A Simple Logbook

3.14.21

“If we work for public examinations the questions in which must be of a narrow academic cast, we get a narrow, accurate, somewhat sterile type of mind.”
— Charlotte Mason, Philosophy p. 277

How wide are we really casting our net?

Are we focused solely on the basics? (Reading, Writing & Math). Or are we exposing our children to the finest educational riches we’re all afforded if we simply seek them out?

If you’ve ever considered keeping a Logbook, as Mason recommended, I am here to attest that they are not only easy and simple to keep, but I believe they are one of the most helpful tools we have utilized in our homeschool. 

“Education must be in touch with Life,” Mason tells us.

Most of us already know it’s not actually up to us to “do” education to children –– but to instead, stand aside, allowing this feast of ideas to take root and grow in our children’s minds. We can be encouraged to use the freedom we have as homeschoolers to cast a wide net into the world, bringing it to shore for our children to enjoy and then let them swim away someday, having fed on all the ideas they came in touch with.

This, my friends, is why I keep my very imperfect Logbook – so I can SEE how wide we’re really casting our net. 

You’ll notice I have everything we’re covering in Term 3 listed. I simply make a mark if we covered the next lesson that week (my actual lesson plans are on another page, and then the chapters/specific info we actually covered is on yet another page in this journal).

I use a Moleskin Classic Notebook (Dotted grid, 7.5”x9.5”). 

I haven’t found anything else that comes close to its simplicity and flexibility.

Mason believed we should cover or focus on areas of study in depth over the period of 10-12 weeks at a time (versus say swiftly moving through one artist each week). And a Logbook allows us to have a birds-eye view to see where we can be encouraged by our commitment and where we may be lacking so we may be better prepared for the weeks ahead (for example, you can see we stalled out on our geography lessons after our move to a new state). Hardly a problem, but something surely to be adjusted.

Keep in mind, there are multiple ways you can keep a Logbook. You can also note the chapters you cover, or make specific notes about your lessons. I just prefer to make those comments on a separate page so this layout stays clean and simple.

My overall goal this year has been to be more accountable (which my Logbook has helped with), but also to continue to cast our net wider each year and soak it all in, together.

What I don’t keep in my logbook are all the extra-curricular and physical things we do – so our weekly hikes, sports practices/games, outdoor play, get-togethers with friends…etc. are not recorded here but they are in my daily notes.

I pray you find peace in a simpler homeschool this year.

Curriculum CHOICES
2020/21

I’m really excited to share our curriculum picks for our 2020/21 homeschool year. Before getting into this I’d like you, the reader, to know we consider ourselves about 80% Charlotte Mason homeschoolers. That said, I believe everyone needs to do what is right for their own family, keeping in mind our duty to God as parents to our children while not overwhelming ourselves as parents. As I always say: “Relationships over curriculum.”

To me, this means using a loop schedule – meaning, we don’t use everything I’ve listed below every day but weave them throughout the weeks. Also, we DROP what’s not working. I’m an avid passion-driven homeschooler, which means, while we get our basics in daily, I also want my children to pursue what they love and what God has put on their hearts as individuals.

And while we’re not CM purists, I’m grateful and excited to utilize one of the best Charlotte Mason resources I’ve seen available today… giving me more ideas to chew on than I’ll ever need.

Our main curriculum resource is CMEC.

CMEC publishes a very specific Guide for each subject and specific recommendations and resources for each form so you’re not left wondering how often, when and how to approach each subject in each form. (whew!) In the past, I’ve had to piece it all together myself. But as our children grow, I appreciate the guidance and advice from Charlotte Mason homeschoolers who’ve gone before me.

Charlotte Mason

I could go into everything Charlotte Mason discusses in her six volumes, but this isn’t the post for this. Surely, if you’re here, you’re already somewhat knowledgable about Charlotte Mason’s methods.

So I won’t be going into WHY we follow this method or WHAT Charlotte Mason curriculum looks like.

Just know, I do my best to follow her methods when it makes sense for us. What’s different is we slightly modify our lessons due to modern resources being available to us at our disposal. Also, out of respect for what CMEC provides, I will not be providing every specific book link they recommend for each form but am painting more broad brushstrokes with this post. You will find a few affiliate links below, however.

We have a Form 1B (6-year-old daughter) and a Form 2A Lower (10-year-old son) this year.

Generally speaking, this year’s goal is to really engrain their ability to continue their narrations, both written and orally, as well as keep notebooks for each subject.

Our choices

BIBLE

FORM 1 & FORM 2A Lower:

This year we’ll be reading directly from the Old and New Testaments.
We’ll also be slowly working through lessons in “The Book of Genesis” and “St. Matthew” by Dr. Paterson Smyth. We’ll also be using a Bible Atlas.

US & WORLD HISTORY

Form 1 & Form 2:

We completed my Heroes + Hope Simple Study last winter, which was so fruitful and beautiful introduction to some of the history we’ll be reviewing and going over for the first time this year. Some of the US History will undoubtedly be review, which I’m 100% happy with. That said, we will be finishing up our Early American History from Beautiful Feet Books.

We will also be using our Commonplace and History Notebook journals daily.

FORM 1:

We just finished “A First Book in American History” and are moving onto “Builders of Our Country, Book 1.”

FORM 2:

Our son will be reading several chapters in “This Country of Ours,” “Our Island Story,” and “Peeps at Many Lands: Ancient Egypt,” as well as will be reading multiple historical biographies about Missionaries, US explorers, historians and world changers including this one.

READING

FORM 1:

We will continue to use The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts guide and will also be reading from the McGuffey Primer and Treadmill Primer (additional resources to come).

FORM 2:

Independent reading multiple times/day.

CITIZENSHIP / PLUTARCH

FORM 2:

Our son will be doing weekly readings from “The Young Citizen’s Reader” and “Stories from the History of Rome” as a precursor to more Plutarch in form 2A.

TALES + LITERATURE

FORM 1:

We have a combination of books including “The Blue Fairy Book,” “Tanglewood Tales,” along with reading through the Little House series this year utilizing the Peaceful Pioneers guide from The Peaceful Press to incorporate some living books and baking to compliment our history studies.

FORM 2:

Our son will be enjoying multiple books this year including but not limited to; “The Heroes of Asgard,” “The Black Arrow” by Robert Louis Stevenson (the poet we’ll be studying in Term 1), as well as “My Side of the Mountain” and “Swallows and Amazons.” I would love to list all the books here but I should probably wait until he’s completed them!

His recent reads and audiobooks the past couple of months include:

Shiloh
Wonder
The Jungle Book
Fablehaven
Nightbooks
Strangers
Red Moon
A Wrinkle in Time
Frindle

A few family read alouds and audiobooks we’ve enjoyed this past term included:

The Wizard of Oz
The Jungle Book
Peter Pan
The Fledgling
The Boxcar Children
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
The Story of Dr. Dolittle

And we’re currently enjoying “The Princess and the Goblin.”

We’ll be continually relying on the CMEC for their countless literature recommendations this year, including some wonderful historic biographies.

NATURE STUDY (my favorite!)

FORM 1 + FORM 2:

We’ll continue our lessons in my Learning Seashore Animals with Thornton Burgess Simple Studies Guide as a family. We’ll also be reading from “Through Four Seasons” by Edith patch, once a week as a family.

Along with their nature notebooks, we’ll also be reading through the Eyes and No Eyes series by Arabella Buckley together and independently, depending on which book each student prefers.

POETRY

FORM 1 & FORM 2:

We will be studying Robert Louis Stevenson in Term 1, William Wadsworth Longfellow (for a second time) in Term 2 and I haven’t decided our poetry focus for Term 3 yet. However, we love the Poetry for Young People series and will continue to use those books for each Poet’s biography and select poems.

We will also be reading daily from The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse and A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. There are multiple good and not-so-good versions of these books online and I refer you once again to CMEC for links to specific links.

FORM 2: Our son will also be reading (slowly) through The Song of Hiawatha.

RECITATIONS

I was SO excited to finally purchase The Harp and the Laurel Wreath to help guide us in our poet/bible verse/speech/Shakespeare recitations for the year.

WRITING + COMPOSITION

FORM 1:

I have a D’Nealian Copybook Reader from Simply Charlotte Mason and will be using Memoria Press copywork books for additional assistance. We also use wooden letters for tactile experience of making words. Our daughter will also be using a Word Book to keep each new word she learns to write throughout the year.

FORM 2:

He’ll be focusing on written narrations this year based on everything we’re learning and reading. We’ll also be going back to our Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well books. I love the simple dictation exercises.

He will also be creating his own Book of Mottoes (or Commonplace book), this year.

GRAMMAR / DICTATION

Along with the resources listed just above, we’ll be working through First Grammar Lessons.

While you can find the text for free online and purchase the book, I decided to create a FREE PDF DOWNLOAD of this book.

If our Form 2 son finds this too easy, I may move straight to the next book which is called A Short Grammar of the English Tongue.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

FORM 1 & FORM 2:

I purchased Flip Flop Spanish but am weary I will be able to get through many of the lessons in person. I prefer to rely on tutors for foreign language because I believe children should be exposed to foreign languages fluently in conversation, not necessarily by a mother who spent six years learning the language but doesn’t retain much of it at all.

Therefore, we’ll also be using The Cultured Kid (here’s a 7 Day Free Trial!), as well as italki.com for live tutor sessions. (If you sign up through my link our family will receive a $10 credit). Our kids are interviewing tutors on italki.com as we speak but I can say our first few lessons have gone extremely well.

LATIN

FORM 2:

This is one area we will be weaving into our daily work. We’ll be using Visual Latin as well as Latin for Children Primer A workbooks. We’ll see which one works best!

GEOGRAPHY

FORM 1 + FORM 2:

This is another area in which we’ve been lacking in the past few years. Memorizing geographical locations has not worked very effectively from the Classical homeschool method standpoint. Therefore, we’ll be moving BACK to more map work weekly using a world Atlas.

We’ll also be slowly working through Beautiful Feet Books Geography pack using the Holling C. Holling books. I’ll be requesting, for the most part, my son read these books aloud to our daughter throughout each term.

FORM 1:

We’ll be reading through “Elementary Geography” Book 1 by Charlotte Mason while she journals and uses a sand tray. We’ll also be slowly reading through “Little Folks of Many Lands.”

FORM 2:

He will be reading through North America by Nellie Allen and doing the guided lessons provided by CMEC.

MATHMATICS

FORM 1:

This year I’ve chosen the new Dimensions 1A by Singapore Math. They provide a Teacher’s Guide, Textbook and optional student Workbook. I highly recommend looking through their Scope and Sequence if you decide to purchase their books. Singapore worked really well for our son in his earlier years and I believe our daughter might enjoy them better than she did the Simply Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic book. Only time will tell. I also have a lot of Montessori materials we’ll be breaking out when workbooks aren’t cutting it for her.

FORM 2:

Our son will be finishing up his Saxon 5/4 curriculum as well as be working through Your Business Math Series by Simply Charlotte Mason once a week. Last year he worked through the Pet Store book. This year he’ll work through the Sports Store book. I love how he has to keep inventory and think like an entrepreneur.

And, as a part of his literature, he’ll be reading through “Number Stories of Long Ago” offered by Living Book Press.

We use gridded math notebooks from Simply Charlotte Mason as well to keep lessons organized.

SCIENCE

We’ll be hitting on science in so many ways throughout all our other studies. Last year we completed the Kingdoms and Classifications Guide from The Good and the Beautiful, however, I found the lessons to be too advanced for our Kindergartener to form many relations with what we were learning about. Some day I hope to pick them back up.

Until then, our Form 1 daughter will focus on science in nature from our nature studies. Our Form 2 student will also be reading “The Sciences” by Holden and we may be working through “Easy Experiments in Science” book as well this year.

COMPOSER STUDY

Music is not my strong suit as a homeschool mother. I have to rely heavily on outside resources and tutors. We simply aren’t a musical family. We do sing hymns but you don’t want to be around to listen. It’s that bad.

This past year I discovered Growing Gardenside’s simple Musician studies. We completed her Mozart and Bach guides and can’t wait until she publishes Chopin.

Outside of this, we’ll be focusing on Renaissance music.

Playlists and resources are provided by CMEC.

MUSIC

I wish I could give my own children music lessons. Alas, that’s pretty impossible. So we are still deciding on which musical instrument our Form 1 student will be learning (it’s a tie between piano and violin at this point).

Our son, while he has the basics of drumming down, we will probably transition him to piano this fall.

ART + ARTIST STUDY

We’ve chosen to take CMEC’s guidance on who to study each term. Term 1 is Constable and I generally like to use Simply Charlotte Mason artist study guides but this year I purchased a pack from Riverbend Press. Again, CMEC provides resources to complete your artist study.

SHAKESPEARE

We plan to read through one Shakespeare play per term and will be reading through As You Like It in Term 1. We also love reading these 16 Shakespeare Collection books as often as the kids like to.

HANDICRAFTS

New-to-us this year we’ll be using the Paper Sloyd: A Handbook for Primary Grades. This will require a new level of patience for this mama.

DRAWING

We’ll be learning Brushwork this year using this book. We’ll also be taking lessons from Bestowing the Brush.

EXTRACURRICULAR / PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

FORM 1:

I doubt we’ll be putting our daughter into any physical education courses this year. We enjoy plenty of hikes and outdoor activities as a family as it is. She has yet to show an interest in a specific sport or activity.

FORM 2:

Our son will be receiving his Second Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo hopefully before fall starts. He then plans to move into Jujitsu with his father.

Finally, every year, our kids attend survival classes once a week at Trackers Earth.

I hope you found this information helpful in your own family’s journey of finding the right resources.

If you’re interested in more specific books, links to those books, timetables and hundreds of additional resources I’m unable to cover here, or the overall curriculum provided by CMEC please head here.