CM Open House – Only Child

Today, Laurke from the Ambleside Online forums is sharing a basic view of her day-to-day with an only child! I am so excited about this, folks. I was a mom to an only for a decade, so I know it has it’s own quirks and needs. I am so grateful to Laura for sharing with us!
Have I said yet how blessed I feel to know these mommas, even through the distant connection of the internet? Well, I do feel blessed, and I hope you do too!

You can (and totally should) read more from Laura, at her blog, Windy Hill Homeschool. 

This project was quite fun, as my 10 year old enjoys being on camera and watching himself over and over again.  We spread the recording out over 3 days, but we really do 3 readings each day, accompanied with a rotation of the riches (art, poetry, composer study, etc.), daily memory work and skills work.  I left out his morning Pop-tart and TV show in pajamas, the discussion about whether or not he brushed his teeth and if he is really going to wear that today, and more “life”, in order that you don’t have to actually spend an entire day watching us to get the general idea. 😉

 

First, I show you narration earlier in the day, while he spins and plays.  It is not Charlotte Mason-esque to prompt as I do.  Ideally, the child would do a quick recall of the previous chapter, and full sentences of narration after the new reading.  But.  He has slow-processing, ADHD and real trouble retaining information, in addition to Asperger’s and Sensory Processing Disorder.  I want you to know that you can make a CM education work for you, no matter what your child’s struggles.

 

Part 1 https://vimeo.com/150690178

 

In part 2, I give you a quick tour of our homeschool areas, and some of the skill work he does on the computer.  (Again, CM would not do spelling on the computer, but would instead do copywork, which we are starting that back up now.  Back in October when this was recorded, he was in vision therapy and I was keeping the stress as low as possible, and handwriting is a real stressor.) Then, a quick peek at our math lesson and what he enjoys to do for breaks.

 

Part 2 https://vimeo.com/150681365

 

Next, we do some picture study and poetry!  This was an Emily Dickinson term, and we used Poetry for Young People, which was lovely.  The pictures we had printed from the Yahoo group files for AO users.

 

Part 3 https://vimeo.com/150696826

 

Then, its back to narrations!  This time the subject is history and the book is George Washington’s World.  This was later in the day, and you can certainly tell a difference in his attention and ability to tell the story back.  I apologize that he is either eating, rocking or spinning for all readings and narrations, but that’s the way it is here.  Every day.  For real.

 

Part 4 https://vimeo.com/150699923

 

Finally, its part 5!  Here I show the weekly grammar practice (Mad Libs is great!), followed by Bible, which we do 2-3 times a week at the moment.  I promise, most days he really does know the differences between the parts of speech. But some days he doesn’t and can’t add 2+2.  Its just the way his brain works.

 

Part 4 https://youtu.be/v1Wy1AWxqyk