In Praise of the Old

So, having worked our way through half of 'The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading' (OPG), my 8 year old was getting bored.   She hated the stories, and reading was becoming very much the chore.
The problem with that, is that I am trying desperately to teach her that she should LOVE to read.  How can I teach that if the very book I am teaching her to read with doesn't help?

For a little while I had tried "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" (100 EZ).  She liked it better, but I found that she was developing some bad habits reading wise (she is, I believe, very slightly dyslexic) and I switched back.
And then I found the McGuffey readers were all online now- for free.  I downloaded a copy onto my new Christmas iPad, and started working through it with her.
What a refreshing change!  Suddenly she is EAGER to read the stories.  The old fashioned pictures capture her imagination and can be used to actually entice her to read.  Vocabulary is built into it, and it even teaches her to read script!

The cute fuzzy animals that frequently appear in the pictures help too ;)

Now, I should state that I find that both the other books I mentioned are fabulous reading books.  They have definitely helped us learn the letters, and different letter blends too.  In fact, I would think you could easily use OPG as a way to learn some of the letter blends as they appear in the McGuffey readers.  It is just that, for a child who finds reading a little difficult, or is a lot harder to motivate and make them WANT to read, a book like this is a gem.
Once we have her cursive writing lessons finished, she will end up copying the script sections in the readers too.

This is the picture that convinced her to read today. 
You can see the script here.

There is also a High School reader.  I think I shall work with my son through the readers too.  He has a few bad reading habits that need to be broken!

Speaking of my 12 year old, I have a few words in praise of the old for him too.  I have found that he positively loves the classics.  He has been reading through Anne of Green Gables, and before that worked through Tom Sawyer.  I cannot say he is the fast reader I am.  In fact he is an easily distracted reader (unless it is a book that is totally unrelated to school, in which case he is FAST and cannot be distracted from reading).  But he has discovered a love for the classics.  The giggles and chuckles heard from his corner when reading the Hobbit (although I really wish he had not learned some of the sayings in there- we have had an outbreak of 'Shut yer gob' ever since!) or Oliver Twist are a balm to a mother's heart.  I have all kinds of other stories lined up for him.  If he would just READ faster!

If you are interested in reading with classics or Old Fashioned books, you might enjoy these links.  I am not affiliated with any of them, neither do I control what you will find there- so be warned ;)

For a complete set of the McGuffey Books, hardbound and with a teacher's guide by Ruth Beechick, you can go to Mott Media and get them.

An Old Fashioned Education has some really good resources.  You can pretty much homeschool for free there :)


The Baldwin Online Children'sLiterature Project is a huge selection of wonderful old books that have been transcribed and put online for free.  You can also buy them from the site in real book and ebook format :)

Project Gutenberg is the best free ebook site online- you can get all the classics and public domain texts you want here.

Sacred Texts have some good free ebooks.  They also have a nice selection of Fairy Tales.

The Internet Archive has a huge selection of books to choose from.

Ambleside, of course, has a library of books and links to their choices online.

There are lots of free scanned books at Google Books online too.

Now, when it comes down to it, you can do several things with the books.  I prefer to download the Pdf format and read it on my iPad with my daughter- so she can see the pictures.
Otherwise I download the kindle or epub formats.  The former I can read on my iPad, the latter I can read on the iPad or the Nook (so it is my preferred format because I use it with my son).
If you like, you can also print out and bind it separately.

Nose back to the Grindstone

After spending so little time on school since our October visit to England, we are back to the grindstone.  Only with changes.
As each new year arrives, I consider it time to evaluate what we are doing as a homeschool, and make any necessary changes.   I know I am not alone!

Today, however, marked some biggies.
First off, I made a strict schedule for Rebel.  This covers his entire waking life, from getting up to going to bed.  I have a feeling it is necessary, because he is one that thrives off of such routines.  M'Lady doesn't have such a schedule (yet) because she is not so needful of it, although I would venture to say she likes it just as well as he does.

I also ditched the creative writing curriculum we were using.  Although I love Classical Writing and think it is a great curriculum, this is one of those instances where the child in question just did not do well with it at all.  I am pretty sure most of his issues are sheer laziness.  But be that as it may, it doesn't mean that it is the right one for us.  Instead, I will eventually start him on something else.  I am hoping to use the Institute for Excellence in Writing's Teaching Writing: Structure and Style.  I think it will be an interesting change.

I am thinking of putting a time limit on how long each lesson takes.  Yes, this comes after a 4 hour mathematics lesson....

Rebel is not the only one who had some changes made.  M'Lady had her reading book switched around.  Many years ago I bought Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for Rebel.  It bombed big time with him and I set it back on the shelf and used The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading instead.  This time I started with Ordinary Parent's Guide... M'Lady was forever complaining that it was too boring/too hard or something else...  Today I decided to switch to 100 Easy Lessons.  And it worked.  She definitely preferred the structure of that lesson to the OPG.  Apparently the kids are polar opposites.

The biggest change though, would be something fun.   You can see it here in the picture I took just in case there was a yarn along last week (there was not).

See that there?  The thing on top of the book?  THAT is a Nook Color.  My Christmas present and new e-reader.  Oh how I love that thing. 
I discovered, quite luckily, how to put Project Gutenberg e-books on it.  There are two ways- you can download to your Nook, or you can download to your hard drive and import it into your Nook Library.
So why did it make it into this post?  BECAUSE it is the perfect homeschool tool.  Not only can you quietly browse the web/email etc. while schooling, but you can also use it for the numerous e-texts you might use say, in the Ambleside Online curriculum.
We actually use several e-texts, and I am grateful to have a readable screen and less to print... plus it is a pretty good motivator for reading :)  In fact Rebel, read the entire history chapter I set for him today- so well, that he picked up on something the author left out of the story (namely WHAT Cardinal Wolsey had predicted).  I am satisfied that he read the text today ;)

Back to School- with adjustments!

It's back to school time at our house.
Nothing special. Just a slow adjustment period to doing lessons. Sometimes while waiting for books to arrive.
Usually with the kids being rather reluctant to actually work.
I have had the plans set up now for a few weeks.
I find that I need to have everything planned out for accountability purposes- after all, if it is planned there on the page, I can hardly claim to not know what I need to do now, can I?
As with everything planned like that, it means that adjustments have to be made.
So I started with mathematics.  Daily mathematics is easy to instigate- especially since Rebel is using Teaching Textbooks.  He is using TT7- which is about 6th grade level, and has been since earlier this year.  This level is self-grading (what a great concept- I wish the future levels were too!!) and the program is geared towards the homeschooler.  It is well organized and features a great amount of in-depth instruction- well worth the money!
M'lady has to make do with Singapore Mathematics :)  Not that I dislike it, we have used it for years.  It is just not quite as exciting for her as TT is for him!
This week I added in the reading subjects.  And languages.  I wasn't going to add in the languages (Latin and Greek) just yet, but he insisted.  That's just fine with me ;)
Some of our reading is lacking- because, well the books are not yet here, or I have to get them from the library for now!  But this is the one area that already needs adjusting.
We have started reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.  It is an interesting read, Franklin was an entertaining writer.  But the language of Franklin's time is different, and it is a rather harder read than I had expected.  My 20 pages a week (20 pages in the e-reader that is) would seem to be something I cannot accomplish in one, 1-hour lesson.  So we'll be reading my issued amount across the week.
I have also planned something new for the year.
If you look on my front page, you will have noticed that on my Goodreads widget, I have just finished reading "The Core" by Leigh Bortins.  (If you are reading in a blog reader, it is on my main blog page).
One thing I really took away from this book, was the desire (even, should I say, need) to do some memory work.  I am still in the planning stages of this, but I think I might well follow Leigh's Classical Conversations progress.  I do not want to do the coop itself (although I can see many good reasons to do it), but I would like to take away some of the suggestions from it!  Thus the reason for the memory work.  I will also add in some Shakespeare and Art.  Yes, I have absolutely NO excuse for not doing more art with the kids!
Our biggest adjustment is moving into the kitchen to do the work.  I have for years allowed the kids to sit on the floor to work.  This year I have decided to stay in teh kitchen and be the old cliche homeschoolers working around the kitchen table.  It makes my kids focus more- and it stops them making too much of a mess in the kitchen and the living room :)

Any way I look at it, I still have some tweaking to do. Hopefully I'll be back later with some progress!!

Pardon My Dust

And any multiple posts that might appear. You can probably see (if you are at the site) that I am in the middle of redoing all my blogs- blogger activated a fairly nifty new template tool through their 'draft' blogger section, and I have been playing with it. You can see the results on all of my blogs- AND the results of my learning a lot about my photo-editing software :)

Tweaking Ambleside

I have long admired Ambleside Online's curriculum- considering it is free, and considering a vast majority of the books recommended are available online, it is a huge and very useful resource.
Mater Amabilis (a Catholic CM curriculum online) is likewise a lovely resource, free of charge, but so many of the books on it are hard to come by and usually NOT free, that I usually end up using Ambleside instead :/
So I have been working on making some tweaks to Ambleside to make it just a little more Catholic friendly.(

1. Ambleside uses the KJV of the bible, which really does show a lyrical command of the English language. You might choose to read the KJV with apocrypha, but you'll have to remember not all of the viewpoints of the KJV are conversant with Catholic Doctrine. Instead, use the Douay-Rheims version of the Bible, which is a 16th/17th century edition of the Bible, revised (for easier reading) by Bishop Challoner in the 18th century (although that does depend on the version you are reading ;)).

2. Ambleside recommends Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula for the Church History aspect of Bible study. It is a well written book, that is true, but it is so blatantly anti-Catholic I can't stomach reading any of it to the kids- not even the early chapters! A judicious review of Trial and Triumph will show you that it is a series of small biographical stories of Saints and Martyrs throughout the eras of the church- right up until around the 16th century, when it becomes a listing of reformation characters and founders. For the Catholic, a series of Saintly biographies might be used in its place.

Since Trial and Triump (T&T) is used throughout the first 6 years of Ambleside, I think we have a great deal of leeway in our choices.

Option 1: We use a book of Saint Biographies, not unlike that of T&T, and a book like John Mason Neil's A History of the Church from the Day of Pentecost to the Council of Chalcedon.

Neil's book goes up to A.D. 451, so even though he was Anglican, it is still quite usable by Catholics (and Orthodox) alike :) There is a follow-up book, called Stories of Church History, which might be a good choice to follow on from the original- I have just never seen it OR the Table of Contents, so I cannot say. He does have two other children's books online at google books too :)

Two Beautiful Saint Biographies you might like to use: Saints Lives and Illuminations by Ruth Sanderson and More Saints Lives and Illuminations by Ruth Sanderson

Once Upon a Time Saints by Ethel Pochocki, More Once Upon a Time Saints by Ethel Pochocki and Around the Year Once upon a Time Saints by Ethel Pochocki

The Loyola Treasury of Saints: From the Time of Jesus to the Present Day by David Self (this is not strictly ALL saints, but might be worth getting anyway- it is probably the most like T&T a Catholic book will get).

Patron Saints by Eliza Allen Starr is available free online, and has 20 Saint biographies in it :)

Option 2: You might like to use individual saint biographies, including picture books and chapter books (according to age and preference).

Books by Tomie de Paola you might like to use – some correspond to the Saints below, some are interesting religious books others are religious fables:

Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland – Saint Patrick, Francis, The Poor Man of Assisi – Saint Francis, The Lady of Guadalupe – Saint Juan Diego, The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica – Saint Benedict (author Katherine Norris), Christopher, the holy giant picture book – Saint Christopher, Pascual and the Kitchen Angels – St. Pascual, Mary the Mother of Jesus, The Miracles of Jesus, The Parables of Jesus, The Legend of the Poinsettia, The Night of Las Posadas.

7. 
   

Books by other authors you might like to use:

Mother Teresa by Demi, The Legend of Saint Nicholas by Demi

St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, St. Jerome and the Lion by Margaret Hodges, The Legend of Saint Christopher by Margaret Hodges

Brigid's Cloak by Bryce Milligan

The Miracle of Saint Nicholas by Gloria Whelan

Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard

The Vision Book Series is a series of biographies of Catholic personages of interest. These chapter books would be a good choice to read in the place of T&T.

You may also find books from the Living History Library Series and the Landmark Books Series which are biographies of saints.

Option 3: You can read through the list of saints below. I have put them in chronological order, and attached a biography (or two or three) - some of which are actually books. All the links are free to read online. There are slightly more than T&T has, but you can leave out a few or add in more to create a more pleasing arrangement of readings. You can also use this list in conjunction with the books in option 2 above :)

Chronological saints

1. St. Peter (1-64 A.D.)

2. St. Paul (?- 65 A.D.)

3. St. Andrew (? – c.80 A.D.)

4. St. James the Greater (? - 44 A.D.)

5. St. Luke (? - 84 A.D.)

6. St. John the Apostle 6 – 100 A.D.

7. St. Christopher (? - c. 251 A.D.)

   St Christopher 2

   St. Christopher 3.

8. St. Lucy 283 – 304 A.D.

9. St. Nicholas 270 - 346 A.D.

   St. Nicholas 2

10. St. Alban 209/251/304 A.D. (dates disputed)

11. St. George c.275 – 303 A.D.

    St. George 2

    St. George 3

12. St. Catherine of Alexandria 282 - 305 A.D.

13. St. Hilary of Poitiers C300 – 368 A.D.

14. St. Martin of Tours 316 – 397 A.D.

15. St. Ambrose 337 – 397 A.D.

16. St. Jerome 347 - 420 A.D.

17. St. Augustine of Hippo 354 - 430 A.D.

    St. Augustine of Hippo 2

18. St. Patrick 387 – 430 A.D.

    St. Patrick 2

    St. Patrick 3

19. St. Brigid of Kildare c. 451 – 525 A.D.

    St. Brigid 2

    St. Brigid 3

20. St. Benedict 480 – 547 A.D.

    St. Benedict 2

21. St. David c.500 – 589 A.D.

    St. David 2

22. St. Columba 521 – 597 A.D.

    St. Columba

23. St. Augustine of Canterbury c.530 – 604 A.D.

    St. Augustine of Canterbury 2

24. St. Gregory the Great 540 – 604 A.D.

25. St. Boniface of Mainz 675 – 754 A.D.

26. St. Bernard of Clairvaux 1090 – 1153 A.D.

27. St. Thomas a Becket 1118 – 1170 A.D.

28. St. Dominic 1170 – 1221 A.D.

29. St. Francis of Assisi 1181 – 1226 A.D.

    St. Francis 2

    St. Francis 3

    St. Francis 4

    St. Francis Book

30. St. Clare of Assisi 1193 – 1253 A.D.

31. St. Anthony of Padua 1195 - 1231 A.D.

32. St. Albert the Great 1206 – 1280 A.D.

33. St. Bonaventure 1221 – 1274 A.D.

34. St. Thomas Aquinas 1225 – 1274 A.D.

35. St. Catherine of Siena 1347 – 1380 A.D.

36. St. Joan of Arc 1412 – 1431 A.D.

37. St. Juan Diego 1474 - 1548 A.D.

38. St. Thomas More 1478 – 1535 A.D.

39. St. Ignatius of Loyola 1491 – 1556 A.D.

40. St. Teresa of Avila 1515 – 1582 A.D.

41. St. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591 A.D.

42. St. Margaret Clitherow 1556 – 1586 A.D.

43. St. Martin de Porres 1579 – 1639 A.D.

44. St. Rose of Lima 1586 – 1617 A.D.

45. Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha 1656 – 1680 A.D.

46. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton 1774 – 1821 A.D.

47. St. Bernadette 1844 – 1879 A.D.

    Part 2

48. St. Therese of Lisieux 1873 – 1897 A.D.

49. St. Padre Pio 1887 – 1879 A.D.

50. St. Maximilian Kolbe 1894 – 1941 A.D.

51. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta 1910 – 1997 A.D.

Next Steps

So now we are tweaking Latin.  Apparently Latin has become an onerous chore!

Looking back, we figured that Latin became a chore when I changed from Latina Christiana to a higher level Latin.  None of the others (Latin book 1 and Henle) seem to have gelled with him.

Today I set Rebel the task of trying out the two Latin programs I have as alternatives for him to try.  Galore Park's Latin Prep and Memoria Press' First Form Latin, both look promising.  I admit I have a weakness for Galore Park's one, but Rebel really likes the idea that FFL is a continuation Latina Christiana.

Truth be told, I happen to think most of the rebellion against the Latin is the fact that for Henle he has to WRITE and for Latin Book 1 it just wasn't as much fun as LC had been!

We'll see!

In other news, I am hoping that M'Lady will be able to have a reading lesson today- fingers crossed ;)

The New Regime

Part 1 of the shake-ups occurred the other day- when I arbitrarily decided DS could skip some of the composition book he was doing- mainly because I thought his style was advanced enough already.  Instead we will focus this week on the grammar that the book holds and try and get through that.

DS is actually very good at the grammar- most of the concepts are new to both of us (courtesy of a fairly modern education for me) and he tends to 'get it' a lost faster than I do :)  He was motivated enough to work through quite a bit today!!

Having studied the Ambleside Online curriculum again, I am adapting some of it.  Which started out with a little poetry for the kids.  They have always liked to begin the day with poetry- I need to do it some more.  I might add in some memorisation then too- another of their favourite things.  The kids love to recite poetry at odd moments, and I am frequently surprised at their remembering some of them!

Although I shouldn't be.  Just yesterday the kids were quoting Inspector Lewis for me.

"Shakespeare!  Shakespeare?  I am sick of bloody Shakespeare!"

Actually the original one came out as "Spakespeare" but cute none the less.  And amazing.  They were not actually watching Lewis- just walking through the room LOL!

I intend to add in a few of the literary suggestions soon and mingle them with our Latin and grammar studies we already do ;)

Next up, changes for M'Lady!

School Report

For whatever reason, the three of us have found ourselves at an uninspired low.

DD doesn't want to do any work.

DS doesn't want to do Latin or composition.

I don't feel like doing anything!!

That means it is shake up time.  I need to trawl the blogs for inspiration, and reorganise and rearrange.

First things first- the Rebel himself.

We have allowed ourselves to get bogged down in certain subjects.  For example- composition.  Classical Writing is a wonderful program, but someone is living up to his name and just not co-operating.  It occurred to me today to look forward at what we need to do- and I took the bull by the horns and declared that we'd skip the rest of the lessons except the last one.  It's a composition program- and he was writing with all the extensions required in the final writing project.

We'll start poetry next week, and I'll order the Homer Student Workbook A and Instructor's Guide.

Next, literature.  OK I have really let the issue slide here- Elizabeth's lesson inspired me the other day, and I realised- narrations do not need to be written.  So for Religious studies, Literature and history, I need to realign.

In fact, I need to actually assign history!  I keep forgetting it :-o

With DD, the inspiration needs to be different.  I need to trawl the blogs and look for ideas- a few more hands on ideas at that :)  Maybe some fun reading ideas and some seasonal busywork to do while I am helping Rebel.

For me- I realised I needed a little more mental stimulation- I have been letting my brain atrophy ;)  Time to challenge myself to learn some more!!