School time: A new approach.

I've been inspired. Fairly recently I've discovered, through my bloggy friends Julie and Crystal, a new learning approach called the Charlotte Mason method. I've read quite a bit on it here and here and here and LOVE it! Basically you get rid of textbooks and tests and the pressures that come with them and learn from good literature instead. You spend a LOT of time in nature. And you make pages to put in a notebook that, in your own words, shows what you learned. This whole approach is designed to encourage you to learn because you want to, to help you discover what you find interesting, and to help you remember it all by having it all in your own notebook. One subject I hated in school was history. I just couldn't retain anything I ever learned out of the textbook. But with CM method you would perhaps read a biography about a person from that time period. And by getting into one person's life, you would get a feel for all that was happening, all that life was like, during that time. Neat huh?

Soo... I've always loved being outside, but now I've really been inspired to get out and explore with the kids. Instead of doing worksheets and activities, we're going to do as much of our learning as we can outside. And I was reminded this week that you don't need to know letter names in order to read, just letter sounds. Although Eli does know most of his letter names plus a word or two that start with it, we'll start focusing more on the sound and on lowercase letters since that's what you see more in words. Charlotte Mason method does a lot with writing, doing copywork and journeling, so I'm going to spend more time working with Eli and his hand coordination. We'll practice writing letters in sand or flour or something, but we'll also do a good amount learning how to hold and move a pencil (or pen) and working scissors.

I know, I know, Eli's still not even 3 yet, but I can see how much he's absorbing every day, and it's just soo exciting that he can learn most anything if he were taught! Really I'm just setting the foundation for what will come later.

So this week's plan:

Monday
Calendar/storytime
Letter sound "d".
Dandelions activity: dandelion hunt - find the tallest one, shortest one, yellow one, puffy one. talk about the different shapes. count our flowers. seed dandelions: can you blow it in one breath? or how many breaths? yellow dandelions: make a dandelion chain. press a dandelion with wax paper for notebook. plant dandelions in a small pot. in the coming days we'll watch it grow, measure it, chart it, and watch as it gradually turns into a seed dandelion.

Tuesday (rain)
MOPS

Wednesday
Calendar/storytime
Discover: clouds. Look at pictures of the three main kinds of clouds. Make cotton ball versions for Eli's notebook. What kind of clouds are out today? Look for shapes and pictures. Can we count them? The rest of the week, as we have different weather days, we can look and decide what kind of clouds are out.

Thursday
Calendar/storytime
Plant sunflowers. (didn't get to this last week since that part of the grass still needed mowed first)

Friday (rain)
Calendar/storytime
Uno cards: find the #. count the cards. put the cards in order.
Coordination: using tongs, put the objects in a bucket.