I think I mentioned awhile back that Misha and Oak Meadow were becoming a bad pair. Once he finished up the review of the upper- and lower-case letters he was pretty much over Waldorfy education. But at the same time, with his speech and occupational issues he's also not a sit-at-a-desk-and-do-schoolwork type of boy. So, always and forever, working with Misha is a lesson in figuring out what to do next.
So I was thinking, what can I do that blends some more vigorous academics than OM was offering while not chaining him to a desk? Charlotte Mason education.
This week we've been trying it out, a kind of secularized Ambleside online with stuff that seems to work for him thrown in. We have had the BEST week! Obviously no guarantee that next week will be any kind of success, but for now I'm a god amongst ants.
Here's what we've been doing--
Daily
Penmanship--his name in Russian, the corresponding writing assignments in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. You can actually print these writing assignments off of Donna Young's website but my printer is being stupid about formatting it for some reason (it's a really nice printer too so I don't know why it's being weird)
Phonics--a lesson per day in 100EZ, plus a page or two of Explode the Code (ETC)
Math--a page or two per day in his Spectrum first grade book.
Handcrafts--knitting a row or two per day on his scarf, which is nearly finished (probably will be done just in time for spring, lol)
Poetry--one poem per day from A Child's Garden of Verses
Russian--Writing the alphabet, grammar, nouns
Weekly--
Nature Study--I've actually scheduled this three times this week and it has worked out well. The local homeschool group shared a link of a hummingbird nest webcam so we've been watching mama and baby hummingbirds online.
Art--Mike Venezia's "Da Vinci" from his Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series. I have several of his books (my favorite is the one on Picasso) and I chose Da Vinci at random since it seems like kids are often more familiar with his work that some of the other artists.
History--Our Island Story chapter one and "The Sword of Damocles" from Fifty Famous Stories Retold. Now, if you're familiar with the various CM curricula available online you know that history seems to be the most varied option among them. I'm not 100% sold on British history for the long term and I rather enjoy Child's History of the World, so we might add that in along with or in place of OIS. I don't think Holden has the scope yet to understand history the way that, say, The Well-Trained Mind approaches it but at least I can expose him to some history.
Literature--Aesop's "The Tortoise and the Ducks" and "The Wolf and the Kid", "Whale" from Kipling's Just So Stories, and "Mr. Red Squirrel Lives in the Forest" from Among the Forest People. In addition we're reading "The Velveteen Rabbit" for free reading.
Geography--chapter one from Paddle-to-the-Sea.
This seems so much less forced than what we were doing with OM and I hope that it continues to work for him.
So I was thinking, what can I do that blends some more vigorous academics than OM was offering while not chaining him to a desk? Charlotte Mason education.
This week we've been trying it out, a kind of secularized Ambleside online with stuff that seems to work for him thrown in. We have had the BEST week! Obviously no guarantee that next week will be any kind of success, but for now I'm a god amongst ants.
Here's what we've been doing--
Daily
Penmanship--his name in Russian, the corresponding writing assignments in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. You can actually print these writing assignments off of Donna Young's website but my printer is being stupid about formatting it for some reason (it's a really nice printer too so I don't know why it's being weird)
Phonics--a lesson per day in 100EZ, plus a page or two of Explode the Code (ETC)
Math--a page or two per day in his Spectrum first grade book.
Handcrafts--knitting a row or two per day on his scarf, which is nearly finished (probably will be done just in time for spring, lol)
Poetry--one poem per day from A Child's Garden of Verses
Russian--Writing the alphabet, grammar, nouns
Weekly--
Nature Study--I've actually scheduled this three times this week and it has worked out well. The local homeschool group shared a link of a hummingbird nest webcam so we've been watching mama and baby hummingbirds online.
Art--Mike Venezia's "Da Vinci" from his Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series. I have several of his books (my favorite is the one on Picasso) and I chose Da Vinci at random since it seems like kids are often more familiar with his work that some of the other artists.
History--Our Island Story chapter one and "The Sword of Damocles" from Fifty Famous Stories Retold. Now, if you're familiar with the various CM curricula available online you know that history seems to be the most varied option among them. I'm not 100% sold on British history for the long term and I rather enjoy Child's History of the World, so we might add that in along with or in place of OIS. I don't think Holden has the scope yet to understand history the way that, say, The Well-Trained Mind approaches it but at least I can expose him to some history.
Literature--Aesop's "The Tortoise and the Ducks" and "The Wolf and the Kid", "Whale" from Kipling's Just So Stories, and "Mr. Red Squirrel Lives in the Forest" from Among the Forest People. In addition we're reading "The Velveteen Rabbit" for free reading.
Geography--chapter one from Paddle-to-the-Sea.
This seems so much less forced than what we were doing with OM and I hope that it continues to work for him.
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