I‘ve been working away at my Circle Time plans. I’m a little behind because of the company we’ve had, but I only needed to plan eleven weeks. We have squished one week of basic work into and around our various visits of last week and this week, and that’ll do.
This term is going to look a lot like last term, but I’ve added some things. The word “generous” comes to mind. As I’ve been reading and rereading Charlotte Mason’s works, I find myself having the urge to broaden our horizons a bit, especially when I combine that with the fact that one of my children is waking up to the world and seems extra hungry for mental, spiritual, and intellectual nourishment these days.
This term we’ll be reading through a book of fables. We’ll read one {original} fairy tale each week. I’m moving away from manners {formally taught, anyhow} for a term, and we’ll be reading through all of the basic Bible stories in Genesis, except the Tower of Babel, which we read this past term. I am pondering buying the book Discovering Jesus in Genesis to use this summer. By the end of the term, the children should have a decent grasp of the flow of Genesis, and this might prove exciting for them, to see how God’s covenant works from the very beginning of time. This book was written by the Hunts, and we were quite pleased with their Big Truths for Little Kids. My understanding is that Discovering Jesus in Genesis continues with the characters Cassie and Caleb.
Term Two didn’t go as well as I had hoped. Frankly, we caught a lot of bugs this winter, and I was too cheap to take us all to the doctor, so we fought it out at home. This went fine, except that it took us longer to get over it. In the process {as Mommy got more tired}, we dropped Latin, and then the folk song, and ended up at the Bare Minimum.
I am thankful we have a decent Bare Minimum.
Now, we’re feeling good, and my three-year-old, whose favorite time of day is Latin time, is begging for us to start again, so I’m putting it into Circle Time to make sure we do it. Now that the weather is wonderful, it is hard for me to get certain children to stop playing once they begin. We’ll have to hammer it all out in the morning hours, or we’ll never do anything except enjoy the sunshine.
Not that enjoying the sunshine is a bad thing.
This term I was also going for “famous.” I am at a point where I want to make sure that my oldest is understanding the many literary references he is surrounded by. So we’re going to read famous poems, such as The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Wynken, Blynken, and Nod and so on. For fairy tales, I picked the most popular, culturally speaking, even though I plan for us to go back through and read those with less name recognition.
I added Catechism back in. The little ones are ready. I’m also going to have them sit through parts of Ambleside Time, if they respond positively to the suggestion. I thought they would enjoy a couple of the readings this term.
We are still plugging away at John Lord’s Beacon Lights of History. My oldest completely adores the readings, but we only do five to ten minutes at a time because it is a lot for a little guy to take it. He is getting a deep look at some of the most important Hebrews, such as Moses, Elijah, and so on, so it is all worth it.
Here are the official {I think} Circle Time plans:
Resources
Books:
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Song School Latin
Arnold Lobel’s Fables
The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Wynken, Blynken, & Nod
Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales
The Jesus Storybook Bible
Beacon Lights of History
Music
All Creatures of our God and King
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy
Here is my Term Three Average Day Chart:
As I said on Scribd, I hope that an hour of Circle Time doesn’t turn out to be a mistake. I will let you know if I repent.
I’m not doing Ambleside’s assigned artist {again}. For starters, I prefer not to introduce the Impressionists to young children. But also, being that I am in love with my our timeline, I want an artist that actually fits on the line. Our cutoff is 1600. I scrolled through Ambleside’s previously assigned artists and chose Titian. Here are the pictures I’m printing for our Artist Wall in the dining room:
And here are the thumbnails for the wall timeline {to be printed on cardstock}:
The end.
3 Comments
Dawn, That encourages me that you liked DJiG. Okay. I’m going to take the plunge soon and buy it.
Taking time off for the garden sounds wonderful, Mystie! It’ll be refreshing to get outside and enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. I wish that I could do that, but we are doing “soil repair” meaning that I am watching my microclover grow and not doing much else. Well, I suppose I am praying for my poor pathetic-looking strawberries. Goodness, our soil is terrible. Anyhow, I’m not planting any seeds right now because I am waiting for my clover to get established first. So I guess we will just do lessons instead. 🙂
You know, after I had my last baby I took six or eight weeks off before even attempting a day of school. It is okay to heal. The one upside about C-sections is that no one expects you to jump back in with both feet.
I have been thinking about mounting hooks along my hall on which I can hang clipboards. I thought the girls could have their chore charts and Kumon pages for the day, and E. could have all the stuff he does on his own (until I correct him and work with him on mistakes) such as math and copywork, etc. Boys especially seem to respond well to feeling more in charge of what they are doing.
Looks great, Brandy! 🙂 We’re taking a few weeks off in April to get our garden started and enjoy the Spring, but I should start getting things ready for our last term, whose theme for me is “finish strong.” 🙂
This last term post-baby has been a joke, which is why I’m ending it a week early. The garden has to get going, and who am I kidding that we’ve actually been accomplishing anything? 🙂
One thing I changed this last term was giving a checklist directly to Hans for some of his work, and that worked out really well. He does what is on his list and then comes to show it to me and to narrate what he read when it’s all done. I think for second grade he might get his own clipboard. 🙂
Discovering Jesus in Genesis does continue with Cassie and Caleb and is well done. We did it last summer, and will do it again. I think my littles were a little too little, so a repeat is definitely in order.
I’ll look more at the rest of the schedules another day, but what I read so far sounds wonderful