A Whirl of a Catch Up

 I had all of these amazing posts started about all the changes we have made and loved.  I'll just have to bullet list them here for you because it doesn't look like they are going to be written or finished. (I'll post later on today about why).

• We still have individual scripture study, journal, prayers (and personal prep) time before breakfast.  We now call this "Foundation Study Time."  Referencing we are building our foundation on Christ each morning (Heleman).
• We eat breakfast. Green Smoothies.  Love them.  Even Determination is partaking.  It's been a good 5 months since we started.  He was just having oatmeal or another hot cereal.  Now he has an orange juice, banana and 1 spinach leaf smoothie.  He has requested we had a little more spinach every day along with some flax seed.  He still is not prepared to do the strawberries, blueberries or other mixed fruit.  That's the best part though!  So we are proud of him considering he has an aversion to all things healthy that are not a grain or a legume. (meaning all fruits and veggies) This is an example of teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves.  He understands the why and now after 5 months he has mustered up the courage.
• We still have Family Scripture study after/during breakfast.  We still do our weekly goals and our weekly scripture memorization. We call this "Family Foundation Study Time."
• We have added "Grammar School" to our line up.   We start with song, prayer, more songs, memorizing "Living Christ," everyone sharing a scripture/thought with history from their morning scripture study, then we have another family scripture study (we've been taking our sweet time doing the Creation-a day every day-I am determined to focus exclusively on the Creation, the Fall, The Atonement and Plan of Salvation right now), math (Life of Fred  for the older two, Saxon for the younger two until they are ready for the first Life of Fred book), piano practice rotating, copywork for littles out of the  Book of Mormon, (Dictation when they are a little older), essay assignments for Liberty, and spelling words from the Book of Mormon.  We are exclusively focusing on the 3 R's right now.  Because I jumped off the conveyor belt 8 months ago I have an entirely different mindset.  I am enjoying every second of this time.  We just do whatever we get to.  Sometimes we do all of it and finish at 11.  Sometimes we spend an hour discussing 3 verses in the Bible and we don't get everything "done."  I DON'T CARE THOUGH! Whew! That's an improvement for me and my check off lists.  Liberating you know.  I am finally just BEing with my children.  I am following the spirit to know what we should discuss.  Oh, life is good this way.
• When you graduate from "Grammar School" you get to have your Scholar or whatever you want to call it course written up.  We haven't made it this far yet.  I'm envisioning that we will fast together with the youth and go to the temple with them. (Since they have standing youth recommends).  We will discuss what we think they need to focus on to prepare for their life.  Liberty (12) is really almost there.  She is checked off in spelling and reading.  She needs a little work in composition.  We've decided that passing arithmetic means finishing the first two Life of Fred books.  (Oh, and in the olden days they called it the 3 R's. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. They didn't call it math.  I'm a slow learner).
• When my children do their spelling and their math they do it all on lap wipe boards.  We are minimizing here by not needing extra paper.  They enjoy the variety of this.  I give them a spelling word and then they write it down and "reveal" their answers.  Sometimes we have guessing game drills.  I know you are surprised.  We thrive on facts in this house.  I'll say what is the date of the dedication of the Kirkland Temple or something and they'll write their answers down and then they reveal and see if they got it right. We use paper for composition and copywork.
• We have a reading hour after lunch.  We usually exceed this.  The older two boys really needed the "forced" time to read.  This sounds horrible I know.  They are loving it now, because they have pushed through their reading levels.  Determination (10) has read Mrs. Frisby and is 1/2 through a Narnia in the last week.  He is reading every spare minute he can now. Imagination (9) has read a Narnia and he is busting through  The Hobbit with ease this past week.  Determination didn't like doing hard things before now he's pushed through that and Imagination doesn't mind doing hard things but he get distracted and starts a new book every day.  That is solving their problems.  Leader (8)-the one that doesn't like being told what to do-is reading with me during this time.  We've had some tears and some sadness but he is fast improving.  He knows I love him though and he is trying hard.  When his time is up he'll say, "Mom I did it! I did a hard thing!" He is gaining a lot of confidence.  Reading for Liberty is a piece of cake.  She asked if her scholar studies could be composed of her just reading literature for all hours of the day. I smiled and said we might need some sewing, canning, childcare, etc skills in there.
• We do our family work in the afternoon.  We were being too lazy in the afternoon.  Breaking it up helps "wake us up."
• Our cleaning is going super.  We are only using baking soda and vinegar to clean.  We still need the castille soap to make laundry detergent so we haven't done that. Liberty loves cleaning this way.  I doubt we will every go back.
• We have changed our eating.  We still have our green smoothies as I mentioned.  We no longer have lunch at noon.  We have dinner at noon.  We have our big meal of the day at mid day.  At 5 or 6 PM we have super.  This is how all the old timers use to eat.  I remember my grandparents eating like this.  We all ready have noticed a huge difference in how we feel!!!!  Since we don't eat 'lunch' gone are the sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and all the nasty lunch food.  I mean the mentality to eat lunch food is gone.  We have whatever we were eating in the evening at noon now.  For super we have corn on the cob or bread and milk.  Whatever. Very simple, very light.  It's amazing to me that we really aren't hungry for super anyway.  We go to bed with lighter bellies.  Mr. Patriot is only home in the evening to eat with us about half the time anyway.  He usually eats left overs for noon and 5 anyway.  We will still enjoy great noon time dinners on Saturday and Sunday together though.  Mr. Patriot is the biggest advocate of this change and has noticed the most difference.
• We still do geography and history at every meal.  That is simply a way of life for us.  They also continue to focus on their memorizing lists only because they want to.

That's all I can think of now.  I 'm off to pack.

Narration

I have spent a lot of time reading Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series.  It is so wonderful.  I have also been rereading Karen Andreola's Charlotte Mason Companion.  I have more thoughts running through my mind.

One particular subject I have been rereading about is the Art of Narration.  I have read about it before but have never intentionally applied for the sake of Charlotte Mason.  I have always regularly had my children tell me what they learned in Primary and what they read in their scriptures that morning.  Now I am seeing value in branching out to include narration in other aspects of our lives.

First off narration is essentially the telling back of what a child as learned either from a book, another person, or observing something in nature for example.  Children are invited to retell what they learned.  At first this my be difficult but over time children will learn to express themselves better.  In Charlotte Mason this replaced endless workbook pages (which I doubt they had then anyway).  Oral traditions of retelling are as old as time and narrations are a continuation of these ideas.  I think perhaps we as a society are loosing hold of our oral traditions and oral story-telling ability?

Continuing on with Charlotte some of the benefits included:

• Mind filled with beautiful thoughts from beautiful words or visual observations
• Helps the child to retain the information learned
• Inspires a love of learning
• Strengthens mental powers
• There is no extra test, that is the test
• Trains children to listen the first time
• Improves there ability to express themselves
• Sets them up for being excellent writers

Karen Andreola includes a helpful list in her book (126-127) that provides ideas for narration.  They are:

• Tell me about: the habits of the squirrel, Columbus' first voyage across the Atlantic, the last plague on Egypt and the first Passover, Heidi's visit with Peter's grandmother, etc.
• Explain how: a polliwog turns into a frog, a rose is pollinated, a sedimentary rock is formed, Pocahontas saved the life of John Smith, Jesus healed the blind man, the Magna Carta came to be written, how bread is made, etc.
• Describe our: trip to the shore, nature walk, visit to the fire station, planetarium experience, etc.
• Describe anything new you just learned from this chapters
• Tell me five things you learned about...
• Tell back the story (passage, episode, chapter) in your own words
• Ask or write six questions covering the material of this chapter (good for an older student)
• Draw a picture, map or likeness of....
• What did you learn about... in this chapter (The Wright Brothers, Sarah Noble, Abigail Adams, Martin Luther, Queen Elizabeth, Captain Ahab, Pinocchio, etc)

As your child grows you may write down their narration occasionally.  You may then have then copy it in their own writing to work on penmanship.  As they become more confident they will dictate their narrations on their own.  They will then correct it (learning spelling and grammar) and rewrite it continuing to improve on penmanship.  I see the vision of this because dry workbooks become unnecessary. My children would be more engaged because it is something they are more excited about. One comment I read was that it seems like "one more thing to fit it."  The response being, "no you replace and simplify." (my words)

My husband and I have pledged that we will place an emphasis on this now.  Even if I just had them narrate the book we are reading a loud it would make a difference. 

Most of this information was gleaned from Karen Andreola's book mentioned above from pages 113 through 137.

Positive Journaling

When I was 12 or 13 years old I remember being taught a lesson in Sunday School about the importance of journal writing. I was told that it was a commandment. I recall the lesson had several quotes by Spencer W. Kimball. Here is a quote that is similar to the thoughts I remember from that Sunday lesson:

"I have encouraged the Saints to keep personal journals and family records. I renew that admonition...From time immemorial the Lord has counseled us to be a record-keeping people...We hope you will begin as of this date. If you have not already commenced this important duty in your lives, get a good notebook, a good book that will last through time and into eternity for the angels to look upon. Begin today and write in it your goings and your comings, your deeper thoughts, your achievements, and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies. We hope you will do this, our brothers and sisters, for this is what the Lord has commanded, and those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives." President Kimball Speaks Out on Personal Journals, New Era, December 1980.

Several years ago when I was rereading some of my old journal entries I realized that I always put down how sick and tired I was. I did always feel sick and tired didn't I? I had the thought come to me that maybe I should stop writing about how sick and tired I always felt. So I did. I changed my posts to be more about looking at the positives of the day. It wasn't long before I realized that I wasn't sick and tired any more. I had become grateful and happy. Suddenly I seemed cured of all my fatigue and blazee attitudes.

Another item I have found helpful in my journal writing is not writing about inappropriate or sensitive things. I haven't written things that would shock my children should they find it and read it today. My journal won't incriminate someone else either. If I have a pressing trial that would be unnecessary for my posterity to know I simply relate to it as "a trial." Remember Paul refers to his weakness as a "thorn in his side." Paul does not go into details about his weakness(es). If it is someone else who is struggling I simply say, "someone close to be has been struggling." I then bear my testimony about what I am learning from the experience and look for the blessings and the positive aspects of it. There have always been positives in any negative experience I have had. Really. Sometimes I've had to look super hard though!

When I have passed on I don't want to have my journals edited and destroyed because it contained inappropriate things. I am certain a part of who I was would be edited out. It is enough for them and myself to know that Christ is indeed merciful and forgiving of all our weaknesses. That is who I really am. I daughter of God who believes in Jesus Christ, and hopefully my life, reflected in my journals, is showcased that way. I want my life to be about the faith I had and not about all the trials I had.

Once upon a time in my life of 35 years I was helping a friend with her genealogy work. (I have helped several people through the years).  I stumbled upon some information about my friend's ancestor who had made some bad choices. I didn't know what those choices were, I only knew that I held in my hand a piece of paper for "restoration of blessings" for this person who had been excommunicated. I quickly put it back, never told a soul and reflected. I reviewed what I knew about this man whom I had actually known. He had been a GREAT man. He was honored. If the deeds of this one transgression had been known to the world would he have been remembered for the transgression or the great life he lived? President Kimball said in the above talk,

 "Even a long life full of inspiring experiences can be brought to the dust by one ugly story. Why dwell on that one ugly truth about someone whose life has been largely circumspect?"

I have found that I have received great emotional strength from writing in my journal. In many ways it has been therapeutic in understanding some of my adventures in mortality. Journal writing as also been a way to recognize my blessings and to bear my testimony.