Educating Puggle 2009

December 28, 2009 at 2:42 pm · Filed under Art, Domestic Life, Family, French, History/Geography, Home Education, Language, Latin, Maths, Music, Organisation, Progress, Puggle, Reading, Reflection, Singing

Technically, this would have been his Kindergarten year.

Although I lost it in terms of blogging what we did, we did keep doing a lot. (The things I talk about below probably aren’t everything I could mention… they’re just the things that were a standout one way or another.)

Things that worked
Story of the World
Puggle loved this! I had heard good things about the audio version, so we got it in addition to the text, and I’m very glad we did! At random other times of the week Puggle has asked to listen to it, and grabbed the book and followed along (more and more accurately as his reading has improved:-) ) We haven’t done all the associated activities. This is our first time through, and he’s quite young yet (certainly not writing in any reliable way), so I’ve mostly just set him some colouring in. But he talks about what he’s heard, and he goes searching for food (like the nomads) or brings up new facts when related things are being discussed (and I really haven’t done a great job about noting those occasions—I can’t think of any now:-( )
Right Start Maths
This hasn’t precisely ‘filled his day with joy’, but he has worked happily with it, and has learnt a lot. It does work for him, but I am still developing strategies (and working on the timing) to allow me to work with him without the other two needing me:-) Bilby is better when she has her own tally sticks and abacus, but Cygnet is starting to require attention at this sort of time. Bilby likes to sing along with the songs as well:-)
Song School Latin
This has been a blast:-) Both Puggle and Bilby sing the songs, and Puggle has enjoyed working through the book. I really like the songs (well, with one exception:-) The Silly Sally one sets me on edge, but that’s not bad:-) ), and I love the range of sounds they’ve used:-) The activities have been nicely pitched (we’ve done a fair bit orally, especially at the start of the year, and used lines to join things rather than writing words out… but it’s worked well). He has been able to be somewhat independent with this. First day of a new chapter I’ve worked with him, but the rest of the week he’s managed on his own.
BlackBelt Recorder
I had not planned on getting anything for recorder. I can play a bit, and we have a couple of beginning recorder books. But we weren’t actually settling down to do it. A friend mentioned this, and I noticed it when I was at Wooldridges, and it’s only $10 (for the student book), so I picked it up. It has been great! I think a big part is the accompanying CD. I have the current tracks in our daily playlist, which means he hears them, and because they have ‘big’ instrumentation, it was actually still fun even when he was only playing 2 notes:-) Now that he’s playing actual songs (nursery rhymes), it’s a blast:-)
Workboxes
This is one of those posts I have meant to do for about the last 6 months, and haven’t got to. I would still like to put it in, with all the links I collected when reading about it, but I doubt I’ll finish the post I’d intended.
Earlier this year (about May), I came across some references to Workboxes, a daily organisation system that swept portions of the homeschooling community by storm. I read a number of blogs on the topic, and thought it looked quite workable, then read a friend’s copy of the book and decided to go for it. Unusually for me, i didn’t leap in all guns blazing, instead I used stuff we had, and printed off copies of other people’s ’setting up’ sheets. I waited until the start of the next block, rather than beginning in the middle of one. And we gave it a go.
And it worked for me. So then, for the next block, I invested the effort to set it up ‘properly’, to make things look ‘right’.
Essentially, you have a given number of receptacles for each child (Puggle has 10, because we had inherited 2 sets of 5 drawers, and they seem to be of a suitable size, Bilby has 5, and i structure hers rather differently). In each draw, you put all the things that are required for one activity. Pretty much, Puggle starts every day with the same four boxes. Copywork (activity card, a pencil, timer, copywork sheets), Latin (activity card, pencil, Song School Latin book, any extras required for the day’s activity), Maths (activity card, pencil, workbook [sometimes], abacus, blocks/cards/tallysticks), Recorder (activty card, his recorder, my recorder, Black Belt Recorder book, pencil and sheet if there’s an activity I’d like him to do). The rest of the boxes are filled with other tasks for the day. This usually includes some independent reading, some read alouds (often beeswax to accompany them), it often includes a meal to cook, art or craft to do. Each day of the week has a focus for the afternoon, so those activities are in here.
I think it works so well for us, because it forces me to get all the little bits organised ahead of time (think about what food he might be able to cook for example, and then print out the recipe), and think about which of those activities need to be done at particular times, and which he might be able to do independently. All that means that he can get on with stuff himself.
Doing it strictly, the child is supposed to work through in order, and complete everything. I haven’t been particularly fussy about that this year, although in 2010 I expect that will probably change.
As I said, I haven’t done Bilby’s the same. I no longer number hers at all (mostly because Cygnet kept stealing the numbers, and Bilby ran off with the velcro that stuck them!) and I pretty much load them for the week. I’m not so happy with how hers worked, but when I stopped putting anything in them, she complained:-)
Activity Cards
The one thing I did take the time to do when trialling Workboxes initially, was to make up activity cards. I printed a pile of titles and images (clipart type) onto coloured paper (4 to a page), cut them out and laminated them. This means that I can write the relevant activity on them, and then wipe it out and write a new one. This has been really useful with the work boxes, but I would anticipate being able to use them just with books as well (like bookmarks).
French
Another post that hasn’t happened:-(
For a couple of years, another friend and I have talked about finding a native speaker to play with all our kids, in French. This year, she finally found someone! Unfortunately, scheduling difficulties meant that we gave up after two meetings. But when we decided to stop, we also decided that we would still get together (at a more suitable time, thus enforcing weekly French use). We pick a topic together, and brainstorm a list of related words (we started with Food, we’re currently doing a combination of (farm) Animals and Christmas, and we’ll go on to Wild Animals shortly after we return). We’re then taking it in turns to lead… we all sing to start, we do a bit of ‘conversation’ (asking everyone in the circle their name and how they are… the babies don’t generally answer:-) ), introduce the new words, move to the table for an activity, sing a song to end. We try to speak as much French as we can while doing the activity. We’re finding our school based vocabulary is not quite sufficient! We’re having to look up ‘glue’ and ’sticky tape’ and ‘popsticks’:-)
We’ve been really amazed at the way the kids have not only picked up the words and can answer them when asked, but at the way they are choosing to use the words in their everyday lives—any fruit we have introduced is now pretty much only referred to by it’s French name (in our home). One of the reasons we think this has worked so well is because the kids of the two families enjoy playing with the words with each other:-)
We’ve only been doing this about six weeks (I think?), so we’re definitely still in the establishing phase, but so far, it’s an absolute delight:-) Part of that is the fact that we’re getting in a playdate (the kids play when we arrive while we get organised, we do French, then they play more) with friends… but part of it is how the kids are responding—and the joy of doing something we’ve been meaning to do for ages:-)
As a support to this, we acquired a copy of Little Pim. It’s designed as a language immersion tool. The little films are short, about 5 minutes, and there’s 7 in each set (well, I have to confirm that… we’re on the second, but the total thing seems to say it’s 30 minutes long… something in that maths doesn’t quite work). Each little film introduces a few words on each topic. The first is Food:-) They’re designed for 2-5 year olds. Bilby is bang in the target group. She loves them—and uses the words (there’s some overlap with the words we had been doing, but there are some which have only been introduced via Little Pim, and she’s using those regularly:-) ). Cygnet doesn’t do anything with the words, but he loves to watch. I am looking forward to hearing him starting to speak and seeing which of the words he starts using:-) Puggle still enjoys it, but where the others will watch it as often as I show it (and would like it more, as far as Bilby is concerned), he likes to watch it, but really he’s not so interested in repeated viewings (although, he has yet to complain about it being on!) He was the first to start using the words from the DVD.
One thing I’ve found really interesting is the way the kids control the language use at home. Most of the time, they don’t mind particularly what language we use (I try at times to use French through the week—when I feel I have the vocabulary:-) ). I’ve been surprised though, by the times that they (Bilby in particular) will call “Maman” instead of “Mama”. If I don’t pay attention and answer with “Yes”, she gets rather put out, and reminds me that she spoke in French. The same happens in the reverse (where I answer “Mama” with “Oui”), but less often:-) They will talk to each other and choose to use the French pronunciation of their names to signify that they are speaking French (their vocabulary is still fairly limited). And Puggle in particular has started playing with his animals in ‘French’. He moves them around and has them talk in nonsense syllables, but they are not ‘English’:-) (We have been reading picture books in French all year, so they do have a sense of the sound of the language, and they are reasonably accurate at identifying when non-English speakers are using French—although, they tend to default to non-English=French when in doubt).
All of this to say that French is finally happening in our house:-) And it’s fun, and the kids are using it in real ways:-)
Copywork
I’m taking this very slowly. Puggle’s fine motor control is what you’d expect of a 5 1/2 year old boy, and as such, I’m not anticipating rushing into lots of independent writing. We’re still working our way through the phonemes (it’s doing double duty at the moment, being the way we’re teaching sounds), and he’s tracing.
I made the decision (after some more reading, and talking with Puggle) to switch to cursive rather than print. I’m not going to bother with print, on the assumption that he will pick up printing as he goes, and if we’re going to invest the effort into learning to write, it might as well be cursive. One phoneme, a couple of times a day (two times generally, unless he makes a big error) seems to be working nicely. Because we started with print, that does tend to be how he writes when he’s working independently, but we’ve only been doing cursive for the last couple of months, and we’re still working through the basic letters.
Cooking
He’s been doing a lot of cooking this year:-) Most weeks (when we’re workboxing) he’ll cook dinner at least once, and he’ll usually help with another dinner as well. He’s also well and truly able to get breakfast and lunch for himself and Bilby (except for cutting the bread… he can do that, but the slices aren’t very uniform—and the remaining loaf is also somewhat hacked… so I prefer to do it until he’s larger). He is developing a recipe book, which contains meals he can cook independently. I still tend to chop the onions (hard and spherical makes me a bit nervous), but he’s moved this year to being able to light the (gas) stove, and cook on it. He has put things in the oven, but not lit it (it can be idiosyncratic) or taken anything out (they tend to be too heavy for him to manage with the added challenge of heat). His chopping is becoming more uniform, and his stamina to complete recipes is improving. The workboxes has been the reason I’ve been happy to have him do this. Because I set it up the night before, he can begin sufficiently in advance of the time we need to eat—he tends to need to start about two hours beforehand!
This will require a little tweaking in the new year. Since we moved French, it’s now on the day on which he tended to cook, and so he hasn’t done so much in that time. But that’s just logistics on my part:-)
Reading
He’s moved from strength to strength:-) Although he had reached ‘reading’, last year, he still required a reasonable amount of support, and on his own, he tended to look at books rather than read them.
Over this year, he has reached the point where he can’t help but read:-) We have a pile (30 or 40?) of early readers (about a dozen pages, with 4 lines per page, and lots of pictures) which will occupy him for some hours. He’s now able to read chapter books on his own, although, he tends to still see them as a bit too big to attack. Somewhere along the way I realised that he is able to read in his head. I asked him about it, where he’d learnt it, and he told me he’d watched Dada reading:-) It does mean I have to actually get him to read to me occasionally, to check he’s reading correctly (he still does the ‘guess based on the first letter of the word’ thing at times). But he is at a stage where he can read independently, and generally understand what he’s reading—and that’s a great thing:-) I didn’t assign him any reading this year, aside from as reading practice, but next year, I expect to be able to give him something to read, that we can then follow up. We’ve continued to read aloud to him though, and I expect this to continue. (I’ve also really enjoyed watching him read aloud to both Bilby and Cygnet:-) )
Swimming
Sadly, Puggle got too old for his previous swimming school, so we had to move. We’re now at StateSwim. While I wouldn’t say we love it (it’s certainly not as much fun, and not as personal as his original), he does enjoy it, and is progressing nicely. He started at the end of term one in Torpedoes, and is now a Dolphin. We do expect a longish stay in Dolphin, because the purpose of this level is to develop freestyle breathing. He is relishing this challenge, however!

Things that didn’t work
Blogging plans
When I managed to get my plans typed up (in Wordpress) by the end of Break Week, I was able to blog them. What I found though, was that if I managed to type them up in the running sheet for the week, and get the workbox planner sorted, I tended not to get to blogging. In actual fact, I could largely copy and paste, but I do like to include links to the texts, and that’s the bit that tends to take the time.
Probably a start would be to improve the layout of the information I include. If I can just copy and paste, rather than switching the order of things between my planning documents and on the blog, that would help, then I could just have the links (which don’t change all the time) in one place and add them in. We’ll have to see how that goes. I’d like to keep blogging my plans… but it’s probably not one of my top priorities, because I do have that information elsewhere.
Blogging progress
This on the other hand, is something I do want to do. It fell by the wayside about the same time as blogging plans, but mostly I think, because I hadn’t mentally switched to ‘it doesn’t matter about the plans’, so it became one more thing in a large pile, rather than a separate thing that needed blogging. I don’t require myself to be very detailed, but I really do want to make a few notes each week about what we did, what we didn’t get to, and what developments occurred. I think I can probably manage that (I did in 2008!), but I need to slot it into my week properly.
Mat Time
The arrival of workboxes pretty much signalled the end of Mat Time as a regular thing. My idea of Mat Time was that it was things that were common to both Puggle and Bilby, with just a bit extra for each of them. Most of Puggle’s extra things ended up happening in his boxes and in the early part of Quiet Time. But the common things, and Bilby’s extra’s rather stopped. This is mostly about setting the rhythm for the day… and it obviously needs some work. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to fix this yet… but it’s a fairly high priority.
Singing
This disappeared a bit with the end of Mat Time. And a couple of the folksongs that I didn’t know. I need to find another solution for the French nursery rhymes… they’ve been a bit hit and miss. Hopefully though, that will sort out as we go through in French.
Composer Study
My failure to source the tracks and add them to the daily playlist is to blame for this… I think it’s been the same problem as I’ve had before. I guess the answer is to make sure I source the pieces earlier in the year.
Nature Walks
We’ve done better at Nature Study, as Puggle likes to be outside and look around him, but Nature Walks continue to elude us. As seems to be a common theme with the things that haven’t worked, it’s all due to my scheduling—or lack thereof.
Art
With the exception of Watercolours (which have been a revelation! We use the dry pans, and Puggle can do all the set up required for he and Bilby, basically getting water, and the clean up. That means they can paint whenever they want to, pretty much!) art has been a bit hit and miss. I keep intending them to do activities from the Art Ideas book, but haven’t yet managed to arrange things in a workable fashion. I did get a large tray from IKEA just before the end of the year, and I’m hoping to set work out on it. Art is probably a good candidate for that.
Memorisation/Recitation
This hasn’t worked in any formal sense. I stopped putting the poems on the TV cabinet, and we stopped repeating them at different times. Earlier in the year, when Puggle was listening to the iPod during Quiet Time, and I had managed to find some of his pieces on Librivox, he was actually doing pretty well. I think this is should be solvable… It’s merely habits I have to reacquire—and I can now add a copy of the poem in one of his boxes. I do need to begin working with him on the Recitation aspect… he will happily let fly with something he’s memorised, but rarely at a pace (or volume!) that allows others to enjoy it!

Generally a good year—and the advantage of writing it all out like this, I can see the common themes:-)

Comments

Farewell to Nova Scotia

September 1, 2009 at 8:59 pm · Filed under Family, Home Education, Music, Singing

There’s some history, and a midi here and an mp3 here.

Comments

Twa Corbies

August 1, 2009 at 1:16 am · Filed under Domestic Life, Family, Home Education, Music, Singing

There’s some history here, and an .mp3 here.

As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies making a mane;
The tane unto the t’other say,
‘Where sall we gang and dine to-day,
Where sall we gang and dine to-day?’

‘In behint yon auld fail dyke,
I wot there lies a new slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there,
But his hawk, his honnd, and lady fair,
His hawk, his honnd, and lady fair.

‘His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady ‘a ta’en another mate,
So we may mak our dinner sweet,
We may mak our dinner sweet.

‘Ye’ll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I’ll pike out his bonny blue een;
Wi ae lock o his gowden hair
We’ll theek our nest when it grows bare,
We’ll theek our nest when it grows bare.’

‘Mony a one for him makes mane,
But nane sall ken where he is gane;
Oer his white banes, when they are bare,
The wind sail blaw for evennair,
The wind sail blaw for evennair.’

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Fair Janet

July 1, 2009 at 8:57 pm · Filed under Domestic Life, Family, Home Education, Music, Singing

“Ye maun gang to your father, Janet
Ye maun gang to him sune;
Ye maun gang to your father Janet,
Before his days are dune.”

Janet’s awa’ to her father,
As fast as she could hie:
“Oh, what’s your will wi’ me father;
Oh, what’s your will wi’ me?”

“My will wi’ you, fair Janet,” he said,
“It is baith bed and board;
Some say that ye lo’e sweet Willie,
But ye maun wed a French lord.”

Janet’s awa’ to her chamber,
As fast as she could go;
Wha’s the first ane that tapped there
But sweet Willie, her jo?

“O we maun part this love, Willie
That has been lang between;
There’s a French lord coming o’er the sea
To wed me wi’ a ring.”

Willie he was scarce awa’
And the lady put to bed;
When in came in her father dear,
Make haste and busk the bride!

“There’s a sair pain in my head, father;
There’s a sair pain in my side;
And ill, O ill am I, father.
This day for to be a bride.”

Some put on the gay green robes,
And some put on the brown;
But Janet put on the scarlet robes,
To shine foremost through the town.

And some they mounted the black steed,
And some they mounted the brown,
But Janet mounted the milk white steed,
To ride foremost through the town.

“O wha will guide your horse, Janet?
O wha will guide him best?
O wha but Willie, my true love;
He kens I lo’e him best.”

And when they came to Marie’s Kirk,
To tye the haly ban’
Fair Janet’s face looked pale and wan’,
And her colour gaed and cam’

When dinner it was past and done,
And dancing to begin,
O, we’ll go take the bride’s maidens,
And we’ll go fill the ring.

O, ben them cam’ the auld French lord,
Saying, “Bride, will ye dance wi’ me?”
“Awa’, awa’, ye auld French lord,
Your face I dawna see.”

O, ben then cam’ now sweet Willie,
Saying, “Bride, will ye dance wi’ me?”
“Ay, by my sooth, and that I will,
Gin my back should break in three.”

She hadna turned her thro’ the dance,
Thro’ the dance but thrice,
When she fell down at Willie’s feet,
And up did never rise.

Willie’s ta’en the key o’ his coffer,
And gi’en it to his man,
“Gae hame, and tell my mother dear,
More horse he has me slain.”

The tane was buried in Marie’s Kirk,
And the tither in Marie’s quier;
And of the tane there grew a birk,
And the tither, a bonnie brier.

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My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose

June 1, 2009 at 8:59 pm · Filed under Family, Home Education, Music, Singing

There’s some information about it here, and .mp3s here and here.

O, my love is like a red, red rose,
that’s newly sprung in June.
O, my love is like a melody,
that’s sweetly play’d in tune.

As fair thou art, my bonnie lass,
so deep in love am I,
And I will love thee still, my dear,
till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
and the rocks melt wi’ the sun!
And I will love thee still, my dear,
while the sands of life shall run.

And fare the weel, my only love!
And fare the well awhile!
And I will come again, my love.
Tho it were ten thousand mile!

Comments (2)

Land Of The Silver Birch

May 1, 2009 at 9:48 pm · Filed under Home Education, Music, Singing

There’s some information about it here. There’s a recording at the bottom of the page.

Land of the silver birch, home of the beaver
Where still the mighty moose wanders at will

Blue lake and rocky shore
I will return once more.
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom

My heart is sick for you,here in the lowlands
I will return to you, hills of the north

Blue lake and rocky shore
I will return once more.
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom

Swift as a silver fish, canoe of birch bark
Thy mighty water ways carry me forth.

Blue lake and rocky shore
I will return once more.
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom

There where the blue lake lies, I’ll set my wigwam
Close to the water’s edge, silent and still

Blue lake and rocky shore
I will return once more.
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom di-de-eye dy
Boom

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The Rose of Tralee

April 1, 2009 at 10:40 pm · Filed under Domestic Life, Family, Home Education, Music, Singing

I couldn’t find any .mp3s, but youtube gave me this, and this.

The Rose of Tralee

The pale moon was rising
above the green mountain;
the sun was declining
beneath the blue sea
when I strayed with my love
to the pure crystal fountain
that stands in the beautiful
vale of Tralee.

She was
lovely and fair
as the rose of the summer
yet ’twas not her beauty
alone the won me
Oh, no! ’twas the truth
in her eye ever dawning
that made me love Mary,
the Rose of Tralee

The cool shades of evening
their mantle was spreading,
and Mary, all smiling,
was listening to me,
The moon through the valley,
her pale rays was shedding
when I won the heart
of the rose of Tralee

Though
lovely and fair
as the rose of the summer
yet ’twas not her beauty
alone the won me
Oh, no! ’twas the truth
in her eye ever dawning
that made me love Mary,
the Rose of Tralee

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When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

March 1, 2009 at 3:27 pm · Filed under Home Education, Music, Singing

There’s some history here, and a number of .mp3s can be found here (although, you are probably already familiar with the tune:-) ). (And there’s a ‘teach yourself’ version here!)

When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll give him a hearty welcome then
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer and the boys will shout
The ladies they will all turn out
And we’ll all feel gay,
When Johnny comes marching home.

The old church bell will peal with joy
Hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home our darling boy
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The village lads and lassies say
With roses they will strew the way,
And we’ll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home.

Get ready for the Jubilee,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll give the hero three times three,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The laurel wreath is ready now
To place upon his loyal brow
And we’ll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home.

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The Gallant Hussar

February 1, 2009 at 8:05 am · Filed under Domestic Life, Home Education, Music, Singing

A midi file (and some history) can be found here. An mp3 sample can be found here.

A damsel possessed of great beauty,
She stood by her own father’s gate,
The gallant hussars were on duty,
To view them this maiden did wait;
Their horses were capering and prancing,
Their accoutrements shone like a star,
From the plain they were nearest advancing,
She espied her young gallant hussar.

Their pellisses were slung on their shoulders,
So careless they seemed for to ride,
So warlike appeared these young soldiers,
With glittering swords by each side.
To the barracks next morning so early,
This damsel she went in her car,
Because she loved him sincerely-
Young Edward, the gallant Hussar.

It was there she conversed with her soldier,
These words he was heard for to say,
Said Jane, I’ve heard none more bolder,
To follow my laddie away.
0 fie! said young Edward, be steady,
And think of the dangers of war,
When the trumpet sounds I must be ready,
So wed not your gallant Hussar.

For twelve months on bread and cold water,
My parents confined me for you,
0 hard-hearted friends to their daughter,
Whose heart it is loyal and true;
Unless they confine me for ever,
Or banish me from you afar,
I will follow my soldier so clever,
To wed with my gallant Hussar.

Said Edward, Your friends you must mind them,
Or else you are for ever undone,
They will leave you no portion behind them,
So pray do my company shun.
She said, If you will be true-hearted,
I have gold of my uncle in store,
From this time no more we’ll be parted,
I will wed with my gallant Hussar.

As he gazed on each elegant feature,
The tears they did fall from each eye,
I will wed with this beautiful creature,
And forsake cruel war, he did cry.
So they were united together,
Friends think of them now they’re afar,
Crying; Heaven bless them now and for ever,
Young Jane and her gallant Hussar.

Comments

Planning for 2009

January 11, 2009 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Art, Bilby, Books, Domestic Life, Family, For Adults, For Children, For the Future, French, History/Geography, Home Education, Language, Latin, Maths, Montessori, Music, Narration, Nature Study, Organisation, Plans, Puggle, Reading, Reflection, Science, Singing, Writing

General stuff:-)
This probably seems like a fairly full on year, for what is essentially Puggle’s pre-school year (most of this is for Puggle, although I do have some plans for Bilby included). My plan though, is that we’ll start with this, and it will take as long as it takes. We’ll stick with the three term year, each being made up of three blocks of 4 weeks on, one week break (plus the Christmas block/term).

Language (Including Memorisation and Copywork)
For Puggle, I’m planning a second run through The Writing Road to Reading, actually beginning to focus on writing the letters. I’ll combine this with the sandpaper letter/phonograms, but he seems fairly interested in writing at the moment. This (and his name) will probably be all the copywork we do for the year. I anticipate using a timer (for somewhere in the order of three to five minutes), because he’s very keen on quantity—and in copywork time I’ll be more interested in quality:-) I’m hoping the second run will sort out the phonemes he hasn’t really grasped. We still have the Fitzroy readers, and I anticipate them being used fairly regularly:-)
We’ll be reading Complete Nonsense Poems by Edward Lear, and this year, I’ll be trying to encourage Puggle more in the direction of memorisation. We’ll be focussing on the same piece for a fortnight, which may help:-)
We’ll continue with the Latin nursery rhymes, but this year we are going to begin Song School Latin. It includes a number of songs, and some day-to-day phrases, so I’m not going to worry so much about using my own:-) We will attempt to continue with the French comptines, and I suspect that Puggle will listen in with Bilby’s French:-)
Over the year, we’ll be reading from The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki, The Orchard Book of Roman Myths by Geraldine McCaughrean and Egyptian Myths by Jacqueline Morley.
Bilby isn’t at quite the same stage as Puggle was two years ago (she’s effectively 6 months younger), so I don’t think she’s ready for everything I did with him:-) We’ll still do the Nursery Rhymes, and read the poems from A Child’s Garden of Verses.
She’ll join us in the Latin and French nursery rhymes, but this year, we’re going to try reading a number of (generally familiar) picturebooks in French:-) La Chenille Qui Fait Des Trous, Devine Combien Je t’Aime and Ours Brun, Dis-Moi for starters:-)

Maths
We’ve finally made the decision to go with RightStart. It’s a very hands on programme, which should appeal to Puggle (basically I think the manipulatives approach is a good idea for the early stages of maths).

English Studies (including Narration)
We’ll continue the Aesop’s Fables for Children with Puggle, and later in the year we’ll begin Fifty Famous Stories Retold. These will be where we begin paying attention to Narration. I might actually try some with him this year:-) We’ll also be reading The House At Pooh Corner, The Muddle-headed Wombat and The Loaded Dog, along with the Orange, Green and Brown Fairy Books. I plan to try Bilby out with Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales and the Blue, Red and Yellow Fairy Books, but these are where I think we’ll probably skip bits.
Obviously, we’ll be including other read-alouds as they occur to us, but they will include The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio, Doctor Doolittle, The Favorite Uncle Remus and The Wind in the Willows.

Health and Phys. Ed
We’re continuing with Waterbabies (swimming) this year:-) Or at least we’ll continue with Puggle for now. His class will probably collapse soon (they only take them until they are five), so then we’ll be looking at other swimming classes.

History and Geography
I’m looking forward to this a lot:-) We’re going to begin The Story of the World: Ancient Times. I’ve ordered the Activity Book as well, so we should be doing lots of stuff—I keep hearing good things about it:-)
We’ll also be reading Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary . I figure we’ll do a page or so each week, and I’ll print some colouring in pages for each word.

Science
Unless Puggle has particular things that he wants to immerse himself in, I think we’ll be doing most of our science through the garden:-) I do hope to do Nature Walks more regularly (well, once the weather settles down a little), and I think this would be a good year to start recording the weather, but otherwise we’ll try and do a lot of planting and feeding and watering and seeing what happens. I’ve ordered The Tiny Seed and Une Si Petite Graine (one of the French picturebooks for Bilby:-) ) and I thought they should tie in nicely:-) I might pull out some of the How Things Work and Backyard/Kitchen Science books though, and leave them lying about, in case something appeals:-) (Edited to add: I’m also hoping that Keeping a Nature Journal will help inspire our nature observations!)

Art and Music
I’m going to try and be more regular about having family music nights:-) This year we’ll begin recorder (Bilby as well—because I don’t like my chances of doing it with Puggle and leaving her out:-) ). Our composers this year are Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt and Gustav Mahler/Anton Bruckner. And of course, we’ll sing:-)

I think I’ll probably repeat my art plans from last year… we didn’t really do much of them, mostly because I ended up putting the stuff away:-( I’m working on keeping art materials in a more accessible way. Our artists this year are Sandro Botticelli, Caspar David Fredrich and Vincent Van Gogh.

Technology and Enterprise
Cooking. By the end of the year, I’d like Puggle to feel confident about preparing one dinner:-) When he’s (quite) a bit more independent in his reading, I thought I might start letting him choose recipes to try:-)

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The Jam on Gerry’s Rocks

January 1, 2009 at 5:48 pm · Filed under Domestic Life, Home Education, Music, Singing

There’s a midi file and some history here, and an .mp3 here. There’s some music here.

Come all ye jovial shanty boys,
Wherever you may be,
I hope you pay attention,
And listen unto me;
Concerning six brave shanty boys
With courage strong and brave,
Who broke the jam on Gerry’s rocks
And met with a watery grave.

‘Twas on one Sunday morning
In the springtime of the year,
Our logs were piling mountain high,
We could not keep them clear;
When our boss, he cried, Brave boys, turn out,
Set your hearts, avoid all fear,
We’ll break the jam on Gerry’s rocks,
And for Cragin’s Point we’ll steer.
Now some of them were willing,
While others did hang back,
For to go to work on Sunday
They did not think it right.
When six Canadian shanty boys
Did volunteer to go,
To break the jam on Gerry’s rocks
With the foreman, young Monroe.

Now they had not rolled off many logs
When the boss to them did say,
I’d have you be on your guard;
The jam will soon give way.
He had no more than spoke those words
When the jam did heave and go
And carried away those six brave youths
And their foreman, young Monroe.
Now when their comrades at the camp
The sad news came to hear,
In search of their dead bodies
Down the river they did steer.
When to their sad misfortune,
To their sad grief and woe,
All bruised and mangled on the beach
Lies the head of young Monroe.

We picked it up most carefully,
Smoothed down his raven hair.
There was one fair form among them
Whose cries would rend the air.
There was one fair form among them,
A girl from Sag’mor town,
Whose screams and cries would rend the skies,
For her own true love was drowned.

His mother was a widow,
Near by the river side.
Miss Clark she was a very nice girl
And his intended bride.
The money that was due to him
The boss to her did pay;
She received a large subscription
From the shanty boys next day.

We buried him quite decently,
Being on the sixth of May.
Come, all you jovial shanty boys,
And for your comrade pray;
For engraved upon a hemlock tree,
Which on the beach did grow,
The day, the date, and the drowning fate
Of our comrade, young Monroe.

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Eriskay Love Lilt

December 1, 2008 at 12:58 pm · Filed under Music, Singing

I thought I didn’t know this one (some information here), but once I found recordings of it (.mp3 here or listen on YouTube here), I realised it was on the Nana Mouskouri tape we used to listen to as we drove.

Vair me o, ro van o
Vair me o ro ven ee,
Vair me o ru o ho
Sad am I without thee.

When I’m lonely, dear white heart,
Black the night and wild the sea;
by love’s light my foot finds
The old pathway to thee.

Vair me o, ro van o
Vair me o ro ven ee,
Vair me o ru o ho
Sad am I without thee.

Thou’rt the music of my heart,
Harp of joy, o cruit mo chridh,
Moon of guidance by night,
Strength and light thou’rt to me.

Vair me o, ro van o
Vair me o ro ven ee,
Vair me o ru o ho
Sad am I without thee.

(Edited to correct the things Elaine pointed out in the comments!)

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Clementine

November 1, 2008 at 8:14 pm · Filed under Family, Music, Singing

Once again, there’s a midi file here and an mp3 here.

Clementine
In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner forty niner,
And his daughter Clementine

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev’ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

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Bilby’s Repetoire

October 12, 2008 at 8:21 pm · Filed under Bilby, Domestic Life, Family, Music, Singing

Egg song (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle… Negg, negg, negg, negg…)
Nursing song (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle… Nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse…)
Meat song (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle… Meat, meat, meat, meat…)

You get the idea:-) It’s a very versatile tune:-)

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Dixie

October 1, 2008 at 10:51 am · Filed under Family, Home Education, Music, Singing

You can find a midi here. I know this one, but there’s a couple of mp3s here.

I wish I was in the land of Cotton
Old times there are not forgotten
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land
In Dixie Land where I was born in
early on one frosty morning’
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land

Then I wish I was in Dixie
Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand
To live and die in Dixie
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.

Ole Missus marry “will the weaver”
Willum was a gay deceiver
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land
But when he put his arm around er,
He smiled fierce as a forty pounder,
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land

Then I wish I was in Dixie
Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand
To live and die in Dixie
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.

His face was sharp as a butcher’s cleaver
But that did not seem to grieve ‘er
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land
Ole Missus acted the foolish part
And died for a man that broke her heart
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land

Then I wish I was in Dixie
Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand
To live and die in Dixie
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.

Now here’s a health to the next ole Missus
An’ all the gals that want to kiss us;
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land
But if you want to drive ‘way sorrow
Come and hear this song tomorrow
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land

Then I wish I was in Dixie
Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand
To live and die in Dixie
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.

There’s buckwheat cakes and Injun batter,
Makes you fat or a little fatter;
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land
Then hoe it down and scratch your gravel,
To Dixie’s Land I’m bound to travel,
Look away! Look away! Look away!
Dixie Land

Then I wish I was in Dixie
Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand
To live and die in Dixie
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.
Away! Away! Away! Down South in Dixie.

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