Each day of homeschooling looks different. This morning we finished breakfast and took a walk around the block in our pajamas. Then we started a science experiment (we're observing what happens when a raw egg sits in a jar of vinegar for a day) and got ready for the day. Once everyone did their morning routine--brushed teeth, got dressed, made bed, fed the dog--we met in our "school room" (dining room) for math. Abigail and Jacqueline worked independently on math work for 15 minutes or so and then we did a math lesson together. During this time, Natalie was busy coloring, cutting paper for crafts, or pretending and building with Legos. Jacqueline joined her for some Lego play while Abigail finished her math page.
When we finished math, we moved into the living room for memory work.
We are part of a co-op called Claritas and our curriculum follows the classical model of education. As preschool and first graders, my girls are currently in the "grammar" stage, building a foundation of knowledge by memorizing important facts each week. We focus on English grammar, history, science, math, Latin, geography, scripture, hymns, and a historical timeline. Here's some examples of our memory work from this week:
- English Grammar: Personal Reflexive Pronouns - myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves
- Math - The perimeter of any polygon is "add all sides."
- History - During the Industrial Revolution, machines such as the steam engine and the cotton gin gradually replaced hand manufacturing and made workers much more productive.
All of the subject matter is set to song, so we sing and move our bodies as we learn each subject. The girls don't have to completely understand everything about WHAT they're singing or saying yet, but memorizing it will provide tools in their toolbelts for when they reach higher grade levels and move into the dialectic and rhetoric stages. At co-op on Tuesdays, we dive deeper into the history and science lessons for that week, and we all learn a lot from the amazing Moms who present hands-on, visually stimulating presentations. I also use our history sentence as a basis for our history lesson during the week and we use Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World that corresponds with our Claritas history sentence.
I read to the girls after we practiced memory work and now they're creating and pretending with Legos again while I type.
Later in the day...
During lunchtime today, we did an oral language lesson from Jessie Wise's English Language Lessons book. We read and discussed an Aesop's Fable. Sometimes our language lessons include copy work as well, but today the focus was on comprehension and answering my questions from the story in complete sentences.
This afternoon we ran to Target for an order pick up. On the way home, Abby and Jackie read aloud from a Little Bear Book in the back of the van. I got two copies of the book at the Inspire Charter Lending library so they can read along and alternate pages.
The neighbor kids were out playing when we arrived home, and the girls were eager to go out. Before they went out to play they practiced piano. Now they're jumping on the trampoline and giggling with the neighbor kids on this beautiful spring day!
One thing that we typically do in the morning that I forgot to do today is our devotional time and catechism. This is my favorite part of the day because we read and discuss the Bible and learn how to communicate what we believe. We also pray together and I hear in their prayers what they are learning about God through his word.
As Abby was getting ready for bed tonight, I could hear her singing our science song from memory work. It's " Avogadro's Number is 6.02x10(23)". It makes me smile to think of how her brain is soaking up all of this knowledge and someday she'll be able to draw from it in her higher level studies.
Our goal in all of this is for our kids to love learning and to develop good critical thinking skills. I already don't have answers to all of the questions they ask, so as we explore and find answers together, I'm learning a lot too!
Thank you for letting me share my day with you!
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