CM Study Group Meeting April 10, 2012

Handouts by Jennifer Stec

Please do not distribute, re-print or reference without permission. This is based on the free information from Ambleside Online, but the comments and personal recommendations are my own.

Years K, 1, 2
Subject Penmanship or Copywork Frequency Daily Duration 10 minutes, including teaching how to form the letter Remember... Be careful not to burden young children with too much written work. Less is more, and children should write only as much as they can write perfectly. Living Book Options There are many handwriting programs available, including Handwriting without Tears and Zaner-Bloser. However there are also free programs on the internet. My feeling is that copywork is not necessary in Years K and 1 because children need time to develop muscles in their hands and fingers. We color a lot in K, practice one letter a day in Year 1, and 4-5 letters a day in early Year 2, working up to a penmanship program by the middle/end of Year 2. Phonics Road to Reading, Barbara Beers A Home Start to Reading, Beechick many more programs out there!

Phonics

Daily

15 minutes

One child may have a wonderful t with Curriculum A, while the next child struggles with the same. Dont hesitate to shelve a program if it isnt working for your child, and try something else! One child may have a wonderful t with Curriculum A, while the next child struggles with the same. Dont hesitate to shelve a program if it isnt working for your child, and try something else! We use the Learnables, and we love it. We tried Berlitz and Mango but Learnables is very CM-friendly. It is also one of the most affordable foreign languages curriculums out there, is designed for immersion study and can be done independently on the computer. The kids do the Learnables while I am making lunch. Select one artist per term. Alternate picture study with composer study. Hang the picture in the classroom at childs level. You do not have to select purely canvas/print artists. If you study sculpture, use a picture of that sculpture, or look at it on the computer in 3D.

Math

Daily

10-20 minutes, depending on Year

Mathematics Enhancement Programme (MEP) Right Start Math Math U See many other programs...

Foreign Language

Daily

5-10 minutes

The Learnables Pimsleur Approach Rosetta Stone many other programs...

Picture Study

Bi-weekly

30 minutes, including reading about the artist. Year 1/2 (not K)

John James Audubon (see Natural History selections) Monet - What Makes a Monet a Monet? Mary Cassatt Pierre Auguste Renoir Antonio Canova (sculptor) Caravaggio

Subject Composer Study

Frequency Bi-weekly

Duration 30 minutes, including reading about the author. Study in Year 1/2 (not K), though you can play the music all youd like!

Remember... Select one composer per term. Alternate picture study with composer study. Play music all throughout the week, during copywork, nature study, snacktime, your commute! Vivaldi I, Vivaldi Anna Marias Gift

Living Book Options

Beethoven Beethoven Lives Upstairs The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven Opal Wheeler books Anna Harwell Celenza books

Nature Study

Weekly

1 hour if it includes watercolor

The Burgess Bird Book is an exceptional book for beginning nature study. Hang a feeder outside your home, and with your children, learn the names of the birds while you read about their characters in the book. Since it is hard to keep a bird still for a nature study, you can begin your study/ painting with a walk around your own backyard and then your neighborhood. You can begin to identify trees, shrubs, owers, weeds and wildowers. Read Charlotte Masons thoughts on Nature Study. Review the Nature Study page on the cminthebluegrass.weebly.com website. The other option with handicraft is to arrange an entire week for a project or a class

Handbook of Nature Study Peterson, Audubon or National Geographic eld guides

Handwork

Weekly

30 minutes

K-Finger knitting K-Chicken scratch K-Sculpey beads and sculptures (nativity?) K-Feltcraft 1,2-Knitting, crochet 2-Basic hand sewing (running stitch) 2-Lap quilt 1-Home Geography, C.C. Long 1-Geography for Elementary Grades, C. Mason 1-Seabird, Holling 2-Paddle to the Sea, Holling 2-Minn of the Mississippi, Holling 2-Tree in the Trail, Holling

Geography

2x/wk

20 minutes

Beautiful Feet Books has a set of maps and a study guide that correspond to the Holling books. We have them, and you are welcome to look at them. The study guide is not helpful. The narration you do should completely cover every question in the study guide. The maps are beautiful but not a necessity.

Subject Natural History

Frequency 2 or 3x/wk, alternate with science

Duration 10 minutes

Remember... It may be tempting to skip Natural History in your curriculum, but please dont! Natural History is a wonderful combination of nature study, science, history and biography. I highly recommend this subject; I think these naturalists will become very special to you and your children.

Living Book Options K,1,2-The Burgess Bird Book for Children, Burgess K-James Herriotts Treasury for Children 1-Snowake Bentley, Martin 1-Audubon, Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier, Armstrong 1-Into the Woods: John James Audubon Lives His Dream, Burleigh 1,2-The Wright Brothers, Quentin Reynolds

Early/World History

3x/wk

10 minutes, or 15 minutes if you add to a timeline or do a map drill as you go 10 minutes

You can also add to a timeline at the end of the week and set aside a separate time to do this.

1-Fifty Famous Stories Retold 1-Childs History of the World, Hillyer 1-An Island Story, Marshall 1-Trial and Triumph, Hannula K-They Were Strong and Good K-George Washington, DAulaire 1-Pocahontas, DAulaire 1-Ben Franklin, DAulaire 1-Buffalo Bill, DAulaire 2-This Country of Ours, Marshall

American History

2x/wk

Bible

Daily or 3x/wk. Perhaps the other 2x/wk is memorizing the books of the Bible. Daily

10 minutes

I think it is helpful to read through the Bible chronologically (at least OT to NT). We color a sheet each day so that the children can look back at the Bible they have compiled through the year.

Your decision! We use Calvary Chapels curriculum.

Scripture Memory

5 minutes

Read together 4-5 times during the 5 minutes. By the end of the week, memorization is highly likely!

Simply Charlotte Mason has a nice list of scripture verses. We try to memorize passages: Psalm 23, Psalm 100, Psalm 139, I Corinthians 13, etc. In Year 4 or 5, you could begin to memorize a book of the Bible over the course of a year. AO has a wonderful list of poets for each term. Many of their links include short bios you can read to help the kids get to know the author. We have loved Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Walter de la Mare, and Robert Frost. If you cannot download hymns to your computer, there are many hymns that have been set to pictures on Youtube (I like to preview rst). www.cyberhymnal.org has many bios available. I have a hymn list I can email to you. For excellent folk song samples, use the free service from Spotify.

Poetry

Daily

5 minutes

Post the poem in a visible place in the classroom. Read it every day during snack time or lunch. Dont analyze it at this age; just enjoy it! Read Charlotte Masons thoughts on poetry. It is nice to group hymns by author (Fanny Crosby, Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley) and to read the authors biography during the term. Alternating a year of hymn study with a year (or term) of folk song is a good option, to expose your children to a variety of musical genres.

Hymn or Folksong Study

Daily

5 minutes

Subject Health and Physical Education

Frequency Play Daily! Health - 1x/wk

Duration

Remember... PE is easily covered by any team activity or simply playing outside. Health can include a discussion of the body or studying the lives of great athletes or para-athletes. Look for Masons thoughts on Drill. Citizenship is one of the most overlooked subjects in any course of study, whether in a private, public or home school. Building a good foundation of citizenship now will prepare your child to discern character traits, good and bad, in the characters of Plutarch and Shakespeare and many other authors. Read Charlotte Masons The Way of the Will for more information on character development.

Living Book Options 1-Jim Thorpes Bright Path

Citizenship

1-Among the Farmyard People 1-Among the Night People 2-Parables from Nature, Gatty 2-Among the Pond People 2-Among the Meadow People

Science

2 or 3x/wk, alternate with natural history

15 minutes

If you can nd a childrens anatomy book with clearly dened black/white pictures of body parts, then your children can color the pictures while/after you read and put them on a cut out of their body on the wall. The A Childs History of Art books come in a set of 3. If you order individually, make sure you specify which one you are getting. Dont skip this study! The Architecture book, for example, will beautifully complement your history and literature books, as it presents to children What is a pyramid, a monolith, an obelisk, a cathedral, a gargoyle, an arch, a moat, the Parthenon, a column, a Greek key, etc. Imagine reading Greek myths or a book about Vivaldi performing in a cathedral, and your child saying Look at that gothic arch, mom! or Do you see that doric column on that Greek temple? It can and will happen!

1-The Story Book of Science 1,2-Burgess Animal Book 2-I Am Joes Body (may need some editing for evolutionary references) 2-Rascal, North 1-A Childs History of Art: Architecture, Hillyer 2-A Childs History of Art: Sculpture, Hillyer

Architecture

1 or 2x/wk

15 minutes

Subject Literature

Frequency Daily

Duration 10 minutes per book plus 5 minutes for narration. 1 or 2 books a day depending on year

Remember... Many of these are read-aloud (with the parent) books. In kindergarten, you can develop narration informally. It is good to model it for them, and teach them to listen carefully. In Year 1, begin to narrate at least half of your books, a few sentences at a time, building up to a paragraph. By Year 2, oral narration is absolutely necessary for all reading, even if it means only reading one page per book per day. You are developing an art form over a period of years. This should not be rushed. Reading Charlotte Masons ideas on Narration are a must. Look at the Narration workshop page for more information: cminthebluegrass.weebly.com

Living Book Options K-Blueberries for Sal, McCloskey K-Roxaboxen, McLerran and Cooney K-Make Way for Ducklings, McCloskey K-The Story About Ping, Flack K-Ox-Cart Man, Cooney K-One Morning in Maine, McCloskey K-Ferdinand, Leaf K-Miss Rumphius, Cooney K-Island Boy, Cooney K-The Little House, Burton K-Beatrix Potter stories K-Winnie the Pooh stories 1,2-Tales from Shakespeare, Lamb 1-Charlottes Web, E. B. White 1-Peter Pan, Barrie 1-St. George and the Dragon 1-The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams 1,2-DAulaires Book of Greek Myths, DAulaire 1,2-The Wonder Clock, Howard Pyle 1-The Aesop for Children, Milo Winter 2-Understood Betsy, Fisher 2-The Wind in the Willows, Grahame 2-Robin Hood, Pyle 2-Otto of the Silver Hand, Pyle 2-The Railway Children, Nesbit

Sample Year 1 Schedule

TIME 8:30 8:40 8:45 9:00 FOCUS Bible Scripture Hymn/Folksong Math U.S. History/ 9:15 Geography 9:30 Copywork 10:15 Snack/Poem 10:30 Phonics Aug 24, 2009 Old Testament Psalm 23 Blessed Assurance 1 George Washington Print Christina Rossetti Phonics Lesson Aug 25, 2009 Books of the Bible Psalm 23 Blessed Assurance 2 Home Geography Print Christina Rossetti Phonics Lesson Aug 26, 2009 Old Testament Psalm 23 Blessed Assurance 3 George Washington Print Christina Rossetti Phonics Lesson Aug 31, 2009 Books of the Bible Psalm 23 Blessed Assurance 4 Home Geography Print Christina Rossetti Phonics Lesson Sep 1, 2009 Biblical Timeline Psalm 23 Blessed Assurance Review Map Study or Timeline Print Christina Rossetti Phonics Lesson

10:45 Literature Charlottes Web Science/ 11:00 Natural History Story Book of Science 11:15 Foreign LanguageLearnables French 11:25 Free Time Outside 12:00 Lunch 12:30 Early History 12:45 Literature 1:00 Study Mystery of History Greek Myths Composer or Artist Study (30 min)

The Velveteen Rabbit Burgess Animal Book Learnables French Outside Fifty Famous Stories Retold Peter Pan Architecture (10 min)

Charlottes Web Story Book of Science Learnables French Outside Mystery of History Greek Myths Nature Study (30m-1hr)

The Velveteen Rabbit Burgess Animal Book Learnables French Outside Fifty Famous Stories Retold Peter Pan

Tales from Shakespeare Snowake Bentley Learnables French Outside Timeline or Map Study Grand Conversation Handwork (30m-1hr)