Designing a home-centered life: learning, exploring, and creating with our five littles
Do y'all remember my series entitled At Home with the Classical Method? In it, I shared some things I learned from reading The Core. Do you want to know more, but can't quite find the time to read The Core yet? Then these series of articles written by guest poster, Jennifer Courtney, from the Classical Conversations Writers Circle are for … [Read more...]
In ten ways to destroy the imagination of your child, Anthony Esolen writes an "indispensable guide to overcoming today's treacherous trends in parenting and education -- and the overwhelming banality of contemporary culture." Esolen's scope is broad, but my focus was narrow. I looked for how these cultural shifts, which Esolen strongly argues are … [Read more...]
As y'all know, I've spent a lot of time this summer reading more about classical education. I'm convinced if we work the classical model, the classical model will work for us. Through implementing what I've learned about classical education into our curriculum choices, scheduling, and memory work review, I'm hoping to … [Read more...]
So, I checked in with Saxon Homeschool two days ago via e-mail. I had been hearing mixed reports about changes occurring to their curriculum due to new common core standards. I wanted to hear directly from the company. Here is what they told me, "Since the Common Core Standards do not apply to homeschools nothing has changed. All … [Read more...]
Classical Conversations recently sent me the new math facts flashcards to review. Before now, all of our math flashcards were either bought second-hand or homemade. I hadn't considered there could be variety among math flashcards. But, there is! 2 things that make the Classical Conversations math flashcards unique:1. … [Read more...]
Are you new to Classical Conversations? About to begin your first year with Foundations? Let's chat! Here are some things I didn't know right away, but wish I did.1. Start simply. You'll probably hear this again and again, but that's only because it's such good advice. Don't try to add layers upon layers into your homeschooling day. … [Read more...]
In honor of April being Math Awareness Month (No, I did not know this until CC told me!), I wanted to share why we use Saxon math, a round-up of my posts on how to teach math classically, and a favorite article or two on math from the CC Writers Circle.Nearly three years ago, we started with Saxon Math. As with making any educational … [Read more...]
Everyone in my home loves nature study. When it's warm and beautiful or even warm and rainy, we head outside to make observations, take photographs, and draw. But, with the combination of my pregnancy sickness and our seemingly never-ending Northeast winter, we've been inside a lot for nature studies lately. Here's how we've … [Read more...]
History - Play "pass the crown" with our homemade lace crowns, as each one of us says one word of the history sentence until we have it memorized.Latin - Match the Latin endings using two copies of the Latin pronounciation helps. All the while, we'll be reciting the endings.English - Recite the memory work together. I'll write a … [Read more...]
I love the conversations classically homeschooling our family has afforded. Because our core subjects are on the same topics, we are able to have conversations where everyone can join in. Today I was reading out loud to them, An Island Story, a child's history of England originally published before 1923. It's one of my littles' favorite … [Read more...]