What do we think of those shades on my chandelier?
This week I did a lot of just ordinary, daily-rhythm sorts of things. As I get older, I find it a bit harder to push myself through tasks that I used to do quickly on my way to doing other things.
My washing machine got repaired, at last. Took a week due to the repairman dropping his phone in water, along with the info for ordering the part… The laundry (comprising many towels, sheets, and our own things from the previous week that included a long weekend with six grandchildren) took up a good bit of my energy.
It probably amounted to the equivalent of one busy laundry day for you or from the time when I had everyone here, playing sports and doing what they did, getting all the things dirty.
I wrote a piece for my other blog; Phil and I did our podcast; I did some harvesting of tomatoes (which I just popped into the freezer for another day) and we harvested honey, inviting friends for dinner and extracting it all together, since it's boring to do it by ourselves, and fun to have friends over.
We put the yellow cloth on the bench so we (I) wouldn't smash into it the next morning — the back stairs door is right there on the left and I would surely come down in a fog and send everything flying!
It was so nice to be able to do this job over in the new area of the kitchen. The other side, my work side, had all the elements of dinner, and I could just clean up while the men spun the extractor, and they could rinse their hands and put lids around without getting in my way. It was glorious!
Later today I will get some gallon jars out of the garage and pack this honey up. Phil reckons we have another hive to harvest in a few weeks, so I'm hoping for a good amount for the year.
If you want to see our process, I have a highlight on my Instagram page!
I made bagels enough for the week and more. As I said last week, a dozen bagels wouldn't get you very far in a busy young family, but for us, they last and are worth the effort for sure.
I was thinking, as I do with everything I make — a habit I have from long experience — of how to scale bagels and English muffins for a crowd large family.
I think if you made the dough (recipe doubled, of course) the day before, keeping it in the fridge (your second fridge of course), you'd be able to do the finicky part of it on the second day (boiling for bagels, skillet baking for English muffins). If you did it pretty early in the morning, you might not mind the disruption of it. A handy child could be trained to help you for sure.
You would certainly save a lot of money, not to mention the superior quality. The downside as with all home-baked goods is that it's just that superiority that makes it go so much faster.
The Homemade Paradox.
Instant Pot Yogurt
And this morning I took the bulk of the gallon of milk I bought when the kids were here (so much left over — we will not drink it before it goes bad) and put a half gallon of yogurt in the Instant Pot, in pint wide-mouth jars.
If I had a huge demand, I would use quart jars, making a gallon at a time. I think half-gallon jars would fit in the IP — off the top of my head.
Rosie says her kids turn their noses up just a bit at store-bought, citing “Habibti's home-made” as their standard, which of course makes me so proud.
The key is to buy one container of the exact kind of yogurt you really prefer. For me, it's Siggi's whole milk plain skyr. It's not billed as Greek yogurt but it's very thick and just the right amount of tanginess with excellent flavor. Some brands are too sour for me, some too bland!
I get the milk up past 190°F in the first step, and I do this on the stovetop, setting a timer so I don't boil it over. I find that using the IP yogurt setting doesn't get the milk hot enough and doing it twice complicates things. I prefer to just do it on the stove in a covered pot.
It takes about 13 minutes for me — you have to stand there and watch it to know when to set your timer next time. I use an instant-read thermometer so I'm not guessing, but there will be bubbles all around the sides and into the center, without the milk bubbling up and out.
Then I let it cool for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature. I use the thermometer (and timer) again. The milk should be between 100° and 110°F.
I add the yogurt (either the one I've bought or a bit from the previous batch of homemade). About 1/4 cup or even less for a 1/2 gallon of milk.
Use a whisk but stir very gently. You don't want to disturb the protein molecules very much — those are what are going to give you the thickness.
Now I put it in the Instant Pot. I put about an inch of very warm water on the bottom up to the rack. Place the covered jars (4 pint for 1/2 gallon, 4 quart for a gallon) and set it to 11 1/2 hours. For me, the texture and flavor of what results is just right. No straining required. Doing it directly in the jars, in the Instant Pot, and not having to strain it takes away all the annoying work of making yogurt without buying a piece of specialized equipment.
And yes, you could certainly use a big cooler. This link is to me using a little cooler!
Like everything else, you have to experiment, look up other people's methods, fiddle, and see how it turns out for you. If you have a toddler whose itchy fingers can't stay away from buttons, turn your pot's panel to the back! Ask me how I know to do this… let me say that if it's not set when you open it up, suspect those little fingers and start again!
Homeschooling Advice
Every summer my heart dies a little when I see moms declaring that they will have to do school all summer since their kids didn't get through what they were supposed to during the school year.
{If you live somewhere where summers are oppressive, just apply the appropriate filter to what I am saying here. No need to tell me that “we take off in October, we live in Arizona” or what have you. What I'm saying still goes, relative to whatever your situation.}
The first thing that strikes me is robbing children of the one absolute joy they have (as regards school) — the joy that comes on that last day when you turn your books in and burst out of pris the building, knowing you will have not one burden on your shoulders until the distant day they imprison you agai start the new school year.
Homeschooling doesn't have, or shouldn't have, this same binary effect on the child. In theory, it's all joy and wonder in the bosom of home, but let's admit that we all, by sometime in late April, have a sense of wishing it all to go away, at least the schedule/curriculum/checklist part of it — and we're the grownups.
The children are desperate.
Stop torturing them.
Let them go.
The second thing is this:
The idea of a certain amount of material needing to be covered by everyone at the same rate in order to keep up with a standard set by people who have demonstrated their ignorance of the proper development of the child let alone the true nature of education is an idea we need to be wary of adopting.
I'm sure you're making your curriculum plans now. Good for you!
Might I suggest something?
Spend an hour or two looking at and setting concrete goals for each child.
Don't make the goal “Getting through this material.”
Instead, in the section in your binder for that child, make a goal for each of the studies you would like to undertake — studies tailored to that child, not “all second graders.” In general, they will coincide somewhat, but if you have a child who already reads but is left cold and staring out the window at the idea of addition and subtraction, your plan for that child is — and ought to be — different from the one for the child who has built a working water mill but can't read.
I really do recommend getting a pen and a piece of paper, one for each subject. Write down, under “John, Second Grade,” thinking about where you were last year with this child who regarded being asked to do his workbooks for 1/2 an hour as the most exquisite torment every devised by woman (the parts between asterisks are my notes to you, not to be written down):
- Language Arts Goal: Read an Easy Reader book. Read signs on the road. Memorize a short poem each quarter, or nursery rhyme. Write a thank you note of three lines. Write a grocery store list for me as I dictate. *this is so helpful to you* Write our daily dinner menu *also helpful since you know you will be asked approximately 100 times a day “what's for dinner?” — let John write it out and read it to them if necessary*.
- Math Goal: Complete fluency with basic addition and subtraction. *This may seem to fall very short of accepted standards, but you will never get anywhere until this fluency is mastered, so buckle down and make it the goal, or you'll be doing it in 5th grade*
- Religion Goal: Memorize the 10 Commandments. Learn basic prayers by heart. Lead a decade of the Rosary.
- Science Goal: Learn about the seasons. Begin a nature journal (record date and temperature, draw). Learn to measure various things (weight, length, height, etc).
- History Goal: Learn the history of your state *but in a fun way by going on field trips and reading plaques on the side of the road*.
- Art Goal: Learn to draw leaf shapes (and other things to be recorded in nature journal) and have a personal notebook with whatever drawings he would like to do. Learn about one artist a quarter. Learn to make [whatever craft interests you or him].
- Music Goal: Learn a hymn and a folk song every quarter; learn and memorize two pieces on the chosen instrument; learn basic music theory (rhythm, time signature, scales).
And so on… these goals then inform your curriculum choices. No point in getting a math book with multiplication drills if he really needs to know the addends of 10 and 100.
For more ideas, go to Ambleside online, but remember — whatever you choose from there must support and not undermine with its elaborate unreality, these goals. Pick and choose.
Using your goals, take a hard look at your curriculum and schedule. Language and math should be every day (four days a week). The other things can be once or twice a week. The child left up to himself will likely do more and read about these things all the time, so don't worry about it.
If one day in February you become aware that your child just knows and can, without thinking, just say what 10 – 8 is and what 3 + 7 is and in general has a good grasp of his math facts, having played a lot of Parcheesi and Yahtzee and even Black Jack, then — you are done. It doesn't matter how many drills are left.
If he can read a Little Bear book, you've reached your goal.
If you get to early May and he still can't read, just leave it. He will. (You need to read Better Late Than Early by the Moores –maybe your library has it). Slogging through the days with phonics lessons, when he just wants to be out playing catch, will only make everything worse.
Of course, you will still be reading out loud to your children, because that's life, not schoolwork. And if you start a chapter book and find you can't finish it and just happen to leave it in the bathroom, well, who knows what will happen? If the book is exciting enough, you may find he figures it out himself. If you just happen to give him a set of dice to fiddle around with, will you be to blame if he learns his math facts?
And of course, with the child who gobbles up all the learning, setting goals is a good way not to waste his time with others' ideas of things, things he has already mastered long ago.
I write at length about all these things in my Summa Domestica.
But I just want to say, take my advice and confine your year to a reasonable, non-burdensome length and give your children a break, and yourself too. Plan on this now and don't let end-of-school-you rob you of your peace.
Who are you comparing your child to? Just help him with reasonable goals.
I won't be posting next week, as I'll be at the conference in Colorado (and then visiting Suki and baby Maria and all the others, yay!). But after that we'll talk over some other school issues. For instance, really — don't plan more than four solid school days a week… you'll actually accomplish more!
Remind me…
bits & pieces
- Looking for some inspiration for yourself and for your children? I think the boys especially could benefit from hearing about Fr. Willie Doyle and it seems like these entries, prepared for the anniversary of his death but ever edifying, would be wonderful to read aloud at breakfast or any time . He is a great favorite of mine — truly heroic as a chaplain in WWI who went with his men into every battle — and very loving. I don't know which of the books these accounts come from — it would be good to have at least one of them.
“Fr. Doyle’s example worked good. His cheerfulness, his energy, his enthusiasm were infectious and inspiring. His whole conduct was marked by gentleness and a kindly thoughtfulness that gained him loyalty and affection. In the playing fields he was a tower of strength. I can still recall the admiration with which I watched him play full-back, or stump a batsman who had his toe barely off the ground. But above all he gave the impression to us boys of one who lived much in the presence of God. I know one boy, at least, who entered the Society of Jesus, partly, at any rate, because Fr. Doyle was such a splendid man and splendid Jesuit.”
- It has always struck me as unacceptable and really, hilarious, that feminists claim Anne of Green Gables as their own, simply because she was spunky. Just as every other heroine of every enduring story is! Who said we haven't always admired spunky girls? It's a stupid lie to claim that literature used to feature compliant, boring females — quite the contrary! Not to mention that the story is written by a woman before “women's rights” or the vote, and Anne herself finds her dreams and happiness marrying and having seven children! What nonsense. Here is an excellent essay on the subject (with a correct dismissal of the egregiously bad Anne with an E series): The Kidnapping of Anne of Green Gables by Jonathon Van Maren.
from the archives
liturgical living
follow us everywhere! share us with your friends!
Here is my affiliate link to my Amazon page — the only affiliate thing that goes on here on LMLD, which is why the page loads quickly and you don’t have to keep closing pop-ups etc! Thank you for opening it and shopping if you are so minded — as some have asked me. If not, don’t worry one bit!
My book, The Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Family Life is available from Sophia Press! Also in paperback now! All the thoughts from this blog collected into three volumes, beautifully presented with illustrations from Deirdre, an index in each volume, and ribbons!
My “random thoughts no pictures” blog, Happy Despite Them has moved over to Substack! — receive it by email if you like, or bookmark, so you don’t miss a thing! The old one is still up if you want to look at the comments on past posts. It will take me a while to get things organized, but you'll be patient, I know!
There you will find the weekly podcast done by Phil and me, called On the Home Front. Do let us know what you think!
My podcast, The Home Truths Society, can be found on the Restoration of Christian Culture website (and you can find it where you listen to such things) — be sure to check out the other offerings there!
Stay abreast of the posts here at LMLD, when they happen:
Consider subscribing to this blog by email. We would love to pop into your inbox! The subscription box is on this page on the sidebar!
We share pretty pictures: Auntie Leila’s Instagram, Rosie’s Instagram, Deirdre’s Instagram. Bridget’s Instagram.
Auntie Leila’s Facebook (you can just follow)
The boards of the others: Rosie’s Pinterest. Sukie’s Pinterest. Deirdre’s Pinterest. Habou’s Pinterest
Hannah Hilgendorf says
I giggled with delight through your school advice section…my John is going into second grade, needs to really learn to read, all the rest. We’re in the middle of moving into a big old house – a miracle, for those of you still living in apartments much too small for your growing family, if God did it for us, He can do it for you too! – and I can’t wait to get settled in so we can start the new school year! But I do need to plan first, thank you for the reminder!
Katie says
I really appreciate the article about Anne of Green Gables. As a girl from the Canadian Maritimes, Anne is very dear to my heart (I just finished reading it out loud with my 7 and 5 year old!) and these woke revisions of it make my blood BOIL.
I took a peek at the Anne with an E series one time to see what all the fuss was about and I was absolutely shocked, not so much by the content, but by the portrayal of characters who in the book are competent, smart, independent, and in some cases outspoken women — the show portrayed them as spineless, venomous, and ignorant foils to this “enlightened” and “progressive” Anne. What I really couldn’t believe is that the creators of the show failed to see the “feminism” that is already in the books to the extent that superimposing their woke ideals actually diminishes the successes of the women in the books. Anne was not “ahead by a century.” She was excellent in her time and place. And it was Marilla who said “a girl be able to make a living. After all, it’s a very insecure world.” (I paraphrase) and Matthew who says he’d rather have Anne than a dozen boys! And don’t even let me get started on Miss Stacy! And more than once in the series the narrator refers to PEI as Abegwait (the Mi’kmaq name for the island (in the last 5 or so years it’s become trendy in Canada to refer to the land you’re on by its indigenous name). The books are just laden with excellence and thoughtfulness that today’s revisionist ideas don’t hold a candle to.
I’m sad to hear about what they’re going to do I’m Cavemdish.
Katie says
Oh, also, so you put the yogurt in the jars before they go in the IP? Do they need to be sterilized or anything? And you pressure cook it for 1 1/2 hours?
Leila says
The yogurt goes in the jars and then in the IP.
They do not need to be sterilized, just very clean.
NOT PRESSURE COOKED!!
Put on the IP “yogurt” setting — read your instruction booklet. On mine, at first when you press the yogurt button, it says “boil” but I don’t do that part, as described in my post — I heat my milk on the stove. So when you push it again, it has you set the time, and I set it for 11 1/2 hours. That just seems like the right amount of time and if I start in the morning, it will be done by night before I go to bed.
You are keeping the yogurt WARM until it ferments properly. At this point, if you boil it, it won’t set and you have to start again! So, no pressure cooking!
Once you set it, the next time you push the button, it will go straight to that part of the process, skipping the “boil” part.
Katie says
Ahhh, okay I see. Thank you for the clarification. I will not pressure cook it!
Rachel S. from California says
Love that you talked yogurt – I’ve been making my own for a few weeks and really enjoying it! We don’t have an Instant Pot for step 2, though; I use our dehydrator instead… And, alas, my husband just burst my frugality bubble by calculating how much we’re paying to run the dehydrator for 24 hours – just enough to make homemade the exact same price as the fancy stuff from the store! Sigh. I’ll have to hunt down an old cooler and try that method instead – I enjoyed seeing your post on that. You are so very right about the trial and error.
Annie says
I used to do step 2 by putting my mason jars in the oven with the light on. However, I was single and childless at the time and now it dawns on me how impractical that would be for me today, putting my oven out of commission for a full day! But perhaps for someone who has 2 ovens…
Melissa says
Or overnight? How many hours does it go in for?
Heather says
I make yogurt in the oven! I put it in around 9 pm, wrap in a towel, leave the oven light on, and it’s finished when I start my day.
Leila says
That’s awesome. Where do you live? I feel like my oven would not be warm all night most of the year…
Heather says
We’re in the Midwest. The oven light and towel keep the milk the right temp, I make yogurt in a big pot so maybe that helps too?
Annie says
I have done this in Indiana and Texas! And yes overnight would probably do it
Adi says
I am in Northern Germany and I was taught to wrap my jars of joghurt in a blanket and pop them in my bed over the day or wrap them up nice and warm (2 blankets?) if you want to have the joghurt set over night.
Also works for finishing rice – bring to a boil – allow roughly 5 min on the stove top – wrap – leave for an hour – done
Leila says
Really? My dehydrator costs hardly anything to run, I’m pretty sure (according to the instructions). But it’s just a cheap one that I found at a yard sale! You couldn’t put any jars in it.
A cooler works so well.
Leila says
Another thing that works well is a slow cooker, if you have one of those. But you’d have to do an internet search for specifics.
Mary Helen says
I’ve been making yogurt in my crock pot for years, and it’s as easy as can be:
Pour 2 quarts of milk into the crock pot.
Warm on “low” for 2.5 hours.
Unplug and let cool for 3 hours.
Scoop out about 2 cups of the milk and gently whisk in 1/2 cup of yogurt (either store-bought or from a previous batch). Then whisk all of that back into the crock pot.
Wrap the whole thing in a big towel and let sit 24 hours.
I love this method because there is very little active work involved, no babysitting the milk or checking thermometers. The hardest part is putting it in jars when it’s done!
Amy F says
When you say wrap the whole thing in a big towel, is that the entire crock pot container? Not on heat right?
Melissa says
Thank you for the planning advice, Auntie Leila! It’s exactly what I needed to hear, and especially helpful as I plan for my dear second grader.
I know that I don’t want homeschooling to overrun our home life–there are little ones and food to make and chores galore!–but it’s easy to get hyper focused on checking off all the extensive educational to-do lists. I feel especially doubtful of myself when well-meaning people ask, “So what does your homeschooling day look like?” And when I start to describe our morning which has reading and prayer and washing dishes and play and table work and going for a walk and nursing the baby all humbled up, it doesn’t sound like much educating is happening. So I’m so grateful for your words and wisdom which encourage me to keep going, reasonably! Thank you!
Leila says
You’re welcome!
Dixie says
Those lists can be overwhelming, and so many of them are really about making the adults feel like they’re getting something done, rather than what the child actually needs.
As Leila says, it’s better to start from what you observe in your child and what you think he ought to know/be able to do at this stage. For a second grader, a short school task list is better than a long one, stories are better than factoids, more playtime is better than less, more heavy work/large motor work is better than more small motor work, etc.
At the end of the year, you’ll be amazed by how much got done and how much he grew!
Dixie says
Those lists can be overwhelming, and so many of them are really about making the adults feel like they’re getting something done, rather than what the child actually needs.
As Leila says, it’s better to start from what you observe in your child and what you think he ought to know/be able to do at his stage. For a second grader, a short school task list is better than a long one, stories are better than factoids (including for history), more playtime is better than less, more heavy work/large motor work is better than more small motor work, etc.
At the end of the year, you’ll be amazed by how much got done and how much he grew!
Leila says
I think the thing about writing down a simple goal is to help yourself not get panicked by some list you overhear some mom mention in passing and/or the demands made by whatever curriculum you chose.
If the curriculum helps reach the goal, then great.
But if the curriculum (let’s say a math book, which let’s remember is comprised of chapters at the beginning that review and ones at the end that offer work at a higher level and often things that are just random) is keeping you from finishing up your year and turning your attention to “life” (garden, holidays, some big house project), having vague standards won’t free you! The curriculum becomes a strict taskmaster and the child its victim.
You need a simple sentence that you can look at and say, “We did it” or “we’ll tackle this another way in the next season -it’s an achievable goal.”
I have much more about this in my book!
Dixie says
I agree! Having the simple, written goal helps strike the balance between flexibility and diligence. You can measure what you’re doing against your own goals to get some perspective, but not be derailed by the goals of other people. And yet since you are working toward something, you are still motivated to be diligent where diligence is needed.
I started off using your binder system when my eldest was in Kindergarten, and still use it 9 years later!
Sara who can't stop talking about bagels says
The two day process is exactly what I do to make bagels every week for my family of eight (though only seven of us are of bagel-eating age, it’s true). I make the dough and shape the bagels the night before and then boil them straight from the fridge in the morning – three of my children fight for the privilege of bagel assistant. I also make them big, like the NYC bagels I grew up with – at least 5.5 oz unbaked – so that one is fairly filling when eaten with an egg or a good schmear of cream cheese. I make 18 at a time: we eat nine fresh, and I freeze the other nine to pull out right before we leave for Mass on Sunday and they are defrosted by the time we get home, ravenous. Now just to crack the garlic adhesion problem!
Thank you for the homeschool goal-setting reminder! I have my goals for each of my students floating around in my mind, but I really need to get them down in actual words on actual paper.
Leila says
It’s so important to write the goals down. Why? Because by March you will have forgotten them. Then, either you’re moving the target further away by adding things that are unnecessary or just fizzling out.
When you write them down, you look at them in late spring and say, “Oh, we accomplished that!” and then you can STOP. And go to the beach!
Sarah says
Here’s the hard part for me with summer. Those wretched 180 days or so many instruction hours mandated by our state. With babies and family colds, there were a bunch of days when we just didn’t keep any count at all. I’m sure it all comes out in the wash with quality time with books and blocks and kids evidently learning something, but that’s the only thing that keeps me from freely declaring summer. And one child so attached to routine that it’s bumpy to change it. But it’s worth trying to make it work, I’m sure!
Dixie says
What if you made a plan for “sick school”? That way you could still count most sick days as school days for the state, even hitting multiple subjects/subject hours if they make you count those.
I’m thinking of a set of resources that you would pull out only on sick days, like science documentaries, historical fiction audiobooks (and movies made from such books), scissors skills pads (art!), map puzzles, easy crafts…things that would be good distractions for anyone who is lying bored and sniffly/coughing/achy on a couch but isn’t actually barfing or sleeping. You wouldn’t have to push it — just make sure one or two happen per day on a sick day. You’re probably using shows anyways when kids are sick; can you choose shows that will count as “school”? Magic Schoolbus or Schoolhouse Rocks?
Emily says
We live in a 180 day state. I don’t know what level of record keeping is required in your state but my thought is that everyday my kids are learning. It may not be “school school” but everyday includes reading aloud of some sort, audiobooks, helping in the kitchen, physical education in the backyard, hobbies etc. So with that in mind, I wouldn’t let yourself become a slave of 180 days of “school school” the same way you shouldn’t let yourself become a slave of the curriculum!
Mary Keane says
Yes, this exactly! Where we are in Pennsylvania, I can start counting “days” in July. We had a week of swim lessons, so that’s five school days. Catechism classes on Sundays count, so twenty or so more. We’re taking a trip to the PA Grand Canyon and a train museum, so that’s educational. Three more! You see where this is going. And my reviewer does school along with us and so… I just don’t count days. And we sign off with a clear conscience. It’s one of those meaningless exercises meant to prove your efficacy to some third party who doesn’t have a clue how homeschooling really works.
Leila says
This is clever! I never looked at it this way, but fortunately was never scrutinized as to HOW we were using those 180 days. If I were, this is what I would do! Thank you!
Leila says
The 180 days thing is just simply up to you — with a clear conscience you can deem any day a school day, because you are teaching them with every breath you take.
Keep in mind that in school, there are days the kids watch videos, have field trips, line up for various ridiculous events, and in general waste a ton of time. Just subtracting the wasted hours spent on administrative issues leaves you with way fewer real school days.
Don’t give it any thought at all. What matters is outcomes… when they are 18.
Sarah says
Bless you! Huge sigh of relief. That makes such sense. It’s true. And during postpartum days when they’re helping out, that’s an education too. Hooray! We will indeed take the rest of the summer off and plan for fun next one too.
By the way, I like your chandelier shades very much. They echo the white shade in the next room and look spiffy.
Thanks for the good sense!
Erin says
Do you have a specific bagel recipe that you use? All the ones I have tried end up being more bread textured than bagel textured.
Ellen says
I use the farmhouse on boone lady’s recipe and it comes out perfect every time. Its a sourdough recipe. She has a youtube channel where she shows herself making them and a website for the recipe
Ashley says
I second Farmhouse on Boone’s recipe. I felt like it was low effort vs. other recipes I tried too. I tried her recipe and The Perfect Loaf’s bagel recipes back to back and didn’t see a huge difference.
For a non-sourdough version, we’ve really loved Martin’s Bagels on King Arthur’s website.
Leila says
I usually end up refreshing at KA: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2022/02/23/how-to-make-your-best-bagels-tips
And this one is good:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-bagels/
Also this one:
https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2021/06/easy-homemade-sourdough-bagels/
Asb says
Advice if one’s children are “ahead?” So, yes, to some extent it’s the same, look at a kid and see where they need to grow/progress. But I don’t want to push them too much, on the one hand, nor do I want them to stagnate… I also want them to learn discipline- I feel like a lot of school helps with this goal! We very much take summers off, and random weeks in November to hike in Arkansas etc. but I struggle with striking the right balance of goals “finish fourth grade math in primary mathematics” (not absurdly long and as prone to review as other books) in third grade?
Amelia says
I was naturally talented in school, so I basically stagnated waiting for a challenge, which was not good for me on multiple levels. So I think the concern about standards being high enough for some is valid and worthwhile. I’ll focus specifically on math, but I think the gist goes for other subjects as well.
For younger math, since there’s a readiness for abstraction later that means it’s generally harmful in the long run to try and get children accelerated, I try to go deep. Really play with mathematical thinking and foster contemplation of patterns and such. Think about the phenomenon of highly talented pupils who do things behind schedule as children because they’re penetrating so deeply they’re actually learning all sorts of things that go unnoticed by normies but later on become key to their brilliant insights. Children should learn not merely how to perform long division, but how to derive that approach from the basics. I often say that if you’re guessing, you aren’t doing math anymore – back up and always think about why you’re doing something (so, without writing it down all the time, treat everything as a proof). There are many great ways to begin studying logic, too, often as play, the highest-quality way to internalize this. Lots of real-world applied math uses basic concepts. Figure out interesting things like how many gallons of paint it should take to paint something using two coats, and then do it and see how close the calculation was and talk about why it wasn’t exact. Use pendulums and balancing scales where weight can be placed at varying distances from the center. Do some nearly frictionless play, like on ice or an air hockey table. Get some advanced origami books and fold polyhedra. Play cat’s cradle games, tie knots, and weave lanyards.
One common pattern is for bright students to get ahead in curricular math but find difficulties in proofs and trigonometry. But proofs are just mathematical play written down and trigonometry is straightforward for those who can visualize well (if you squish an equilateral triangle with 1-unit length sides into a segment of the unit circle, that’s a radian). Similar issues arise in studying physics. Those skills are laid down early and only become remarkable later, but really make the difference between those who are able to become mathematically fluent and the majority who fake it until they don’t have to take any more math classes.
If I have a goal to cultivate discipline, I would make a more direct goal about spending X time doing Y on Z days each week. Maybe that can mean math practice, but I’m inclined to think muscle skills (athletics, playing music) and memorization tend to be more fitting for that than intellectual ones. We know that muscle strength and memory benefit from regular practice. This doesn’t seem to be how conceptual understanding works.
asb says
Thank you!! Yes, the stagnation I experienced in school was extremely detrimental to me in so many ways, most profoundly spiritually, so I do not want this in our homeschool.
I taught math at a classical school for a few years and very much said what you say here, about the readiness for abstraction coming with a certain age– but now that my own oldest is finishing up elementary school math this year, I am tempted to bypass that principle! I also have to switch curriculum as the one we are using only goes until 6th grade, so she’ll finish that this year.
Time is tough. I would love to spend more time with math games– but I’d also love to spend more time nature journaling, gardening, and baking bread!
X time doing Y on Z days each week is more or less our homeschool schedule! With athletics, playing music, memorization, thinking about math, Latin, Spanish, etc. I don’t have a long slog of things I want to get through each year, necessarily, just keep going to the next thing as long as understanding is keeping up with work completion.
It’s soon enough in the school year that I am still a bit in my summer mode of wishing I could be an unschooler :). An hour of swim team in the morning, some chores and music practice, and lots of free time for crafts, baking, reading, etc. But they certainly don’t do enough math in the summer schedule, nor do I think it’s very good for people to be able to pursue their own projects ALL the time– life isn’t like that.
Leila says
Yes, exactly.
“Become proficient in reducing fractions and solving for one unknown” — this is a good goal and by the way, reducing fractions is essential for later study in chemistry (which is why Saxon emphasizes it so much, and rightly so). But the child can tackle it when he’s ready and it doesn’t have to take all year.
Suppose your 3rd grader reads at a 6th grade level. Then you can set the goal of improving narration. It might be good to have 4th grade focus on keeping a Commonplace Book. That would be a worthy goal!
Elizabeth says
Do you have tips for determining reasonable goals? I’m just starting out and I never feel confident in determining what should be taught when, or even what all should be covered in the long run, necessarily. I keep looking for resources on this.
Leila says
I wrote a lot about this in The Summa Domestica.
And I recommend looking at Ambleside online to see their goals for the levels. If you peruse their lists (being strict with yourself and viewing it all as RESOURCE and not anything that should or could be adopted wholesale), you will develop the sense you are looking for, of short-term and long-term goals. Also do look at the post I linked to in this one.
Theresa says
As an aside, I’m certainly hoping the homeschoolers in extreme climates are not following the rigid and illogical public school start dates. I’m in Alaska and am aghast that the public schools have already started the school year. We still have nice summer days, and the berry picking season has just begun!
Cirelo says
I’m with you. I really resent the school year being pushed earlier!