Tales of Olivia Georg and Single Parenting

[oliviageorg]

It’s been a month since school started. It’s a brand new month and yes, it’s September! That is why I would like to take this time to pause and try to synthesize what’s happened the past months.

Olivia moved from y1 to y2, continuing homeschool with Living Learning Homeschool following Charlotte Mason approach. Overall, she has learned a great deal, from learning narration all the way to achieving some sort of independence as she bloom into a mature kid. She still keeps asking questions. I promised her that I was going to compile all of it but — Life happened. She would ask things like: what causes us to sneeze, why do we cry when we yawn or when cutting onion, is magic real, where does God live, what happens after we die, when do we see each other after I die, who will take care of Rosie when we die, and many more about death, about zombies, about God, about Science. If I really had time I will compile them all but I just don’t have time these days.

Our week is full —

Math, English, Filipino every day

Social Studies 4x a week

MAPEH spread through out the week

Science 3x a week

In fact this year I subscribed to ClickUp to manage our lessons, except I haven’t been able to fully maximize it. It’s been a help during the day to day homeschooling.

Here are some of the goals we want to achieve by end of this year:

1) Establish a sustainable routine. Maybe I’m being too idealistic but what we really need to establish is a routine. While I have set schedules, we still do not follow everything as planned. Of course as shared on Simulain, we have to be flexible with our plans, and look more on what we’ve achieved over the week vs what we achieve over a day. I just feel we should aim to stick to doing certain subjects in the morning and certain others during specific blocks of time based on the plan. At this point, I am unable to do so because of two things: work priorities and well, work priorities 😃.

2) Change habits so that we Wake up Early and have breakfast together. Ok maybe this one we can postpone until we move to the new house.

3) Build Olivia’s love for learning. This is a combination of content and method. I need to plan and pre ready to ensure we are ready for every day lessons and that lessons incorporate a variety of teaching methods and materials to keep Olivia engaged. More importantly, I have to have the right mindset. As they say in Charlotte Mason, Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline and a Life.

4) Finally but not least, improve on our Charlotte Mason application. Much re reading for me 😀

[oliviageorg]

How we Survived our First Day of Homeschool

We started Charlotte Mason homeschooling officially this August 2. Yay! If you have been following us--we actually started sometime around May.

It hasn't been easy but thanks to all the help and support from the Living Learning Homeschool community--we are confident this journey is going to be magical! Over the past few months, I have seen some key developmental progress in my homeschooler's intellectual, emotional/social, and relational skills.

Intellectually, Olivia can read better. She can read more challenging words--words with more than three syllables at the least. She has gained confidence in narration. She has also been able to retain knowledge as well as memorize prayers, songs, and verses, thanks to practice. She's also now able to tell time, understand the days of the week, and score using tally marks. But that's just a shortlist! I could go on!

Emotionally, she's become more expressive and empathic. She listens and pays attention. She's also gained some confidence. Most importantly, I think she's now realized that she's more mature now and that she can do things her own, that is why sometimes she complains when I do things for her or remind her to do things she has got to do.

Her relational skills have also improved. She now has more empathy and more patience. She's also developed more sensitivity to her surroundings and the people we live with together, including my Dad, her younger, as well as our house helper.

To see Olivia flourish is fascinating. And I could not be more excited!

How did we get here? How is it possible to transition from an online Montessori school to a Charlotte Mason-style homeschool? These are questions I'll try to answer in a separate post, but today let's focus on how we got to survive our First Day of Homeschool.

1. We Kept it Simple by Learning to Say No

When I started this homeschooling journey, I started to compile resources, online ebooks, guides, bookmarked pages, and of course, living books. I listened to podcasts, attended webinars, joined online groups, and made new friends.

I was armed with so many new ideas and wanted to do so many things!

But it got kind of unwieldy.

I know we like to think of ourselves as supermoms and it can be tough to say no. But the more you take in, the more complicated things will be for you.

So stop yourself from saying yes to more than what you can manage. Learn to say no.

Keep it simple by learning how to say no.

2. We Planned, but Kept our Schedules Flexible

As the saying goes, failing to plan is preparing to fail.

If you are a homeschooling mom of 3 and you don't have household help, you got to have a plan. If you have only 1 homeschooler, you still need a plan.

Having a plan helps you to keep your days organized. It gives you some sort of rhythm to follow.

A plan doesn't have to be perfect.

You have to make room for spontaneity and unexpected surprises. I know mothers like to be very much in control, but we have to learn to let go sometimes. If we fail to follow our plan, we can always pick up from where we left off the next day.

Don't sweat it out!

3. We Made it Sure We Were Having Fun

Charlotte Mason is about helping kids to develop their love of learning.

And that is what I want for Olivia.

So in the middle of our early explorations--when all we were doing were filling up Math worksheets (we did this every single day)--suddenly Olivia complains.

"I don't want to do Math."

That's not good. There must be something wrong.

Olivia was beginning to dread our lessons-- or at least she wasn't showing the excitement that I'd expected from her. It got me thinking--what can I do to make this exciting for her?

I stepped back and had to do a retrospective because what we had was not sustainable and fun.

I put myself in her shoes and tried to imagine what was going on inside her head every time we do our lessons.

I knew I had to change the approach and format of our lessons.

And so I started to incorporate games and added variety in our narration. For example, we would do pretend-play with her toys as narration instead of asking her to simply re-tell.

Also, every night Olivia and I make sure we talk about what happened during the day and give each other feedback, so we can improve on our weaknesses and faults--make our homeschool days better, happier, and more enjoyable.

Sorry if I didn't stay on point "How we survived Day 1" but for sure these tips would help you throughout your school year! I would love to hear your tips and suggestions. Would love to hear about your experiences.

Sharing here photos of Olivia's Day 1 .

Subject: Social Studies - Filipino History

Resources: The Fabulous Fiestas of the Philippines and The Myths and Legends of the Philippines

Keeping: Drawing of the Philippine Flag

Subject: Copywork

Resources: Cursive Writing by Schyrlet Cameron and Carolyn Craig and The Rhythm of Handwriting by Denise Eide

Accomplishment: We are done with all the small letters! Woohoo! And Olivia can already write her name in cursive!

Subject: MAPEH - Life Skills

Resources: Anything we can find :)

Activity: Olivia helped me bake cookies. She helped rolled the dough into circles.

[oliviageorg]

When I Turn 41

"Mommy, what are we going to do when I'm 41?" Olivia asks me. "Maybe we're going to have babies!"

"Maybe! Yes!"

"But it might hurt!"

"I'm sure you can take it."

"So what will we do?"

"Maybe play. I might not even be here anymore baby."

"What do you mean? Where will you be? Who's going to take care of us?"

"Well, you'll be able to take care of yourself by the time you're 41."

"So what are we going to do?"

"You can pretend that I'm here."

Olivia makes a sad face. "But I want you to be here!"

[oliviageorg]

Why are you still 41 Mommy?

[oliviageorg]

Mom had asked me, “What do you want to achieve by the time you reach 7?”

I didn’t know what “achieve” meant but then Mommy gave me some examples which helped me to figure out what my goals are.

So here goes—

1) To read and spell better

2) To make more friends

3) To be able to do a cartwheel 🤸‍♀️

[oliviageorg]

Narration or the process of re-telling is central to Charlotte Mason. I learned all about it during the Narration workshop I'd attended through Living Learning Homeschool.

I will give my review of LLH's Narration Class later on, but first I want to talk about our narration journey.

But first, what is narration? In Charlotte Mason method of education, narration consists of two parts. First, the child listens or reads. Second, the child narrates / re-tells / summarizes what she has heard/read. Oral narration is the first and foremost type of narration, but in the workshop, I learned there are different ways to narrate, such as doing a skit or illustrating as a drawing.

I'd forgotten now what we had first read, but it was probably one of the tales from Aesop. Olivia already knew how to read, so if she felt like it, I would ask her to read, but if we were reading "more challenging" stories, I would be the one reading. A little over two months had passed and Olivia's quite "gotten the hang" of it.

I say that because when I forgot to ask her to narrate the lines I've just read, she'd stopped to say, "Mommy, I want to narrate first," before it was her turn to read.

She now knows that every time we do our "reading" -- she would have to narrate back. And over time, she's gotten more attentive. I also think her reading skill has improved.

So, this week, we have been reading "How Thor Got the Hammer," -- a story which she is surprisingly enjoying.

Lo and behold, she was able to narrate this story with more accurate details than other stories. I guess practice is paying off!

Just some tips for those starting with Charlotte Mason narration with 5-6 yr olds:

1) Read shorter lines. 1-2 sentences or a paragraph and then let them narrate. Then read again. Olivia initially hated it when I would go on and read long paragraphs, telling me it was difficult because she couldn't remember all the details.

2) Ensure no distractions because this is the time we want them to pay attention. As Gina of LLH had said, when you read in narration, you have to do this process just once. If the child misses listening or fails to hear what you've just said, then you have to find a way to tell your kid that he/she had missed a valuable part of the story and perhaps they should pay more attention next time... This practice makes them pay attention and I tell you, it's 100% true and effective. Unfortunately, Olivia gets easily distracted so we really need to find a good spot to do our reading.

3) Do not interrupt. Let them talk and narrate in their own words. I know it's hard not to, but trust me -- it helps them kind of gain the confidence. At the end, if they deviate from the story (which most toddlers will do), you can always re-cap and tell them what actually happened.

[oliviageorg]

Art Appreciation

Monet-inspired drawings

As a first time homeschooler Teacher, I didn’t realize how important preparation was. My daughter got impatient as I had to pre read on how to execute Art Appreciation.

I realize now I could have just applied what I’d learned in the LLH workshops. Show and talk about the painting and then ask indirect questions. Example, ask your children what they would feel if they were part of the scene or in the scene.

And then recreate the drawing together.

We weren’t able to follow the correct Charlotte Mason method but there’s always a next time 😍

[oliviageorg]

Art Appreciation

Monet-inspired drawings

As a first time homeschooler Teacher, I didn’t realize how important preparation was. My daughter got impatient as I had to pre read on how to execute Art Appreciation.

I realize now I could have just applied what I’d learned in the LLH workshops. Show and talk about the painting and then ask indirect questions. Example, ask your children what they would feel if they were part of the scene or in the scene.

And then recreate the drawing together.

We weren’t able to follow the correct Charlotte Mason method but there’s always a next time 😍

[oliviageorg]

This is my artwork of the ugly duckling, which Mom was happily surprised I was able to draw by myself.

Mom “Wow what a beautiful drawing!”

Me: I told my mind it was easy so I did it!

- - -

We took two days to complete the reading of The Ugly Duckling. It wasn’t supposed to be a narration exercise but eventually that was how it ended. It was supposed to be just a read aloud but hey practice makes perfect.

[oliviageorg]

Placere. Docere. Movere.

[oliviageorg]

"I made my mind so it can be easy to draw."

[oliviageorg]

June 3, 2021. Thursday. Science Day.

We continued to talk about cosmology and astronomy, reviewing what the Big Bang Theory was and discussing about the universe.

Did you know (well it is a theory) that there are millions of galaxies the entire universe?!

I then taught Olivia about gravity -- discussing the basics. The topic was new to Olivia and what she could only remember was about falling.

So I just asked her afterward to pick what she'd like to draw based from our recent studies and this is what she came up with. A drawing of Earth, Mars and some planets.

[oliviageorg]

June 2, 2021. Today's lesson was about Jose Rizal and his childhood.

I read maybe 3-5 paragraphs about Rizal and Olivia narrated about the rock house, so we decided to draw it afterwards.

Hers was the nipa house and mine was the rock house.

[oliviageorg]

May 25, 2021. History time. Because I wasn't able to make plans, I decided to discuss Jose Rizal.

I read about Rizal to Olivia and showed her a YT video. The first one was in Filipino, which was difficult for her to understand, but I found another one in English.

After the video play, we decided to re-draw drawings of Rizal, including Aden and the Singapore lighthouse.

Olivia typically colors the drawing because she doesn't like plain black and white. Here is a photo of Olivia with her masterpiece and a photo of the drawing we re-created. A video can be found at Playtime with Olivia Georg.

Drop by to check it out!

[oliviageorg]

What do you want to be when you grow up (again)

Olivia was asked in class.

Teacher: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Olivia: I want to be a chef.

Teacher: What food would you like to cook?

Olivia: Chicken.

[oliviageorg]

What do you want to be when you grow up

Olivia: I want to be a chef when I grow up Mommy. What do you want to be?

Me: I’m already a grown up baby.

Olivia: But what do you want to be when you grow up?

Me: I want to be a good Mother to you.

[oliviageorg]

Olivia goes to school

Yes! She’s now a toddler, no more a baby... I’ve been waiting for this day, preparing myself mentally, emotionally and physically. First week was good. She cried the first day when we parted, but on the 3rd, she was ready. On the 5th, she couldn’t wait to get inside. 

After PE day (Friday), here’s how our convo ended:

Me: So, did you enjoy school today?

Olivia: (Nods) Can we do it again?

#kids #school