Hey Amanda, I guess this one is for you since nobody else will care. and it helps me solidify the content when I'm talking/teaching someone who cares
One and a half---the amount of time I am still searching for a wheel to fit my homeschooling wagon. Apparently there are five to choose from; I've tried all but one now. The Charlotte Mason Method. I re-discovered her when I was searching around for a daily/weekly schedule; how people do this with all the little kids. On their website I found a table which broke it up into time segments instead of exact times. I was so overjoyed! simple, i know, but I couldn't get past my own idea and branch out...like I was doing from 8-8:30 is breakfast and scripture...that sorta thing. that didn't work for me when Brilee was little and it still doesn't work. Instead do 20 minutes for this activity and 30-45 minutes for this one. across the top instead of doing days, list each child! so that way i could make sure I was giving my time to each individual and they know if they should be doing independent work or playing/helping with the little ones. Having a visual of this break down has been something I have needed for a long time. I'm still caressing my own schedule, but at least now I know how to see it.
Last week I received an impression that what I am doing for Brilee isn't going to work for Brayland. "Obviously, I can feel that already" and my other thought was "of course. Of course this is going to be more challening".
I've been reading material for three days now and I am very grateful that this women realized the teaching goes way beyond pencil and paper. Most of my findings come from SimplyCharlotteMason.com where I found three free ebooks. I read Getting Started which did a comparison of all the methods against the Charlotte Mason method. Her theories are meant for little children. I really felt the other methods were for older children. She taught other teachers how to be great and help each child reach their full potential. She sees a child as a person waiting to be discovered rather than a blank slate.
And I just finsihed Smooth and Easy Days. OMGosh! I can see wonderful and easy days with Brayland!
I am learning more about habits; instilling good habits in your children as well as improving yourself (myself). Habits will settle in a person's character regardless. If nothing is done about it, bad habits will take root. On the other hand, when we put forth effort and work we can establish good habits. Duh. But I didn't realize some of the little things I was doing right and wrong with Brayland. I spent a lot of time dicispling him yesterday. To stop the "But Moooomms" and get him to say Yes, mom. And helping him understand that I know he has good thoughts, but now he must follow through with them.
Charlotte says that habits help to relive stress! We do many things each day through habit (aka auto pilot). We know when to brush our teeth, how to put our shoes on, how to talk to someone...you get the picture. She continues teaching that if we had to make a conscisous decision every time we sat down to put our shoes on we would over work our brain. The princlple of habit is a gift, a blessing. And that has been what has overloaded me for so long--now I can put a finger on it. I am making too many decisions most days causing me to burn out! So one and a half years (no, really 8-10) not knowing which way to go in forming habit and what to do with this little people. I have found also with my personality that I need permission before moving forward. IDK, maybe I lack confidence or authority in myself. I'm getting better at it. AND I like having "someone" tell me what to do. That's why I loved my clip board. It took the making-decisions-for-the-day stress away. I knew what needed to be done, I knew what we were making for dinner, I knew was to expect for the day. But that was just the running the house part.
I have put my clip board to a digial format (I bought myself a nook!) and have created a or created a "someone" to tell me what to clean each day and now I'm creating 'someone" to tell me what needs to be done next with each child. My brain is now out of my head. Oh the relief. I guess I'm more thankful because I, once again, have a postivie direction to work towards.
An other thing I liked was our postition to the child verse their bad memory. She teaches that we should never make learning a new habit a source of frustration or again against each other. Instead I am the friendly ally and I here to help him battle his enemy, his bad memeory. Bad Memory is the enemy, not me. We are a team.
On the acedemic side, she suggests keeping lessons short demanding their best efforts and full attention. I was doing just the opposite: dragging out the lessons and getting frustrated because they weren't cooperating. Start small and increase by degrees as they show accomplishment to giving me their full attention.
I am so excited to read more. This method I feel is going to make me a better mother and help create smoother days. And sorry, amanda, I didn't add any links. I'm trying to do this as fast as I could.
One and a half---the amount of time I am still searching for a wheel to fit my homeschooling wagon. Apparently there are five to choose from; I've tried all but one now. The Charlotte Mason Method. I re-discovered her when I was searching around for a daily/weekly schedule; how people do this with all the little kids. On their website I found a table which broke it up into time segments instead of exact times. I was so overjoyed! simple, i know, but I couldn't get past my own idea and branch out...like I was doing from 8-8:30 is breakfast and scripture...that sorta thing. that didn't work for me when Brilee was little and it still doesn't work. Instead do 20 minutes for this activity and 30-45 minutes for this one. across the top instead of doing days, list each child! so that way i could make sure I was giving my time to each individual and they know if they should be doing independent work or playing/helping with the little ones. Having a visual of this break down has been something I have needed for a long time. I'm still caressing my own schedule, but at least now I know how to see it.
Last week I received an impression that what I am doing for Brilee isn't going to work for Brayland. "Obviously, I can feel that already" and my other thought was "of course. Of course this is going to be more challening".
I've been reading material for three days now and I am very grateful that this women realized the teaching goes way beyond pencil and paper. Most of my findings come from SimplyCharlotteMason.com where I found three free ebooks. I read Getting Started which did a comparison of all the methods against the Charlotte Mason method. Her theories are meant for little children. I really felt the other methods were for older children. She taught other teachers how to be great and help each child reach their full potential. She sees a child as a person waiting to be discovered rather than a blank slate.
And I just finsihed Smooth and Easy Days. OMGosh! I can see wonderful and easy days with Brayland!
I am learning more about habits; instilling good habits in your children as well as improving yourself (myself). Habits will settle in a person's character regardless. If nothing is done about it, bad habits will take root. On the other hand, when we put forth effort and work we can establish good habits. Duh. But I didn't realize some of the little things I was doing right and wrong with Brayland. I spent a lot of time dicispling him yesterday. To stop the "But Moooomms" and get him to say Yes, mom. And helping him understand that I know he has good thoughts, but now he must follow through with them.
Charlotte says that habits help to relive stress! We do many things each day through habit (aka auto pilot). We know when to brush our teeth, how to put our shoes on, how to talk to someone...you get the picture. She continues teaching that if we had to make a conscisous decision every time we sat down to put our shoes on we would over work our brain. The princlple of habit is a gift, a blessing. And that has been what has overloaded me for so long--now I can put a finger on it. I am making too many decisions most days causing me to burn out! So one and a half years (no, really 8-10) not knowing which way to go in forming habit and what to do with this little people. I have found also with my personality that I need permission before moving forward. IDK, maybe I lack confidence or authority in myself. I'm getting better at it. AND I like having "someone" tell me what to do. That's why I loved my clip board. It took the making-decisions-for-the-day stress away. I knew what needed to be done, I knew what we were making for dinner, I knew was to expect for the day. But that was just the running the house part.
I have put my clip board to a digial format (I bought myself a nook!) and have created a or created a "someone" to tell me what to clean each day and now I'm creating 'someone" to tell me what needs to be done next with each child. My brain is now out of my head. Oh the relief. I guess I'm more thankful because I, once again, have a postivie direction to work towards.
An other thing I liked was our postition to the child verse their bad memory. She teaches that we should never make learning a new habit a source of frustration or again against each other. Instead I am the friendly ally and I here to help him battle his enemy, his bad memeory. Bad Memory is the enemy, not me. We are a team.
On the acedemic side, she suggests keeping lessons short demanding their best efforts and full attention. I was doing just the opposite: dragging out the lessons and getting frustrated because they weren't cooperating. Start small and increase by degrees as they show accomplishment to giving me their full attention.
I am so excited to read more. This method I feel is going to make me a better mother and help create smoother days. And sorry, amanda, I didn't add any links. I'm trying to do this as fast as I could.
Comments
short lessons with attention vs long lesson and lack of attention. I got that info from Well-Trained Mind (I think). but what to do with D since he's not learning to read...he's kind of a distraction for G.
That daily chart (instead of a weekly one) is a good idea, showing all children on one page. thought I had thought of each child having their own weekly page. obviously I'm not to that place yet. so we'll see.
SUNSHINE :)