Preparing for Sixth Grade

Ah, Tuesday. The one day of the week that is usually errand free. Today is especially quiet, as the Boy is hanging out with a friend, building a tree fort in our side yard. Later they will head to a grandparent's home for an afternoon swim. 

So what to do with all my "free" time? A hot bath? Read a book? Hah! To begin with, I started a pot of tomatoes to simmer down into sauce, and also a pot of sauce to come up to temperature for canning. There's the never ending pile of laundry, a romp with the puppy, the garden to weed, and oh, yeah, I need to start preparing for school.

Yikes, we only have a handful of weeks left before our first day, traditionally the day after Labor Day. Usually I'm pretty well prepared come August. Not this year. I have not done one single thing to prepare. I haven't read any books, bought any supplies, hardly put any thought into it at all. Until this past weekend. It hit me....fall, and therefore school, is coming whether I'm ready or not. So I better get ready. Or at least get ready...to get ready.

For the past two years I have developed my own Waldorf style curriculum, based off a summer's worth of research and combining free/inexpensive resources. I have an aversion to pre-packaged curriculum and enjoy creating something that's entirely our own. But I am feeling burnt out. I just don't feel like it this year.

After discussing the subject with Husband, I decided to give myself permission to buy a few things that will ease some of the creative pressure. I tend to be really cheap when it comes to buying things that I can or could do myself. But doing so should allow time and energy to focus on other aspects like rhythm, field trips, social activities, handwork, and crafts. 

Giving myself permission was difficult, but not nearly as difficult as deciding what to buy. A naturally indecisive person like myself can get overwhelmed quickly by all the choices! There are lots of free resources that can give a person some ideas. There are a few packages that lay it all down for you: Live Ed, Oak Meadow, Christopherus (K-5 comes in a package, 6 and up is more piecemeal), Little Garden Flower/Waldorf Essentials, etc. I already know that I don't like a scheduled approach (Monday do x, y, and z). That helped to narrow things down. I want a guide, not detailed lesson plans for every subject, every day.

I started with my "go-to" resources: Marsha Johnson's yahoo group, Millenial Child, Bearth Institute, Path of  Discovery (Eric Fairman). From these sources I figured out Step I: What I want to cover this year:

• First of all we need to review Egypt
• Greece, which I didn't get to last spring
• Geometrical Drawing
• Astronomy
• Business Math
• Rome
• Mineralogy
• Physics
• Middle Ages
• And if I can get it in European Geography

In addition to the above subjects, the Boy is taking a formal Latin class at Lancaster Center for Classical  Studies. He will continue piano lessons with Tina Davidson, and will take a 5 week horseback riding course at River Valley Ranch. I still need to arrange handwork and woodwork classes with our co-op group.

Step II: I purchased the resources I needed:

• Tales of Ancient Egypt (Green)
• Roman History and Medieval History (Christopherus)
• Making Math Meaningful (York) I bought the guide, teacher's work book, and puzzle book
• String, Straightedge, and Shadow (Diggins)
• Geology/Astronomy (Kovacs)
• Ancient Greece (Kovacs)
• Rome (Kovacs)
• Earth, Water, Fire, and Air (Kraul) 
• Compass Drawing (Harst and Weiderhold)
• Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools (Wildgruber)
• Geometric Patterns from Roman Mosaics (Field)

I'm using Christopherus's Rough Guide to Sixth Grade, Marsha Johnson's notes, and info from Millenial Child to pull it all together into lesson plans. 

I purchased all my MLBs and a few other supplies from Meadowsweet Naturals. 

And now it's time for Step III: The actual lesson planning. Without my guides in hand, it's a bit tough to plan too far ahead (I can continue procrastinating a bit longer). I will start with the Egypt review, then move on as more guides arrive in the mail. 

Today's job though, other than can tomato sauce?  Clean up the school room and get everything orderly for that first day. I think I need another cup of coffee and a romp with the puppy!

Fat Uglies aka Cornish rocks

"Hey woman, what's up?" "Not much, what's up with you?" "Well, the kids got some chicks for Easter and we just can't keep them all. Do you want them?" Note: two years ago I would have said yes right away. I've learned a little since then. " Hmmmm, what kind are they?" " Oh, I think they're leghorns. My aunt got them for the kids at Tractor Supply." I've learned some, but apparently not enough for this is how I acquired the fat uglies.

They were delivered during a nasty thunderstorm so the men just stashed them in the garage. The next morning, quarantine pen at the ready, I opened the box to find... not 7 leghorns, but 7 Cornish rocks.

Monster birds, fat uglies. I consoled myself with the fact that someone else had spent the time and cash to brood them. I only needed to finish them off and get them in the freezer. (With the help of Amos Lapp at Lapp's Meat Shop.)

Ugh. So why do I despise thee, O Cornish rocks? Thy greedy disposition and lack of heart and hale. Thy smelly presence and gaping maw. I just think they're gross, that's all.

We raised a handful last year, my first time raising meat birds. Along the way I discovered that these birds don't do well in the heat. They won't get up and go get a drink or find shade. They'll die where they are for lack of a drink with a fount not ten feet away.

Their legs give out under the terrific weight of their burgeoning breasts. They live to eat, following you with their greedy eyes like a bad Jesus portrait, mouths gaping...."Feed me Seymour!"

And they smell. When people emphatically state, "Ew! Chickens smell!" I am convinced it's because they've driven by a farm of these noxious birds.

So today, after approximately 10 weeks of loving care, I have delivered my fat uglies to Amos Lapp's shop, open Tues, Friday, and Saturday.

Yes, we could process them ourselves, but for $3 a chicken, Amos and his boys do a great job. I have also found myself to be a bit squeamish. The last time I processed them myself I found that I couldn't eat them. I cooked them, everyone else ate, but I stuck to the veggies at the table. So I guess those birds got the last word that time.

Fifth Grade: Ancient Civilizations

Buddha chalkboard drawing

O Best Beloved, we have now come to the end of our block on India and Persia. What a fascinating block! I didn't expect it to be quite so enjoyable, but the Boy is truly loving every aspect of our Ancient Civilizations studies. So much so that he was feeling blue about leaving India behind.

The timing was perfect; the stories of India portray a sleepy, warm, imaginative culture. Our springtime temps here have been ridiculously balmy, adding the perfect atmosphere, making our days feel lazy and dreamy. Perfect for stories of mysterious gods and magical jungle creatures.

While reading the stories from Charles Kovac's "Ancient Mythologies" the Boy would beg, "One more story, pleeeassse!" I could've cruised through India in two days, but we paced ourselves. We started with the Mhabhrata (the epic of the Pandu family) and even borrowed a dvd from the library depicting a version of the story, then moved on to a few stories of the Ramayana. Then we delved into the life of Siddartha Gautama, the prince who became Buddha. During this time, he independently read "The Iron Ring," a story about another prince who leaves his throne, for the sake of honor. 

I had a difficult time finding much about Persia in our library system, so it ended up being more of a minor stop, although he did enjoy the Zarathustra story.


Here are some of the resources I used:

For his "reader" I chose The Iron Ring, Alexander Lloyd

For my reader, I chose Buddha : a story of enlightenment, Deepak Chopra, to gain some insight.

Because the Boy likes facts so much, I gathered a few books chock full of data and pictures: 

India, Julie Nelson

The Kingfisher book of the ancient world : from the Ice Age to the fall of Rome, Hazel Mary Martell 

It's disgusting–and we ate it : true food facts from around the world and throughout history!, James Solheim ; illustrated by Eric Brace

Ancient India, Virginia Schomp

Ancient Persia, Neil Bramwell

A nice picture/story book about the Buddha, The Prince who ran away : the story of Guatama Buddha, Anne Rockwell ; illustrated by Fahimeh Amiri

For my own information: Look what we've brought you from India : crafts, games, recipes, stories, and other cultural activities from Indian Americans, Phyllis Shalant

And, O Best Beloved, our favorite, a book on cd for car travel: Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling

We finished the block by taking a field trip on a gorgeous, sunny Sunday afternoon to Passage to India, an Indian restaurant on the river front in Harrisburg. The Boy was excited to go, but then wasn't too thrilled. I think he decided he's not much for Indian food...although he devoured the caramel custard!

Best Homesteading/Homeschooling Investment Ever? A Library Card

Living on one salary means keeping a tight budget. Hell, in these times living on two salaries means keeping a tight budget. Everyone needs to save a few dollars here and there. In order to keep our homestead and home school functioning we use our county library. It is the number one "back pocket" resource I have.

We have borrowed books and periodicals on just about everything: solar energy, raising chickens and goats, how to home school, curriculum choices, construction, crafts, organic gardening, knitting, norse mythology, geography, math...I could list hundreds of topics that we've researched at our local library. There are very few books that I feel I must own but, if I check a particular title out two or three times, then I might consider buying a copy. Preferably at our library's annual book sale!

We moved here from Baltimore County, where the libraries are large and well-funded. Books of any subject were immediately available for browsing and borrowing. Plus, a plethora of programming to choose from. it was amazing.

I was shocked and a bit dismayed when I first walked into our local York County library. Shortly after moving here, we headed to our nearest town, Red Lion. I felt a bit snobbish—it was so small. There were so few books. I was missing Baltimore County! But we grew to love the children's librarian and the older boys always seemed to find what they wanted. So we continued our weekly visits, trekking the 10 miles to Red Lion. 

One day the librarian was kind enough to point out that we actually had a library in our little village, just a mile from home. I had no idea! It was right down the road? Really? Why hadn't I noticed it before? (A little foreshadowing...)

A trailer? You gotta be kidding! No wonder I hadn't noticed it. It was literally a double wide trailer parked on the elementary school-yard. Great. Upon entering, the first thing I noticed was a picture of what this library used to look like...a psychedelically painted single wide trailer. And before that? A bookmobile. This village had seen quite a bit of progress!

The next thing I noticed was the incredibly friendly atmosphere. No shushing or dirty looks. In fact, the librarian was exuberantly cheerful, and chatty. She ushered us around the library— actually she stood in the center and pointed to each section, it was that small. But, what I had not known before was that the library could order any book I needed from any library in the state. Wow, that changed my view...we had a little gem right in our own community!

Over the years our family has borrowed hundreds of books. Friday has become our library day, when we pick up our next week's block study materials and the Boy picks up his next two or three pleasure readers. Once a month we attend a home school co-op run by one of the librarians. We are avid summer reading club participants; the boy logged over 9,000 minutes this year. (goal is 800 minutes), and I participate in fund raising and program planning activities. We occasionally attend special programming, depending on time and interest. 

But the best of all is that ability to get books from all over the state — lots of knowledge without spending a dime.