2014 summer reading, narration, and copy-work

I have used year-round home-schooling for several years.  There are some awesome reasons for doing it-one of them being continuous learning.  Summer education can be light, but very useful.

This summer I am having the boys continue with math, but dropping all other formal curriculum.  They will still be doing language arts and learning an assortment of themes, but it will be accomplished differently.  

They have joined the summer reading program at our local public library, and are reading books from a reading list that I created.  I require them to read 45 minutes per day, and  I am also having each one of them complete a form I prepared, summarizing what they have read. 

Just a few goodies from the summer reading program.  There was also a beanbag ball; it's around here somewhere.  They love doing this.  It gives the boys and me a lot of opportunities for some free/cheap dates together.

Justin and Jonathan are reading the same books and completing the same forms.  

Justin's summary: 

Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

Jonathan's summary: 

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli

Ryan is completing a different book list and form.  He narrates what he has read to me, and then I create a cursive writing practice sheet using his narration. 

Ryan's narration below -handwriting part not completed yet- from Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John: 

 I  used this site to create the cursive writing practice sheet:

  http://www.worksheetworks.com/english/writing/handwriting/handwriting-cursive-copy-old.html )

Here are Justin and Jonathan's first batch of library books from my list.  I was so thankful that the library carried these titles:

Dictation:Charlotte Mason style

 quoted from Sheila Carroll
www.LivingBooksCurriculum.com

Are you a cracker-jack speller? Or, does the subject of spelling cause you to groan? Most people struggle with spelling.  Likely it is because they were not taught to picture the word before spelling it. 

Charlotte Mason had one of the best ideas I have come across of teaching children to spell by seeing the words before they spell them.  Miss Mason felt that the secret of spelling lay in the habit of visualizing words from memory.   She called this process the royal road to spelling.  If a child were a poor speller, she taught, it was usually a sign of too little reading of high quality literature, or skimming the text without the habit of seeing the words. 

Children can be trained to see the words they are reading. One way this is done is through dictation, usually from a work of great literature the children are reading. The method of dictating a passage to improve spelling involves seeing the word correctly spelled in the mind's eye and then ensuring that the word is written successfully the first time. The reason for the emphasis of having it correct the first time is that the opposite is also true. A misspelled word is seen incorrectly and is difficult to correct.  

Steps of a Dictation Lesson for Spelling Mastery

• The child is given a paragraph to read and study closely
• Then prepares by himself, by looking at any word he is not sure of, and then seeing it with his eyes shut. 
• Before he begins the dictation, the teaching parent asks what words he thinks will need his attention. Most students know but, if not, the teacher can point out a word or two.
• He lets you know when he is ready.
• The teaching parent asks for any words the child is not sure. She puts these a sheet of paper, having the child look until he has the picture in his mind. She then rubs out or places a piece of paper over the word or words.
• Then, the teaching parent reads the selection for dictation, phrase by phrase, repeating only once.
• If there is an incorrectly spelled word the teaching parent places a small sheet of paper over the word, so the child will not visualize an incorrect word. Then, the child goes through the process of visualizing with this one word until he can write it correctly. Most children have little difficulty spelling correctly using this method.  

Note: The preparation for the dictation should take about 10 minutes and the dictation about five.)

Ryan's first copybook

Ryan started his first official copybook today. It is All Thing Bright and Beautiful: Copying the Hymns - Christian Devotional Copywork by the Bogart Family. It starts with the key verse: Genesis 1:1 and then goes into the song. (and yes, it was a freebie download that I printed!)

He has traced letters in Pre-K workbooks, but he feels like a big boy now because he is actually copying sentences. He said "I am glad I get to do copywork now!"

I am glad as well. :-)

A Charlotte Mason education

I am currently reading a book by Catherine Levinson entitled A Charlotte Mason education. I have always been (well since I decided to home-school) interested in checking out the other styles that parents' use to home-school. Traditional schooling is based on a classroom full of kids, and is probably the best way to teach a classroom full.However with home-school, there are so many options out there. There are so many ways to learn, and I have every intention of researching the different styles to see if I can glean as many helpful ideas as I can.


Her style advocates a generous education that does not "kill" a love for learning.

"We are leading them to self education. This is done through direct contact with the best books..."

"We rely heavily on narration instead of comprehension questions or workbooks to verify knowledge"
Narration is basically an oral report. This is usually done with the younger children and as they improve orally, they are transitioned to compositions. Narration is a great way to prepare children for composition writing!

Nature walks and every day spent out-doors is highly suggested (I highly agree). Sketchbooks and quality art pencils are highly recommended for sketching nature during the nature walks.

Childhood is to be filled with beautiful memories.
Narration is a great way to get a child prepared for writing good compositions.

Although I don't consider myself ready or willing to chuck all of the textbooks we currently use or becoming a full-fledged "Charlotte Mason educator" right here and right now, I must say that I have gleaned a lot of helpful ideas.