A Healer’s Geste

Term in Review

We did it! We finished a consistent 6-week school term and are now taking a break week. Yes, this should be the fourth term completed consistently, and yes, it is the first. Oh well.

Things That Worked

• I got a 5-slot accordian file folder and labeled the tabs with the days of the week. Then I put all the papers for the day (math, copywork, coloring page) in its slot. Completed papers go in the back, untabbed spot to be sorted out during break week (but what to do with them and how many to keep is still perplexing me).

• I set up the verses the boys have memorized in the Simply Charlotte Mason way, but with only days of the week tabs. So they each review one verse a day. They also get a sticker for everything they can recite during memory period: creed, verse, catechism page (about 6-8 Q&As per page); that makes a big difference in their enthusiasm for both the recitation and the copywork (Jaeger just has a page with his name in big letters for his copywork, because he wants to be like Hans and not because I think he should have any).

• After Christmas (when I read the boys the Christmas story out of Luke repetitively) and this term, I have discovered that even without the quiet time CD to review their memory work, they will memorize a new passage or creed (Hans did John 3:14-18 and they both did Heidelberg Lord’s Day 1 this last term) after 2 weeks if I only read it aloud to them twice daily. It’s quite painless. So I’m going to plan on them each memorizing one Scripture passage, one Psalm, and a Lord’s Day or creed or poem each term.

• School has to begin right after breakfast and morning chores, and I must not even look sideways at a book, magazine, computer screen, or meal preparations beforehand. Dishes or other tidying I can, because it’s much easier for me to drop that once the boys are ready to go than it is for me to tear myself away from the computer screen. And if the boys don’t get right to business after they are finished with their jobs, they immediately go to setting up “a very best of plays” (Stevenson poem, not a quote of my boys) from which they are loth to depart. If I keep myself on track, then, it’s quite easy to start school by 8:20, and not difficult to hit the 8 o’clock goal.

• We did Scripture reading, praying, singing, memory work, Bible story, poem reading, story, other read-aloud (science or art or some such), phonics/reading, copywork, math. It could take under an hour or an hour and a half, but usually it took about an hour and a quarter. It seems to be a good amount for us.

Things that Need Work

• I think amount we do is good, but the memory period gets a little long for their patience (and mine, frequently), and Hans would do better if we broke up the two paper-and-pencil activities. Ideally, we’d switch up the different sorts of subjects so they get a change of pace between each. Realistically, I know I’m more likely to drop the ball and get distracted or make excuses if there’s a chance to break between things. So, after successfully completing this term, I need to take the extra step of disciplining myself enough to do what’s best for Hans and not what’s most efficient or convenient.

• I am going to print out or copy all the papers that need printing or copying for a whole term this week, because that just didn’t happen most weekends and that just gives me another easy excuse for abbreviating school.

• Ilse is giving up her morning nap this week, so I’m going to need better solutions for containment. I don’t like having the portacrib out in the living room, but I don’t like my cupboards emptied and all the books off the shelves, either. And Ilse gets mightily offended when she doesn’t get access to the colored pencils and math manipulatives.

• According to the plan (that I made up), we have 6 terms a year. I would like these terms to have names, but there are only 4 season-names. This is where the Catholics have the advantage — saint names would fit the bill nicely! Maybe I could find six saints worth naming terms for (after all, Augustine is a saint!), or maybe I should be thoroughly Protestant and name them after reformers. New Saint Andrews names their 4 terms after church councils. Or I could go for historic battle names (Agincourt Term?) or find some way to weave in my medieval England fascination. English monarchs? Founding Fathers? Poets? A fruit or vegetable that’s in season during the time? I mean, really, I just want something….some consistent convention. I think I still do want a school name, too, because it’d be fun. St. George would be great, but we do have a girl….St. George & St. Anne’s (for That Hideous Strength, not the supposed mother of Mary)….a more generic Non Nobis…..and yet I don’t really want the word school in the name, and academy sounds pretentious (not to mention inaccurate)….so, I’m left just doing my best to work my plans without getting all fancified and dignified and satisfied.

Looking ahead, we have two more terms for “Kindergarten,” then we’ll start first grade in July. That includes taking two sets of Spring/Summer three-week breaks (in April and June). It is much easier for me to sprint than to marathon, so I think this year-round plan with weeks off to regroup and reorganize and mostly to look forward to will work out well for me. I think the break week will also be a good time to do things outside of school plans (nature walks, outings, messy crafts, more time for drawing or long stretches of outdoor play, etc.).