The New Liturgical Year
Hopefully buyers think it charming :D
Today is a touchstone day, it is the day on which we in the Orthodox church mark the new liturgical year. It is also the day on which we at Casa Vasile picked up our homeschooling again in earnest, with a very serious mandate to not fall behind any more, and of course we will, but it helps to start with the best intentions. Life sometimes takes over the wheel and you find yourself just along for the ride.
We're all also in various stages of illness and I've found that challenging. I cannot take care of people when I myself am sick.
Nevertheless, we have a lot of things to be thankful for, as this is our third year starting Ambleside. There are lots of changes this year that feel big to me: my son is starting Latin (I learning along with him), he will be doing written narrations, we have invested in some pretty Math boxes which the kids really enjoy, and I have begun a resolution to do MORE riches. In Charlotte Mason philosophy, riches are things like music, art, hymns, folksongs, handicrafts, and the like. Riches sometimes are the subjects one would normally set aside for doing after the *very important* subjects like Math, Language Arts, and Science, are finished. Naively, I thought I could get away with it, but the more I fall in love with Charlotte Mason philosophy, the more I realize just how essential these are. They indeed, shape the child's worldview. They give the child beautiful things with which to occupy their minds and hearts. And so, around the end of year 2, going into this third year, we have gotten into the habit of doing nature walks every Wednesday, and coming back with something to draw or render in watercolour, or pencil crayon, or what have you. We have discovered a lovely hymn study created by a Matushka in an OCA church. I've discovered Tillberry Tables, a composer study, again created by another talented homeschooling mom. We continue our steady and slow plodding toward piano proficiency, and we look at beautiful paintings and narrate them. New this year, I have found a great resource to supplant Trial and Triumph: Orthodox saint studies created by yet another talented homeschooling mom. What a wealth of riches indeed!
Nature Studies: John Muir Laws' The Nature Journal Connection
I saw this shared on facebook by a homeschooling mom on PEI. It's simple, but rigorous at the same time! We've done weeks 1, 2, and 3, and I'm excited to do more with the kids.
Hymn Studies: O Come Let Us Worship hymn study
I saw this in a comment on a post in one of the Eastern Orthodox Homeschooling Groups on facebook! Very nicely laid out, and there are music sheets! Hooray! It is in the OCA choral tradition...and maybe one day, when I get my act together and learn the modes, I can make one for the Romanian homeschoolers. (Here's to dreaming!)
Composer Studies: Tillbery Table
I saw this posted in the Ambleside Online facebook group. A great resource that includes info on the works of the composer being studied as well as age-appropriate biographical information. Unfortunately, I don't think they have one for Frederick Delius, this year's first term composer.
Orthodox Saint Studies: Bonnie McKernan's Saint Studies from the 1900s to the present
This is offered by a talented mom on one of the Eastern Orthodox homeschooling facebook pages. I've printed out all the pages and am excited to delve in!
For Latin, we're going with Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata, most likely, and we're keeping our Ambleside Online curriculum for literature, history, geography, and science, and The Good and the Beautiful Math and Language Arts curriculum. I'm a little nervous because this year looks heavy, but it's ok. To me, what's important is to just start. Start the process, avail myself of the amazing resources that are these days just a click away, know that it might not be perfect, but be open to learning alongside my children. This journey has blessed us immensely as a family and now I can't picture ourselves doing anything else. There also are difficult days, for sure, lessons for me to keep faith and not despair, as tantrums pass. If I stay faithful to the process, and humbly ask God to bless it, He is faithful and stays with me.
I hope this was encouraging, I hope this helped you find resources you may have not known about. I'm still also very new to this, but if you ever want to talk homeschool, I would love to talk homeschool, books, mother culture (another topic I have to learn more about), Charlotte Mason philosophy, etc.
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