Need. More. Book. Shelves.

We had a good week last week. And an equally good start to this week.

We are focusing on short lessons and undivided attention, which, when built upon, will be the foundation for longer blocks of concentration and the key to making this all work. We've also started our narrations (check here for more on the importance of narrating). For Madison I try to draw out spontaneous narrations throughout the day to build her confidence. As we go I'll be requiring her to give me more narrations during actual school time. When she does focus her attention she has an incredible ability to tell back details, order thoughts, and pick out key points. We're stretching Makenna's exposure to more challenging works. She is showing more enthusiasm and especially enjoying her history readings from A Child's History of the World by V. Hillyer. It's sometimes difficult for her to narrate back to me what she has read because of the challenging vocabulary in some of our readings. For example, she had a difficult time with the first paragraph in the story of Romeo and Juliet (Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb) because she couldn't recall the names Capulet and Montague. I've learned to scan the selection first and give her a Post-it of key words she can refer to when narrating. This seems to be giving her confidence and as she becomes familiar with the new language she'll soon be narrating without the "stickies." We have two running "stickies" for Romeo and Juliet so she can keep track of the names and the family they were loyal to, since that seems to be key to the understanding of the action.

In addition to our Lifepac Math curriculum, copywork, and nature studies (journaling), we are working in the following books (eventually we'll be adding artist and composer studies, dictation, and foreign language):

Madison:

The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess (science)
James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot (science)
An Island Story by H.E. Marshall (history)
A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (poetry)
The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter (literature)
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (literature)
Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty (literature)

Makenna:

The Story of Inventions by Michael J. McHugh and Frank P. Bachman (science)
Science Lab in a Supermarket by Robert Friedhoffer (science)
Poetry by William Blake
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb (literature)
The Heroes by Charles Kingsley (literature)
Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula (church history)
An Island Story by HE Marshall (history)
This Country of Ours by HE Marshall (history)


We've also started a nice schedule of reading at mealtimes and bedtime. During breakfast we read a Bible story (if you're looking for a good list of short stories to read to children, see this site for a list of Old and New testament stories and their references. We also LOVE The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones that Uncle Eric and Aunt Bonnie gave to Madison for her birthday. And Makenna would recommend the Hands On Bible for her own personal reading, also a birthday gift). At lunch we read from The World of Pooh by A. A. Milne or The Princess and the Goblin by George Macdonald. Before bed we read from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

Most of these books are available online. So the ones I can't get from the library, I've been printing the portion we're reading from the internet - until I decide to purchase the actual book. I can see why so many people buy these books as the readings are short and concentrated and I'm learning, after 4 weeks, that its takes longer than the usual leisure reading, of which we’re accustomed, to actually get through these books. Some of them are scheduled over two or three years.

Four words: Need. More. Book. Shelves.