The Scroobious Snake,
who always wore a Hat on his Head,
for fear he should bite anybody.
Does anyone else ever feel like this?
Monday, February 04, 2008
The Scroobious Snake
...from An Alphabet by Edward Lear:
Does anyone else ever feel like this?
Does anyone else ever feel like this?
Schedules
At the beginning of the year, I assigned appointments to each of the kids in order to ensure a little more sanity and order in their daily work, which takes place throughout the house. We have a schoolroom with three computers (no online access), and then we have a great room, which includes the online computer and the piano. They have appointments for musical instrument practice, online time (math drill and Student News Daily), and individual time with Mom. We also have a couple of "assembly times," during which we do some family work, such as Bible reading, composer or artist study, poetry readings and singing. Other than that, the kids work on their own. Here is what the appointment schedule looks like on paper:
Our morning assembly is from 8:00-9:00, and our afternoon assembly is from 3:30-4:00. The kids get recesses every hour or so from their work, and when they are done, they can stop. The girls are first grade, fourth grade and seventh grade. (Honesty compels me to mention that Cornflower, our first grader, does most of her work with me in "her" hour-- the only things she does independently at this point are her piano practice and math drill. She plays by my side, or putters around the house, or plays outside with the bunny, during the rest of school-time.) We also tend to stop at 4:00, whether they are done or not, because there is only so much school we can take in a day. The exception to this is when we have appointments in the morning or early afternoon-- then we school till time to prep dinner, unless the kids got the bulk of their work done in the car. We have had many doctor appointments lately, and are getting very good at "carschooling."
It looks like a lot, and yes, we are going into the afternoon, which seems so un-CM, but the kids and I decided together that we would rather have more breaks and go until 4:00, than to have to plough through without a stop in the morning.
We like to joke around that "these are more like guidelines," a la Pirates of the Caribbean. However, there is a space between, "Yeah, guidelines, just do as your heart leads," and drill sergeant mama ("I said 9:45 and I do not mean 9:46!"), a thoughtful and real space where we pray and ponder what is necessary in the individual day and are orderly, whether the schedule is followed or not.
I have never looked at the Managers of Their Homes manual, but have seen some of the schedules, and I am interested in that book. A friend has told me some of the practices that go into forming and keeping order using a MOTH schedule, and my favorite part is the necessity of prayer-- before the schedule is written, and during the day when life happens and the schedule must be left and then resumed. We have had a lot of challenges this year in leaving the routine and coming back to it-- things that are good and necessary, and oh-so-disruptive to the precious school schedule. I tend to hyperfocus, and balance is not my thing. This has been a year of stretching outside of the comfort zone for me.
I am thankful for the opportunity to show the girls how to grab learning as they go. And they have gotten to where they can do readings and narrations, or math, or flashcards almost anywhere-- in the car, at the park, in the library, in a noisy restaurant, in a waiting room. I definitely prefer the half-pace of life, and have been pruning, pruning, pruning, our activities. But even with prayerful discarding of extracurriculars, a slow pace does not seem to be God's will for us at this point, so I try to be willing to learn, and to teach, the lessons of first things and consistent endeavor.
For musical instruments:
9:15-9:45 Mariel (violin)
10:30-11:00 Triss
11:30-12:00 Cornflower
1:30-2:00 Mariel (piano)
For the big computer:
9:15-9:30 Triss
9:45-10:00 Mariel
10:30-10:45 Cornflower
11:30-12:00 Triss
For working with Mom:
9:15-10:15 Cornflower
10:30-12:00 Mariel
1:00-2:00 Triss
2:30-3:30 Mariel
Our morning assembly is from 8:00-9:00, and our afternoon assembly is from 3:30-4:00. The kids get recesses every hour or so from their work, and when they are done, they can stop. The girls are first grade, fourth grade and seventh grade. (Honesty compels me to mention that Cornflower, our first grader, does most of her work with me in "her" hour-- the only things she does independently at this point are her piano practice and math drill. She plays by my side, or putters around the house, or plays outside with the bunny, during the rest of school-time.) We also tend to stop at 4:00, whether they are done or not, because there is only so much school we can take in a day. The exception to this is when we have appointments in the morning or early afternoon-- then we school till time to prep dinner, unless the kids got the bulk of their work done in the car. We have had many doctor appointments lately, and are getting very good at "carschooling."
It looks like a lot, and yes, we are going into the afternoon, which seems so un-CM, but the kids and I decided together that we would rather have more breaks and go until 4:00, than to have to plough through without a stop in the morning.
We like to joke around that "these are more like guidelines," a la Pirates of the Caribbean. However, there is a space between, "Yeah, guidelines, just do as your heart leads," and drill sergeant mama ("I said 9:45 and I do not mean 9:46!"), a thoughtful and real space where we pray and ponder what is necessary in the individual day and are orderly, whether the schedule is followed or not.
I have never looked at the Managers of Their Homes manual, but have seen some of the schedules, and I am interested in that book. A friend has told me some of the practices that go into forming and keeping order using a MOTH schedule, and my favorite part is the necessity of prayer-- before the schedule is written, and during the day when life happens and the schedule must be left and then resumed. We have had a lot of challenges this year in leaving the routine and coming back to it-- things that are good and necessary, and oh-so-disruptive to the precious school schedule. I tend to hyperfocus, and balance is not my thing. This has been a year of stretching outside of the comfort zone for me.
I am thankful for the opportunity to show the girls how to grab learning as they go. And they have gotten to where they can do readings and narrations, or math, or flashcards almost anywhere-- in the car, at the park, in the library, in a noisy restaurant, in a waiting room. I definitely prefer the half-pace of life, and have been pruning, pruning, pruning, our activities. But even with prayerful discarding of extracurriculars, a slow pace does not seem to be God's will for us at this point, so I try to be willing to learn, and to teach, the lessons of first things and consistent endeavor.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Pencil Grip
I'm comparing CM's "best way to hold a pencil" with Draw Write Now's "best way to hold a pencil":
"It would be good if children learned from the beginning to hold their pencil between the index finger and middle finger, using the thumb to keep it steady. This way prevents the uncomfortable strain that results from the usual way of holding a pencil. When the student is older and has more writing to do, this could cause writer's cramp. The pen should be held in a comfortable position, close to the point-end, fingers and thumb bent a little, and the hand resting on the paper. The child can lay the left hand on the paper to support himself. He should write in an easy position, with his head bent, but not with his body stooped over. Since children tend to make scratchy, spidery marks if the nib of the pen is held sideways, they should use the flat of the nib. In all writing lessons, the blackboard should be available to model and practice." Modern Paraphrase of CM Vol. 1 p. 239
It sounds to me like she is saying to have the index finger and middle finger straddle the pencil, and keep the thumb underneath to support it. I have tried doing this and it is very awkward. Then there is the question of whether the top of the pencil should come out between the index and middle finger or in the space between index finger and thumb. It must be index and thumb, because the other way is very difficult to control.
The Draw Write Now website says this:
'The pencil should be positioned so that there is equal pressure between the thumb, the side of the middle finger and the tip of the index finger. All fingers are bent slightly. This is called a "tripod grip" or "tripod pencil grasp". '
Does anyone else see a difference in these two? I wonder if there is another way out there that is the "usual way of holding a pencil", or if CM was saying to not put equal pressure on the index finger, middle finger and thumb?
I asked some teacher-friends about pencil grip at the beginning of the year, and they described something similar to the Draw Write Now way.
Since I started obsessing over penmanship and pencil grips in the fall, I have paid more attention to the way others hold their pencils and pens when writing. There are almost as many grips out there as there are people, it seems, making it difficult to pinpoint a "usual" way.
I have been teaching Cornflower the tripod grip. I corrected her grip only during copywork exercises for the past 5 months. When she wrote for math or free time, I noted to myself whether her grip was correct or not but did not say anything to her. I am pleased to say that she now holds the pencil in the tripod grip automatically most of the time.
She still struggles with her penmanship at times, but in the last few weeks I have insisted on very short lessons (five minutes) and that has helped. This week we put her whiteboard easel in the kitchen where we do copywork each day, and I allowed her to write on it with a marker for penmanship.
I wish everyone could have seen her dedication in erasing and rewriting the letters until each one was its proper height! Hooray for Dry Erase! And, in complete honesty, she took more like ten to fifteen minutes to write these words. I suggested a couple of times that she stop, but she was on fire with learning and wanted to keep going. I finally did persuade her not to do the entire scripture (really a partial scripture), letting her know we would leave the words up and she could finish them over two or three days.
Here is a (not very high quality) picture of Cornflower's easel, so you can get an idea what it looks like:
"It would be good if children learned from the beginning to hold their pencil between the index finger and middle finger, using the thumb to keep it steady. This way prevents the uncomfortable strain that results from the usual way of holding a pencil. When the student is older and has more writing to do, this could cause writer's cramp. The pen should be held in a comfortable position, close to the point-end, fingers and thumb bent a little, and the hand resting on the paper. The child can lay the left hand on the paper to support himself. He should write in an easy position, with his head bent, but not with his body stooped over. Since children tend to make scratchy, spidery marks if the nib of the pen is held sideways, they should use the flat of the nib. In all writing lessons, the blackboard should be available to model and practice." Modern Paraphrase of CM Vol. 1 p. 239
It sounds to me like she is saying to have the index finger and middle finger straddle the pencil, and keep the thumb underneath to support it. I have tried doing this and it is very awkward. Then there is the question of whether the top of the pencil should come out between the index and middle finger or in the space between index finger and thumb. It must be index and thumb, because the other way is very difficult to control.
The Draw Write Now website says this:
'The pencil should be positioned so that there is equal pressure between the thumb, the side of the middle finger and the tip of the index finger. All fingers are bent slightly. This is called a "tripod grip" or "tripod pencil grasp". '
Does anyone else see a difference in these two? I wonder if there is another way out there that is the "usual way of holding a pencil", or if CM was saying to not put equal pressure on the index finger, middle finger and thumb?
I asked some teacher-friends about pencil grip at the beginning of the year, and they described something similar to the Draw Write Now way.
Since I started obsessing over penmanship and pencil grips in the fall, I have paid more attention to the way others hold their pencils and pens when writing. There are almost as many grips out there as there are people, it seems, making it difficult to pinpoint a "usual" way.
I have been teaching Cornflower the tripod grip. I corrected her grip only during copywork exercises for the past 5 months. When she wrote for math or free time, I noted to myself whether her grip was correct or not but did not say anything to her. I am pleased to say that she now holds the pencil in the tripod grip automatically most of the time.
She still struggles with her penmanship at times, but in the last few weeks I have insisted on very short lessons (five minutes) and that has helped. This week we put her whiteboard easel in the kitchen where we do copywork each day, and I allowed her to write on it with a marker for penmanship.
I wish everyone could have seen her dedication in erasing and rewriting the letters until each one was its proper height! Hooray for Dry Erase! And, in complete honesty, she took more like ten to fifteen minutes to write these words. I suggested a couple of times that she stop, but she was on fire with learning and wanted to keep going. I finally did persuade her not to do the entire scripture (really a partial scripture), letting her know we would leave the words up and she could finish them over two or three days.
Here is a (not very high quality) picture of Cornflower's easel, so you can get an idea what it looks like:
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