5/28/2009- Summer School
Summer School Day
We are taking the summer “off” from school. We finished the year in April and intend to take May, June, July and August off and start back in September. I like starting the year in September, after Labor Day.
Even though we are taking the summer off from school doesn’t mean there isn’t learning going on. We still go up to the school room most mornings and spend about an hour and a half up there. We’re continuing with Mary’s reading lessons- although not every day. My goal is to complete a lesson or two a week.
We’re doing a lot of read alouds daily. Continuing to study the Bible (of course!). For Math the kids have been playing with two different sequencing games we have, pattern blocks, counting and sorting bears, etc.
I’ve recently been reading A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola and am LOVING it! Although I am Classically-minded, I do think there is much to learn from Charlotte Mason and have been incorporating some of her principles. (The curriculum I chose for next year is a cross between Classical and Charlotte Mason- Tapestry of Grace) I had an epiphany the other day when I was reading the chapter entitled “Inconsistent Kitty”- my kids do flit from activity to activity without spending enough time at any one activity to really develop the rich play that I would like to see. They are not practicing the art of attention- of applying all your mental faculties to really pay attention to the task at hand and to complete it thoroughly. I decided to try something that I read in the book- requiring them to play with a toy/do a task for a certain amount of time. In the past, if Mary got out the puzzles and started working on one and then said- “Mommy, I’m done with puzzles.” I would just say “ok, put them away and choose something else.”
On Thursday, instead of allowing the usual flitting from activity to activity I instructed Mary and Nathan to each choose something to play with and then required that they play with that item for 15 minutes. We did three rotations of this. Mary chose puzzles, tried the “after 2 minutes I want to do something else thing” and then, once she realized that she really DID have to play with this one thing for the specified amount of time, went back to working on her puzzles. She became so engrossed that she worked 10-12 puzzles over the course of an hour! She was really applying herself and really concentrating- it was nice to see. Nathan chose the counting and sorting bears for his first session and then chose books for the last two sessions. He has really become much more interested in books lately and it is nice to see him all cozed up on the beanbags, totally immersed in a book or two.
Mary spent an hour doing puzzles. (Logic)
Nathan, tucked up in the reading corner, with a stack of books.
We looked at this Art book and discussed paintings and artists.
Mary finished this map of North America, with a little help. (Geography)
Just so you know, he is NOT TIRED. 
This corner of the schoolroom, as you walk into the door immediately to your left, has previously been unfinished. We had a six foot folding table piled high with my scrapbooking stuff and Kip’s project (converting his records to CD format). We finally found a new home for that stuff and straightened this corner out. The keyboard is on my sewing machine table (the sewing machine folds down into the table!). The bookshelf holds all our puzzles. And then Mom’s rocking chair. The only think left to do is hang up our Timeline Poster. I need to take new pictures of the schoolroom now that it’s DONE.
