Oh the places he will go!

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Kay Pelham

James has lately taken to reading in bed before he shuts his eyes and calls it a day. One morning I found a book beside my computer with a note on top that read “Done.” This morning I was greeted by this book and note on the bench next to my desk. It just warms my little ol’ heart to see him reading on his own and loving a well-told story. I miss being involved in all the stories that he knows, but oh the places he will go in his life with all the good books out there to be read.

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The tuning fork tree

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Kay Pelham

We spent some time in a local park yesterday enjoying a fairly warmer day. I took several pictures of trees and tree parts. This one in particular I found interesting. Anyone care to play “Name the species?”

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Handwriting skills not a dying art

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Kay Pelham

Last fall the Wall Street Journal published an article titled “How Handwriting Boosts the Brain.”  The author addresses the fact that in spite of our ever advancing technological world, the ancient skill of handwriting still has real value. For the children, “the practice helps with learning letters and shapes, can improve idea composition and expression, and may aid fine motor-skill development.” But even for us oldies it offers an exercise in keeping our minds sharp. The article gives several accounts of experiments that have shown the advantage of handwriting.

In our homeschool we practice Copywork along with using the Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting series to practice beautiful letter and word formation. The question has come up from time to time in various discussion groups of why we continue to focus on penmanship in this computer and texting keyboard age. The WSJ article was very encouraging to me as to why. I considered the difference between manually forming an S on paper and pushing down the left ring finger on the keyboard. I’m sure there is good brain activity and programming  that goes into memorizing the position of the keys on the keyboard, but there is something missing if you don’t also continue the art of manually forming letters on paper.

I think of the other manual activities that Charlotte Mason advocates for the student — some in which we could do far better. The drawing, particularly in our nature journals,  and handcrafting. I see such value in nature drawing — the real connection you can make with that object by spending time forming the details on paper. Nature drawing is similar to narration in that it forces you to pay attention to detail. And then the drawing etches those details in your memory.

So as I sit here and type these thoughts, I wonder the advantage there might be in recording my thoughts by hand and then transferring them here.  Just as I am training James in narration and realizing my own need to develop that skill, I think I’d better practice what I preach when it comes to handwork.

Thoughts?

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A poem of true things

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Kay Pelham

What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow:

What are brief? to-day and to-morrow:

What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth:

What are deep? the ocean and truth.

~untitled poem by Christina Rossetti

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Lost in Promotion or For the sake of the Institution

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Kay Pelham

While watching the local PBS station’s showcasing of high school choirs from across the state, I observed that the performances these kids were giving were ultimately being used to promote the schools.  Whatever may have been the motives of the individual kids, their efforts were being co-opted for mere promotion.  Never mind the music itself, or the kids’ ability to learn it, understand it, and perform it at a certain level of excellence; these kids were on parade for another purpose.

I’ve seen this same behavior in many institutions.  All efforts seem to be about drawing attention back to the institution. The Christmas pageant isn’t really about sharing the story of Jesus’ amazing arrival on this planet; it’s about Continue reading →

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Things I learned this week from 2nd grade

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Kay Pelham

Here’s a brief list of things I learned, or at least was reminded of, as I prepared and then taught our lessons this week.

  • Arithmetic is spelled with an E in the 3rd syllable and not an A. Even the Dad questioned it when James challenged him to a little game of Hangman.
  • Robin Hood became an outlaw after mistakenly killing one of the king’s deer and then killing the man who shot at him because he was mad that young Robin was able to do it. I always assumed Robin simply began his life of living outside the law because “the Law” was unfair to the poor and favored the rich.
  • Found Lapland on the map above Finland. Thought I would find it at the top of Norway.
  • Einstein said, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, Continue reading →
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James explains Shakespeare’s Cymbeline

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Kay Pelham

James explains our stick figures representation of Shakepeare’s Cymbeline. We do this as we’re reading along to keep all the characters straight — who’s who and who belongs to whom and who wants to belong to whom. Over a period of three years we are reading from Tales from Shakepeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. We read this story in January and James made this recording at that time. I heard him watching this from his camera the other day and recognized it as a Shakespeare story. I asked him which one it was. James said, “It’s the one where the father doesn’t want his daughter to marry that guy.” Oh thanks, James. That really narrows it down. You might as well have said ‘it’s the one where the girl disguises herself as a boy.’

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James narrates “The Story of Marco Polo”

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Kay Pelham

James will be spending next school year with Marco Polo and his travels. This week he got an introduction to the man in a chapter from M.B. Synge’s The Discovery of New Worlds

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I must know why

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Kay Pelham

Yesterday I was reading Chapter 1 “Fingerprints” from Tobias Dantzig’s NUMBER: The Language of Science. Very fascinating stuff to me about primitive ways of counting –or not– and theories of how different numbering systems developed.

I got stuck on pg. 9 where Mr. Dantzig relates that

“to this day, the peasant of central France (Auvergne) uses a curious method for multiplying numbers above 5.”

He goes on to explain how they determine a number of fingers to bend down on each hand and then do some adding and multiplying of the up and down fingers and come up with the correct product. I tested it. It does work.  It also works with numbers below 5 except for the fact that it is (naturally) a little difficult to bend down a negative number of fingers.

But why Continue reading →

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And a little child shall lead them

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Kay Pelham

I have found myself regularly recalling and admiring one episode from James’ earlier life that it seemed time to write it into the record. James was 4 years old and we were at a large family holiday gathering. After an hour of playing for the kids, the family assembled in the den to receive instructions. The kids obviously weren’t overjoyed by this interruption in their play, but were waiting patiently for the end of the instructions. When it was finished, an announcement was made that the kids could continue their playing. James, who was closest to the stairs, turns and says, “Come on kids! Let’s go play!”  The other young cousins ranging in ages around 8 to 13 fall in line and follow him up those steps. I saw no sign that any of them were thinking or saying, “Who is this little pipsqueak taking charge and telling us what to do?” They just followed the overseer of fun up the steps.

You’re free to credit James’ character and personality to anything that pleases you, but I find that one contributing factor is Continue reading →

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