Showing posts with label Ambleside Online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ambleside Online. Show all posts

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Homeschool~ Aesop's Fables

The Fox and the Grapes

We love Aesop's Fables. These are short, quick little reads that teach morals and values through entertaining stories surrounding animals. Most of us have heard an Aesop's Fable at some point in our schooling but you may not have known it! The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse is an Aesop's Fable! So is The Lion and the Mouse, a story of a kindness that is repaid.

How about this famous lesson on laziness:

THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER

ONE bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat.
"What!" cried the Ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?"
"I did n't have time to store up any food," whined the Grasshopper; "I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone.


[Illustration]

The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust.
"Making music, were you?" they cried. "Very well; now dance!" And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.
There's a time for work and a time for play. 
~Milo Winter The Aesop For Children  found at The Baldwin Project

We most often use the Milo Winter version of Aesop's Fables. I found it on The Baldwin Project site and printed it off. I did a simple Copy and Paste onto a Word document. 

The Crow and the Pitcher

 The drawings are so very beautiful. They may be slightly printer ink heavy but I shrunk them a bit so I could use less ink. Then I three ring paper punched them and placed them in a binder.


 These are an Ambleside Online Year 1 reading but our whole family enjoys getting in on the Aesop fun. I usually read them myself because I enjoy reading these bits of gold with lots of enthusiasm. I will on occasion have Prince Ray read aloud for practice. The Milo Winter version has slightly challenging vocabulary so it is great for reading practice. 


I have of course used audio versions sometimes simply because I don't have that extra set of hands or eyes I have wished for and there are times when school happens over supper or while I am doing dishes! Books Should Be Free is one of my go-tos for free audio readings of classic books. So we have listened to an Aesop's Fable while looking at the printed book artwork or even coloring a picture. It should be noted that these are not the Milo Winter versions of the fables.
The Boys and the Frogs

 Here are some resources I have found in my internet wanderings that have helped or supplemented our Aesop's Fable readings.
The Lion and the Gnat
For fun sometimes we will watch a video after reading. I might later that week for a change of pace or even as a reward put on a Youtube video clip from this site. They are short, simple, and good renditions using very easy language. My kids like it when we watch the whole playlist. There are 23 videos to pick from.

If you are looking for a bit more this site has lesson plans and also audio versions available. They have over 600 fables to choose from! The Selected Fables section is easily copy and pasted and has a handy chart for 'suggested morals' you can build the study on.

 The University of Massachusetts Amherst 1994 Art 271 class has a whole site dedicated to Aesop's Fables. Many of the Fables were rewritten by the students into modern English along with original computer artwork. The History section is good if you want to give your older kids (or yourself) a bit more information on this guy we all know the name of. He definitely had an interesting life.

 Project Gutenberg has free downloads of the original Aesop's Fables.

Last year I copied the reading of the week from The Baldwin Project and then used WorksheetWorks.com to make copy sheets for Handwriting Practice.

 Here are a few free coloring pages online from That Resource Site. I wish they had more. When we do color pictures from Aesop's it is usually from their own imaginations. :)

 If you have a preschooler sitting in on most of your classes like I do you are probably already familiar with DLTK-Teach.com. This is a good size selection of coloring sheets and ideas for your little people so they can join in. 

The Dogs and the Hides

The way we really like to finish our Aesop's reading every week? 

Sir Bean working on staging.
Act it out!
These are perfect for mini-drama sessions. 
The greedy dogs at the river trying to get to the hides....


They get the practice of sharing ideas, playing pretend, learning to delegate acting parts, and of course having fun being silly.

...and they drank too much water!

 This is an excellent narration time as well. ;) In warning, because I have rambunctious kids, it is only fair to say that there have been a couple unprofessional acting moments in our past due to some of the more aggressive scenes. The actors were reprimanded and asked to be stage crew for the rest of the day. :)


How do you study Aesop's Fables?


Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

*Homeschool~ Shakespeare Study for Kids


Shakespeare for kids? Yes! 

 It is part of our Ambleside Online Year 1 Literature schedule to read several different plays from Shakespeare each Term.  Year 2 has a Literature schedule with different plays. We have been getting quite a bit of Shakespeare in this year!

In the younger years it is suggested that Shakespeare is read from a storybook format of the plays. We are using Tales From Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. This is our second year reading from Tales and it is wonderful. These are not by any means easy reading and so they are great read-alouds for both the boys. I have been surprised at how how much they retain from these readings. Even in this more simplified version the reading is complex and has a lot of 'meat' to it. We usually take 2 to three days to read it. I take just a bit at a time, and have them narrate back to me orally. 

A well loved copy of Tales From Shakespeare.


Why would we take the time? 
Why bother with Shakespeare? 
Is it even appropriate for reading to children? 

I had all these questions when I started teaching it last year. I had always associated Shakespeare with more of a secular and frankly, a quite bawdy reputation. While I was excited to try reading the plays to them I thought to myself that they would never be able to follow along. The plots are sometimes confusing, evil and good are often mixed up, and sin is prevalent. Not to mention the tragedies are so very heart wrenching, I wondered if it would affect them negatively.



 Surprising to me, they actually like to do Shakespeare readings. Who knew?! They pick up on far more than I ever expected. Sir Bean has especially connected with certain themes. He will often tell me weeks after we have read a play that he was thinking about it. 
Remember when we read about the king who was so angry he didn't talk to his daughter? She just told him the truth! And he got mad at her! Then she had to leave and he got sad but he was too proud to say it. That was wrong. He was wrong.
That was after we read King Lear. We learned that pride goes before the fall (Prv 16:18) and that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). We then Netflixed a BBC version of it and both boys were able to tell dad everything that was happening.
Scene from King Lear. (source)

 We have actually had Bible studies spring forth from our Shakespeare study. Shakespeare had a way of making characters much more believable, much more real-life if you will, then most modern day writings. He did not shy away from subjects that are still sometimes taboo in our current world. Good is not always all rosy and pink and bad is often found redeeming itself. I think that is such a positive message to give our kids. In Shakespeare, there are stages of gray in what can seem like a black and white world. What better way to start a conversation on those gray areas than after reading about them?

I strongly encourage any homeschool mom to look into reading a bit from Tales From Shakespeare! It has been a very gentle way of 'getting to know' the works of William Shakespeare.

To supplement the reading I also search out videos from Youtube so we can see the play or at least a child friendly rendition of it. Please do preview them as some subject matter is better left for your teens and you to discuss. I have had good luck with the Youtube channels Shakespeareanimated and VideoSparkNotes. My kids have enjoyed watching these videos more than once.

 I often let them draw pictures of the play while I am reading it. This drawing page might help with inspiration! You can purchase coloring books everywhere online but I haven't found free ones yet. ;)

For notebooking I have used these  and also these free resources.

I also will use LibriVox when I am short on time and need another reader. LibriVox offers thousands of audio books for free. I can put on a reading while we are making supper or doing dishes and then we discuss it just as if I had read it to them.

Their absolute favorite thing about reading Shakespeare has to be the acting out of the plays. I will find them acting out the scenes on their own. Sir Bean and Prince Ray especially like the fighting parts... but I think Princess Petunia prefers to be, of course, The Princess in every play.

What resources have you used for teaching Shakespeare? How do you teach it?

 Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

*Homeschool~ How We Study Pilgrim's Progress

We homeschool using The Ambleside Online free resource schedule. Currently, Sir Bean is in Year 1 and Prince Ray is in Year 2. The concept is based on the writings and teachings of Charlotte Mason, a British educator from days gone by. I believe her method of teaching is beautiful and effective. It is difficult with many multiples of children but the spirit of her teaching can really be brought to any subject. It is a non-text book approach that uses many 'living books', books that are written by an expert in their field and bring the subject matter to life in a real and memorable way. It has taught us all so very much!



 On to Pilgrim's Progress! I will admit when I saw Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress on the schedule for this year as part of our Literature Readings I was a bit daunted. I read the book years ago and only understood a smidgen of it. In fact, several years ago, while helping co-teach a teen group at church I thought that perhaps we could go through the book together as a book club style teaching. It was a big No-Go. It was too challenging for most teens to put their time into slowing down and reading such an old book.

So here I was trying to figure out how I was going to help my nine year old understand all the nuances and hidden meaning in Pilgrim's Progress. How will he understand any of it? Do we really need to try this?

I happened upon this quick and to-the-point referral for the reading of Pilgrim's Progress on Answers in Genesis and decided we would give it a go. They offer a free online version to read, broken into 10 sections with Biblical References.
John Bunyan was a man unafraid to proclaim the authority of God’s Word without compromise, even when it came at great personal risk. His refusal to conform his preaching led to multiple incarcerations. On one such occasion, he was asked to simply stop and be set free. He replied, “If you release me today, I will preach tomorrow.”
Those now famous words led to a nearly twelve year imprisonment. It was during this time that he began to pen his classic work. Published in 1678, it quickly became one of the most popular stories of all time. Over 100,000 copies were sold within his lifetime alone, and today it is believed to be the second-most widespread book in existence, surpassed only by the Bible in number of copies distributed. It has been translated into over 200 languages, and it has never been out of print.
The Pilgrim’s Progress is a spiritual allegory that follows the path of Christian, a man weighed down by his burden of sin. He leaves the City of Destruction and learns that nothing can remove his burden other than the cross of Christ. But that is only the beginning of his journey through life to the Celestial City.

I did some research and found a really good audio version of the book. It is done so well that the characters practically jump out of the speakers and stand in your kitchen with you. I found it here and here. The best surprise has been that not only does Prince Ray love listening to it he audibly sighs when the lesson is over because he wants to keep going. He also has been able to fully understand the whole thing! This version is unabridged, but amplified, and it is done seamlessly. Sir Bean is only 6 and he can hardly wait to listen in on his big brother's Pilgrim's Progress reading. That is how good it is. I know we will listen to this over and over again. It was worth every penny I spent.
Orion's Gate Audio

Ambleside Online gives the option of taking 2 years to cover this particular book. Or you can follow Christian's wife and children on their journey the next year. When I found Christian's journey I purchased Christiana's journey as well. We will listen to that one next year.


Orion's Gate Audio

 I also found a free series of videos called Dangerous Journey, on the website Kids Answers in Genesis. Scroll all the way down to the bottom. There are 9 parts and each is about 15 minutes long. As we listen along to the Pilgrim's Progress audio book, I will insert a 'video time' every so often that coincides with how far we have gotten in the book. There are some differences and the video has left a few things out but all in all it is a great, if rather old and a bit grainy, free video resource for really cementing the story. 

Dangerous Journey

Video Time :)

Check out this Bunyan Ministries for beautiful coloring sheets in PDF form. My kids love to color so these are a nice way to keep hands busy while listening to the audio.

Coloring sheet!


 If you like to Map stuff, here is a printable map of Christian's Journey to keep track of his travels. It is beautiful and would cost me a print cartridge but might be worth it. So far, I just look at it and think about whether or not I can afford to print it off. Grayscale would not do it justice. 


 “This hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
The difficulty will not me offend.
For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Come, pluck up, heart; let's neither faint nor fear.
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.”
― John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress

Have you ever read Pilgrim's Progress? Have you ever taught it?

Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

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