My classical education "plan" for next year...

[mommydama]

which may be starting sooner than I thought, actually. Mari and I are flying through Calvert K, I want to go through a K skills book with Zoe to assess where she is, but I'm not going to wait until next September to start this stuff. I'm tentatively planning to do "school" year round, with several breaks here and there. I'd like to start purchasing and learning how to use SWR and Rightstart by March at the latest.

Still tweaking...

Reading/Spelling/Writing/Grammar: Spell to Write and Read
Math: RightStart (Mari–Level B, Zoe–Level A or B, depending on K math assessment)
History: History Portfolio Junior and/or CCH’s history units
Science: Kingfisher First Animals Encyclopedia,My Body, Green Thumbs
Art: Artistic Pursuits or Lamb’s Book of Art 1
Music,: Recorder and/or Violin Lessons

Draw, Write, Now just for fun. Mari LOVES copywork and drawing, what could be more perfect?

Comments

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a great program and you're absolutely right to start it when you're ready, regardless of the calendar.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

I just wasn't impressed by what I was reading about the WTM's suggestions for spelling/writing/grammar. I'm planning to use startwrite to supplement as we need it in the writing stuff. I'm not sure exactly how the Spell to write and Read teaches kids to write. This should all be interesting...

[corin13.livejournal.com]

Classical education- can you summarize that for me? How does it apply to the early school years? And is the drawing part of the classical curriculum? What is the significance of teaching drawing?

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Classical education divides learning into three stages called the trivium. The stages are grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The grammar stage: "The first, for receiving and gathering up information - Knowledge." The logic stage: "The second, for arranging and connecting the information in a logical order - Understanding." The rhetoric stage: "The third, for putting this gathered and ordered information into practical expression - Wisdom." (quotes from this article, which does a great job of explaining the trivium: http://www.triviumpursuit.com/articles/trivium_in_a_capsule.php)

Roughly, the grammar stage is 1st-4th grade, logic stage is about 5th-8th grades and rhetoric is about 9th-12th grade. This corresponds very well with child development and how children learn in each stage of growth.

Some other important parts of classical education is teaching history in the order it happened and in a cyclical pattern (you basically get all of world history three times, once in each stage). Learning a classical language such as Latin and/or Greek is also encouraged (we will probably start with Greek, it makes more sense for us as Orthodox Christians).

Drawing...well, it isn't a necessary part, I don't think. But my girls love to draw, paint, etc, and I'd like to follow a roughly sequential curriculum for art and art history so that it corresponds to what we are doing in history especially. There is a "grammar" to drawing, learning basic skills to put to use later. It makes sense to me.

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

That looks great. :) If you don't have it by the time we come visit, I can bring RightStart A so you can take a look at it.

I'm re-visiting The Well-Trained Mind, if I actually read it instead of letting it sit on my table this time. ;) I'm just not sure about memorization. Do you know if there's a lot of memorization in the grammar stage?

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Memorization is a big part of the grammar stage, as the grammar stage is pretty much all about "gathering facts". But it isn't necessarily all about rote memorization. I think WTM does encourage quite a bit of rote, but it didn't seem overwhelming to me. My girls naturally memorize...poems, songs, bible verses, hymns from church. It is a natural thing for kids to do in abundance at this developmental stage, so offering the things you WANT them to memorize and helping them do it is part of grammar.

I doubt I'll have the RS stuff before you come, so bring A with you!! Yay! I can see it before I shell out the cash!

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

I just realized this: one of the first things RightStart A asks is that the parent(s) get the kid(s) started memorizing the 1, 2, buckle my shoe rhyme. Hannah just loves that she's learning it.

Let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to bring. I have HWT pre-K and the early Explode the Code books. I'm also hoping to have both Story of the World 2 and First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind through the library by then.

I'm just struggling with what to do for kindergarten. I'm probably set for phonics, math, and handwriting--though Hannah doesn't seem to be enjoying Explode the Code as much--but I'm not sure about anything else. I just worry that I'll "leave something out". Well, that and the whole "don't know where we'll be" thing.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

Is it Calvert's lock-step nature that's causing you not to continue with it? When I consider home schooling my daughter, I've been thinking I'd buy a curriculum in a box (Calvert being my top choice, I think). It's fascinating reading about what you (and others) are doing. I had been thinking that if the curriculum-in-a-box wasn't sufficient, I could supplement with other materials, but since it looks like you're abandoning Calvert entirely, I'm having to reconsider!

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

My FIRST problem with Calvert is that it doesn't fit with my neat, tidy, classical model, the one that has been growing on me for over a year. My second problem is that it doesn't really give you much room to individualize the curriculum. It is really hard to move ahead or go back as you need to do so. I'd rather have the separate pieces to move around as I wished or need to. That is one of my main reasons for homeschooling, the individual education it can give my kids. Calvert feels like being in a classroom to me...they have to provide for every varying ability level within a grade and that makes it frustrating for me. I feel wasteful because Mari is way above and beyond this $400 K curriculum for reading and science, but not in Math. I don't know...it just didn't offer me the freedom I wanted. It is a GOOD curriculum and you can feel confident that if you follow it your child will get a first rate education, don't get me wrong. I chose Calvert to break me in...I didn't really expect to stick with it because I knew I'd be too opinionated (which is a fault of mine) and the curriculum in a box would drive me crazy. Heh.

It has worked wonderfully for some families! noetic_toe's family has used it for all of their children (six of them) and they have amazing, intelligent, knowledgable people on their hands now. What works for one person, might now work for someone else.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

*nods* I like the catering-to-the-individual potential of home schooling as well. I suspect the reason I fall back to thinking I'd do something like Calvert is being afraid that I'm somehow not capable of teaching my child properly. Which is ridiculous, but I still feel it.

The lock-step nature of it might be very frustrating to me. I suspect if I do home school I might do as you've done -- start with Calvert and tweak as I gain confidence. I really appreciate you're sharing all this information! Thank you.

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Jumping in here, rather rudely-

If you're looking for a good first year of homeschooling, buying your year in a box is a great way to start. Calvert is excellent because it gives you absolutely everything you're going to need, right down to the rulers and the drawing paper. You won't have to buy another single thing, which makes Calvert wonderful. But the best part of school in a box for the first year is that you learn so much about how your kids learn, how you teach, what level of support you want and what you want to do next year, either the same or differently.

I recommend year in a box to you.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

*nods* I like having a starting point. I get overwhelmed when faced with a blank slate, so I suspect that your points about a year-in-a-box will suit me perfectly. Thank you. :)