drew our own renditions of Raphael’s ‘The Knight’s Dream’. Brooke was actually fascinated by it. She picked one of the ladies in the picture and painted her in watercolor. Jaycen painted a spaceship. I sketched the same lady that Brooke painted. It was really fun.

After that we had lunch and went for a ‘Nature Walk’. We walked around the corner to see some horses down a private drive—they weren’t in their paddock though. We then walked down our street and looked for different tree leaves and tried to spot as many animals as we could. We saw a bee, a beetle, a crow, and lots of garden spiders and their webs.

There’s so much I wish I could do. I’d even like to somehow help inspire others who have been interested in (or at least curious about) homeschooling. I’m glad I stumbled across the Charlotte Mason method and AmblesideOnline.org. I love how it utilizes classic literature and hands-on learning. No textbooks. I also love Half-Price books. I’ve been able to get a stack of books from them for under $30. What a blessing!

Sorry, no pictures today. I have pictures on our camera, but I wanted to get my thoughts out here before they faded away. I have two cute videos of the kids to share soon enough. :)