Morning Basket 2016-2017 :: Terms 2 and 3

First, a note: I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family. Even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: one done over breakfast, and the rest done at the end of our Naptime School block and into lunchtime. Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we have done it for the past few years, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, you can read about how we structure it and prior selections.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for Terms 2 and 3 of this year:

Over Breakfast

Italian (daily) - The school-aged kids and I cover new concepts and hands-on games during naptime, but we usually do our Italian memory work and simple conversation practice with the littles around:
:: Rhymes - "Settimana dei Fiori" and "I dodici mesi" from Filastrocche Italiane Volume 1 and Volume 2
:: Songs - "Santa Lucia" from Teach Me Everyday Italian 

:: Series - centered on the days of the week, learned it and then learned it in past tense (our first foray!)

Poetry - one poem from each of our poets for the terms, Longfellow and Whittier for Year 5 and Christina Rossetti and Eugene Field for Form I (daily)

Short Readings - from a couple of the following:
:: The Gospel of St. Matthew from the Douay-Rheims Bible (roughly a chapter a week), paired with The Glorious Impossible for Lent and Easter
:: Old Testament stories from Schuster's Bible History (one per week)
:: Illustrations for the Old Testament Stories: The Dore Illustrations, The Raphael Bible, and Stories from the Old Testament (tied in to the OT story from that week)
:: Seasonal Reading: The Christmas Rose, The Way to Bethlehem and A Wreath of Christmas Legends (for Advent and Christmas) and "Lent for Children: a Thought a Day" (for Lent)
:: Lang's Book of Saints and Heroes (a bit a week)
:: Long's Home Geography for the Primary Grades (1-2 chapters a week)
:: Father Lovasik's Catechism in Stories (a couple a week)

Read-Aloud - With any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: Pinocchio, The King of the Golden River, and the second half of Pyle's The Wonder Clock.

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as time spent on our current selections:
:: Hymns - On This Day, Jesus My Lord My God My All
:: Folk Songs - When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Ol' Dan Tucker, Battle Cry of Freedom (Union and Southern versions)
:: Bible - The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14)
:: Prayers - Pardon Prayer and Angel's Prayer from the apparitions at Fatima
:: Poetry - Rudyard Kipling's "If" (Vincent), Whittier's "Inscription for Preston Park, CO" (Vincent), Whittier's "Eva" (Gianna), Whittier's "Angel of Mercy" (Gianna), Longfellow's "Excelsior" (Gianna), Rossetti's "What Does the Donkey Bray About?" (Xavier), Field's "Little Boy Blue" (Xavier), "Minnie and Mattie" (Cate), Field's "Garden and Cradle" (Cate) 
:: Shakespeare - Twelfth Night 1.5for a performance with our homeschool group

Family Riches - roughly one of the following each day:

 :: Nature journaling lesson with The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling (once weekly) - read a section together and choose a challenge for that week.

:: Picture Study on Giotto for Term 2 and Winslow Homer for Term 3 (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch or tableau, along with a reading from Hillyer's Child's History of Art and Amy Steedman's Knights of Art the first week.

:: Music Study on Tchaikovsky for Term 2 and Dvorak for Term 3 as listed on AO (once weekly) - including attentive listening and discussion. I pulled a few lessons from How to Introduce Your Child to Classical Music in 52 Easy Lessons and we listened to The Story of Tchaikovsky and The Story of Dvorak as introduction.

:: Shakespeare - Twelfth Night for Term 2 and Macbeth for Term 3, first in Lambs' Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, then along with Arkangel Shakespeare, then to see it performed at a local theater.

I think I am finally all caught up with our school plans from this past year!  I'll be on to Summer School plans next week.

Morning Basket 2016-2017 :: Term 1

First, a note: I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family. Even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: one done over breakfast, and the rest done at the end of our Naptime School block and into lunchtime. Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we have done it for the past few years, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, you can read about how we structure it and prior selections.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for Term 1 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Italian (daily) - The school-aged kids and I cover new concepts and hands-on games during naptime, but we usually do our Italian memory work and simple conversation practice with the littles around:
:: Rhymes - "La Vispa Teresa," "Filastrocca dei Mesi," and "Lucciola" from Filastrocche Italiane Volume 1 and Volume 2
:: Songs - "Nella Vecchia Fattoria" and "Girogirotondo" from Teach Me Everyday Italian (littles didn't know these yet)

:: Series -  Big Kids taught the littles one of our previous series: "I have breakfast"

Poetry - one poem from each of our poets for the term, Rudyard Kipling for Year 5 and Walter de la Mare for Form I (daily)

Short Readings - from a couple of the following:
:: The Gospel of St. Matthew from the Douay-Rheims Bible (roughly a chapter a week)
:: Old Testament stories from Schuster's Bible History (one per week)
:: Illustrations for the Old Testament Stories: The Dore Illustrations, The Raphael Bible, and Stories from the Old Testament (tied in to the OT story from that week)
:: Dangerous Journey (a bit a week)
:: Lang's Book of Saints and Heroes (a bit a week)
:: Long's Home Geography for the Primary Grades (1-2 chapters a week)
:: Father Lovasik's Catechism in Stories (a couple a week)

Read-Aloud - With any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch or Pinocchio.

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as time spent on our current selections:
:: Hymns - Bring Flowers of the Fairest, Fairest Lord Jesus, St. Michael Prayer in Chant
:: Folk Songs - Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Blow the Man Down, Jamaica Farewell
:: Bible - The Parable of the Good Shepherd (Luke 15:3-10)
:: Prayers - the Words of Consecration; Acts of Faith, Hope, and Love
:: Poetry - Walter de la Mare's "Someone" (Cate), "The Horseman" (Xavier), and "Trees" (Vincent), AA Milne's "Sneezles" (Gianna)
:: Shakespeare - The Winter's Tale 5.1 for a performance with our homeschool group

Family Riches - roughly one of the following each day:

 :: Nature journaling lesson with The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling (once weekly) - read a section together and choose a challenge for that week.

:: Picture Study on Jacques-Louis David (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch or tableau, along with a reading from Hillyer's Child's History of Art the first week.

:: Music Study on Children's Classics as listed on AO (once weekly) - including attentive listening and discussion.

:: Shakespeare - A Comedy of Errors, first in Lambs' Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, then along with Arkangel Shakespeare, then to see it performed at a local theater.

Our Summer Schedule :: 2016

Let's talk a bit about summer school!  We are not year-round schoolers, but we do arrange a bit of schoolwork into a light summer term each year.

Our summer vacation runs from the beginning of April through the beginning of July.  This shifted school calendar originally began when my Big Kids were in Year 1; I had a baby due in September and wanted to get a head start on our school year in case I needed to take time off.  Since then, I have had a baby due in April and a baby due in May, and both times I was grateful to be finished with our year before their arrival.  This past year, I had a baby in November, and we were several weeks into Term 2 before he arrived, which made the rest of our school year much easier.  All that to say: our adjusted schedule is mostly baby-related and specific to our family's crazy needs. :)

But since then, I've uncovered enough good reasons for our family that I didn't expect:

:: We start up the year when there are no outside activities, so we aren't starting everything new at once.  Piano and art lessons pick back up when we're already adjusted to the new routine and have ironed out the kinks in our lessons.

:: There is a lot of margin in our year's plans.  You moms schooling with littles know that margins and flexibility are absolutely essential when you're managing babies and toddlers alongside your homeschool.  I have had a new baby just about every year I have been schooling!  That means I like to allow myself LOTS of margin time.  I like to know that I can take as much time as I need and not feel the pressure of finishing before the next school year rolls around.

:: Similarly, if I have to take off for illness, family visit, some difficulty, or a particularly busy week of outside activities, I know I have that wiggle room and can take as much time as needed stress-and-guilt-free.

:: I start my school planning before our charter school's year ends, so I have time to order next year's necessities while I still have funds available.

:: We can do day trips and vacations when the beaches aren't crowded.

:: And for my own mental well-being: I like to feel like I'm "ahead."  When everyone else hits the February blahs, we're looking at the last half of our last term and I'm getting year-end exams ready and considering "summer" plans!  This is one way I de-stress our years.  It's totally a mental game (we still school for just as long as everyone else!) but it works for me.

Obviously there are some cons too, but so far this is working for us!

~~~

So that's the why.  Here's the what!  First, our Morning Basket:

Our Morning Basket continues during the summer with some books we didn't have a chance to get to during the school year.  Here's what's on our shelf right now:

:: Poetry - The Golden Treasury of Poetry, A Small Child's Book of Verse, A Child's Book of Poems, The Jessie Wilcox Mother Goose (not pictured)
:: Religion - Leading the Little Ones to Mary (finishing up), The King of the Golden City (we have the oop edition put out by CHC, I believe -- the one is the same but doesn't have illustrations), the Bible (we like the Douay-Rheims)
:: Nature Study - The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling, The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, Botany in a Day, The Big Book of Animals Every Child Should Know
:: Folk Songs - The Battle of the Kegs
:: Stories - My Naughty Little Sister, The Big Alfie Out-of-Doors Storybook, Pinocchio, Kindergarten Gems (I'm aiming this read-aloud slot at my littles.  We save the books aimed at the Big Kids for naptime and audiobooks in the car.)

~~~

I also printed out a simple weekly checklist for my Big Kids.  As usual, in addition to daily piano practice and chores, they spend a bit of time each day (about 30-45 minutes) working toward these weekly tasks:

:: Math. Currently the Big Kids do three days of math a week, each session taking about 20 minutes.  One day, they do a lesson from RightStart Level G (their hands-on geometry drawing program).  One day they do a page from Math Olympiad (this is a new addition to our schedule and they love it!).  And one day they work from their current math book, Jacobs' Algebra.  (Cate also does some math, but with me.  We aim for a RightStart lesson twice a week.)  Including math through the summer is what allows us to do math 3-4 times a week during the school year with no guilt. ;)

:: Map drill.  They choose a region they have already learned to quiz themselves on by filling out a blank map.  Then they check their work and make note of any errors to keep in mind for next time.

:: Italian.  They play an Italian game twice a week together with their younger siblings, and once a week I also give my Big Kids a short written activity to complete.

:: Latin and Grammar.  They do one exercise from Getting Started with Latin and one from Winston's Grammar a week.  (Gianna moved ahead in grammar and finished the next couple months of lessons, so she actually doesn't have that on her list for summer.)

:: Free reading.  The kids asked if we could do some scheduled free reads like we do during the school year.  So we're doing Anne of Green Gables (three chapters a week) and books from the One Small Square series (their choice, a few pages a week).  We're also continuing our Sunday reading from this past school year, Treasure and Tradition.

:: Penmanship.  Once a week, they spend ten minutes with their Prose and Poetry Notebooks.

:: Typing.  We used Typing Club this past year, and I'm now letting them work on their typing speed for ten minutes a week.

:: Recitation.  This is something we do together.  We review the memory work we have already learned in a once-weekly session, usually while driving to the beach. ;)  At the beginning of the summer, I move everything from the daily, weekly, and even/odd notes to day-of-the-month notes for ease of use.  Then I open up Evernote and go through our Memory Work "notebook" for the dates of each week all at one time.  So for example, on last week's drive to the aquarium, we reviewed all the memory work for the 23rd through the 29th (that whole week).  We aren't learning anything new -- just keeping those items fresh.  And enjoying them! :)

~~~

So that's the school-ish stuff.  But of course our plans involve lots of summertime fun too!  The rest of their day is free time, which they spend in a variety of ways...

Audiobooks + Legos.  Almost every day at naptime, I start an audiobook and my oldest four play with Legos for a couple hours while I tend to the baby and listen in.  If he ends up falling asleep too (not often but occasionally), I even get to lie down with a book! :)

Chess.  Gianna gets out the chess book and sets up the various exercises for herself.  I'm not entirely sure that it's helping her chess game, but she enjoys it!

Time outside.  I'm sprucing up the backyard this week with new toys

Outings.  I'm not a big outing person, so I choose when we leave the house pretty selectively.  But based on my kids' request, we've got going a weekly park day and a weekly nature study outing (both with friends) and a weekly trip to the beach (with Daddy).

Shakespeare.  Since seeing The Winter's Tale last month, the kids have been memorizing bits of scenes, casting parts, and thinking about how they would stage it all.  I have a feeling there will be some performances here over the next couple months!

Writing stories.  Gianna has two stories in the works: "Charity, the Duke's Daughter" and "A Gift for George Washington."  She dutifully writes every day. :)

Handicrafts.  They are still busy with origami (last year's handicraft focus), and Gianna has been digging into Fun with Paper.  Summer always means more opportunities for the girls to cook, and the boys have been busy with beeswax.  Handicrafts is one of my weak points, so I usually take the summer to ease into something they can then continue into the coming year (with an eye toward handmade Christmas presents too).  This summer, we'll be doing some felting kits they got for Easter and I hope we'll continue felting through school year.  (Wish me luck because I don't know what I'm doing! LOL)

And lots of drawing and reading, of course!

~~~

And what's Mommy got going on this summer?  I always make for myself way too many a few goals, some fun and some necessary.  

:: Develop a simple programme for The Laws' Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling.  I want to use this in our home to its full potential, so I'm breaking the book into reading assignments and accompanying challenges.

:: Work on some calligraphy -- alongside Gianna!

:: Read.  I have a few monthly live online discussions I'm hoping to keep up with this summer, including a new one on CM's Volume 2 and one on Circe's Restful Teaching video series. Our local study group is reading through When Children Love to Learn, and some friends and I have a monthly fiction book club too. And I've got some book goals of my own: The Story of Charlotte Mason and some novels.  And some pre-reading!  All good stuff.

:: Run. Trying to improve my time for a race I'm planning to run this fall. (Not aiming for anything remarkable -- just hoping to increase my current pace which has not bounced back since Justin arrived!)

:: Mount wildflowers. I have a backlog of pressed wildflowers to add to our collection.

:: Blog projects. I've got a whole list of posts in progress that I would love to start ticking off and getting up here!

:: Get Italian materials ready for next year.  I also want to reorganize the way I store my Italian supplies and preview some written resources for the Big Kids.

:: Re-read Nurture by Nature as I consider my kids' "types" and the best way to present this coming school year to them. (I did this last summer too.)  Managing all the personalities in my home requires me to be constantly mindful and I consider it one of my biggest challenges. This book has been a help!  It pegged my most difficult child to a T. ;)
:: And plan our coming school year, probably the most important task of all!  I've got Years 5, 2, and 1 next year.  Thankfully AmblesideOnline does most of the work for me, but I still have a lot of prep work ahead of me if I want our days to run on smooth rails this fall.

And if you'd like to see our plans from the past, here's last year's and the year before's.  (You'll note they look very similar. :))

What are you up to this summer?

Morning Basket 2015-2016 :: Term 3

First, a note: I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family, even with the littles. Even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: one done over breakfast, and the rest done at the end of our Naptime School block. Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we have done it for the past few years, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, you can read about how we structure it and prior selections.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for Term 3 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Calendar Work - in English and Italian (daily)

Poetry - one poem from each of our poets for the term, William Wordsworth for Year 4 and A.A. Milne for Year 1 (daily)

Short Reading - from a couple of the following:
:: Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World (two chapters per week)
:: Flos Sanctorum (verses for the week based on the liturgical year)
:: The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (one section per week)
:: Amy Steedman's Legends of Italy (one chapter per week)
:: Amy Steedman's Read-Aloud Book of Bible Stories (New Testament chapters)
:: The Epistle of St. Timothy from the Douay-Rheims Bible (bit by bit)
:: Family in Feast and Feria's "Lent for Children: A Thought a Day" (daily)

Extra Religion Reading - Since Cate is in the last few months of sacramental preparation, I'm doing some extra reading from her "First Communion shelf" a couple times a week during Morning Basket, particularly of the books that will interest the little kids also: Mother Loyola's The King of the Golden City and Leading Little Ones to Mary.

Read-Aloud - With any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: Gone-Away Lake and Reb and the Redcoats.

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as time spent on our current selections:
:: Hymns - Dear Guardian of Mary, Adoremus Te Christe, On This Day, Bring Flowers of the Fairest
:: Folk Songs - O Dear What Can The Matter Be, Billy Boy, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Come Along Little Dogeys
:: Bible - ongoing memorization of The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17)
:: Prayers - Apostles' Creed in Latin (just reviewing), the Words of Consecration (in Latin and English), the prayers of the Divine Mercy chaplet
:: Poetry - For Cate, AA Milne's "Halfway Up" and more of choice; For the Big Kids, Wordsworth's "Daffodils" and "To a Skylark" and more of choice
:: Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream 5.1 (Theseus' "Lovers and madmen" speech), The Winter's Tale 4.3.1-4 (Autolycus on spring) and 4.4.446-448 (Perdita on "the self-same sun")

We move on to a new selection once we have the previous selection memorized rather than on a regular schedule, so our plans are just that--plans.  I update our Memory Work index with the ones we cover as we go along.

Italian Memory Work (daily) - The older three and I cover new concepts, games, and conversation during naptime, but we usually do our Italian memory work with the littles around:
:: Rhymes - "Pin pin cavallin" and "La Vispa Teresa" from Filastrocche Italiane
:: Songs - "Tu canterai" and "Cosi fan" from Teach Me Everyday Italian
:: Series - "I can do many things" ...and another series TBD ;)

Picture Study on John William Waterhouse (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch

Music Study on Palestrina (once weekly) - including attentive listening and discussion

Morning Basket 2015-2016 :: Term 2

First, a note: I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family, even with the littles. Even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: one done over breakfast, and the rest done at the end of our Naptime School block.  Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we have done it for the past few years, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, you can read about how we structure it and prior selections.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for Term 2 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Calendar Work - in English and Italian (daily)

Poetry - a poem from our poets for the term, Emily Dickinson for Year 4 and A.A. Milne for Year 1 (daily)

Short Reading - from one or more of the following:
:: Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World (two chapters per week)
:: Hillyer's A Child's History of Art (section on Corot)
:: Flos Sanctorum (verses for the week based on the liturgical year)
:: The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (one section per week)
:: Amy Steedman's Legends of Italy (one chapter per week)
:: Amy Steedman's Read-Aloud Book of Bible Stories (New Testament chapters)
:: The Epistle of St. James from the Douay-Rheims Bible (bit by bit)

Read-Aloud - with any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: Speare's The Sign of the Beaver and Moody's Little Britches.

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as time spent on our current selections:
:: Hymns - Dona Nobis Pacem (finishing up); St. Michael Prayer in chant; Veni Veni Emmanuel; Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
:: Folk Songs - The Ballad of Davy Crockett (finishing up); Red River Valley; Lavender's Blue
:: Bible - ongoing memorization of The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17), continuation of the infancy narrative from Luke 2 from last year
:: Prayers - O St. Joseph (finishing up); Apostles' Creed in Latin (just reviewing)
:: Poetry - For Cate, Stevenson's "The Cow" and poems of choice from Milne; For the Big Kids, "Evening, "The Book," "Summer Shower," and poems of choice from Dickinson
:: Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream 2.1 (Oberon's "I know a bank" speech)

We move on to a new selection once we have the previous selection memorized rather than on a regular schedule, so our plans are just that--plans.  I update our Memory Work index with the ones we cover as we go along.

Italian Memory Work (daily) - The older three and I cover new concepts, games, and conversation during naptime, but we usually do our Italian memory work with the littles around:
:: Rhymes - "I dodici mesi" from Filastrocche Italiane
:: Songs - "Silent Night" and "Jingle Bells" from Teach Me Everyday Italian
:: Series - "I am an active boy/girl!"

Picture Study on Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch
:: Chartres Cathedral, 1830
:: A View Near Volterra, 1838
:: The Eel Gatherers, 1860-5
:: Orpheus Leading Eurydice, 1861
:: Man in Armour, 1868-1870 and The Letter, 1865
:: The Bridge at Nantes, 1868-1870
(very similar to AO's Corot selections)

Music Study on Franz Schubert (once weekly) - including attentive listening and discussion
:: Piano Quintet in A
:: Symphony No. 8
:: Ave Maria
:: Der Erlkoning and Heidenroslein
:: Die schone Mullerin
:: Symphony No. 9
(very similar to AO's Schubert selections)

Morning Basket 2015-2016 :: Term 1

First, a note: I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family, even with the littles. Even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: one done over breakfast, and the rest done at the end of our Naptime School block.  Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we have done it for the past few years, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, you can read about how we structure it and prior selections.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for Term 1 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Calendar Work - in English and Italian (daily)

Poetry - a poem from our poets for the term, Alfred Lord Tennyson for Year 4 and Robert Louis Stevenson for Year 1 (daily)

Short Reading - from one of the following:
:: Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World (two chapers per week)
:: Sybil Deucher's The Young Brahms (a bit per week)
:: Hillyer's A Child's History of Art (section on Velazquez)
:: Flos Sanctorum (verses for the week based on the liturgical year)
:: The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (one section per week)
:: Amy Steedman's Legends of Italy (one chapter per week)

Read-Aloud - with any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: Speare's The Sign of the Beaver, Burnett's The Secret Garden (on audio), or Trevor's Sun Slower Sun Faster

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as our current selections:
:: Hymns - Veni Creator Spiritus; Dona Nobis Pacem; O Sacred Heart, O Love Divine; St. Michael Prayer in chant
:: Folk Song - Scarborough Fair; The Ballad of Davy Crockett; Red River Valley; Michael, Michael, Michael of the Morning
:: Bible - The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17), The Salt and Light Discourse (Matthew 5:13-16)
:: Prayers - Confiteor in Latin, Nicene Creed in Latin
:: Poetry - Tennyson's "Sweet and Low," "Crossing the Bar," "Will," "Early Spring"; Stevenson's "Rain" and "At the Sea-Side"
:: Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing 5.1.215-219 and 2.3.205-end of soliloquy
:: Bird Calls - California Quail, Belted Kingfisher (we didn't finish these last year)

We move on to a new selection once we have the previous selection memorized rather than on a regular schedule, so our plans are just that--plans.  I'll update our Memory Work index with the ones we cover.

Italian Memory Work (daily) - The older three and I cover new concepts, games, and conversation during naptime, but we usually do our Italian memory work with the littles around:
:: Rhymes - "La bella lavanderia" from Filastrocche Italiane
:: Songs - "Tu canterai, "Cosi fan," "Giro giro tondo" from Teach Me Everyday Italian
:: Series - "I do something every day"

Picture Study on Diego Velazquez (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch
:: Old Woman Frying Eggs, 1618
:: Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, 1618
:: Juan de Pareja, 1630
:: Christ Contemplated by the Christian Soul, 1628
:: Aesop, 1639
:: Las Meninas, 1656

Music Study on Johannes Brahms (once weekly) - including attentive listening and discussion
:: Hungarian Dance No. 5 (four weeks)
:: Lullaby (2 weeks)
:: Piano Concerto No. 1 (2 weeks)
:: Variations on Haydn (2 weeks)
:: Violin Concerto in D (2 weeks)

Third Grade in Our Home :: Morning Basket, Term 3

First, a note: I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family, with the littles. Even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: one done over breakfast, and one done at the end of our Naptime School block.  Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we did it last year, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, feel free to click over to read more.  ~~ You can read about our Morning Basket for Term 1 and Term 2 of this year.

We finished a few books this past term that we have been working on since the beginning of our school year back in July:

:: Thomas Tapper's Music Talks for Children

:: Benson's A Child's Rule of Life and An Alphabet of Saints

:: Kingsley's The Water Babies

:: MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind

I added a couple new ones to our rotation, but I'm also leaving a couple empty slots because I'll be adding in some Lenten reading shortly.  So we'll have a slightly lighter schedule until Ash Wednesday, which is just a few weeks away.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for Term 3 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Calendar Work - in English and Italian (daily)

Poetry - a poem from our poet for the term, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (daily)

Short Reading - from one of the following:

:: the Kirbys' The World at Home (two chapers per week)

:: Opal Wheeler's Handel (a chapter per week)

:: Pilgrim's Progress (a short section per week, following the AO 72-week rotation)

Read-Aloud - with any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: Crossbows and Crucifixes, The Wheel on the School, and The Little Prince

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as our current selections:

:: Hymns - "Attende Domine," "Stabat Mater," and "Bring Flowers of the Fairest"

:: Folk Song - "Highland Mary" (finishing from Term 2), "Pull for the Shore," "Golden Years are Passing By"

:: Bible - The Parable of the Good Samaritan (finishing from Term 2), Matthew 5:13-16

:: Prayers - The Divine Praises and St. Alphonsus' Night Prayer

:: Poetry - Longfellow's "The Tide Rises," "The Arrow and the Song," "Snow-Flakes," and "A Day of Sunshine"

:: Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing 4.1.216-221, Hamlet 1.3.76-81

:: Bird Calls - California Quail, Belted Kingfisher

We move on to a new selection once we have the previous selection memorized rather than on a regular schedule, so our plans are just that--plans.  I'll update our Memory Work index with the ones we cover.

Italian Memory Work (daily) - The older three and I cover new concepts, games, and conversation at a different time of the day, but we do our Italian memory work with the littles:

(We took a bit longer on the previous unit than I expected, so we're still working on several from last term.)

:: Rhymes - "La bella lavanderia" from Filastrocche Italiane

:: Songs - "Tu canterai, "Cosi fan," "Giro giro tondo" from Teach Me Everyday Italian

:: Series - "I do something every day"

Picture Study on Georgia O'Keeffe (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch

:: Landscapes: Canyon with Crows, 1917

:: More Landscapes: Cliffs Beyond Abiquiu--Dry Waterfall, 1943

:: Flowers in Black and White: Black Hollycock, Blue Larkspur, 1930 and The White Trumpet Flower, 1932

:: Flowers in Color: Red Poppy, 1927

:: Bones: Summer Days, 1936

:: Abstract: Music--Pink and Blue II

Music Study on Handel (once weekly) - including attentive listening and discussion

:: Water Music (four weeks)

:: Royal Fireworks Music (four weeks)

:: The Harmonious Blacksmith (one week)

:: Zadok the Priest (one week)

:: Messiah (two weeks)

Third Grade in Our Home :: The Morning Basket, Advent

School usually doesn't look much different here during Advent.  I plan to continue schoolwork up until Christmas week since we like to save our time off for after Christmas, when the liturgical season of Christmas properly begins.  Our break lasts through Epiphany (the "Twelve Days of Christmas") and beyond.  

We do focus our art and handicrafts during Advent on Christmas projects--decorations, baking, and gifts--and of course we prepare in many ways as a family: our Advent wreath, seasonal devotions in the evenings, and more.  There are lots of special feast days in December that we focus on as a family too.  But school-wise, we just continue along with our usual readings and assignments.

The place where I do make a few shifts is in our Morning Basket, which takes on some Advent additions:

Poetry - We will be reading through some of Christina Rossetti's liturgical poems, just as we did during Lent and Easter.  I hope to share a few here too.

Readings - We alternate our poetry reading with Inos Biffi's The Way to Bethlehem.  For the final week of Advent, often called the "Golden Nights," we will be reading from Jenn's lovely O Antiphon Companion over breakfast.

Prayers - As I have every year since becoming a Catholic, we will be doing the St. Andrew novena together.  And I have a baby named Andrew this year!  So St. Andrew's feast coming up this Sunday is all the more special for our family.  Last year I created a printable prayer card for the St. Andrew novena prayer.  Feel free to download for use with your families and friends.

Memory Work - We choose memory work each year that will form part of the children's annual Christmas program for the grandparents.  This is such a fun tradition in our family, dating back to when my mother and her cousins used to sing and recite for my great-grandparents as a little girl. 

This year they'll be working on the following:

 :: Christina Rossetti's "Love Came Down at Christmas" and "Christmas Hath Darkness"

 :: Luke 2:6-12 (we did 2:1-5 last year, and we will continue adding a bit each year until we learn through verse 20)

 :: "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

 :: "Adeste Fidelis"

 :: "Angels We Have Heard on High"

 Italian - And I'm excited to add in some Italian Advent work this year!  Grandma gave the children this Italian CD of Christmas songs last year, so they'll be listening and singing along, and perhaps their Christmas program will include some Italian this year. :)

Advent begins this Sunday!  Time to pull out the Advent wreath, the felt nativity, the prayer cards, and all the rest.  Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Third Grade in Our Home :: Morning Basket, Term 2

First, a note: Just as in the past, I use the term "Morning Basket" to refer to all the work we do together as a family, with the littles. But even though I call it Morning Basket for organizational purposes, it is really broken up into two parts: that which is done over breakfast, and that which is done at the end of our Naptime School block.  Our Morning Basket is still very much the same as we did it last year, so if you'd like to read more specifics about how it works for us, feel free to click over to read more.  ~~ You can read about our Morning Basket for Term 1 here.

A look at our Morning Basket plans for this Term 2 of this year...

Over Breakfast

Calendar Work - in English and Italian (daily)

Poetry - a poem daily from our poet for the term, Sara Teasdale (daily)

Short Reading - from one of the following:

:: Thomas Tapper's Music Talks for Children (one chapter per week)

:: the Kirbys' The World at Home (two chapers per week)

:: Benson's A Child's Rule of Life (one page per week)

:: Benson's An Alphabet of Saints (one page per week)

:: "Fra Angelico" from Steedman's Knights of Art (a bit per week)
:: "An Angel-Like Brother" from Hillyer's A Child's History of Art (after finishing the Steedman)

:: Opal Wheeler's Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland, Early Years and Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland, Later Years (a chapter per week)

I chose these for our Morning Basket work rather scheduling them during Naptime School for several reasons: they're all short readings, have general appeal, and are not narrated.

Read-Aloud - with any breakfast time I have left before the babies start fussing, I read from one of our scheduled read-alouds: The Water Babies or At the Back of the North Wind.

In the Afternoon

Memory Work (daily) - includes review of that day's items from our memory "notebook" as well as our current selections:

:: Hymns - "Holy Holy Holy" and "Panis Angelicus"

:: Folk Song - "Barbara Allen," "Home Sweet Home," and "Highland Mary"

:: Bible - The Parable of the Good Samaritan

:: Prayers - Cardinal Newman's Prayer for a Happy Death and St. Alphonsus' Night Prayer

:: Poetry - William Blake's "Tyger," Sara Teasdale's "The Ballad of Two Knights," "The Faery Forest," "Rhyme of November Stars," "Thoughts"

:: Shakespeare - The Taming of the Shrew 2.1.168-180

:: Bird Calls - House Finch, Red-Winged Blackbird, Killdeer

We move on to a new selection once we have the previous selection memorized rather than on a regular schedule, so our plans are just that--plans.  We may end up doing more than just these.  I'll update our Memory Work index with the ones we cover.

And this year, we're combining Memory Work and Movement, so while we're reviewing our previous selections, the kids are doing jumping jacks, situps, pushups, burpees, and dancing.  It's been a happy marriage of activities for us so far--and it keeps the littles busy.

Italian Memory Work (daily) - The older three and I cover new concepts, games, and conversation at a different time of the day, but we do our Italian memory work with the littles:

:: Rhymes - "La bella lavanderia" and "Giro giro tondo" from Filastrocche Italiane

:: Songs - "Tu canterai, "Cosi fan," "Giro giro tondo" from Teach Me Everyday Italian

:: Series - "I do something every day"

Picture Study on Fra Angelico (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, alternating between observation/narration and a picture sketch

:: The Last Judgement, 1432-1435

:: Transfiguration of Christ, 1437-1446

:: The Madonna with Saints, 1438-1443

:: The Deposition from the Cross, 1443

:: The Annunciation, 1450

:: Adoration of the Magi, 1445

Music Study on Frederick Chopin (once weekly) - two weeks for each piece, including attentive listening and discussion

:: Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64, No. 1 - Minute Waltz

:: Piano Concerto No. 2 Movement 3 - Funeral March

:: Piano Concerto No. 1

:: Waltz in E-flat major - Grande valse brillante

:: Prelude No. 4 in E Minor

:: Op 10 no 12 Revolutionary Etude in C minor