Raising Saints & Martyrs

Our Homeschool Year in Review:

2018 - 2019

Remember how I was all into classical education and nothing would be a better fit for my family? Yeah? Well, I still love classical education. I love the concept of the Trivium and Quadrivium, but I would definitely add in the concept of primary school to the set. 

We hit the ground running -- strong start

I spent a lot of last summer talking with the director at our local Highland Latin School. Basically a really organized co-op (actually...this is just what I thought it would be). I took the leap and enrolled the two littles; first grade and pre-kindergarten. I will be honest, pre-k was only my radar because I was planning to teach and needed both littles in one place. Weekly lesson plans made life easy, but the weekly classes kept us right on track. The kids made some friends...I did have my reservations because I really prefer to keep my littles surrounded by Catholics and we were one of TWO Catholic families in the school. Of course...I knew this was going to be an issue when I opted to pass on the Catholic co-op. I just knew right away that Memoria Press was it. It was everything.

The teens went another route, of course. Bear used Moving Beyond the Page again and hit the ground running (until the wall that is Abigail Adams), while Boo jumped full force into Kolbe for her second year and it was a smash hit. 

Until it all broke down

HLS was...rough...okay, we will go with that, from the get-go. From week one we struggled, not with the curriculum or lessons, but with the actual co-op portion. I like organization, and our family tends to avoid co-ops; people tend to flake, or maybe not do any of the work at home, or the kids are totally out of control. These were all the case with this co-op, so I knew it was going to make me bananas all year long, but the kids loved it, so we stuck it out...until...the incident.

There were some very serious issues with safety, and I was forced to pull the kids right after New Year. I was upset and horrified. Our year was totally shot, and the director was totally unapologetic about all the issues (including one life-threatening one) until money was being lost. Weeks went by with lost schooling and sad kids. We did get back on track again, but it just wasn't the same. 

The older kids started to dawdle while I was hyper-focusing on the littles and trying to recreate the classroom environment in the house. Mistake. Huge mistake. I momentarily forgot why we homeschool. Time to shift gears...we Charlotte Mason-ed it for the remainder.

What Worked

1st Grade: Memoria Press was not a total wash, but there is a lot of workbook writing going on. Recitation was a total HIT. Once I got my hands on a decent recitation schedule so we weren't doing every single question every single day, it was actually something we looked forward to. Enrichment was an excellent beginning. We expanded on it by adding a project to the social studies aspect each week, which allowed for us to have a bit more fun. Cursive went well, and when Copywork shifted into cursive full-time, it went really well. It seems that cursive is a ton of fun for my growing girl. I did have my doubts because I tried really hard to use another program a few years ago and it was a total disaster. 

Geography was alright, we used the Kolbe geography plans for this year. In all, while I really did like the program, I fully recommend using it as a summer program due to the lower level of work involved. Baltimore Catechism was a smash! It follows along with the idea of recitation...we recited each individual question and answer each day following recitation. Because of how much Nani loves her recitation, this worked splendidly for our home.

8th Grade: My sweet Bear used a combination of Moving Beyond the Page and Kolbe. Both did fairly well. Language Arts, History, and Science all went well this year, so the entire lot of MBtP went relatively well (there were a few suck-ish books, but that is everywhere). The courses used for Kolbe were Latin and Religion. 

ASL went very well this year and is opening up to lead Bear into taking some college level courses for her next level of American Sign Language.

10th Grade: Boo opted to do another year of Kolbe this year. As a whole, the entire year went really smoothly. We did add in Traditional Logic II by Memoria Press, and it went very very well. Boo really enjoys that particular course and find it just the right amount of challenging. Aleks, as always, was a success and Boo is yet again requesting it for next year. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

What didn't work so well

Pre-Kindergarten: All of it. I don't even know where to start on this, well, recitation did go okay-ish. Overall, the program was, in my opinion, a total waste of money for my family. Everything in the pre-k package can be taught totally free of charge...the curriculum felt like it was a little over-the-top for this particular level.

1st Grade: Well...I will go from least of my issues to the biggest issue. Reading gave us some push back this year. Not because of the level of difficulty, but rather the fact that it takes three weeks to get through such a small book. It was totally exhausting for Nani, she did get really bored really fast. The books themselves were actually really good reads, and Nani did love reading them. Faith & Life...this was not a win for us. Neither myself nor Nani were thrilled with this particular set. We found it dry and well beyond dull. The absolute failure of the year was Rod & Staff math. I did give Memoria Press a pass on use R&S because they are not "technically" a Catholic company, but rather a non-denominational protestant company. Not a huge deal, but I did ignore my gut instinct in using it in our home. Mistake. 

Rod & Staff is a blatantly anti-Catholic curriculum. Because of this, and so sorry to Memoria Press, I do NOT recommend this curriculum. Overall, I loved the concept of drilling and mastery, but it was a total disaster for Nani. She enjoyed the pages, but the drill and kill did eventually get to her. She stalled out and we ended up switching back to Math-U-See.

8th Grade: The only class Bear really blah-ed out on was math. She just wasn't feeling Mobymax this year. I still recommend them, especially given the low cost, free if you want. My girl just didn't jive with it this go-round.

First, I am a classical educator  this means they will learn via classical books and the form of education the ancient Greeks used. A solid classical approach has heavy reading of age appropriate books. When the child is not at the level needed to read the books, read-alouds are  the perfect option (this will work well for anyone with the desire to be very involved in their child's education). After the consideration of a classical approach to religious education classes, I consider my books and how I will do it on my own. This is a key point.

My children us Kolbe Academy for religion courses. This makes my life so much easier since I don't need to create my own lesson plans for each child. The plans are basically open and go. I did take a list of the books to my priest for assurance that what I was using was my best option. My oldest child is taking Theology, so you can see why this matters so much. We do cross-reference theological questions with the Council of Trent just to ensure nothing has "changed" and that the work is being done in the true teachings of the Catholic church. Once my plans are in place, I go get additional readers. This year I managed to get my hands on a ton of books from Catholic Book Publishing. These will be used as read alouds for saints and the mass.

We do religious studies daily. This can be anywhere from religious education to Bible History. Four days a week are spent on Religion and one day is spent on Bible History. A story for each saint is read aloud each day, and we celebrate feast days as the come. Speaking of, how do we handle feast days, and how do we choose. Oh my...

Well, each confirmed person in this house has their Confirmation Saint, those would be: St. Maria Goretti, St. Bernadette, and St. Philomena. Each of those days is celebrated in their honor. Then we celebrate the obvious feast days: Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week (in general), Pentacost, Corpus Christi, the Assumption, St. Valentine, St. Patrick, St. Nicholas, and each year during Advent the children choose one saint each to work on and celebrate the following year. It really does become incorporated into our daily lives...and no one even notices.

Why? Why should we be asking children to copy other people's work in the classroom? Weren't we all taught plagiarism is bad? Well, yeah, if we planned to turn it in and pass it off as our own work. Plato, Socrates, Homer, Livy, recognize any of these names? If you do, it is because you either had a classical education, or are ensuring your children have one. These are all ancient writers whose words are still read to this very day. Aesop, Anderson, and various mythology stories all offer something so important to our children. These authors and these tales all teach our children how to tell their own stories. It only makes sense then, that our children would copy these works in an attempt to better learn how to not only tell, but to write, these same types of stories.

We don't just read books to say "I read Shakespeare in high school once;" we read to gain an understanding of how to write our own stories. Yes, we want our children to soak in the entire story and understand the plots and themes within them, but we also want our children to copy these so they can learn to write like the same masters we have them reading. You won't ever see the works of Stephanie Meyer in a classroom (I hope) because the writing is generic...like any other young adult novel in the area. The hope is, that by reading and copying Aesop, our children may grow up to be amazing story tellers like Tolkien or Rowling. 

How do we achieve this level of mastery in writing? Progymnasmata. A what now? That is exactly what I said when I saw that word the first time. The Progymnasmata is how the Ancient Greeks taught. It is based on the idea that copying and summarizing at increasing levels will create well educated adults. When you want to show your child how to write letters, you demonstrate it visually for them; this runs along the same thought process...demonstrations and mimicking. There are 14 levels in all, but have no fear, most writing curriculum manages to handle these steps well.

The students basically begin by retelling fables, then retelling short stories, and moving on to paraphrasing in writing, from there they move to the art of refuting an opposing point and making supporting arguments as well. From there students learn to write basic essays, and move on to writing more complex essays with better introductions and conclusions. By the end of all this work, a child should have no problem writing a college entrance essay, or maybe even begin drafting letters to their representatives for help on issues that matter to them (okay, this may be a personal wish, but it is definitely an option).

Does anyone actually offer a curriculum like this? Of course! Besides the multitude of Classical Education Centers throughout the US, there are also some homeschool options as well (and let's be real, that is what you wanted to know about). My first recommendation (as always) would be Memoria Press. I don't know a more well planned, and easy to use classical curriculum...plus, MP it totally Catholic friendly. There are a few others that offer this approach as well: Classical Writing and Writing & Rhetoric (I won't link to either as I have not used these and have no idea how Catholic safe they really are).

Next time your little one says copywork is too boring and she can't deal, remember that it is the gentle introduction to something so much bigger and so important...as an added bonus, she will hone her handwriting skills, and maybe even memorize a few amazing passages.

How I homeschool:

I am a Classical Education lover. I adore the liberal arts and fully feel they allow children to grow into solid and well-educated adults. I like a good solid Charlotte Mason approach where I can (and yes, CM is definitely Classical). 

We have a pretty set schedule. One day a week is set aside for religion, my children seem to enjoy doing religion reading in one day. They usually do this on Sundays. Yeah, yeah, I know Sundays are weekends, but isn't the day we attend mass ideal for religious education? So, there is that. Fridays are set aside for tests and quizzes. Finally, my youngest is now taking classes with Memoria Press Cottage School. 

This leads me into what curriculum I chose for this school year:

Pre-K: Jimmy is using Memoria Press Pre-K. He is using the full curriculum and may even do co-op with Nani. 

1st Grade: Memoria Press for phonics, spelling, enrichment, art, and music. Math-U-See Beta, and a lot of board games, little readers, and card games. I also added in geography from Kolbe Academy as well as religion from Kolbe. One saint will be the focus each week as well.

Both littles will also be using MP's Myself & Others program. We will run through two, or maybe even three, sets this year. 

8th Grade: Moving Beyond the Page is still name of the game for my Bear...science, history, and language arts are all included in this set. Totally secular, totally amazing. I am back and forth between Teaching Textbooks and Aleks for Algebra 1. Religion, Bible History, and grammar are all being done via Kolbe Academy. Latin is Second Form Latin by Memoria Press (I have yet to find a better program for Latin), Greek through Kolbe, and ASL is done online with Right Start ASL. For writing, Bear will be using IEW level B.

10th Grade: Kolbe Academy...classes include Ancient Roman History, Ancient Roman Lit, Honors Theology, Honors English, Honors Geometry, Honors Chemistry, and Latin II. French 1 is through BJU since Boo really likes the text approach. And finally, Memoria Press, Logic II.

Both bigs will be using

Daisies

Brownies

Juniors

Cadettes

Seniors

Ambassadors

Let's talk Daisies today...These would be most closely associated with Lion Scouts (a pilot program for Kindergartners) and Tiger Scouts.

Daisies begin with earning their Daisy, the center and ten petals.

How can I possibly link this to Boy Scouting? Simple. Cub Scouts, and the patches they must earn in order to move forward.

Daisy Center

The Bobcat Badge is the first award given to the Cub Scouts. It must be earned before any other badges will be awarded. It requires the Boy Scout laws and such to be learned, as does the center of the daisy.

Daisy Petals:

Lupe Petal 

Honest & Fair

Sunny Petal

Friendly & Helpful

Zinni Petal

Considerate & Caring

Tula Petal

Courageous & Strong

Mari Petal

Responsible for What I Say and Do

Gloria Petal

Respect Myself & Others

Gerri Petal

Respect Authority

Clover Petal

Use Resources Wisely

Rosie Petal

Make the World a Better Place

Vi Petal

Be a Sister to Every Girl Scout

Daisy Journeys:

It's your world - Change it

The Watering Can Award represents girls being ''responsible for what I say and do.'' Girls earn the award by caring for their mini-garden and beginning to understand how the Promise and Law play out in their daily lives. 

The Golden Honey Bee Award represents taking action through a gardening effort for others to make the world a better place

The Amazing Daisy Award represents knowing—and living—the Promise and Law

It's your planet - Love it

The Blue Bucket Award  Girls tell one another about their feelings and the feelings of those around them. Girls take part in role-playing activities that encourage them to resolve conflicts, negotiate, and be considerate to others. 

The Firefly Award  Think about and talk about their own skills and those of their sister Daisies. Choose a skill that they can teach others, either at home or in their community. 

The Clover Award Learn about and commit to protecting a natural treasure in their region. Educate and inspire others in their community to join with them to protect the local treasure, too.

It's your story - Tell it

Birdbath Award - Daisies learn to care for animals and for themselves 

Red Robin Award - Daisies use their new knowledge and creativity to teach others how to care for animals 

Tula Award - Daisies gain courage and confidence in teaching others about animal care.

Additional Daisy Badges

Robotics

Good Neighbor

Outdoor Buddy Camper

Outdoor Art Maker
Safety Award
My Promise My Faith
Cookie Sales
Financial Leaf for Cookies Awards

BSA Tiger Awards:

My Tiger Jungle

Equivalent to the Outdoor Buddy Camper Badge from GSUSA

Games Tigers Play

Equivalent to the Lupe Petal from GSUSA

Duty to God 

Available via Girl Scouts (not required to advance)

Team Tiger

Equivalent to the Blue Bucket Award and the Sunny Petal

Tiger Bites

Equivalent to Birdbath Award along with several council's own patches are available (this is covered as girls get older as well)

Tigers in the Wild

Equivalent to Outdoor Buddy Camper, Outdoor Art Maker, Watering Can Award, Golden Honey Bee Award, and the Red Robin Award cover this badge, and a lot more...

**The one thing BSA has that I encourage GSUSA as well as AHG to look into is a section on protecting children from abuse...they actually teach the children how to protect themselves**

BSA has announced plans to allow girls to join the ranks of the Boy Scouts of America. I won't lie, I was very intrigued at the thought, at first. I love the thought of girls having the option to do whatever the boys get to do. Girls have long been begging for a "real" scouting opportunity to be open to them, my own girls included. Boo and Bear love the idea of being in a group with the same activities the boys have always been able to do in scouts.

Well that, of course, was before I learned that BSA already has four, yep, FOUR, different co-ed groups. And, to add insult to injury, they aren't allowing girls to join BSA so much as making a new parallel program for girls. If that is the case, why not let the boys keep their safe space and have their scouting? Why not partner with GSUSA? Or with AHG? They could have partnered with one of these amazing girl-centered groups and built an additional program of some kind with the help of programs that really are all about building incredible and strong young women. 

I am leaning to believing that this was actually done for purely financial reasons. That would really break my heart. Our girls are not a means of upping enrollment. When only a very small portion of boys are joining BSA, the focus should be on opening up and changing for the enrollment of the boys they are not catching the attention of. Unfortunately the set-up for this new "coed" BSA seems a little off to me...see, BSA is good enough for girls to join. In fact, they are showing that they are the right choice for girls because girls can and should be able to do what boys do. The down side? They are not integrating the troops, so girls can join, but no all the way. It is a little stifling. BSA is good enough for the girls, but the girls aren't quite goo enough for BSA.

In the spirit of showing AHG and GSUSA they are every bit as good as BSA, I am going to do a small series of posts linking the BSA merit badges to the corresponding AHG and GSUSA patches. I will use this time to link and show girls which patches they can use to get what the BSA offers...I will even include possible ideas and directions for fun patches. In some cases local councils even have their own patches and requirements, I will include links to those for you.

Happy scouting...