Pizza – Sketch Tuesday

Giggler often wants to draw. But Smiler rarely does. This week however both of them were very keen to give it a go and tackled the topic without my input at all. Theirs is a traditional response to the topic, but I’m particularly pleased with Smiler’s because her skills have developed.
See the post about Sketch Tuesday for more details.

La cadette veut souvent dessiner, mais rarement l’ainée. Par contre, cette semaine toute les deux avaient envie de contribuer au gallère de Sketch Tuesday avec le thème Pizza. Je suis super contente avec la réponse artistique de l’ainée, car elle montre comment elle a avancé dans le domaine de dessin.
Voir plus à Sketch Tuesday

.

Narration écrite en utilisant « Notebooking Pages »

Un moyen que nous utilisons pour notre narration est ce que l’on appelle ‘notebooking’ en anglais. Ça veut dire simplement que l’on note sur une feuille l’information entendue ou lue. Mais cette feuille n’est pas blanche. Il y a déjà les carrés prêts d’être rempli, une place pour un dessin, soit fait main, soit imprimé, soit coupé d’un magazine. Les bordures font jolis, ce qui donne envie de continuer joliment. Et en plus, la feuille n’est plus blanche, ce qui enlève le peur d’où commencer!

 

Un site, Notebooking Pages, offre toute une gamme de fiches, quelques uns sont bien sûr en anglais, mais il y a les autres fiches qui sont neutres. Dès le début juin, il y aura une autre raison de t’intéresser à ce site – une application pour créer tes propres Notebooking Pages! Va voir ici.

Et ça coûte combien? En effet, j’écris cet article parce que Debra de Notebooking Pages offrent les fiches gratuites ici, et c’est comme ça que, moi, j’ai commencé d’acheter les fiches.

And a small word in English now – if you are already using notebooking and you don’t know Notebooking Pages, pop over and have a look at the free pages and the introduction to what can be a very useful part of school!

Du Paradigme de l’Education

Une amie m’a montré ce vidéo, mais en anglais, il y a un an. Et j’ai cherché depuis pour un en traducation français. Voilà, aujourd’hui, je me suis trebuché sur le suivant:

Ça fait réflechir, non?

Attention: Travaux

Pardonnez-nous… je suis toujours en train de changer d’anglais à français sur mon blog.
Et ça me prends du temps.
Mais un jour…
je parlerai de Charlotte Mason et comment je le fais en France, en français, avec les inspections chaque année, et bien sûr bilingue!
A bientôt!

Inspector coming tomorrow

This is going to be reeeeaaally quick.

I’m mid-prep for the Visit from The Inspector: I’ve done the report. I’ve spoken to a friend who is a primary teacher here in France. I’ve got work up on the wall.

And actually, whatever they might say tomorrow (or in the report, whenever that comes), Smiler has done fantastic. She has progressed. She has developed in her character. She has entered into her education and still wants to take part. Seeing it all in one place is the bonus of doing all of this presentation stuff.

Just thought I’d let you know. Do pray for us And the cake we are going to bake them before they come!

Stumbling Successfully Through

Our whole day is out of kilter… the kitten had his first sortie outside today and was refused breakfast so he could be tempted to return in. We scoffed our breakfast as quickly as we could and just left everything on the table. I’m now mid-disorder and stumbling through the day.

Funnily enough, in the midst of this stumbling, I came across 2 separate and yet complementary ideas in my inbox (mastering the morning? I wonder:)).

Firstly Sally Clarkson wrote about children’s need for outdoors, exploration and the chance to be bored in her post called Killing the soul of children at I Take Joy.

But the old fashioned way of raising children seems to be the healthiest way to raise emotionally, intellectually and spiritually resilient children.

Encouraging stuff for a mamma with her kids at home, just as all of Sally’s writing is.

Then The HomeSchool Mom sent me their newsletter with a link to Brain Rules. I’ve just looked through the videos that summarise the 12 Rules. It’s another encouragement to a mamma at home with her kids, as I find out why exercise helps children learn, why attention dips after 10 minutes and you need to spark it again, why sleep is vital, why a degree of stress is a good thing but too much of it creates scarring… and the communication also shows that they put into practice what they’ve learnt.  It’s memorable.

Curriculum 2011 – our work in progress

Owing to the joys of changing countries, learning languages and moving houses (quite a few times), I am allowing myself the liberty of a slowly blooming curriculum, that develops with the seasons and refines itself as we live it.  I needed to review it, so here, I share it with you, Fellow Guider of Young Souls. 

The next step will be to see how the rhythm of our week needs to be tweaked.  Another time. 

For now, the studies.

Discipleship Studies

Bible – mostly reading straight from La Bible, La Segond 21, following the gentle pattern that I read about at A Holy Experience
and also reading The Child’s Story Bible, Catherine F. Vos during our sofa times.
Sometimes using the New Testament notebooking pages from Debra’s Notebooking Pages to remember a story or to write down a GOAL (Grasp this promise, Observe this commandment, Avoid this sin, Live this principle).
Ad hoc use too of You Too Can Change the World, by Daphne Spraggett.

Disciplined Studies

Literacy – going strong with Progressive Phonics (a free phonics programme that intentionally teaches children to read phonetically the Dolch sightwords.  Useful for children who require encouragement, support and lots of interesting repetition, as these reading books are mostly partnered reading, with fun rhymes and pictures).

Writing is still a mish-mash, so this is the ideal: tracing and copying phrases from their reading books, leading to dictation.  The master copy is inserted into a plastic pocket and the girls write with wipeable markers over it.  Nadine has a great explanation of the system in her Practical Pages.

Numeracy – definitely a MEP (Mathematics Enhancement Programme) family. It is challenging, thorough and requires hands-on parenting.  It is also varied, fun and free. Already I can see how the different approaches to maths being taught are going to be a great boon in the maths lessons to come.

French Literacy – Daily doses of J’apprends à lire avec Sami et Julie : Dès 5 ans, by Adeline Cecconello and Geneviève Flahault-Lamorère.  We need to add daily handwriting of French too, using the system for English too.

Discussion Studies

Music – oh, this one is vague… we listen occasionally to music from the schedule at Ambleside Online… things might improve now that we’ve discovered the library and it’s zillions of CDs…

Art – still have plans to do monthly or termly Artist studies, but working up to it. Currently enjoying Sketch Tuesday hosted by Harmony Art Mom.

History – this is full on 🙂 Continuing with Scotland’s Story by H E Marshall for the Scottish side. Using L’histoire de France Racontée aux Enfants, by Alain Decaux for the French. Combining this with as much craft in place of narration as we can produce. And all of this needs to be alongside Ancient History, using Heart of Wisdom’s ideas and the Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World as a primary source.  I’m looking at slowing the pace on national history and speeding up Ancient History (we’re still at the beginning).

Discovery Studies

Nature Study – not yet attempted this, even though we have a digital copy of Handbook of Nature, by Anna Comstock, waiting to be used.

Science – we use in-house, shared or purchased lapbooks for units on necessary subjects – like Teeth and Pandas (the first because the girls needed to look after their teeth better, and the second because Giggler has requested it!).  The aim though is to start on Heart of Wisdom’s approach to science soon, and use La Science, from Larousse as a text, since it fits perfectly with the first year plans.

Geography – Intellego Unit Study on Continents and Cultures, probably moving on to a study of maps in some form when we finish.

Discretionary Studies

Physical Education – finally both Smiler and Giggler got places in gym lessons, so that sorts coordination.  Just need to add lots more walking in nature for stamina.

Domestic Skills – Somehow we want to create space for each one to cook a meal once a week for the family.  The stresses of the other studies has pushed this aside for months now.  However, they do share setting the table, washing and drying up, and they help regularly with the laundry, shopping and cleaning.

And what gaps do I find? 
I’ve not really thought about reading good literature together. Horrors!  What an admission?  I need to put together a collection of books to read together.  Otherwise we will miss the extra depths of literature by resting in the repetition of familiar stories.
Action point numero uno: fine Literature to feed young hearts and minds.

A small Compte Rendu

Compte Rendu is (correctly or incorrectly spelt) an explanation – and I want to offer a small explanation of where the blog has been lurking these last months.

• Move to Paris
• Clean (and clean some more) the new flat and put everything in place
• Set up a new-and-improved Home Ed routine (which had been so badly damaged by learning French at a school, holidays back in Scotland and then preparing to move)
• A month’s worth of visitors in the house in December and beginning of January
• Yet another interview with social services (no nice mayor this time, but neither was is a horrendous experience – a post for another occasion)
• Not forgetting to mention Christmas and New Year (hey, we’re Scots.  Hogmanay counts as important 🙂 too)

I’ve been checking emails and mostly skimming blogs, but have nonetheless come across a couple of things that have kept me from pushing myself to blog.

One is a prayer that I stumbled across at a Holy Experience.  It spoke volumes to me.

The other is knowing that I’m home educating for my girls, and their growth, and their future, and their relationship with the Lord, and our relationship with each other.  And that means that just now, they need me, all of me, present with them,  undistracted by plotting words in my head or potential post titles or any of the other nonsense that my goal-orientated self wishes to push between them and me.

There is enough separation already: through the French administration, the need to plan a meal or two, my own desire for sanity (and hence a little space from small people).  We have intentionally chosen to remain close to our offspring through the means of Home Ed.

I’m sorry, dear Reader, that places you in second position for the moment.

When it all comes together (soon, Lord, please… I do like writing), Iwill have much more to share.

A Visit from the Mayor

It’s not every day that the Mayor and his Deputy come to call. However, today there was a knock at the door and there they were, introducing themselves.

Of course, we hadn’t started our school day. The washing was still out in the middle of our living room. The girls had spread out their teddies and prams and I was trying to arrange a heating repair. Fortunately the sofabed was already packed away (it’s a one bedroom flat, we use the space as best we can) and we were all dressed. But honestly, it wasn’t the sort of place that you would want strangers to walk into, least of all strangers who were there to assess you. Oh yes. They were here to check up on us…

Throw on the big smile (easy enough, they were smiling), apologise and explain that you are in the middle of getting ready to move (no lie, it’s M-day, minus 7), and say « Please come in ».

I got the feeling that they weren’t really sure what they were meant to do – guess there aren’t many of us home-edders in the village then! They mentioned the letter they’d received from the Academie which told them to come and check (but not the letter that I had already written to them, which was meant to initiate their inspection).

The obvious home ed bit of our living room - enough to pass an inspection, photo taken a day later, sans Bescherelle but equally as untidy!

Apparently we passed the contrôle. The Mayor saw our low shelf heaving with files and folders and the box of books beside it, with a Bescherelle right at the front and immediately said that was what he came to see. Just checking that we weren’t abandoning our children to play all day.

They also asked the question « Why didn’t we send the children to school? ». I think the answer I ended up giving was pretty much that we were Scottish! I’m not sure because there were so many interruptions with children playing, kitten rampaging and husband returning, that I don’t remember actually finishing my response.

Our first minor inspectors didn’t seem to mind. In fact they apologised for the apartment block that we live in and explained what we should do when we move to keep on the right side of the law.

And then it was Bonne Continuation. Amen to that.

One Lovely Blog Award

Gosh! I’m surprised and delighted that Chelle from Last in Line has thought of this wee blog for a One Lovely Blog Award. Thank you, Chelle, you’ve given me a boost of encouragement 🙂

Chelle has a blog that points us in an eclectic Charlotte Mason direction, with a twist of down-under and lots of ideas. I personally like the lapnotes that she has created. Check her out at Last in Line.

Here are the rules for the awards presentation:
1. Post a thank you from the person who awarded you and include their blog link.
2. Pay it forward to several other bloggers.
3. Comment the blog owners and award them.

I’m going to pay it forward in no particular order to:

Silvia at Homeschooling In a Bilingual School – a bilingual home-edding mamma, in English and Spanish. It is a wonderful thing to have found someone in a similar position to me, who shares her journey beautifully and is liberal in her finds on this website full of free resources.

I’ve also appreciated following Nancy’s journey at La Joie d’Apprendre ie the Joy of Learning, and seeing the beautiful images and ideas for learning. It’s in French, but fear not, there is a lovely little widget that will translate the page for you!

There are two blogs that I keep going back to. One is written by Barb at Harmony Art Mom. A mum with experience and gentle thoughts and words. She also hosts Sketch Tuesday, such a fab idea and a great favourite with my girls.

The second source of encouragement and help has been Nadene’s Practical Pages. The little extra that I particularly appreciate when I receive the updates from her site, is that Nadene reminds me to look to the Lord and not my own strength. This post is an example that I frequently bring to mind when I’m off on one of my self-sufficient excursions.

And in a slightly different direction, Heather writes about life in Haiti at The Story of One Family in Haiti. She has a lovely way of writing and paints thoughtful and thought-provoking posts about her life and family.

Thank you to all of you who generously share a part of your real life with us, here, in the virtual world.