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mama2many
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I am LOVING reading all these threads.. and being a mother of 5 and new to homeschooling, it is overwhelming.
So, hold my hand... My youngest is 3 mo, and my oldest is 9.. and I want to making learning a PASSION for the kids, how do I do this when it seems all I do is nurse the baby!! we are using seton right now, but it's dry. and I don't know what I can start to add this year (we've enrolled so that money is spent and we want to finish the "year" with them)
I don't even really know what to ask, but I want to make the learning more interesting, not just reading facts and doing workbooks..
My 9yo said to me yesterday she wishes school was really just reading about the saints lives!! I can see in my head, making it that way.. sure read about a saint, talk about where they lived, when they lived, what they ate, how they were judged.... but how to make that happen?? I was a HORRIBLE STUDENT..
Also, can someone please explain what a living book is?? You all are so wise and loving!! I feel like a polliwog!
Thank you all for any and all help, I don't even know what I'm asking.. I guess this is a follow up to my praying on next "year" hoping to gain wisdom in how to be a better homeschooling Mom!!
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Krystin
wife to Kevin
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JennGM
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I hope some others chime in with ideas.
But try to not get discouraged. While this board is full of amazing ideas, each of our domestic churches look very different. We can be inspired, but don't think the grass is greener. You make what works for you. Also, the boards don't show fully-dimensional family
You mentioned you do Seton, which is dry, but do you have room to add a few things?
First of all, what is a living book? I'm going to refer to several places.
Mater Amabilis
Quote:
| A living book is a book that engages the mind, inspires the imagination and delights the heart. Whether fiction or non-fiction, a living book makes a topic come alive. Whenever possible Charlotte Mason encouraged the use of living books in the place of textbooks. “From their earliest days they should get the habit of reading literature which they should take hold of for themselves, much or little, in their own way.” (PE pg. 191) First-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through books is the surest way to a living education. |
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Simply Charlotte Mason
Ambleside Online
Secondly, about the saints. I think you could work that in easily into your day. Can you start your morning routine with reading a bit of a saint to start the day. There are some wonderful collections of saints lives that are "living" in style, and will captivate your daughter.
Then I would have some other books that your daughter could read on her own. I can come up with a list of series or collected lives that would really inspire her. This she can read in her free / quiet time. If you're thinking about easing into a more living learning style, Charlotte Mason maybe, have her do some narrations about the saints she reads.
And one other thing I do that I would continue no matter what approach I take in my curriculum. The night-time reading is something really special for us. That's where these boards have been so helpful in getting suggestions for picture books, especially by theme. Read according to the seasons, saint of the day, prepare for field trips or road trips by reading about the geography and natural science of the area. I have to say if nothing is going as planned, as long as we pray, eat, and read together our ship is still on course.
Let me know if you want saint book suggestions. What level reading is your daughter?
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
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Maryan
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As Jenn said, wonderful books are what augmented our learning.
We started with lists from people. Two of the biggest helps were:
Cay's list really augmented our Catholic saint picture books and Elizabeth organized by age level some wonderful books. Every year I use these ladies books as a starting point for finding books to read. And, of course, searching this forum comes up with a treasure trove of books.
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
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mama2many
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Thank you!!!!!!
I look forward to reading these hyperlinks!!
'
My 9yo is very proficient reader, she can read at a MUCH higher level than 4th grade.. (like possibly 9th?? When she was in public school they were talking about testing for gifted programs, but that's just busy work, and not for flourishing)
My 6yo is a beginning reader..
4yo is just below beginning, I think he'll be reading soon
2yo.. he's TWO! LOL
I'm going to start looking into easing into this while we finish out our year with Seton...
I am VERY interested in how the math works... also, how do we get copywork to..work?? When transitioning from a "school" kwim? 
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Krystin
wife to Kevin
mama to
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J (12/01)
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A (7/10)
C (11/12)
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mama2many
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Oh and YES please send me ANYTHING you think I could use with any of my kids to start easing into it.. and Saint Books would be WONDERFUL!!!! 
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Krystin
wife to Kevin
mama to
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J (12/01)
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J (7/08)
A (7/10)
C (11/12)
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Mackfam
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Krystin,
What a big year in front of you - your first! Any "first" is going to involve a learning curve! Be gentle on yourself and consider this a year for learning! While you may find some things about the curriculum you are using that you don't care for, challenge yourself to find some things that are interesting, well done, and worth thinking about! Also, look for the good in the year - time spent learning alongside your children. It won't all be perfect, and I'm certain you'll find a lot you want to do differently next year, but without this year for learning you wouldn't be able to get your bearings, so to speak. I'm glad you asked about living books! That's THE place to start, and Jenn's links give you a great start in pondering and considering a living book. Living books are a FOUNDATIONAL part of our learning!
If you are already finding your year a bit stale, adding some read alouds would be wonderful - both liturgical and otherwise! Seek out great reading lists like Maryan suggests. Other great reading lists can be found in this great thread - What great books about books do you have/want?. These books and ideas from this board help build great reading lists.
mama2many wrote:
| I can see in my head, making it that way.. sure read about a saint, talk about where they lived, when they lived, what they ate, how they were judged.... but how to make that happen?? I was a HORRIBLE STUDENT.. |
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YOU CAN DO THIS! I have a standard issue 1970's public education   - these were the days when schools couldn't decide if they were teaching metrics or standard for math...and had just discovered that life and learning was all about feelings. I consider myself to be joyfully learning alongside my children in our home education experience!!! They read and narrate...and I learn along!
I have some more resource recommendations for you to consider during your year for learning:
** A Charlotte Mason Education: A Homeschooling How-to Manual by Catherine Levison, along with a More Charlotte Mason Education also by Catherine Levison. I've been recently re-reading ALL of my Charlotte Mason resources and books and Catherine Levison's are among my favorites because they're clear and she writes and conveys ideas in a very simple, unintimidating way. I like her writing style and that she stays very true to the philosophy and methods of Charlotte Mason when she explains things. If she veers from CM she says so clearly.
** If you can swing it the DVD seminars from Simply Charlotte Mason are super helpful and very informative! I especially like The All Day Charlotte Mason Seminar and the Books and Things Seminar.
If you spend this year learning and looking for your teaching style and how that best meshes with the learning styles of your children you will begin to discover your family's philosophy of education. This may take more than one year, btw, but I think your year this year can help you narrow your focus a bit more - at least that's how I'd try to look at it so I could focus on pulling something truly positive from it. In truth, I consider every year a year for learning for me because I'm always trying to be attentive to what we're doing, how we're doing it, ways to improve, and be consistent in those things that matter a great deal to me. I've been homeschooling for 10 years now and I'm revisiting philosophies that initially propelled me and find myself learning so much more, pruning in careful ways, being more generous in others. This vocation has been such a blessing to me in that respect, even those years that are less than stellar! I learn so much alongside my children; we are learning and seeking to do as Venerable Pope John Paul II encouraged us: "Family, become what you are."
and prayers for you, Krystin as you seek clarity and ideas in pursuing the joy and the discipline in this vocation.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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ekbell
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RE Saints and lesson plans- ideas for later years. (I also have a daughter who prefers this sort of book to most other historical reading.)
Catholic Heritage Curricula has a set of Saint stories/Reading Comprehension books for grade levels 5 to 8 which are well worth reading. Here's a link to the first one Stories of the Saints Vol 1 The books include various project ideas to expand learning as well as standard reading comprehension questions.
Stories of the Saints also work very well as part of history. The RCHistory curriculum and the book For the Love of Literature both interweave Saint books into their recommendations for history reading.
An additional aid for using the Vision Book series of Saint books for history, religion and geography would be Saints of the Church: A Teacher's Guide to the Vision Books. This book provides a summary and ideas for vocabulary, language in Context, timeline and mapping activities, topics for written reports, names for biographical sketches, scripture and catechism references and discussion questions for 17 of the Vision books.
There are also study guides for the Windeatt books as well but I don't know as much about them.
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Grace&Chaos
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We started our homeschooling journey with Kolbe and its structure served us well for beginners. I noticed that every year I was adding more meat "living books", nature study, saint studies and other CM methods to our curriculum. I have found almost every book mentioned so far very helpful. This is our first year officially taking a stab at creating our rhythm a la CM.
We are loving it and we are still learning. I would recommend to finish your year as planned and slowly introducing yourself and kids to things you want to see most for your family's education/life style. It took me three years to gain the confidence to let go off a wonderful resource like Kolbe (just no longer what we need or desire in our days).
Just adding another great resource for us last year: Tea and Cake with the Saints was the basis of our Liturgical year. My kids had so much fun with this. We would use her ideas for tea, set up our table and read great picture books about the saints or special church days (many from Catholic Mosaic and Real Learning).
A resource I'm finding helpful right now is Planning Your CM Education. I'm already thinking what will we do next year especially since we wont have an umbrella program to tell me what to do next (I know feeling I'm completely responsible now can be scarry, it is for me). This is really helping me focus long term what do I want for us and then how to break it down per year, per term, per week.
I just finished Levison's book More Charlotte Mason Education and she has a section on transitioning in her Questions and Answers chapter. This was a very helpful book, especially now that I'm fully committed to this learning life style.
Hang in there Krystin, praying for you 
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Blessings,
Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
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Mackfam
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Grace&Chaos wrote:
| A resource I'm finding helpful right now is Planning Your CM Education. I'm already thinking what will we do next year especially since we wont have an umbrella program to tell me what to do next (I know feeling I'm completely responsible now can be scarry, it is for me). This is really helping me focus long term what do I want for us and then how to break it down per year, per term, per week. |
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That is GREAT advice, and a GREAT resource which I love and use EVERY YEAR! Stepping out on your own like this seems scary at first because there is a lot of unknown, but there are some wonderful resources like this one that help moms plan with tools that are very reassuring and helpful! 
Grace&Chaos wrote:
| I just finished Levison's book More Charlotte Mason Education and she has a section on transitioning in her Questions and Answers chapter. This was a very helpful book, especially now that I'm fully committed to this learning life style. |
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I'm so glad you liked this book, Jenny! I did, too!!! 
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Marie
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I just wanted to mention too a free ebook on Simply Charlotte Mason titled "Getting Started in Homeschooling". I'm finidng it helpful to help think it through!
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~Marie
DS 2005, DD 2007, DD 2009 and a new little DS 2011 DS 2014
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mamalove
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I think it is good for a beginner mama to follow lesson plans for the first year, maybe even the 2nd as well. This helps a mom to get to know how homeschooling works and get more confident before she jumps into her own thing. So, Seaton was probably a good choice for you this year, just go with it. Believe me, anything can turn dry and boring! And it does not matter how juicy and exciting someone elses homeschool looks, if the plain fact is that you are too busy this year figuring out HOW to homeschool, chances are none of that super fun stuff would really be happening in your school if you tried to do it.
If she really wants saint books and is at a high reading level, there are SO many out there that you can give her instead of her seaton reader. I have a son that would rather read than do anything else in his schoolwork, but the bare fact of the matter is that other subjects are important too. They have to learn to suffer too at some point, right 
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mama2many
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Now, I'm poking around and this love of learning (on my end) is getting spendy.. what books should I invest in having my own copy of RIGHT NOW??
What are worth waiting on?
In my amazon cart I have:
Elizabeth Foss "Real Learning"
"A CHarlotte Mason Education"
and
"A Catholic Education, Homeward Bound" (Recommended by Elizabeth Foss on Kind Conversations thread.. yeah this thread reposted there..LOL)
I also would LOVE to get the Planning book/DVD...
At some point dh will have my head on a platter!!
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Krystin
wife to Kevin
mama to
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J (12/01)
K (6/06)
J (7/08)
A (7/10)
C (11/12)
My Clones in Action
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Hold my hand...
