The Fairy-Land of Science

By admin, on September 8th, 2009%

One of Michaela’s school books this year (Year  5 using Ambleside Online), is The Fairy-Land of Science by Arabella Buckley.  It was first published in 1879 and I am sure you know it does not take much twisting of my arm to opt for an old book and to think that the garden is full of fairies.  :)

The forces of science are presented as fairies in The Fairy-Land of Science. In our week 1 assignment we were introduced to a handful of Fairies. There’s fairy Cohesion who locks atoms together, fairy Gravitation who causes the raindrops to fall to earth, and other fairies and giants that you might want to read about yourself!

As Michaela’s copywork assignment for the day, I took a few lines from the first week’s reading, a few lines from a Wordsworth poem about Peter Bell:

A primrose by a river’s brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.

We discussed those lines and what they meant and I asked Michaela if she thought a flower was just a flower and nothing more. At that point we escaped outside and investigated flowers. We knew already, of course, that a flower is a world unto itself and yet an intricate part of Nature which fairy Life must certainly spend much of her time working on.

Fairy Gravitation pulled our water into the birdbaths.

Perhaps we’ll soon meet the fairy who changes the plants from green to brilliant reds and oranges and yellows every year.

Maybe there’s a fairy Oxidation.

I can’t help but wonder if there’s not one fairy alone whose job it is to create dandelion wish-makers for all the children who instinctively blow the dandelions’ seeds away and make wishes.

One of the passages I loved most from our reading was when Arabella Buckley was writing of imagination and how necessary it is to have imagination when trying to understand the forces of science.

Most children have this glorious gift, and love to picture to themselves all that is told them, and to hear the same tale over and over again till they see every bit of it as if it were real. This is why they are sure to love science if its tales are told them aright; and I, for one, hope the day may never come when we may lose that childish clearness of vision, which enables us through the temporal things which are seen, to realize those eternal truths which are unseeen.

I really had to stop and think about that. I considered when Jesus brought a little child before those around him and said that’s what we should be like — a little child.  There is indeed a sweet, innocent and easy belief in all that is told them that children possess. I don’t want to lose that gift of believing what I cannot see.

There were tiny gourds in the garden and one that had broken off of the vine at this tiny stage.  Michaela loved its little size.

We tested the fairies.  Is a flower really only just a flower? Of course we found flowers to be homes, and food….

for all sorts of creatures.

Nearly every flower offered something of a wonder to us.

The flowers seemed to be even a place of refuge for the injured.

I feel like I’m still just getting started with Ambleside.  There’s a tendency in me to push too hard and feel stressed when we do not get enough done.  The reading assignments in Ambledside are plenteous and the books are full of important references and rich with vocabulary. I determine everyday to enjoy this transition. I aim for a little more each day. A little more reading, a little more narration, a little more stretching of our minds and training of our abilities to read well. That said, I want to aim with joy and good sense.

Lynn

4 comments   Book Reviews, Charlotte Mason, Nature Study   , , ,  

Beginning Ambleside Year 5

By admin, on August 27th, 2009%

I think Ambleside Online Year 5 is going to be a perfect fit for us. I am so happy that I chose to go with it this year.


Even after saying she’d like to forgo Prairie Tuesdays for awhile, Miss Michaela suggested we put on some “prairie clothes” and have tea.  Apparently just a bonnet is enough to make one feel prairie-ish.

We began school on Tuesday by easing into our weekly Year 5 assigned reading. I chose three books to start with and read out loud to Michaela from each one. The first was Wild Animals I Have Known, the second was Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 5, and the third was The Story of King Arthur and His Knights.

The reading went much more quickly than I’d expected.  I know that at Michaela’s age (11) she should be doing much of the reading on her own, and she will be.  At this juncture, however, I want to get a feel for which books I think she should read on her own and which I want to read with her.  I also want her to have a sense of how long she should sit and read each day – how long it will take her.  And did I mention that I just want to read some of the books myself?  :)

My ”assigned” reading this week, from the CM Series Yahoo! Group I am taking part in, is Volume 6 pages 119-127 of Home Education.  In it Miss Mason shares the thought (from A. Paterson, Across the Bridges) that “reading aloud is but a poor gift compared with the practice of reading in private.”

I do not think this means that reading aloud can’t be fun or worthy (we love read-alouds), but that a child should have to put some effort into their own education.  They should train their minds to be able to read and then digest complex works of literature on their own.  It is what their minds crave, if Miss Mason is correct, and I think she is.


Michaela had Lady Earl Grey while I had green tea.  She then worked on a scarf she is knitting with a circular knitter while I read more  to us about Lobo.

The reading from Charlotte Mason’s Home Education Volume 6 pulled on me as much as any of her writing has.  I love the thought that “a well-educated man with cultivated imagination, trained judgment, wide interests…is prepared to master the intracacies of any profession; while he knows at the same time how to make use of himself, of the powers with which nature and education have endowed him for his own happiness; the delightful employment of his leisure; for the increased happiness of his neighbours and the well-being of the community; thst is, such a man is able, not only to earn his living but to live.”

If you teach a child to learn; if their minds are cultivated to enjoy learning, reading, the humanities; if their spirit has not been neglected, but rather good character has been nurtured and duty to others made important, they will excel in whatever profession they find, and enjoy life too.

I love that!  More than once yesterday we encountered life situations to which having a right response was way more important in the long run than cramming ourselves full of facts and figures. 

One such situation was that a friend had worked on Michaela’s scarf during a recent visit and had nearly ruined the project by making the stitches too tight.  Michaela almost could not proceed at all, the stitches were so tight and hard to pick up.  We abandoned reading long enough for me to make two new rows of stitches, working past the nearly-impossible row, while I spoke to Michaela about not dwelling on the natural tendency to be angry over this, but by remembering how delighted this little girl had been to sit with us and work on something domestic.  After handing the knitting back to Michaela and continuing with our reading, the reading seemed even better than before. 

One quote from these assigned CM pages I feel I have to mention, though sad and quite alarming is this: “Germany became morally bankrupt (for a season only, let us hope) not solely because of the war but as the result of an education which ignored the things of the spirit or gave these a nominal place and a poor rendering in a utilitarian syllabus.”

It feels good to do something nice for another person, to give of oneself, to nurture the spirit.

As the days progress, we will add in more books.  We have started light copywork (at this point, one quote a day from her reading with attention paid to excellent handwriting), and of course math, and will add in subjects and work until we are doing a full Year 5 schedule. 

I have set up the white board and am keeping track of new words we find in our reading, writing out the definition and keeping it up so that all the family might notice it.  So far we have:

  • puissant
  • bivouac
  • descried
  • fastidious
  • despot
  • loup-garou

Narration so far is going beautifully, with Michaela telling me at intervals about the stories we are reading.  This will soon be transitioned to blog entries and writing. 

Last night at bedtime one of her stuffed animals, a wolf no less, was given a new name:  Blanca, from Wild Animals I Have Known.

I will continue to post about our progress.

Have a wonderful Thursday!
Lynn

9 comments   Charlotte Mason, Prairie Tuesdays   , , , , ,  

Ambleside Online – Deciding Which Level

By admin, on July 23rd, 2009%

Come into the garden with me…

and let’s talk about Ambleside Online. 

Will I be using it?

Yes, I will be using Ambleside Online.

And that was the answer to the first question in my mind.

The second question required just as much thought, if not more, to find an answer to.

What year of AO will I place Michaela in?

I had to look at several factors:

  • This past year was Michaela’s first year homeschooling and thus it was a big transition year for us.  We did a ton of fun field trips and nature studies.  We did lots and lots of playing.  I wanted it to be a gentle transition year for her so that she’d want to homeschool again the next year.  The point here?  I don’t want to turn around and put her into something this year that totally overwhelms us both.
  • While I believe that her education was acceptable in public school, and that her education was acceptable this past year at home, I am keenly aware that she is not used to narration, just as she is not used to a steady diet of challenging classics and “living books.”  Last year was our transition year into homeschool.  This next year will be our transition year into Ambleside Online.
  • She technically is entering 6th grade.  She will be doing 7th grade math.  But her reading level — and this is key — is right at grade level.  That’s all.  So I need to be careful not to place her in a year with books that are too demanding.  I have no doubts that Year 5, and even 4, will challenge us. 
  • Ambleside Online says right in their FAQ section, about one-third of the way through the page, in the section At which Year/level should I place my child?, “An Ambleside Online ‘Year’ does not mean ‘Grade’ as it would in public school.”

So those are the facts.  Yesterday, armed with the facts, and the booklists for years, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, I went to The Homeschool Gathering Place to start looking at books and trying to decide for myself, which year do I choose?

I think handling the actual books, looking at the content, and imagining yourself assigning reading from them is a good way to get a feel for which year to use.  I also think that having the child read from some of the books will give you an idea if they are able to do the reading on their own throughout the year.  This latter suggestion has been mentioned in the support group as well.

Pulling books from the shelves for various years and leafing through them, I got a sense that Year 5 would be a good start for us.  Year 4 and even 3 have some wonderful books as well, and I’m sure they are even challenging, but I wouldn’t want to put Michaela so far back that she felt bored or demoted.   And as I mentioned, she’s a grade-level reader, so I want us to go forward, not backward!

Probably what tipped the scale for me was a statement on the Year 6 Booklist about year 6 being the transition year between childhood education and the education of the upper years, and as such the subject matter being more mature.

Year 5 it will be.

The third step was to start buying books. 

Note: The two books in the foreground don’t have anything to do with Ambleside.  They are just a couple I picked up while out.  Ken, I found a used copy of Spelling Power!  I like the way it looks.  Joseph and I are excited to finish out the summer with it, and I hope Joseph will continue to use it even after he’s been handed his diploma.  :)

Be still my heart, I bought a new copy of Lessons at Blackberry Inn!  It’s the sequel to Pocketful of Pinecones.  I started reading it this morning.  I found a used copy of Handbook of Nature Study.  I went ahead and bought the Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 5. 

I also found a beautiful copy of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, which I am going to have Michaela read aloud to me, so that we can work on her reading skills the rest of the summer.  We will begin to practice narration.

As for buying the books, I love nothing more than a beautifully bound, hardback book that I can hold and smell and love.  Do you love the smell of a book?  I love books.  Hopefully I can find many of them used to save us some money. 

Now that I’ve chosen what year we’ll be using and started accumulating the books, I will print off the Weekly Lesson plans for Year 5.  I will start thinking about how to best set up our daily schedules, looking at what days work best for us as far as the weekly lessons and how we’ll set up our school days. 

I will continue to read the Home Education Series and the Ambleside’s FAQ, making notes for myself in my homemade CM notebook.  I’m enjoying reading the daily digest from the Ambleside Online Support Group and getting to know the people there.

One last thing. We’ve got some chapter books that we’ve accumulated through the years that aren’t that great.  I’ll be weeding out to make room for better books.  I won’t be getting rid of too many books, mind you, but some!

I’ll close with a quote on really paying attention to our children, understanding what they mean and how they learn and how best to guide them to be useful men and women.

Nothing is trivial that concerns a child; his foolish-seeming words and ways are pregnant with meaning for the wise. It is in the infinitely little we must study in the infinitely great; and the vast possibilities, and the right direction of education, are indicated in the open book of the little child’s thoughts. ~Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Volume I 

Happy Thursday!
Lynn

12 comments   Charlotte Mason   , , ,  

Using Charlotte Mason – Getting Started

By admin, on July 20th, 2009%

Since blogging about my intent to use strictly Charlotte Mason methods for Michaela this coming year and my desire to use Ambleside Online, I have had some questions from readers about the books I’m using and what I recommend to get started with CM (Charlotte Mason).  From the start of this endeavor, I had planned to blog about how it all unfolded for me, so I thought I’d do a “getting started” post.

I have loved Charlotte Mason’s philosophy for a long time.  My first exposure to her was from reading A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, which I first read in June of 2000.  At that time Michaela was not quite 2.  The subtitle of A Charlotte Mason Companion is “Personal Reflections on The Gentle Art of Learning.”  The book is indeed full of personal reflection.  There are a lot of Charlotte Mason quotes sprinkled throughout the book, which makes for a nice introduction to the way Charlotte Mason herself spoke and wrote, but much of the 49 chapters is Mrs. Andreola’s personal experience with using Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and Mrs. Andreola’s sharing what she personally gleaned from reading Charlotte Mason’s works.  Each chapter ends in a list of questions for personal reflection.  I particularly like the formatting of the book, and the illustrations are absolutely beautiful.


My well worn, much read copy of A Charlotte Mason Companion

When asked what my favorite book is to introduce someone to Charlotte Mason, I really don’t have a list to pull from.  A Charlotte Mason Companion is the only one I’ve read, but honestly I found it so packed with information and so easy to read, I’ve never strayed from it.  It is the only book I can truly recommend at this point.

Having given you a little review of A Charlotte Mason Companion, let me tell you how it affected me.  I found that I agreed with all of it.  The CM philosophy seemed to embody the way I felt instinctively about teaching, but as Charlotte Mason said in quoting Pestalozzi (again), “The mother is qualified, and qualified by the Creator Himself, to become the principal agent in the development of her child;…and what is demanded of her is—a thinking love…”  A thinking love.  Isn’t that beautiful?  What the book did for me was give me some direction in taking my instincts and refining them into routines for our homelife.  Not that I’ve done so great a job, but it made me see even more the need to live and mother and teach with intention.

In my opinion, hand in hand with A Charlotte Mason Companion should go Pocketful of Pinecones, also written by Karen Andreola.  Pocketful of Pinecones is a very sweet, old-fashioned fictional story of a lady named Carol, living in the 1930s and deciding to educate her children at home using nature study.  Carol’s teaching is definitely in the Charlotte Mason style.

Since Pocketful of Pinecones is a fictional story, albeit a tale beautifully woven from Karen Andreola’s thoughts and no doubt taken partly from her own experience, I would recommend reading it after you’ve learned a little about Charlotte Mason and decided you want to use Charlotte Mason.   On the other hand, the story is so beautiful, it might make you want to teach using nature study and CM methods.  ;)

But what if you want to get straight to the writing of Charlotte Mason herself?  First, there’s a lot of writing to read.  There are six volumes written over some 40 years–lots and lots of reading, and obviously she gained experience as she wrote and taught, so the last volume is bound to be just as important as the first.  According to Ambleside Online, if you are to use CM methods it is vital that you read volume 6.  I just don’t see how anyone could read all six volumes over a summer while still cooking, cleaning and tending to daily life, so where does one start?

What I have done is set up a Charlotte Mason notebook for myself.

On the front of the notebook you see the motto of Charlotte Mason students.   You can read more about it at the Ambleside site:  CM Students Motto.

I started by printing the short summaries of the six volumes, found at Ambleside, and if you look at their notation under volume six, you’ll see why they so highly recommend reading volume 6:  CM Summaries.  I’m sure I can sit down and read the summaries in one or two days for a quick overview.

In reading the complete volumes themselves, however, I have already started the original version of Volume  I.  (There’s also a Modern English Version on the Ambleside website.)  I’m printing as I go because I just don’t like to read on the computer screen.  (We won’t talk about how many ink cartridges I’m going to burn through over the next year or so.  Or how many notebooks I’ll need.)

If you want to share and discuss with others while you read, Ambleside Online apparently has a group that discusses CM’s writings.  As luck would have it, at the time of this post they are still in volume I.  You can read more about the group/list here:  CM Series E-Mail List Reading Schedule.

Other things I’ve printed for my notebook include:

  • Ambleside’s FAQ section.  (Yes, I printed all those pages.)  You can easily read them online without printing.  I work in front of a computer for 8 long hours three days a week, so again I try to get away from the computer screen as much as possible.  I also wanted the FAQ in my notebook.  I am serious about using Ambleside Online this coming year, so it was important to me.  And last but not least, as they say right on the Ambleside website, “It is not advisable to attempt this curriculum without first reading the FAQ.”  I want the FAQ in my notebook for easy reference and where I can underline and make notes.
  • Charlotte Mason’s 20 principles.  They are placed in clear covers for easy reference.
  • I’ve also printed the book lists for years 4, 5, and 6 to pore over, because honestly I don’t know where I’ll place Michaela yet.  To be truthful, I want to print off every year’s book list so that I can make sure we’ve read all the must-reads they’ve listed. 

Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking out loud on my blog about whether or not to go with a boxed curriculum.  I’ve looked at many fine choices which have come highly recommended by friends and by review, but I’ve been afraid to “box us in,” so to speak.  I also couldn’t see myself paying nearly 1000 dollars and then feeling overwhelmed with a schedule that I did not put together myself, although I recognize that with my work schedule I do need some structure.

Since Charlotte Mason has me by the heart and since Ambleside Online is a free curriculum with a ton of support by way of e-mail groups and a huge website, I decided to go with Ambleside Online.  It offers me the flexibility to be able to continue with Beyond Five In A Row, and yet the book lists are already written out and the proposed lesson schedules are posted on the website.  How much easier could it be?  My big job is to further acquaint myself with Charlotte Mason and the Ambleside Online website over our summer break.  In addition to that I need to decide which year to place Michaela in (the year does not necessarily equal a grade level) and I need to get our books together and work out which days of the week we’ll do our “weekly” lessons.  I have to prepare our home and my mind for a year of Ambleside Online.

Once our school year begins, I’ll continue to read through Charlotte Mason’s writings. 

That, folks, is where I am at right now.  I hope this post has helped even one of you, and I hope it explains why I’m choosing what I’m choosing.  There are more details for me to work through as far as what I’ll do regarding the workbox system and which math I’ll use (we’ve always used Saxon).  I will defnitely continue to post about our Charlotte Mason year.

In my sidebar, you’ll find my affiliate Barnes and Noble links to books that I find useful. 

I think it’s going to be a fun and beautiful year. 

Lynn

12 comments   Charlotte Mason   ,