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Connections
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 11:51am | IP Logged
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I have 6 and 7 year old boys.
I am trying to decide if I need to have a more formal approach to school this Fall. If they were in school, they would be in first and second grades. I tried a "school time" last year, but it did not stick.
Here is some of what we do:
We read aloud a lot.
I ask for oral narrations from readings now and again.
We have a family timeline on a wall of the living room and we add to it.
We do picture study and logic puzzles.
Math word problems and hands on math (on and off).
They dictate stories to me.
They create things and dress up and act out stories.
They write (often asking for spelling of words) when they are making signs, lists, etc.
We take classes now and again in areas of interest.
We have poetry time together as a family.
They do little boy things.
They help with chores.
We try and weave it all together throughout the day but the only thing I always do is read aloud (usually during meals and sit down on the couch times). The rest is woven in sparadically depending on the day (and my motivation).
Also, I have recently been called back to the Catholic Church and I will be spending a lot of time this year introducing them to the faith.
Anyone have any advice? What am I risking by continuing this way? Is there anyone who is near the end of the road and wishes they had been MORE structured earlier on?
Thanks, Tracey
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 12:45pm | IP Logged
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What you are doing sounds so wonderful. All the wonderful aspects of Charlotte Mason and such are being woven into your lifestyle- and so they are becoming part of what your family is instead of 'school time'.
I am not at the end of the road, but have been at it for 8 years now. At the age of your kids I would also be doing some reading instruction, copywork, and by 8 or so would begin some type of consistent math. This is only what I did- otherwise I know that I can go off into my own little orbit and skip those things.
I think it is beautiful when the things you are doing can be woven into life. When my two first ones were little they were very much for us as well. But with the increasing numbers of children we had I found I needed to be more intentional to keep picture study etc. on the menu, often by scheduling it in.
The only regret I might have is not ever following through with a phonics program per se. My kids all read but the spelling is seriously lacking- I don't know if the phonics would have been the answer or not.
When kids are young, as yours are, spreading a 'generous table' would be my biggest suggestion, with the addition of some reading lessons. Looks like you are filling the bill well!!
(Wow, that was a wee bit more info. than you were probably asking for!)
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Willa
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 1:51pm | IP Logged
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Connections wrote:
| Anyone have any advice? What am I risking by continuing this way? Is there anyone who is near the end of the road and wishes they had been MORE structured earlier on? |
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I don't ever wish I had been more structured. I often wish that I had been LESS so.
I DO wish that I had been more intentional. It sounds a bit like "structured" but it's really quite different.
I flitted around a lot, didn't really understand the value of the simple things I was doing (that you describe in your list). So when I say I wish I had been more intentional, I mean that I wish I'd focused on those small seeds and worked on nurturing them, rather than trying to change my homeschool into what I thought it SHOULD be.
A lot of things I now WISH I had done involved slowing down, building up a rich family life. That is what I mean by intentionality. I was too lazy, too uncertain, and in too much of a hurry to "get it done".
Fortunately even though I messed up often, those simple things really carried their own momentum and have propelled my older kids even through all the false starts and missteps.
To me your attitude and approach sound great.
I liked the way a relaxed Charlotte Mason homeschooler whose children are now grown wrote it out:
Why it Worked, and What it Couldn't Do
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SallyT
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 3:30pm | IP Logged
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I agree that what you're doing sounds very rich and full. You can cover SO many bases by reading aloud.
So much depends on the personality and readiness of the child -- my younger son is about to turn 6, and though I thought of him as a kindergartener this year, I will be thinking of him as a kindergartener again next year just because it seems clear to me that he is not ready to settle down for formal lessons of any kind yet. I work reading instruction into our read-aloud time; he asks all the time how to spell things; we play around with addition and subtraction -- but he's not ready to sit even for 5 minutes to work on handwriting, copying, etc, which my older son, now 10, would do at that age.
It does seem to me that gentle copywork would be the next logical thing to build in, in language arts, and that eventually it will be important to do math more consistently. It's worth bearing in mind, however, that many, many boys going to school are 6 in kindergarten and 7 in first grade -- that might help put what you "should" be doing into some kind of perspective. Many children in general, but boys in particular, just don't exhibit readiness to settle into sit-down "school time" at the age at which the institutional school asks them to be ready, and many families hold off sending their boys to kindergarten until after their 6th birthdays. So that might be something to counterbalance your thoughts on introducing more formal seatwork to what you're already doing.
Again, what you're doing sounds wonderful, and reminds me that I need to be more intentional about doing precisely those things with my current little ones.
Sally
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 4:45pm | IP Logged
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Looks great!
I *might* think about adding in some Math U See and a very simple reading program with the 7 yr old? Don't spend more than 15 minutes a day with each subject and don't feel obligated to them 5 days a week, either, but I was less intentional with phonics/math with my first and regretted it in the end. I don't even use a phonics program. I teach with flash cards until they can read "cat, sam, pat, etc" and then use Explode the Code and have them read to me from readers. Its simple, cheap, does not require a schedule or planning, and gets the job done with minimal stress. With my ds, I had to do the writing in ETC, but it wasn't too painful.
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Sarah M
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 5:27pm | IP Logged
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Willa wrote:
I don't ever wish I had been more structured. I often wish that I had been LESS so.
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Wow. This is really, really helpful. As I am at the beginning of my journey, I will cling to this advice. Thanks, Willa.
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Connections
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 5:37pm | IP Logged
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Thank you so much for your thoughful responses.
Both of my boys are early readers and we do weave enough math into our days (I collect far too many math resources because I am so afraid I will miss something) that they are ahead of our district's standards in math.
I realized we also weave in Spanish and Latin and nature walks.
I have noticed that my 7 year old is progressing in spelling. I need to decide when to incorporate copywork (we tried it before and it was not a big hit- maybe they were too young).
I am worried I should be more formal for the sake of being formal, I guess. And because of the expectations of others. Or maybe it's to better answer the doubters' questions about "what did you do today?" Because the way we do things, my boys don't really "feel" like they are "doing school." My 6 year old said we shouldn't even say what we do is school. Since I get to see all of the learning they are doing, that's nice for me to hear, but what about the rest of the world! And then I worry that if I am not formal now, they will have trouble transitioning to formal later.
This is why it is so helpful to hear from you who have been at this for awhile (and those of you who may be newer at this but have figured it out!)
I am going to think more about Willa's distinction between being more scheduled/formal and more intentional. That is very hepful as well.
Thanks again for the respones and any additional thoughts are very welcome.
Blessings, Tracey
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MacBeth
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 10:19pm | IP Logged
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There is one big risk, and it turned out to come about: My son, who craves "formal" education, took the high school entrance exam in eighth grade and informed me he was going to a very strict Catholic high school  . It has worked out well for him, but it was quite a shock to very informal me!
Nice advice from the members here, btw. What a treasure we have in our combined experiences!
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SallyT
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| Posted: June 27 2008 at 8:26am | IP Logged
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One helpful strategy -- in dealing with both your own apprehensions and the questions of others -- can be to keep an informal log of things you do, and make a note in the margin beside each entry what subject/s you covered in doing that activity. So if you read a chapter of a book, and maybe it was about Davy Crockett (I'm reading about Davy Crockett with my youngers right now!), and in the course of reading you went to the map to see where in Tennessee he lived, and where his travels took him . . . you could label that "reading," "history," and "geography," easily. And so forth.
So when people ask what you do all day, you say, "Well, we always do some reading, and today we covered history and geography . . . " and whatever else you happen to have done. Math, Spanish, Latin, whatever. Generally what you will have done will turn out to be meatier than whatever the kids might have done in school at these ages, and people will say, "Wow! What about socialization?"
Anyway, a log does help you to say with confidence what you've actually done, which always turns out to be more impressive than you thought.
Sally
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Connections
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| Posted: June 27 2008 at 5:24pm | IP Logged
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Great idea.
Thanks, Tracey
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folklaur
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| Posted: June 27 2008 at 5:54pm | IP Logged
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SallyT wrote:
and people will say, "Wow! What about socialization?"
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LisaR
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| Posted: June 27 2008 at 6:19pm | IP Logged
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MacBeth wrote:
There is one big risk, and it turned out to come about: My son, who craves "formal" education, took the high school entrance exam in eighth grade and informed me he was going to a very strict Catholic high school . It has worked out well for him, but it was quite a shock to very informal me!
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wow, this is my son, too!! but I don't regret our time at home (through 8th grade)maybe he would not be doing so well in school if he had been going since Pre K!!
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Topic: What do I risk by not "getting formal?"
