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A funny little trend hits my Facebook newsfeed this time of year. I have a feeling it’s peculiar to homeschoolers. (O.k., I know it’s peculiar to homeschoolers.) It’s the July Back to School pics.
While the bulk of the posed shots will filter in later next month, closer to the start of the “traditional” school year, a small but noticeable army of families— tired of the heat or the overrun parks and public spaces— claim July as the start of their official school year.
We’re among them.
I haven’t actually staged my own “first day of school” photo session yet, but that’s o.k. Was a time when that wasn’t a required part of getting back to the business of schooling. I figure I can fudge it a few weeks and still be within the legal limits of having adequately recorded the childhoods of my children.
And anyhow, the three oldest at home haven’t started back anyhow. With Mary Hannah joining Mathaus at Bryan College this fall, and Jack spending the rest of July at a CAP event in Osh Kosh, it’s only the younger five needing shepherding and structure to their days at this point in the long, hot summer. Since we closed the books on full-time lessons in the beginning of May, we’ve already enjoyed the best of the summer— and the weather. Now’s the time when we hole ourselves up in the air conditioning for much of the day, only tolerating a handful of the cooler early morning and evening hours out of doors. Yes, it’s a huge shift from our normal rhythm of Charlotte Mason-inspired, “Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.” But frankly, last summer was one of the hottest ever recorded in the UK (where Miss Mason lived), with temps hitting 86F. In contrast, we’ll be kissing the mid-90s here everyday pretty soon and that doesn’t fit my “rightly without” parameters. I think Miss Mason would understand.
So, school. July. The perfect antidote to, “I’m bored,” in children confined to the house for fear of heat stroke.
Since our CC community won’t start meeting again until mid-August, we’re spending the month focusing on basic skills and educational adventures and literature that won’t fit in once we’re back underway. Our read-aloud selections are often tied to the historical era we’re studying. Freed from that for the time being, we just began The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. We’re also spending some quality time with Genevieve Foster’s Columbus and Sons and Circe Institute’s Tales of Wonder Volumes I and II. Both are wonderful, story-formed efforts at presenting necessary things in beautiful packages. The fuel they provide for the imagination of young people is, I think, one of the most compelling reasons to dig into living books.
In the area of math, we have John Mark and Birdie combining Math Lessons for a Living Education with Teaching Textbooks. To some it might seem overkill to have two math curricula overlapping at once, but I find with these two (both of whom actually enjoy math) the two programs complement one another well and reinforce those areas that might need some strengthening. Simon is still in the foundational math concept stage with Ray’s New Primary Arithmetic, learning alongside Phineas. I love these oral lessons and the simple mental math concepts that are used to develop number sense and “a head for figures.” I also like the opportunity to never feel behind, and to utilize whatever manipulatives are on hand or are particularly meaningful to an individual child. Jude, of course, gets to play games and count, as well as sitting in on Life of Fred Apples, which I just circled back to for my younger learners. Because math is fun, guys!
Simon has been one of my slower-to-read children; at 6 and a half, he still much prefers having a book read aloud versus attempting it on his own. Thankfully, I’ve had two other kids who’ve lagged behind in the time table that institutional education has placed on that particular milestone. I have the experience of knowing that since he’s not showing any of the signs of an actual reading disability (he’s just a little boy who would much rather get on with the business of being Davy Crockett, thankyouverymuch), he’ll get there when he finds something truly worth reading. I slipped him our copy of James Daughtery’s Daniel Boone the other day and his eyes lit up. Inspired, I tracked down a copy of Yankee Thunder: The Life of Davy Crockett and am assuming that will be the first full stamp in his passport to reading adventure.
Phineas is still in the Primer level of reading, not yet ready to tackle books but able to make his way (with some help) through simple sentences. I’ve found a new workbook he hasn’t yet completed to keep him getting the repetition he needs to maintain skills. This has become a bit of a challenge, as he’s already worked through nearly every program, book, etc., more than once at this point. Thankfully, he doesn’t mind at all… and I’m not giving up on finding relevant, well done materials.
John Mark and Birdie are still in summer reading mode, right alongside their other work. We maintain our weekly library trips throughout the summer, and while I still make suggestions, I don’t assign readers in the summer. John Mark is currently finishing The Battle for the Castle and looking forward to The Key to the Indian. Birdie is revisiting The Black Stallion and reading The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon at the same time.
Science will continue in the living books and nature study vein. We received a trial issue of Honest History Magazine and I now have a few young explorers pulling out the Snap Circuits and asking about making lemon batteries. I guess we’ll add that in with the daily hunt for nature journaling opportunities (cicadas are a current passion) and the constant pouring over past issues of Ranger Rick. Yesterday, Birdie and Simon took the most recent issue and compared it to our copy of Nature Anatomy, which ended in a fairly detailed conversation about gastropods. I think that counts as learning.
There’s still music, of course. And plenty more happening in the educational department that doesn’t fit neatly into boxes (though I do try—I like a tidy planning page as much as the next gal). This is, after all, still summer. And anything can—and does— happen.