Slowing Down

Recently due to some narrating issues that we were having I've had to slow our school progress down a bit.

Granted, this is not easy for me to do.
I'm the kind of gal that likes to check things off of the list....any list. In fact I will make lists of things that I've done just so I can check them off!
I know some of you can relate.

So when I look at the weekly schedule laid out for my kiddos on Ambleside it does not even compute with me that we have a choice NOT to do a certain book or to go at our own pace through other books.

Since this is our second year in using Ambleside I have been able to let a few book choices go but I start to get really worried and anxious if we fall behind in our weekly readings. So you can imagine my dismay upon doing some research and reading into helping my oldest son, Tom, better his narrations when I found one of the best methods would be to SLOW DOWN.

Not just slow the speed of my reading....but literally to take smaller sections of the books and require more narrations.
I wasn't sure how this would work out since we have struggled all year to keep up (adorable baby distractions and the like).

But on the encouragement of a veteran CM'er and her own experiences with narrating I jumped in with both feet.
We started with the last few pages we were reading from "Wind in the Willows" and I took it sentence by sentence reminding both Tom and Ali often to listen to the "first part" of the sentence to be able to "tell back".

I think that last page & a half took us about a 1/2 an hour. But by the end of it Tom was already doing better and was listening and narrating from the "first part" of the sentence rather that just telling back the last portion of what I had read.
Ali, who doesn't usually struggle with narrating unless out of laziness, was a bit frustrated at the slow going initially but gradually caught on and has also been giving better narrations.

We continued this for the rest of the week, sentence by sentence readings with the twins taking turns in narrating back to me specifically listening to the "first part" of the reading. Towards the end of the week I was able to do 2 sentences at a time and Tom has done a much better job of cohesively retelling them in his own words. I have also noticed that in the beginning both of the kids would try narrating back to me word for word what I read, but after encouraging them to use their own words they have been able to take a portion of the reading and tell it back in their own words but with greater detail than if I had given them a larger reading.

I am encouraged though still slightly fretful over the slow progress we will most likely make. I have had to continually remind myself that it would be a pointless journey through these "living" books if my children were unable to train their minds to the habit of attention.

"A vigorous effort of will should enable us at any time to fix our thoughts. Yes; but a vigorous self-compelling will is the flower of a developed character; and while the child has no character to speak of, but only natural disposition, who is to keep humming-tops out of a geography lesson, or a doll's sofa out of a French verb? Here is the secret of the weariness of the home schoolroom––the children are thinking all the time about something else than their lessons; or rather, they are at the mercy of the thousand fancies that flit through their brains, each in the train of the last. "Oh, Miss Smith," said a little girl to her governess, "there are so many things more interesting than lessons to think about!"

Where is the harm? In this: not merely that the children are wasting time, though that is a pity; but that they are forming a desultory habit of mind, and reducing their own capacity for mental effort."

Home Education pg 139

In the wonderful issues of the online newsletter Magnanimity published by Karen Glass, she has an article that has been a breath of fresh air to me entitled "The Still Progress of Growth".
In it she points out that we need to view our children's growth and education like a tree growing. We may not see with our eyes any growth but we do not always know what is going on under the surface. Roots are being pushed deeper, limbs become denser, sap is rising to produce more fruit.
Our children are the same way. Being able to check off of a list that we have read a particular chapter is fine, but if I have not taken the time to slow down and train habits of attention and listening so that they may order their thoughts. Then I have not necessarily made "progress".

"Is there not some confusion of ideas about this fetish of progress? Do we not confound progress with

movement, action, assuming that where these are there is necessarily
advance? Whereas much of our activity is like the waves of the sea, going
always and arriving never. What we desire is the still progress of growth
that comes of root striking downwards and fruit urging upwards. And this
progress in character and conduct is not attained through conditions of
environment or influence but only through the growth of ideas, received with
conscious intellectual effort."
A Philosophy of Education, p. 297.

To read the newsletter Magnanimity - join here.
To read the article The Still Progress of Growth join the yahoo group and find Volume 1, Issue 2.

First Things First

It's taken me awhile to implement and I'm still pretty new at this but thanks to some encouragement we have begun a new practice in our home.

After Breakfast....
Before kitchen chores....
Before Circle Time....

Each child gathers their bible from the "bible shelf" in the livingroom and returns to our table. We open to the portion of scripture we are reading through (James right now) and then 1 by 1 we make our way verse by verse.
Most days we cover about 8 verses or so, 2 per reader, although while we were reading the Psalms we usually read a whole Psalm. After we read and after I've explained any hard words, we open up our journals to write. So far I'm keeping this pretty relaxed, just gently encouraging each one to listen for His voice, for a rhema. Some children do record, others simply talk it out, I always write my own thoughts in my journal.
When we finish in our journals I open up a tiny notebook that has become our family's prayer journal. I've been taking George Mueller's advice and recording the dates that we begin praying for things so that as the answers come we can record that as well. I ask for prayer requests and we read over the ones from the past days and update as needed. I also use prayer updates provided by Voice of the Martyrs so that every day our focus goes beyond our little house to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.
Usually all of the children are eager to pray and then I close our time together with a prayer.

A few weeks ago I would have thought this daily habit something impossible to begin or keep and frankly what would have been the point...aren't they too young to understand...to hear? But thankfully my heavenly Father knows best.
My first inkling of change came on Sunday morning at church. Honestly, it's been a dry few months in my own spiritual life. But this Sunday was different, I came excited, I came feeling full, I came thirsting more. I was not coming to receive but I felt like I was coming to give! Why? What changed?
God and I had met, had spoken, had communicated in those after breakfast times in His Word with slow beginning readers, ornery little boy antics, and fussy baby snuggles.

And then today, we read about being doers of the Word and not hearers only and discussed bridling our tongues and being slow to anger. Wouldn't you know that each of us was given a chance to be obedient in these areas and to encourage each other with scripture!

I encourage anyone who reads this to make being in God's word a priority over chores, school and housework it is a thing worth doing, of lasting value.

In the Groove

What a nice week it has been so far.

After the craziness and distraction (all good) that December brings it is so nice to just stay home and be home and work in our home.

We seem to have hit on a pretty good routine for school and daily life right now so the days clip along at a pretty good rate and we are covering all of our bases while having a bit of fun.

With the new baby coming in just a short 20 weeks I feel the need to correct some training and disciplining problems that have cropped up and been growing with each of the children. So I have put that at the top of my list for each and everyday.

I have also been impressed to use this time in training the daily habit of picking up the house. Alissa, Thomas, Emily and Wesley are each assigned a room to take care of for a duration of 12 weeks. They have 4 chores that must be accomplished in their "room" each morning without fail. I have been spending this week making sure that they are completing these chores properly and weaning them off of my help during their 30-minute clean time.
I also use these as commission chores for which they do get paid a small amount for each chore accomplished.

I have also been trying to catch up in the kitchen after being down for the count for several days due to a bad cold. Normally I would dump my kids in front of some movies so that I could get this done, but we are on a bit of a media fast at the moment so I have asked them to help me out by adding an extra 15 minutes after meal clean up chores are done. They have blessedly cooperated and after doing this 4 different times I only have a couple of nasty pans to wash and a couple piles of clutter to get cleaned up.

It is such a mistake to think that are children are not only capable of doing many tasks around the house but very detrimental not to train and include them in on these things. The kids and I do have a good time working together and have become quite the cleaning team:) Hopefully by the time the baby comes these habits will be instilled as well as cheerful working attitudes so that the transition will be a bit less bumpy.