My Seedlings class

Something terrific happened yesterday as I pondered how I was going to assist in the Friday School of our co-op. A teacher opening became available for Morgan's class! I will now be teaching the 2 & 3 year olds!!! I have named the class "seedlings" because of the plant reference and how you must cherish and cultivate the plant in order for it to grow healthy and strong.
The curriculum I will be using is "Before Five in a Row", since the kindergarten class with be using the "Five in a Row" curriculum. For those of you familiar with teaching styles, the curriculum follows the "Charlotte Mason" methods of learning.

For those not familiar with Charlotte Mason, her teaching philosophy as found in Wikipedia is as such:

Mason's philosophy of education is probably best summarized by the principles given at the beginning of each book mentioned above. Two key mottos taken from those principles are "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life" and "Education is the science of relations." She believed that children were born persons and should be respected as such; they should also be taught the Way of the Will and the Way of Reason. Her motto for students was "I am, I can, I ought, I will."

And her teaching methods as summarized by Wikipedia:

Probably the best known of Mason's methods is her use of living books instead of dry, factual textbooks. Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The size of the book does not matter nearly as much as whether it is "alive" and engaging. Textbooks are allowed if they meet that criterion. "Twaddle" refers to books or information that is dumbed down and insults the child's intelligence. Living books should be used with as many subjects as possible.

Children are expected to tell about what they have read. The narration can be oral, written or drawn and should be performed after only one reading of the material. This method requires the child to synthesize all he has read, organize it in his mind, and determine how best to communicate all that he recalls in his own words.

Mason encouraged a child's learning the habits of attention, perfect execution, obedience, truthfulness, an even temper, neatness, kindness, order, respect, remembering, punctuality, gentleness, and cleanliness, among others. Usually, a child would work on a specific habit over a four to six week period.

Mason advocated short lessons for younger children, growing progressively longer as the child matures. Elementary-age children's lessons should be no longer than fifteen or twenty minutes on one particular subject before moving on to something else. In this way, the habit of full attention is encouraged and children receive a broad education filled with many varied subjects.

Charlotte used prepared dictation to teach spelling and reinforce grammar and composition skills. In prepared dictation, the child is given a sentence or passage to study until he is sure he knows all the spelling, capitalisation, and punctuation. The teacher then dictates the passage to him, one phrase at a time, watching carefully as he writes to catch any misspelled word and correct it immediately. In this way, spelling is taught within the context of great thoughts and rich language instead of static lists.

Handwriting was also taught within the context of ideas, not isolated letters repeated over an entire line or page. For copywork, children are given a phrase, sentence, or paragraph to copy in their best handwriting. The exercise should take only a few minutes each day so as to encourage the habits of attention and perfect execution without becoming tiring.

Art is another place where living ideas are found. The great ideas of men and women of history are revealed in their works, whether paintings or writings or music. Art appreciation is taught through Picture Study, which introduces the child to the works of a great artist one at a time, allows her to look at it undisturbed, then asks for a narration of what she has observed. Music Appreciation is taught in much the same way, listening to the works of great composers.

In Mason's schools one afternoon each week was devoted to spending time outdoors. For nature study, children take along a sketchpad to draw and label the different aspects of nature they observe. Regular nature study paves the way for meaningful science instruction.

Mason emphasised the importance of children's understanding mathematical concepts before ever doing paper and pencil equations. They should be encouraged to use manipulatives and to think through the whys and wherefores of solving word problems -- in other words, how mathematics applies to life situations.

Poetry was an integral part of daily life in Mason's schools. However, poetry is not presented in order to be analysed, criticised, and told what to think about it. Poetry, as in other subjects that introduce the child to great ideas of the past, is shared together and allowed to stand on its own, encouraging the child to develop his own relationship with that poet and his thoughts.

Students in Mason's schools studied Shakespeare regularly, as well.

Since grammar is the study of words, not of things, Mason thought it is a difficult concept for young children to grasp. She recommended postponing the formal study of grammar until the child reached the age of ten. Consistent practice in narration, dictation, and copywork lays the foundation for grammar study.

Mason's method of studying the Bible was simple: read it every day. She gave children credit for being able to understand passages directly from the Scriptures, and she assigned several large portions to be memorised and recited each school year.

History is considered most relevant to children through the use of living books, biographies, autobiographies, and narration. In addition, Mason's students kept a Book of Centuries that was similar to a personal time line in a notebook. They added people and events to the pages as they studied about them.

Just as history is the story of what happened to a person, geography is the story of where he was and how his surroundings affected what happened. Geography is best taught through living books, also. Short map drills can supplement.

Since Mason lived in England, her students learned French as a second language. Consistent with her philosophy, a foreign language is best taught in a living setting.

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Of course, if you are drawn to learn more about her style and how to implement it in your home/school, there are many books to choose from. Most can be found by searching under the subject "Charlotte Mason".

Now, one of the important aspects of Charlotte Mason is "living books". My class will be reading the following list of books, so if you have these at home or know someone who has them and no longer wants them... Please send them my way. I need to get ahold of all of these books, and our library is not the best for having books in stock/at all:

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by N.W. Carlstrom
The Little Rabbit by Judi Dunn
Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack
Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransom
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Play With Me by Marie Hall Ets
Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field
Angus Lost by Marjorie Flack
Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne
We're Going On a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
Corduroy by Don Freeman
If Jesus Came to My House by Joan Gale Thomas
Caps For Sale: A Tale of a Peddler by Esphr Slobodkina

***Classes start in October, so I have 1 month to hunt down these books***

A book to read

This is an eye-opening book. This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn how modern day slavery begins. This book is written by a woman who was enslaved at the age of 11. It is interesting to hear the story of her life in the Nuba mountains in Sudan as a young child.
I found this book hard to put down. Some of the biggest questions in my mind as I read through this books were:
1. what makes you (the person who bought the slave) feel like you are worth more than the person you have enslaved?
2. who decides who becomes a slave and who becomes the master?
I was so angry to read how this young woman was treated. To know that slavery was abolished years ago is what everyone hangs on... like it doesn't exist now that it was put into law that it is illegal. It is still going on all around us, but it's just, for the most part, underground.
http://www.amazon.com/Slave-True-Story-Mende-Nazer/dp/1586483188/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247706598&sr=8-3#

My "days off"

Back to my post from a few days ago regarding what I do for a living:
http://ilovemykids08.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-do-you-do.html
Today is one of my "days off", but it is always one of my busiest days ever. This is what I have to do today:

1. pack up and ship Ebay items & list as many new items as time allows (4 hours)
2. complete data entry for 2 of the "shop" jobs I did yesterday (1 hour)
3. complete data entry for audit job that I did yesterday (4 hours)
4. do laundry (1 hour)
5. preparing meals & general mommy duties ( 1 1/2 hours)
6. home school work (1 hour)
7. spend time with the kids to make up for the time that I had to work all day (2 hours)

It is so easy to go to a job and do my work. It really is. I just go, and focus on getting my work done all day. I can even take a break every few hours (if I decide to stop,which I usually don't). Here at the house, the girls don't understand why I can't play with them all day long. I can be very stressful, but I would rather be here with them than away in an office while they are at day care.

Another good book by Jodi Picoult

I just finished this book last night, and it was quite good. I guess I am getting used to Jodi's style of writing because I wasn't as disturbed with the deaths and circumstances as I had been in her other books. The truth is her books, though fiction, teach you something new each time. Each book has it's own "teaching" focus, and you learn about it as part of reading a good story. For example, in this book, I learned about Alaska, Yup'ik culture, and comic books. The story really wasn't about any of the subjects, those were just things that I learned along the way while reading the story.
Now, I have decided to read her newest release: Handle With Care. I am sure it will be just as interesting. Like I had said before though, her books aren't for everyone.

My loving girls

In case you haven't read the article about Jaden and Morgan on the Children International web-site yet, you can check it out here:
http://www2.children.org/en/us/News/FeatureStories/2009/Pages/SponsorshipExperience-AFamilyAffair-2-17-09.aspx?sid=108CBC7-EDA9-458E-9D2B-BBFD0D7CB51F1

It will probably be up for just a few more days. Jaden is already 1/4 of the way into reaching her goal of buying beds for all 4 children with HIV/AIDS. She raised $125 to send to the Dominican Republic to buy a bed for Dulce. Next on her agenda is to raise $160 to buy a bed for Jonathan in Ecuador.
She has a million other ideas that involve helping others, and she wants to do them all (some of the things she will be able to do without spending money, but rather time). Every day, her show of compassion for others amazes me. Morgan sees what Jaden is doing and automatically wants to do what her big sister is doing! What a great example she is to her little sister (and to others)!

Money Saving Tip #9: Don't pay for magazines; get them for free!

Ok, I have about 15 magazine subscriptions. Looking at it, one would think I spend a couple hundred dollars on subscriptions, but I don't pay for any of them. This is what I do. There is a survey site that lets you earn points and redeem them for items like magazine subscriptions. The website is:
http://www.e-rewards.com
Here are some of the magazines offered (1 full year subscription, with no strings!):
Inc.
Vibe
Flying
Body + Soul
Interview
Woman's Day
American Photo
Outside Magazine
Smithsonian
Seventeen
Golf Digest
Entrepreneur
Family Fun
Working Mother
Travel & Leisure Golf
Computer Shopper
People en Español
Forbes
Martha Stewart Living
The Wall Street Journal
Latina...
Anyway, you get the picture. So, if you had some magazines you have been wanting to get but can't fit them into the budget... Log in & start answering some surveys! My latest order was for American Photo. I think it provides photographing tips, so I am hoping it will help me in the baby photography career I have started (and, by the way, I got my check today... Whew!)

Amish and Mennonite Fiction Books

These top 3 books are a series with "When the Soul Mends" being the last book.
The Covenant/The Betrayal/The Sacrifice/The Prodigal/The Revelation (Abram's Daughters 1-5) by Beverly Lewis

I just finished reading "When the Soul Mends". I like how it ended. The first book of similar genre that I ever read was "The Covenant" by Beverly Lewis. NONE of the authors compare to the way she writes. I will always think of Beverly Lewis as the master of Amish stories. However, I have exhausted her library of books. I have read some other authors including Wanda E. Brunstetter and Cindy Woodsmall. The series you see above by Cindy Woodsmall drove me crazy when I read some of the decisions and happenings of the main characters, but overall, I enjoyed it. If you want to read these kinds of stories for the first time, I suggest starting with Beverly Lewis' "Abram's Daughters" series. You won't be disappointed!