It's different now, from a month ago, trying to give a weekly update. Instead, I'm going to give an update to include many of the things we are doing and how things are going.
Math - This is one area that has remained the same. Laura is still doing ACE math, though we have slowed the lessons down quite a bit so that they remain 'short lessons' in Charlotte Mason style. I've stopped giving her the tests since I can see from her work, the check-ups, and the self-test how she is doing and if she is comprehending. She goes back and corrects all her work. I grade her work daily, not to record grades but to see where her errors are. Next week Laura begins some fractions work. I plan to use some real-life examples for her there. Math is the one area that I don't want to change at this point. Laura is doing so well with ACE math that I am hesitant to mess that up. I do want to add some hands-on work so that I know she is learning the why behind the concepts.
Science - For the past few weeks Laura has been reading the book Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey and using the lesson plan from Heart of Dakota's Preparing Hearts for His Glory. Laura wanted something with more experiments, which is one of the first indications that I needed something different... more hands on in our homeschool. So, since spending money is not an option at this time, I decided to use what we had. I was already being led to Charlotte Mason, and the Heart of Dakota lesson plans that I stopped using last year were already in my home, just waiting for me to use them. So far, Laura is learning all about the constellations. I am hoping to get outside in the next night or two and see what we can discover for ourselves.
History - We are still studying U.S. History. As I've said before, we switched to A Child's Story of America. We are supplementing with living books. Right now we are reading George Washington, one of the titles in The Sower Series. At this time, I have at least two more biographies planned. Laura is enjoying history this way, though I may implement some hands-on activities. We don't need to overdo them, but some here and there would make things interesting. I'm all for livening things up right now so that Laura is interested instead of just trying to get through "School". This is an attitude I am fighting right now. She is getting more and more interested in the things we are learning, but I realize it is going to take some time to get her out of that mindset.
Language Arts - So far, for grammar, we have continued to use ACE. I am looking at other items though that fit in better with the Charlotte Mason method. This method is interesting. It makes so much sense, especially in the area of language arts. Narration, Copywork, Dictation, and gentle grammar is all new to me and to Laura. We have continued to use the ACE, again slowing down on the lessons to accommodate the method of using short lessons. I have a Charlotte Mason language arts program that I will be looking at. Until then, I will stick with ACE mixed with the other methods. Laura's dictation level was a bit too easy. I bumped her up a notch to see if that proves to be more challenging for her now that she is understanding what she needs to do for dictation. Her copywork is getting better. It isn't her favorite, because she doesn't want to write in cursive, but I am noticing improvements. Narration is slowly improving too.
Reading - Laura and I are doing a LOT of reading, but it doesn't seem as stressful as it used to be. First, we are only reading bits at a time in each book, slowly absorbing the stories. Not including the two books we are using as our main curriculum for science and history, Laura is reading four books. Plus, we are reading two read alouds. We also have our devotions and New Testament reading. That is a lot more than I would normally read. Yet, Laura is enjoying reading these books. She is really enjoying Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess. I think we may read more of his books.
Bible - In the last few weeks, we have finally made it to Ephesians in our New Testament reading. We got behind schedule. I had Bible reading in the afternoon, and it seemed like it kept getting postponed due to all the busyness that happens in the afternoon. I tried doing the Bible reading after devotions, and that worked better. We may stick with that.
Newly Added - I added handwriting, just because I want Laura to write well in cursive. Despite the arguments that kids today don't need to write in cursive because they type or IM everything, I still use cursive daily. I love to write things down for myself. One of the ways that I retain and process information is to write it down. Whether Laura uses it the same way or not, I still believe cursive writing is a skill that should be mastered.
We also added poetry. We, again, are using the Heart of Dakota book. We are reading Robert Lewis Stevenson this year. Laura didn't like poetry much last year. This year, she has fallen in love with it. She'll read it in her free time. She looks forward to time for poetry.
We went out at least twice last week for nature studies. I also sent Laura out a couple times on her own. One day I told her to go outside and find something from nature, draw a picture, and write about it. She wrote about the wind, which was really neat considering the wind storm we've been in for a couple days. Laura loves nature studies and looks forward to them every day.
I will say that, as we slowly transition to the Charlotte Mason method, I have my doubts about things sometimes. I also wonder how or if I'll incorporate all the different things that Charlotte Mason recommended. One step at a time, though, is the best I can do. Laura likes the way we are doing school. She is getting more and more dramatic, detailed, and exuberant in her narrations. I do think it will take some time before the attitudes she holds about learning fade and are replaced with a Love for Learning.
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