Core School Work: What We Fall Back On

As I write my reading plans for the coming school year, I have to share with you something that is so, so important to me, just in case you’ve missed it in the other half-a-hundred posts I’ve shared about reality.

Things ain’t perfect around here, y’all.

My home’s a mess, I’m not as patient as I’d like to be (understatement of the year), and all of my plans don’t get done.

Honestly, my plans are just… plans. We don’t always get around to all that I set out to do. Each school year, we encounter some sort of major hiccup. One year, it was moving to a new state, another year it was building on to our home (I still remember the chainsaw chaos like it was yesterday!), another year it was an eye surgery (when I couldn’t even read for over two months!), another year it was pregnancy (when I couldn’t stay awake to read for over two months), and this year… it has been the best hiccup of all, Isaac (who likes to babble louder than I am reading to contribute to our read-aloud time).

So, what happens when I’m on Day 28 of my husband’s absence, I’ve been up with the baby all night, our home is a wreck, we are out of eggs, bread, and milk, and I can’t even remember what day it is?

Well, not a whole lot. Our school day is really rather unimpressive on days like this. And the truth is, this year has had a whole lot of really rather unimpressive days like this.

So then, what gets done? While we have had some days where “nothing” has gotten done (where we’ve taken a break and have spent the day outside or have gone somewhere anywhere else together or have just spent a day of play), most days like this we fall back on what I call “the core school work.” It looks something like this:

1. Reading
2. wRiting
3. aRithmetic
4. Recitation

What do I mean? Well, let’s just take ’em one at a time…

Reading

• Bible:  Read a passage of scripture together at the breakfast table
• Phonics (for primary Grades K-3): Teach your children how to recognize and sound out letters and words with whatever curriculum fits you and your child(ren).
• Read books: Read books to your children above reading level to increase vocabulary (a King James Version of the Bible would suffice and would also fulfill bullet #1) and allow your children to read books below reading level (to increase speed, accuracy, and fluency) and at reading level (to improve overall reading and comprehension skills).

wRiting

• Spelling: Learn the spelling rules and practice spelling words according to those spelling rules.
• Copywork/Dictation (aka, “Notebooking”) (Grades K-3): Practice penmanship and introduce children to sentence construction, parts of a sentence, punctuation, capitalization, and parts of speech through copywork and/or dictation. Some spelling programs include dictation as part of their curriculum.
• English Grammar & Composition (Grades 4-6): In the intermediate grades, most children are ready for a thorough study of English grammar and are prepared to more formally learn the structures and styles of writing.

aRithmetic

• Math: Teach children the discipline of completing math lessons
• Math facts: Use flashcards, timed drills, and games to master math facts

Recitation

• Memory work review: Listen to audio, use whiteboard, and/or play games to review memory work (e.g., Scriptures, poetry, hymns, and/or facts)

So… what does “core school work” look like in our home?

Reading

• Bible: This year, we worked through Grapevine Studies Old Testament Catechism and then dabbled in PictureSmart Bible New Testament. But as of late, we’re just reading scriptures together or listening to scripture songs and talking about how those scriptures apply to our lives.

• Phonics (for primary Grades K-3): We use All About Reading for our children (in kindergarten and grade 3). I love the extras that All About Reading teaches (like idioms or elements of a story), and my children thoroughly enjoy the stories. All About Learning Press has the best readers available – way better than Bob books! The boys all gather around to hear David or Isaac read from All About Reading books. Usually, laughter ensues.

• Read books. We even take books with us when we have errands to run. (Lots of reading can happen on dentist appointment days.)

1. Above reading level: Some of the read alouds from our reading plan I select specifically to meet this goal. I also have an older child who does the reading for me when I am maxed out (or when Isaac babbles too loudly for anyone to hear me).
2. Below reading level: whatever our children enjoy reading – Amelia Bedelia, Monster Trucks, Magic Treehouse
3. At reading level: Adventures in Odyssey Imagination Station, our correlated readers.

wRiting

• Spelling: We use All About Spelling for Grades K-6 and then use Phonetic Zoo from Institute for Excellence in Writing for our children beyond that. David likes to transform his spelling tests into “Word World” or comics. Sometimes he writes silly sentences using his spelling words to include in his current “My Storybook” booklet (which is just a bunch of papers folded in half and stapled with a piece of card stock for a cover).

• Copywork/Dictation (aka, “Notebooking”) (Grades K-3): We use Script-n-Scribe for penmanship/copywork and our All About Spelling sentences for dictation. There have been times we have “notebooked” our memory work, but we have not used notebooking much this year.

• English Grammar & Composition (Grades 4-6): We used the Classical Conversations Essentials program for our oldest two children starting in 4th grade. Before that, we just practiced English grammar memory work and learned a few elements of writing from the IEW Bible Heroes Writing Lessons. (We no longer use Essentials.)

aRithmetic

• Math: We use Saxon Math and Life of Fred. Saxon Math teaches a discipline of math, and Life of Fred provides motivation for doing extra math. Our oldest will spend hours on math of his own accord when he’s using Life of Fred.

Saxon Math assignment

They read Life of Fred in their spare time because they love it.

• Math facts: Sometimes it’s notebook drills, sometimes it’s flashcards, sometimes it’s a math game, and sometimes it’s just the drills within the Saxon Math assignment.

Multiplication Drill (Click to download.)

Another multiplication drill using a mat I found at Dollar Tree a few years ago

Recitation

• Memory work review: Most of the time, we just listen to our memory work audios in the car or recite memory work in the Learnin’ Loft. We also use flash cards quite a bit. Occasionally we play a game, but mostly we just sing/recite our memory work and/or use flashcards.

Latin flashcards

Playing games with Latin flashcards

English grammar flashcards

So, that’s what it looks like in our home. Not every day. Not all the time. But this is the structure of a “core school day.” It doesn’t even involve keeping up with our own reading plan. In fact, have you noticed that I haven’t mentioned anything about cooking mummy hotdogs or building model lungs? That’s because that doesn’t often happen in our home. The core schoolwork is what we fall back on.

A bunch of cute boys

The rest… is just lagniappe.