But then when I began the curriculum things weren't working for Laura the way I thought they would. She didn't like some things, and didn't understand others. I had brought home my older daughter to homeschool and placed her in a ACE program under the direction of a lady that runs a private christian school. Seeing the way ACE was set up, I gave Laura the placement test. Sure enough, there were learning gaps in some areas, and other areas where she excelled.
I bought some pace materials and decided to use Heart of Dakota alongside, but pick and choose what we did. It's been working, but slowly I find I am adding more and more of Heart of Dakota and letting go of the workbooks.
The area of narration, dictation, and copywork bothered me. I'll be honest. I was educated in public schools so this was confusing for me. Where were the quizzes and the spelling tests? But over the last several days I decided to investigate further the philosophies behind these practices. Heart of Dakota advertises to use Charlotte Mason principles. So, in my investigation I decided to find out about exactly what those principles are and how they can be beneficial.
I'm not sure about all the principles Charlotte Mason practiced. Many of them are very new to me. All I know is that much of what I've read makes total sense. I've not practiced many of them, but I've long been a believer in books. All last year, whether we were studying American History or clouds in science, I would run over to the library and find books to go with the workbooks. Laura read lots of books last year and I read several to her, but I never could tell how much she was comprehending or retaining without a list of questions. However, those didn't really work either. Narration, whether oral or written, is different. Narration shows very clearly what a child has learned. There were times I would have my daughter tell me about what she read, but it was informal and not narration. Narration is a skill! Narration is a skill that can greatly improve every area of a child's education and every day life.
Laura did her first dictation exercise today. I started off on the lowest level in the Preparing Hearts guide. I explained to her what we were doing and even some why. It took two minutes. When we were done, she had it perfect. She looked at me and said, "Is that it?" Now I realize it will get tougher, but it was a moment for me. I knew we could both use this method.
This year has been been crazy. I've done a little of this and a little of that all year. I've kind of done that since homeschooling. Wanting all the bases covered, I've been drawn to some traditional curriculums, only to find that both me and Laura are bored in some subjects that I don't want to be boring. Wanting adventure, I've been drawn to unit studies, but found that they just got on my nerves after awhile.
Searching, searching, searching. That's been me and a lot of others whose blogs I've read. Some find a curriculum that they love and seems to work for kids. Others mix a bunch of stuff up and make their own plans. Now I plan to do some more research and really find out what I believe about education. Laura has been doing the workbooks for a few weeks now. While she enjoys some of them, she has admitted they are getting boring. Secretly that makes me happy because I don't like most of them anyway. I like BOOKS!
I'm slowly reimplementing more and more of Heart of Dakota's lesson plans. I'm researching and learning more and more about Charlotte Mason. Now that I've learned more about how some of her methods work, I like them. They are making more sense to me now. I still have a lot to learn.
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