Week in Review - 8/31/12

This week we began to ease into a more structured day. Though not much more!

Monday - I had insomnia so we wound up having another day of summer because Mommy couldn't get it together enough to start anything.

Tuesday - Friday - 6th grader and 8th grader and Mom all started new copy books. Our quote was from Jeremiah - I just randomly picked it out of Tuesday morning's terce prayers:

A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord, with the Lord for his hope. He is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: when the heat comes it feels no alarm, its foliage stays green; it has no worries in a year of drought, and never ceases to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

It took us all week to write that out! Well, it took Becky all week. She had a terrible attitude and was weepy and whiney. I'm being firm and patient. It has been a week of transition, shall we say. Hopefully, next week she'll be less ornery. Little by little....

Sean, surprisingly, was quite cooperative. He really focused on trying to write well. He finished his copy Thursday. Today, Friday, we did a 10 minute freewrite instead.

I know you are probably thinking it is pathetic that it should take my kids a full week to write out such a short passage. But they hate cursive, pish, they hate writing. It is all manufactured on Becky's part because she doesn't mind writing when I am not looking. It's definitely an act on her part. Sigh. Sean though really seems to have rounded that corner, I think handwriting is not going to be the issue it has been. It's like those 3 inches he grew over the summer has somehow also affected his stamina in writing. Hooray for maturity! At least physical maturity, anyway.

We finished reading The Creed in Slow Motion! We've been reading it bit by bit since last Advent. So we definitely went in slow motion. I'm going to write a book review about it this Sunday. Excellent, excellent book; an intelligent, witty, hits just the right spot, catechism for 10 years old and up. I learned from it!

We started up a very light Latin review where we are just practicing our pronunciation while reading the Pater Noster. Next week, we'll start back to trying to memorize it. This week we just read it several times, taking turns. We also went over very simple verb conjugations, pulling charts to look at from this book.

Becky and I started our Key To fractions book. While Becky did moan and groan (cuz that's just what she did this week), I think she likes it. I put the timer on for 20 minutes and most of the week 18 minutes was her limit. But Thursday and Friday she managed to work the whole 20 minutes. Hooray for stretching mental stamina!

Sean in the meantime was doing his assigned reading. (His math tutor doesn't start coming until 9/12). He's reading The Golden Fleece by Padriac Colum. He had a couple of false starts early this month, but didn't get past the first chapter. Now though he's sat down and read for 20 minutes each morning, though he too, can't seem to read for more than 18 minutes and that never improved all week, unlike Becky's ability to focus on math. However, he's doing splendidly, I think. He just got diagnosed ADHD this summer. I think now that he knows there is a reason that he never seems to finish a book, that it's not him, it's just his brain won't let him focus long enough, he seems more patient with himself. He was very down on himself before about reading but now he doesn't seem to be at all. Again, he was surprisingly cooperative about everything. I think the assigned reading at a certain hour every day, where it isn't too taxing might go well him. After he reads, he narrates orally. I've been sitting with him and asking him the names of the various characters. He tends to gloss over names and then gets terribly confused. Another reason why he finds it hard to finish a book.

Aunt Jackie's book, copy-write 1913

Inscription by my Great Aunt Stella to my Aunt Jackie on her 13th birthday, March 11, 1936.

I also started reading Bullfinch's Mythology aloud (see above). I'm pretty thrilled about this! The book I'm reading from is over 100 years old and it was given to my aunt for her 13th birthday in 1936. At that time they could only afford to buy used books, which is great because now so many of the books I inherited are antiques. The kids were pretty impressed by this. Becky made me wear gloves while reading it. I only read for 10 minutes. I just want to read the Ancient Myths out loud this year. We'll save King Arthur and such for another time.

Last week we started watching a lecture series by The Teaching Co., How To Be a Superstar Student (the old one, apparently they've come out with a new edition with a different teacher). We've completed lecture 6 so far. I don't know if we'll follow everything the teacher recommends, but I think it is giving the kids a perspective on how to be organized and strive for excellence. Friday's freewrite was inspired by the teacher's 'jam writing' exercise. A few years ago, we'd always do freewrites on Friday. So I'm starting that up again.

Rick's been reading The Hobbit out loud to Sean and Becky since we got back from our trip. I think they are nearly done.

Josh - the 12th grader - has been job searching, applying to fast food places, etc. He got his drivers license this summer. I sat down and talked to him about his Literature/Composition/Grammar course, which we'll start next week. He also watched the first lecture of The American Identity which is another Teaching Co. Course that will serve as the spine for his history studies. The first lecture is really just an intro. Next week he'll watch the first substantive lecture and then start his timeline. He also began his Physics class this week. He can drive himself there! Hooray! He doesn't start math and government until the week after next.

Hannah left for college but Will doesn't have to go until 9/5. So he's still hanging around. He's being a sweetheart, but I can tell he's looking forward to getting back. All his friends have already gone back. I don't know why his school starts so late. And he's tired of hanging around his younger siblings, as much as he loves them.

{pretty, happy, funny, real} 8/30/12

{pretty}

We got these eggs from a farm.  When I opened up the carton to make breakfast, I was taken by all the pretty shades so artfully placed.  Just a random act of beauty on the part of the farmer!

{happy}

Here's my daughter Hannah.  While she was in Germany this summer, she bumped into Rick Steves!  She and her brother Will happened to be doing the Rick Steve's ten day tour of Germany/Austria, exactly!  She was thrilled to meet him.

{not funny}

That eel that I was chuckling about last week?  The one that fascinated my husband?  Well, he committed suicide (the eel, that is).  He jumped out of the hole by the filter and we found him dead on the floor behind the aquarium.  He looked just like a snake.  In fact that is what Becky had dubbed him, Snake.  Poor fella.

{Real}

The night before Hannah left for college we all went out to a pancake house for dinner.  Here we are goofing around.

Hannah, Becky and Josh

Seano being fantastically goofy, with Will smiling on in the background.

My beloved husband.  He's wonderful.  

For more {pretty, happy, funny, real}  go to Like Mother, Like Daughter.

It's Strewsday Tuesday already???

Gulp! Wow, time has been moving at rocket pace. Haven't done any strewing. Can't even focus on it, dealing with all kinds of things around here right now.

So my escape has been, for some strange reason, to focus on planning a driving trip this coming May. Yep, it makes no sense to be daydreaming about this right now. I have deadlines and all kinds of stuff that must. get. done. now. But instead, I spend my stolen moments of time going to sites like this: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm


You see, Hannah will graduate from the University of Dallas this coming May. May 19th to be exact. And I'm thinking it would be really cool to make it into a road trip. I have titled this road trip - Americana Road Trip.

Here's the possible itinerary:

Day 1 - Drive to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (about 8 hours)
Day 2 - Do some hiking and exploring of the park
Day 3 - Visit Cherokee, NC and see the Cherokee reservation
Day 4 - Go to Dollywood!
Day 5 - Drive to Memphis (about 5 or 6 hours)
Day 6 - Explore Memphis-eat some BBQ, listen to some Blues, look at the Mississippi.
Day 7 - Drive through Arkansas and arrive in Dallas - sorry Arkansas!
Day 8 - Graduation!
Day 9 - Drive to Oklahoma City - get there early enough to see the Cowboy Museum
Day 10 - Drive to Mansfield, MO to see Laura Ingalls Wilder's Rocky Ridge Farm
Day 11 - Drive to St. Louis - maybe take an afternoon tour of the city?
Day 12 - Drive halfway back home
Day 13 - arrive back home
Day 14 - sleep

So this really only qualifies as pre-strewing, as opposed to actual strewing.

Now to get back to my regularly scheduled life!

But what's strewing at your place?

New Look!

This is just to say, I really think this new template is pretty!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} 8/23/12

{pretty}

This weekend, I went to a meeting out in the country at a vineyard.  Next door to the vineyard they had lots of horses!

{happy}

Guess who got his driver's license???

{funny}

Rick went and got an eel for our salt water tank.  I want to name him Narcissus.  He spends all his time admiring himself in the glass.  Eels, I feel, are more funny strange than funny ha ha!

{real}  

I made pot roast one night.  This photo proves that I can cook (sometimes!)

For more {pretty, happy, funny, real} go to Like Mother, Like Daughter

Strewing for me - Notes from AL Conference

Molon Lave Vineyards

I attended a Mentor Training and Retreat for Aquinas Learning Directors/Mentors/Parents.  It was held at a lovely vineyard in Virginia.  We got to have a nice wine tasting after lunch which added a bit of class!


Here are my notes fleshed out a bit so they are less choppy and make more sense:


What I like so much about Aquinas Learning is how much freedom is given to the child. The child is truly respected. This is reflected in the fact that AL doesn't call its teachers, "teachers" but sees them as mentors. Mentors are like midwifes that help birth learning. They are there to inspire and to spark the child to learn what he can at that time according to what the Holy Spirit inspires in that child. No teaching to a test and that sort of thing. The quote from Socrates was referred to over and over again: "Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."

Jesus is seen as the master teacher, who taught by asking questions and by telling parables. One of the presenters talked about how sometimes when stargazing it is easier to spot a star not by looking directly at it but out of one's peripheral vision. Parables are like this. There's so much depth in a simple parable that allows the listener to draw their own conclusions. This is more effective teaching than a straightforward didactic style.

Ask leading questions so that the student has to draw their own conclusions as you, the mentor, leads him or allows him to discover the answer on his own.

The goal of Aquinas Learning (AL) is: To cultivate wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul in Truth, Goodness and Beauty (that's from Circe Institute). Rosario likes the image of marinating the child in Truth, Goodness and Beauty.

Goals of Classical education are mastery of language skills, logical and critical thinking skills, and speaking skills. These are addressed in the trivium of grammar (Language skills), logic and rhetoric. AL doesn't follow the neo-classical set up of the trivium as matched with developmental stage (first set out by Dorothy Sayers in her Lost Tools of Learning essay and then expanded upon by Douglas Wilson and followed by Susan Wise Bauer among others). The original classical method saw each learner in every age or stage as aquiring skills in grammar, logic and rhetoric.  Trivium in Latin means where the three roads meet.  These three roads are always meeting as we learn no matter the age of the student.

Just as in Catholicism there is a emphasis on natural law, so there should be an understanding of how we learn naturally.  Here are the five characteristics of natural learning:

1. perceive - with our senses - Rosario emphasized allowing children to behold things, not just see them but with the added depth that the word 'behold' lends.

2. absorb - making aware of previous knowledge to compare to new knowledge (mimetic learning sequence - which is really the job of the mentor at the AL day)

3. Apprehend - making connections - AHA! moments

4. Re-present the idea - somehow - asking questions, re explaining, talking about it at home, etc.

5. Apply the knowledge - do it!

Mimetic learning sequence is how the mentor presents material to the students. In AL this is done through introducing the memory sentences for History, Latin/Greek, Catechism, Grammar, Science (I guess also with the writing, language arts portion of the day - though that part does seem more tradtionally schooly) These are called the Five Topics of Invention in Lost Tools of Writing.

Mimetic Learning is to absorb through inquiry:

The presenter had a really clever way of learning these 5 concepts:

definition, comparison, circumstance, relation, authority

She used her five fingers:

Thumb - opposable thumb defines us as human. I can point my thumb at myself and define ME. Definition is simply defining terms. So when a student is presented with a new idea what words does he already know, what words does he need to find the definitions for?

Pointer finger - when we compare things we often use our pointer finger to say oh look at that! That's different from this over here. . . Comparison is naturally what we do when confronted with something new or when trying to analyze something. What is it like and how is it different from what we already know?

Tall man finger - sometimes in certain circumstances one might raise this middle finger! Not nice but circumstances can lead to this! Circumstances are looking at the context of something, how did it arise? What are the details that created it?

Ring finger - this is where we wear our wedding ring - what are the correlations and cause and effects of the idea or knowledge being learned.  How does it stand in relation to those things around it.

Little finger - when someone is wrapped around your little finger, you have authority over them. Authority is who says this knowledge or came up with this idea? How legitimate is their authority? Why we do think they know?

Classical education is about connecting old knowledge to new knowledge because that is how we naturally learn, therefore it is about knowing things by heart (but not so much in a meaningless rote way, but really owning material - the presenter emphasized the significance of phrase 'by heart'; what we've learned by heart has become part of us) and by imitating those who know before us. Imitation takes us from our own limited knowledge into new expanded knowledge.

When analyzing literature - ask 'should' questions. Should the main character have made that decision,that choice? What should he have done? This is the key to understanding a piece of literature and giving it its moral dimension.

Discipline in the classroom:

The hardest part of teaching is maintaining an order that allows for joyful learning but keeps behavior conducive to that learning.

Different presenters had different 3 R's

3 R's to give the student the concept of what is right behavior:

Respect - respect others by keeping hands to self, not interrupting, etc

Restraint - control impulses, learn to concentrate

Responsibility - the students's job is to learn from the mentor - must take responsibility seriously.

Practical 3 R's:

Rote - have the children learn by chanting, singing, marching, counting out, focus on getting it into their memory. Not boring drill but in an engaging way.

Rhythm - kids like to learn using rhythm - mentor uses sounds and rhythm to facilitate not only learning but order in the classroom. Clicking two sticks means sit down in your seats, etc.

Running - if kids are antsy, take them out to run for a few minutes. Be aware of their need to move. Make learning active.

NB - be very clear about the rules of the classroom. Clarity and brevity are important. Using fewer words and more signals or key words. For instance, saying "Position 1" and everybody knows that means to sit in a circle for story time is much better than saying, okay everyone finish up your copywork it is time to get in our circle for story time! Too much talking diminishes their response.

To continue the rule of 3 - a student misbehaving gets one reprimand (often just pointing to the board at one of the concept 3 R's for ex. someone got up from their chair and started running around. Point to restraint) and briefly and with authority say Joey, sit down! If Joey does it again, say: Joey, sit down, this is your final warning. If Joey persists, Joey gets sent out to the director in charge of discipline or perhaps just has to sit in the hall for a a couple minutes.  The consequence is determined by the mentor.

Here's a cheat sheet that one of the presenters gave for how to approach teaching during the AL day:

1 Pre-presentation - this is 40% of your time and energy spent assimilating the knowledge yourself so you can pass it on, prayer to allow the Holy Spirit to work through you the mentor and through the student. But it is also about beginning the lesson by preparing the students minds through questions that establish what they do know already about the topic. Ask what is familiar to them already. What do they recognize.

2. Presentation is only about 20% of the lesson - that is the acting out or whatever device is used to give the idea to the students, singing, chanting, tracing, whatever.

3. Engage the kids to compare an contrast the idea presented against what they do know or what occurs to them as they absorb the material.

4. Re-presentation - this shows the student gets it. They can explain what they have learned. This might be shown in many ways that often occur outside the AL day at home with their parents. But also the oral presentation does this formally in the AL day.

5. Application - this we don't know but will naturally follow once the student has absorbed and owned the material learned.  The AL mentor might not get to witness this, but that's okay!

These five things don't necessarily follow an order, except the mentor is responsible for the pre-presentation, presentation and using leading questions to tease and guide the ideas out of the child's mind; but really everything operates in a natural flow of interaction and conversation between the mentor and all the children.

Bab; a Sub Deb - Book 36

I have to thank Jean at Howling Frog Books who mentioned this book several weeks ago in her 52 Books challenge. It sounded so good that I downloaded it on my Kindle right away but only now have got around to reading it in the latter half of this past week. It is a scream! Everything about the book is delightful. I couldn't put it down. Last night I had really bad insomnia (caffeine induced - my own fault) and I read a big chunk of it. I had to muffle my guffaws so I wouldn't wake my husband.

I'll just summarize very briefly, Barbara Archibald aka Bab is 17 years old and always getting into hilarious scrapes through the best of intentions and incredibly bad judgment. She's a sweetie though who can't spell at all but wants to be a playwright, unless she's dreaming of a military career. She is 20 months younger and extremely jealous of her older sister Leila who is 'out' and on the marriage market. But Bab is a sub deb, meaning she's got a year to go before she can play the debutante. The story is set right before and then during World War I, I think in New York and Bab's family are of the wealthy upper class.

I'm not capturing any of the hilarity. I'm rushing because my time is up on the computer!

I highly recommend this book if you want a good laugh. I'm going to be seeking out books by the author, Mary Roberts Rinehart.

For more books got to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.