We've Got it Figured Out (I Think) for 2013

I really believe that I've got the 2013 homeschool method figured out--at least it looks that way, sitting here at the end of 2012.

We're going to do a very relaxed form of homeschooling that borders on the edge of unschooling, with strong tendencies toward the Charlotte Mason method and classical.  Partly cloudy in the east.

Seriously, I've tried a "preview" here in December of a slightly new way of doing things (for us), and it seems to be working like gangbusters with my highly-gifted, quirky, brilliant, and somewhat behaviorally-challenged child.

(Note: Georgie's birthday is at the very end of December, so I like to start our school year the first of January to fit her age. With that said, we're not doing "grades," since she's all over the map.)

But here's a summary of what we're going to do:

• Read lots of books. Lots. Fun library books on every subject, poetry, and chapter books of every kind. This year, in 2012, she's listened to nearly 30 chapter books (we just read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass in 2 days). Every morning, or the night before, I select the books we will read that day. If she wants any extras, I usually read them too.
• Do one copy-word every morning. I write down a word for her to copy, and she does. That teaches her handwriting, phonics, and spelling at once.  As the year progresses, we can move up to sentences.
• Follow Life of Fred for Math.
• Keep going with The Story of the World for History.
• The human body and plants for Biology, then go on to Earth Science later in the year.
• Write down her thoughts on stories, but without her knowing it. She doesn't like to perform for the notebook.
• No tests.
• No desks.
• Lots of field trips and great teaching moments with real people. 
• Lots of playtime. She is a natural inventor, and she often creates games based on our history or science lessons. 

Through her narrations and games, I have no doubt that Georgie is absorbing everything I read to her, and retaining it with an awesome memory.

The main challenge is reading her all those books (which she ravenously demands I constantly do) while my two-year-old bangs me over the head wanting attention! But that's another issue for another day. 

Right Now

We finished The Hobbit this weekend. In all, it took me about 9 days to read it to her. I guess that's the "Tookish" side of me, for that was certainly an adventure.

But not as much so as you might think.  After all, Georgie and I have read over twenty chapter books this year, including everything we could find by Roald Dahl and all of the Chronicles of Narnia. Paddington didn't quite hold our interest, which was fine, but she truly loved The Hobbit, and rarely gave me a moment's rest between installments.

We also started Pimsleur French this week. Georgie seems to like it, but Lily, naturally, is absorbing it best. 

I'm currently reading For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, and I'm so glad that I am, because this book--an outline of the Charlotte Mason method--very much confirms to me that I'm on the right path with Georgie. Lots of books--good books--and lots of playtime, with the thread of Christian truth throughout.  That's it. No worksheets (although I think we'll still do the geography pages).  Teach mechanics of the 3 R's at her pace and level, and let her read and explore her way through life, with my guidance.

I love that. I know already that that works best for my super-gifted child (gifted in every sense, including OCD and hyperactivity, but with a spooky attention span and memory). I want her to love learning every day of her life, and I never want her to feel that her first 18 years are a sentence that she has to get through before real life starts. Real life has already started, and there are real people in it and real things to do.

I want her to be an avid learner at 5, at 55, and at 105, Lord willing.

I want her to always get a thrill from learning new things; I want to teach her how to teach herself, and I never want her to quit reading because "she knows everything," or because a certificate says she's free to stop learning.

Right now, she sees the withholding of books as a punishment. May she always feel so.

The Nutcracker Nuts

This Saturday, we went to see a live performance of "The Nutcracker Suite," performed by the Jackson Purchase Dance Company. 

It wasn't the Moscow Ballet, by any means, but it was good enough for us. We'd never taken the girls to a live ballet before, and all-in-all, it was more than a success.

In fact, Georgie was spellbound the entire time.

I didn't have time to get her a storybook of the plot beforehand, so I was glad that they printed a synopsis of the plot in the program. She had me read it to her twice before the show started, and she did fine following the story through the entire thing, as did I.

This theater setting was rather informal, so she was free to stand up and move all she wanted as the story washed over her.

Will she go on from this moment to be the Prima Ballerina of Moscow, or even Murray? I don't know, and I doubt it. But she now knows what a ballet is, what the purpose behind ballet lessons are, and that stories can take many forms, including dance.

She knows Tchaikovsky's name, and recognizes many of the tunes from the suite. And she can rehash the story to you any time you want.

Another great classroom-free day of learning!