A Child’s Geography with Cycle 1 of Classical Conversations

(reprinted from a 2009 blog post I wrote for our local Classical Conversations’ campus)

Several years ago I purchased a wonderful earth science text called A Child’s Geography.  Written by talented author and blogger Ann Voskamp, A Child’s Geography reads like a living book and comes with narration prompts, ideas on notebooking and hands-on activities, and inspirational suggestions on how to practically apply truths learned in a “missional” way.  The book is written from a Christian and Creationist perspective.  It is easy to use with multiple children at different academic levels.

My children were a bit too young for A Child’s Geography when I first bought it, and so it was shelved and forgotten.  Looking ahead to next semester’s Classical Conversations memory work, I suddenly remembered the book!  I can’t believe what a blessing it will be – it seems the perfect complement to CC this spring!  After looking through the chapters in A Child’s Geography, I was able to make a reading schedule for our family that will somewhat coincide with the memory facts for CC.  (Chapter 8 doesn’t fit into our list of CC facts but is about Plate Tectonics and explores the idea of a quick “continental bend” instead of a gradual “continental drift.”)

If you would like to learn more about about A Child’s Geography, check out their website or Google reviews.  The “real” book and accompanying CD-Rom are $35 on the main website, but you can get them for only $25 if you purchase the downloadable version.  Amazon has the “real” version for only $22 (and there are lots of customer reviews to read there)!  The first few chapters of the book are online for free.  If you do purchase the book, please let me know what you think of the CD-Rom (back when I bought the book, the CD-Rom was not available but I can buy it now if you think it’s worth it!).

Our Reading Schedule

CC Week/Science Memory Work Topic                  A Child’s Geography/Topic

13/Parts of the Earth                                                      Chapter 1/Introduction to His World

14/Three Kinds of Rocks                                               Chapter 7/ The Structure of Earth

15/Continents’ Highest Mountains                             Chapter 4/ The Continents

16/4 Kinds of Volcanoes                                               Chapter 9/Earthquakes and Volcanoes

17/Parts of Volcanoes                                                    Finish Chapter 9

18/Types of Ocean Floor                                               Chapter 5/The Oceans

19/Ocean Zones                                                               Chapter 2*/The Lower Atmosphere

20/Parts of Atmosphere                                                Chapter 3/The Upper Atmosphere

21/Great Circles around the Earth                            Chapter 10/Latitude (Chapter 11 is Longitude)

22/Kinds of Weather Fronts                                        Chapter 6/Seasons, Climate, Weather

23/Kinds of Clouds                                                         Finish Chapter 6

Deals to Meals

I found Deals to Meals over a year ago and have been  quite impressed!  They have many great ideas on menu planning,  food storage, and saving money.  The Food Storage 101 link made me think of being prepared for emergencies, something I truthfully have not given enough thought to.  I subscribed to the Deals to Meals weekly newsletter for awhile and loved it!!  The author sends out recipes based on what is on sale in your neck of the woods.  What a great idea!

September 2011 Menu

Breakfasts:

M – Soaked Oatmeal

T – Bagels w/ Cream Cheese or Egg Burritos (eggs for me, or gf toast w/ cream cheese)

W – Eggs or Cinnamon Toast

Th – Soaked Oatmeal

F – Berry/Banana/Spinach or Chard Smoothies and Sausages

S- Cereal and Milk

Sun – Eggs and Meat

Lunches:

M – Costco or Bean Burritos/Nachos

T – CC Lunch To-Go (homemade granola bars, veggies, fruit, cheese)

W – Tuna or Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (buy Udi’s bread for me)

Th – Tostadas

F – PB and J (buy Udi’s bread for me)

S – corn tortilla quesadillas (plain, chorizo, etc.)

Sun – out to lunch?

Dinners:

M – Crock Pot Meal:  Crock Pot Tamale Pie, Broccoli Beef, Sour Cream Salsa Chicken, Shredded BBQ Chicken

T – Leftovers or Easy (CC Day): quesadillas, spaghetti, grilled meat of some kind w/ a salad, etc.

W – Beans and Mexican Rice with chips, sour cream, and salsa (and a salad)

Th – Chicken:  Chicken Soup, Green Pepper Chicken (crock pot), Chicken Oreganato, Fried Chicken

F – Beef:  Pot Roast or Beef Stew (crock pot), Cheeseburgers, Beef Stroganoff over Rice, Tacos

S – Vegetarian or Fish:  Salmon 2x a month, Cheese Enchiladas 2x

Sun – Try Something New (or something old-and-missed)

July 2011 Menu Plan

Breakfasts:

M – Soaked Oatmeal

T – Bagels w/ Cream Cheese or Egg Burritos (eggs for me, or gf toast w/ cream cheese)

W - Mango Lassies (made w/ kefir) and sausages

Th – French Toast Casserole (eggs for me, with fruit)

F – Berry/Banana/Spinach or Chard Smoothies

S- Cereal and Milk

Sun – Eggs and Meat

Lunches:

M – Costco or Bean Burritos/Nachos

T – CC Lunch To-Go (homemade granola bars, veggies, fruit, cheese)

W – Tuna or Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (buy Udi’s bread for me)

Th – PB and J (buy Udi’s bread for me)

F – Tostadas

S – corn tortilla quesadillas (plain, chorizo, etc.)

Sun – out to lunch?

Dinners:

M – Crock Pot Meal:  Crock Pot Tamale Pie, Broccoli Beef, Sour Cream Salsa Chicken, Shredded BBQ Chicken

T – Leftovers or Easy (CC Day): quesadillas, spaghetti, grilled meat of some kind w/ a salad, etc.

W – Beans and Mexican Rice with chips, sour cream, and salsa (and a salad)

Th – Chicken:  Latin Stir Fry w/ Cilantro Lime Rice, Green Pepper Chicken (crock pot), Chicken Oreganato, Fried Chicken

F – Beef:  Pot Roast (crock pot), Cheeseburgers, Beef Stroganoff over Rice, Tacos

S – Vegetarian or Fish:  Salmon 2x a month, Cheese Enchiladas 2x

Sun – Try Something New (or something old-and-missed)

May Menu 2011

Breakfasts:

M – Soaked Oatmeal

T – Bagels w/ Cream Cheese or Pancakes/Waffles

W - Mango Lassies (made w/ kefir) and sausages

Th – French Toast Casserole

F – Quinoa (with berries sometimes)

S- Cereal and Milk

Sun – Eggs and Meat

Lunches:

M – Costco Hot Dogs or Bean Burritos

T – Leftovers

W – Tuna or Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Th – Tostadas

F – PB and J

S – quesadillas (plain, chorizo, etc.)

Sun – out to lunch?

Dinners:

2nd - Beans and Mexican Rice with chips, sour cream, and salsa (and a salad)

3rd – Homemade Mac n’ Cheese (used whole milk instead of evaporated and arrowroot instead of cornstarch) with steamed broccoli

4th – Roasted Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

5th – Tortellini w/ red sauce, asparagus, salad

6th – Go to Church for Taco Bar?

7th - Cheeseburger Patties, broccoli, salad

8th -

9th - Toad in the Hole (thanks to Mrs. Drake – yum!) and salad

10th – Fried Buttermilk Chicken Strips (cut chic breasts into strips, dip into buttermilk and then a flour/ranch dressing spice/salt/pepper/paprika mixture, then fry in olive oil) and veggies

11th – Tacos w/ Shredded Chicken from freezer, salad, Trader Joe’s organic corn

12th – Beef Chili and Cornbread

13th – Leftover chili

14th -  Beans and Mexican Rice with chips, sour cream, and salsa (and a salad)

15th

16th

17th

18th

19th

20th

26th -

27th - Spaghetti and Meatballs and veggies

29th -

30th – Homemade Mac n’ Cheese, broccoli, salad

Things to maybe try this month:

Granola Bars or No-Bake Granola Bars

Giant Pot of Red Sauce?

Yogurt in the Crock Pot

Classical Conversations and Charlotte Mason

“EDUCATION is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty.”        

- The CIRCE Institute               

I came across this excellent article by Karen Glass today on the Classical Side of Charlotte Mason and was reminded of my own journey to, from, and back to Classical Education.

When I first read about Classical Education, my heart leaped for joy!  It seemed like the perfect fit for our family’s educational philosophies. Once I read The Well-Trained Mind, however,  I changed my well-read mind quickly!  If THAT was classical, I didn’t like it.  Where was the cuddling-on-the-couch-reading-delicious-books time?  If I had more than two kids, how I was supposed to tackle all those separate grade levels, especially when I had already been sold on how wonderful it is to learn as a family?  The book stressed me out and I put Classical Education out of my mind.

Charlotte Mason, or a Living Books education, was my next discovery.  For the Children’s Sake inspired me to do anything I could to help make my kids passionate about learning.  A Charlotte Mason Education showed me that I could provide a vigorous, full education for my children without making my children sit still and do boring bookwork all day.  Charlotte Mason inspired me to make beauty and virtue and habit serious components of our family’s education.  After the first evening I read A Charlotte Mason Companion, I honestly had vivid, sweet dreams the entire night!  The book touched my soul in a gentle, warm way that made me want to slow down, hug my children, and learn alongside them.

But I couldn’t shake the fact that the deeper principles in a Charlotte Mason Education were very similar to those I’d first been drawn to in Classical Education.  Was Charlotte Mason “classical”?  It was when I read Teaching the Trivium‘s suggestion that parents consider using Charlotte Mason methods for their younger children and then utilizing a more traditional classical approach with older students  that I seriously considered how Classical and CM could go hand in hand.  

Two years ago, we joined Classical Conversations.  I am now thoroughly sold on Classical Education again!  Here’s a post I left a year ago on the Simply Charlotte Mason forum about CC and how we didn’t have to “give up” the gems we’d mined from CM to embrace the classical method:

“Our family is VERY Charlotte Mason-ish (we always called our philosophy Relaxed Classical with a Charlotte Mason twist) and we LOVED Classical Conversations last year.  Long story short, I had the opportunity to tutor for the group (so it didn’t cost me any $$) and we gave it a go.  I didn’t change our home curriculum a bit, besides going over the timeline and memory verse every morning.  We did completely different things in history and science at home- nothing related to the CC facts.  We simply played the CC CD in the car and sometimes before bed.  Oh, and the kids did have to do an oral report for CC each week.  They loved the class!  I can’t believe how many facts they learned.  It was frankly AMAZING, more amazing because of how much fun they had doing it!

“The kids did make LOTS of connections, though.  If we were at a museum or watching a show or reading a book when the name of a famous person from their timeline or history sentence popped up, they were so excited because they already felt familiar with that person (even though they had memorized those names without beginning with any connections).

“We added a foster/adopt son halfway through the year and I was even more amazed to see how he adored CC.  He hated school and loved homeschooling, so I didn’t know how the classroom situation would go for him at CC.  I can only speak for our group, but the class is extremely active – lots of singing, game playing, jumping around.  It’s not at all like what I had in mind for a formal classical school!  

“Tutoring was also a load of fun.  I can’t believe how much I learned!

“Anyway, just wanted to chime in that you can partake in CC without sacrificing your Charlotte Mason ideals.  In fact, we had struggled with memory work for years and I felt that CC actually freed me up to spend more time reading living books and letting the kids do a little bit of “unschooling” (or delight-directed schooling)!”

After two years of being involved with CC at this time, I can only agree with my first impression that my children LOVE memorizing and making connections from bare facts to deeper ideas. I have decided it is quite possible to embrace both the grammar stage ideas found in the classical method and Charlotte’s contention that children are not empty buckets to be filled but souls to be nurtured.  The high principles behind both Charlotte Mason and Classical Education are more within my reach thanks to this wonderful program.  I’m very thankful that the Lord led us to Classical Conversations!

The Power of Loving One

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” - Theodore Hesburgh

‎”ONE Sun is splendid: six Suns would be only vulgar. One Tower of Giotto is sublime: a row of Towers of Giotto would be only like a row of white posts. The poetry of art is in beholding the single tower; the poetry of nature, in seeing the single tree; the poetry of love, in following the single woman; the poetry of religion, in worshipping the single star.”

~GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles

Both of these quotes have shown up in Facebook friends’ status updates recently and served to give a nice word picture to thoughts I’ve been having.

Our newly adopted son, DJ, began drawing pictures of my husband and I after just a few months of living here.  DJ came from an extremely broken background and had never seen an example of a faithful, loving marriage.  He was taken with us, as evidenced by his many drawings of us surrounded by hearts and holding hands.

I take pure delight in knowing our stable marriage can affect his heart, especially since I have not been the most stable mother since his arrival.  (Anyone who has adopted an older “hurt” child will understand how bringing a severely dysfunctional child into the home seems to bring out the worst in everyone!).

God is so good, not only to bless me with a sacrifical, faithful husband and the joy and rest that come along with having such a husband, but he uses that gift to reach this little boy in ways I didn’t even forsee as being important!

My husband has taught me so much about Christ through the years.  Not only in his sacrificial love for me, his warrior-like attitude in being faithful to me, but also through seeing God’s grace in his sin and repentance.