- 20th Century History/Economics and 20th Century Literature: M-F with a meeting on Friday to discuss the week's reading. This time also includes his formal essay writing and literature terms/analysis. Literature also includes poetry and Shakespeare.
- Bible Study: M-F
- Geometry: M-F (He is almost finished with this text...he will then use the time for a course in American Government next term.)
- Chemistry: M-Th (Wednesday is lab day)
- Art/Music/Trumpet: T-F, 30 minutes of trumpet each day and the other two subjects alternate.
- Welding and Metal Fabrication: M-F
I think the biggest difference I see between what Theresa is doing with her son and what we are doing here is my son does more written narration. Mr. A has become quite good at a quick written narration in a form that makes sense for him. He summarizes, writes quotes, or gives some sort of response to an assigned topic. For instance, he is reading the Grapes of Wrath and as he reads he is keeping notes on the theme of "Man's Inhumanity to Man" as he goes along. I will be having him write a formal essay in weeks 10-12 from his notes.
We are using "slow reading" of books where we spread a novel or book out by reading only about 20-30 pages per week in each book. This means we are reading several literature selections per week. I waver on this Charlotte Mason idea from year to year. My son would rather devour a book in a few days so slow reading is tedious to him. The jury is out on this concept in our home. At the end of the year I will try to remember to post about how the slow reading effects our learning.
Like Theresa, I feel like you need to wade through a lot of Charlotte Mason information to get to the heart of the ideas behind her style of homeschooling. Ambleside Online can be overwhelming, especially the pages for high school. I try to look at the whole thing as an Idea. An Idea of how to shape your learning...a framework. Once you understand the Idea and get your framework on paper you can fill in with books and experiences that fulfill your goals for your particular child. I honestly think that is the beauty of a Charlotte Mason style homeschool. It is not the particular books or courses you offer but the living, breathing ideas that fill up the space you have provided in your life for helping to educate your children.
I hope this helps another family in their high school journey. Thanks to Theresa for inspiring this post.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
9 comments:
Thanks for sharing. We are "slow readers" too. I like to devour books, but I find afterwards that I don't remember much. I compare "slow reading" to savoring a good meal.
Good post--and a great reminder about CM. We, too, struggle with the slow vs fast reading. I decided to go with college type deadlines for most things and keep Shakespeare and an occasional title for slow reading. By the way--thanks for the nod on Brightest Heaven of Invention--it came this week and I'm going thru it over the weekend. So far it looks well worth the cost.
One more thing--have you read this post? http://childlightusa.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/the-book-of-centuries-revisited-by-laurie-bestvater/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FHUFI+%28Higher+Up+and+Further+In%29&utm_content=Bloglines
I did read that post and I guess I am of the camp that whatever works in your family is the "right" way. It sort of annoys me sometimes that there are purists out there that always seem to pooh-pooh things that are perfectly good ideas just because it isn't exactly what CM was doing a century ago. We did our timeline book with images and words and in fact, we have pulled it out and are adding to it this year for modern history. I think that CM would have embraced technology and not been so worried about the exact replica of what was done when she walked the earth.
Off my soapbox....
I say do what works for your family. I love our timeline books. We included lots of different things besides people and events like inventions and social fads.
Guess it hit a button with me....sort of don't know why I read ChildLight......mostly it annoys me and it is not the content but the tone for some reason.
So glad you enjoyed the post.
So, have you posted your booklist for 20th century lit yet? I'd love to have a look at it. We won't be addressing that time period for another couple of years, but you can never begin the search for good living books too soon!
Theresa,
I haven't posted my list yet but I will soon. Thanks for stopping by and reading my entry.
Barb
Thanks for sharing:)
I've just found your site, so thrilled to find another CMer with highschoolers.
My oldest is Grade 11 this year.
Thanks for the peek into your schedule. I too have a reader who would love to devour books. I save the slow reading for his read a loud book so as to not frustrate him. It's good to know that I am not the only one.
Thanks for the "peek" into your homeschool. It's great to hear and learn how other families are implementing CM in high school as this topic seems to send many families packing!
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