So (again inspired by many helpful posters at the WTM forums), I've set up
Memory Binders. Mine are pretty simple, the main difference is I wanted to minimize page moving, so I have assigned subjects to certain days. (Easy when following the
Latin Centered Curriculum
, as subjects already have assigned days.) These are mainly for weekly subjects (science, history, geography, religion), and are in the box directly following our group work.
I let the kids draw a picture on the cover of their binder. I just told them to draw something that made them happy. This is my eldest son's (an island fortress with a volcano):
Section Zero: Our memory board (not pictured, but like
this one - which was my inspiration); it is a white board with our current memory work. I will update it every week. It includes things for all the kids, and is reviewed daily (maybe more often as it's in the kitchen). I hope to color code it, when I buy some more wet-erase markers.
Section One: A section for things to review daily. I'm having the kids write their own memory work (except my K'er), copied from the board. I did type the page for map work, as I wanted it spelled correctly and it's a lot of text. (It's more of a checklist to use with our map drawing.) It's red. (Actually the book is Roy G. Biv.)
This is one of the things I typed up. We are learning to draw the world by heart, and this is what I want the kids to sketch from memory. (Sketch, not draw perfectly - see
The Core for more information.)
Section Two: Every Monday. We do nature study on Monday, which doesn't have memory work (if it did I'd file it under science), so I'll have the kids review grammar and math. Hopefully getting those facts back into play first every week.
Section Three: Every Tuesday. Geography & Religion (we do history/geography/religion on Tuesdays and Thursdays). When we get the circles & blobs down, the reminder / standards sheet will be moved here for periodic review.
Section Four: Every Wednesday. Science and Latin (I tried to spread out language review. Most of the Latin will go into the same box as our Latin book, but I think some things - probably grammar, will end up here.)
Section Five: Every Thursday. History and (later on) Greek.
Section Six: Every Friday. Personal & Safety - name & address, fire safety, name & phone numbers for close relatives, etc.
Section Seven: Extra Paper.
You've probably noticed I don't have any monthly dividers. Mainly because we don't have anything to put in them yet. We school year round, with a 5 weeks on, 1 week off schedule. I'm planning to add a set of sections for "Every Fifth Monday", "Every Fifth Tuesday", etc. I'll probably add those after we finish the first half of the year.
philosophy. And for the nitty-gritty, we look to Charlotte Mason.
So I kept looking for an easy, laid out solution, but the only multi-year curriculum I could find that I liked was Simply Charlotte Mason. A fine package, but after pouring over AO's booklist, SCM seemed light. Why read "Detectives in Togas
" when in AO they would read the "Tanglewood Tales
" and then "The Heroes
" by Charles Kingsley and then "The Age of Fable
"? All by year six. Plus, AO actually has a LOT of classics built in: the previous books, Aesop's tales, Plutarch. Sure, I could just add to SCM, but that seemed like work as well. Especially when AO fits so nicely in my budget because of it's public domain, readily available books. SCM links to it's own bookfinder, where you can buy books if you need to.
I also started to wonder how many copies of each book would I need? I would almost always have two kids reading the same books, possibly three. Did that mean I'd have to buy three copies of each book, buy everyone a Kindle
, or else spend all my time scheduling who got what book? I started to question if I really wanted to keep the kids together or if I should separate them?
Somehow, I stumbled back onto the Charlotte Mason Help website. I'd been to it before, back when it was Higher Up and Further In (HUFI). This time I really read the articles. And I read on the Ambleside email groups. Many people listed advantages to having kids in their own years, especially after they could read independently. I realized I wanted them to love learning, and to not be spoon-fed by me. Reading on HUFI, I also realized I was not challenging my eldest enough. Sure, he has problems with reading, but his comprehension is well-developed, and was being left stagnant. His reading is coming along, as is his seven year old brother's. I should have them both reading about half their own books by next year, barring a major incident. Which meant I would never be reading three years worth of curriculum aloud, even when my youngest son starts first grade next year.
So I'm splitting them up, at least for the rest of this year. I can schedule one-on-one time with each boy, and I've noticed they pay more attention and narrate better. It's like another mom said: I'm a better tutor than a classroom manager. And an added bonus: whichever older boy I'm not working with can play with his two year old sister! Plus an extra special bonus: I already own almost all the books we need for HUFI in hard copy or in ebook format!
So I put my 9 year old in year 4 of HUFI, substituting a quick round of American history for the 20th century history. We can skip the non Indo-european cultures in year 5 and do the 20th century then. I put my 7 year old in year 2 of HUFI, and the only change was that I subbed the Burgess Animal Book (we've read most of it) for year 1's natural history books. He loves James Herriot's Treasury for Children
.
And that's what we've been up to - swinging a bit the the Charlotte Mason side of the scale.
into 36 segments for my 4th grader, and I decided to post it here. I hope it helps someone out, it was very difficult to find information on this OOP book.
, which we love. I will try to post a review later on, after we've used the book for a while.
and are reviewing 2 (or 3) a day, orally. After wrapping up GSWL, we'll start Nutting's Latin Primer. Jonathan is also reviewing / cementing some math concepts with 
. He also made a fabulous leap forward with his handwriting. He went from s-u-p-e-r slow and complaining, with poorly formed letters, to a more normal pace and nice, legible writing. He finished cursive for the first 26 phonograms (also known as the alphabet) this week. Friday I gave him a short sentence from his geography to copy, and he did great.
together (and the older boys usually listen too) and he loves it. We just finished 
this week. (We use each book two weeks, three days a week, including the 
.)
) is loved too. We are doing a fast pace for Jonathan & David, we'll finish the first book this year; and a normal pace for Andrew, finishing about 1/3 of the book.
- elegant and true to the Bible, but really connects the story together. I only wish the chapters where more consistent in length. You can read it free at 
is being replaced by 
again. I'm going to make my own charts on the computer to cut down on the kids' writing, and I'll use some ideas from WRTR, but I'm going back to SWR because it's easier to structure. I found the word list in WRTR hard to follow (some words are repeated, some are examples only and not for the spelling book, etc.). WRTR has fewer charts / reference pages, which is one idea a may adapt; it also only repeats some words, not all of them. (SWR does each word twice.) So I'm going to be a SWR heretic. Jonathan will be doing 40 words a week, David 20. Andrew will be doing the phonograms (which are the same). I have the two books coming, but will be looking for some phonogram cards. (Or making some...)
) schedule has changed almost daily. REALLY frustrating. Splitting myself between two school age, a kindergarten, and a toddler is difficult. I'll try to post it later. Next week I'm going to plan 1-on-1 with the eldest for spelling (dictation) and Latin. For their other boxes I'll be available, and I have a list of activities they can do while waiting for me.
