Category: Ambleside Online/Charlotte Mason

Parsha, Purim and Hamantashen!

hamantashenWell, I finally did it. I now have a Facebook page! Just go to Jewish and Homeschooling in an Amazing World and you can join the group.  This will hopefully be a medium where I can also post other interesting links and information that I find. Purim is but a few days away and I saw that someone posted hamantashen on Facebook and realized that with all our planning we did, we did not plan making any this year! Oops. That will not do. The little one and I made a batch of hamantashen after supper tonight.

For all those who are wondering, yes, we are having school this week. Room613 is not in session, but Harper Academy is. We swing to our own tune over here, though this year I actually had a boy who finally realized that everyone else around has the week off. The nice thing about homeschooling is that we are not tied to any other schedule but our own. We have a revised schedule for this week – trying to get everything except math done before lunch. We are doing pretty good with it. This afternoon we worked more on our Purim booklets that I printed out from Chinuch.org. Something fun but with some learning.

I had been alternating between parsha and reading the story of Purimkohain gadol (mainly for the benefit of the little one, but it still gives me a chance to add in stuff for the older ones.) Yesterday was parsha day. It was a perfect parsha for in it we talk about the clothes for the kohanim and the kohain gadol, and guess who is excited about being a kohain gadol for Purim this year? Thanks goes to his wonderful Aunt who had no more use for the costume and sent it to him. He was very excited and proud to be able to take out the costume and put it on for we really needed it for school! We compared what clothing the kohain gadol really wore with the costume version. There were a few differences, some which the boys asked if we could fix. But even if we don’t add any of the missing fixtures, we all agreed that it was a great costume and the little one looked quite spiffy. 🙂 The costume was put away again until Motzei Shabbos.

This past week I have been working on the narrations for the boy who was needing help. Last week I wrote about the suggestion of a mother to have the child visualize the “picture” of a short section, then to keep adding “pictures” to the previous ones until it is time to narrate. All the child needs to do is visualize the pictures in order while he narrates. This seemed to have been just what the doctor ordered. Instead of just being able to remember the end of the section, he is able to actually do a proper narration. Now, I can actually get through a nice section of reading before he narrates.

I think I am going to end of with our recipe. I have significantly modified a recipe I found on the internet to come up with our own delicious whole wheat hamantashen recipe. Hope you enjoy!
Ingredients (for approximately 3 dozen hamantashen):
Dough:
4 cups of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
¾ cup of brown sugar – gives a better taste than white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup of margarine or oil
Filling:
You can use almost anything for filling from the traditional poppy seeds to pie filling, jam, jelly, preserves, or even chocolate chips!
Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
The proper thing to do is to mix the dry ingredients together and then add the rest, but I am lazy and I just plop it all in and it works just fine. 🙂
Add more flour if needed to make the dough solid. Roll out the dough and cut into 3-4 inch circles.
Drop a tablespoon of the filling on top of the dough circles. Close and pinch to make 3 sides.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a nice golden brown.

Wishing everyone a Frelichen Purim!

Narrations

 

Chodesh Tov everyone! Purim is but 2 weeks away!

I started this this past week but there was just no time to finish it. I hope everyone is staying warm. The snow storm dumped close to 18 inches of snow on us. Shabbos morning I looked outside the window over my bed and oh, how I wished I could take a picture! It had to wait until this morning, but when I looked this morning, the trees were not quite as beautiful as yesterday. Almost, but not quite. We did not get to go to shul this week for there was no way a wheelchair could have been pushed through the snow that remained from the snowplows. But I did get outside on my way to my shiur and just enjoyed all the snow covered, glistening trees. It is hard to tell with the boys, but the little bit of Charlotte Mason style of outdoor science we have done has sure had an effect on me. When coming home I noticed all the little tiny footprints made by the resident squirrel on our property. I even noticed the huge gaping hole in the snow under one of his favorite trees. What was he doing there? What made that hole? Was he looking for the leftover challah scraps that we put out there from the previous week’s leftover challah? Or, as I was try strain my head, did he drop some snow from the branches above? And then, after Shabbos, boys came and enjoyed themselves all over those marks in the dark while I was snow blowing the driveway. Ah, the joys of being a child. Though, all 4 of them came out, on their own, and WANTED to help me clean the driveway! Sweet boys!

I guess this week was a fairly successful week. I would say this is the first week that we are really back into our routine – not quite, but just about. I would have probably have gotten to the little tiny bit that we lacked this week if it were not for my mind focusing on our new found room! All the boys in one room has actually turned out very well and we have decided to make the new room our library. Up came the unused bookshelf (GASP!! How could we, as homeschoolers, have an empty bookshelf?) and a desk.

Never fear, the bookshelf is now full! Living room has been emptied of the loose books that never could all fit on the shelves there, two comfy chairs and ottomans bought (from the Love Sac) and voila! School has a new location now. There is still work to be done in both the boys’ room as well as our new library, but there is something called money that we need to wait for now.

I read an amazing post this past week. As a quick precursor, we are finishing our third year with our Charlotte Mason curriculum (Ambleside Online version). I was not looking for a curriculum but I happened to bump into it. As I was reading the AO website I realized this is what I was looking for and what I needed. A CM curriculum is very different from the standard secular curriculum that is found nowadays in most schools. One of the main differences is that we focus on oral narrations for the first 3-4 years and only after those are mastered do we add written narrations. So, most of what the boys are doing is all oral with discussions. After all, how can you expect a child to write about what he has just learned if he cannot even voice in words orally all about it for it is easier to verbalize than it is to write.

Everything sounded great, except one thing. HOW do you actually teach? Well, the short (or really long) answer is to start reading all of Charlotte Mason’s books (there are 6 in her series.) When you are 3 days before the first day of school it was really not something that was doable then. I got the idea that the child is suppose to either read (or be read to) the particular pages in the book and then the child is suppose to narrate back what he/she just read/heard. There was nothing really to “teach.”

I really like the books used and the other main ideas of the curriculum that I kept up either reading to boys or having them read by themselves and then come narrate. It was not until the next summer that I was able to do more reading on what I, as the teacher, was suppose to do. As the second year with AO started, I noticed I was starting to getting the hang of things. Yes, narration from the child is the most important part – did the child understand what he/she just read? There are the obvious set of questions – the 5 W’s – Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

The way AO is set out, we noticed that “Oh! Hey, we ready about this guy a few months ago!” The wonderful ladies who set up AO did a wonderful job for they arrange the books in each subject  each book talks about a person or event in a different light and then to see the lights turn on in those little precious minds as they connect the dots when they hear about something they learned about before is always fun and exciting. I have even been able to bring in Torah thoughts and ways into many of our lessons. It is exciting to me to see myself growing and learning as a teacher. I think I am finally getting it. It does take practice but it is coming easier for me.

And then, I read this wonderful post. The writer starts off by describing part of a phone call she got from another mother:

Mom: What do I do when my son retells the details of a book or movie or story, but he can’t tell me the overarching narrative that goes with it? Like he can’t say the main plot points. He rambles and gets caught up in details that are non-essential to the plot, but he tells them with so much accuracy and depth, I hate to stop him.

Her son is 11.

I can relate. One of my sons can read for 10 minutes and narrate the entire thing in 20 minutes. But then, I have one that has problems remember a tiny section (2 paragraphs) and he usually ends up just being able to narrate the last thing that was mentioned and cannot remember what happened before unless I start him off. But what about the first child? The author then precedes to start her answer off with the following:

Adults summarize. They can pick out the main points and sequence them. They’ve read 1000s of stories, watched as many films, and are well aware of the narrative arc (plot diagram) by virtue of time on the planet and years logged reading/absorbing “story.”

Kids don’t have this background, and can’t summarize like you. They’re younger. Story is fresh for them. They are beguiled by subplots and character quirks and twists. They chase the shiny object called “weapons,” “cute puppies,” “sassy friends,” “weird creatures,” “magic spells” or “epic battles” and report all that is filling their imaginations to the brink of enthusiasm. When you ask them to tell you about the story, the most exciting, fascinating points overflow. They can’t “sort” the images and emotions. They aren’t likely to sequence events into the narrative arc. They retell the memorable moments, with detail, reliving them in front of you.

I think that is something that we have to keep in mind with many things. How many of us adults would be in heaven with one cardboard box? How many children would be in heaven with a cardboard box? I think my oldest is now teetering on turning more into an adult, but all three younger boys (ages 11 and below) will have lights in their eyes if I tossed them a box for them. To them, the idea of a cardboard box is still new and exciting. To us adults, well, it is old and no longer are we interested in those “simple” things in life. It is by virtue of all the 1000’s of experiences that we have growing up that we are able to weed out the “unnecessaries” (that are always necessary, just not the “ikur”, the main point, of an experience,) and get right to the chase or make that connection between different things.

The author goes on and describes how to help children sort everything out, how to help the child visualize what is going on and put it all in order. It was really interesting, although someone on my AO list pointed out that some of tactics, she feels, are not quite CM style, and some of what the blog states is made more for the high school level of CM opposed to the younger children (mainly the more technical points – like “protagonist” and “sub-plot.”) Then, the mother proceeds to add that not all children can visualize like this author is almost assuming (my child 2 example from above who can narrate only the ending of a section and cannot remember anything before.) What this mother did with her similar-minded child was to stop after each sentence or tiny section (could be 2 or 3 sentences….) and have the child visualize what is going on – not narrate, just visualize in his mind. She would do this for the entire reading, asking her son to visualize what she just read and then add that visualization to the previous ones. At the end of the entire reading he was to then visualize it all and narrate.

I agree with this mother that those of us who are teaching a CM curriculum are not wanting to teach all these wonderful living books in order for our children to be able to analyze them to death and we have to be careful when asking for narrations and then analyzing them with the children. I think this post is good but best used after finishing a book and mainly for the higher leveled students. When trying to apply this to younger students, a more watered down (basic) version should be used.

All in all, I am reminded about how much I do not yet know and will have to pick up Miss Mason’s books again in the summer!

 

A Full Week!

Wow, the middle of October and hard to believe that we only just finished a full week of school!  It’s been a tough week for boys for as soon as school work was finished, off to selling popcorn.  Baruch Hashem most of the time we were inside, though Baruch Hashem it has been wonderful out here!  I did have the next two days scheduled inside the JCC, but I think we have exhausted the crowd there and I will give some boys a happy break from selling popcorn so they can work on their Foliage Raking elective.  It has been hard to get outside when it is light when we come home at sunset time.  Our yard is wonderfully colored right now, but if we wait much longer I am afraid it will not and instead it will be dull and gloomy looking.

Even with the extra-curricular activity of socialization with selling popcorn, I have been able to spend some time outside getting my exercise with bike rides.  Daddy was even home one day to go out with me, which was an extra bonus. 🙂  I am not really looking forward to the diminishing light, however, on the flip side, the children have been going to sleep a little easier since they do not have the light shining in!  Baruch Hashem I moved south after getting married so the sun sets before 11pm in the summer…….

Over the last 4 months or so I have been going to a friend’s house to learn with a few other friends.  We are reading “Garden of Emuna (faith/belief)” by Rabbi Shalom Arush.  We read a few pages each week and talk about it, taking turns discussing and asking questions.  It is a nice heimishe group.  Over the last few weeks, I have noticed a change.  I do feel a closer connection to our Creator, and I find I am looking at things with a slightly new twist.  I enjoy the weekly getaway, and I feel better about myself and life in general.  I was wondering how I could instill the new feeling of emuna into my boys while they are young instead of waiting for them to get older to read such a book.  It is hard for children to really feel and learn some spiritual concepts while young, but it is so very important.

(Note: This book is not recommended for girls who are in school/seminary until after they have been married for a while – they need to be out in the real world a bit.  I would assume it would be similar for boys, though it is harder for me to tell for I was never a boy!)

To create emuna, one needs to have a connection to Hashem. Someone in our group told a nice parable.  A father had two daughters.  The first daughter was given a credit card and was told she could purchase anything she wanted.  The only condition was that she call before buying anything, but she was welcome to purchase anything.  The second daughter was given a credit card and told she could purchase anything.

The first daughter would find something and call, “Hi Dad, I found this nice skirt, and the price is right.”  “Sure, enjoy!”  The father always agreed to whatever she purchased.  The second daughter would find something and buy it.  No call.  She was not told to call.  At the end of the year, the first daughter had a much closer relationship with her father for she called all the time to touch base and the second daughter never called.

I want our boys to have a similar connection to their Father in Heaven as the first daughter.  Yes, I try to show by example, but I do not show everything I feel.  I do not verbalize all the times I thank Hashem for the little things, and they are not there when I cry out to Hashem to help me with rough days.  So, we have begun a new thing.  At least once a day, at various times in the day, I will sit down with all of them and ask each one of them to tell us for what they are thankful to Hashem for today.  At first it was hard for some of them, and yes, they would sometimes repeat what a brother before him had said, but they are slowly getting the idea.  It does not matter to me what they are thankful for and it does not matter how small the item is.  Actually, sometimes I think it is great that they come up with such tiny things to be thankful for because then they understand that everything is from Hashem, not just the big stuff, and will have a better understanding that Hashem is with them everywhere and at all times.

Today I asked for two things from each boy.  We were eating supper at the time.  I had made a double batch of split pea soup in the crock pot today and each boy, for one of his two things, said they were thankful for the pea soup that they were eating – and they each had a huge smile on their face!  *love*  I am doing somethings right! (And yes, each of the 4 boys had a second helping!)

The boys do like their Rebbe, and the Rabbi does offer a nice range of classes, but I only have one boy in a class at a time usually.  So, that means that not all the boys get all the classes.  It is not all that bad, for some of the classes I make up by teaching myself, and others I plan on having the younger ones take in future years when I age the older one out.  I do this for various reasons, mainly because I need to have time to teach all the boys, and if they are all taking most of the classes, then I would not have time to teach them all everything for they are all on different levels and time is a slight factor!

I feel it is best to teach the boys a couple more combined classes, similar to how we do parsha.  The thing is, I want something that is interesting that could be taught in small doses.  It keeps their interest better so that way they will hopefully remember more.  Davening is always something that is hard to do unless you know what you are saying.  I did find a nice tefillah curriculum that had 24 short lessons on chinuch.org. The lessons are to be done one a week. Something simple, but yet helps all the boys learn just a bit at a time, a nice small bite sized amount.  I like small amounts spread over a long period of time.  That is how we do our secular studies.  The idea is that time gives the person time to think about what was learned and gives the subconscious time to mull things over and to solidify the thoughts and ideas.  I have seen how this works well in many cases.  Last year I had a son discuss a reading with me and while he was talking to me he told me, “they did not say in this book, but in the other book we read they also mentioned xxx.”  It was so nice to hear him take things from various sources and put them together to create a whole picture and he was so excited to be able to do that for me and without me even prompting!

I’m signing off here to do some exercising before bed!

Fitting It All In

Fitting it all in does not just mean the school work I want the boys to do, nor does it mean how to juggle all the house cleaning, laundry, shopping, cooking and anything else that needs to be done.  Fitting it all in also includes having regular free time for myself so I do not feel so overwhelmed all the time.  When I have found free time on a regular basis, I find that I can and do have the energy and drive to actually do things such as cleaning, cooking and laundry without feeling so pressed for time or doing it begrudgingly.

There is always room for growth, no matter how much we work on improving, so even a seasoned homeschool parent is constantly learning and trying to improve things.  I have been looking for ways to make everything work, including making things more calm in the evening.  What I did not count on is that I have not only made my evenings more free and open, my days are calm AND we are fitting in more things!

When I first started homeschooling (over 7 years ago now,) it was not much of an issue.   As I mentioned before, but will recap briefly again, I used a regular school-like curriculum with textbooks, workbooks and tests.  I had one boy I was teaching, and we were able to complete everything in a couple hours in the morning and perhaps another hour in the afternoon. It became tricky once the younger boys were old enough to start school as well.  If one boy needed 3 or so hours of my time, then two boys needed at least 6 hours and 3… well, I was starting to wonder how I would be able to teach everyone.   We ended up doing some unit study/notebooking for two years, and that was a bit better, for I could actually include all three boys into most lessons, even though they were on various levels.  Those worked well for the years we did them, but I still was not happy.

Most of you know by now that we are doing the Ambleside Online (AO) curriculum, which is a Charlotte Mason (CM) based curriculum.  This style of teaching was calling out my name, and calling very loudly.  Not only is it a rigorous secular schedule and not only is it G-d based, meaning I do not have to worry about evolution based teaching, it also focuses on short days – 1.5-2.5 hours in the younger years and 3-3.5 hours in the older years. And when the boys are old enough, they actually do most of the work themselves and only come to me at the end of the readings to discuss and narrate. This means, I have plenty of time to teach all three boys, and by this time number 4 boy was already here, I had time to get our Judaic learning done as well!  That really made such a difference, not only on time, but with my mind, I was more at ease.

The change in the curriculum helped a lot, however, I was still very busy until bed time.  With children actually in the house and using it all day it gets, well, used, Baruch Hashem!  The drawback to it getting used is that there is more to clean up at the end of the day.  I felt I needed to stay up late just to chill out and de-stress and that is not the best for shalom bayis when my wonderful tired husband kept asking me when I was going to be ready.  I would feel rushed to de-stress and that is very hard to do!

There are two other changes I have made this year to my schedule and after just a few weeks, I have noticed such a tremendous and wonderful change.  The first change was in our schedule.  It is so easy to schedule one lesson after another – especially when it is going from one child to another for then the children can get breaks and I can get everything in that I want.  There is only one small snag in that theory, and that is… it does not work.  Even though we ONLY need 15 minutes for one subject and 20 afterwards with another boy, unless the children know how to pretend they are on an assembly line, it just won’t work.  Period.  Murphy’s Law will come into effect all the time, guaranteed. A child will not find a book (even though they had 15 minutes to get it,) a younger child will need attention, someone comes to the door, etc.  What happens then is that you feel like you did not get what you needed done and you feel like a failure.

This year I got smart.  Actually, it was more of luck, but yes, there was a little bit of smartness as well.  No matter how long we need for a lesson, I give it 45 minutes!  So, even if I need 15 minutes, I do not schedule anything else for 30 more minutes.  I did this for as my youngest needs more attention, this gives me the added minutes to cushion in time for him.  It also gives time for all the other distractions -CFAP Syndrome (Can’t Find A Pencil,) CFTB Syndrome (Can’t Find The Binder/Book,) IJNTBN Syndrome (I Just NEED The Bathroom NOW,) etc.  In other words, it gives the boys just a little bit extra free time during the day, with a less stressed Mom.  Even if the boys are all ready and I am all ready, I still give them the rest of the 45 minutes and we all love it!  It is cute watching a boy looking at his chart and saying “XXX we have 15 more minutes, come, let’s do YYY!”  The nice smiles on their faces somehow makes it all worthwhile.  I think it is the idea that playing is now mutar, now permitted, and they do not have to ask me to play or read or whatever, that is *their* time and there is even less CFAP, CFTB and IJNTBN Syndromes now!

I also started something else.  I did this a few times last year and it worked nice, and so this year I decided I was going to do it every week.  I make a list of meals and the grocery list on Sunday before shopping.  I was worried that I would forget or things would just happen and it would not get done, but I think that since I was determined to do this for the right reasons AND (and this is the most important thing,) I was ready for it, Hashem has helped me out so far.  Yes, I know friends that already do this and I even had at least one of them suggest it to me before, but I was not ready.  After really thinking about it and letting it simmer in my mind for many months, I am now ready.

This works wonders for not only do I have all the ingredients I need for the week, I do not have to worry or wonder what I am making for supper, this huge relief has been lifted from my shoulders.  I also have found that I do not mind making something that takes a little extra TLC for supper for I don’t have to spend the time thinking about it which gives more time to cook, if I so choose.

Now, I’m not saying now that I seem to have more free time that my house is spotless, I’m just saying that I have figured out how to keep the status quo and give myself regular free time.  At the same time, I am slowly (albeit very slowly,) working on raising the status quo.  I’m positive I will eventually get there. 🙂

Getting Myself Ready – My Chizuk

Yes, I know that experiences cannot be equaled and in case I was not sure about it, after the past few weeks, there is definitely no doubt in my mind.  Over the past week and a half, our boys have spent many, many hours outside, in the water – ponds, creeks, etc. playing in the sand, feeling the seaweed, smelling the different smells, watching lobsters hide, seeing small schools of fish, as well as larger ones.  Not to mention watching out for poison ivy and poison oak as we hike through the neighboring forests and seeing, feeling and smelling all the wonderful things there.  Charlotte Mason definitely knew what she was talking about when she said the only science a child needs for the first 6 years should be nature study.

We have been doing Ambleside Online for 2 years now, and I could never really fit in nature walks like I should, even though I wanted too, and I thought I tried.  I am hoping these wonderful experiences will encourage me to try harder.  Really, it all boils down to having the right schedule.  I find that I can stick to a schedule pretty good if I have one (and I’m the one that makes it, which is good!)

We are told that to raise good and happy children, the relationship between the mother and the father must be a good and happy one as well.  One of the ways to attain this is to make the relationship between husband and wife a priority over the children, that way the children can see how a good relationship should be and how they should act, for seeing has more of an impact than telling.  Homeschooling is not only about the children, it is about us, the teachers as well and therefore we need to nurture ourselves and take care of ourselves first.

We are just a few short weeks from Rosh Hashanah and we have had the most amazing few weeks. We do not get to interact very often with homeschoolers – we do not really have that much in common with the ones we know who are local, and to interact with religious Jewish homeschoolers on top of that is even more of a bonus.  Don’t get me wrong, it is not that I have an issue being the “different” one, not at all, however, occasionally it is good to meet others who are different like you.

It was good for the children to be able to play with other religious Jewish homeschoolers, and it was good for me to be able to talk to not just one, but two mothers who have similar philosophies as we do.  It was so exciting to talk to mothers who have had at least double the amount of years of homeschooling behind them than I do for it gave me a chance to see where I could be as a homeschool parent – what kinds of ideas I could try to use, from “experts”.   I was also glad I was able to share some of our experiences and see that I could be of some help as well.  And, it was nice just to talk!

I once heard from a rabbi that all the spiritual connection and chizuk that we get from Rosh Hashanah through Sukkos is set so that it carries us through the dark times of winter, yes, we have a little bit of light from Chanukah, but there are no Yomim Tovim until Pesach, and our neshamas need the spiritual connection.  So too, I felt that Hashem has given me this boost of the visits of two wonderful mothers (and their children!) to help give me chizuk for the next while. I felt lucky to have such wonderful conversations with one of the mothers that came.  We took the children out in the afternoon and then they still did not have enough time together, so her son came over for a sleepover.  After the mother left, I felt not only spiritual happiness and chizuk, but I found it gave me chizuk in general to do some stuff around the house that I was trying to get done.  I tried to soak up all the chizuk and spiritual connection that I could so that it would carry me over until the next encounter.