History Planning -- Native Americans

Pictorial plans for the pre-Columbian unit which will take place over the next 3-4 weeks..... see photos below. Advent is starting right after the Thanksgiving break, so the regular history will take a back seat eventually as other things take over.

Another book not pictured here is Favorite North American Legends, which I plan to read aloud to the children over the next three days.

I also have a few coloring books which I haven't dug out yet, and a few of these Draw Write Now books.

Other resources are at the Thanksgiving post and I also found this page of Native American worksheets.

If you remember, I made these History Pages to be used for this study.



These are the contents of a few old-fashioned books, probably too easy for Kieron really and too advanced for the other ones but I thought I'd list them anyway.



California Standards (Native Americans)
California Social Studies Standards correlated with lesson plans


This is a group of books that aren't directly related to the central unit but that I thought might be interesting and somewhat related for springboards for further studies.

Planning Week 14

Plans for Week 14 (pdf)

I thought I'd try to get used to Microsoft's newsletter templates by making the plans in that format. (page 1 in gif form on right).

You may have noticed that I didn't do daily logs on here during the last week. I'm trying to figure out a way to transition to a more streamlined weekly form. I did keep a rather basic log -- it's in google doc form -- Week 13.

Year 1 Resources

I made a few more card type things for Aidan and Paddy this weekend:

Addition Board (pdf)
Addition Cards (pdf)
cards up to sums of 10
Addition Tables (pdf)
table of questions up to sums of 12, to use with the addition board.
More or Less (PDF)
basically, cat counters
Sizes (PDF)
circles of different sizes -- Aidan was having trouble identifying "bigger" and "smaller" last year at speech, so I thought this might help.
Days of the Week (PDF)
hollow letters, for handwriting practice for Aidan or to use to put in order, or to use for a picture schedule for him (he loves talking about time).
Color Words(pdf)

Below, I'm making a list of links I found when I was searching for other things and wanted to remember for the future:

• Science Kit (worksheets and other things)
• My Schoolhouse elementary worksheets
• Granny's Garden School "getting children in touch with nature"
• Learning Page free worksheets
• Kiddy House
• Play Odyssey -- colored printables
• Word Templates
• Little Book Lane -- booklets in different languages, look sort of cute.
• Monthome -- probably most are familiar with this, but it was new to me -- neat visuals and downloads.

I've been here before, but there are some printables and downloads, including a literature-based science curriculum and a history curriculum, at Los Banos Homeschool. There is also copywork in different fonts.

• Starfall, which my little boys like, has printables -- little booklets and worksheets.
• Finally, Quizlet, which I have been using for Kieron -- you can make your own quizzes for free.
• And some Quia Latin quizzes.

While I'm listing links, I was trying to figure out Aidan's speech therapy and did some hunting for that kind of thing, so here are some more links. If Aidan masters position words, more or less, and does a bit of sequencing, he will pretty much have met the goals they set at the IEP last year.

Positional words and directions

• Position Word Games
• Position Words (Math)
• Position Worksheet (PDF) Where's the Cat
• Three Bears position lesson
• Parent Handout on Position Words (PDF)
• Nursery Rhymes to teach position

More/Less/Same/Counting

• Math Worksheets
• Games for More and Less (Lesson Plan)
• unit on coins (more or less)

General Speech

• Mommy Speech Therapy (blog)
• Speech TX

Montessori

• AMI Primary Guide
• Maitrilearning Resources
• Montessori for Everyone (workplans and downloads)
  

Setting Sail

I was researching the pros and cons of block scheduling, and liked this Setting Sail in a Waldorf 7th Grade. I realized while looking it over that we don't really do "Main Lessons", but we do something more like "strands" that go through different permutations and link with each other. Does that make any sense?

So here is my tentative list of Strands for my 7th grader -- sorry, the descriptions are sort of vague in places, since this is just a starting point:

The Creed

Thorough study of the Apostles Creed through reading and discussion, with reference to the Catechism and to apologetic source books, and increasing understanding of different religions and their histories and beliefs. Understanding of the compatibility of faith and reason, and how this plays out in what we believe.

The Pauline Year

Read about St Paul, his life and work and thought. .... trace up to Benedict and his declaration of the Pauline Year.


Research Skills

Reading a range of different sources; summarizing; starting to compose simple reports

Composition

Understanding, discussing, retelling a literary tale. ... beginning literary analysis; applied grammar.

Renaissance

Covering the achievements in art, literature, science, architecture, music etc during the period of the Renaissance in Europe. How discoveries led to new discoveries. Side Topics -- history of science, developmental of new artistic and architectural techniques, printing press.

Reformation

Luther, Calvin and others -- the origins of Protestantism, its spread, its effects, the Counter-Reformation. Ignatius, Edmund Campion, Southwell.

Shakespeare

His life and literature, what stories he used (Plutarch, etc) and who he influenced. Some of the history of drama and the theatre.

Lepanto

The battle, its significance, Church history related to the time period, literature. Cervantes, GKC.

Age of Discovery

Mapping, exploration, discovery of the New World. Geographical review and consolidation; mapping skills; some exposure to different cultures in different parts of the world, mostly through a variety of reading.

New World

What the original meso-American civilization and Native American peoples lived like; their first encounters with Europeans. The physical terrain and how it affected the civilizations.
The first explorers, discoverers, pioneers and colonists; their history and their encounters with the indigenous peoples.

Math

Inductive introduction to algebra and geometry, problem-solving creatively, consolidation of skills in basic arithmetic -- particularly fractions and decimal fractions.

Mechanics and Astronomy

Science through biographies of Renaissance and early modern scientists and discoverers, and descriptions of what they discovered. Origins of modern science and its interaction with Faith.

Chemistry and Physics

Basic introduction to Matter, Light, Sound, Motion. Development of a science vocabulary; understanding of physical and chemical processes.

Local Landscape

Local investigation and identification of things peculiar to our environment, plus some of the history of the area -- geographical and social. Seasonal journaling.

Classic Languages

Latin and Greek with some analytical English grammar and vocabulary.

Logic

First elements of logical thinking through formal logic, Venn diagrams, and discussion. Application through composition.

Music

Introduction to piano; exposure to variety of different types of music, particularly Renaissance music.

Art & Architecture

Drawing techniques including perspective, shading. Beginning drafting and design; history of architecture. Work with different media.

Health and the Human Body

The history of anatomy; the structure of the human body; how to draw human forms, sculpture and forms. Respect for life, knowledge and care of person.


Founding of our Nation

Early history of the United States. Focus on biography.

Vocational

Exploration of different skills related to the child's talents, temperament and interests. Examples: Cooking, Cartooning, Woodworking, Science Investigations, Weightlifting, Running, Football, Computer Programming, Story-making, Photography, social interactions, paid jobs around the house, managing money.

Where we seem to differ from standard units or main lesson blocks is that we weave these in and out in different ways on different days. I've always found it very difficult to categorize learning into subjects, yet I do tend to plan in subject boxes. But I see that I am really planning more in terms of "topics" that are connected to each other across the subject compartments.

Since my other kids are so young, it's very easy to just let them come along for the ride and do what Kieron is doing, except on an extremely simple level.

On a given day, I am realizing, we don't do "History, Math, Latin, Logic" , Instead, we tend to turn from a read aloud on Shakespeare to a retelling of Hamlet to a reading on European history in the 16th century, to some mapping, etc.

I think I have been influenced by Charlotte Mason who did a combination of "integration" with a bunch of short lessons. She didn't really go for unit studies or "concentration schemes" as they were known back then, but she did believe that knowledge interlinked and that a sequential, connected curriculum was important.

Anyway, just a few half-thoughts. Maybe now that I see this pattern I will have an easier time keeping records. Looking back at this week I can see that we were heavier on Shakespeare, studied European history and early science just a bit, and skimped on religion .... etc.

I have a Google Doc where I'm revising the basic list as we move through the year: Main Lessons for Year Seven.

Also, here is the link list for block scheduling. It's mostly of interest to public schools who have challenges changing their time format. In a homeschool you can do whatever seems to work. Personally, we like to vary, but we tend to operate in short lessons (15-20 minutes) for most assignments. If the child is still interested we can always extend the time and of course crafts and projects and read-alouds need longer periods, but 15+ minutes usually seems like enough to do a complete lesson in math or Latin or catechesis, with a few minutes of independent work afterwards.

Revision of Year 7

I realized that I am hardly using ANY of the key resources I planned for over the summer, so I did a revision sheet. Revisions for Year 7 (pdf)

It goes with this.

I find that besides these "core" lessons, I am doing history/science/religion/literature/geography in sort of an integrated way with him, using more of a unit study format. That's probably not a very useful description -- I'll try to go into more details some other time.

Since it's almost the end of the first term, I wanted to try and see where we were compared to where I wanted to be to meet yearly goals. That was when I realized I didn't really have the new resources written out. Now that I have written this out, I find we are pretty close to where we ought to be.

In one way that doesn't matter -- because obviously, I'm designing my own curriculum and all learning is learning, etc. In another way it does matter, because I hate getting to the end of a year or semester and realizing we've completely missed out on covering something I really wanted to do.


Also I've noticed that this isn't very informative -- just page numbers right now. When I plan out next term it will be more detailed. Plus there are some details in the main syllabus I linked to above.

Next, this weekend, I'm hoping to describe where we are in each subject -- a sort of Term Report ;-0). Right now I have to get some little ones ready for Mass.

Occupational Therapy plans and follow-up 2008

A summary of what Aidan's OT and I talked about in planning for this upcoming year..... basically just for my records.

Revised Year 1 Timetable

Year 1 Timetable -- tentative.

Follow-up on this version.

Here is a doc version.

finishing up basic planning

I think I have almost finished this planning thing. Over on the left is a gif of this PNEU Programme I found over at Ambleside (you can click on the gif to make it more readable). I can use it alongside this categorized Formidable List of Attainments for Age 6.

The next things I have to do involve planning some methods and habits and how to approach the detailed planning that inevitably takes place during the year.

That takes a different part of the brain.

I also have to think about the "meta-organization" -- meaning how I actually work with this mass of information. That's usually rather a weak point of mine. In the past, I've made all these methodical plans and then found myself without a clue how to actually access them day by day. I've gotten better at this in the past few years, realizing that I have to pay conscious attention to processing the information. I usually have to write out a master list something like this:

1. Look at basic weekly plans
2. List materials and books used
3. Make notes for presentation or method

etc.

I plan to script out the "first week" very thoroughly. NOW, I've learned from studying St Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises that a week doesn't always have to be exactly five school days, nor does a script have to be followed exactly. It's a starting point. In fact, I usually start the academic year rather slowly, giving myself and the kids a chance to transition, so basically allow myself TWO weeks to finish the "first week".

Oh, and one more thing I have to do is plan a summer routine. I am not one of those who does formal schooling in the summer. Yikes, I hardly do that in the fall or winter or spring. But I do hope to get a routine planned for ME -- to remind me to interact with the kids, go outside, play games, science investigations, etc. I have realized that I'm a natural workaholic who can sit and study and plan for hours forgetting to eat or pay attention to my headache, basically growing roots to my chair.

So I want to get back to a bit more "intentionality" in the way the days go. This is our "Core"---but the details of how I actually manage it seem to vary from season to season and year to year. But that's the essence of what I'm going to set up a routine for.

From Elizabeth Foss's post On Being Intentional, though it is about housekeeping, I extracted a sort of examen for working on the environment, discipline and life elements in the home. Where I used her exact words, I put quotation marks and italics. Basically, the rest is just a paraphrase of what she wrote, applied to the daily rhythm as opposed to housekeeping in particular.

1. "Claim a quiet moment" and think about what you want for your daily life for this season
2. Think about the priorities -- the most important elements of life.
3. Think about the problems ... say, too much time on the screen. How can that change? Visualize bedtime, mornings, different parts of the day. What are problems? What are good things that could be developed in light of your priorities and those of your children?
4. As you engage your imagination, jot down those things which come to mind. It's all fair game right now. Don't let the things that pop into your head be distractions; all of them to shape the picture.
5. Now, what stands in the way?
6. Make a list -- a simple list (no need to bother with a system yet)
7. What would you like to do every day? Occasionally? What do you need to get done daily, weekly, monthly? Try to include the urgent (need-to's) AND the important but likely to be pushed aside (like playing games, talking)
8. What would help make the daily environment richer, more peaceful, more imaginative and intellectual?
9. "The list needs to make sense within the context of your family. No one can make the list for you. "
10. "Which days are you home all day? Which ones call you out into the world? Which days precede days with special needs? "
11. "Think about the individual children." How can they help? What is the balance between solitary time and active together time? What habits can be started that bear fruit in the long run?
12. "It's not a perfect list. PRINT IT OUT. Hang it on your refrigerator. Live it for a week. Make notes on it. Tweak it. Think, think, think about it. But do it.
13. "At the end of the week, look at your notes and adjust.Then do it again.
14. "Give yourself three weeks before you really will have nailed your routine."

So I'm going to spend some time journaling on these questions and then trying to set up a foundation that can be built on when we add formal work in the fall.

Year 7 Summary of First Term

First Term Summary for Year 7 -- page numbers and so on.

I will see if this is helpful to keep track of the big picture. If it's not, out it goes ;-).

Topic List for Year 1 -- part II

I made another topic list, this one based on What Your First Grader Needs to Know.

Once again, it is condensed.

A lot of the topics between Core Knowledge K and 1 overlap. But CK1 goes into more depth, particularly in math and science. So I wanted to have them both in order to cross-reference, and to know where I'm going later in the year.

I've started writing out some resources to go along with the topics but it's a work in process.

Next, I want to think up some sort of monthly routine to deal with the seasons and liturgical year with these children.

Topic List for Year 1

It's so funny to go from a transcript form to a "themes for primaries" form. Definitely, that's life around here. The age span in our family is 17 years. ... almost a generation in time lapse.

This form is based on Hirsch's What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know.
There are Core Knowledge Lesson Plans online, including some unit studies. I look at them occasionally but usually find them too schooly and standards-based for our purposes.

I thought that if I took the book as an outline I could pull out my own resources throughout the course of the year. I notice that I like to do things my own way, so I don't much care for teacher's manuals or lesson plan resources, but I do usually like to have some overview that I can start with.

In this topic list (here is the pdf version), I didn't list out the specific stories and biographies and that kind of thing. I just wanted a basic overview.

You notice that science and history, for example, has categories of content, like "magnetism" and "Columbus". The Literature is based on categories, though, like "Fables" and "Sayings". Rather than having a "fable unit" per se at this age I would probably just weave fables throughout the year.

I do not think my 2 young students are ready for a full-blown Ambleside Year 1. I'm going to start planning it a bit since I really did want to try to use it, but right now I want to focus on the "preparatory" stage a bit more, and various habits so that when they get to that point some of the groundwork will be laid already. Details to follow, probably. It's something I've been thinking about.

Term by Topic 2008

I uploaded a topic chart for Year 7 (part 1 and part 2, both PDF) It isn't quite complete yet because I didn't have topics yet for things like local nature study, life skills and art projects.

This is part of the first page (left). I have six "terms" because we are operating in the trimester system and it makes it easier for me to get my brain around smaller units -- so I divided each trimester in half. Only the first 3 terms show up in the gif.

I think I am going to use this topic chart as a sort of springboard for casual "themes" for the Year 1 children. Not that they will be reading Spenser or trying to deal with decimals, but some of the religion topics and history topics (shown in the doc file but not in the gif) can be adapted to younger ones.


I have What Your First Grader Needs to Know and it might be a good thing to use as an occasional resource because it covers the earlier days of US History.

History

I found a neat site -- a bit like Baldwin Project but devoted to "living history".

Heritage History

I have been wondering:

Does my Ambleside plan for this year fit in with Non Multa Sed Multum? Talking about the History program in the Latin Centered homeschool, Drew Campbell says:

Still other programs divide history into two streams, studying world history and national history simultaneously. This is the method of the acclaimed Core Knowledge Sequence, championed by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., and of some Charlotte Mason-influenced home school programs, such as Ambleside Online. This dual approach is also common in traditionminded European schools.

He goes on to say:

In the previous edition of this book, I recommended a multi-stream approach encompassing classical (ancient), Christian (medieval), and modern historical studies. While I still believe that such an approach can work well and commend it to those who have found it useful, it proved too complicated for most readers, particularly those with larger families.

When I first started homeschooling 14 years ago, I had no theories about how to approach history. I used a conventional Catholic correspondence program and soon knew what I DIDN'T want to do -- repeat American history through boring facts and short, dry sentences and a few pious sentiments.

That was one of the things that attracted me to Kolbe Academy. Kolbe used Greenleaf's Famous Men program and my children and I loved the chronological cycle approach to history and used it for several years.

One of the drawbacks, however, was that we never seemed to get around to very much American history. Thus, the Core Knowledge approach appealed to me. But raising six children, one of them medically fragile, I had enough to do covering the basics without planning and implementing two or more separate history programs. Often, we ended up progressing through World History for seven months of the year and then doing an extended unit on American History in the spring and summer.

Ambleside and later, Mater Amabilis, was a help for me here. These combined the Core Knowledge type sequence with books of literary value. I have been doing it this way for the last couple of years but it has taken time and effort to feel comfortable with the "scattered" effect of so many different courses.

I still am not sure. I get a bit claustrophobic with the "straight chronological cycle" too. And I found that my family would get so wrapped up in the cool ancient/medieval European history (which we loved, and so much good fiction for the middle ages particularly!) that we would tend to skimp on US History.

This wasn't so much so with my second son. He devoured history books during the summer and in his spare time. But my most recent set of kids -- hmm, sometimes I wonder if they could tell me who Abraham Lincoln was. I'm a bit scared to ask.

So I am making sure we focus on US History next year and still have some room to spare for our Plutarch and our Renaissance Europe.

I think it will still fit in with Multum non Multa because I keep an eye on the main thing -- a few books read carefully, the rest there for entertainment and extra context.

Middle School History Chart

A History Planning Outline (doc) partly filled out. This is just for the first year, and right now has only some literature and biography selections.


Year 1: Our Country in Story, History of Mankind

• Term 1: Exploration and Discovery/ Colonial Days
• Term 2: American Revolution, Early Expansion
• Term 3: First westward movements, Civil War

Year 2: Story of the World -- Modern Times

• Term 1: Post Bellum
• Term 2: World Wars
• Term 3: Post World Wars

It will probably change, but I wanted to start listing books and other resources in the proper time periods.

Year 1 Weekly

A first try at a simple Year 1 weekly timetable (PDF)-- based on Mater Amabilis Prep Level schedule.

The gif turned out horrible, but is here just so you can see it:


I am going to revise it a bit in August after we test-drive a bit. And then I'll change the heading from Kindergarten to Year 1 or Primary -- that slipped by! : )

one last little bit.

A more detailed outline of the first block of Year 7.
Also, a form where I can keep track of weekly progress -- or write a short plan by page number (PDF).

So I'm pretty much done on the Year 7 overview. This is more complex than it strictly needs to be, but like I said, I'm experimenting with preparing more extensively. We'll see how it goes! ... what parts of the prep pay off and what is just redundant and silly.

This is the Progress Chart gif.

This is another chart from the outline I linked to above.

Progress on Year 7 -- basic course breakdown beta

I finished the basic outline of Year 7. It is in PDF form. Some of the classes are outlined more specifically than others. Partly that is because of the difference between the "skill" lessons and the more "exploratory" ones. I will probably keep tinkering with it and will eventually upload a doc version -- I converted this one to PDF because I wasn't sure if the Word 2007 format would transfer easily to the older Word format.

I have almost finished writing more specific lesson plans for the first Term (I have divided the year into 6 Blocks so I can follow the trimester system of the local schools (since Sean is going to school this year, that is more of a consideration than it was in past years). In order to have some kind of unity, I wanted to be able to think in terms of six Blocks (I wish I could think of a better word).

Each Block will have a list of Sub-Topics and then I can decide which subjects have priority, dependent on what we've emphasized in past blocks, interest, life circumstances and that sort of thing.

Does that make sense?

For example, right now the first Block out of the six has this outline:

• Religion -- first part of creed.... Creation and early salvation history.
• Bible History -- Early Salvation History.
• History -- exploration and early discovery, focus on Americas. Geography related to history; same with literature and readers, poetry and arts.
  
• Science -- Galileo, astronomy
• Math -- Advanced Multiplicaton and Division (work a bit on algebraic terminology)
• Latin & Classical History -- Romulus & Theseus, review of 1st and 2nd conjugations and declensions, etc.
  
• Greek & NT -- Gospel of Mark, reading Greek letters (review) and prepositions
• Logic. .... Statements. Grammar -- prepositional phrases, review of modifiers.
  
• Composition -- Narrative

You get the picture. By having this laid out, I can "hyperfocus" on these topics and fill them out in detail. So I want to get together materials and ideas for these specific subjects and since there is quite a bit there, decide what we should dwell on more thoroughly and what can take second place. Also figure out connections between the different subjects -- not so much for Kieron, since I want him to make his own connections, but for ME.

Now that I have this laid out, I can also figure out composition topics, poetry and Scripture memorization choices, dictation and copywork selections, research topics and that kind of thing. That's where I always end up unprepared during the school year -- so my goal for this year was to prepare it ahead of time, hopefully gathering way more than I can actually use.

Final note -- I'd liked to get each block summarized like the one above, and have a little packet for each one, but I don't want to micro-plan too far ahead.

Also, a day by day schedule -- to help me figure out what we are doing each day. Here is the first page, in gif.

Schedule for Younger Two

I have been thinking about my little ones. For them, I don't want to have an academic type schedule. I want to focus on habits and baskets : ).

Here is a schedule for a young child from Mater Amabilis:

Monday - Religion, Reading, Painting, Break, Number, Handwork, Geography, Writing

Tuesday - Tales, Number, Handwork, Break, Reading, Singing Games, Writing, Nature Study

Wednesday - Poetry, Reading, Nature Study, Break, Number, Handwork, History, Writing

Thursday - Religion, Number, Handwork, Break, Reading, Singing Games, Writing, Tales

Friday - Tales, Reading, Picture Study, Break, Number, Handwork, Nature Study, Writing

It looks simple and uncluttered. In addition or rather, overlapping, are my "Preschool Priorities".

I am going to try to make lists -- mental or physical "baskets" -- that can help me come up with things for these different areas. I'd like to overlap with the Year 7 topics a bit, just so that (1) the Year 7 child can help design activities for them (he is good at that and enjoys it) and (2) so that my head doesn't explode.

Now, for habits -- this year I want to read Charlotte Mason's ideas on habits, which are traced through all of her books, and come up with some things I want to emphasize and work on.

So the main "goals" for the little ones are goals for myself -- what *I* want to do and think about.

Here is the Level 1 Timetable from Parent's Review














(For "Drill and Dancing" I can think Aidan's physical therapy and work Paddy in there too. For "handicrafts" and writing, brush-drawing etc I can work in his OT goals. and for the other subjects, I can work in his speech goals --- widening vocabulary and organizing skills for the content subjects, oral expression for narration, receptive language for listening to read-alouds).... then visual discrimination for things like nature study and object lessons)

When I have "baskets" or in other words, too many choices -- I get paralyzed, so I'm going to make some tentative sequential lists. But definitely, the curriculum is a lot more open at this age than it is for the older children.

If you take this Goal List (A Formidable List of Attainments) it gives a start on categories:

Nature Study and Local Observation

• to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
• to describe the boundries of their own home
• to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
• to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
• to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
• to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
• to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
• to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
• to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.

Song and Verse and Language -- Oral Expression

• to recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
• to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
• to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
• to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song

Number, Reading and Writing

• to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
• to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
• to copy in print-hand from a book

Literature and Narration

• to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English (or American!), and 3 from early Roman history

Handwork

• to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed

You can see I could break it up differently, to emphasize all the different subjects, but I am trying to keep it simple and targeted towards "habits" rather than a bunch of different "subjects".

History 7 -- Our Country

I found this Our Country in Story in the Google Books repository. It is intended for Grades 5-6 but I am thinking of using it as a spine for US History for Kieron for these reasons:

• It is Catholic.
• It has only 35 chapters so it would be easy to read just once a week and pull in other resources to deepen the study.
• It has a geographical, exploration-oriented emphasis.
• It is quite nicely written.
  

I've written out a chapter breakdown.

In the future, I'm going to try to add some resource lists and books to read alongside this outline.

Pace for next year

Here is the 2008 Calendar (PDF)(tentative) -- gif version below.

Something I've noticed several times about the "pacing" balance in our homeschool:

We seem to do best when there is opportunity to pause in the homeschool.... when every day, every week is not the same.

Last year went much better than any previous "structured" year because I acknowledged this and let some days just unfold. I want to take it one step further this year, however, and have a pacing similar to the recommended Ignatian one.

Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly review.

In Ignatian education, "review" doesn't mean drill but is rather, just as it implies etymologically -- another view of the subject.-- a chance to step back and look at it differently, to think, to consolidate, to make new connections. You pause, breathe, look down at the mountain path you have come up, and look up at where you still have to go.

THe manual Implementation of Ignatian Education in the Home (I HAVE to figure out an abbreviation for that) says that this type of thing is so important that if you have to cover less material in order to make room for it, you should.

In past years I ignored this advice. I am thinking now that my neglect of the need to review and retreat is a form of acedia -- to just want to push on through something to "get it done".

Kieron is very motivated to learn. When I present something new he usually says "Good!" and often plans out his own activities to further knowledge. However, I have squelched this natural motivation of his in the past through hurry. This year, when he is the only older student in the house, I don't have an excuse for hurry. So I will have to pay attention to that.

Speaking of "retreat", another "re" word -- I was just rereading a book about Jesuit (Ignatian) education last night and it reminded me that the yearly retreat was considered one of the most important aspects of the school year. Teachers had their own retreats and there was also a simple week-long retreat.

A few years ago I found this Online Retreat based on the Ignatian method. It wasn't bad (I only made it through the first nine parts, I think).

Googling a bit more, I found this Response to Pope's Call for Greater Use of Spiritual Exercises

Cool. I didn't know the Pope had called for greater use. The Jesuits have not always acted well since Vatican II, which is partly why I use the term Ignatian rather than Jesuit often. My guess would be that Pope Benedict is trying to reclaim the valuable and truly most-needed for our time elements of the Jesuit tradition which too often, the order itself has abandoned or diluted.

(Once when we drove to a Tridentine mass the Monsignor presiding shouted very emphatically: "Fifty Four Jesuit colleges in the United States and not one of them signed the Mandatum!" )

OK, I'm drifting.