Learning at the Dining Room Table

Sometime in the last few months, we seem to have made a transition. Somehow I'm less tossed by the fear of what we should be doing in our home-school. More sure about the choices that we have made, more content to let things take their right path.

We have made some interesting changes to the way we do school. Changes that wouldn't be standard opinion, but changes that work for my trio. The biggest change has come from running as one class in everything but Maths. This means we are all starting at the working at the same place in Latin, Greek, Writing, Grammar and on the same topic for History, Bible, Science and Literature. It wasn't an easy choice. Lots of prayer, some occasional panic, but a sure feeling that this is what we need to do for us.




At the heart of the change is the pull between actively teaching and independent learning.

Independent learning is great, its how my 10 yr old has taught himself to draw/design engines, planes, anything that challenges his engineering brain. Its how my daughter has learned to sew.

But when its a subject that they are told they need to learn it seems to be more of an issue of struggling through what they hope is right. For two of my kids, if not all three, independent learning is a case of trial and error that slowly has sapped their love of learning, their confidence and their achievements. Independent learning here seems to be a case of working through the book, hoping that we get it, panicking that we missed something, never really being sure of ourselves, and sadly not realizing that help is just a question away.

Slowly over the year subjects have been combined, often so that we are all in the same place, learning together, sometimes slowly, sometimes faster, but happier, stronger and with far fewer corrections and re-works. Sometimes it gives out some strange results - like my 9 yr old getting logic faster than the 7th grader, sometimes we learn to wait for someone, sometimes its way to loud, sometimes quiet and steady. Slowly each day our confidence is growing.

Eventually I will have to work on a balance between the two, but for now this is good, this is encouraging, and this is teaching us how to learn from each other.

Toolbox Logic Lesson 2 & 3

School Holidays are over and its time to get back into our studies, Some changes this term, mainly in bringing more subjects together than before. It should be fun.

• Day 1 Read over chapter 2, Try to get an idea of what the whole chapter is about. Discuss section in general. Re read section on comprehension carefully. Answer Questions. Reread section on Notes answer questions. Finish with Chapter from Fallacy detective.

• Day 2 Read section on Porphyrian tree answer questions, Read Extension answer questions, read relationship between Comprehension and Extension Answer questions. Review Questions to finish. Finish with Chapter from Fallacy detective.
  
  If we only get this far in the week that’s ok! Ben and Josh are young. We will get there overall.

• Day 3 Read over Chapter 3. Then read introduction and answer questions. Read Signification of Terms and answer questions. Finish with Chapter from Fallacy detective

• Day 4 Read Supposition of Terms and answer questions. The n read the summary of Chapter 1 – 3 Answer Questions. Finish with Chapter from Fallacy detective.