Drawing with Children

Over the past year, I have been working through Mona Brookes' Drawing with Children with my older two kids – currently ages 8.5 and just turned 6 (so they were 7.5 and 5 when we started).   This is one of those books that I bought a long time ago because it is mentioned so often in homeschooling circles, but then it sat on my shelf for the next two years because it completely overwhelmed me.   I finally pulled it back out last summer because a friend of mine was using it with her children and I was so impressed by their work that I figured it was worth another go.  I'm so glad I did because I've been impressed with the progress we (meaning the children and myself!) have made.

 

The first lesson walks through learning to see the 5 basic elements of shapes (dots, circles, straight lines, curved lines, and angled lines) that make up any object.  The basic premise of this book is that once you can learn to see these basic elements in the objects around you and learn to reproduce them, then you can draw basically anything by putting them together in basic combinations.  The first lesson takes you through a series of exercises that help you to identify and reproduce these 5 elements, concluding with instructions for drawing a simple bird using these shapes.  I found the lesson plans at Donna Young's site helpful for breaking this lesson down into activities that I could accomplish in a 15-20 minutes drawing session with my children.  She also has some downloadable sheets that you can use for the reproduction exercises suggested in the book.

 

Sample of some of the reproduction exercises suggested in the first lesson of Drawing with Children.  The idea is to learn to see the shapes and lines that you see and reproduce them - first with abstract items, and later with real ones.

 

The second lesson is called "drawing from graphics" and builds on the previous lesson.  (Donna Young also has lesson plans for this lesson which I didn't follow exactly, but again it was helpful to me in terms of wrapping my mind around how to break down the wealth of information in the chapter into manageable chunks.)   This lesson provides a sequence of progressively difficult drawings and instructions on how to draw them, putting to use the idea of combining the different elements of shape to make something recognizable.   We completed the first two drawings – a lion and a tropical bird – breaking down each over several drawing sessions.

 

Lion drawn by James, age 5.5

 

 

Lion drawn by Michelle, age 8

 

Lion drawn by Mama, who has never been particularly artistic. :)

 After we had done that, though, I thought we ought to slow down and work on putting the principles we have used into practice before moving on to the more complicated lessons in the book. J   So the last several drawing sessions we've done, we've chosen a picture book with fairly simple line drawings from our shelves and put our skills to work in trying to reproduce them.  This has been a lot of fun.  It's been good practice too, cementing the skills we've learned.   It's also made it more natural to carry over the skills we've learned from this book into our other drawing.   I'm far more pleased with my nature journal sketches now than I was a year ago, and I can't help but think that the principles in this book have helped with that.  

 

Michelle's reproduction of Camille, our favorite French giraffe.

 

From Mama's sketchbook - Curious George and some of Miss Fannie's hats.

 

That's as far as we've gotten, really.  The next lessons include still-life drawing and volume drawing (we may work through Bruce McIntyre's Drawing Textbook or Mark Kistler's You Can Draw in 30 Days when we get to that point, both of which we have on our shelf, and both of which go through three-dimensional drawing techniques in more detail.)  Although I had a weekly drawing session scheduled in our school day last year, we didn't always get to it – perhaps every other week, on average, was more realistic.   With a second student officially joining us this fall, I'm rethinking our schedule and actually thinking of moving our drawing time to the evenings.  We have been building a habit of doing something special together as a family after dinner so we might try having a drawing time on occasion at that time of day instead.   I hope that we will be able to be more consistent about doing it regularly. J  We'll see.

 

Do you have a favorite resource for art or drawing instruction?

How We Do...Field Trips

Actually, we don’t really do field trips at all.  Living in Africa means there isn’t so much to do in the way of typical field trip fare – no museums, historical sites, zoos (well we do have a zoo, but it’s small and kind of sad), and so on.   Rather than feeling like my kids are missing out on this kind of thing, however, I like to look at the fact that they have opportunities for different experiences that their counterparts in the West don’t.  Here is one such example from an ‘adventure’ my husband took our older two children on a couple of weeks ago:

 

Students from the mission-run international secondary school here in our city often make ministry trips to local villages.  Last weekend, Dan was asked to use our 4WD truck to help drive people and equipment for one of these trips to a village located a couple of hours south of the city.  He took Michelle and James ‘along for the ride’ since it was a good opportunity for them to experience another part of Cameroon.  They had a great time!

 

Once turning off the main highway, they drove another 20km down this dirt track through the jungle to reach the village.

 

The student ministry team finished a well project and planted plantains for the village.  Then the soccer team played in a locally organized tournament.

 

 

Afterwards the drama team performed a few skits sharing the gospel with the people who came for the tournament.

 

 

During the soccer tournament James got busy drawing and attracted quite a crowd.

 

 

Michelle, on the other hand, guarded the truck.

 

 

The folks in the village provided a meal for the group before they headed back to town: snake, lizard, greens, and rice.   The verdict: Dan didn’t think it was too bad.  Michelle liked the greens and the rice, but passed on the snake and the lizard, and James “only ate the rice.  The rest was too icky, Mama.” 

 

 

The trip back to the city in the afternoon was particularly exciting due to thunderstorms in the area, turning the dirt track into a mud track. J  But they all made it home safely, and they all had a great experience.  It was a blessing for Dan to be able to use our vehicle to help out the student ministry team in this way, and a blessing for the children to be able experience Cameroon outside of the city!

 

How We...Celebrate the Season of Easter

In the comments to this post, I said I would write a post to share some of our traditions for the seasons of Lent and Easter.  That post turned out to be rather long.  You can find Part One – things we do in the weeks leading up to Easter – here.  This is part 2 – what we do for Easter Sunday and beyond.

 

On Easter Sunday morning, we re-light all the candles and read the final Lenten Lights devotional about how Jesus has risen from the dead.  We don’t do Easter baskets or candy or egg hunts, but we do present the children with one of RC Sproul’s allegorical picture books.  Have you seen these?  We really like them.  They explain complex theological concepts, like the atonement, in the form of a story.  We already have The Lightlings and The Prince’s Poison Cup and this year gave them The Donkey who Carried a King.   

 

 

Our food traditions are still a bit of a work in progress.  This year I made Hot Cross Buns for breakfast (although I had some icing issues which is why you can’t see the crosses in this picture!)  We usually eat some of our Easter Eggs too.   For dinner, I make a big meal-salad with chicken and hard-boiled eggs and we have some kind of fruit pie or crumble for dessert.

 

 

This year, for the first time, we’re extending the special Sunday devotionals through the season of Easter until Pentecost.  We will keep a similar format to the Lenten Lights devotional series by lighting the candles each week, reading a Scripture passage related to the theme for the week, and placing a corresponding art print on the easel.  I took the Scripture readings and themes from Bobby Gross’ book Living the Christian Year. 

 

First Sunday after Easter

Doubting Thomas - John 20:19-31

 

Second Sunday after Easter

Emmaus Road - Luke 24:13-23

 

Third Sunday after Easter

The Good Shepherd - John 10:1-30

 

Fourth Sunday after Easter

I Am the Vine - John 15:1-17

 

Fifth Sunday after Easter

Ascension - Luke 24:36-49

Ascension Day itself falls 40 days after Easter, this year it is Thursday, May 29.  That night we will read Acts 1:1-11.

 

Sixth Sunday after Easter

Ascension - Revelation 22

 

Seventh Sunday after Easter (Pentecost)

Pentecost - Acts 2:1-42

 

And there you have it.  Our traditions are always a work in progress, and I always have ideas that I would like to do and yet they haven’t happened yet for one reason or another.  Some of those things include:

 

- Extending our devotional readings to daily, rather than just weekly.  I just haven’t found anything prepared that I like yet and time always slips away from me to organize something myself.

- I’d really love to select some hymns and songs to be sung particularly during this time of year, just as we have Christmas carols in December.  (Anyone have a favorite?)

- My husband would really like to do a Messianic Passover Seder during Holy Week as well.  We did this once with friends a number of years ago and it was a really neat experience.

- I’ve always loved the idea of building an Easter garden like this too, but is one of those things that slips away from me year after year.

 

What traditions does your family have for this Season?

 

How We...Prepare for Easter

In the comments to this post, I promised I would share a few of our family’s traditions for the seasons of Lent and Easter.  I realize that it’s a bit too late for this year, but hey, it gives you plenty of time to think and consider how you may want to approach this in your home for next year. J

 

A couple of caveats: Our goal during Lent is mostly to help our children (and ourselves) understand that this is a special season set aside to reflect on Christ’s coming and work on the cross on our behalf – something that is as significant and important in our family life as our observance of Christmas.  So what I share here are some of the traditions we have adopted as we have endeavored to do that, and therefore don’t necessarily include all of the practices observed in more liturgical churches during the season of Lent.   You will also see that we like to keep things fairly simple.  You aren’t going to see lots of cute crafts or events that are heavy on preparation.   I’m not a crafty-mama in the first place.   We’ve moved a lot in the second place (this year is the first time since 2009 that we have spent two consecutive Easters on the same continent!).  And in our missionary community, March/April tends to be one of the busiest times of the year for community events of all sorts – unfortunate but true.  So our traditions reflect that – simple things that I can still pull off without adding extra stress during a move or an otherwise busy season.   Just so you know where I’m coming from.

 

The mantle on Good Friday

On each Sunday of Lent, we use John Piper’s Lenten Lights devotional.  I like that this is designed sort of as the ‘reverse’ of an advent wreath – rather than lighting a new candle for each Sunday, one is extinguished.  The last candle is extinguished on Good Friday, and then one awakes to all of the candles re-lit to celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday.  To go along with each reading of the devotional, I searched for a painting that would illustrate the story.  (I wish I had a nice printable to share with you, but alas I don’t.  This is a useful site for searching for artwork with Biblical themes, however, if you wanted to put together something similar for your family.) 

 

During Holy Week, we use a set of plastic Easter eggs to retell the story of Passion Week.  Each egg is filled with a symbol that represents a part of the story.   You can buy sets of these commercially, but I made ours myself.  Currently, I have each day/symbol keyed to a reading from Catherine Vos’ The Child’s Story Bible, but am thinking that for next year I will key them to the actual Scripture passages.

 

 

Here is my list of symbols and readings from The Child’s Story Bible:

Palm Sunday

Egg #1: Palm Branch (in our case, it’s a foam palm tree sticker)

Reading: Ch. 41 “The King Comes” p.311

 

Monday

Egg #2: Cracker

Reading: Ch. 44 “In the Upper Room” p.314

 

Tuesday

Egg #3: Silver Coins (mine has 3 dimes in it)

Reading: Ch. 46 “The Kiss of Judas” p.317 (In this story Bible, it doesn’t actually mention the 30 pieces of silver that Judas was paid to betray Jesus, so I just add this in at an appropriate part in the story.)

 

Wednesday

Egg #4: Feathers

Reading: Ch. 47 “Why Peter Wept” p.318

 

Maundy Thursday

Egg #5: Whip (mine is made of some strings tied to a toothpick)

Egg #6: Purple Robe

Egg #7: Thorns

Reading: Ch. 50 “Carrying the Cross” p.322

 

Good Friday

Egg #8: Cross and Nails (my cross is made of twigs lashed together)

Egg #9: Vinegar and Sponge (I actually have a cotton ball in ours that I soak in a bit of vinegar so they can smell it)

Reading: Ch. 51 “The Sun Becomes Dark” p. 323

 

Saturday

Egg #10: Burial Cloth and Spices (a scrap of white fabric and some cloves)

Egg #11: Rock

Reading: Ch. 52 “The Stone is Rolled Away” p.325

 

Easter Sunday

Egg #12: Empty!

Reading: Ch.53 “Visitors to the Tomb” p. 326

 

 

On Easter Saturday, we usually dye Easter eggs.  We usually talk about how they can be a symbol of new life.   My 4-year-old asked me as I was preparing the dye this year: "So, first we dye the eggs, and then they come alive again?"  Well, not quite sweetheart....  At least something about the significance of this season is getting into her head, though. :)

 

Brown eggs come out really pretty when you dye them, don't they?  I love how they look.

 

This post is getting kind of long, so I’ll share our traditions that carry us into Easter Sunday and beyond next time.

 

James' Year 0.5 (Kindergarten) Plans

James is 5 and a half years old.  Technically, he could have started Kindergarten this past fall, but for a variety of reasons we decided to wait on officially enrolling him with our co-op/umbrella school as a Kindergartener until this coming fall, when he will be 6.  I hadn't really planned on doing any formal kindergarten work with him until then.  We've done a bit of work informally on and off over the past couple of years, but it hasn't ever been consistent aside from him joining us for Tea Time.

 

 

But then, he taught himself how to write all his letters (using a dry-erase tracing book).  He took the little bit of phonics and word-building work I had done with him and ran with it, and the next thing I knew he was reading Dr Seuss, and then just about anything he could get his hands on.  And  then he started inserting his own comments and opinions on the school books I was reading with Michelle. 

 

It was time to kick it up a notch.

 

Ambleside Online doesn't offer an official kindergarten year, and Year 1 isn't meant to be started with a child younger than 6 years old.  Those who need or want something for a kindergarten child usually end up cobbling together what is sometimes referred to as 'Year 0.5' – a transition between the informal preschool (Year 0) years and officially beginning Year 1.  Here are the resources that we are using for our Year 0.5:

 

Reading: He reads aloud to me daily  from the Treadwell Reading Literature readers or other appropriate-level books, such as the Little Bear series.   As needed, we do a bit of word-building or word-visualization using letter tiles at the white-board.

Handwriting: He copies 1 short sentence from his reader, directly underneath a model.

Math: We are using MEP Year 1 very, very slowly, spending 2-3 days on each lesson, with heavy emphasis on the hands-on activities in the lesson plans.

 

Read-Aloud List:

Poetry (Daily): Mother Goose rhymes, Lavendar's Blue, Eric Carle's Animals, Animals

AND one of the following:

Literature: The Wonder Clock (Pyle)

History: Fifty Famous People (Baldwin)

Natural History: Among the Farmyard People (Pierson)

Geography: Highroads to Geography (Anonymous)

 

I am not yet asking for narrations from these readings, although sometimes we will talk about what he liked or didn't like about a story.  Sometimes he offers a narration on his own.  But we will wait until after his 6^th birthday in June to really begin narration in earnest.

 

Notes: Total Time for all of this is 30-40 minutes per day, aiming for 4x per week.  He also joins us for Tea Time which is another 30 minutes or so, and often for Drawing and Nature Journaling on the days we do those.   Also, keep in mind that this is my plan for James, meeting him where he was at.  Most students don't start kindergarten already having taught themselves how to read and write. J   Typically, kindergarten students will just be beginning reading and handwriting instruction.  See this very helpful blog series for hints on how to approach these subjects Charlotte Mason style.

My Ambleside Planning Process: Day by Day

Here is part three of my Ambleside Planning Process, what our daily schedule/routine looks like.

 

You can read the other parts here:

Part 1: Year by Year Planning

Part 2: Term by Term

Part 3: Day by Day (You are Here!)

Part 4: Week by Week (Coming Soon)

 

Originally, I had intended to write about my weekly planning first, and then my daily planning, but actually I find it makes more sense to share our daily plan/schedule first.

 

Our daily plan is basically a block-type schedule, although it functions more as a flow chart for a routine than a true schedule.  I do pencil times in when I am planning, but that’s mostly to be sure my time estimates are reasonable (in other words to reassure myself that, yes, on a ‘normal’ day we can get through all of this by lunch!).  I don’t hold myself to time very tightly though.  We do one thing, and then the next, and then the next.   One of the keys to CM scheduling is the principle of alternation – changing up the type of work you are doing regularly to keep from getting bogged down and help keep focus and attention sharp.   Each block in our schedule is sort of different, and I try to alternate between various types of work within each block too.

 

This basic scheduling format has been working really well for us for over a year now.  We do tweak it here and there on occasion, and I’m sure I’ll have to do some major tweaking a couple years down the road when I have three official students. J   But for the moment our days look something like this:

 

 

Block One: Michelle works through her independent checklist while I finish up my chores and helping little ones with chores and do 20 minutes or so of preschool/Kindergarten type work with them.

 

Block Two: Michelle and I sit down at the table.  I look over her independent work and hear her narrations from reading she has done independently.   If we are on a new Math U See lesson, I work through that with her (this is only once a week or so).  On the other days we do about 10 minutes of math drill and about 10 minutes of math enrichment.

 

Block Three: Morning Tea Time.   This is our snack and whole-group/circle time.  I posted about what our tea time looks like here, so I won’t repeat at that.

 

Block Four: Activity – Science experiment, drawing, or nature study/journaling.  This isn’t daily – we tend to keep Mondays and Fridays lighter, so this is the block we skip on those days.  I pick and choose which activity we will do on a given day based on time, weather, and what kind of ‘break’ we may need at the moment.  (So, if everyone’s getting crazy, we call it a nature study day and go outside for a while. J)

 

Block Five: Michelle and I return to the table and finish up any language arts work that we need to do (spelling, writing a notebook page, etc) and French.  We read and narrate our Ambleside readings that we do together.  (If we need to do two that day, we do one at the beginning of this block, then do the tablework, and then do the second.)

 

Et voila!  Because of the work I have put into the checklists at the start of the term, it is easy for me to check and see what I need to plug in to each spot on our daily schedule as we go along.  (“Oh, what’s next?  An Ambleside reading.  Let’s look at this week’s reading list and choose one.”)  This has worked out to be a good compromise between structure and flexibility for me.   I can easily swap blocks around (or even skip a block if necessary) to go with life’s ebb and flow.  And I don’t necessarily assign specific activities or readings to specific days – we can see how things are going each week and adjust accordingly.

 

Next time, I’ll share with you what I do at the start of each week to help keep us on track. 

 

My Ambleside Planning Process: Term by Term

Here is part two of my Ambleside Planning Process, how I plan out the nitty-gritty details of each term.

 

You can read the other parts here:

Part 1: Year by Year Planning

Part 2: Term by Term (you are here!)

Part 3: Week by Week (Coming Soon)

Part 4: Day by Day (Coming Soon)

 

About a month or so before the start of a new term, I will begin tackling the following:

Translate the readings and other assignments I divided into categories into checklists: one for our group readings and activities, one for each student I will be working on one-on-one, and one for what I expect each student to work on independently (only Michelle at the moment). (For what it’s worth, Ambleside now offers chart-type schedules on their website and if you like that format, you can skip this step.  I still prefer to make my own. The link for the chart schedules are at the top of each year's weekly schedule page.  Here is the link for Year 2's)   This is mostly just for readings and things where I don’t want to lose track of what chapters or pages we are to read week by week.  I don’t create detailed assignment sheets for the more skill-based subjects such as math or spelling – we tend to just do the next thing in the book and move on as we are ready.   My checklists look something like this:

 

 

Here’s a closer shot:

 

 

I also create an assignment sheet for Michelle’s independent work, which looks like this:

 

 

You will see that this sheet has four check boxes next to each item – this sheet is designed to last four weeks.  This has worked out for us as a good balance between having to constantly reprint them and yet frequent enough that I can make changes as we go along if necessary.

 

I also make a supplies checklist for each week for any unusual supplies we may need for science experiments, art, or other projects – this is just so I have something I can reference quickly so I can gather what we need before we need it, if it is something I’m not likely to have handy.

 

Review our daily and weekly routines and tweak as necessary. (More on these in the next 2 posts).

 

Choose new memory work – poetry, Scripture memory, catechism and hymns (these things I choose for myself - we just follow the AO rotation for folk songs).  Prepare sheets or notecards to be slipped in the appropriate memory box or binder.

 

Collect timeline figures related to the term’s history readings. (I have the Homeschool in the Woods Timeline figures CD, and supplement with images from Google or Wikipedia.)

 

Move any files necessary to the Kindle or Tablet.  (PDF reference guides, music, ebooks that I may not have already downloaded, etc)

 

Stock up on printer ink and have a big ol’ printing party. J  I like to print everything that I think I may need for the term at once.  I find that when I do this, we can start the term and then just keep going from week-to-week without having to worry about printing.  Occasionally I miss something. But overall this system works well for us, and I’m not constantly scrambling to prepare each week.  In my case, I print:

• All checklists, schedules, and assignment sheets I have prepared
• Artist prints for the term (I print these on matte photo paper)
• Timeline figures
• Maps
• Notebooking pages (We mostly use very plain ones with a space to draw and some lines to write.  I also have a biography one we use sometimes as well as a Shakespeare one.  I don’t try to match up things according to specific topics or themes.)
• Memory work
• Any MEP math pages we may need to use (MEP is not our primary math curriculum, but I do use parts of it as a supplement to Math U See here and there)
• Copywork passages (This past year we have used Spelling Wisdom and things take from the AO Copywork Yahoo Group for copywork selections for Michelle)
• Pages for our family nature notebook.
• Any preschool worksheets and activities to keep handy for little ones who want to join in.
• Any other miscellaneous bits and pieces – did you find a neat artist biography you want to share?  Notes for your geography study? 

 

Once everything is printed, I file it all in the appropriate binders for easy reference.  I have (at the moment) three main binders for storing things:

 

My master plan binder (the purple one):

• Copies of all checklists and schedules
• A Calendar with planned holidays marked off, and where I anticipate we will begin and end each term
• Plastic sleeves with timeline figures and various styles of notebook pages
• Master free-reading list
• Supply list

 

Our Morning Tea Time binder (the white one):

• The Morning Tea-Time Schedule for the term
• The term’s group work checklist
• Bible reading schedule and related resources
• Memory work (poetry and folk songs anyway…Scripture, catechism and hymns we do at the breakfast table.  We use index cards and SCM’s Scripture Memory System for this.)
• French activities for the term (although I am horrible about keeping up with these…French has been kind of a disaster here.  Sigh.  But it is all in there, in case we do get to it.)
• Artist Study resources (paintings, notes, artist bio if we have one)
• Geography related resources (maps for reference, etc.)
• Composer Study resources, if any (background info about our composer or the pieces we are studying, if I’ve found anything interesting)

 

Michelle’s Independent work folder (the red one):

• Her daily checklist
• Her reading lists (assigned and free-read choices)
• Copywork selections
• MEP pages go into a separate MEP folder

 

I also keep folders for any preschool pages we might use, and nature notebook sheets go into the family nature notebook, obviously.

 

I usually take this opportunity to tidy up and reorganize our bookshelves as well, and toss or store papers from the previous term as necessary.  (We have to submit a portfolio, and I also keep a sampling for our own personal record as well.)

 

This may seem like a lot of work up front, but I find it is worth it to take a couple of afternoons or a weekend for intensive preparation, because then we can just move from week to week throughout the term without a whole lot of thought.  Then I don’t have to worry about this planning process again for several months.

 

Next time I’ll show you what I do to prepare week by week.  (Trust me, it’s not this long!  We’ve done the bulk of the work already!)

 

 

My Ambleside Online Planning Process: Year by Year

As I am currently in the thick of preparing to begin Ambleside Online Year 2 after the first of the year, I thought this might be an appropriate time to begin a little series on how I approach planning and scheduling AO in our home.  I am one of those planning geeks who enjoys going through the planning process, and this is one of the reasons that I don’t care for boxed curriculums with a scripted teacher’s manual.  But, I realize that for many people,  taking the booklist and schedule that Ambleside provides and then trying to translate that into what happens in your home day-by-day can be overwhelming.   I hope that outlining my process for you may be helpful for those who find planning for AO a little overwhelming.

 

As an aside: I won’t really be talking about this is this series, but using Ambleside also carries the understanding that you are making an effort to educate yourself in the philosophy and methods that Charlotte Mason espoused.  Ambleside is so much more than just a booklist!  If you aren’t familiar with CM methods, do be sure to check out the Charlotte Mason resources tab to the right.

 

Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to share my nitty-gritty planning process:

Year by Year

Term by Term

Week by Week

Day by Day

 

Let’s start with my big picture planning for the year:

 

A good 9-12 months ahead of time I:

• Look over the Ambleside Booklist for the Year(s) in question, including free reads.
• Consider any changes, additions, or substitutions I may want to make. (I find it helpful to check other people's comments and experiences with various books at the AO Forum, especially for those that may be unfamiliar to me.)
• Check the Ambleside rotations for picture study, composer study, and folk songs. (If you have children in Year 4 or older, check the Shakespeare and Plutarch rotations too.)
• Consider any other curriculum needs that we have (math, language arts, supplementary books, art supplies, etc).
• Check to see what books and materials I already own either as hardcopies or digitally.
• Check to see what books and materials (including music and free reads) are available digitally. 
• Purchase any hardcopy books and materials we need and arrange to have them shipped to us in Africa.

 This last item is the main reason I start so far ahead of time – it can take months for packages to reach us.  (The most reliable shipping method is by sea!)  I want to be sure that we receive all our books and materials in ample time for me to finish the planning process before the start of our new year.   If you live in the world of Amazon Prime, you can probably wait until a little closer to the start of your new year to begin this planning process. J

 

In the following months, I:

• Purchase and download any digital items needed (music, ebooks, maps, paintings for art study, etc.)
• Review books and materials we will be using – this may involve skimming and/or pre-reading and researching ideas others have shared about how they used the books on the Forum.
• Divide books and materials into three categories: things we will do as a group, things that I will do one-on-one with each individual student, and things I will have the student tackle independently. (These lists will be used to make my checklists once we get to Term planning).
• I also divide the free-reads (both Ambleside’s suggestions and other books I have chosen) into a family read-aloud list and an independent free-reading list for each child who can read independently. 

Part of  our list of family-read-aloud choices for this past year. Many of our books are on the Kindle, so this is our virtual ‘bookshelf’ for the children to choose from, if you will.   I like to snag the cover art off of Amazon to put on the list so the kids can scan their choices the same way they would on a real bookcase.

 

• For any subjects I am changing or adding in on my own, I make a plan to work these into the Ambleside weekly schedules.  For example, this coming year we are planning to follow our own schedule for Bible study rather than using the Bible readings scheduled for Year 2.  So, I will divide up the readings and any supplementary materials week by week so they will be ready to plug into my term checklists.  Same thing for the mapwork on Europe that I am planning to add in.

 I don’t do these things all at once,  I pick at them as I feel inspired and have a spare moment or two.   I do like to have them done at least a month or so before the first term starts so that I am ready to sit down and do my nitty-gritty term planning.

 

But that is for next time. J