Sunday, July 31, 2011

Charlotte Mason Scripture Study

I recently read (most of) Home Education by Charlotte Mason.  On children's scripture study she states, "By nine they should have read the simple (and suitable) narrative portions of the Old Testament, and, say, two of the gospels," (page 165, kindle edition). Lightbulb!
Super K is 8 years old, and can read a couple grades above his own--if he's interested. I felt he was ready to move beyond the LDS scripture readers that he's gone through time and again, I just wasn't sure how.
Charlotte Mason Scripture Study:
We opened up to Genesis chapter 1. I did a quick skim to decide how many verses made up the first complete thought. That was easy for the first week: one day of creation at a time. I would skim for vocabulary words (like firmament) to explain before he read. Then he would read the assigned verses. To finish, I coaxed him to narrate the story back to me. This is what he struggles with the most. The next day, I first asked him to tell me what we had read about yesterday. Then we repeated the cycle.

Notes: It took us 7 days to get through the first chapter, but that was a great warm-up exercise. I hope to soon get to the point where he can read a full story episode in one sitting.

My mom (a seminary teacher for the LDS Church) just showed me a link:
LDS Old Testament Reading Chart (seminary version)
It skips so me of the naughty chapters (like Lot's daughters and Song of Solomon) that don't really aid spiritual growth. Also, it begins with chapters from the Pearl of Great Price. Wish I'd known that a week ago.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Pondering: 2011-2012 School Year

I had given up on homeschooling. Really, I had. It seemed any time I moved in that direction, a divine hand would interfere. I assumed God was letting me know that homeschooling just wasn't for us.
Then, a few months ago, I read a blog post from a friend I haven't seen in years. I was surprised to learn she was homeschooling. I spent a day thinking about it. Then I discussed it with my husband, but not my children. I was surprised when I picked my daughter up from preschool that day, when she asked me to teach her at home this fall for kindergarten.
Was it a sign?
So I researched, prayed, had counseled with my husband and children.
In the end, I had a firm testimony that God wanted me to homeschool Mia this fall.
The boys? I love them as much, but there's no way I could effectively teach all four children this fall. Thankfully, they solved everything the easy way: they still want to go to school this fall.