I am feeling very passionate about homeschooling in the past few days – I think because I’ve been finding resources that suit our family, as well as a method that I’m feeling the most drawn to. Although I know we’re making the right decision, I’ve been feeling a little worried about staying organized and focused, the type of curriculum to use, and if the kids will co-operate.
So we’ve made a few (I’m sure of many) changes – around the house, in workbooks, and in resources:
Toys - The first major one, is taking all of the toys out of the kid’s bedrooms (which is where the vast majority of their toys were in an attempt to keep the rest of the house tidy). We moved them all to the basement and have re-organized them into boxes, bins, drawers, and bookshelves. We moved 2 chairs out of the basement and into their bedrooms. Their bedrooms now contain the bed, a reading chair, books, and their clothes. I would like to add a small night table into their rooms with lamps, as we don’t mind if they read before they go to bed. This morning our little guy slept so late I went to check on him and there he was, sitting in the chair reading a book. He said, “Mommy, I love my new room.” When I asked Kaia how she liked not having toys in her room and she said it is really nice and that it’s easier to go to sleep. What a relief! The basement is nicely organized (albeit it seems much smaller), and the kids love playing down there.
Learning Room – We have converted the large office in the basement into a learning room. We’ve put school related books (amazing how many I had before homeschool was even an option for us) on one 5-shelf bookshelf, moved a nother 5-shelf bookshelf into the learning room from the rumpus room and that is holding all the craft supplies (again, it’s amazing how many we had and didn’t even know it). Craft supplies are now in clear plastic containers and jars, the different types of paper is layed on the shelves along with playdough, markers and pens, etc. It’s so nice to be able to see what we have on hand.
Books – We love books. Always have, always will. The kids have a TON of books that we just brought home from storage. They are still in bins. I need to go through them and would like to organize them into categores – science, math, language arts, music, art, geography, etc. I would like to put those types of books into the learning room and then leave the rest of the books for free reading. We’ll see how it actually plays out.
Method of Teaching – I’ve been doing tons of research on methods and David and I have decided (again a no-brainer once we read a bit about it) that the Charlotte Mason method is the method that lines up the best with our interests and beliefs. You can get a general overview of her methods here. There are a couple of sites I’d like to quote because they really hit home for us:
“…while others thought that children were no more than empty slates to be filled with information, she believed that they were already real people capable of independent, intelligent thought and that they needed vital ideas, rather than dry facts, to feed their growing minds.” Ambleside Online
“CM is not about making learning fun. Charlotte Mason felt that, although children enjoy being entertained, entertainment is a passive activity. Children need to apply their own minds to the effort of getting knowledge from their books and making their own mental relationships with the world around them. However, since humans have an inborn curiosity to learn things, the process of education itself, while challenging, can be enjoyable for its own sake.” Ambleside Online
By the way, the above quote doesn’t mean that we don’t want our kids to have fun – it means we want them to make their own fun, using their own curiosity and minds without having to be weighed down with pre-made games and toys. Go back a couple of days and read my post about the Great Sand Hills – now that was learning at its finest (and a heck of a lot of fun!) And on that note, it doesn’t mean we’re going to get rid of the toys – they are kids and they’ll play continue to play with them as they choose.
It feels like such a relief to have found something that makes sense to us – it lends support to our decision.
Workboxes – I found the workbox system online this week and it screamed at me! I was a little worried about staying organized and keeping a day ahead of kids in the lesson planning department. Now, granted, the Charlotte Mason method doesn’t support a day full of lesson plans, but let’s be realistic – when I talk about lesson plans for our 5 yr old, I’m talking about crafts, handicrafts, music and dancing, collecting ladybugs, teaching the calendar, about money and time, and all that kind of stuff – I don’t mean formal lesson plans where she sits still for hours on end. Anyways, now that I’ve clarified that, let me explain the workboxes. Basically, they are 12 empty clear containers on a shelf (or 12 envelopes in a large box – whatever works for people). Each day, I would put an ‘assignment’ into each of the 12 boxes. Each box will contain everything she needs to complete the assignment, for example, if I put in a wipe-clean book and ask her to trace 3 pages of numbers, I will also include a dry erase pen and eraser in the box so we don’t waste time looking for supplies. When she is done the assignment, she will put the book and supplies into a ‘Completed’ bin and then take the 2nd box which may include a cd with a certain song marked. We will listen to the song and maybe talk about the moods it creates. When we’re done, the CD will go into the ‘completed’ bin and she’ll take the third box which may instruct her to go into the yard and find a ladybug to watch while she draws a picture of it in her nature journal. And so on. Now, because she is 5 yrs old, each assignment will take about 10 minutes and less than half of it will be spent sitting at the table. Remember, though, that Kaia is in Jr. K for another 6 weeks, so during this time, I will fill only 4 boxes a day for her to do – I don’t want to burn her out and it will be good practice for us. This system should keep me accountable and on track.
Whew! It has been a full few days and things are looking really good so far. I’m feeling happy. 
Kaia (5) drew the water with bubbles and trees in the background.
are as common as mud, so we’ve talked about them a lot this week. After walking Kaia to school this afternoon, Conan and I sat on the sidewalk in front of someone’s house and watched a robin pecking for lunch. We were so still and quiet that the robin hopped towards us and stopped about 5 feet in front of us, which thrilled Conan to bits. We talked about what they eat, which prompted a lively conversation about worms. When we walked up to our house, there was a robin on the lawn and Conan was thrilled that his ‘friend’ followed us home. He asked if the bird will stay here in the winter (in all the snow), which brought on another conversation, including what they use to build their nests, and what they eat. 
I had to do a bit of coaxing to get the kids interested in frogs this week, so we went back to Kin Coulee and re-read the sign about the Northern Leopard Frog. We talked a bit about the life cycle, what frogs eat, how far they can jump, how fast they can swim, and other fun facts.
Book # 3 
