A New Season

Ahhh winter...

Not my usual sentiment. It's cold and rainy. The little kids and I haven't been out in the back yard in over a week since it is a mushy muddy mess.

But everything is just going so well I can't complain about the weather.

My oldest is off of mama's school radar. He is finishing up an outside class this spring and then he will be transitioning into the great big world. I just need to plan his graduation.

My darling 16 daughter is really coming into her own person. Self-education at its best! She is what we all want our homeschooled kids to be. Diligent, lively, fun, joyful.....at least most of the time!

Sam. I had a plan for a CM styled Kindergarten for this year for him and scrapped it. Instead I started the year with a packaged K complete with daily lessons that I planned to do while 2yo Charlotte took her nap. I just really don't know what I was thinking......OK I do know what I was thinking. The prospect of 2 highschool age kids , a 5yo and a 2 yo filled me with uncertainty and I thought this packaged curriculum would help me make sure that Sam didn't fall through the cracks. First thing to go "wrong", Charlotte quit taking naps. The second was he found it boring. Third, I always felt like I was behind because I had to double up Tuesday's lessons on Monday since Tuesday is dominated with outside classes. I work Wednesday......well you get the idea. I also found the reading portion to be a bit cumbersome. So I gave it 4 months and the packages curriculum is boxed up ready for ebay.

We are back to plan A and it has been wonderful! Sam is working through 100 Easy lesson for reading at about 2 lessons per week. If he continues at this pace he will finish next December. We switched back to Math-U-See....found our old blocks and books in the garage ...gave the blocks a quick rinse and now math is a highlight of his day. I enhance our daily story with a resource that I've never used before called "Five in a Row". Such a gem that I have passed up in the past.

The rest of our day is spent trying to meet these goals.....

"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint
of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.

from Summer 93 Parents Review pub by Karen Andreola


1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm

Speech- Sam does have ongoing speech therapy so we are really concentrating on getting over that hurdle. We'll start working on this when he is 6 and hopefully done with Speech therapy.

3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters

MUS will meet this goal.

4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child

100 Easy lesson will meet this goal

5. to copy in print-hand from a book

Sam's fine moter skills aren't the strongest.This is related to his speech motor issue but also the fact that he broke his dominant arm last spring. Handwriting without Tears will meet this goal.

6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
7. to describe the boundries of their own home
8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach

We work on these during a weekly nature walks while the teens are in their various classes.

9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!)

He can retell the stories that we are using as the literature part of our day. We will meet this goal as we switch over to Ambleside year 1 next fall.

10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape

We haven't started doing these yet but will as soon as we get back outside. We will do this informally until age 6 then start his nature notebook.

14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.

He can do this.

16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences

Spanish for us. I need to get a bit more focus and planned on this..

17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song

Sam loves to sing. Haven't done a hymn or a Spanish song. Maybe we can ask Aunt Sanjie to suggest a good spanish song for us?

18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.

We have been so blessed to get to observe Monarch butterflies at the butterfly garden in town. This goal has been met.

It's important to note this is a list of attainments for a child of SIX. and Sam is a child of FIVE. So we are doing rather well I believe. We will work on this list for the next year.



I didn't even mention Charlotte except that she quit taking naps! The big news for this big girl is that she has transitioned to a big girl bed. The crib is gone until the grandbabies start to come. Sad, Sad day for mama...all her babies are grown up.