Benjamin Franklin's Glass Harmonica

A lovely glass harmonica concert illustrated this week's reading in American Literature.

Also supplementing the reading of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography with art of that time period, an outline of El Greco's Burial of Count Orgaz in Start Exploring Masterpieces.

We are greatly enjoying Janice Campbell's Excellence in Literature's American Literature high school curriculum this year.

McGuffey Readers (1836), What We Do...

Mc Guffey's readers are classics and not your typical modern currilum.  They don't come with worksheets, step-by-step teacher directions, lesson plans, or tests.  There is no grade level breakdown offered either.  The most helpful guide would be to read a book about the Charlotte Mason education method.  Some have broken down the books into age groups or grades, but the two determining factors I have used have been reading level and maturity.  This is based on the content of the books.  The fourth book definitely being a high school level book.

William H. McGuffey

Each reader can span two or three years, reading one lesson a week.  I go through the vocabulary list at the end of each reading, asking for spelling and meaning.  From this list, I will pick words to do an etymology on - a study on the meaning of the word, its origin, spelling, and a couple of sentences using it in meaningful context, as you would find in a good dictionary.  Each word is done on a separate index card.  I use a variety of ways to review the words - puzzles, crosswords, hangman, and oral quizzes.

I use the readers to reinforce spelling, vocabulary work, reading ageless stories, biblical moral values, literature, and practicing diction by reading out loud.

It was McGuffey’s view that the proper education of young people required their introduction to a wide variety of topics and practical matters. 

I rarely use a typical spelling curriculum.  Reading is the key to spelling and reading out loud is very important, too.

Links with guidelines:

• How to Teach Spelling with the 1857 McGuffey Readers (with a Few Tips from Charlotte Mason)
• Post about age breakdown
• Encyclopedia Britannica - McGuffey, short biography

Why the 1836 edition is best?

"The 1836 edition was the only one which was actually compiled by McGuffey. His brother Alexander compiled the Fifth and Sixth Readers. Through successive editions, the essentially fundamentalist values that the McGuffeys put in the Readers were diluted by Unitarian influences. Although there were plenty of references to God, there were few to Christ. After the publication of the Readers, McGuffey’s influence as an educator grew, particularly in the West."

Read more in this essay.

Also,

"McGuffey was remembered as a theological and conservative teacher. He understood the goals of public schooling in terms of moral and spiritual education, and attempted to give schools a curriculum that would instill Presbyterian Calvinist beliefs and manners in their students. These goals were suitable for early 19th century America, but not for the nations’ later need for unified pluralism. The content of the readers changed drastically between McGuffey’s 1836- 1837 editions and the 1879 edition. The revised Readers were compiled to meet the needs of national unity and the dream of an American “melting pot” for the worlds’ oppressed masses. The Calvinist values of salvation, righteousness and piety, so prominent in the early Readers, were entirely missing in the later versions."

Read entire article here. 

Wrestling with IEW

Based on that title, you might think that I am having a hard time with IEW, and you would be right.  I think I have been going through this for the last fifteen years, or longer.  My struggle these days is different.  I struggle because of the many great choices and wishing I could just do all the different available courses.  This year, I would like to do the Theme based writing courses: Middle Ages, Early U.S. History, Narnia...  I would also like to do The Elegant Essay, Poetry, Fix it!, and American Literature...  If only we didn't have all the other subjects to deal with, especially with Michelle's high school load, which is quite daunting as it is.

So, what to choose?

Since Michelle is doing American History and Literature this year, it would make sense to do the American History writing curriculum with her.  However, because of the distribution of high school credit requirements in Florida, I need to have her take an English class each year.  So, I will just have to stick with doing IEW's American Literature, which has a good bit of writing in it, and save the American History writing courses for next year.

With Emily, on the other hand, I will do Following Narnia 1: The Lion's Song, because I just can't wait.  We will be listening and reading along with Kenneth Branagh's great voice in these Chronicle's of Narnia audiobooks.

I would like to continue with our Middle Ages writing program with Emily because she needs extra work with English.  She is my late bloomer, the baby of the family, who likes to take things slowly and go about life in a relaxed manner. I think that's called being laid back?...  It's a bit of an alien concept for me.

We will also carry on with the Fix It! series, books 3 and 4.  I have developed my own system with Fix It! which has been working well for us. I print out the student e-book on one side of the paper only.  I go through the lesson with each one individually on Monday, then assign the day's part for them to fix.  I then use different colored high lighters - I love these - and mark their lesson, using a different color for each thing they didn't get right.  I then use the opposite blank page to write a note on what they missed and a further assignment will be given on that particular item.  Depending on what it is and whether this is a repeat problem, they will need to explain why they got it wrong, copy the grammar rule missed found in the grammar section of their book, write examples of how that part of speech may be used, do an etymology on a word that is misspelled or used incorrectly, etc.

What do I do with Fix it!?

Beatrix Potter - A Unit Study

I am doing a unit study with Emily (8) about the life of Beatrix Potter, the author of the lovely tale of Peter Rabbit and others.  I am using two unit study curricula to help - HOC and another one for free from Curriculum Share.  We had The Complete Tales, and our very own stuffed Peter whom Emily loves very much.  We will also be reading Country Artist: A Story About Beatrix Potter. 

The weeks I spent last summer preparing my school plans for this year have been invaluable.  As always, life has its ups and downs, the plans have helped to keep our ship afloat and on the right course.  We've had to slow down for illnesses and other unforseen events, and that is when I've taken the time to add extras like this unit study.  I don't plan for unit studies, although they are a big part of what makes homeschooling fun and interesting.  I know ahead of time that we can take advantage of our flexibility to add studies in areas we are interested in while making sure we take care of the basics with a good plan.

Other unit studies I am tagging onto our plans this year: The Periodic Table, The First Thanksgiving,