It's poetic!

 As part of our homeschool curriculum, I have decided that we will study Poetry. Why do I think that poetry is needed in lessons for 9, 5, and 3 year old? It's because I think that poetry has more to offer to students than mere words. It provides opportunity for examining words as conveyors of not only meaning but also feelings. Poetry gives the kids an opportunity to practice their memory and learn to express themselves in few words. It can also help them in grammar by teaching rhyming, poetic terms like oxymoron or onomatopoeia, or metaphors, composition, and word use. Poetry can help kids paint verbal imagery with words. Poetry is ....... well, poetic.
   Teaching poetry to kids doesn't have to be a chore, even if you are not particularly fond of poetry. At younger age, Nursery Rhymes are a perfect introduction to poetry. Rhymes like Humpty Dumpty, Jack be Nimble, or Hickory, Dickory, Dock, or songs like Baa, Baa Black Sheep, or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star are fun for even the youngest of children to memorize.

Money-Wise Monday!

   So here is something special that I have thought of for Mondays. From now on Mondays are going to be Money-Wise Mondays on this blog. What does that mean? It means that I will tell you how we save money, review a product that we have used that was worth it's money, or give you frugal recipe or a tip. Bringing up three kids (until Monkey In-Waiting is born, and then it's four) on a budget teaches you a thing or two about money.

All three monkeys playing guitar

   Money wasn't always a big deal for us before. But in December of 2007, Daddy injured his arm and was not able to work in the busiest time of the year. Girly Monkey was only 2 months old and Christmas was just around the corner. Since he didn't have personal injury insurance, he was not covered. Money was very tight that year. But that was only the beginning of it. In 2010, with the fall of our economy, work became scarce.

My homeschool plan for this year.

   The beauty of homeschooling is that it's very flexible. In the years where a family is busy bringing a new baby, or caring for sick elder, or moving, they can plan for lighter curriculum, or time off. Since Monkey In-Waiting is due this November, I have planned for it. Normally what I would do is have 3-4 days off between semesters to give the Monkeys a little break. Since I am planning to take all of December off I planned for only one day off in between semester. So our first semester will go from September 3 until October 11, with October 14 off (it's Thanksgiving here in Canada) and next semester will start October 15. We normally take about 3 weeks off over the Christmas Holidays, but this year they will be extended due to our Monkey In-Waiting's arrival. Second semester will end on November 25th, so that will allow lots of time for baby to arrive.

   My plan for this school year is this:

So how do we do it? part 2

Charlotte Mason's method was exactly what I was looking for. I made a list of all the subjects that I would like my kids to learn. I wanted them to learn History, Geography, another Language, proper writing, Reading, Math skills, Science (especially nature), Art, Music, appreciation for Literature and Books, cooking, Poetry and most of all the love for Learning. So I divided those subjects into two columns, the ones that would be done everyday and ones that only needed to be done once a week. I also wanted to include physical activity in my schedule. Everyday subjects would include some that we would do as family, and some that they were responsible for on individual basis. So everyday family work would include physical activity, short story reading (like Aesop's fables, Greek myths, bible stories, Native American stories, etc), History reading from living books (more on living books here), Poetry, Spanish (the language I picked for them), and Literature reading. Then everyday individual work would include Math (at each child's level), Copywork, Individual reading (if the child was already reading independently), and Guitar practice. Then once a week we would study Geography by studying a different country every week (we would examine a map of the country, make one dish from that country and watch a video on it and read a tourism book), we would also spend one day on history in more detail (including watching a video and more in depth analysis of the time period we were studying).

So how do we do it? part 1

Girly Monkey and Funky
Monkey at the park

   There is one thing evident when you start researching Homeschooling, and that is that there are as many ways to do it as there are families homeschooling. The different ways range from very little formal instruction, as in unschooling, to households with a replica of classroom in their nook equipped with everything from a black board to a large clock that signals lunch and recess. In my experience I have found that majority of homeschoolers fall somewhere in the middle.We do things the middle way too.

Exercise time

   When I first stared Homeschooling we used the Complete Canadian Curriculum Gr.1. One of the reason I used it was that it was formulated to reflect and follow Canadian Curriculum, including things like Canadian money, History and Geography. I found that when I looked at other systems from countries like US, or Australia, or UK I had to do a lot of supplementing for Canadian content. The only drawback with that workbook was that we were still doing "school-work" at home. In other words, we didn't have full benefit and flexibility of picking the things we wanted our kids to learn. Over the course of that first year I learned that Funky Monkey was less interested in what made the weather, or who firemen were and more interested in Dinosaurs.