A Fresh Start

Not so much a fresh "start" but more of that little big of encouragement I needed.

We've been doing the Ambleside Online curriculicum for a while now. We were doing this some before Abigail started at Spirit in Kindergarten, then it sort of went on hold. We found that we enjoyed the simplicity of the Spirit curriculum and having a little one and an active preschooler left us with our hands full.

Since leaving Spirit (after Abigail's 1st grade year and Nathan's Kinder year), we attempted to follow the curriculum we purchased (a requirement of the school). Nothing was wrong with it, but as more and more learning styles/disabilities began to surface, I found this was not the best option for us.

Abigail would rather poke her eyes out than do worksheets. It felt TEDIOUS for her and I don't blame her. She is extremely verbal with a large vocabulary. She has superb retention skills and her ability to comprehend the meaning of what I would consider a difficult book for her age amazes me. But, then there's the writing. Her handwriting could easily be mistaken for a Kinder. She still writes letters (and especially numbers) backwards. It's difficult for her and she doesn't enjoy it. It's no wonder she didn't really enjoy the assigned curriculum.

So reading again the Charlotte Mason books and delving more deeply into Ambleside, I recognized what a wonderful fit this really is for her.

I also have to take Nathan into consideration. While he doesn't mind the worksheets nearly as much, his writing is equally as bad (if not worse). And I'm talking about penmanship, not composition. He does pretty well with repetition, but as he (and Abigail) both have ADHD, there is a big problem with focus. It's not something I really even want to address right here, because it's more than a little bit frustrating.

Now to the point: I was doing Yr. 1 with Nathan and Yr. 2 with Abigail and there was just no way I could get all the readings/narrations done with them every single day. It was too much. James suggested that I combine them into 1 year and while I liked the thought of that, I wasn't sure how to go about it.

And then the light bulb!

I found in one of my yahoo group e-mails someone mentioning a "pre-Yr.3" schedule. One that combined Years 1 & 2. My heart skipped a beat! This could be the answer I was looking for. I had to wait until the next day for more research, but low and behold, there it was. Somebody, bless her sweet heart*, has put together a combined list of the not-to-be-missed books from both of these lists and combined them into a 36 week schedule.

I'm so incredibly happy! I like to have things laid out for me and then I can run with them. So, going forward, here's the game plan:

Daily:

Bible: Daily Reading, CBS Bible Study in Acts and AWANA memory work

Penmanship: Using the Abeka cursive books we already purchased (1st & 2nd grade levels)

Phonics: For Nathan - Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons (we are on lesson 69 right now). For Abigail, we are using the McGuffey's Readers and are quickly going through the second book. She is already reading well, so we are focusing on detail, tone, inflection, pausing and enunciation.

Math: Singapore Math levels 1A and 2A
Foreign language: Basic intro to Spanish with Lyric Language

Weekly:

Handicrafts: learning basic hand sewing techniques
Music Appreciation: following AO's schedule for folksongs and hymns
Nature Study: time spent outdoors, observation, drawing, comparison, etc. using The Handbook of Nature Study

Artist Study & Composer Study: Follow AO's schedule

American History Biography

Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire
George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire
Buffalo Bill by Ingri D'Aulaire

History Tales and/or Biography

Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula
The Little Duke by Charlotte Yonge
Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley

History: Early History to Middle Ages
An Island Story by H.E. Marshall
This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall
A Child's History of the World by Virgil Hillyer

Geography

Paddle to the Sea
Tree in the Trail
Seabird

Literature

Pilgrim's Progress
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Understood Betsy
Wind in the Willows
Robin Hood

Natural History/Science

Pagoo
James Herriot's Treasury for Children


I know this seems like a whole lot, but the good news is that in the 36 week schedule, there will be a whole bunch of things we'll be ahead on. I put in my Amazon order for the books we didn't have. In the meantime, we'll work with what we've got and get caught up on the rest. We are already well into many of these books, so I'm not worried. We should complete our work in less than 36 weeks, but as we are schooling year round now, I'm ok with whatever happens.
Everything has a learning curve. Sometimes I just wish I wasn't so curvy.


* This someone is Missey Gray.  She is a homeschooling mother who unexpectedly passed away some years back.  I doubt that anyone who knows her would ever read this blog, but just in case, please know that she has blessed me beyond belief by her efforts to put this together.  How amazing to still be making an impact on other's even after the Lord has called you home.   Thank you Missey!

The circle of life...well, sort of.

While I haven't gone public about the fact that we decided to purchase some chicks and keep 1 of the chicks we hatched, it's been going on for some time now. I feel a bit sneeky to tell you the truth, but truly, we didn't know if we were going to keep them or not. Each little progression left us wanting to keep them, then thinking we wouldn't. I didn't want to upset my neighbor for no reason - after all, to her camping means the Holiday Inn.

After a lot of research, and I mean A LOT of research, I had decided I wanted Delaware hens. And that was my problem. Too much research, and it all seemed to blend together. Sadly, I neglected to note that docile and quiet are not the same thing. So, what I'm trying to say here is that Delaware hens are LOUD! Big time sqwakers! Probably if we lived on a farm or something it wouldn't be that bad, but here in the beige bubble, we are all in each other's backyards.

So here's how it all went down. I decided to sell the Delawares. The day before she picked them up, somebody laid an egg. We didn't know who. We found out who 20 minutes after they got to their new home. And the next day, all 3 laid eggs. We were slightly bummed, but mostly glad to be rid of the sqwakers!

So, our beloved Jo Jo is our remaining hen. We waited, and we waited knowing it wouldn't be long. Then, on Tuesday morning, she was not out in her run, but still in the coop. We kept hearing her rustle around in there but didn't know what was up. I went to check on her and she was way in the back, crouched down. I said, "I bet this is going to be the day!". Sure enough, 10 minutes later she was out in her run and I went to check the coop.

There is was - a perfect light brown egg. It was beautiful! And I woke the kids up with the egg in my hand. They were pretty excited (except for my boy who was clinging to the hope that Jo Jo would in fact turn out to be a rooster). So we did the only thing a person can do with a freshly laid egg...we cooked it and ate it. I'll have to eat a few more eggs to truly describe the difference between a home grown chicken's eggs and the grocery store, but it is so far superior, it makes the store bought ones taste like water.

Jo Jo entered our home as an egg, hatched in the incubator, was raised with our family and now is providing us eggs for food. I know you are thinking "....duh..." but it's pretty cool to me. So far we've had an egg a day. Our plan is to get a couple more for her to have some company. I know she is a bit lonely, but we let her forage in the backyard and she can eat all the little bugs she wants. She's relaxed, quiet (except for a single BAWK if something is wrong).

We love her!