If you are starting out homeschooling with a bright-eyed little 5-year-old – a toddler tagging along and another on the way – you eat up the stories of those ahead of you on the journey. What curriculum do you use? What is most important in a homeschool day? What should I be doing? How do…
For my own reference, and in case others are looking for ideas to populate their Circle Time, here is our list of hymns and Psalms we’ve learned so far, after beginning in 2008. PH stands for Psalter Hymnal, our church’s hymnal; CC stands for Cantus Christi, the hymnal of the CRE, whose Genevan settings of…
Memorized mottos give us a quick “way we respond to things” on the tip of our tongues. English Mottos Obey right away, all the way, with a good attitude every day. Do it right the first time, every time. Focus on your job & do it right. Leave it better than you found it. Voices:…
Creeds Christian, what do you believe? Apostle’s Creed Nicene Creed Heidelberg Lord’s Day 1 (“What is your only comfort in life and in death?”) Catechisms Catechism for Young Children (“Who made you?” God.) selections from the Heidelberg (“What is your only comfort in life and in death?” That I am not my own…) selections from…
If classical education is the art of becoming free, then we need to build our habits of attention. The British-born turn-of-the-century American journalist, Sydney Harris, once posited: The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one’s mind a pleasant place in which to spend one’s leisure. For this to be accomplished, we have…
I have such a hard time answering when someone asks the seemingly simple and small-talk question, “What are you using for history?” The answer feels like nothing and everything. Nothing because I’m not using any prepackaged or planned history curriculum. Not AO, not MFW, not CC, not SOTW, nor any other acronym. There is no…
My third-born child just turned 5 last week and my fourth-born will be 3 next month. I am in my second round of pre-k now, and although I have a plan, it doesn’t resemble a conventional preschool or kindergarten scope and sequence or curriculum. I liken the pre- and beginning-reading years to the pre- and…
I enjoy singing, and have been told I have a nice voice, but I cannot keep a consistent pitch or key when singing without accompaniment. I can’t play the piano and I can’t read music. I am quick to learn tunes and memorize songs, but even so, I cannot stay on key while singing them…
Originally written and posted in August 2011 So I redid our memory work routine at the end of the 2010-2011 school year, for several reasons: It came to my attention that simply listening to the memory work, as we had been doing, was not sinking it in. They recognized familiar passages, and could fill in…