Hi friends! I hope May is treating you kindly. I know it has been a bit quiet here, but that's only because I've been busy elsewhere...
First up: my interview with the wonderful Cindy Rollins on The Mason Jar aired last week! She invited me to talk about exams primarily, and we also snuck in a little about how to commit to regular nature study outings with lots of littles.
I mentioned this on my Keeping Company post, but I'll share here too in case you missed it: my friend Dawn invited me to share about nature journaling as part of her "Hobbies for Homeschool Moms" series at Homeschool Solutions with Pam Barnhill. This little interview was a treat to write up and I hope it encourages mamas to start journals alongside their kids, which is my first piece of advice for troubleshooting children's lack of interest in nature study. Summer is the perfect time to start a new hobby, moms! So be sure to follow along with Dawn's monthly series, in which she explores lots of different options for find a soul-feeding activity you can enjoy.
This past week was also my turn to host the @charlottemasonirl account over on Instagram. Our theme was the Science of Relations, and there were so many rich posts shared by the community that I had a real challenge curating them for our feed! Even if you're not signed up for Instagram, the account is public, which means you can look through all of this week's shares if you are interested. I think you'll find a lot of inspiration and encouragement there. I know I have. This week we're talking about narration, which I know is a topic people are full of questions about. Go have a peek!
I told you I have been busy elsewhere! ;)
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One last special announcement:
At the invitation of Amy and Camille of Learning How to Live, I am offering a webinar on Charlotte Mason-style exams in the homeschool later this month.
Over the years of sharing our family's exam process here on the blog, I have received many questions from fellow moms about how to create, implement, and assess end-of-term exams. I had the wonderful chance to chat about that recently on The Mason Jar (linked above!), and between that interview and many blog posts here on the topic, there's plenty for you to get started on Charlotte Mason-style exams with your students.
But if you'd like to hear more about how exams worked in the PNEU and how we can apply those principles and practices as mother-teachers, or if you have lingering questions you are hoping I might be able to help with, this webinar will provide you the opportunity to either get the footing you need to get started or enliven your understanding and enrich your experience. I've been doing lots of research into this area over the past year and am excited to be able to share some of the things I've learned in this unique format. I'm hoping it will be a helpful and encouraging resource for those that attend!
But if you'd like to hear more about how exams worked in the PNEU and how we can apply those principles and practices as mother-teachers, or if you have lingering questions you are hoping I might be able to help with, this webinar will provide you the opportunity to either get the footing you need to get started or enliven your understanding and enrich your experience. I've been doing lots of research into this area over the past year and am excited to be able to share some of the things I've learned in this unique format. I'm hoping it will be a helpful and encouraging resource for those that attend!
For more information about how to register for the webinar and what topics we'll cover, please head over to Learning How to Live. Also, feel free to comment here with any questions you might have and I'll try to fit them into my talk!
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On a related note (although this really was just a coincidence in timing!): I finally have all my scanning and filing for the year finished and am ready to share all of our term exams. So I'll be doing that over the next couple days, first for Year 5 and then for Form I.
If you're not interested in exams, bear with me while I get these couple posts up and into my archives. I promise I'll move on to new topics next week. ;) (And if you are, then lots of examples to come!)
Coming up after that, I have some posts for this month already ready and waiting in my drafts folder: What We're Reading for May, our Morning Basket plans from the last term of the year, spring nature study notes, a description of how we do Summer School, and more about our homeschool community's Shakespeare Festival.
Coming up after that, I have some posts for this month already ready and waiting in my drafts folder: What We're Reading for May, our Morning Basket plans from the last term of the year, spring nature study notes, a description of how we do Summer School, and more about our homeschool community's Shakespeare Festival.
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On to other topics: my allergies have been in attack mode and our family has caught every cold going around this spring, but other than that, it has been a pleasant few weeks: we got to the beach last week, I completed the seasonal clothing switch-out and lived to tell the tale, we celebrated Xavier's 7th birthday, and I finally got some plans for summer break worked out.
What are you up to this month?
Happy Monday!
I look forward to listening to your podcast at The Mason Jar! We're doing term exams this week for Year 3. It's going really well! I'm also already in planning mode for Year 4! We've got two big jumps for Year 4: One, the addition of Plutarch and Shakespeare that Year 4 adds, plus beginning written narrations. And two, more independent reading...which means more pre-reading for me. So I am getting ready to start on the pre-reading in the next few days so that I have extra time to get things prepared ahead of time for Year 4. My goal is to get as much pre-read as possible before we start Year 4. :) Plus, with this change from Year 3 to Year 4, our school routine will change some since my daughter will be moving to more independent work. So I'm working on a new format for an independent schedule plus my own schedule to work from for both her independent work and the work we do together.
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Yes, I found that a lot of foresight in thinking through how those transitions might go so that I could tweak our schedule accordingly helped a lot in that step from Year 3 to 4. I mean, I have to make changes to our schedule every year, but that particular move to more independent work required a bit more out of me to make sense of the changes in our routine. I hope your planning goes smoothly! I haven't gotten to plan in earnest yet but I'm embarking on that this coming week! :) Thanks for stopping by, Karen!
DeleteThanks Celeste! And I hope your planning goes smoothly as well as you get ready to begin that this coming week.
DeleteKaren
Celeste, you're amazing!
ReplyDeleteThe webinar sounds amazing! I came by to say hi and that I had to catch my breath after reading your updates!!!! Wow, you have lots going on! As always, thanks for sharing what goes on your homeschool, it's an amazing inspiration and I've learned a lot from you! And happy birthday to your son! My oldest is turning 7 this summer, so exciting! With God's grace this May our family will start a new chapter in our lives as the sale of our apartment is completed and we keep hunting for a new home!
ReplyDeleteMariana, that's so exciting! We moved into this home almost six years ago, and it has been the longest we have ever lived in a place by far -- we moved every year or two years before that. I am so happy to be settled and not to have to pack and move (especially while pregnant, which I seemed to be EVERY time!), BUT I miss the excitement of somewhere new a tiny bit. ;) To have a home sold certainly IS exciting, though, and I wish you all the best in your house hunt!
DeleteThanks for your kind words!