New Academic Year 2011-2012

Well, it's been a long time since my last post. I just don't have enough time to write anymore because I got a job now as a home tutor. We still homeschool, though, but I can't use the great Charlotte Mason method anymore. I need to use something simple and organized, so I choose Christian Light Education. I think I blogged about this curriculum already.

So, it arrived yesterday. Yay! I've been waiting for it for about 4 months. It's not too late anyway, but I've started her with some worksheets and other workbook that I bought a couple of months ago. Well, looking at the LightUnits, I'm satisfied with the materials and I actually like it. I can't wait to start it out with Andrea next Monday. She's excited, too.

Just arrived

Whoa! 2nd Grade CLE

Andrea and her books

I created a student planner for her to use with this curriculum. It was inspired by the planner they have, I just recreated, tweaked it a little bit to suit our needs, and print it out on an A5 blank loose leaf.

So girly..

Here are the closer look. I'm so sorry for the picture quality, I took them with my phone's camera.

The front cover

The first page is for weekly appointments, special appointments, and weekly memory verse

The second and third page are the typical student planner plus a self evaluation

The fourth page is for journal

The back cover with a Scripture

We bought a new "office" for her because her old table and chair were too small now. Here, she can keep her stationaries, study books, pictures, and all of her fave books in a basket.

Andrea's "office"

What's on the table?

All of Andrea's favorite books are here in the basket

With all of this preparation, I'm really looking forward to teach her on Monday. As for Brandon, We're still using the Phonics Reader and the activity book, Smart Start Math activity book, and Smart Start Science activity book, all for kindergarten level. I'm thinking of buying CLE's 1st grade for him later after he finish all the level from Smart Start series.

Curriculum for the Next Academic Year

It's been a long time since my last post, I know. I've been very busy as I take up a new job now as a home tutor in the afternoon. We're still adjusting the new schedule. So, having this job in the afternoon, I'm thinking of changing the curriculum, because I don't really have any time to prepare for the lessons anymore. I've been searching for another curriculum and tell you the truth, I feel overwhelmed with all the options. They're sooo many!

I've been reading the reviews here and there and downloading lesson samples, and still feel somehow "not sure"... until I found Christian Light Education. I downloaded their lesson samples, and have my daughter tried it... and she loves it! So, I'm going to get her do the diagnostic test first to know her level... but I think I'm going to go ahead and order the Level 200. She's an advanced reader, and I can see that we've done some of the things from Level 100.

I'm so glad that I found this curriculum. Hope it will work well with my kids.

Dea is doing the sample Math Light Unit from Christian Light Education

She's so serious...

This is her look when I ask her about the curriculum... she loves it!

Curriculum Review

Okay, it's been a month since I started homeschool using the Ambleside Online Curriculum. To be honest, I feel overwhelmed by all the things that need to be done, but I'm so grateful for moms over the AO groups that support me and giving me advice generously.

So, taking their advice, I decided to take it slowly for Andrea. I did make some changes to Andrea’s course of study. I took away readings that are too “heavy” for her and substitute with another “lighter” but good readings. Since then, school was easier and the children enjoyed the read-aloud stories better.

Course of Study

Bible:
• New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version
• Mother Stories from the Old Testament
• Mother Stories from the New Testament

Recitation:
• Scripture, Poetry, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

Reading/Phonics/Spelling:
• Word Mastery (Florence Akin)
• McGuffey’s First Reader (William Holmes McGuffey)

Penmanship:
• Copy work from Scripture and Aesop’s Fables
• Cursive handwriting (she asked for it and did very well)

Languages:
• Bahasa Kita Bahasa Indonesia 1 (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional)
• Chinese (online course at Livemocha.com)

Math:
• CIMT-MEP Primary Year 2

Indonesian Social Studies:
• Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial Untuk SD Kelas 1 (Dep. Pendidikan Nasional)

Citizenship:
• Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan Untuk SD Kelas 1 (Dep. Pendidikan Nasional)

Geography:
• The Seven Little Sisters Who Live on the Round Ball That Floats in the Air (Jane Andrews)
• First Lessons in Geography (James Monteith)

World History:
• Fifty Famous Stories Retold (James Baldwin)

Natural History/Science:
• Among the Farmyard People (Clara D. Pierson)
• The Burgess Bird Book for Children Ch 1-36 (Thornton Burgess)

Poetry:
• A Child's Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevenson)
• Favorite Poems of Childhood (edited by Philip Smith)

Literature:
• The Aesop for Children (Milo Winter)
• The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children (Jane Andrews)
• The Sleepy Time Tales (Arthur Scott Bailey)
• Beatrix Potter’s Series (Beatrix Potter)

This is why I love homeschooling, it's individual, and I can adjust it to suit my children's learning style and capability. No homeschool is exactly the same... and that's the beauty of it.

Andrea's First Lapbook

These are the pictures of Andrea’s first lapbook. It’s about the Independence Day of Indonesia. We are going to celebrate it on August 17. Dea has never made a lapbook before. So I searched the web and found some sites that are very helpful. These sites let us download the lapbook templates and also show some samples. I got all the templates here.

Okay, first, of course I gathered all the information that we want to put in the lapbook. Since Dea is still Grade 1, I limit the information to the basics only… answering the question of who, what, when, why, and how.

The preparation...

Dea is adding some information about the pictures

More information...

Mini matchbook

Writing the title of her lapbook

The front look

The inside look

I told her the story behind our country’s independence day and that it’s been 65 years now. Then, she wrote down the information under the pictures that we cut, and glued them on the board. We used 3 pcs of folio cardstock. Here's the closer look on the inside:

The first page: Where in the world is Indonesia?; Flag of Indonesia; and National Anthem

National Anthem: Indonesia Raya (score and lyric)

The second page: Important people; the pictures of the Independence Day; Teks Proklamasi; and when it happened

The important people of the Independence Day: Bung Karno & Bung Hatta

Picture of the actual event

The original text of the Independence Declaration (still in handwriting form)

Independence Day of Indonesia: August 17, 1945

The last part of the lapbook: Indonesia now and how people celebrate; How old is Indonesia

Indonesia today...

How people celebrate the day... with fun traditional games...

The front cover

Dea is very proud of her work, even thought it's just writing, cutting and gluing...I asked her to do a "little" presentation of her lapbook, to narrate back what she knows about our country's independence day. Oh,I'm so proud of her.

The Schedule

This is what I plan to do when we start our school. I hope it'll work just fine for us. I know I may have to be flexible and try not to keep a tight schedule. I don't want to rush the children if they weren't ready for the next reading. The most important thing is their comprehension, not how many books they have read.

Daily Subjects:
Bible: one chapter
Recitation: poetry and Bible verse
Math: next lesson
Indonesian language: reading, grammar, and vocabulary
English: reading/phonics, grammar, and vocabulary
Penmanship: copy work each day
Narration: after each scheduled reading
Literature: Just So Stories (Monday), Aesop’s Fables (Tuesday), Parables from Nature (Wednesday), Nine Tales (Thursday), Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare (Friday)

Weekly Subjects:
Monday: Indonesian Social Studies (IPS) & Citizenship (PKn)
Tuesday: World History & Geography
Wednesday: World History & Natural History/Science
Thursday: Science (IPA), Nature Studies
Friday: Composer & Artist Study, Chinese

School Routines:
Morning Lessons (Field trip once a month may take the place of this)
Family Devotion: Prayer, Praise & Worship, Bible reading
Phonics with Brandon; Andrea: penmanship/copywork
Math with Andrea; Brandon: penmanship (just 2 letters/day)
Math with Brandon; Andrea: piano practice with Dad
Read-alouds with Andrea; Brandon: free play (quiet games)

Fruit Break
Poetry (and poetry memory work)

Morning Free Time
Move laundry
20 minutes cleaning up, one zone
Children help, play outside, crafts, toys, etc. independently
Mom prepares lunch

12 noon Lunch
Help Mom clean up
Review Bible Memory
Rest time

Afternoon Lesson
Monday: Indonesian Social Studies (IPS) & Citizenship (PKn)
Tuesday: World History & Geography
Wednesday: World History & Natural History/Science
Thursday: Science (IPA), Nature Studies
Friday: Study Club (in the morning); Composer & Artist Study, Chinese (in the afternoon)

Afternoon Snack
With a story for Brandon

This will be my guideline on how our days will be, so once we started, I may have to adjust and tweak it to suit the children better.

Andrea - Year 1 with Ambleside Online

Phew! Finally, I managed to finish the lesson plan for Year 1. So, this is how I plan to use the Ambleside Online Curriculum combine with our local subjects:

Course of Study

Bible:
• New King James Bible, CEV (really want to get the NLT version, though)
• Mother Stories from the Old Testament
• Mother Stories from the New Testament

Recitation:
• Scripture, Poetry

Reading/Phonics/Spelling
• Word Mastery (Florence Akin)
• McGuffey’s First Reader (William Holmes McGuffey)

Penmanship:
• Copy work

Languages:
• Bahasa Kita Bahasa Indonesia 1 (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional)
• Chinese (online course at Livemocha.com)

Math:
• CIMT-MEP Primary Year 2

World History:
• Trial and Triumph (Richard Hannula)
• Our Island Story Ch 1-21 (H.E. Marshall)
• Fifty Famous Stories Retold (James Baldwin)
• Viking Tales Part 1, Ch 1-11(Jennie Hall)

Indonesian Social Studies:
• Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial Untuk SD Kelas 1 (Dep. Pendidikan Nasional)

Citizenship:
• Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan Untuk SD Kelas 1 (Dep. Pendidikan Nasional)

Geography:
• Geography Book – Book 1 (Charlotte Mason)
• The Seven Little Sisters Who Live on the Round Ball That Floats in the Air (Jane Andrews)
• First Lessons In Geography (James Monteith)

Natural History/Science:
• Handbook of Nature Study (Anna Botsford Comstock)
• The Burgess Bird Book for Children Ch 1-36 (Thornton Burgess)

Poetry:
• A Child's Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevenson)
• Poems Every Child Should Know (Various Poets)

Literature:
• The Aesop for Children (Milo Winter)
• Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare (Edith Nesbit)
• Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling)
• Parables from Nature (Margaret Gatty)

Fine Art:
Composers:
Ludwig von Beethoven (1810)
• Piano Sonata 8 (Pathetique) Opus 13
• Piano Sonata 14 (Moonlight) Op 27
• Symphony No. 3 (Erocia-meaning 'heroic') Opus 55
• String Quartets opus 59, no.1-3 (Razumovsky Quartets)
• Piano Concerto 5 (Emporer) Op 73
• Symphony No. 9 (the one with Ode to Joy at the end) Opus 125

Antonio Vivaldi (1730)
• Gloria (choral work)
• The Four Seasons
• Trio Sonata in C major, RV.82
• Plus 3 concerti - Maybe one for violin, one for guitar and one for a woodwind instrument such as oboe or bassoon.

Frederic Chopin (1840)
• Op 09 no 2 Nocturne in E flat maj
• Op 10 no 3 Etude in E-maj
• Op 10 no 12 Revolutionary Etude in C minor
• Op 21 Piano Concerto number 2 in f minor
• Op 28 Preludes no's 15, 20 and either 16 or 17
• Op 53 Polonaise in A flat, Heroic

Artists:
Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) Italian Renaissance
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1498, woodcut
• Self-Portrait in a Fur Coat, 1500, lime panel, Pinakothek, Munich
• A Young Hare, 1502. Watercolour and gouache on paper. Vienna, Austria
• Altarpiece of the Rose Garlands, 1506, oil on panel, Národní Galerie, Prague
• Praying Hands, 1508, brush and ink, Vienna
• The Knight, Death, and The Devil, 1513-14, engraving

Caravaggio (1571-1610) Italian Baroque
• Rest During the Flight into Egypt, c.1595, Rome
• The Sacrifice of Isaac, 1598-1599. Oil on canvas. Princeton, NJ
• The Calling of St. Matthew, 1599-1600 San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
• The Conversion on the Way to Damascus, 1600-1601 Rome
• Supper in Emmaus, 1606. Oil on canvas, Milan
• The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1608-1609. Oil on canvas. Messina, Italy

Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) Romantic
• The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, 1840, oil on canvas, Paris
• Portrait of Frederic Chopin, 1838, oil on canvas, Paris
• Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard, 1839. Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris
• The Sultan of Morocco and his Entourage, 1845, oil on canvas, Toulouse
• Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable, 1860, oil on canvas, Paris
• The Lion Hunt, 1861. Oil on canvas. The Art Institute of Chicago

Nature Study:
Term 1: Wildflowers
Term 2: Birds
Term 3: Mammals

Additional Books For Free Reading:
• The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
• Minnie’s Playroom (Francis Forrester, Esq.)
• Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
• King of the Golden River (John Ruskin)
• Elsie Dinsmore’s series
• Beatrix Potter’s series
• Little Prudy (Sophie May)
• Nelly’s First Schooldays (Josephine Franklin)
• Little Susy's Six Birthdays (Mrs. Elizabeth Prentiss)

Now, all I have to do is to break it down into weekly schedules. It's quite overwhelming the first time I downloaded the schedule from the AO site. I was afraid that I won't be able to carry out the excellent education Charlotte Mason was talking about, but now I'm confident that I can do it. I'm so excited I can't hardly wait to start school. LOL!

About the curriculum

We will start our homeschool in August so right now I'm doing the lesson plan. Andrea will be doing Year 1 and Brandon will be in Kindergarten. We are using the Ambleside Online Curriculum (AO). I just go to the AO site and then copy all the booklist and schedules for Year 1. I do substitute some of the subjects with our local subjects. Instead of doing American history, we'll be doing Indonesian history and social studies. We'll be doing Indonesian language everyday. The rest, I just follow as it is.

It blows my mind that Ambleside Online was put together by a group of moms who really want to help others implement CM education without packaging it and marketing it to make a profit. Almost everything needed is available online for FREE! I'm just so very thankful for those who had the vision and generosity to bless so many homeschooler.

What's so special about this Ambleside Online curriculum, you may ask. Well, to quote one mom who has used it, it's because:
"Ambleside Online is the only one that is 100 percent Charlotte Mason in it's scope, it's sequence, and it's theory/methodology. Ambleside Online is different from the others in that it is based off the teaching methods of Charlotte Mason and the entire structure of the curriculum is intentionally similar to her PNEU school programmes. Ambleside Online uses some of the same books, follows similar schedules, and encourages parents to teach of the curriculum using her methods only." - Carol H.