Morning Time Plans, Part 2

Our second part of morning time comes after we have all done our chores and played outside. I also hope to have had some preemptive one-on-one time with the preschoolers by the time we start.

I aim to begin this at about 10:15 every morning. We will have tea or drinks and snacks while we do the first part, then clear away in time for our Canadian loop and Language loop. (The 5 and 2-year-olds will also likely run off and play once the food is done.)

To make this really clear, we are only doing one item in each "loop" per day. The memory work and recitation is all reviewed every day.


TEA TIME LOOP (15 min) (cycle through, one per day.)
- Poetry Appreciation: Tennyson, De La Mare
- Art Appreciation: van Ruisdael, de Hooch
- Music Appreciation: Corelli, Telemann; Sol Fa lesson: Children of the Open Air Level B
- Mathematics Appreciation: Family Math and Mathematicians are People Too
- Poetry Appreciation: childrens’ choice (skip if we have four-day week for some reason)

Memory Work/Recitation (10 min)
- Folk Song: “A Ballad of New Scotland”, “Brave Wolfe”
- Poetry: SA – “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, JJ – “Seeds”, “The Mother Bird”
- French Song: “Vous Qui Sur la Terre Habitez”, "Je Me Confie en Toi"

-  Shakespeare: MacBeth “Sleep no More” and/or “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow”

-  Review (one previously memorized folk song OR poem OR French Song OR Shakespeare)

CANADIAN LOOP (20 min) (cycle through, one per day, doing map/timeline work once per week)
- Canadian History: The Story of Canada OR Great Canadian Lives
- Canadian Geography (hoping to do The Map-Maker: the Story of David Thompson if it ever arrives in the mail!)
- Map/Timeline Work (Canadian Oxford Junior Atlas Activity Book)

LANGUAGE LOOP (20 min) (one per day)
- French Lesson: Watch The ULAT lesson OR review AND read French children's book
- English Grammar: KISS Grammar Book 1 (First lessons include material for copywork and dictation as well.)

Notes

Tea Time Loop

Up until the end of last year, we've read poetry on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with Art Appreciation on Tuesdays and Composer Study on Thursdays. This year I'm adding in Mathematics Appreciation. I read several chapters of Mathematicians are People Too last year as part of our breakfast reading rotation. In past years we also used to do a fair amount of math games and activities, but I slacked off over time. This year I decided to combine the two and make them part of this special, relaxed time in our school day.

For poetry, we are following the Ambleside Online suggestions for Years 4 and 2. Unlike in previous years, I am giving each boy their own poems to learn for recitation. (We always learned it as a family before.)

For Art Appreciation in Term 1, I looked through the AO rotation for artists roughly in the time period we are studying in history this year (1640-1780) and found Jacob van Ruisdael and Pieter de Hooch (painters from the Dutch golden age). I like doing this, as I think it helps us immerse ourselves in a time period, but I don't go out of my way to do it (connections happen anyway!). I printed the selections suggested by AO on letter-sized paper at Staples and put them in page protectors in our individual binders. We always spend two weeks on each painting, just looking and talking about it the first week, then trying to fix it in our minds' eye and narrating the second week. I am hoping I will have enough space on my "school wall" to hang up the current picture during the weeks we are studying it. 

For Composer Study, we're using the AO rotation this term. 

Memory Work/Recitation

I chose two Canadian folk songs, as they fit well with our Canadian history. A Ballad of New Scotland is a sort of advertisement to attract people to settle in Nova Scotia in the 1700's. Brave Wolfe is about the Battle on the Plains of Abraham. I found both of these songs in my copy of Singing Our History by Edith Fowke and Alan Mills. This wonderful resource is out of print, but you may find it used (check bookfinder.com for prices including shipping). I highly recommend this resource and others by Edith Fowke if you want to coordinate Canadian folk songs with your studies in Canadian history.

Last school year, I taught the boys "A La Claire Fontaine" as our French song. Though I told them the translation at the beginning, I didn't find that it stuck well (aside from the lovely tune!). This term, I decided to turn to a French version of a psalm we already know well in English. "All People that on Earth do Dwell" is one of the boys' favourites, and that's why we will learn "Vous Qui Sur la Terre Habitez." For the second six weeks of the term, I chose a simple hymn from Jeunesse en Mission (Youth With a Mission): "Je Me Confie en Toi." Sometime in the future I will return to French folk songs, but for this year I will focus on easy and familiar hymns to help build their understanding.

Canadian History and Geography

We are continuing to do Canadian history and geography together, as last year. 

Language Loop

We began using The ULAT last year for French. I was not completely satisfied with how we did with it, but as I've been thinking about it, I realize it was because I did not have a daily system for review of what we were learning. I did not want to sit in front of the screen daily for a video review. I'm going to step back a couple of lessons, and use a notebook to make a list of what we need to review each day in between our lessons. In addition, I plan to find and read French translations of a few classic childrens' books that my children already know well in English, starting with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. (I'm not sure of everything that I'll use...I have a stack reserved at the library and I'll see.)

We are also beginning English grammar and studied dictation this year. I am using KISS Grammar. If you click on that link, you will discover that the website is very, very difficult to navigate and find exactly what you need. Here is the page with links to each workbook. I am beginning with book 1, and I will allow JJ(7) to participate with SA(9) as well, but only if he is interested. (Delayed grammar is something I don't quite see eye to eye with Charlotte Mason on...I know I was ready for grammar and loved it from the time I first encountered it in grade 2 or 3. But of course I would never push it on a child who isn't ready.) The first workbook has short passages that the teacher's guide suggests using as dictation exercises. I can kill two birds with one stone! Now I don't have to think about figuring out what to use for studied dictation with SA for the first little while, anyway.

Ambleside Online also recommends beginning Latin in Year 4. I have acquired a Latin program (Visual Latin), but looking at it I realize that SA needs some grammar before he begins. I expect I will probably start next year, in Year 5. I am quite excited about it, though...I think both grammar and Latin will appeal to SA's logical and orderly mind.

Disclaimer
I'm going to offer this disclaimer again. These are my plans. There will be things that will be adjusted as we go along. There are things that will work for my family that won't work for yours. Use your own discretion. Again, I'm building on the work of previous years, and strongly advise starting small and building from there if you are just beginning.

Here are some links from previous years, when the boys were younger:
Our Very First Poetry Teatime (4 years ago)
Our Circle Time (1.5 years ago)