Getting Started with Ambleside Year One: Is it Enough?

Well friends, here we are.  We started this journey together way back in February (that long ago?  Yes, my friends, that long ago.)  Here we are in the heat of summer and finally wrapping things up.   I hope that those of you still following along have found some little bit of encouragement in what I have written here, and that I have succeeded at least a little in helping you to feel like you CAN do this.  Because you can, Mama.  You've got this.

 

 

For our last coffee chat today (okay if we make that an iced coffee?!), I'd like to offer some thoughts in answer to the question is it enough?

 

Are good books, oral narration, and copywork enough for language arts for my Year One student?  Don't we need spelling and composition curricula too?

 

Is nature study enough for science?  Oughtn't I get a science textbook with experiments and throw that in there too?

 

Is it enough to listen to the music during composer study and look at the paintings during picture study?  Shouldn't we try to read biographies and find out about the style of the artists and correlate it all with history?

 

We finished all our lessons for the day in 2 hours!  Is that really enough?

 

I hear these questions asked by those new to Charlotte Mason's ideas frequently.   I asked them myself as a newbie getting my toes wet in Year One for the first time.  We look around at what our young students – Kindergarteners, First and Second Graders – are doing in the school system, and think that we aren't possibly doing enough. 

 

But guess what Mama: relax.  Yes.  It is enough.

 

Think about it this way: Charlotte Mason tells us that education is the science of relations, and that the ultimate goal is not how much a child knows but how much he cares.  Our goal is to help our students develop relationships with a wide variety of ideas, to help them understand how all of the pieces fit together, and to keep alive their thirst for more. This is true across the board, but it is especially true for our youngest students in the early years of their formal education.

 

A friend and I recently had a Facebook conversation about this.  She had specifically asked that question about composer and artist study – what is the point of that really?  Shouldn't I be trying to do this in a more structured, chronological, art-and-music history kind of way?  This is what I replied to her…a reply that bears repeating here because it answers not only the music-and-art question, but the bigger picture question behind it too:

 

So, composer and picture study - especially in the younger years - isn't meant to be a music (or art) history course. It IS one of those things that they are supposed to make their own connections with. Spending a longer period of time with a certain set of pieces (or paintings) from a specific composer/artist really does help them to develop a relationship with it, and I have found that it does kind of stick with them. It takes a while to see it though. [Michelle] is what - 10 now? We've probably done this style of composer study on 9 or 10 different composers over the past 4 years, and she has made connections like "Handel sounds an awful lot like Bach, mom, did they live around the same time?" (Why yes, my child, they did as a matter of fact...) We've found the same to be true with artist study. Over time - given time to really make a relationship with the artist - they start noticing similarities in style between different artists. And it's THEIR discovery.

I know there is an art history book scheduled in the upper years of AO, and with the foundation of familiarity with a variety of artists from a variety of periods, that's going to be a whole lot more meaningful when they get to it and put a name to the different styles and eras, etc.. I think the same holds true for music study.

One thing I've come to realize is that Charlotte Mason education is sort of a departure from other forms of education in that it is more of a whole-to-parts approach rather than the other way around. We let them know and wonder and delight in things in their younger years - and later on get into the more technical nitty-gritty analytical kind of information. (The same idea behind nature study being the best 'science' for the younger years, because it lays the foundation for higher level science study in the upper years.) So that's really what we're trying to do here. Also - there is a CM quote I love and was reminded of at the recent conference - something along the lines of it is not so much what a child knows, but how much he cares. It matters more that he loves music than knows all the things about it. We are educating for a rich-and-full life and for kids who will leave high school with a thirst to continue to learn for the rest of their lives. We don't necessarily need to cram everything in to those 12 years we have for them at home.

And if we don't have to try to cram everything in to the 12 years that we have with them at home, we *really* don't have to try to cram it all in to Year One.

Relax.

Trust the Process.

And Enjoy the Journey.

                        

Getting Started with AO Year One: Towards a Schedule

We are nearing the finish line with our little series here!  Two more posts left  in the queue.  Today, let's chat a little bit about principles for scheduling, and next time we'll wrap things up with some final thoughts. 

 

 

 

So schedules.   One of the things that I love about AO is that while they have pulled together the syllabus for the year for me, and even broken that down into a weekly reading list, they have NOT actually offered me daily lesson plans.  That gives me the freedom and flexibility to take that weekly reading list, together with our skill subjects and the beautiful 'riches', and make them work in our specific situation.   While I love that, I realize that some of the rest of you might not love that so much.  The thought of having to take that weekly plan and translate it into a daily schedule might be really overwhelming.

 

I could tell you what I do, but what I do may not work for you.  And that's okay.  I have three school-aged children in three separate years.  My Year One student is my youngest.  One of my students is very independent, one is slowly (very slowly) moving towards independence, and one is has to do everything with me still.   We do a co-op one day per week.  In our family dynamics, we can combine some, but it works best for us not to combine a lot.   Your situation might be different.  Your Year One might be your oldest or only student.  You may have babies and toddlers in the mix, or children with special needs that require your extra attention.  You may find that combining works better for your particular mix of personalities than it does for us, so you may want to consider doing more of that. 

 

So with so many variables to consider when scheduling, where should we begin?  With a few principles.  Christy Hissong has an excellent guest post over at Afterthoughts on this very topic (I also heard her present on these principles at the AmblesideOnline Conference in Indiana last summer.)  Click over there and read it, and then on back over here and I'll share a bit about how those principles play out in our situation….which will hopefully help you brainstorm what these principles might look like in YOUR situation.

 

So, did ya read it?  Good.  Let's chat about it now, shall we?

 

Principle #1: You need a schedule.

Well, we are routine-loving creatures of habit over here, so this one goes without saying for us. J We've toyed around with different variations on a daily routine here, but what has always worked best for us is getting to lessons right after breakfast and working until we are done…because then we're done! J  Right now, we begin our morning with a short walk right after breakfast, followed by a group-morning-basket time with a rotation of combined subjects, and then I work one-on-one with each student from youngest (least independent) to oldest (most independent).   This is certainly not the only way to do it – Celeste over at Joyous Lessons is a mother-to-many with lots of little ones, so her day looks different from mine.  Consider your own needs and situation, and develop a routine that fits that.

 

Principle #2: Lessons should be short.

The short lessons principle is one of my favorite things about Charlotte Mason's ideas on scheduling.  It is amazing what you can accomplish in short, consistent chunks!   For my current Year One student, a 'short lesson' might range from 5 to 20 minutes, depending on what it is.  Copywork is never more than 5, Phonics is usually 10-15 minutes, Math can be 15-20, and readings vary according to length.  Something like Aesop doesn't take any more than 5-10 minutes, including time for narration, whereas the Blue Fairy Book might take multiple 15-20 minute read-and-narrate sessions spread over several days.  The key here is to adjust your time expectations to your student and stop *before* their attention wanes.  When that time is up, close the book even if the lesson/chapter isn't done, and come back to it tomorrow. 

 

Principle#3: Lessons should be varied.

This is what varied/alternating lessons look like for my Year One Student, with times so you can see how the short-lessons work too:

 

Morning Basket (including all of my children – Years 1, 2, 4) (45 minutes-1hour)

Bible Reading+Narration (10)

Prayer (5)

Song (5)

Reading+Narration (15)

Song (5)

"Activity" Rotation: Artist/Composer Study, Drawing, Nature Journaling, Geography  (10-20)

 

Year One Lesson Block (just over 1 hour)

Phonics (10)

Reading+Narration(15)

Math (15)

Reading+Narration (10)

Poetry Reading + Recite Memory Work (10)

Copywork (5)

 

Nature study outings, handicrafts, and free readings tend to be more 'lifestyle' things that happen naturally in the afternoons, evenings, and weekends rather than part of our formal morning lesson time.

 

 

Principle #4: Plan for margin.

I have three formal-school-age students, and it's important for me to be finished with lessons by early afternoon. This means our mornings are pretty packed. This is also where those short, varied lessons principles come in handy. Our mornings are packed, yes, but not a slog.)  That said, we're not early morning people here, so one way we've planned for margin is by not starting lessons too early – I've given us the space we need to ease into the day.  We shoot for our morning walk around 8:30ish and aim to be on the couch with the morning basket by 9.  My Year One is usually done with lessons by 11, the Year 2 by noon, and the Year 4 by 1:30-2 depending on how long lunch takes. If we're not done by 2 for some reason, we just stop there anyway, which leaves lots of free time in the afternoons.  When my children were all young, we weren't involved in many outside activities.  This coming year we will be involved in more activities than we have in the past, but all of them (swimming, choir, co-op) are scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, which still leaves 4 days of the week we are primarily at home and free in the afternoons.

---

So take some time.  Consider your family's situation in your current season, and consider these principles.  Find something that works *for* you rather than *against* you.  And then just go for it.   There is no perfect schedule or One Right Way to do things.  You will need to adjust things along the way.  But the only way you will know if it's going to work is to give it a try and see what happens.  Go for it, Mama!

 

For further reference: I've actually written quite a few posts on planning and scheduling in the past. Apparently, I am a planning and scheduling geek. :P  You can read some of those posts here for further ideas and what our routines have looked like in different seasons of our family life.

 

 

Getting Started with Ambleside Online Year One: Understanding the Riches

Welcome back for another coffee chat, friends.  I'm feeling a bit sheepish to realize it has been more than six weeks since our last chat.  Sorry about that, my friends.  May was a bit of a doozy for our family, but we are settling into slower summer rhythm now, so let's see if we can't see this thing through to the end over the next couple weeks, shall we?

 

 

If you are new to this series, you can find the index of posts so far here.  The last two installments have specifically broken down how I wrap my mind around what I find on AmblesideOnline's Year One curriculum page – specifically reading, phonics and math here and the booklist here.  Today I want to tackle the remaining subjects – those things you see listed there under "Weekly Practice" – Art, Music, Handicrafts, Singing – hymns and folksongs, Nature Study, artist study, and composer study.

 

Sometimes there is a bit of debate about what to call these subjects.  They have been referred to as the 'extras', which is a really a bit of a misnomer because these things aren't 'extra'.  They aren't optional electives or things that are OK to drop because life got busy and all you had time for was phonics and math.  Sometimes they have been referred to as the 'riches', which is a bit better…but still doesn't really communicate how very vital and important these things are.  We need a word that communicates that these things are as vital and important as the more quantifiable academic subjects, and not just the gravy or the cherry on the top.  (That said, 'riches' is the best term that has been proposed so far, so that's how I will refer to them here.)

 

I will be honest and admit that while we've been fairly consistent about including these things in our days, I have succumbed at times to the temptation to let the more 'academic' studies take the priority.  I'm a checklist person, and I get a little stressed out when we aren't checking things off as quickly as I'd like.  I am more likely to say "oh well, I guess we'll save our handicrafts or picture study for another day" than to say "oh well, I guess the math lesson can wait" on days that aren't running according to schedule.

 

Perhaps it's just as well that I got a little sidetracked there before I finished this series though, and that this post in particular did not get written before the AmblesideOnline Conference last month, because my main takeaway point from that Conference was the need to keep these subjects a high-priority in our schedule because they are necessary and needed (there is even brain research to back this up, apparently).  This was most emphasized in Wendi's talk on "The Uncommon Core", but the thread ran loud and clear through almost all of the talks.  I came home with a renewed commitment to including these lovely things as a high priority in our day, and relaxing a little bit about checking everything off my academic-work lists. 

 

To those of you just starting out – it is worth your time to wrap your mind around these things and build the habits of including them from the beginning.  If you need to start small, start here, and add the academics in later, not the other way around.

 

The good news is that these can all be very, very simple to include – and they also lend themselves very well to being done as a group so you can combine all your children regardless of what "Years" they are following for their reading list.  AmblesideOnline provides suggestions for what to study with lots of links to various resources and articles – scroll down to "subject resources" on the main curriculum page. My hands down favorite post on approaching these subjects is Jeanne's post on 'Fitting in the Nice Bits'.    Click on over and read it to see just how simple these things can be.

 

Jump in and try them!  You'll be surprised at the joy and peace that they might bring to your homeschool day.

 

 

 

What We've Been Up To...

So friends, I've been a bit AWOL in this space.  To say the month of May has been busy is an understatement!  I'm hoping to get back into a writing rhythm and get that Getting Started with Year One series wrapped up soon for the sake of those of you looking ahead towards the fall.   But in the meantime, I offer you a little glimpse into what we've been up to these days…

 

Out and About::

Last weekend, I had the wonderful privilege to attend the AmblesideOnline Conference, Deep in the Heart of AO, in Waxahachie, Texas.  What a joy that was!!  I have been actively involved in the AmblesideOnline Forum for several years, and met a good handful of those lovely online friends last summer at the AO Conference in Indiana.  It was a delight to see those dear people again, and to meet others for the first time.   It was like a little taste of what heaven might be like, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that.

 

My Amazing Roomie and very dear friend Dawn

The AmblesideOnline Advisory and Auxiliary - they are the ones behind it all.  They are pretty amazing too.

Amy, Dawn, Brandy, and Me

Photo credits for all these conference photos to Dawn..or the people she handed her phone to. :D  The few I took didn't come out! :(

 

The Conference sessions were all wonderful too.  So much food for thought to chew on for the next long while…but at the same time things that I have put into practice in my home immediately too.  I'm not going to write about that today, nor am I planning a long-winded series (although Katie is!), but I'm sure that ideas I gleaned will be popping up here and there in my posts over the coming weeks and months.

 

In the Schoolroom::

We wrapped up our co-op year this past month, finishing with a presentation of the final death scene from Hamlet from the Shakespeare class.  Michelle only had one line, but she delivered it with clarity and confidence.  I was so very proud of her!  This class definitely ignited what I suspect will be a lifelong love for Shakespeare as well.  It was such a fantastic experience for her, as was teaching the third-fourth grade history/literature/art and music appreciation class was for me.   Sadly, due to distance, we won't be able to be a part of this same co-op again next fall, but have some new plans with church friends in the works for the fall.  We shall see how it all works out. 

 

Michelle and friends after Hamlet

 

In the meantime, we have started what I am calling our "Summer Term".  We have had extended breaks at odd times this year, so plan to continue schooling through mid-July.  Michelle and James just started Term 2 of their respective AO Years 4 and 2, and Elizabeth – who turned 6 in March – began Year 1 Term 1.  (My baby!  My last trip through Year 1!!  Sniff!!!)  Just to mix things up a little bit, I have set aside our regular Morning Basket fare (stay tuned for a post on our Summer Morning Basket plans soon!).  We are also planning to use that fifth day that was our co-op day for a weekly field trip.  There are a number of local museums we'd like to visit that we just haven't taken the time for, and weather permitting we'd like to get some full-day nature study outings in there too (preferably NOT when it is 100 degrees out, though!!)  And our community pool is opening next week if I'm not mistaken, so lots of afternoons at the pool are in our schedule too.  Hoping this will be a good mix of refreshment while still making forward progress on the academic front.

 

Creatively::

Pretty much limited to nature journaling and sketching with the kids, these days.  But that's happening pretty regularly because I tossed them in our morning basket…and that counts, right?

 

 

 

 

In the Kitchen::

So, a while back, I picked up Trina Holden's book Your Real Food Journey.  I am truly appreciating its accessibility and baby-steps approach.  I tried to get into the real food thing a few years ago, but that was when I still had babies and toddlers in the house, and we were in the process of moving internationally 4 times in 4 years.  Let's just say it was literally all I could do to get dinner on the table – any dinner.  I was not in the right season to be making dietary changes.  We just needed to eat – something.  Anything.  Anyhow, we are in a more settled place now and my children are older so we're revisiting this.  (Even though I have NO desire to be in the kitchen all the time.  I just don't.)  So, I have made a list of some of the baby steps that she suggests in the book and am slowly working through them – not adding another until the previous one becomes natural.   I started with replacing the fats I use in cooking (we pretty much only use olive oil, coconut oil, and butter now), and then tackled a better breakfast rotation.  We were resorting to cold cereal far too often.  I needed nourishing, simple options that lent themselves well to serve-yourself breakfasts because of various rising times in our family.  Next, will be improving the nutritional value of the snack options available in our house…

 

Not our house. ;)  But I love this photo so I threw it in anyhow.

 

Around the House::

We are LOVING our new house and making it a home.  LOVING IT.  But I have no pictures for you.  Maybe a tour of how we organize for homeschooling next time (we don't have a dedicated school area)?

 

What have you been up to?

Getting Started with Ambleside Online Year One: The Booklist

Welcome back, friends.  Ready to jump in to our next installment?   Let's talk about all the delicious books, shall we?   (Happy sigh.)

 

 

Once again, I'm going to refer you over to the Year One page over on Ambleside Online's website.  Please open that page in another tab to refer to while we're chatting today…otherwise much of what I say probably won't make sense. J

 

What am I looking at?  Where should I start?

You will see two choices Year One Basic and Year One Detailed.   The Basic list is just what it suggests – the simplest form of the list, usually giving only the first/preferred option of book choices when there is more than one choice.  The Detailed list gives you various options in some cases, if you want to pick and choose.  There isn't a lot of difference between the two lists for Year One – the options come more into play in the upper years.  Select the list you prefer and click to open the booklist page.   The subjects covered by the booklist are Bible, history, biographies, geography, natural history/science, poetry, literature, and free reading.  You will notice a variety of clickable symbols next to each title in the booklist – there is a key at the top of the page to explain them.  Basically they are links to various sources where you can get each book in a variety of formats – print books, ebooks, and audio books.  There are also little numbers next to certain books, which link to the footnotes at the bottom of the page.  Please, please take the time to read through all of the footnotes!  

 

Do I need all of these books?

Yes, you really do need all the books. J  The only book that is really 'optional' in Year One is Trial and Triumph (be sure to read the notes and preview this book to see how you want to handle it.)  There are sometimes good reasons to substitute other books (certain history selections for non-American families, for example), and AO's format is flexible enough that it is possible to do this pretty easily.  However, I caution you against making substitutions, additions, and other changes unless it is absolutely necessary.  I swapped out and added in books when we first started AO, and I came to regret nearly every one of those changes.  We do AO pretty much as written now – moving some books around to group read-alouds as needed since I am juggling students in three different years, but still hitting them all eventually.   So…I suggest starting with the booklist as written, and go from there.  If you have questions or concerns about any of the books on the list, you can hop on over to the Forum and ask there or search for past discussions.

 

What format should I use – print or ebooks?  Do I need to purchase them, or can I use the library?

One of the beautiful things about AO is their vision to make a rich Charlotte Mason education available to everyone, regardless of location or budget.  As such, many – although not all – of the books they suggest are available online for free as ebooks.   This is a wonderful option for those who are on a very tight budget or who are overseas and have shipping restrictions.   We started out using as many Kindle books as we could because we were overseas at the time so shipping was an issue, and this worked just fine.  Now that we are settled in the US, we are slowly starting to collect print copies of the books and find that we greatly prefer that format.  So…my suggestion?  Purchase as many books in print versions as you can in your particular circumstances, and use ebooks for the rest.  If you check used bookstores, library sales, and online used book retailers, you can purchase many of the books very inexpensively.  When purchasing books, please consider purchasing them through the Amazon links on the Ambleside Online website.  These are affiliate links and will go towards supporting Ambleside Online, which is completely run by volunteers offering their experience, expertise, and time as a gift to the Charlotte Mason community.

 

As far as the library goes – most of these books are stretched out over the whole school year, and some of them across several school years.  So for the most part, the library won't be terribly practical.  The one exception would be the free reads, since these aren't scheduled – they are just offered as worthy "don't miss" selections to read as you wish outside of school time.  We have used them as family read alouds in the evening, audiobooks for long car trips, and personal free reading once the children were reading well enough.

 

What do I do with these books once we are ready to begin lessons?

Back on the curriculum page, you will find links to a 36 week schedule that tells you what chapters from which books to read each week of the school year.  There are charts available in a variety of formats, or you can make your own (which is what I do).  I wrote a post for Brandy over at Afterthoughts a couple of years ago on how I prep and teach a Charlotte Mason style lesson using a couple of Year One books as examples.  For the most part, it is as simple as "read and have the child narrate".   There are some cases where you may want to look up pictures or Youtube videos to get a visual image of something.  We keep maps handy to look up the places we read about in history or geography lessons, and begin a simple timeline.  But for the most part, it really isn't necessary or even desirable to add in a lot of 'extras'.  The ideas are in the books themselves, and we want to let the child form their own relationship with those ideas without throwing in a lot of things that get in the way.

 

For Year One, even for a child who is a strong reader, you can expect to be reading all of the child's school assignments out loud to them.  I suggest this even for strong readers because it is important for the child to have established the skill of narration before handing off school books to be read independently. 

 

That's all for today, folks! 

Getting Started with Ambleside Online Year One: Phonics, Math, and Handwriting

Welcome back for another coffee chat, friends.  Today we're finally going to dive in to what you've probably all really been waiting for – making sense of what you see when you open up the Year One curriculum page over on the AmblesideOnline site.   It's taken us awhile to get here – thank you for your patience – but I truly do believe that all that foundational stuff we have been talking about is just that – foundational, necessary.  Even a little bit of background knowledge of Charlotte Mason's philosophy will help you as you start to actually put her ideas into practice.  (By the way, I updated the Introduction post with links to all the posts so far in this series, if you want to go back and check them out.)

 

 

So…go ahead and take a minute to open up the AmblesideOnline Year One Curriculum page and keep that tab open next to you to refer to as you read through this post. 

 

The list looks a little bit long at first glance, but don't get overwhelmed.  I like to divide everything on the curriculum list into three categories – the skill subjects (for Year One, this would include phonics, math, and copywork – perhaps foreign language too if you are planning to include one.  We don't at this level – just the real meeting in the ideal in my home.), the booklist (covering the content areas like history, literature, natural history/science, and geography), and all the beautiful glorious rest (art, music, handicrafts, etc.).   My plan is to tackle one of these areas in each of the next three posts.

 

Today, let's talk about skill subjects.  As an aside, this is one of the things that I love most about the way the AO curriculum is set up.  Because they leave it to you to pick and choose the materials of your choice for these areas, it makes it very, very easy to customize for the needs and ability of your student.  Year One is perfectly appropriate for the brand-new reader starting from the beginning of phonics, for the emerging reader who can read easy readers but not the books scheduled on the reading list yet, or for the advanced reader who is ready to tackle reading some of their own schoolbooks.  I have three children who have all been in different places in reading….and different places in math for that matter…with relation to their AO Year and it has worked well with very little adaptation on my part.  This wouldn't be the case with a grade-leveled, all-inclusive boxed curriculum. 

 

Reading Instruction: You can see over on the Year One page several choices of reading curricula that the Advisory recommends.  We personally have used a combination of Charlotte Mason's methods, Ruch Beechick's methods, and Alphaphonics, depending on the needs of the child.  Plan for a 10-15 minute lesson each day, depending on the attention span of your student.  As your child gains reading confidence and no longer needs daily phonics instruction, you can begin having them read to you out loud daily from a reader.  We particularly have enjoyed the Reading-Literature readers by Harriette Taylor Treadwell for this purpose, and you can see some of our other favorite books for beginning readers here.  Once they have reached the chapter-book stage, I've started having them buddy-read (reading back and forth together, alternating paragraphs) some of the simpler school books with the eventual goal of gradually handing over the bulk of their school reading to them.  But this whole process will very likely take several years!  Don't expect to move through this whole sequence during Year One. J  Just keep moving along with short, consistent lessons at your child's pace.

 

Math: Again, you will see over on the Year One page a link to a list of various math options recommended by the Advisory, as well as links to various articles if you want to delve deeper into how Charlotte Mason taught math.  To be completely honest, this is one area I've not dug too deeply into.  We've simply applied some of Charlotte Mason's other ideas to our math lessons – things like short lessons (not more than 15-20 minutes for a Year One age student, and sometimes less) and using manipulatives to teach a concept and making sure they understand before letting the child loose with workbook exercises.   We tried several math programs (poor guinea pig first child!) before landing on Singapore which we've found to be a good fit for our family and intend to continue with through the elementary years at least. 

 

Copywork: You'll find copywork or penmanship listed under the daily work section on the AO Year One page, with a link to AO's Language Arts scope and sequence which I encourage you to read.   I don't schedule more than about 5 minutes for copywork at this age – even that is sometimes more than my very young students can handle.  Short, consistent lessons are the key to success in this area.  Start with letter formation, and don't expect the child to write more than they can do *well*, even if that means only one or two letters.  Requiring a child to fill a whole sheet with letters tends to lead to sloppy habits, whereas only asking them to do a few and taking their time to use their neatest possible handwriting reinforces the habit of slow, careful work.  All three of my children have used different resources to learn letter formation – so the only advice I have there is to choose a style that you like and go for it, keeping in mind the short lessons and careful work principles.  Once my children mastered basic letter formation, we did away with the handwriting curriculum and just started doing simple copywork – starting with single words, maybe familiar words like family names or words taken from a phonics lesson, and gradually moving to sentences chosen from our school books or poetry.  I've always limited it to the amount that they can do well in about 5 minutes or so and gauged my expectations accordingly rather than requiring a number of words or lines to be copied.

 

So, that's it for today.  Next time, on to the booklist!

Getting Started with Ambleside Year One: Making Nature Study a Habit

(Yes, this is the same post I posted a couple days ago, with the formatting cleaned up.  Sorry for any confusion!)

 

Welcome back for another coffee chat, friends.  It's feeling good to be back in this space after a pretty hectic time away.  (Check out what all we've been up to over the last month or so here.) I don't know about you, but spring has sprung in our neck of the woods.  Let's take our coffee outside today and talk about nature study, shall we?

 

 

Nature study is another one of those oh-so-important but oh-so-often overlooked aspects of a Charlotte Mason education.  I didn't understand the importance of nature study early on, and I also made it far too complicated.   I would love to help you avoid making the same mistakes.

 

So, what's the big deal about nature study anyway?  Why did Charlotte Mason encourage us to spend so much time in the out-of-doors?  Do I really have to do it if I'm not an outdoors person or I live in a big city?   I hear you, friends.  I was raised in the city and did not much appreciate the outdoors when I we started this Charlotte Mason thing either.   I didn't know what anything was beyond the most basic and obvious unmistakable things (remind me to tell you the story of how excited I was when I figured out that that bird I was looking at was a robin!  It's pretty funny, actually).  I've lived overseas in fourth-story apartment in France and a big, urban-as-you-can-get African city which made nature study hugely challenging.  But the effort has been worth it. 

 

I'm not so much going to talk to you about the why of nature study today - I have written about that before here and here.   Today what I would like to do is give you a few tips that may help you get over the hump if you don't feel like nature study or outdoor time is your 'thing'.

 

1. Start really, really simple.  Go outside in your yard or take a little walk in your neighborhood and see what you see, or find a nearby park or nature center than you can revisit regularly.  Start a little garden if you can and watch it grow - even if it's just some herbs or flowers in a pot on your apartment patio.  Put out a bird feeder.  You don't need curriculum or pre-planned projects to do this.  Just decide that you are going to get outside and keep your senses alert while you're out there.

 

2. Once you've gotten into the habit of getting out and noticing things, learn to identify the common birds, plants and insects that you see in your area.  Maybe even just choose one category to start with - maybe the birds or the trees you see in your neighborhood or local park.  Get a few field guides for your area.  We've had the best mileage with really simple ones - I like the Golden Guides and the Reader's Digest North American Wildlife book for general North American wildlife and these pocket guides (just laminated brochures) for our state (I presume you can get something similar for other states?)  These simple ones aren't overwhelming to leaf through in the beginning, and when we've not been able to find exactly what we are looking for we usually find something similar enough that we can narrow it down to a pretty focused Google search.  Do you know someone in your local area that loves birds or gardening?  Don't be afraid to draw on their expertise either.  And don't get too hung up on it if you can't identify something exactly.  We've often been content with "I think that might be some kind of fir tree" and left it at that.  Just last night we had an argument around our dinner table as to whether or not that bird we saw out the dining room window was a mockingbird or not.  We didn't resolve it, but we were all noticing and wondering about what we saw...and really, that's the point.  

 

3. Start nature journaling.  This can be as simple as a sketch (it doesn't even have to be a very good one!) of something you saw with the date, location, and name if you know it.  The point is not as much to produce beautiful artwork but to really observe what you've seen.   If you are taking the time to make a drawing, you will notice more details than you would in passing. We've generally gathered specimens to bring home, when that is appropriate, or taken photos when it's not and drawn from those at home.  Sometimes with things like birds or butterflies that move too fast to draw from life or get good photos, we've drawn from field guides.   The best way to get your kids nature journaling is to model it yourself.  When you are buying supplies, grab a sketchbook for yourself as well and sit down and draw alongside your children.  I am not an artist and was not an enthusiast of nature before Charlotte Mason came into our lives, but I have come to enjoy nature journaling immensely over the years.  Charlotte's students used the dry-brush watercolor technique in their journals, but we've always found colored pencils or watercolor pencils simpler (and the best nature journal is the one that actually gets done!) 

Really, it doesn't have to be any more complicated than that.  You can get more detailed and take on 'special studies' later, but start simple now and build the habit, especially while your children are young and you don't have as much academic work to do.

 

Not yet convinced that you should and can do this?  Click on over and listen to this fantastic Mason Jar podcast on nature study with Naomi Goegan. 

 

Want more to read?

 

How do I get started?

Keep it SIMPLE: Get Out.  Look at Stuff.  Love it.  That's all it takes in the beginning.  More detailed studies can grow from there.

You don't need a 'curriculum' to do nature study! Part 1 and Part 2

Getting Started with Nature Study

Notes from Charlotte Mason's first volume, Home Education, on Nature Study

Try planting a garden!

Ambleside Online's Nature Study page

 

What about Nature Journaling? 

Just Do It.  (And do it WITH them.  Yes, that means you Mama!)

Help your child (and yourself!) learn to see.

Nature Journaling and Nature Lists can be oh-so-simple.  

The Progression of Nature Journaling in our family

 

Need any more inspiration?

Check out some of our nature study adventures.  Sometimes I feel like we don't do as well as we should at nature study…looking back at my archives encouraged me that a little bit here and there really goes a long way!

Check out the nature study posts over at Joyous Lessons.  Celeste has LOTS of little ones, but has committed herself to making nature study a habit in her family.  Her nature-related posts always inspire me to get back outside!

 

So here's your challenge for this week, ladies:  get out there and see what you see.  And then come back and share it with us in the comments.  I'd love to see what you find!

 

Getting Started with AO Year One: Understanding Narration

Welcome back for another coffee chat, friends.

 

 

I hope that our last installment left you feeling encouraged that you CAN do this.  It's okay if you haven't read everything and don't know it all, and it's even okay if you don't do everything perfectly because none of us do.

 

That said…you do need to start somewhere.  Once you've gained a general overview of CM's ideas, you need to begin to deepening your understanding a little bit at a time.  In the next couple of posts in this series I'd like to suggest a couple of principles that would be good starting places for your further study.  Today let's talk about narration.

 

Very simply put, narration is the act of telling back (orally or, in the case of older students, in writing) what you have heard or read or experienced.  Sounds simple, right?  It is simple, but it is also profound.  In order to narrate, the child must attend to the reading, organize it in his own mind, and reformulate it in his own words.   I have reflected before that narration is akin to translation – translating the ideas of the author into one's own language.  It's harder work than you might think!  Some children take to it like ducks to water, and others really struggle with developing this skill.  Narration is frequently misunderstood and its power underestimated.   It is also absolutely essential to putting Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education into place in your homeschool.  This is why I'd like to suggest to you that deepening your understanding of what narration is, why it is important, and how to help your student develop narration skills is a foundational starting place for further study.

 

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I am going to leave you today with a collection of links that will send you well on your way to a deeper understanding of narration.  Take some time over the next few weeks to read and take notes and ponder.  Feel free to come back and leave your questions in the comments, or hop on over to the Ambleside Online Forum and join the conversation there.

 

Charlotte Mason's Own Words on Narration

Narration Helps from the Ambleside Online Advisory Board with LOTS of links for further study

Karen Glass on Narration

More from Karen Glass on "What's the Point of Narration"

Troubleshooting and Narration from Fisher Academy Part 1 and Part 2

Your Morning Basket Podcast on Narration with Sonya Shafer

The Mason Jar Podcast Interview with Karen Glass (not solely about narration, but she does make some good points with regard to narration to keep in mind)

Brandy Vencel on Narration vs. Discussion

Also, if you haven't already subscribed to Brandy's Newbie Tuesday newsletter, go do that now.  The first issue is all about narration, and I believe you get that immediately when you sign up.

 

Happy Reading, Friends!

 

PS – For those of you who may be looking for an online discussion group to go deeper with CM's principles, it looks like there is a group forming over on the AO Forum to go through Brandy's 20 Principles study beginning in April.  I did this study myself with a group of Forum ladies several years ago and I would say that that was the thing that really cemented my understanding of what CM is all about. I highly recommend this study to you, especially if you don't have access to a local CM study group.  Click here to get more information (you need to be registered on the Forum to access this link).