New Curriculum

I finished reading the book The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Bauer. Wow! I think every parent should read the book. I found it very insightful, particularly in understanding mental development and capabilities at different stages of childhood. This book is a Pre-K to 12 curriculum (meaning it tells you what to check out from the library & what to do with it) that teaches according to the trivium. The trivium, for those unfamiliar with the term, is comprised of the three basic subjects which all other subjects fall into - Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. In the grammar stage, 1st -4th grade, students learn facts. Beginning around 5th grade to 8th grade students enter the logic stage, they ask questions and explore the meaning of facts. High school is spent learning how to formulate effective arguments based on facts, the rhetoric stage. That was my watered down attempt at describing it, Susan and Jessie do a FAR better job. Check the book out at your library!

We have recently switched over to The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. This book contains scripted lessons from the very beginning (short sound of A) to the very end (supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) in 231 lessons. Of course, you go through the lessons at the child's pace and review as necessary. It looks like it takes about 2 years for an average child to get through all the lessons. Ashton is now on Lesson 61, Digraphs WH and PH. Hailey is on Lesson 3, Short I. Ashton can easily go through at least 1 lesson a day, while we are taking 3 days to a week per lesson with Hailey right now. Reading seems to be a subject that is fairly difficult to begin, but gets easier and easier with practice.

There is more I could write, but it is time to be off to soccer practice right now!