What do you do if suddenly, you need to homeschool briefly and need a short term plan. Here is what I recommend for grades 3-6.

Daily:
30 minutes of math
30 minutes of writing
10-20 minutes of grammar
unlimited time to read from the reading list (see below) and draw, pursue hobbies of the child’s interests

For the first three subjects, you can use these workbooks at the grade level your child needs. Once the child goes back to brick-and-mortar school, these workbooks can be finished as summer enrichment.

There aren’t lesson plans to go with these books, but just sit with your child and do a few sample problems together (for math) or read the instructions together and start an assignment together, then set the timer and have the child continue for the allotted time.

The reading list includes historical fiction and narrative science books. We have read every title on this list. I have starred the ones our family has especially loved. Have your child choose one from each category and narrate (tell back) to you after each chapter. If you want, these narrations can be written down.

These are all linked to Amazon for your convenience. Nurturing Learning does get a commission if you make a purchase through our Amazon links.

Classic Books

*Charlotte’s Web
Trumpet of the Swan
A Cricket in Times Square
*The Chronicles of Narnia
*A Little Princess
The Wind in the Willows
*The Green Ember (and other books in the series)
The Tale of Despereaux (and really, just any book by Kate diCamillo – this one is one of my favorites)
*The Saturdays (this book has 3 other books to go with it: The Four Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, Spiderweb for Two)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (and Through the Looking Glass)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
The Vanderbeekers
any Marguerite Henry book
Heidi
*Swallows and Amazons
*Understood Betsy
Ballet Shoes (and other Noel Streatfield books)
*The Princess and the Goblin
*All-of-a-Kind Family

Nature Lore

(books that are important for compelling kids to go outdoors and observe nature)

*The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (there is a sequel as well)
My Side of the Mountain
Rascal
Mountain Born
*Owls in the Family
*Kildee House
The Tarantula in my Purse
Bambi
The Call of the Wild or this one.

Historical Fiction

Sarah, Plain, and Tall
Strawberry Girl
Houseboat Girl
The Little House Books
*The Wheel on the School
Calico Captive
Indian Captive
Children of the Longhouse
Johnny Tremain
Soft Rain
Benjamin West and his Cat Grimalkin
Bound for Oregon
*Caddie Woodlawn

Add to this poems read aloud from this poetry anthology. (Check out this post on Poetry Teatime!)

I hope this helps you on your journey if life puts homeschooling in your lap for a while. Feel free to drop questions in the comments.

‘Hardly any lawful price would seem to me too high for what I have gained by being made to learn Latin and Greek.’

C.S. Lewis

A guest post by Carol from Journey and Destination.

Some background

I’d always wanted our children to study Latin but, like many other home educators, I had no background in the language myself, unless the medical terminology I learned years ago counts.

I’ve attempted Latin with all seven of my children but, like our French language learning, I spent quite a bit of money on curriculum that either wasn’t comprehensive enough, too difficult for me to teach or for them to use independently, or it was dull and lifeless. This was most noticeable around the ages of about 11 or 12 years when they were ready for a challenge, could handle the grammar, but also needed a creative, lively approach.

I started using French for Children by Classical Academic Press (CAP) with my daughter nearly two years ago just before she turned eleven & she loves it.

She had also been studying Latin using some resources we already had, some of which were good introductions to the language, but as time went on she started to complain about the lack of explanations, that the material was boring, and that it all seemed rather pointless. This was the same scenario I faced with her older siblings.

One day she said, “If Latin was taught like my (CAP) French I wouldn’t mind learning it.”

Enough said.

Classical Academic Press kindly provided me with a free Latin Alive! 1 bundle to use and review. This is our sixth week of using this approach and I’m very pleased with how much my daughter is actually enjoying Latin. Here are my honest thoughts on the curriculum and how we are using it:

Latin Alive! Book 1 by Classical Academic Press is the first in a series of three texts designed for about 7th to 8th Grade students and up. It is the next step after CAP’s Latin for Children but it is also suitable for students with no previous Latin knowledge and the DVD’s allow the student to work independently. (see video samples on YouTube)

My 12-year-old finds it challenging but not overwhelming. This is partly due to the grammar she has covered in her French studies and her ability to think more logically now that’s she’s older.

Classical Academic Press recommend that younger students follow one of two options, depending on their academic level (see their FAQ):

• Complete all three Latin for Children Primers (Levels A–C), then start Latin Alive! Book 2
• Complete Latin for Children Primers A and B, then move into Latin Alive! Book 1.

I did consider using Latin for Children C before commencing Latin Alive! 1 and I have to admit that I was a little overwhelmed when this curriculum arrived and I started looking through it. I thought perhaps I’d made the wrong decision.

Latin Alive! is extremely comprehensive and chock-a-block full, but after going through the introductory section of the first DVD, it was much less daunting. Now that we’re six weeks in, I’m confident that it’s an ideal fit for my daughter.

Latin teacher, Karen Moore, shares her own story of learning Latin on the first DVD: she explains how her love of Latin developed after her mother made her take Latin in Year 7, and why the study of Latin is relevant to us today. This was so good for my daughter to hear as well as being an encouragement to me.

The Latin Alive! bundle:

• 36 weekly chapters – 29 of these contain new material, the others are review
• A section is included at the back of the Student Edition listing vocabulary chapter by chapter and reference charts for declensions etc
• Latin Alive! Level 1 Teacher’s Edition – 323 pages; includes the complete student text & answer keys. The answer key to each chapter is found at the end of each chapter in the Teacher’s Edition; Student pages directly correspond with the Teacher’s pages
•   Teacher’s Extras in the back of the book contain various worksheets, projects and seven unit tests to be given after the unit review chapters are included
• Latin Alive! 1 – DVD & CD set with over fifteen hours of teaching on seven DVDs. The audio CD contains unit review Latin readings so that students can practice proper pronunciation and accent. The DVDs use the Classical pronunciation and a streaming option is also available

What Latin Alive! looks like in real life:

• Each of the 7 DVD’s in Latin Alive 1 contain between three to five chapters, and each chapter is about 30 to 50 minutes long.
• We decided to cover one chapter per week over three days. This usually takes about 15 to 30 minutes per day, although some additional time may be added for writing exercises. My daughter also keeps a Latin Notebook where she writes definitions or other material she wants to remember. It might be better for some students to spread the lesson over the week but this works best for us at present.

Last week we completed Chapter 5 and this is how it looked:

Day 1: Watched a section of the video that went over new vocabulary and explained transitive and intransitive verbs. The video teacher directs the student to stop the video and complete exercises in the student book as they go through the chapter together. Wrote definitions in Latin notebook.

Day 2: Continued with the DVD, going back where necessary to review the previous day’s explanations. Learned about the accusative case and direct object and completed assigned exercises. Finished watching the video for the chapter.

Day 3: Chapter reading – these readings started in Chapter 4 and at the beginning consisted of short sentences in Latin about Greece and Troy. By the time the student reaches Chapter 7, the readings are about two paragraphs long.
Read the Culture Corner, a short section to help the student learn about the culture and history of the Romans.
Derivative Detective – found a derivative for amat, nautical and spectat
Collaquamur or ‘Let’s Talk’ – used some questions and responses to review nouns; used ‘eye’ Latin to try to identify words.

Reflections:

I asked my daughter to say what she liked about this curriculum and this was her response:

-Well laid out
-It doesn’t assume you know all your grammar, but teaches you everything step by step
-Good teacher, explains things well
-Teaches you how to pronounce words properly
-Nice music

The Student and Teacher editions plus the DVD & CD set include everything you need for this course, although it is suggested that you have access to a Latin/English dictionary.

Here are some free online versions:

Lexilogos

Online Latin Dictionary

A support page for Latin Alive! is provided on the CAP website.

The only negative comment I have to make is that the Latin Alive! 1 text has recently been revised but the DVD won’t be updated to match the text until next year. I understand that this primarily affects Chapter 1 and that CAP has created an errata sheet for families to use in the meantime. This wasn’t an issue for us as it was only a matter of page or exercise numbers and it only took a few seconds to find the correct one.

Learn more about Classical Academic Press and their excellent products at the Classical Academic Press website.

Thank you, Carol, for providing this review of Latin Alive! You can get to know Carol by visiting her at Journey and Destination.

What attracted me to the Montessori philosophy when we first started homeschooling was its emphasis on teaching toddlers and preschoolers practical life skills. My daughter was using a knife early on (she’s not quite 3 in that post).

I strongly believe that kids should be included in food prep early on. My 11 month old stands at the kitchen counter and watches me prepare dinner. She munches on zucchini, or whatever I am cutting at the time. Soon she’ll be able to help me stir or add things to a mixing bowl. When we lived in Costa Rica and I had a huge kitchen island, I would set up my then 3 month old son on his tummy time pillow so he could watch his sister and I prepare dinner. My oldest was 2 at the time and would tear lettuce for our salad. My kids have always been in the kitchen with me.

Some time back, Katie of Kitchen Stewardship, my favorite go-to for healthy recipes, offered free knife skills videos. I waited until the last minute to sign up to receive them since I thought my kids were already well-versed in knife skills. After watching them, I was so impressed. Katie did a fantastic job making these videos. She breaks the steps down so efficiently that even I learned some new things about cutting. Did you know there are 4 safe ways to cut using a sharp knife? I wish I had had these videos to teach my oldest two proper knife skills when they were little. I love how she gives names to the different ways of holding the item you are cutting to help even the youngest kid remember. You can watch them too. Katie is pulling them out of the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse once more and offering them free as a special gift to you again until June 6th!

When she did this last January, over 7,000 families signed up to teach kids knife safety and techniques. I’m so excited that it’s happening again so you get a chance too!

 CHECK OUT WHAT’S IN THE VIDEOS HERE.

There’s one to watch with your kids that will demonstrate how to safely handle dull and sharp knives (you decide which on depending on their age and maturity), and then there are two more training videos for YOU to help you feel completely comfortable and confident giving your kids sharp knives.

Don’t worry if you feel like you have a busy day or week – just sign up so that you have access to all 3 videos as soon as they’re each available, and you’ll get reminders to make it happen through June 6th.

Morning Time is a time in which we gather together to focus on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. We’ve been doing a “together time” since before I even knew it had a name. However, reading Your Morning Basket this year and listening to the Your Morning Basket Podcast has helped me be especially purposeful in what I put in our morning basket.

{This post contains affiliate links of items that I use and like.  Thank you for your support of this blog. Note that anything you purchase once you click through one of our Amazon links will result in supporting the blog; you don’t even have to buy the item you clicked on initially!}

Our Morning Basket Contents

We have daily items and weekly items. We often do not get to everything. When I was in teacher college, we learned to always prepare more than was needed and I got into that habit and seem to still do this in home educating. This list is my ideal – the “if-all-goes-perfectly-and-the-baby-sleeps -and-the-others-don’t-argue” list. Before the baby came along ten months ago, it was much easier to get through all the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in this list in one morning, fitting in all the weekly things too. Now, everything gets rearranged and sometimes (many times) we can’t get to it all. It’s okay with me. I basically put a timer for one hour and see how far we get. Next day, after prayer and religion, I will pick up where we left off on the list and cycle through.

1. Prayer and Bible
2. Religion Loop: we cycle through these, choosing one each day.
   1. Catechism
   2. Saint story
   3. Life of Our Lord for Children
   4. First Communion by Mother Loyola (she wrote our all-time favorite too) Even if you aren’t preparing for First Communion, I highly recommend First Communion. Every time I read a portion of it to the kids, I am inspired to be a better follower of Christ and to renew my effort in looking toward eternity. Mother Loyola just has a gift for being able to write for children without dumbing anything down, so her writing actually really speaks to adults’ hearts, too.
3.  Poetry Loop: we read one poem (or one page) per day rotating through the following and strive to memorize the ones from resource #3 and #4.
   1. Ambleside Online Year 3 poems
   2. Ambleside Online Year 1 poems
   3. The Harp and Laurel Wreath
   4. Poetry Memorization from IEW
4. Habit Training:  Laying Down the Rails
5. Scripture Memory: psalms from the Prayer resource we use
6. Hymn and Folk Song: I have kind of dropped hymns (gasp) because the kids get to sing hymns in our church choir. We were using this hymn book in last year’s morning time. And for folk songs, we LOVE the Little House Folk Song book, but this American Song Treasury was our favorite before. We also sometimes dip into From Sea to Shining Sea, but I like the song treasury better.
7. French and/or Spanish read-aloud– we have a lot of books in these languages but I sometimes also find some at the library. Our favorite French books are the Emilie books. I also use Cherrydale Press French and Spanish books in this slot, but not both on the same day!
8. Literature – this one is always changing and is usually from the Year 1 or 3 Ambleside Free Read list. However, currently we are reading Canadian Summer. If you haven’t read the three books about the Mitchells, you really should. They are humorous and lovely; my kids love them.
9. Music Appreciation: now that we’ve done almost all the SQUILT volumes, we are just following the Ambleside Online Composer study once a week.
10. Picture Study: I print off the Ambleside Online suggestions and laminate them and we narrate one print per week.
11. Math: I recently added a fun math book to our mornings a couple of times per week to try to spark some more “wonder.” I’ve also added Mathematicians Are People Too.
12. Geography and Art History – I realize that is a lot of geography titles, but they are all different and we enjoy all of them. It might just take us longer to get through them. The following are on a loop:
    1. Hillyer’s Geography
    2. Charlotte Mason’s Geography
    3. Long’s Geography
    4. Hillyer’s Art History (I have a super old edition that includes Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture).

So there you have it. It seems like a lot, but it is all things we love and look forward to, and we aim for one hour and then move on and if there’s some extra time later in the day, we might continue some more readings, or, more likely, we will just go outside and enjoy being in nature instead.