It's Hard for Me to Deviate

As I'm busy planning for next year and ordering books, I'm really running into the fact that I have a hard time deviating in any way from my chosen curriculum (Ambleside Online). I think that really, this is mostly because of my personality. (I am ISFJ, but my "F" is very near the middle and I think my "T" side really comes out when it comes to this.). Some people might call me inflexible. I prefer to call myself steady. I am not the homeschool mom that switches curriculum in the middle of the year. I do my research, choose what looks best, commit to it, and make it work. Indeed, when I chose AO, I had fallen in love and fully expected to use it mostly as written for all of my homeschooling years. Maybe that part was a bit idealistic.

Why do I stick to AO with such tenacity?

Love. Loyalty. Gratitude. Respect. Trust.
I trust AO, because it has been worked out by moms who have learned and studied and lived Charlotte Mason's philosophy. I am grateful for the booklists they have provided out of that experience and knowledge. With four young children and just a beginning knowledge of CM, it would have been very, very hard for me to put together the books needed for the great feast I want to offer my children without a lot of trial and error.

So I am thankful, and loyal. And I feel guilty for being tempted to tweak. It feels like cheating on AO. I do not trust myself enough yet to be confident in my tweaking. And yes, in my heart I know I am being ridiculous. So laugh at me. :) This is my journey. I have to go through some trial and error anyway, it seems.

Here's where I want to change right now.

- I want to substitute another Shakespeare book instead of Lamb for the sake of JJ(5) who is starting Year 1. While we enjoyed it, it was very challenging in Year 1, and I did not like the simpler Nesbit option (Not detailed enough to be interesting, I thought). So I'm looking at getting some Bruce Coville books, and possibly Geraldine McCaughrean. I haven't seen her Shakespeare, but we enjoyed her Canterbury Tales, so I'm thinking it might be a good option for us. I feel fairly comfortable tweaking in this case. I understand that my purpose is to introduce my children to the stories of Shakespeare's plays so that they will be familiar when we get to study the actual plays.

- I'd like to skip the Burgess Bird Book with JJ and study insects instead. He just loves bugs. This is much harder for me, even though we did not really like the Bird Book (We love the Animal Book in Year 2, though!). What if the books I choose for insects are not as good? What if studying birds at this stage is crucial and we miss out on something because of it? When I type it out, it seems irrational, but it's how I really feel. I'm afraid to let go of AO's hand. I'm planning to choose some of the books on the booklists at A Modern Charlotte Mason. But that's not a hand I know and trust yet, even though what I've seen of it looks lovely. I suppose that if I mess up this time, I still have two more boys to practice on. Are you getting the idea that I'm a bit of a perfectionist? What? You're amused at my agonizing over a choice that seems so insignificant? That's okay. Me too...

- I've been convinced by A Delectable Education podcasts that I should be beginning with Canadian history in Year 1. Should... but it's hard to leave behind some of the books that we loved in Year 1. So hard, I'm not sure I'll manage it. I might start with a half tweak in this area.
You should know that I did AO as written, American biographies and all, with my oldest child. Of course, I need to substitute Canadian biographies for those American ones when I begin with my second child, and I will. (Now to find the perfect ones...) But I’m not sure if I’ll be able to leave behind the British history AO includes and put in more Canadian history. How could I leave out stories like King Alfred and the Cakes? I’d have to find something wonderful. On the other hand, JJ has been extremely interested in the Canadian history I’m reading with SA(7) right now, so perhaps I should consider doing that class together…

- The same podcasts have been proposing a different way of organizing the CM homeschool around history so that the whole family studies the same time period at once, each student using books at their own level. (I mean it is different from AO. It is actually based quite consciously on how Charlotte Mason organized her schools in Forms.) This idea is very attractive to me, though I do not necessarily consider it essential in order to faithfully provide your child with a Charlotte Mason education. There is interplay between ideas in different time periods, and connections could still be made between children no matter whether they are studying the same period or different periods in history. But it would be pleasant, and give a sense of unity within our homeschool. I would continue to follow AO for my oldest child, and then consider tweaking for subsequent children so that, beginning with Year 2, all my children would be studying the same time period as him. This would mean finding appropriate books at their level all the way through. I’m really not sure I’m brave enough for tweaking that extensive. I still have another year to think about it before my second child begins Year 2. Maybe the booklists at A Modern Charlotte Mason will end up being a help in this area too, as it is also organized by Form.

What about you? Is there anyone else out there that feels uncomfortable changing anything in your chosen curriculum? Tell me I’m not the only one. Or laugh. I don't mind.

Embracing Routine

A Charlotte Mason education is an abundant one, with its feast of living books and ideas and "extras" that are not extras (Poetry, composer study, art appreciation, and nature study, to name a few.). This is one of the things I love most about it. It's also the thing I find most taxing as an organizationally-challenged mom of four boys aged seven and under. 

The thing that as helped me the most in these early years has been establishing learning routines. There are things that everyone does every day, no matter what. Eating meals comes to mind. I began by pegging my learning routines to things that were already established routines in our home. The After-Breakfast routine of scripture, singing, and prayer was the first routine, and happened every day after breakfast starting when our children were tiny. The Bedtime Reading routine was added when our oldest was about two or three. Then a couple of years later came the Poetry Teatime routine. Later still, we added our Lesson Time routine to the end of Poetry Teatime. Having these routines in place as I've been using Ambleside Online has given me a place to plug in what seemed an enormous feast of learning, and it has not been as overwhelming as it might have been if I had had to set it all in place at once.

Sometimes we homeschool moms have a tendency to read blogs and check Pinterest out. When we do, we find so many wonderful ideas! We want to do them ALL. We want to do them NOW. We start today with several of them, and are discouraged when some of the good ideas don't stick, or when we find we've dropped two or three of them after a few weeks. We compare ourselves to people who seem to be doing it all, and we forget that nobody does it all, especially not all at once!

I want to encourage you to slow down. Yes, you can implement all the wonderful ideas. But take some time to build them into your life. Lay a foundation of the most important things. Set them into your day as a "this is what we do every day no matter what." When that routine is solid as a rock, choose some other important things to add. Once you have some foundational learning routines in place, you will have a place to add the wonderful ideas you come across on Pinterest, and they will stick for as long as you want them to.

 

The After-Breakfast Routine

This routine has always been in place in our home. My boys call it “Read-and-sing-and-pray.” We read a passage from the Bible, we sing a hymn, we pray together. When SA(7) was about five or six, I began to add to this, and it became a “Circle Time” of sorts. First I added a Bible passage to memorize, then later (in Year 1) I added his Bible narration. This year (his Year 2) I added a reading from Pilgrim’s Progress as well.

 

The Poetry Tea Time Routine

This routine began sometime when SA was five and JJ was three. In the beginning, I set the table with tea and snacks every day, and we read poetry. The end. They loved it. Over time, I’ve grown more lax with the tablecloth and tea every day…I discovered that they don’t really love tea so much now that the novelty has worn off, and that tablecloth got spilled on Every. Single. Day. However, we do still always sit down at the table with our snacks and drinks and poetry books at about 10:00 or 10:30. It’s our signal for the school day to begin. (I am hoping to do better with the tablecloth and hot drinks again this year... So far so good.) Starting last year we have done poetry on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with art appreciation on Tuesdays and music appreciation on Thursdays. I have added other things to this time as well at different times --instruction in sol-fa, French, drawing --in short, any learning I’d like to do together as a family. 

 

If you've been reading around the internet about "Circle Time" and "Morning Time" or even "Morning Basket" you will notice that the two routines I just mentioned are our "Circle Time." We have found that dividing it in two like this is a very practical option when children are young and have a hard time sitting still.

 

The Lesson Time Routine

This routine began when SA was five with a short reading lesson and a short math lesson or game immediately after our Poetry Teatime. In Year One, it expanded to include math, two readings with narration, copywork, and piano practice. Now in Year Two, the readings with narration have become slightly longer (20 minutes each), and we've added an independent reading and narration (this one is still short at 10 minutes). I have also added some time this year with JJ(5) for reading instruction and math, and for reading aloud to him.

With little children in the house, sometimes it's hard to do lessons at the same time every day. I have found that it helps to have a lesson time routine in which you do your lessons in a certain order, no matter what time you manage to start. That way, the children can at least develop an expectation of how much work there is to do daily.

The Bedtime Reading Routine

The bedtime routine is very simple. The boys get ready for bed, and my husband or I read to them for about twenty minutes. There is no narration, no expectation of anything from them. This routine is completely for the enjoyment of books together as a family. In the beginning, I always did the reading, but lately my husband has begun to read as well when he's home on time. I often choose from the Ambleside Online "Free Reads" for this purpose, while my husband tends to choose more widely.

 

These are the routines we've built in our family so far. I know our routines will continue to change as the children grow older. I expect that your routines will look different than mine. I truly believe that the important thing (if you want them to last!) is to build them one at a time, not all at once.

 

 

 

P.S. I'm still hopeful that someday I will manage to find a cleaning routine that works for me... (Just a little reminder that I don't have it all together, despite these routines that are working well!!!)

 

P.P.S. I apologize that I've been so quiet lately...my internet is still not working consistently. Now that I have Word on my computer I'm hoping I'll be able to write there and just copy, paste, and post in moments the internet is working. Still, it's a challenge, so I'll just do the best I can under the circumstances.

 

The Story of Canada (times four!)

...And Other Spines to Study Canadian History in Early Elementary

I have been trying to decide on a Canadian history spine for SA(7). In a Charlotte Mason education, "spines" are often used to go through the chronology of history. These spines may be gone through slowly, over several years, and supplemented with biographies, first-hand accounts, and other living books. Spines have a little more in common with textbooks than you'd expect a Charlotte Mason homeschooler to use, but the difference is that we look for a narrative style. Above all we avoid dry summaries of fact, instead looking for ideas and details that stimulate the imagination. 

These two identically-titled books are the ones I'm considering right now.

The Story of Canada by E.L. Marsh

This popular history of Canada is well-written, full of the details that capture the imagination. It was published in 1913, so it is in the public domain and you can find the full text online. Because of its age, you may expect that you will have to discuss some terms and some matter-of-fact attitudes about First Nations that would not be deemed acceptable today. Also, it only goes so far... at the end of this book, Newfoundland is not yet a part of Canada, and the Union Jack is still its flag. However, because of Marsh's engaging writing style I think it is worth looking at when beginning your chronology of Canadian history with elementary students.

The Story of Canada by George W. Brown, Eleanor Harman, and Marsh Jeanneret

This is another history of Canada in story form, published in 1950. I quote from the Foreward:

"This book was begun in the classrooms which the authors have visited in each province of Canada, from British Columbia to Newfoundland. Frequently, teachers described with enthusiasm supplementary books--most of which were story-books--admitting their inadequacies, but pointing out how powerfully they impressed their contents upon the minds of boys and girls. The usual textbook narratives were, of course, intended to be read and remembered; stories were always read, and remembered."

Isn't that a lovely description of one of the key differences between twaddle (dry textbooks) and living books? The authors go on to explain that this book is an attempt to write history in story form while maintaining its integrity as history. While I have not begun to use this book yet, it does look like they have succeeded.


As I begin to go through Canadian history with my oldest son, I am planning to use both of these books, pre-reading and choosing the best account in areas where they overlap. I think that as I do this, both books' strengths and weaknesses will become clear and I will report back to you on this blog!

Books I've Decided Against

There are three books that I've seen recommended here and there that I have decided not to use.

The Story of Canada by Isabel Barclay

While this book is mentioned as an option on the Ambleside Online Canada page. I do not consider it a living book by any definition. Its sentences are short and choppy, and it is very short on detail that might appeal to a person's imagination. I give you a selection from the story of Jacques Cartier:

"It was a terrible winter. The snows came early and it was bitterly cold. There was hardly any food. Even the Indians starved. Jacques Cartier's men fell sick and many died. In the spring the rest sailed back to France."

Compare this to the same story in E.L. Marsh's Story of Canada:

"Cartier and his men made ready for the cold as best they could. But they did not know what Canadian winters are like, and were not prepared for so much frost and snow. The great river was soon frozen over, and the snow lay so deep that it seemed to the French that the earth could never throw off her thick white covering.

As the weeks went slowly by, and it grew no warmer, a terrible disease called scurvy broke out among them. Before they could find anything that would check it, twenty-six of their number died. One day as Cartier was walking near the river, feeling very sad and discouraged, he met an Indian who, but a short time before, had been ill. Upon Cartier's asking him how he had been cured he explained that it was by taking a medicine made from an evergreen tree called Ameda. With hope and joy Cartier hurried back to tell his men. They tried the remedy at once--in fact, they used up nearly a whole tree--and before long all were well again.

At last spring came, the warm winds began to blow, the ice melted away, and the French prepared for their homeward voyage. It was at this time that Cartier did a very wicked thing. He captured Donnacona and four other Indian chiefs, and took them against their will to France. He did this simply because he wanted to show them to the people of his country, and to have them tell the king of the wonders of the New World. They never saw their native land again, but died in a strange country and among strange people. This was the way Cartier repaid the Indians for all the kindness they had shown him during his stay with them." 

Barclay's Story of Canada just does not capture the imagination in the way a living book can, and I do not recommend it.

Great Canadian Lives: Portraits in Heroism to 1867 by Karen Ford, Janet MacLean, and Barry Wansbrough

I have to say, I love the idea of this book. From the Preface:

"This is not a book to read all at once. It is a book that might inspire you to a little organized day-dreaming, as you think about what it might be like to be Margureite de Roberval, cast away by a cruel uncle, or Muquinna, facing strangers as alien and powerful as beings from outer space."

I take delight in just reading through the table of contents. Every chapter is a time period, and every time period is filled with the stories of its people. These people are not just white and male. I see many women, many First Nations. There are stories from every area of Canada.

Sadly, however, Great Canadian Lives is not uniformly well-written. I don't know if it's because of its multiple authors, but while some of the biographies are great, others are mere lists of choppy facts. I still highly recommend it as a resource for its table of contents (imagine being able to find living books about all these people!) and for the biographies that are well-written.

My First History of Canada by Donalda Dickie

I have this book, and I think it is a good option as a Canadian history spine for the elementary grades. The reason I'm not using it is that I prefer the writing styles of E.L. Marsh and George Brown, mentioned above. One interesting thing to note about this book is that it omits the War of 1812, so if you use it you might want to cover that another way.

A Book for Later Elementary

The Story of Canada by Janet Lunn and Christopher Moore

Since I've mentioned THREE other books with this title already, I should mention this one too. This is a more contemporary account, and it looks promising. It is aimed at older children than I have right now, though, so I'll refer you to Annie Kate's review at Curriculum Choice. I anticipate using this when we reach the end of the usefulness of the vintage books I'm using, by which time my children will be a little older, and ready for it.

Searching for these books?

I have not included links for these books, as many of them are out of print and must be found used. My favourite way to search for used books right now is using BookFinder.com. It compares prices for you from sources such as Amazon, the Book Depository, Better World Books, and more. Better yet, it includes the shipping to your postal code in the price comparison, so you get a true picture of what it will cost you.

These Pictures Make Me Happy

Hello friends! I'm sorry I've been absent for a couple of weeks. We have been having internet issues. Since there doesn't seem to be an end in sight right now, I'm grabbing a moment when it seems to be working. Things might be a bit quiet around here until the problem is resolved.

We have been having a great time the last few weeks with the Art for Kids Hub. I have tried several times to go through Drawing with Children. Every school year I begin with gusto, and then my efforts peter out after a few weeks. I am not an artistic type (at least when it comes to any visual type of art). My greatest successes so far have always been in the "just do it" category... I remember one term when I put "draw something" on the daily checklist. The children didn't learn a lot about the mechanics of drawing that term, but I noticed that they started to tell some great imaginative stories with their drawings. This term my efforts are also about just doing it. We go to Art for Kids Hub once a week (yes, grabbing a moment when the internet is working...) and the boys take turns choosing a drawing to do. This week MM(3) chose a cartoon mouse. SA(7) drew it the way he was told.

JJ(5), however, made quite a production out of his.

Don't you love the individual personalities his mice seem to have? This is especially striking if you compare it to the model he followed at the Art for Kids Hub. There's just something special about that middle mouse...

I'm not sure what the little houses and candles are about. I'll have to ask him.

Math in Year 2: A Snapshot

It has been a while since I've shared what we're doing in math.

At our house, we like math. This really does not have a lot to do with me. My eldest son had an early delight in math, and I decided then that I would do what I could to feed that joy and not take it away from him. My second son loves math as well.

We began in Kindergarten with Miquon Math. Miquon Math is a strong (and inexpensive) hands-on program using Cuisenaire rods. We enjoyed it a lot, and I will be using it this summer with JJ(5) when he begins Year 1. Even though SA stopped using the rods relatively early (he seems to have an ability to see things in his head), I think it was important for him to have that hands-on foundation.

In our third term of Year 1, we switched to Singapore Math Primary Math 2A. I had just had a baby, and I needed something a little less time-consuming for me than Miquon. SA wasn't really using the rods anymore anyway. I also planned a math game or activity from Family Math or Games for Math once a week.

This year (SA's Year 2), we fell into some less than delightful habits with math. Because I never really had to teach SA anything in Singapore (it builds concepts step by step, and he followed along easily by himself), I found that it became something to check off the checklist. Usually he was done his daily exercise within ten minutes and we went on to the next thing. There was very little delight in it anymore, and I found that we weren't even having the regular, everyday conversations about math that he had always initiated.  I also lost momentum with the weekly supplementary math activities, as it was hard to find time to plan them. We probably did them only six out of twelve weeks each term. I still thought of Singapore as a solid program, and felt that the way it built the concepts step by step suited SA very well. It also gave exactly the right amount of practice for him...not too much to bore him, but enough to develop fluency. I felt like we were plodding along steadily, which is fine except that there is not a lot of joy in plodding when you could be flying! I knew he could fly, and felt I was letting him down.

This term he began grade 3 math, and I made a new plan. I was inspired by a post at the Ambleside Online forum (thanks to Kati AKA PurposefulAbegnation) to consider a three-strand approach to math. Kati recommended specific resources to teach the Truth (arithmetic, number sense), Goodness (problem solving/puzzles/patterns), and Beauty (inspiration) of mathematics. I don't necessarily divide it like that (there's a lot of overlap between truth, goodness, and beauty) and for various reasons I didn't go with her specific suggestions, but I was excited about the idea of three strands, and based my plan on it.

I should say here that this plan is quite involved, and I am NOT saying that your plan needs to be this detailed. This is one plan for one child who happens to love math, and I want to lay out a feast for his delight.

Strand 1: Arithmetic - Three 20-minute Lessons per week
Singapore Math and Dreambox.com

This is our basic, core strand to master arithmetic and develop fluency. I am continuing to use the Singapore Math workbooks. Primary Math is a mastery program. It teaches the concepts step by step, building on what has gone before. I find that a mastery program suits SA very well, as he likes to dive into concepts until he understands them. He also does not forget what he has learned before, so the periodic reviews are enough for him.

Rather than letting him plod through each exercise, I have lengthened our math lesson to twenty minutes. When he is finished with his daily Singapore exercise, whether it takes him five or fifteen minutes, he uses his remaining minutes on Dreambox Learning to develop fluency.

Dreambox learning is simply the best online math program I have seen. It is also quite pricey. I may have to go back to Khan Academy (which is free) before too long, but for the moment I am loving Dreambox. What's the difference between the two, you ask? Both teach to mastery, allowing students to move on when concepts are mastered. Khan Academy teaches using video with a teacher speaking and showing examples on the screen. Dreambox is more appealing to younger children, teaching interactively using virtual manipulatives. There is a two-week free trial at the website, but beware... you may get hooked and decide to keep paying!

Why do I use both Singapore and Dreambox and not just one or the other? I like having Singapore as the foundation of my program. I know it and trust it as a solid mastery program. At the same time, it can be a little boring day after day. I like supplementing with Dreambox because it is fun and motivating. I suppose I could use just Dreambox, but I don't feel I know it well enough yet to place that much trust in it. It is also quite expensive and I can't commit to that long-term right now. However, using Dreambox time as a supplement has become a natural motivator for SA to move quickly and cheerfully through his Singapore exercise every day.

I am planning to skip ten exercises in the Singapore workbooks as I go along in order to finish them in one year doing three exercises per week.

Strand 2: Problem Solving and Puzzles - Two 20-minute Lessons per week
MEP Math (Lesson Plans only), Family Math, Games for Math

This is real math, the kind that is fun and requires creative thinking, trial and error, and persistence. This is what I miss in programs like Singapore, and it is something SA needs. He is rarely challenged by his regular math, and it is good for him to have things to puzzle out.

I was very tempted by Beast Academy (though I must say the cartoon-ish look doesn't attract me at all). However, shipping is fairly expensive from the US to Canada, and since I'm already spending a lot on Dreambox, I decided to go with free resources and things I already have.

I looked into MEP Math when I was starting, as it is fairly popular among Ambleside Online users. At the time, I rejected it because I felt the spiral approach was not a good fit for SA, as it would not allow him to immerse himself in a topic until it is mastered. (I still think that...that's why this is not my main program.). However, the strength of this program is in its problem solving and puzzles. I also appreciate that it is easy to use and free!

I am mainly using the Lesson Plans, not necessarily the Practice Books for grade 3 (unless the lesson plan involves a problem from a practice book). The program has four 45-minute lesson plans per week. Since I am spending less than one quarter of that time on this, I am selective in the activities and problems that I think will be interesting and challenging for SA. Then we have fun figuring them out.

I also plan to pull out Family Math and Games for Math for an activity or game now and then.

Strand 3: Inspiration - One Lesson per week
Living books, Biographies, YouTube Videos

I really believe that math is the expression of the glory of God in the order He built into the universe. I want my children to see that. I want to foster a sense of wonder. I also want them to be inspired by the history of math, getting to know great ideas and inspiring people.

For this, we read books and watch videos and have conversations along the way. I added "one lesson per week" to my plan to remind myself not to forget this aspect.

Today we read The Man Who Made Time Travel by Kathryn Lasky, a wonderful biography of John Harrison. Harrison was a British clockmaker who worked almost all his life inventing clocks that would keep accurate time even at sea. This allowed sailors to calculate their longitude as they compared the time in their location with the time at home.

Last week we watched a YouTube video detailing a little bit of the history of math. Then we had some fun figuring out Roman numerals.

I just picked up a book at the library called Think of a Number by Johnny Ball. I am not terribly keen on its layout...it is one of those busy, visually overwhelming books with too many ideas on every page. However, the ideas in it are wonderful, and I think I could use it as a guide to begin to introduce quite a few "captain ideas." It is divided into four sections:
"Where do NUMBERS come from?" has history about Egyptian, Mayan and Roman, and Indian numbers.
"MAGIC Numbers" has pages on Magic squares, the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio, Pi, Pascal's triangle, and more.
"SHAPING up" is about geometry: hexaflexagons, shapes in nature, Platonic solids, and more.
"The world of MATHS" has a timeline of great mathematicians and a number of interesting ideas such as chaos and "freaky fractals."



I started implementing this plan a little over two weeks ago, and I'm very pleased with how it's going. We are doing more math than we used to (twenty minutes per day instead of five to ten minutes per day), but I feel that is appropriate for SA, given his interest in math. I feel it is more balanced with the rest of the work we do, now. We are also doing arithmetic less often (three instead of four or five days per week) in favour of more interesting and challenging problem-solving. Most importantly of all, I think, we are spending some time every week exploring ideas and meeting inspiring people from history.

Dear Canadian CM Homeschoolers,

Let's Help Each Other Find Living Books!

There is such a wealth of resources and book lists for homeschoolers using Charlotte Mason's methods. I appreciate these even more when I realize how difficult it is to start from scratch to find living books for a particular subject. I need all the help I can get to find living books on Canadian history, geography, literature, and art!

Yes, I have found little helps here and there. These are some helpful websites I've seen:

-Ambleside Online's Canada page has a number of suggestions.

- The Ambleside Online forum has a post entitled "Comparison of Canadian History Books" with excerpts from several books that could be used as "spines" for Canadian history. 

-The Simply Charlotte Mason bookfinder has quite a few pages of Canadian resources. Not all of them are living books, though. This resource will become more helpful as more people leave reviews for the books listed. 

-O Canada History is the blog of a Canadian homeschooling mom listing many Canadian history resources by time period.

-Maple Hill Academy. This is the personal blog of a Canadian Charlotte Mason homeschooler. It has not been updated very often lately, but it has several posts with her past plans for Canadian history.

-The Canadian Homeschooler has a "Canadian History Through Living Books" page. I haven't explored it yet, but it looks like it might be a great starting point for living books from different time periods in Canadian history. (post edited to add 08/03/16)

-Tea Time with Annie Kate has reviews of several Canadian books that Annie Kate has used with her family over the years. (post edited to add 08/03/16)

Still, there is a lot of trial and error in finding living books, especially when you buy online and can't actually see what you're buying beforehand. One of my early mistakes was The Story of Canada by Isabel Barclay (not to be confused with any other books with the same title). It was mentioned briefly as an overview of Canadian history for early elementary on the Ambleside Online Canada page, and I ordered it. It was written in simple, short sentences, perhaps suitable for early readers, but lacking any detail that might capture the imagination. So even with the help of recommendations from websites like the ones I mentioned above, you can end up with a book that is not suitable for reading and narration. 

I think the best way we Canadian CM homeschoolers can help each other is to share whatever wonderful living books we're finding on Canadian history, biography, geography, literature, or art. I think it's also important to share in places others will find our help. Sharing on a Facebook wall in response to a question is great for the moment, but a few days later it's hard to find again. Some places you can share that might help others for the future:

-Charlotte Mason Canada FaceBook group. Click on "Files." There are several documents, including a "Canadian History" document with an editable list of books.

-Simply Charlotte Mason bookfinder. With a basic (free) subscription, you can review books already in the bookfinder, which will really help others who are trying to sift through the many, many options listed (16 pages of books come up when you search for "Canada."). Not all of the titles included in the bookfinder are in fact living books, and it will be so helpful to the rest of us if you share even a brief review of the books you know.

With an upgraded (paid) subscription, you can also share resources publicly.

-Ambleside Online forum. If you are a member of the forum, you can add a short excerpt to the "Comparison of Canadian History Books" thread that will enable other forum members to compare different texts and decide what to buy.

-On your own blog or website. If you have a blog, please review Canadian living books and resources you have used. If you leave a link in a comment below, I'll add your links to my "CM in Canada" page so others can reference them long-term from my page.

And now over to you. What is your favourite place to go for recommendations for Canadian living books? Where would it be most helpful for you if others were to share their recommendations and reviews? Let's talk!

Highlights from Year 2, Term 2 Exams

Last week Thursday, SA(7) finished Term 2 of Ambleside Online Year 2. Since we had one day left in the week, I decided to do just a few exam questions over the rest of Thursday and Friday rather than carrying the exams over into this week.

Bible

He answered two exam questions on Bible, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. For the New Testament, I asked him to choose a parable and tell it to me. He chose the parable of the sower.

"There was a sower that sowed seeds on the path, and they got picked up by birds and the birds ate them. The ones that fell on the rocks sprang up, but then because they had no water and no roots, they withered away. The ones that fell where the weeds were got choked up. When they started growing, they got choked up by the weeds. The ones that fell on good soil were just... they didn't have any problems. They didn't get eaten by birds, they had roots and water. They just grew."

"Do you remember anything about what the parable means?" I asked.

"The seeds that fell on the rocks was one that Satan snatches the Bible. They read the Bible but it means nothing to them. The seeds that fell on the good soil are the ones that read the Bible and it meant something to them. I don't remember the ones that fell among the weeds or the ones that fell on the path."

I was very pleased with how well he remembered the parable, which we read about six weeks ago. He didn't remember Jesus' explanation very well, just some tidbits and interpretations of our discussion afterwards.

SA also recited our Bible passage for the term, Colossians 3:12-17. Normally we try to learn two or three passages per twelve-week term, but this time we had some Sunday school memory work leading up to Christmas and we only started with this in week five of the term. He began well in his recitation, but things fell apart a bit when he missed verse 16 and mixed a little of verse 15 into verse 17. He recited verse 16 when I pointed out his omission.

Picture Study

I did a picture study exam question on the spur of the moment as I was nursing the baby. "Close your eyes," I told SA, "and think about the Tom Thomson pictures we studied this term. Choose one and picture it in your mind's eye. Describe it to me, but don't tell me what it is. Then I'll see if I can figure out which one you're describing."

He willingly did this (It's the willingness that amazed me... picture study might be his least favourite thing.) and described "The West Wind" well enough for me to figure out which one he was telling me about. He started with the hills in the background (hills are very common in Tom Thomson's paintings), then described the rocks in the foreground with their reddish tint, and the wind in the sky. He didn't get around to the pine tree in the foreground until the end of his description, but I already could see the whole painting in my own mind.

"Was that your favourite painting?" I asked him.
"I don't know. I didn't know I was supposed to choose my favourite," he said.
I quickly reassured him that he didn't have to have a favourite, and the one he chose was fine. :)

Literature
I asked SA two questions about literature. One was from Pilgrim's Progress, Part Two, and one was from The Wind in the Willows.

"Tell me three things Christiana saw at the Interpreter's House."

-"The fire which was burning. On the side you could see, you could see water, but on the opposite side was oil. The water was the evil one, and the oil was the 'good one.'

-A robin with a spider in its mouth. Christiana didn't like them anymore when she knew robins ate spiders. When they are roaming, they are nice. When they are by themselves, they eat spiders.

-A tree that was rotted out in the middle, but it still grew and bore leaves. The leaves were for the devil's tinderbox." 

"Tell me your favourite part from The Wind in the Willows."

"The Barge. As he was walking, there was a barge woman, and he said he wanted to go to Toad Hall. And he asked the barge woman, 'Is Toad Hall near where you are going?' And she said, 'Yes, it is near.' He said, 'because my girls might be smashing the glass.' She said she thought they were horrible hussies. He said that he wanted to do the steering, but the barge woman told him to do that laundry that he was fond of. She saw that every moment he was getting crosser, and that he lost the soap for the fiftieth time. And then he untied the rope to the barge and mounted the horse and rode away."

History

I had time for only one exam question in history. "Tell me about the Seige of Calais." As he thought about how to answer he was frustrated to tears because all the details of all the stories we've read were blurring in his mind - he wasn't sure which details belonged with which battles. There were several King Edwards in a row and that didn't help, either. It wasn't my intention to frustrate him, so I tried to help by listing the people involved in the story:

Edward III
Governor of Calais
King Philip of France
Eustace de St Pierre and five other prominent men of Calais
Queen Philippa

Happily, he remembered which story this was when he heard Queen Philippa's name. Even so, he started somewhere in the middle of the story.

"They asked if they could be free people. And then the king said they could be free if they bring him the keys of the city and six men. And they told the king that they wanted to be free six times. They brought him the keys of the city and asked the king to let them live. Then Queen Philippa begged him not to kill them and he finally let them go without killing them and then he had a feast."

Copywork

I had SA copy "The Badger strode up the steps." His copying wasn't as neat as I know he can do it, and I made a mental note to emphasize that he must do his best work as we go forward. However, overall he has made great progress in his writing skills this term. At the beginning of the term I was having him copy my model line by line, and he was copying word by word directly beneath the model. We continued to limit our time to five minutes, but the amount of work he could do in five minutes increased from less than one to more than three lines. Towards the end of the term, I began to have him copy paragraph by paragraph. I modeled three to five lines at the top of a page, and he copied them at the bottom of the page. His neatness suffered, which I assumed was due to him copying more line by line rather than word by word. (I do want him to do that...it is what will help him exercise his visual memory and begin to learn to spell.) However, the fact that this one-line exam question was also not very neat made me think that perhaps he is getting into bad habits and I need to keep a closer eye on it.

Math

SA did his final Review for Singapore Primary Math 2B. We will begin grade 3 next term. He continues to do well with math. I rarely have to teach him anything...he simply absorbs whatever comes his way in the daily exercises. I have been considering how to spread more of a feast for him in math. I begin every term with the intention of doing math activities and games one day a week. I have wonderful resources for this, but somehow the planning involved and the little ones underfoot have meant that I did this maybe six times in the twelve-week term. Somehow I need to streamline a process, or perhaps have more of an open-and-go program that emphasizes the problem-solving/puzzling/pattern side of math. I have been thinking about supplementing his Singapore Math with Beast Academy (a big decision because it's so expensive to get here in Canada), or perhaps doing some beginning algebra with Hands-on Equations. I also continue to be periodically tempted by Right Start Math (also very expensive.). I know I have a good thing for him in Singapore Math. It progresses in a methodical way that makes sense to him. It's just that when his daily exercises usually take him about five minutes and seemingly no challenge or effort, I know I need to be doing more for him. He needs more "captain ideas" coming his way to really feed his mind and inspire him.

This week I am thinking deeply about math and history before we jump into our third term next week. I expect I'll have a post or two about those subjects before long, too.