A Year Considered - The Early Years

What wonder there is in these early years!  Everything is an adventure!  My choices reflect a desire to offer picture books with rich words, gentle expressions, and a generous variety to nurture and build a growing imagination.  Living books: "worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well told" (Charlotte Mason).   Another big portion of our focus is good habit development.    Living books.  Good habits.  The year in a nutshell.  LOL!!!  Read on if you want the scoop!  Stop here if you were just looking for the Reader's Digest version!

My little fella is 5 1/2, and just learning to read.  His days are full of wonder and exploration, punctuated by picture books and a little phonics!  Sounds like a delightful year!  If you're wondering what an early elementary year looks like in our home...here you go...

I'll start by offering you a bit about my philosophy of education.  In a nutshell, I enjoy a few philosophies, Montessori is a big part of my children's early elementary years, but our days are guided for the most part with a Catholic Charlotte Mason idea of education.  Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.  Education doesn't begin or end at the school table.  It is a part of our life; it is a lifestyle of learning.

Preschool/Kindergarten (under 6)
Charlotte Mason offered "A formidable list of attainments for a child under 6".  I don't use a curriculum or a checklist...I do allow this list to inspire and direct our delight-filled days.  We read and explore together.  This is early learning for us!  This year, I thought it might be fun to format Miss Mason's checklist in a way that is pretty and practical for the mom who might want to record some of her child's attainments.  Don't feel like this list is only for the 6 and under crowd!  Take a look - see how many of these things you can do!  And then resolve to attain these things together with all of your children!  Enjoy!

Charlotte Mason's Formidable List in Checklist Form
(note: I have modified Miss Mason's list to fit our family, adding Latin prayers.  Miss Mason taught around the turn of the century in England, so knowldege of French was a necessity for her students.  You may want to substitute sigh language, Spanish, or Latin for the portion addressing foreign language.)

1st Grade plans
Here are the books my little fella will read from and use this year.  No doubt, the Doodlebug (2 1/2 now and enthralled with books of all kinds!) will tag along for most of this!

Religion

A word about religion.  If you feel you must have a curriculum for religion in the early years, could I humbly suggest that you really don't.  If I could go back in time about 12 years and talk to myself then...the me that was pouring over catalogs and frittering over decisions and curriculums...I'd give myself a nice cup of tea, tell myself to take a deep breath and relax and continue to foster a love for God through the depth and breadth of books written by authors who wish to convey their love for God and the truths of God on those pages.  Words that resonate.  Stories that inspire.  These form my early years religion focus:

** Their Hearts are His Garden by Sister Mary Marguerite
** Illustrated Catechism for Little Children (Neumann Press)
** Manners In God's House (Neumann Press)
** I Believe: The Creed, Confession, and the Ten Commandments (Neumann Press)
** Catholic Mosaic by Cay Gibson (as well as many wonderful liturgical picture books that coordinate with the liturgical year.)
** Leading the Little Ones to Mary by Sister Mary Lelia
** Catholic Children's Treasure Box (vol 1 - 10, vol 11 - 20) by Maryknoll Sisters (absolute treasures)

Phonics

We're moving gently, at Peanut's pace.  He enjoys learning to read.  No pushing here!

** Little Angel Readers (Stone Tablet Press)
** Pink, Blue, Green Montessori work (Montessori for Everyone)
** Moveable Alphabet (Kid Advance)

Copywork

A quick word here...fine motor skills develop uniquely from child to child across such a wide range of ages.  My older son would never have been able to write this much as his fine motor was very slow developing.  My younger son is already writing a great deal, very small, and very neat.  Consider your child's abilities as you approach writing with a young child.  Nothing brings frustration in spades like pushing a child well outside their abilities at too young an age.

** Alphabet Copywork Notebooking pages (Peanut knows his alphabet, so we'll be using these pages to build little books of "A" words, "B" words, etc.)
** Startwrite - for making special, custom copywork pages.  I type in text from poetry, or phonetic words, choose font, font size, and print.  Peanut copies the words.  I love being able to use this program because my children's copywork/penmanship practice is now connected to their other learning.  It isn't something that stands alone and unique outside of what they're reading about or doing.  I use this program for Sparkly's cursive copywork as well!

Read Alouds

Some of these I have considered and chosen, but please understand that far more reading aloud than this goes on.  It is spontaneous and delightful and unplanned.

** Kindergarten Gems: A Collection of Stories and Rhymes for Little Folks by Agnes Taylor Ketchum and Ida M. Jorgensen (lovely reprint of a classic)
** Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
** The Classic Tales of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter (I don't have them, but I recommend this set of all the books in individual books rather than a collection if your budget allows...or borrow them from the library!)

Along with the Beatrix Potter reading, we'll follow along with some of the ideas on this rabbit trail!  It's a great unit study, and could be used with all the children!

Poetry

...is always chosen seasonally or topically.  In addition to poetry memorization, we read from favorite poetry collections.  Here are our choices for this year as well as the resources I go to again and again to choose poetry for memorization:

** A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (we'll use our copy illustrated by Eulalie, but another great copy to have would be the one illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith or Tasha Tudor...not that I'm picky or anything!  LOL!!!!)
** The Real Mother Goose (Illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright)
** Favorite Poems Old and New edited by Helen Ferris Tibbets
** Sing Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book by Christina Rossetti

Math

...is pretty informal right now with lots of games and Montessori math activities.

** Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark, Virginia Thompson, Ruth Cossey
** Math Is Fun website
** Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years by Elizabeth Hainstock
** Teaching Montessori in the Home: The School Years (not sure why this book has been out of print, but I spent some time hunting down an inexpensive used copy a few years ago and it was SO worth it!)  by Elizabeth Hainstock (using math presentations and ideas from both of these books)

Nature Study and Science

We'll be doing lots of reading aloud together from picture books and various sources on a variety of topics.  I've chosen a few nature study read aloud books for this year.

** One Small Square books by Donald Silver
** Treasury for Children by James Herriot
** Among the Farmyard People by Clara Dillingham Pierson
** Among the Forest People by Clara Dillingham Pierson
** Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson
** Among the Pond People by Clara Dillingham Pierson

Art

** Kindergarten Art lessons from an art teacher who publishes her lessons at her blog, Deep Space Sparkle
** Dover coloring books
** Simple nature journaling
** Lots of spontaneous, creative fun, and projects!

Music

I'm putting my oldest daughter in charge of music this year. She'll make music choices from the following resources:

** Our Musical Year: Songs of Faith, Freedom, and Fun - Level 1 by Laura O'Kelley Farrell (I believe this series is now out of print; the publisher's website is no longer active, but there is a good review to read on the program at love2learn.  This program is something I already have on my shelf so it's what I'm using, but there are other great music programs out there that are readily available.  I've heard great things about Making Music - Praying Twice.  Check out the review for this program at love2learn.)

** Wee Sing CD's and books

** Lingua Angelica Latin hymns - program by Cheryl Lowe.  These are beautiful recordings, and we try to choose one hymn at a time to work on together as a family.

Virtues and Habits

So much character formation and virtue development comes through the great stories we read together.  In fact, some of my favorites are the short little poems on the back cover of the Catholic Children's Treasure Box series.  I bump it up a little with these selections:

** The Children's Book of Virtues by William Bennett

** Goops and How to Be Them by Gelett Burgess
** Stories to Learn By by Msgr. John Koenig
** The Good Little Bad Little Girl by Esther Wilkin (a classic from my childhood - this treasure has book repair tape all over it!  Check your attics for this treasure!)
** What do you say, dear? by Sesyle Joslin
** What do you do, dear? by Sesyle Joslin

There you have it!  If you're wondering how it all works together - keep in mind that these choices listed above are divided up in the year among the 4 terms we divide our year into.  Would you like a peek at the lesson plans?

1st grade - term 1
1st grade - term 2
1st grade - term 3
1st grade - term 4

Hope you're all enjoying your planning days and that you enjoyed a peek into what our year will be like.  As always, this is a guide, not a straight-jacket!  We're not afraid to take a jog off the beaten path and go exploring - and neither should you be!  Consider.  Plan a little.  Wonder.  Explore.  You'll be off to a great start!

5th grade plans coming next!