S. love love loves having me read to her. This is, undoubtedly, part of why SOTW is so interesting to her. I think she deeply loves a good story, and fiction and history are full of stories she can dig into. This is having a negative impact on her enjoyment of WWE, I think. It’s a minor negative impact, but as the weeks go on, I wonder if she’ll actually complain. For, you see, WWE includes small excerpts of good books for the copywork and narration. The key word in that sentence is “small.” Today we read the first excerpt from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and S wasn’t satisfied with just the one. Even though we were at the end of our work day, she wanted me to read the next one. So, I did, and she happily did both narrations. However, she then wanted to know what else happened in the story. So, once we’re finished with The Marvelous Land of Oz, Charlie and the Glass Elevator, and Pippi Longstocking, all of which are in progress, it seems we’ll start Alice.

This experience today has shown me two things. One, we need to finish novels before starting another one, perhaps. Two, since next year will find me with a bit more time (fingers crossed for better naps for babyA by this time next year), I think it will be more satisfying to S to read a whole novel at a time and integrate the copywork and narrations from that novel.

Also, on the off-chance that I forget between now and then: I think our Medieval History year (next) would be a nice time to introduce The Chronicles of Narnia.

I would say that we’re beginning to really find our way with the new curricula additions. We had a lot to integrate, and nearly doubled the amount of work we’re trying to get done in any given day. We haven’t doubled the time it should take, thank goodness, but we have definitely added a lot of work. The transitions are killing us, still, but little by little it’s getting better.

The problem we’re having with transitions is that there are so gosh darn many of them, and neither of us are terribly good at them (it’s too early to tell whether babyguy is good at them or not). We have 6 things to get through on our busiest days, so there are those transitions between subjects. Then, due to babyguy’s nap troubles, I not only put him down for a nap, but then go up after 25 minutes to resettle him in. That means transitions before, during, and after naps. Of course, while I’m dealing with the naps, S is bopping off to play with toys or draw or sew or dance, which leads to a bit of a protracted dawdle when I am available again. On good days, I can finish a lesson between these interruptions. On bad days, I can’t even finish getting out the materials before I have to run off again.

I’m working on solutions. First, and probably the most productive, I’m switching the order in which I present our work. While trying to do math right after history is a great idea, given the relatively high energy levels of first thing, in practice it means that our math lesson is horribly fractured, because it puts us smack-dab in the middle of the nap two-step. Switching things so that we do the fast subjects, like OPGTR and FLL, in this micro-swatch of time means they get done and we can get straight through them. WWE works well in this time slot, too, as I find we can get through two days worth of work pretty quickly. Since S really listens and understands stories well, the narrations are painless and fun. The copywork is more a “good for her” type of work, as it’s not yet a strength, but that, too, doesn’t take long.

Other solutions are a work in progress. Not only do I need to work on implementing them, but I also need to think of them. The only one coming to mind is solving the nap problem. That is definitely on the “working on it” list, but once he’s down for good, solid naps on a regular interval, our productivity ought to soar. We might be able to finish all of our work in one great swath, rather than piecemeal throughout the day.

Our block class days are typically busy, sure, but couple getting up late with babysitting for a neighbor, and the only free time we had all day was filled before I even had breakfast. After block class, she went off to Aikido, then a playdate at a neighbor’s house. Then we had dinner with friends and a library storytime. Then bed. Days like those are ones where I need to embrace the unschooling philosophy of “learning takes place everywhere”, since we clearly did no book work.

Wednesday, by contrast, was a paragon of productivity. We covered every last subject I had planned for the day. It scratched the itch of “doing school” that I had developed. I’m enjoying S’ ability to richly detail her narrations. She possesses a clear understanding of what’s she’s hearing, a fact I can portion into two parts – her clear understanding of language and the clear language used in Story of the World and the literature excerpts in Writing With Ease.

On Thursday, I was on fire to get our work done before block class. Tuesday had been so frustrating that I was highly motivated. And we succeeded! That morning started late, but we had a cooperative nap schedule from babyguy and whipped right through our work.

Sadly (boo hoo!), Friday was a total bust. I didn’t have the heart to tell S that she couldn’t play when she was invited to do so by a neighbor (same one as on Tues), since our delayed start was my fault for not prioritizing well first thing in the morning. Sigh, and all that.

Rather than dwell on the failures of the week, I have some lessons learned:

1. Go to bed earlier.

2. Get up earlier (see how that works?).

I’ll be working on that this week. It’s surprising how this simple lesson is such a hard one to enact. Indeed, it seems that, between my issues with my own sleep and getting babyguy’s sleep all set for success, I’m consumed by sleep. But not in a restful way.

S. was totally ready for me, too. Her narration of the Joseph Goes to Egypt section of SOTW1 Ch. 6 (oh, but we are so behind in that book: viz “new baby” excuse) was so detailed and expressive that it took two pages. When she was finished, she abruptly added “The End,” so I tagged it onto the page as well. Our math lesson went swimmingly – she was excited to finally play some “War” with me. Her reading has gotten so much more fluent, too. I’m so happy to see her blossoming. Comparing this child’s academic interest and success to the child I knew a year ago is, indeed, a study in contrasts. Time, maturity, and some hard core enticement and high expectations have all been dovetailing nicely. And though she grumbled when I had her do copywork right before dinner, I was so impressed with the clarity and confidence in her writing.

For me? I have been reading thousands of words daily, mostly delightful mysteries with the addition of the grown-up version of SOTW1, <i>The History of the Ancient World</i>. This has all been brought to me by the magic of baby naps and my Christmas

The current homeschooling style I’m employing does indeed look a lot different than the school style I was looking for when we looked for a 1st grade option for S. Citing her strong-willed personality and her facility with the techniques of passive resistance, I felt that what we needed was a very pure Montessori school for her. The didactic materials were cetainly hoped-for, but the crucial “follow the child” spirit was the purity I sought. It was missing in action, which was the final push towards homeschool.

However, in our quotidian efforts, I am definitely following a teaching path that is sequential, orderly, and adult-driven. It is heavily-influenced by Classical education, specifically as envisioned in The Well-Trained Mind . I invite her to pick something to work on, and then we work together. Ultimately, I am fairly flexible with her, but at its base, It appears that I lead, she follows.

However, the best part about all of this is that I’m doing my best to follow *this* child. The more work we do, the more she wants to do. We started our formal science curriculum because she wouldn’t stop asking me to “do science”. We’re adding a formal spelling curriculum because she just is bursting with the desire to spell properly, and celebrated when I told her I might get some spelling materials.

I leave this topic for the night with one last thought: this child has mastered the art of passive resistance, and she also craves my time and attention. In her last Montessori environment, she was able to use that passive resisitance to do only unhallenging “fun” works, it never seemed satisfied. And the current style we’re using makes that difficult and gives her the mama tine she craves. Both positives apparently outweigh any negaitve feelings she may have for being lead around academically. Something to consider.

In other, related, news, I am achieving good speed on one-handed typing.

A list:
1. Ordinary parents’ Guide to Teaching Reading
2. Rightstart math, level B
3. Explode the Code, bk 1
4. Story of the World, Ancients
5. Library books
6. Crafts (mostly sewing)

I am about to add R.E.A.L Science Odyssey: Life and Writing with Ease and First Language Lessons.

S is really pushing for the sewing and science, and I think she’s ready for more writing. She has been writing more notes and books for a couple of weeks, so I think she’ll enjoy learning more of the rules of writing.

Day 4 is just around the corner.

I had the privilege and pleasure of attending Montessori schools in Oregon and Texas that took me all the way through 4th grade. This was quite the gift for any kid to have, but I definitely feel that it was especially critical for the kind of kid I was. Long story short, I always felt very strongly that Montessori education was the best educational philosophy around, and I spent a lot of time researching educational philosophy to find out if this was true.

Further, when I tired of my computer/IT career path, I realized that what I felt most drawn to was Montessori teaching. I had the great luck to stumble into work as a classroom assistant in a dear friend’s Montessori toddler classroom, and it was like I was where I belonged. The work felt easy, natural, and right. My long-term plan had me getting my teacher training and taking over as a lead guide someday. And then we moved a whole state away, to this lovely island, where I became a stay at home mom “for now,” as I kept saying.

When I decided to homeschool, after finding the local Montessori Elementary program not Montessori *enough* for our now 6-year-old, I began to research what materials I would provide at home. I assumed we’d have a quasi-unschooling/Montessori set up. Then I read “The Well-Trained Mind” and my inner Classical education leanings were pulled forth from what felt like out of the blue. A parent-directed march forward? Specific goals and paths through history? My stars, the irony, given my reasons for opting out of schools for my daughter. And yet, as I add materials and we press on into the academic year (a bit of a slow start on account of me giving birth 6 weeks ago), I find that it’s resonating with us both and working really well. Indeed, the more Classical I get, the more engaged S seems to get. So there are some questions to address in the coming posts:

1. Was I wrong about what S needs?

2. Was I wrong about Montessori? Does going Classical even imply that?

3. Am I really “going Classical?”

4. What *does* our homeschooling look like?

I ought to be able to get another few days on this, definitely.