Seven Quick Takes: Summer School

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VBS is done, and now I am hoping for a few solid weeks of school before church camp. I was happy to see that we are on track to finish up this term the first week of August, which will give us a good 4-week break before starting the new school year. Something to look forward to!

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Mystie’s Homeschool Audit workshop was a great way to kick off my summer Teacher Training. 🙂 I’ll be slowly going through her “brain dump” prompts this summer to evaluate what’s working, what’s not, and to brainstorm possible solutions to help our days go better.

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I also hope to work through Pam’s Vision and Goals webinar as I think about the next school year. She has had some excellent blog posts and Facebook Live chats recently, and is a great person to follow for planning inspiration!

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Also in the Teacher Training vein, I have signed up for the mini-course at Expanding Wisdom: How to Teach the Humanities. I am considering reading through Homer’s Iliad with my two oldest kids next year (it’s a literature selection in AO Year 6, but neither have read it), and I am hoping this will give me lots of ideas and tools. Actually I think it will be a great aid to our Ambleside Online studies in general! And I was excited to see there is a “Lite” version of The 5 Elements of Classical Homeschooling, which will be fun to work through while I wait for the humanities course. 🙂

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I’ve been thinking about the little guys, too, especially Little L. I don’t want to start formal lessons yet (except perhaps learning to read), but I do want to gently prepare him for AO Year 1. I found a printable PDF of Charlotte Mason’s list of attainments for a six-year-old – inspiring and challenging! I need to go through the AO Year 0 list and make a note of the books we have but haven’t read, and also some to look out for. I did add these beauties to our preschool library last week 🙂 :
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGNAo0NQqMU/?taken-by=littledrops5

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Summer reading for me… there’s so many books I’d like to read, and so many great lists and ideas out there. But I really need to plod along with my AO Year 8 reading and try to work on a few others that I have started but not finished. Brandy posted some ideas for a summer Mother’s Education Course, and I thought I’d list her categories here with the books I’m reading that fit them.

Divinity: A Praying Life has been on the back burner and I need to finish it! And perhaps pre-read The Problem of Pain for Year 9…
Physiology and health: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made doesn’t exactly fit here, but it’s the closest I’ve got right now. I’m thinking a Michael Pollan book would be a good read if I could fit it in – The Omnivore’s Dilemma is suggested in AO Year 9.
Mental and moral science and education: You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K. A. Smith, as well as A Philosophy of Education and For the Children’s Sake with my Charlotte Mason study group.
Nature lore and the elements of science: A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking (along with Miss A and hubby)

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Establishing some healthy habits for myself is also a goal this summer. I need to get back on track with healthy eating, and work some Pilates into my day. And maybe, possibly, get up a bit earlier – we’ll see. 😉