I am going to attempt a post, even though my monitor is dying. To shorten a long story, I have black lines flashing horizontally across the screen. Which is making it hard to focus on individual words and check my spelling, punctuation and grammar. So please forgive any errors or typos! Weekly Workbooks So in… Continue reading Playing with Puppies — Random Wanderings on Education
“Education is lighting a fire, not filling a bucket.” When a homeschool mom has a struggling reader, she is often advised to let content subjects take a back seat while she works on the basics. As one of those moms, I tried that approach. But a basics only approach is lifeless. I found no joy,… Continue reading Feeding the Mind of the Child, or Why “Focusing on the 3 R’s” is Not the Best Approach
In the book Home Education, Charlotte has some wonderful advice for nature study: Calendars.––It is a capital plan for the children to keep a calendar––the first oak-leaf, the first tadpole, the first cowslip, the first catkin, the first ripe blackberries, where seen, and when. The next year they will know when and where to look… Continue reading Charlotte Mason’s Book of Firsts
Charlotte Mason used a book called A New Handwriting for Teachers, by M. M. Bridges. It contains a few pages of instructions, and then “ten stiff, thick pages” for the children to copy from. Since I am trying to remove workbooks/printouts from my life (I solemnly swear that paper breeds!), I decided to see how Ms.… Continue reading Beautiful Handwriting
My 6 yo (Andrew) and I had our second reading from Nesbit’s book: Shakespeare’s Stories for Young Readers today. I used a lovely idea I’ve read about on a few blogs / mailing lists: making a cheat sheet for the story. I made mine as we went along, not the smoothest perhaps, but it did… Continue reading Drawing Shakespeare: The Tempest