Friday, October 25, 2013

An Aspiring Week 8: Classical Grammar Living Books

For our Younger Knowledge (Grammar) Stage children we only use Memroia Press' English Grammar Recitation which is the backbone of our Younger Knowledge program. In order to enrich our homeschool we like to maintain Discovery Centers. 

"maintain an informal learning atmosphere"
pa 86 Educating the Wholehearted Child by Sally Clarskon


How?
Similar to our poetry centers I like to keep enrichment simple and easy on Mom. In order to accomplish this, it's critical the books that illustrate the different parts of speech or any other subject in Language Arts the book must be interesting  and engaging books. My hope is that they will be so interesting that the kids are drawn to them and pick them up again and again.  
"Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire." W.B. Yeats

The Perfect Punctuation book in the middle of the collage, is a perfect example of engaging books that 'light a fire'. It's a pop up book that the kids often pick up and look at for 20-30 minutes at a time. They carefully explore the pages pulling the tags and reading the descriptions and periodically asking me questions.

When?
Like most homeschoolers we are pressed for time so, I leave them in our library cubbie  for the kids to grab as they please. If I notice the books in the cubbie are not being read then I move the books to strategic locations such as the bathroom or living room table. Since all of the reading is done in their free time the books must appeal to the children.

And...
Additionally, we give children a skittle or an M&M if they recognize something Language Arts they have learned in their Grammar Recitation or language arts free time book. Since we don't generally just eat candy (see homeschool happenings dentist trip) this little treat is very motivating, although we may need to switch to stickers. 

I have found interesting and twaddle free books are  just another simple way to add some enrichment to your Early Knowledge Stage memory program. 

Homeschool Happenings

PhotoThis was kind of a strange week.

We did not have a 'normal' school day on Tuesday & Wednesday of this week because Daddy was home. On Monday and Tuesday we finally put in the path we've been "working on" for the past couple of years.

Tuesday was especially eventful as we went to pick up gravel  with our trailer and we forgot to put down our tarp. As a result of the missing tarp gravel poured out of the back of our trailer like a sieve and we spent hours trying to secure the trailer. Then on the way home our trailer got a flat tire. At this point we knew we were in the midst of a comedy of errors.


We managed to do school on Wednesday after the "Real Estate holiday".  We have several children with medical issues that require visits to specialist each year. So on Thursday we were off to the podiatrist  for a follow up on Shoo-Shoo's inserts.
Photo

This was followed by a trip to our dentist where we were their 10 am appointment. At this appointment we found out that one of our children has 3 cavities and another one of them has 2 cavities. When the dentist was telling me this I wanted to throw my arms up and surrender. Today as I write this the Lord has reminded me that since that appointment I have done everything humanly possible to get them to to take better care of their teeth. Yet I have failed to do the most important thing which is to pray for them. Why is that so often the last thing that I think to do.
Photo"...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God..." Philippians 4:6
Finally, we ended the week with one of our most beloved activities the Homeschool Choir. Our second child is learning to play the clarinet, singing in the choir and play bells. Our third child participates in choir and plays bells our first child is taking a break from Homeschool Choir and the twins, well they do their best to have their version of the most fun as possible.

May the Lord Bless your Homeschool!
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5 comments:

  1. A homeschool choir sounds lovely - I wish we had something like that here. I had no idea Memoria Press had an English Grammar program - think I'll have to take a peek at that!

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    Replies
    1. Tonia, we love our choir it is truly a blessing and has been going on for nearly 20 years. It is such a wonderful prayerful thing. I was just poking around looking for a grammar recitation program and found it, it's definitely worth a peek.

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  2. I recently purchased the Recitation book and appreciate the ideas that you have. It sounds like a good week.

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    1. Beth I hope your family enjoys the the Recitation Book too!! Thank you for the compliment, if there is anything worthy in them I must credit Jesus. We were joyless and now we are joyful, our simplification has truly made a difference.

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  3. Someone mentioned those grammar books (Ruth Heller) the other week in the link-up, so I checked them out from the library. I've only read one so far, but I really like it! I'm thinking I will need to purchase them =) I love how they teach without ME doing the teaching! haha

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Thank you so much for your encouraging words!

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