I first came across Morning Time at this woman's blog.  Most homeschoolers have a varied version of morning time.   Most families start their learning time with an activity that includes all of the family members, be it Bible reading, read alouds,  poetry recitation, singing  songs, etc., or a combination of these things.

I quickly realized  that we could maim many birds with this Morning Time stone  by including  the subjects that just don't seem to get done in the course of a week.  As a result of my realization, we use MT for Bible reading,  read aloud, Latin, poetry reading and recitation, Shakespeare, Greek Mythology, Nature Study  and picture study.  Whew!  That sounds like way too much, doesn't it?  This is what last week was for; whittling things down into bite sized pieces so we can manage all of those subjects.

This is how  MT works in our home:  we do Bible,  Latin, read aloud and poetry recitation every day. Then  we pick one of the other subjects to do for one day.  So  Monday  we will add Poetry reading  to our every day subjects.  Tuesday  will be for Greek Mythology,  Wednesday  is for Picture Study.  Now,  if we miss picture study  on Wed.  then we will just bump it over to Thursday and push the other subjects back one day as well.   I am hoping that this will work.   Stay tuned.

Now that I had our MT schedule organized, I needed help in how to organize our  MT  books.   In years past, I had the books and resources piled up in an unwieldy mess on the shelf below our coffee table.  It was very unseemly.   Last week, I was perusing blogs and I came upon this blog that solved my messy book dilemma.   This homeschooling mom showed her MorningTime basket.  A basket! I was a bit embarrassed that I had not thought of this before.  Sometimes, though, we just need a nudge of the obvious to get our creative juices flowing.   

After reading this wonderful blog,  I scrounged around for an empty basket and  deposited all of the books and resources that we use for MorningTime.  It looks very pretty and it is very handy just to pull over the basket to the couch and release the proper book from it's hold.

We are now organized and ready for next week's Morning Time.  The next step is to get the two other chunks of our learning time organized and ready to go.  Sigh.   It never seems to end.

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband,  homeschooling their 3 children (10,8,6) and is attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at her blog.

The book that has helped me the most and has been the most difficult to read  is Norms and Nobility by David Hicks.  This book is a treatise on education.  It is a hard read.  It took me three years  to finish this book.  Every time I opened the book, my head  would start to hurt.  There were little nuggets in this book, though,  that spoke very deeply to me.  These nuggets made the brain ache all worth it.  One thing  that spoke volumes to me was the description of how a teacher is to be a mentor to the student.  The teacher doesn't just leave the student on his own, rather, the teacher works through the material with the student so that both are learning.  Another thing that has endeared N&N to me are the curriculum suggestions in the back of the book.   The gist of these suggestions is a booklist  but that list makes my heart beat faster.   I am hoping to use this list as the basis for my oldest's history and literature course for Gr. 7.  I am excited  to use Hicks'  suggestions. 

One book that  pushed me into the waters of traditional classical was Climbing  Parnassus  by Tracey Lee Simmons.  This book persuades teachers to give up the myriad of subjects that has become vocational training in our school system  and just focus on a few subjects.  Simmons' suggestions for subjects to be focused on are latin,  greek, math,  and geography.   It has been awhile since I have read this book so I am not sure if music is in that list as well.  This book steered me away from neo-classical.  It  steered me into uncharted, educational territories.  It challenged me to think of education in a way that I had never dared before.  This book opened the floodgates for me into a new world, educationally speaking.

Where Climbing Parnassus  was a treatise on simplifying our educational choices, The Latin Centered Curriculum by Andrew Campbell  puts the meat  on Simmons' skeleton.  LCC is the traditional classical version of The Well-Trained Mind.   It gives us curriculum suggestions for each subject but it keeps  to the  multum non multa  theory (not many but much.)  It is a handy book to have for those who feel a need to pare  the curriculum buffet to a few choices.

Another book that gave me food for thought  is Wisdom and Eloquence  by Robert Littlejohn and Charles Evans.   This book is written mainly for classical school teachers but there were a few bits of wisdom that we, as homeschoolers,  can benefit from.  One of the things that the book talks about is planning your child's education from the top down.  Usually, when we plan our children's education, we start planning for kindergarten, then we move on to Grade 1, and on up the ladder.   These authors suggest starting the planning process with the end in mind,  which means start planning Gr. 12 and then work your way down to Kindergarten.  This is helpful because then you know what you are working towards.  I find this a positive planning tool.  Now that I am planning Gr. 5, I am not shooting around in the dark  trying to figure out what I want my child to know.  Because I already know  what my goals are for the highschool years, I can start paving the way for that in these earlier years.  This helps solidify my planning.

There are many, many books on Classical Education.  These are just the tip of the iceberg,  but if you are wondering which ones to start with,  maybe this list  will give you an idea which one  to wade into first. 

Ms. Bauer makes quite a few good points in this article.  Maybe as time rolls on  I will address them in future articles.  The one point she did make that resonated deeply within me dealt with finding the time to read.

    "Activities that produce an immediate result are always more satisfying than activities that don't.... In many ways, it's more rewarding to get up in the morning and clean the kitchen than to get up and read.  After all, if your husband or your mother walks in, you can say, "I am a useful human being.  I am a useful member of society. Look at my kitchen."  But if your house is filthy, the baby is screaming, and you have a book in your hand, you won't feel at all rewarded." 

That tiny little paragraph has summed up how I have been feeling for the last five years.   I read those words and I started to cry.  I have been feeling torn between  working like a crazy woman to have a clean house (if I have a clean house then this means I am a good wife and mother) and being able to have some time to myself  to challenge my thinking through good books.  I have realized that I have become a Martha.  I have morphed into a woman who works constantly all day so that her house is clean and her yard  is weedless. 

Please don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having a clean house, but there needs to be a balance, at least for me there does.   I am not a happy person when I am working all day long.  I soon become grouchy and bitter.  I need to have some down time so that I can read, think, and ponder.  My soul needs that.   My problem is that I have quite a few people in my life that do not see things the same way that Ms. Bauer and I do.   They consider  reading a book  the height of laziness.  Their warped thinking has been interjected into my way of thinking.   After reading Ms. Bauer's article, I can see where I am doing my children a disservice in not spending time teaching myself.

If I spend a bit of time each day reading, learning, and stretching my brain muscles, then I will be able to have intelligent conversations with my children about  philosphy,  history, literature, spirtual issues, etc.   Even more, if I become well-read, I will be able to participate in The Great Conversation with my children.  My understanding of the Great Conversation is to discuss the Great Ideas (truth, love, beauty, justice, goodness,  to name a few)  in relation to all that I have read, as well as to the world.  I will be able to have this kind of conversation with my children.   According to Plato, this is the best kind of discussion to have with another human being.  This kind of discussion fills the soul  as well as challenges the brain.  This is my goal for my children. If I am busy  cleaning my sink, though,  that discussion will only be a far flung dream.  I want it to be a reality for me and my children.

After reading Ms. Bauer's  article, I am determined to ignore the voices of those  anti-readers and plunge ahead in the journey of my self-education.  This does not mean that my house will now lay in squalor,  as I am still planning to clean my house (I can hear my family  breathing a sigh of relief.)   It just means that I will be carving  more time out for my own education.   My reward won't be as immediate as a clean kitchen.  It will be far in the future when my children and I are sitting in the living room discussing what is truth  while reading Plato.  This reward  will be a long time in coming, but I can wait.

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband, homeschooling her 3 children (10,8,6) and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at herblog.

I have to admit I was at a loss after reading that post.  That post has made me think  more about Classical Education.  In the past 10 years, CE has become the "It Education."   Everyone wants their children  to have a Classical Education.  It sounds good to listening ears when you get to dangle that terminology.  The problem is, though, that everyone is dubbing their form of education as classical,  when in actuality, it really isn't that at all.  CE has become so watered down in the last five years,  that it is not recognizable from the education of the Ancients (on which CE is fashioned after.)  

Private schools are very guilty of watering down CE.  Many schools call themselves  Classical, when in fact,  traditional would be the  label  they should be getting.  Many  'classical'  schools do not teach latin, logic or rhetoric to their students  yet they still  slap  that label  on their sign  in the front of their school.    Homeschoolers  are guilty of this as well.  Many do not teach latin or logic  but they still consider themselves CE.

This past week,  I have read  two blog posts that reiterates what I have just written.  They just say it much better than I ever could.  Lene, from  Classical Writing,  wonders if it is okay to do Classical Lite  or, to have a Classical Education,  does rigor need to accompany  it? 

Cindy, at Domion Family ,  laments about how CE has become watered down  in the past few years.  She has decided that she doesn't want to consider herself a classical homeschooler as it doesn't mean what it should mean anymore.  Cindy  wlll now call what she does  as giving her children a 'true education.'

I like that term, 'true education.'   From  the view of others, I am sure that the kind of education that I am giving my children is not classical (at least in their eyes ) but  I am definitely giving them a true education.  I am giving them an education that  shows all that is beautiful, true, and good.  That is what I strive for  and, for the most part,  I think I do achieve that.  

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies  with her husband, homeschooling her 3 chldren ((10,8,6)  and is attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at her blog.

As the years went on,  I discovered another venue for online friendships--the yahoo groups.  I soon found out  that the list of homeschooling yahoo groups are endless.  I had to curtail my memberships as I was getting a bit slap happy with the join button.  The groups that I am very thankful for are the ones for classical education. There is one group in particular that has saved my sanity on more than one occasion.  ClassEd is quite a small group of classical homeschoolers.  The size of the group lends to more of a family  atmosphere.   I consider these people  my  friends, close friends.  Not only do we discuss the meat and potatoes  of CE (I live for those discussions.  The wisdom that flows through those conversations is amazing.)  but  we celebrate for each others successes, and pray for each others  trials.  There are a few other classical e-groups  that have helped me muddle through  my early years of homeschooling as well.

Another way of maintaining  friendships is through blogs.  I have become very familiar with other classical homeschoolers through reading their thoughts at their blogs.  These blogs that I frequent, challenge me as a wife, mother, and classical educator.  This is how every friendship should be.

I have always lamented the fact that I do not have a real-life Titus 2 relationship  with an older Christian woman.  As I have been writing this post out, though, I am realizing that I have many of these kinds of relationships.  Granted, they are not in real life, but I do experience them online.  I have garnered some wonderful friendships through my e-groups and message boards.  These women have  helped me is no many ways, not just homeschooling but with raising my children  and in my marriage.   These friendships are very special to me.  

As the years have unraveled,  I have found some like-minded women in real life, especially one dear friend who is like a sister to me.  But I still cherish my online friendships.  They are still a source of strength and wisdom for me.  I am very thankful for their presence in my life.

I am going to list a few e-groups for those of you who do not have the blessings of like-minded friendships with other homeschoolers.  Maybe these groups will be an encouragement to you as they have been for me.

The Well Trained Mind

Class Ed--this is a small groups for Christian classical homeschoolers. 

Latin Classical Ed--this group is based on Andrew Campell's book of the same name.

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies  with her husband,  homeschools her 3 children (10,8,6)  and attempts to give them a classical education.  You can read more at her blog.

As a review of what I have been writing about the last few weeks,  Poetic Knowledge (at least my understanding of it) is the experience of the world through  our senses.  Our experience may be of art, music, Shakespeare, poetry, literature  or nature.   When we are able to know these areas through our senses and be able to know them through a sense of wonder,  then we have achieved poetic knowledge.

Taylor says that the opposite of poetic knowledge is scientific knowledge.  There is nothing wrong with this kind of knowledge.  Poetic knowledge, though,  should be the foundation of any form of education  and then be followed by scientific knowledge  when the child is older.  This makes a well-rounded education. 

Many  traditional classical educators frown on teaching a formal science curriculum  to young children.  They say that nature study is enough for the early years.  When a child has reached jr. high, then that is the time to introduce the scientific method  via  a curriculum.   Nature study goes hand-in-hand with poetic knowledge.  In observing God's creation,  you are experiencing the wonder and the beauty through all of your senses.  This is how science is to be carried out in the early years.   This is how science can be viewed through a poetic lens.

Taylor talks about this in the context of Henri Fabre, a well-known entomologist in the nineteenth century.  Scientists of this time were firmly planted in the scientific method.  When they wanted to learn about something,  they tore it apart.  They dissected it to find out how it all worked.  Their work was quite clinical.  They dissected and then they recorded it.  That was how they learned about their world.

Fabre, on the other hand,  learned about  his world through observation.  He watched insects, for hours on end,  to find out how they lived and interacted with each other and other inhabitants of their world. 

"Come here one and all of you--you, the sting-bearers, and you, the wing-cased armour-clads--take up my defense and bear witness in my favour--tell of the intimate terms on which I live with you, of the patience with which I observe you, of the care with which I record your actions...   I, in my turn, will say to them: "you rip up the animal and I study it alive; you turn it into an object of horror and pity,  whereas I cause it to be loved; you labor in a torture chamber and dissection-room,  I  make observations under the blue sky to the song of Cicadas...you pry into death,  I pry into life."         Pg. 129

There is definitely a place  for the scientific method in our children's  education,  but it should come after the child has had a chance to pry into life through observation and wonder of God's Creation.

Julia  lives on the Canadian Prairies  with her husband, homeschooling her 3 children and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at her blog.

This past year has been a different one for our family.  We have had a lot on our plates, emotionally speaking,  plus our educational goals were on the simple side.  My main goal was to get my middle child reading.  That was it.  If this was the only thing that happened during the year, I would still be very happy.  Well,  that is exactly what happened.   My ds is now a full-fledged reader. Goal has been achieved!   That was all that was achieved this past year, though.  We didn't get to any poetry reading, picture study, or Shakespeare plays.  There was the odd  Beethoven CD  played during the year but that was the extent of any poetic knowledge dispersed at our house.

Even though I am so relieved that my child is well on the road to reading, I miss our times spent in enjoying the arts.  After reading Taylor's  book, I realized just how much I did miss it.   That was what made our homeschool so fun, filling our hearts with great words, pictures and music, and giving ourselves the time and resources to experience these areas with all of our senses.   We were able to experience these areas of poetics with a sense of wonder.  I miss that.

I have another goal for the upcoming year.  It is a simple  goal, similar to the one of last year.   My goal is to have my youngest learn her letter sounds and to gain phonemic awareness.  This goal is different from last year's in one respect, though;  I will not exclusively focus on that one thing.   In amongst teaching my dd the things that she needs to have a firm foundation for reading,  I will also fill her heart with words from the masters, beautiful music, and  breath-taking art.  In letting her soul experience these things of beauty,  the wonder of it all might make the goal that much easier to attain.

I would like to share a few quotes from  Poetic Knowledge.

"So whatever poetic knowledge is, it is not strictly speaking a knowledge of poems but a spontaneous act of the external and internal  senses with the intellect, integrated  and whole,rather than an act assocated with the powers of analytic reasoning."           Pg. 6

"....an education for beginners, would be poetic, which means, to draw heavily on direct and vicarious experience that  engages and awakens the senses;..."           Pg. 22

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband and 3 children (10,8,6), attempting to give them a classical education.   You can read more at herblog.

I have realized, while reading this book, that I have been amiss in laying down the poetic foundation for my children.  We started out strong but life happened, and all things poetic slid to the side.  I am determined to get back into the poetic saddle again, so to speak.  Actually we started this week.   We have done a bit every day,  just a bit  to fill up our tanks.

For today,  I would like to concentrate on picture study.   Looking at the masterpieces is one surefire way  to instill beauty into your soul.  Looking at Mary Cassatt's Two Children at the Seashore is guaranteed  to fill a person with wonder.   There are a variety of ways to do art study.  I borrow from both Charlotte Mason and Classical Education. 

In following CM,  I use the paintings as picture study.  I show the painting to my children.  I let them look at it for a few minutes, then I take it away.  I have each child tell me what they saw in the painting, from details to colour.   Another thing I might do is to invite the children to tell me what they think is going on in the painting.  This is narrating a painting.

The Classical Education part of picture study is to imitate the Masters.  In keeping  with Mary Cassatt,  I would show the children the painting, then lay out  the supplies.  In this case, it would be watercolours.  I would encourage the children to experiment in mixing colours to get the bright blues for the water and the beiges for the sand.  I would, then, let them go to it.  Imitating is important when appreciating any form of art.  It is also fun to imitate. 

When I do picture study,  I focus on one artist for a length of time,  usually two or three months.  We do a full picture look at the artist,  meaning that we read books  about his life and art, we do picture study and imitation.  In this way, they are able to breathe the artist and really get to know him or her.  I think this lends itself  to poetic knowledge.  In doing art in this way,  you are not just filling your brain with information but you are able to  get to know  the artist and his work.  You are able to understand him  or her and why they painted the way they did.  In filling yourself with this type of knowledge,  you are filling yourself with wonder.  This is all what poetic knowledge is all about. 

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband, homeschooling her 3 children (10,8,6) and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at her blog.

If I may take this choice one step farther, if we choose to classically educate our children, we have the freedom in how we go about in doing that.  There are many ways as to how to give our children a Classical Education.  To name a few  there is the neo-classical way ( The Well Trained Mind,  Trivium Pursuit )  as well as the traditional classical path ( Latin-Centered Curriculum,  Circe Institute,  Classical Liberal Arts Academy)  There are many  different 'versions'  of Classical Education.

There are some people, though, that do not agree with the various versions.  These people  are die-hard traditionalists and say  that Classical Education should be taught exactly how the Ancients taught there students.  These people do not consider Neo-classical as any part of Classical Education.  In their opinion it is a misnomer to classify the education of stages as Classical Education.  This  disagreement has been going on for a very long time. This is nothing new.  What is new, is the article written by William Michael (head of  Classical Liberal Arts Academy.)  Mr. Williams has taken on the gigantuan  task of  combing through  Dorothy Sayers'  essay on Classical Education and disputing her statements on Classical Education.  (You can read the article, in full, here )  Sayers' article was the catalyst for the  Neo-Classical movement.   According to Mr. Michael, Sayers'  followers shouldn't even term what they are doing as Classical Education, as it doesn't even resemble how CE  was traditionally taught.

I, personally,  do not follow  the writings of the Neo-Classicists.  I lean more toward traditional classical.  I am sure, though,  that if Mr. Michael  was a fly on our homeschool wall he would be aghast  that I, too, consider myself a Classical homeschooler.  I would probably be in that article right alongside Ms. Sayers.   I do not see the point  of  criticizing  the ways of others.    If  there are other  people  not doing  things  the exact same way  as it should be done, does it  matter?  In the big picture of things, is it really going to matter?  Isn't it more important  that our children get a good education?  An education that instills wisdom and virtue? I think that regardless of how you homeschool  your children, rather through the traditional methods or those of the neo-classicists, your child will receive a wonderful education.  

Thank goodness that we have the freedom  to choose how to give our children that kind of education, traditional classical or not. 

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband, homeschooling their 3 children (10,8,6) and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more on her blog.

Regardless of whether you take the summer off from school or whether you school year round, summer is an excellent time for a special read aloud.  There is just something about sitting outside in the warm air with the sun beating down  and everyone listening to a well-written book, enthralled in the storyline.  Our family schools year round but the summer is a light load for us.  We do just the basics of math and reading, and we always include a read aloud.  It wouldn't  be a fulfilling day if we didn't have a family book to read.  

I have picked out a book  for our summer reading.  Usually we read classics,  like Little Women, Charlotte's  Web, Treasure Island,  etc. during the year  but for this summer I have picked a modern book as our choice.  I usually do not like contemporary books but this book is just a darn good  story.  Also, thise book fits very well into Classical Education.  This is why I am recommending it in this post.

Our family is now reading  a book that is going to be a family favorite for a while.   We are enthusiastically immersed in The Mysterious Benedict Society   by Trenton Lee Stewart.  This book is logic-inspired, full of puzzles and riddles.  The main group of characters are 3 orphans and 1 runaway.  They are selected to carry out a top-secret spy mission.  These 4 children have endeared themselves  to my children.   My children especially  like Sticky Washington, whose real name is George Washington,  whose nickname is Bald Boy.  Whenever Sticky is mentioned my kids giggle.  They love his name.  This book is also the first in a series. 

If you need some more ideas for summer read alouds,  you can try here and here   for more suggestions.  Enjoy!

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies, homeschooling her 3 children (10,8,6)  and attempting to give them a Classical Education.   You could more at her blog.

It all boils down to the definition of Classical Education.  I am sure you know it by heart now as I have been reciting it at every chance that floats by.  Classical Education is teaching wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul with all that is beautiful, true, and good.   

Putting this in the context of Father's  Day,  the concrete example of this definition will vary depending on the father.  What is beautiful to one dad may not be held  in the same light as another dad.  One dad might consider a coffee table book on  Rennaisance art  a thing of beauty, while another dad might think that a DVD set  on the history of WWI  might be beautiful or good.  My husband would consider a sports magazine, or a biography on Gordie Howe,  a thing of beauty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

My point is, though,  that in thinking of what to give the father in your life, consider  how to give him the classical gift;  something  that he would consider beautiful,  true, or good.  You can't go wrong with that.

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies, homeschooling her 3 children (10,8,6)  and attempting to give them a  Classical Education.   You can read  more at her blog.

In our five years of homeschooling we have used (are you ready for this?)   First Language Lessons,  Rod & Staff,  KISS  Grammar,  First Language Lessons  3,  Mother Tongue Book I,   the grammar portion of Classical Writing, and, finally, a return to Mother Tongue.  Whew!  Writing that list out alone exhausted me.  What was I thinking?  That's just it, I wasn't thinking.  I was living on doubt and second-guessing.  Rational thought  was not part of my repertoire.  Even though, rationally, I knew  that skipping through curriculum was not wise,  I still was not satisfied with what was offered program-wise.    

I am tired of all of the second-guessing.  I am tired of those age-old thoughts  "Is this  program too rigid?  Is it not rigorous enough?  This is too text-book-y.  This is so confusing."  I am tired of curriculum hopping.  So, it is with much courage  that I declare today that I am officially throwing away those doubts of whether I am doing the right thing with the grammar program that I have chosen.  I am going to throw it all away and we are going to jump into Mother Tongue  Book II  in the fall.  I am not going to question it's material.  I am just going to teach it.  Even though, I have no idea what a transitive verb is, or a participle, or a gerund, ( do you see now where the second-guessing is coming from?)   I am going to  take  the summer and go through the book on my own and learn all that there is to learn about grammar.  I am going to wash those doubts out of my brain!

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies homeschooling her 3 children (9,8,6) and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at her blog.

Books are a whole 'nother animal, in my opinion.   Books need to be kept, regardless of whether they will ever be read again or not.  Throwing out books is equivalent to book burning.  Throwing out books is blasphemous in this book-lover's opinion.  I have a very hard time getting rid of books.

I should probably take this time to explain what I mean by 'books'.  I don't mean  fluff books, like  those written by John Grisham, David Baldacci, or Jodi Picoult.  I have no problems in ditching those kinds of books.  I am talking about classics or books that cause you to think.  I am even talking about  the Great Books.  Just the thought of throwing out a Great Book causes my stomach to flip flop.  That is just not right. 

Books like Plato's The Republic,  Jane Austen's  Pride and Prejudice,  or  Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby deserve their rightful place on a bookshelf, rather than a musty box in someone's garage sale.  I also think books  that cause you to ponder about life should be kept as well.  In this category, I am thinking of  Eat, Pray,  Love  by Elizabeth Gilbert  or  Socrates's Cafe  by Christopher Philips.  These books are not of my worldview but they have stopped me to think about life  and my faith. These books are keepers.  These books are ones that I will revisit  as years travel on. 

It is my hope  that  as my children become older,  they will not lament over the fact  that mom threw out their water colour of a lupin  but, rather,  have warm, fuzzy memories over the shelves and shelves of books of all different genres and authors that mom has kept over the years.  To my way of thinking, there are no better memories than ones like,  "Pinocchio.  Yeah,  I remember reading that when I was 8,  while cuddled up on the couch with Mom."  Those memories are worth saving.

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies,  homeschooling her 3 children (9,8,6)  and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at her blog.

When  I read other people's  blogs, I am always impressed with what they accomplish.  There are always many great ideas and amazing projects.  You  go away from these blogs wishing that your kids could go to that mom's school,  maybe your kids would actually learn something there.  Unfortunately, it is human nature to only display that which is a success.  If we tell about the failures, it is pretty much like airing dirty laundry.  Well, I am going to break the mold here.  I am going to tell about our school year--the good, the bad and the ugly.  

Our year has been like a roller coaster ride.  There have been many lows and highs.  The lows were such that at times I felt like I was living under a snake's belly.  Then there were the mega-highs in which I felt like I could touch the clouds and give them all a name.  Our year has been full.  Our year has also been a learning ground for me.  I don't know if the kids learned anything this year, but I know I sure did.   One thing I learned was that I am a strong woman.  My strength comes from my faith, without that, I would still be under the belly of that snake.  I also discovered that I am resilient.  I have bounced back many times from periods of sadness and discouragement.  Why?  Again, if is due to my faith.  My faith gives me hope  that life will not always be like this.  My faith tells me that I go through everything so that God will be glorified.  

As I said, there were many rough spots in this year, but I would like to share one particular one.  It was early on in the school year when I was finally ready to pull my head out of the and recognize that all 3 of my children have learning difficulties.  I had such a hard time with this one.  I knew that I could handle teaching 1 child with learning problems,  possibly  2,  but 3?  How in the world could I do that?  I didn't even know where to start.  Even though difficulties my children faced were similar,  they came out  in different areas for each child,  so I couldn't  just  give them a 'one size fits all' kind of learning plan.  I had to figure out what to do with each child.  I felt so overwhelmed.  I was certain that I was going to do my children a disservice.  I felt  paralyzed, not knowing what to do first.  God, very graciously, led me each step of the way and showed me what I needed to do at each step.  Finally the paralysis  loosened.   I was able to figure out what needed to be done.  This is a process and I am still learning but I have more confidence in my teaching ability than I did in October.

This rough spot, though, is the catalyst for many cloud sailing moments.  I have always known that I wanted to give my children a Classical Education.  That has been very important to me.  I didn't know why that was so important until this year.  The reason for the head strong movement on CE was because this was the way that I wanted to be educated.  If I wanted to be educated this way,  well, surely  my kids would respond the same way.  Not so.  I have realized that CE does not work well for my kids.  I have known this for a while but I firmly put my blinders on so that I wouldn't have to admit what I considered failure.    

It was at this time that a very dear online friend said that the definition of Classical Education is attaining wisdom and virtue by nourishing your soul on everything that is beautiful, true, and good.  My friend continued that CE scholars give you the definition but they don't  tell you how to achieve that in your child's education.  That part is up to you.  These words were a beacon of light for my weary soul.  I knew  that unit studies were to what my children responded.  My friend's words gave me the permission (yes, at that time, I felt that I needed permission) to go down the path of unit studies in a classical style.  

We have been doing unit studies for history and science since Feb.  I don't think  I can properly put into words the positive change that has taken place in our homeschool.  My children are actually learning and they are retaining the information that is being tossed to them.  There are no more tears, groans or moans when it is time to learn.  To sum it up, we are having a blast.   Our days are set up with doing the basics in the morning.  I am still trying to implement some CE elements to this time.  In the afternoon, we, then, do our unit study.  I try to implement what we have learned in the morning into our unit in the afternoon.  I am not using curriculum for our studies but am relying heavily on Ruth Beechick's  suggestions found in her book,  You CAN  Teach Your Child Successfully.   

Even though  this post has a happy ending,  I am still disappointed that we are not doing Classical Education the way that I had initially  planned.  Life happens, though.  As the old saying goes,  if life hands you a bowl full of lemons, make lemonade.  That is what I have done.  I have made lemonade from the lemons that were given to me.  I am sure that there are many other families who are in similar situations.   You may not be able to follow CE exactly like you had originally intended, but you do the best you can with what you have.  That is all you can do.   You will be blessed by that.

So that is my end-of-the-year confession.  

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies  homeschooling  her 3 children (9,8,6)  and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more on her blog

Before my familiarization with Classical Education,  I had never heard of the term 'commonplace books."   As I started frequenting CE message boards and e-lists, though, that name started popping up quite a bit.  I was intrigued.  I started reading  all that I could about Commonplace Books.  I soon realized that this was something that I wanted to do with my children as well as to keep one for myself.

There are many different uses of commonplace books. Some people use them as diaries, others use them as a place for special quotes, scripture verses, poems,  book quotes, etc.  Some commonplace books are used as book journals, a place for the owner to record their thoughts about the books that they have read.  

The definition of  a commonplace book that struck me deeply was the one where the student uses the book to record quotes, scripture verses, song lyrics, etc. that pertain to the 15 virtues.  The book is divided into sections according to the various virtues.  When the student comes across an example of one of these virtues in their reading, they would then record those words in the proper section.  These examples cement that virtue into the student's thoughts.  They are able to recognize this virtue and all of its ramifications  through the various examples.  I like this idea  very much.  I am hoping to introduce this to my children when they are in Grade 7.  It is my hope that the commonplace book  will be their constant companion as they read all of the classics and the Great Books.  A commonplace book can be such a treasure to the child once they reach adulthood.  It will be full of many memories--childhood and literary memories.

I am currently using a commonplace book for a different reason.  I am keeping 3 books, 1  for each of my children as a keepsake as they get older.  I write in each book a quote, song lyric, scripture verse, or even just my memories of a special event.  When they become of adult age, I will give them their book.  Again, it is my hope that this will be a special keepsake for them,  especially when I am gone.  This is something to keep the memories alive.

As you see, commonplace books can be used for just about everything.  The final result, though, is to have something to treasure as time marches on.

In honour of Memorial Day, I would like to share with you some quotes authored by Americans.

"Great minds discuss ideas.  Average minds discuss events.  Small minds discuss people."                                                                                                                 

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation may be,  for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness  and misery depends upon our disposition and not upon our circumstances."                                                                                                                     

- Martha Washington

"Most people are about as happy as they make their minds to be."                                                                                                                    

- Abraham Lincoln

"Neglect mending a small fault will soon be a great one."                                                                                                                  

-  Benjamin Franklin

"Love is not something you feel but something you do."                                                                                                                   

- David Wilkerson

You may use these quotes for your commonplace books.

Happy Memorial Day!

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies, homeschooling her 3 children (9,8,6) and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at her blog.