#charlottemason

[johannamcdaniel-blog]

[johannamcdaniel-blog]

I've been journaling a lot more frequently lately due to prepping myself for y1 of homeschooling next Fall. Getting into the habit of #naturejournaling is step one to having a full Charlotte Mason homeschool experience. It feels good to be painting & drawing again.

[berakarbertumbuhberbuah]

Mengapa Kita Mudah Terdistraksi?

Ketika kita sudah berhasil untuk fokus dan berkonsentrasi penuh, maka kita akan mengalami sebuah kehidupan yang optimal; dimana tujuan-tujuan kita tercapai, memiliki karya nyata, pertumbuhan karakter yang luhur, dan keterampilan kita meningkat dengan pesat. Persoalannya, mengapa kita mudah terdistraksi meski sudah menetapkan tujuan?

Ada 2 godaan yang mampu mendistraksi kita dari mengelola agenda prioritas, yaitu:

Godaan dari luar (TV, Netflix, YouTube, drakor, dll)

Godaan dari dalam diri sendiri

Menurut Charlotte Mason, sumber distraksi terbesar kita berasal dari diri sendiri. Benak kita rentan sekali terhadap distraksi. Ia terus bergerak tak kenal henti. Setiap saat semua ide, pikiran, terus menerus berseliweran di otak kita.

Yang menarik, semua kemunculan pikiran kita tidak ada dalam kendali sadar kita. Kita bukan pencipta dari pikiran-pikiran yang muncul, karena mereka adalah memori yang pernah masuk ke dalam otak kita dan bisa terus muncul sewaktu-waktu. Menghilangkan letupan-letupan pikiran tersebut ada di luar jangkauan kita. Lalu apa yang bisa kita lakukan?

Menyadari pikiran-pikiran tersebut ada, kemudian berlatih mengatur arahnya, agar kita tidak terhanyut mengikuti arusnya. Kitalah yang harus punya kuasa untuk menyetir arah letupan-letupan pikiran kita. Ketika saya ingin mengerjakan agenda prioritas, distraksi yang sering muncul adalah berupa impuls-impuls yang menggoda saya untuk beralih dari agenda tersebut. Maka saya harus memutuskan, apakah saya akan mengikuti impuls atau tidak.

Menurut Charlotte Mason, latihan mengarahkan atensi = proses menguatkan kehendak. Ketika berada pada persimpangan, katakan "YA" pada traksi, dan katakan "TIDAK" pada distraksi. Ujian Habit of Attention terbagi dalam 2 indikator:

Indikator #1 : bisa memusatkan atensi dan berkonsentrasi sesuai intensi

Indikator #2 : bisa segera menyadari distraksi dan kembali berkonsentrasi

Don't be too harsh on yourself.

Habit of Attention adalah sebuah proses yang membutuhkan latihan dan usaha. Jatuh bangun dalam perjalanannya adalah hal yang wajar. Yang penting, berlatihlah terus tak kenal menyerah. Langkah yang dapat dilakukan: meditasi nafas.

[orespirar]

O sentido da vida e da morte

Terminei, esses dias, de ler o livro "A Morte de Ivan Ilitch", de Leon Tolstoi. Essa é uma história curta, porém, triste. Muito triste. O personagem que dá nome à obra vive uma vida focada no que não é importante e, quando se vê diante da morte, ele começa a questionar se viveu como deveria, qual o sentido da vida (e, portanto, da morte) e por que ele está passando por tudo aquilo.

Essa história me fez pensar muito sobre estas mesmas questões. Mas diferente de Ilitch (um personagem fictício, mas que refletia as inquietações do autor do livro), quando paro para refletir nestas mesmas indagações, encontro respostas diferentes das do personagem.

Há dois anos, muitos de nós tem acompanhado a luta de nossa irmã Arielle Pedrosa contra o câncer. Quando ela descobriu a doença, já estava em metástase, e quando li seu relato, na véspera do natal de 2021, custei a crer no que lia. Tive que ler e reler umas 3 vezes para entender que ela não se referia a outra pessoa, mas a ela mesma. Como assim? Uma moça tão jovem, esposa, e mãe de 4 filhos, tão dedicada a compartilhar com outros aquilo que ela mesma estava aprendendo…

Hoje, dois anos depois, acompanhamos, entristecidos, a partida de nossa irmã amada, a dor de seus familiares e amigos mais próximos, a dor da Igreja que sofre quando um membro do Corpo sofre, e muitas vezes, nos fazemos perguntas que, graças ao Senhor da Vida, temos as respostas. Não as que queríamos, muitas vezes, mas aquelas que precisamos saber. Nosso coração dolorido pela realidade da morte recebe consolo dAquele que sabe o que é sofrer. O Espírito Santo nos traz à memória o que nos pode dar esperança. E o Pai nos acolhe em Seus bondosos e amorosos braços, enquanto as lágrimas nos caem dos olhos. Diante dessa realidade que não entendemos, e que muitas vezes não aceitamos, temos este amor tão grande, que sequer podemos compreender, mas onde podemos descansar, ainda aqui, deste lado da Eternidade, sabendo que "[Ele] lhes enxugará dos olhos toda lágrima, e a morte já não existirá, já não haverá luto, nem pranto, nem dor, porque as primeiras coisas passaram." Ap 21:4. Há sentido na vida e há, também, sentido na morte. Ela não tem a palavra final, pois Cristo já é vitorioso sobre ela.

O testemunho desta fiel irmã ficará por gerações, não apenas com seus filhos, mas com todos os que, como eu, puderam aprender mais de Cristo, seu (e nosso) amado Salvador através de sua produção, sua fé, seus talentos e dons. Louvado seja Deus pela vida de Arielle.

‭‭"Porque, se vivemos, para o Senhor vivemos; se morremos, para o Senhor morremos. Quer, pois, vivamos ou morramos, somos do Senhor." Romanos‬ ‭14:8‬

[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]

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]

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 😍