Goal Setting: My Process and Some Examples

Amanda P asked:

Could you tell me how you choose goals for your kids?

And may I ask you...if you were doing the elementary/preschool years right now, what are a few most important things you'd focus on with them?

_________________________________________
Preschool Years:
Honestly, I would try to stick as close to Ambleside Online's suggestions as possible for my preschooler. If you follow the link to Year 0, there is a wealth of information about how to implement a Charlotte Mason style home life for your children. She advocates that these early years be used for exploring, playing, and also for developing good habits.

Ambleside Online Year 0

Make sure to scroll down to the section titled, "A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six". Whenever I have a friend interested in starting to homeschool their young children, I print off the Ambleside Online Year 0 information and give it to them to consider. I love that the suggestions are open ended and can be adapted to all families to suit their tastes and location. If I were starting all over with my children, I would stick to reading lots and lots of good books and keeping in mind the list of attainments from Ambleside Online.
________________________________________
Beyond Preschool:
After those early years, I would use the same method that I use now as far as making goals and then finding ways to reach those goals. We are not trying to churn out kids who are only prepared to attend college. College is not the ultimate goal in our family and so it takes some time and thought and prayer to come up with a plan for filling the time you have with your children during their school-age years.

Honestly, as our children have grown and matured, we bring them into the process. Their tastes and interests are highly valued and nurtured. I try to mold our school plans to allow for their interests to be included in their school day. My goals are influenced by the big picture, the need to prepare the children for life after homeschooling.

I know it is always helpful to have example so I will attempt to give you one from our family.

For instance, you can make long-term goals and then break them down into steps over a number of years. Perhaps in the area of language arts you could make goals for your child to:
Become a strong reader who loves to read.
Learn how to research an answer to a question.
Use written communication to share thoughts and ideas in a clear and understandable way.

You would then work backwards from the goal in increments to see how to achieve your desired outcome. In the early years, I would plan on reading lots of living books on a variety of topics. I would plan frequent trips to the library for choosing books and for acquainting my children with what is available to them there. They must learn to read on their own so choosing a program such as Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading might help me get that part of the goal accomplished. Strong writers are developed over time and starting with copywork and short narrations we would build on those skills until we had a competent writer, perhaps using Institute for Excellence in Writing as the boys became ready for more formal instruction in the mechanics of putting together research reports and longer essays.

I work through each area of study for each of my boys and put down on paper what I hope to work on during each year. This focuses my purchasing of materials and keeps me from trying to cram in things that would be fun but would not necessarily work us towards our goals. With the wealth and variety of resources available today in the homeschooling world, I know that I could easily become overwhelmed and purchase more than we could work through in a year's time.

I keep all my ideas in a Subject Notes binder with tabs for each subject. This is a way for me to organize subjects far in advance and keep them handy. For example, in my math section for each son, I have an overall schedule for their math program and I adjust it as I see from year to year how they are progressing. Some years we do not finish a text in the confines of a school year but rather than move on to the next level or stress them out by pushing them to finish over the summer, we continue on in the text where we left off once we start our fall term again. When this happens, I adjust the overall plan in my Subject Notes binder.

In practice, this flexible plan to working towards a goal helps me from pushing too hard or not encouraging them enough.

For example, my overall goal for our high school math program is to finish Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2 during that time period. I also have made the goal for each of the boys to achieve 85% or better on each test. If they don't achieve that score, we review and retake the test. Both my boys are headed for jobs which require strong math skills during their college years so I want them to have a solid base to start from for those courses.

I also keep a separate binder for the current year's plans. This is also tabbed by subject and in each section I keep ideas and notes for projects, books, and activities that I can choose from as we work through the year.

For example, in the biology section, I have printed out the table of contents from the textbook and then made notes for each module for additional activities that would tie into my overall goal of including nature study along with the formal biology text. I have listed possible field trips, names of kits available from Home Science Tools catalog, and then nature journal topics that we can include during our hiking and traveling over the year. If I read a particular blog post that contains ideas and thoughts that I want to include in our homeschool, I print those out and place them in the appropriate section in the current year's plans. I do not by any means use all the ideas but when we get to a point where we are bogged down or we are in the mood for something different, I can flip to the subject and see if there are any ideas that we can implement.

I know I haven't given you a direct answer to your original question but there is no one answer. I could give you a list of goals that I thought were important and they might be totally irrelevant to your children. Take some time and make your overall goal list and then break the goals into parts that you can implement.

• Use What Your XXX Grader Needs to Know as a base if you need some ideas to get started.
  
• Start with Ambleside Online's suggestions for each year and adapt to your goals.
• Another great book to help give you a framework is The Well-Trained Mind. We have used The Well-Trained Mind as the beginning point of our overall planning for a number of years now and if you view it as a beginning point and not a plan set in concrete, it can be helpful in planning goals.
• I also have gleaned many particular goals by reading The Charlotte Mason Companion.

It takes effort to come up with goals but the sooner you get it done, the more time you will have to break those goals down into small increments.

Hopefully this very long post contains some ideas for you to form your list of goals. :)

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Charlotte Mason Gave Our Homeschool Wings

(All photos in this entry are from a family adventure to the Big Island of Hawaii in 2005-I am so in the mood to go again and this was my way of feeding that desire.)

I can remember clearly sitting on the bench at the park reading A Charlotte Mason Companion and devouring the ideas that Karen Andreola expressed about her personal experiences with a Charlotte Mason homeschool education. Each chapter made me want to know more about this method of education. My four children were all homeschooling at that time and they were doing fine but it seemed like as much as I tried to put my finger on it, the harder it was to discover what the missing element was in our homeschool. Some days were dry and boring and it was not for my lack of trying, but rather I was longing for a better way to offer their subjects in a meaningful way.


Black Sand Beach

I wanted more than the Three R's and the mechanical school days that we were churning out. What in the world were we homeschooling for if we could not do better than the public school system?

Who knew that a lady from the early 2oth century would supply the fuel for a better homeschool experience? How were her ideas and principles to be applied in our modern world? Was it even a good idea? I decided to investigate more and eventually started to take some baby steps.

Shell Beach, Kona

Charlotte Mason's ideas breathed life into our homeschool. Picture study, listening to composers, lots of outdoor time, free afternoons, and meaningful handicrafts were added in right away and it was so refreshing. Next came lots of living books and narrations. I began to focus on habit training and we worked hard on raising our standards of excellence in our daily work, both in schoolwork and around the house.

Hapuna Beach boogie boarding with Dad

We started nature journals, regularly listened to wonderful classical music, hung famous artwork up on the wall and really looked at it every week. We centered our free time on meaningful things like working on handicrafts, enjoying our backyard, and learning about the things we encountered in our everyday life. Things just started coming to life.

Smashing macadamia nuts, near Hilo

The shelves were cleared of twaddle and replaced with more living books. We squeezed in more artwork on the walls of the school area. We dusted off our singing voices for early morning worship. Notebooks were filled with narrations of all kinds that reflected the experiences and reflections of some very eager minds.

Laupahoehoe-site of a tsunami in 1946

Mom found time to just let the kids play and explore and not feel guilty. Dad became a great instigator of field trips to near-by trails he had heard about from friends. The backyard became our field laboratory and it keeps growing and changing with our family's interests.

More than all that....above all else......I became a more confident homeschooling mom. This felt like what school should be like with true learning, with brain cells popping, with eyes wide open all the time, with fingers busy with projects and drawing and making things.


Walking out on the lava at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

No more wasted time with worksheets and textbooks and mind-numbing drills. There was a space filled with Charlotte Mason's principles that was empty but now is overflowing with goodness.

At the park in Hilo

We are no longer content with anything but the most excellent of homeschool days. We will never go back to those old dry bones of a homeschool again. We have experienced homeschooling with wings.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Sketch Tuesday: Underground

Last week's assignment was to sketch something you take on a camp-out.

Enjoy your slideshow: Camp-out!



This week's assignment, due Monday, August 31st: Sketch something that lives underground.

Please make your sketches and send them in to me by Monday, August 31st and I will include them in Tuesday's slideshow. Please send your sketches to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com. All sketchers are welcome, young and old. :)

Have a great sketching week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

World Geography for High Schoolers: Free Download

Edit to add the above link to the download of my complete year plans for geography. Please see this blog entry for more information:

Harmony Art Mom: World Geography for High School

Question from a reader:
I read on your website of your plans to do a study of World Geography and Cultures this year using the OurLosBanos materials as a guide. I see that they are referring users to a WinterPromise that will be out this fall. Then I saw your post here where you mentioned using Around the World in 180 Days as a guide and adding in other materials.

We've been doing chronological studies for quite a while. I'm praying about changing the pace this year and do something different. I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing a few more details of how you plan to flesh out your plans.

Many of the resources below are ones that were suggested in the Los Banos plans so I will give a huge *thank you* to Jennifer at GuestHollow for all her hard work in originally putting the framework in place. I combined her work with the Trail Guide to World Geography with a few extras to make this course happen for our family. Please feel free to use and adapt for your family.

I suggest that if you want to offer a similar course to your high school students that you will need to sit down and develop a list of goals you are reaching for during your year. As for our goals? We want our boys to be confident about where things are in the world (generally if not specifically), but more than that we want them to feel the smallness of the world, know a little about the needs of other cultures as it relates to our faith, and a whole lot of the flavor and variety that people come in that live in other countries. We don't want them to only learn about history and culture from our own very small town point of view. They need to know how this system of things that we live in works and how they can move about in the world. Those are lofty goals that will more than likely not be all achieved in one World Geography course.

I made a Listmania list on Amazon.com for your convenience in viewing the bulk of the materials we are using this year for high school World Geography.
World Geography-High School Level
In the list below, I have included much more than the resources listed on Amazon.com. As noted in several sections, I will post separate entries to explain items further.

I also do not know how closely this plan follows any one sort of homeschooling philosophy ...probably closer to project based learning than anything else or perhaps even a huge unit study. Most of the follow-up activities that are going to be offered are totally self-directed and could be considered various forms of narration: written narration, oral narration, commonplace books, map completion. There is also very slow reading of books, lots of free time to explore using a variety of materials, and lots of discussion as a family.

We will call it Harmony Art Mom's Eclectic Style World Geography And Culture.

Giant Wall Map: Thanks to my husband we were able to frame this map that we purchased from Amazon.com and make into a work of art in our living room. It has been up on the wall for almost a year now and we all have gained a better idea of the world's geography from just browsing the map at our leisure. The map is very inexpensive and he made a frame for it. He mounted the map using spray adhesive onto a piece of foam insulation board that he purchased at Home Depot. I think the whole project cost about $30.00.


Google Earth: Wow! What can I say? This tool has taken our study of geography to a new level. We daily are using it to find places we are learning about in our study. For instance, this week we are learning about the UK. We were able to find the British Museum, the Tower of London, and Big Ben. We also used Google Earth to watch the track of Hurricane Bill and then map it out on our wall map. This free program makes the world seem like it is at your fingertips. Beware. Once you get started you can spend lots of time looking up where your friends around the world live. :)

Trail Guide to World Geography: Here is what the plans for the secondary school level schedule say:
To develop proficiency at reading maps
To become skilled in using atlases
To know the location of important places in the world
To know key world physical features
To understand geographical terms
To develop critical thinking skills using maps and an almanac

I am finding that these are skills that the boys are honing using this curricula. They are learning more than geography by researching about each place in their weekly assignments. I am using the plans as a framework and requiring some memorization of countries and capitals that we frequently hear about in the news. Don't be fooled by the simpleness of these plans.

As part of the Trail Guide World Geography plans, there is a complete literature unit using Around the World in Eighty Days. We also are using the Answer Atlas as suggested in the plans for the Trail Guide. There are two more resources that I have on the shelf to use as we feel like the need is there. Geography through Art and Eat Your Way Around the World are excellent resources for all ages. There is also a Student Notebook for High School level that you can purchase and it includes all the printables for you to use with this program. Notebook pages include animals, habitats, gems, plants, and more.


Geo Puzzles: I splurged last year and purchased the whole set of GeoPuzzles from Rainbow Resource. We have dabbled with them over the last few months but now we are working them every week to sharpen our skills. Most of the pieces are shaped liked countries...except where it is impractical. (The link above has a video about the puzzles.)

History Scribe: The World-Learn All About the Countries of the World: We are using these notebook pages to enhance our study. The boys like having a place to organize their research and it gives them a concrete written narration at the end of the week to share at our meeting.

Geography Coloring Book: For weeks that we are studying a country that is not included in Trail Guide World Geography, I have assigned maps from this sophisticated coloring book for the boys. They will be using the detailed instructions to complete the maps which look like works of art when they are completed.

Leapfrog Explorer Globe: I am listing this globe with reservations. Although it is a great learning tool, I think it is overpriced. I was able to purchase mine at half price last year and I would never have purchased it at full price. After saying that, I have to tell you that *every* member of our family enjoys this globe from youngest to oldest. My children have even taken it to family gatherings to share. I was amazed that so many of our family members had a blast with this globe. It is not only fun but it challenges you to learn more about geography. We play the challenge games against each other or we play as teams. This might be a great thing to put on a wishlist.

Geography Links for Research:
CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
World Atlas.com: http://www.worldatlas.com/
National Geographic Kids: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Places/Find

Online Videos:
The Power of Place: Geography for the 21st Century:
http://www.learner.org/resources/series180.html
From their website, "Geography educators and content experts from around the globe shed light on the physical, human, political, historical, economic, and cultural factors that affect people and natural environments. Maps, animation, and academic commentary bring into focus case studies from 50 sites in 36 countries."

We have found these to be a wonderful resource so far.
National Geographic Video online: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/index.html
On the left side of the page, click on countries and there are many to choose from. Please preview any videos you think you might like to share with your children.

Netflix: We are using Netflix as a source of travel DVDs and other movies about various world cultures. I will post a list in a separate blog entry soon.

National Geographic Magazine: Yes, I have gone ahead and subscribed for the next year to this magazine. There are things presented that I have issues with about evolution and such but as far as providing glimpses into other cultures and making things seem more real....this is a visual feast and my boys...all three including my oldest twenty-two year old....grab this as soon as it comes and devour it. Besides, we will use these as sources of maps and images for years to come.

Free Reading Books: We are using various literature books from around the world to enhance our study of geography. I will post a separate list of books in another entry.

Misc. Stuff: I plan on tapping into the blog world when I know of a person who lives in a different country. I am working on having the boys make up a list of "interview" questions to ask and have the willing participants answer. I already have the boys reading the Family on Bikes blog which chronicles one family's journey from the top of Alaska all the way to the tip of Argentina. They have twin boys that are along for the trip and it is fascinating to watch their family's progress every week. I think my boys secretly wish they could do something like that as a family. Sigh. If you know of any other blogs that would be of interest to our study or you live in a different country and would be willing to have my boys ask you a few questions about your life, please email me and we can get in touch. harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

I think that covers the big stuff for our study. I am really just providing my sons with a framework and they are filling in the gaps with their own ideas.

The best part about the plans that we have for learning about the modern world is that it is flexible and roomy enough to veer off the plan but still be on track. So many of the resources don't feel like schoolwork.

• The giant wall map has become part of our everyday life.
  
• The puzzles and the globe are used all during the week as the interest comes up.
  
• The Netflix DVDs are family viewing since we do not have regular television or satellite anymore. Friday and Saturday night movie night is already a well established routine and now we are just mixing in a few of the titles from our geography plans. So far, no complaints.
  
• I already explained that the boys enjoy reading the National Geographic magazine and it has become a source of great dinner converstation about trivia and interesting facts they glean from the pages.
  
• The boys use Google Earth all the time now as something comes up in converstation. If during their current event they come across something that they can look up, they fire up Google Earth and share what they find. (This week alone we have looked at Guantanamo Bay, Hurricane Bill's path, and Baghdad.) This really doesn't feel like schoolwork but the boys are gaining such a grasp of how our world truly is connected now more than ever.

I am hoping to keep you updated as we work through the year. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I can see how this is enriching our life already. I love it when we are all excited and upbeat about a project. This is how we are viewing this more than anything...a family project.

Let me know what you think or if you know of any more resources out there.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Circle Time-High School Style

Circle Time in high school?

Yep. Every morning we start the day together sharing our Bible reading, journal writing, and poetry memorization. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day with the three of us at the table together help to get our day going, a starting point.

These first few minutes of our day set the tone for us all. It gives us time to share some encouraging thoughts and coordinate plans for the morning. Does anyone need help with a particular subject that day? Do we need to review together for an upcoming test? Do we need to schedule a trip to the library, an Outdoor Hour, some PE time? What is for lunch? This is the part of the day that we check-in with each both physically and spiritually.

Our morning "circle time" at the table helps define the beginning of our day and signal to all three of us that we need to get busy.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Just Like a Cezanne Still Life

I arrived home from my dad's house today with two gorgeous eggplants. The boys and I had picked a bag of pears earlier this morning and we had left them on the kitchen counter. I placed the eggplants on the kitchen counter and realized that all grouped together the produce looked like a part of a Cezanne still life.


I took them outside and arranged them and decided they really did belong in a Cezanne still life.


Project to be completed this week.

Here is a link to a free children's study of a Cezanne still life at Garden of Praise.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Updated Review: The Easy Spanish-Charlotte Mason Style Learning

You can find my updated review for The Easy Spanish, a Charlotte Mason style Spanish program over at Curriculum Choice.

The Easy Spanish

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Inspired to Do Better

Reading through the entries for this edition, I began to see a distinct theme building. As homeschoolers we have the unique position to offer our children a tailor made education that fits just right. Charlotte Mason put down some wonderful principles and how those principles look in each family is unique and multi-faceted. There is no "one size fits all" with Charlotte Mason no matter how hard we try to squeeze into the mold.

As you read this edition's entries, please try to glean the gems to be found in each entry. Every entry is an opportunity to see how Miss Mason's ideas are producing better families, better students, and better relationships with the materials offered in the homeschooling day.

Enjoy this really full and inspiring edition of the Charlotte Mason Carnival.

Tammy at Adventures on Beck's Bounty took my challenge to write a blog entry sharing how Charlotte Mason's ideas changed their homeschool. You might want to bookmark this entry for future reference and encouragement: Boundless Blessings. She sums up her entry with these final words:"Our family has been blessed beyond measure by the methods of a certain school teacher named Charlotte Mason, who lived and worked in England, the the late 1800's and early 1900's. She changed our lives in so many ways, bestowing blessing after blessing ... boundless blessings. Her writings never cease to inspire and encourage me .... and for our children, her "methods" have provided a truly beautiful "childhood", Good Habits, a heart inscribed with the Holy Word of God, and an education second to none. "

Several ladies submitted entries with the same theme and I am sure that you will glean some ideas for making Charlotte Mason's principles work in your family just like they have.

Kris at the Science of Relations starts us off with her outline of subjects and books for her CM homeschool but with her own flair. Here is a quote from her entry My Charlotte Mason."What I have embraced fundamentally, as the title of this blog reflects, is that "education is the science of relations." Those relations are lifelong pursuits when education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life. They are best formed through living books and materials. The rest is an eclectic mix of educational material to achieve these goals."

Now it is Jimmie's turn to share her thoughts in her entry, Sorry, Miss Mason, But We Must Part Ways. Maybe you feel like Jimmie and need to adjust some of the CM principles to fit your family's style. She shares how she veers away from CM principles with regards to poetry, reading aloud, and crafts.

Jamie shares her thoughts in CM and the Bereans. She encourages us to keep on testing to see whether what we are learning and teaching is true.

Okay, so I found another post that helps us to see concrete examples of how we need to be adapting our homeschooling styles to fit our children. Penny shares two entries discussing how she discovered that it was the particular literature book that was bogging them down and making a switch brought much success. Making a last minute substitution and
Success find us!

Another mom shares how she is adjusting the CM approach to their homeschool. Belinda shares Charlotte Mason's Philosophy and a Discipleship Approach. She outlines some of Miss Mason's principles and how she applies them within their family. She says, "...I have to ‘tweak’ things to fit my family – my family is unique, just as yours is, and each unique child needs a unique approach in order for them to reach their optimum. "

Planning and organizing were also on the minds of those that submitted entries.

Erin has come up with a way to develop great study habits in her children. She shares her ideas in this blog post, Great Expectations. Her children now have a clear path to achieving their daily goals. I really love this idea and I have visual children who would gain a great deal from having clear instructions for each step of their day. We all want our children to develop good habits and this might just do the trick in your homeschool.

Tami has another organizing tool set up and ready to go in her homeschool. In her entry to the carnival she shares the particulars. Maybe you will get some ideas for your children by reading
How I Am Planning My Year Using Workboxes. Even without using the workbox system you will glean some ideas for projects and schedules from this entry.

Good habits are always something to strive for with your children and Masterpiece Mom is working on the habit of resilience with her son. Resilience and Charlotte Mason outlines her thoughts on how to develop this habit with some great quotes and applications of Charlotte Mason's principles.

How about a handicraft/hobby?

Heather at Maple Hill Academy shares her childhood hobby with her children in her entry Kids Need Stamps. We have a couple of stamp collectors in our family as well and I love the learning that takes place with the stamps and books come out. Geography and culture, art and science...stamp collecting is so much more than it appears on the surface. This is a hobby that children and adults can share together.

Kathy from Art Projects for Kids is joining the carnival for the first time! I know many of you already love her blog, but I am hoping that this entry will introduce even more families to her great ideas. She shares the first blog entry in a series of entries that step you through the process of making a personalized art journal: Art Journaling 101. She is up to Art Journaling 115 and every entry is a work of art that you could try with your children. Have fun with her blog!

Back to school for Jimmie and her daughter Sprite allows some time for more Living Math and she has pulled together some great ideas for teaching important math concepts which we can tailor to meet our particular child's way of learning. Here is her entry: Living Math with Factors, Multiples, and Primes. This is an entry with many useful links and resources.

It would not be a Charlotte Mason Carnival without some nature study entries.

So did you know that there is a complete section in the Handbook of Nature Study on strawberries? How much fun is that? Here is my latest Outdoor Hour Challenge post sharing a study of strawberries.....Outdoor Hour Challenge: Crop Plants-Strawberries. It is a good excuse to buy some strawberries and taste them as part of your weekly nature study. Enjoy!

Sarah shares her ideas for Studying the Sun in this edition of the carnival. I noticed how much of their work was done outside and that made me smile. My favorite part of the entry though is how she incorporates art with her study of the sun and makes the study meaningful to all ages of children in her family. This is a great lesson that we can draw and include in our families. Charlotte Mason would be proud of this nature study/science study/art study. Besides, any study that includes eating chocolate is okay with me. :)

Simple nature study ideas are always the best. Keri at SunnyScholars shares her terrific ideas for a weekly nature study in their own backyard. LOVE this idea. Nature Study and Preparation.

Kris from At Home Science shares some suggestions for living books to get started in a study of physics. How did she know I could use these this year? Living books are the backbone of Charlotte Mason's philosophy and can make learning more meaningful. Be sure to put these books in your Charlotte Mason notes for future reference. Living Science Author: Robert Gilmore: The Wizard of Quarks and Once Upon a Universe. Big thank you from me for this information!

Erin has pulled together a great collection of information and links for a complete study of Raphael in her entry, Ambleside Online. This is one to bookmark for future picture study!

Kris is working on an eclectic unit study of the Renaissance/Prince Henry the Navigator/Van Gogh this week and shares Unit Studies Eclectic Style from her blog Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

After a short break from blogging, Angie is back with an entry titled God's Amazing Creation Comes in All Shapes, Sizes, and Colors. Angie and her boys spend a lot of time outdoors together. She has this quote on the top of her blog from Charlotte Mason, "This pleasant earth of ours is not to be overlooked in the out-of-door education of the children. " I think she does a great job of keeping that principle alive in her family.

Shannon and her family were outdoors this week as well and they share their nature finds and the Great Sunflower Project in the entry: Backyard Naturin' In West Virginia. Head on over to Mountaineer Country to see some great photos of their part of the world right in their very own backyard.

Now for some food for thought from Mama Squirrel over at Dewey's Treehouse and from my Harmony Art Mom blog. We both have had the same thing on our minds and wrote almost simultaneously about the topic of keeping our homeschooling simple. We are passing on a little bit of our experience....perhaps some wisdom in these entries for you.

Mama Squirrel over at Dewey's Treehouse shares this entry to the carnival: When True Simplicity is Gained . My entry titled, Keeping Things Real in Our Homeschool: Simplicity, explains how we need to keep our minds fixed on the basic principles of a good Charlotte Mason education, not get distracted from our goals, and keep building good habits in our children.

Kelsey sums up her back to school thoughts in her entry, "It's Inevitable".

Just as a note to those of you new to Charlotte Mason's ideas and principles, I wanted to give you a link that I find inspiring. Sonya at Simply Charlotte Mason has written and offers for free an eBook titled, "Education is...an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." I think that many of us need to have reminders from time to time and this eBook is a great introduction and then encouragement for those families wishing to follow the CM principles with their families. I highly recommend Simply Charlotte Mason to all of this carnival's readers.

That wraps up this edition of the carnival and it has been fun reading all the entries thoroughly and gleaning lots of ideas to either think about or implement in my own homeschool. I hope you feel the same way.

See you in three weeks over at Jimmie's Collage for the next edition of the carnival. If you are interested in submitting an entry, here is the link: Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

PS There were a lot of entries this time around so if I missed your entry...please email me. harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

Sketch Tuesday: Camp Out!

Your slideshow this week is all about the construction zone.

Here is your slideshow: Construction Zone


This week's assignment, due Monday, August 24th: Sketch something you take on a camp out.

Make your sketches and send them in by Monday, August 24th and I will include them in Tuesday's slideshow. Please send your sketches to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com

Thanks for the great week of sketches!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

My Attempt at Getting Organized-A Little Help Please

After the last post...which I did not anticipate such a response to....I was asked by several people about using Homeschool Tracker and how I keep myself personally organized.

Homeschool Tracker Plus has been my lifesaver over the last three to four years. With multiple children and recycling lesson ideas, it has kept me on track with a minimum of time and energy. I do not use all the fancy smancy features that are available, but I keep it simple. I enter a lesson plan and then assign it as we go along. The lesson plans save from year to year and this has helped me keep from having to reinvent the wheel each time we go through a particular topic or book. I highly recommend popping over to Homeschool Tracker and watching a few of their video tutorials to get a feel for their product. There is also a very active community on their bulletin board that has way more experience with the newest features than I do. Ask for help getting started if you are interested. I have always used Homeschool Tracker Plus so I can't answer whether the free version is enough for your particular homeschool. Ask on their boards.

The other aspect of Homeschool Tracker Plus that I really enjoy is that I am building my sons' high school transcript as I go along and at the end of each year, I can push a button and know where we stand as far as credits and classes. Simplicity.

I use three sources for planners and calendars.
MotivatedMoms.com-love their full size planner calendar



DonnaYoung.org-I have used her menu and kitchen organizer pages for many, many years. She has many homeschool related free products as well. Check out her Apologia tab for lots of useful schedules, lab sheets, and other related pages you can print out and use.


NotebookingPages.com-free calendar pages, lists, and other misc. household forms that I use frequently.

I keep a master binder as a planner. Simple tabs keep them all organized. I have one for my household things....ala the FlyLady.net's Control Journal. I have another binder for homeschooling that is tabbed by subject. Simple.

I think those are my sources of inspiration for my personal planning and maybe you will find something that will help you with your organization by following the links.

Happy orgazinzing.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Keeping Things Real in Our Homeschool: Simplicity is Best

Planning a homeschooling year can be overwhelming. Being swayed by current homeschool trends can overwhelm as well. Keeping grounded and focused on what works in your family takes determination.

I am a firm believer in sticking to what works. With the homeschooling world full of fads and distractions, I see some families spending more time planning than actually doing and that makes me sad. When the day is over it won't matter if you don't have a fancy lapbook to document every step or even a paper to file in your notebook. Homeschooling is so much more than having full notebooks and boxes checked off. Reflecting on my experiences with homeschooling helps me to see clearly that it is all about developing in our children a sense of wonder about the world, a love for learning that is self-motivated, and a relationship with ideas and people which come their way in the course of their educational adventures.

Charlotte Mason talks about this idea when she relates how true learning is about relationships; the relationships that our children develop with the material they are reading and exploring is the key to a great education. Can they tell it back in a meaningful way? Have they interacted with the author and their ideas? Are they relating those ideas to ones they already know and then start to over time apply them in their writing and conversation? I'm not saying that you can never do a lapbook or a notebook page because we do on occasion take time to do both of those sorts of projects but the learning comes first and the product is an expression of their telling back what they know and not a filling in of the blanks.

Here comes a little personal opinion....please read with that in mind since I know that many of you will at first possibly disagree with what I am writing.

One popular idea sweeping through the homeschooling community is the workbox system. I think this illustrates so well how we put on ourselves the need to try something new even when perhaps the system we have is working just fine. Should I feel guilty that I am not trying workboxes? I have taken a look at the system with its boxes and racks and tags and as far as I can tell, it would mean a lot more work on my part up front and I do not think that this system in the long run will develop in my children the habits that Charlotte Mason outlines in her writings.

I tend to keep things simple and my very unfancy checklist each day from my Homeschool Tracker Plus program has been enough to get my kids to keep on track. They have to look at the list, get the book off the shelf, open it up and own the material. This system has structured our school days from the very beginning and it has carried through until now. Each year we have the same routine and that saves us time and energy because we are not learning a new method but perhaps building on the one we had before. I think all of the reasons listed for trying the workbox system are accomplished by using a paper checklist: organization, independence, visual prompting, systematic. So if I can accomplish these goals with far less energy, time, and expense by using a paper checklist generated by Homeschool Tracker, perhaps I should skip the workbox system and stick with a tried and tested method that will be around next year and the year after that.

Now as a mom of high schoolers, I appreciate that their assignments can be as simple as "Do the next lesson in math" and they just continue on where they left off. I can put on their schedule to "Use Unit 1 in IEW and make a key word outline to organize an oral report on the GPS." They know to pull down the IEW binder to refresh their memory on Unit 1, make the key word outline from a quick internet search on the GPS, file the outline in their writing notebook, and then to be ready to give the oral report during our next meeting. I can see the habits of order, obedience, neatness, thoroughness, regularity, attention, and respect at work as they go about their schoolwork.Their good habits have been developed over a number of years and keeping in mind that being self-sufficient is a major goal in our homeschool has helped us keep it simple.

In the end, if workboxes are working in your family stick with them. If you find they overwhelm you, don't feel the need to stick with it because everyone else is using them. Workboxes as a tool do not work for everyone. As neatly organized as the workbox system looks when it is all set up on its fancy rack, I know it would overwhelm me to think that I had to fill those 12 boxes up 180 times for each of my 2 children over the course of a school year. I can make that decision knowing my personality and my limits. (12 x 180 x 2 =4, 320...yikes)

Sometimes I have to step back and make decisions based on what will help us reach our goals and not what is all the rage in the homeschooling world. Besides, I think I would be cheating my children out of the process of learning to organize and own their personal school day.

So my caution to all of my dear readers is to be careful of what is the "latest and greatest" out there in the homeschooling world. Keep your focus and know your children well enough to leave behind ideas, systems, and books that do not fit and can frustrate.

Keep it simple.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

I have this post from lindafay at Higher Up and Further In bookmarked because I think she relates what I have thought all along. Don't miss what she says under the heading of Daily Checklist....I totally agree with what she says in the second paragraph.

More in this series:

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• No Comparisons
• Keeping it Real: Simplicity
• What Keeps Me Motivated?

Harmony Fine Arts-New Plans! Ancient Art and the Orchestra-Middle School Level

I am happy to announce that after a summer of hard work that the new and improved Harmony Fine Arts plans for Ancient Art and the Orchestra-Middle School Level are ready. 



Harmony Fine Arts Ancient Art and the Orchestra
Topics Covered

• Prehistoric Art
• Ancient Egyptian Art
• Ancient Greek Art
• Ancient Roman Art
• Native American Art (Note: This topic only available in the eBook!)
• Instruments of the Orchestra
• Overview of Classical Composers from Vivaldi to Prokofiev

What does the eBook include?
*69 pages in length, including 9 custom notebook pages and 19 coloring book pages
*Three options for art appreciation and 1 option for music appreciation
*Complete instructions and plans for 32 weeks of study
*Option one includes all links for every featured work to study
*Option two includes simple art activities to enhance option one picture study if you want a more complete art appreciation plan
*Option two includes a step by step drawing book to go along with your study of Ancient Egyptian art
*Option three is a schedule for completing Artistic Pursuits Grade 4-6 Book One. Please note that the Artistic Pursuits book covers American artists and will not tie into Option One or Two.
*Music appreciation plans that include online listening, a study of the instruments of the orchestra, and an overview of classical music using the book, Story of the Orchestra
*Six images for art study included in the eBook that you can print out to enhance your study of art
*$17.44 for the eBook version.

This ebook is designed to be viewed and used on your computer because every link is clickable, but you can print the pages out if you want to have a hard copy to work from.

Ancient Art Middle School Preview


The preview includes a complete list of topics and composers and a complete list of materials needed for each option for art and music appreciation. This preview will help you to see the convenience of using the eBook and the ease with which your art and music study will be available each week.

Although these plans were written with middle school age children in mind, there is great flexibility to use these plans with children either younger or older. Many families with multiple ages have enjoyed the Harmony Fine Arts plans. If you need help deciding if these plans are right for your family, please email me and I will help you come up with a plan that works for your particular family.

Please email me with any questions or comments and I will be happy to respond ASAP. harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

I am really excited about these plans and I hope that they help more families include art and music appreciation in their homeschooling year.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Garden Goodness: More Than A Sermon

"There is one thing the mother is allowed to do to come between Nature and her children, but only once a week or once a month. And even then, it isn't with lots of lecturing talk, but with a look and comment of delight as she notices and draws the child's attention to some especially beautiful color in the landscape or cloud formation. There is one other thing she may do, but only rarely and with tender reverence. She might do this as a prayer, since that is a softer and less direct way for the child to hear something. She might point out some beautiful flower or especially grand tree as something that isn't just a thing of beauty, but a beautiful thought of God that he delights in and loves to see us enjoy. This kind of sympathetic comment touches a child more than many sermons about divinity." Charlotte Mason, volume 2 page 79

Once our school days start I try to keep up a routine of outdoor time in the garden. The garden is my refuge from the business of the home life indoors. The bird's song, the flower's fragrance, the smell of fresh tilled soil...all feed my spirit and give me quiet time to reflect on the beauty and magnificence of the garden world. The sky is overhead and if I remember to look, it reminds me of the vast universe that we have as a free gift to enjoy.

I try to share these gifts with my children in ways they may not notice so much but I hope over the course of our lives together they will begin to appreciate the beauty and gift of creation as I do.


The gifts of the morning's harvesting of vegetables will spice up and add some color to tonight's evening meal. We all appreciate the tastes of the summer garden and I try to include the boys in the preparation of the meal so they can come to see the full circle of all our hard work in the garden. Nothing encourages us more than reaping the fruits of hard work together.


I love having a cutting garden as well so I can have colorful bouquets of flowers all summer long. I try to keep a fresh supply of flowers around the home for us all to enjoy indoors when we retreat here for our studies.


Some of the sunflowers were so heavy that they bent over and broke off at the stems. I brought a few inside to enjoy near the kitchen sink. Interesting colors and shapes, don't you think? Now as we take turns washing dishes we can inspect the sunflowers at close range.


This is another of my garden projects that I have been working on this week. The lavender is cut and laid out to dry. Can you smell the fragrance? Delightful. We will make some sachets with the lavender once it is dry and it will be enjoyed in the months to come.

Like a silent prayer, the produce of the garden gives testament to the gifts we have outdoors. No need for a lecture or a lesson plan but just an awareness of what is there right before us. Truly divine.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Sketch Tuesday: Construction Zone!

Last week's assignment was to sketch something wet.

Here is your slideshow: Get Wet!

This week's assignment, due Monday, August 17th:
Sketch something you find at a construction site.

You can think big or small: tools, equipment, building materials, people, or anything else you can think of that you could find at a construction site.

Make your sketch and send it in by Monday, August 17th and I will include it in the slideshow. Please send your sketches to: sketchtuesday@yahoo.com.

Thanks to everyone for their participation.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom