Rowing, rowing, rowing ...
When Mae was a wee four years old I bought my first homeschool curriculum. It has been my first love in the art of teaching my children. It is such a thoughtful, delightful, almost unconventional way to unleash a love of learning in little ones.
We rowed titles from Volume 1 with great fervor and intention for Mae's preschool years, peppered with a few necessaries, such as, handwriting and counting and Bible. Good stuff. Once we started Kindergarten with My Father's World our rowing started to wane and here and there we'd row a title as a special treat, which was made more special since Viola was old enough to tagalong a bit, too.
Now with James home and speaking very very very little English (but understanding much much much more) it seems time to pull out FIAR again and row away. Is there anything more crucial in life than learning to read and to LOVE to read? Five years of literacy have been lost to James so it is time to light the fire of words and illustrations and rhythm and tone and emotion and wisdom that comes from the very best books.
We have decided to re-row Volume 1 -- actually, Mae decided so that she could share her experiences with FIAR with James. Sweet. I'll take these moments between these new siblings ... they are not always as easy to come by as one might imagine (since the picture in most minds of older child adoption is not truly the reality of older child adoption, but that's another story for another time, maybe).
Miss Charlotte Mason will turn in her grave to hear that we are opening windows of learning via unit study, but I still love her immensely. I think she just might secretly be swooned by the beauty and passion behind FIAR. Timeless children's literature, read and re-read with love, and then unraveled from five starting points ... social studies, language, art, applied math, and science. Smart and deliberate and yet sparking a curiosity in thinking that can only be fueled by rich, living books. (Additionally, the FIAR Cookbook will afford us the opportunity to bake and cook every week as part of our lessons. This and crocheting and Mae is over-the-moon.)
Our first stop ~ Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. This is also the poem the girls are memorizing this week (from Queen's Language Lessons for the Very Young) and it is Mae's copywork selection.
How in the world will I add FIAR into our already full days? Cheerfully and rhythmically and only just a smattering -- not every day, not every week -- just here and there for the joy of it.
8:30a: morning devotionals (daily)
9-11:30a: language lessons & picture study (2 days/week), handwriting (daily), poetry copywork (1 day/week), spelling (2 days/week), math (daily), poetry (daily), reading (daily), history (3 days/week), bird study (2 days/week), nature study (daily)
11:30a-12p: tidy house and prepare lunch
12-12:30p: lunch & history read-aloud
12:30-2:30p: independent reading, baking, sewing, music (daily during boys' naps); FIAR
3-4p: outdoor play
This includes *too many* breaks unseen here on this neat and tidy (and wishful) blog page.
More to come.
Tried to post, but I lost it.
ReplyDeleteYikes! Are you in my brain? We are in the middle of the lesson you are talking about with QLLVY! Rella asked for it again, so we started with Very Young. Mater is almost finished with LLFLOs 1. We are also using BFIAR this year, possibly FIAR next year. Don't worry about Ms. CM, I'm not a purist in anything, I pick and choose to make the best for my kiddos. I see you are doing the same. :o)
We are nearly always on the same wave length, Cindie, it seems. :) Mae also asked for Queen again so we started up with LLVY this week, after starting PLL and EFTTC this year. I've learned, maybe, to stick with what always works, and pretty much, that is Queen ... language lessons, math, nature, history. FIAR is more than wonderful, in ways I can't properly divulge here. I expect to continue with FIAR again next year with Viola and Zeb and Beyond with Mae. There is a quality to learning literature in that way that is intangible, and I'm happy to have found our groove and the time enough to get back to it and to it well. Can't wait to see what you do with B4FIAR. I had planned on that this year with Jack, but he's just not there yet (he's still 2). I'll be watching your blog for updates. xo
ReplyDeleteLooks good. I was just looking through your curriculum choices on the side and in the "wishing" page. I see you've made some changes again. :) I also ordered MLFLE 1 & 2 for my two girls ... Awaiting their arrival. Did you switch gears for history again, too? Love keeping up with you & what you're doing. Many blessings!
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa~ I think you will just love MLFLE. My older daughter has been drooling over my K'er's math book so I went ahead and ordered Book 2 from Queen. I will throw in some MM worksheets for a little, gasp, drill on math facts, which is so important, and the timing is good because Mae just finished her MM lessons (we were about to start a new level next week). My Viola was just not grasping much of the Ancient Egypt with SCM Mod1 so given their ages and the fact that Mae could still do all six modules starting next year in grade 3, and Viola will be in grade 1, we are just setting it aside until next year. That said, I am truly smitten with A Living History of Our World and Angela will be writing volumes that will take Mae through eighth grade and Viola through sixth, so we'll see what the end of this year brings. So, we switched back to ALHOW from Mod1. :) I also added Lollipop Logic because my girls do love a little workbook time, like with Map Skills. haha. I dropped our separate picture study and decided that the 15 or so between both girls QLL is plenty and really gorgeous and it makes sense to keep it simple. I also wanted a little more umph to our nature studies ~ more science-y and Creation driven ~ so I pulled out All Nature Sings, which is daily and helps me be more deliberate. :) FIAR is dreamy to me, always has been, and 12 weeks home just about with Zeb and I feel capable of infusing some FIAR into our days again. How are you? I'll be stopping over to your blog today to catch up. What does your curriculum look like? Post a comment here with your home email and we can talk there ~ I won't publish that comment so that it remains confidential. :) Warm blessings!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Rella wants ALHOOW again, too. Sigh. Mater has been doing MLFLE off and on too. We are heading the very same direction. :-)
ReplyDeleteCindie ~ I was going to email you tonight to ask why you aren't doing ALHOW presently. :) I love to see your paths! I just pulled together our Rag Coat lessons for FIAR. We'll start that the week of Thanksgiving, which will be our lite week. A good start after Frost's FIAR, which is also intentionally a little less intense. We're excited to blend this all together (well, I am. lol).
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've heard different people say that FIAR isn't CM. I beg to differ! :) CM taught that children are people with their own thoughts and individual ways of looking at things around them. This is EXACTLY what FIAR does. It allows parents to open the doors of great literature of OUR time (notice that they are not Victorian books here!). I know I'm stepping out on a limb here, and I've been accused of heresy (practically), but I believe that we can be CM at heart and culturally relevant to our times. God put us in this generation for a reason. We need to prepare our children for this time… not 100 years ago! Can you tell I'm on my soap box? 'Nuf said. ;) What you are doing with your children is delicious. I can't tell you how many absolutely wonderful memories I have from FIAR. I love it. Just love it. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteAh, Angela ~ Anyone who uses the word "delicious" to describe curriculum is truly a favorite person of mine! :) Thank you for endlessly encouraging me. All that you said is right from my heart. Wise girl you are indeed. I completely hear you on the heresy ... phew, it can be brutal out there. Obviously we are not a pure CM homeschooling family, though I'd say I'm pretty close, but I don't particularly want to be purely anything, and I surely dislike feeling boxed into an ideal, whether it CM, Classical, Eclectic, Waldorf, Delight-Driven, Unit Study. I have four children who are uniquely and wonderfully made and it is a gift to draw out there precious qualities and help them find their most perfect wings in this moment of history. My soap box sounds much like yours ... stepping off now. :) I do love FIAR. Always have and that's how I first got to know you. Lovely. I vowed that we would not have any "school" today but darn if Mae didn't ask for her ALHOW journal. I know I've said it eleventy billion times, but thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi Angela!
ReplyDeleteErin, probably because I tried to do one thing only. Not smart. Rella loved ALHOOW, but I just thought it was too much. There's so very much out there I love, simple is usually best, but sometimes I think it's all or nothing. Obviously that's not me. Anyway, I keep going back to Queen's products and love them. Why, oh, why did I think otherwise?!? Grass is greener?
Anyway, we are doing Oak Meadow K with Mater and probably just Queen's Easy Pack D with Rella. :)
Oops, along with BFIAR and then FIAR.
ReplyDeleteYep, yep, yep. No green grass here in winter so I hope to stay settled now. :)
ReplyDeleteNext year ... FIAR + Queen's Easy Pack for Viola (pretty much that's what we're doing now) and Zeb, BYFIAR + Queen's Easy Pack + SCM Mod1 Bible for Mae, and Jack tagging along with B4FIAR.
Love it. The beauty of it is that it is undeniably simple and well-rounded and thoughtful and inspiring. And, heaven knows you and I have not left any curriculum-stone unturned. :)
Yep. We can truly say we have left no stone unturned!!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to blog about it next week, but for the most part, it's just what you said. Although, I am keeping Mater in Oak Meadow with QLL and MLFLE. I can't do two full Oak Meadow grades at the same time and do it well.
Take care. It sounds like Melissa is right there along with us!!
You ladies are like looking in a mirror. :) In my 12 years of homeschooling, I have tried pretty much every style and method in the book. It's hilarious. My husband might beg to differ about its humor, but hindsight is always funnier than when you are smack-dab in the middle. I have come to the conclusion that I will never be a "perfect" homeschooler. Sigh. Isn't that the truth about us all, though? I love the fact that my weakness is His strength. :) I don't mind telling you, this year has been a trial for me, concerning my 8 year old. I still haven't found exactly the right "thing" for her. All of my others are in the "mode." I found their "sweet spot" right off the bat. But my 8 year old… arg. I think I'm going to take the afternoon and pull out my FIAR manuals. All this talk about FIAR is making me yearn for the simpler days. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me "hang out" with you! :)
This whole thing is cracking me up! The only reason I'm not writing a novel on here is because I'm out of town &this is my mom's I-pad. I cannot type nearly as fast on this thing so I don't even bother getting started. Oh but my mind is racing! So, cindie, you are stopping OM 2 for now? If the main thing you wanted from OM was the "beauty", I guess you can get that from doing some of the beautiful things in kindergarten TOGETHER. So, then are you going back to American History now? All of my thinking and planning has been for NEXT year, but you guys are gonna get me thinking about THIS year again if I'm not careful, lol. Love that we all seem to be on the same wavelength. Talk to you ladies soon.
ReplyDeleteCindie ~ I am considering OM K with Zeb and Sully next year, if Zeb can understand enough English for the stories. Either way, I want to stay close to FIAR again. I have missed it so very much. I need to make a page on my blog like you did of our current materials that we pick and choose from ... that would be so much more freeing and people might be less judgmental in their comments (that I don't publish, lol) here.
ReplyDeleteAngela ~ I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally want to hear how things settle in for your 8yo. Mae turns 8 on Nov 26 and I'm in that same spot with you. She pretty much wants ALHOW, MLFLE, ANS, outdoor play, baking, crocheting, painting, and copywork all day. See, on paper that seems plenty and lovely, but somehow in execution it feels empty-ish. Hmm. FIAR sort of fills the gaps I feel, but don't always see.
Melissa ~ Silly! You know it's always fun to think about the current year, and that's what keeps the learning fresh and alive. I'm not saying the changing every subject every week is healthy, but tweaking this and that surely helps us meet this children where THEY are at, regardless of if it fits into our ideals. That's where I seem to be lately. What I want my homeschool to look like, versus what THEIR homeschool should look like for them. Hurry home from vacation so we can chat! :) I've also learned that beauty can be found in the every day, regardless of which curriculum we use. I know, believe me, I know how beautiful OM is in the early years, but it's stretched me in great ways to seek beauty through Him, versus through my materials. Hard to articulate. lol.
Loved this discussion ladies! You all inspire me in more ways than I could ever properly say here.
Melissa, yes, I'm shelving the complete OM 2 for the moment. Rella really, really loves the products from Queen's and I can't do two full Oak Meadow programs. I thought I might just let Rella do the fun stuff and crafts from OM K and do OM 2 and 3 with Mater so Rella can experience it then. We were skipping so much because I didn't have time to prepare for all the crafts. It's better to do one program, for me at least.
ReplyDeleteSo... they are both doing QLLs. Rella is doing ALHOOW and PWP also. We are doing BFIAR and OM K along with math and reading. :)
I'm sure Erin wants this all over her blog! HA!
My plan is to do ALHOOW Volume 4 with SOTW 1 next year since our co-op is doing SOTW 1. That's if Volume 4 will be ready.
Erin, feel free to delete or modify this! I do agree with you, I want to pick and choose without feeling I'm bouncing all over the place. :-)
Love the conversation, Cindie. How else do we learn and be refined? This is great! No worries. You have given me wonderful things to think about and look at all the simplification I've done on my blog ~ thanks to YOU! I already feel less stressed. haha. Blessings ladies! Keep me posted, please. :)
ReplyDeleteErin and Cindie, would it be helpful if I made up a list of crafts and projects that I have done/am doing with Volume 1 of ALHOW? Katie is an extremely kinesthetic, and I've always had to add in a lot of crafts and "extras" for her. :) I was wondering if that would be something that would interest either of you? :)
ReplyDeleteAngela ~ YES please. Yes, yes, yes. You have my email. I would be immeasurably grateful! I'm so excited. :) Thank you for offering!
ReplyDeleteYes, Angela, please!! You have my email also.
ReplyDeleteYES, YES and YES some more. The Hands-On aspect was the only reason I originally considered My Father's World ~ because I wanted to cook and craft and stuff around our study subjects. But, I decided against MFW b/c it isn't CM enough for my taste and includes too much busy work/work sheet stuff. So, if you could put together American History ACTIVITIES to go along with your stuff, that would be beyond amazing!
ReplyDeleteBtw, Angela, I just received books 1 and 2 of Math Lessons in the mail. So excited to get started. Can't wait to order the ALHOOW whenever I can get my hands on some money. :) Getting excited about American History.
Love and blessings!
Melissa
www.irienarrowpath.blogspot.com