Reflecting on First, Fourth, and Sixth grade {a year late}

This is a post that should have been written LAST June (2024!), but summer was busy and then a new academic year was underway and then the holidays came and went and now here we are. Somehow I wanted to jot down for my future self a few highlights of 6th, 4th, and 1st grade for our three oldest, and then, if I get going with this, I'll go ahead and do this past year, too -- 7th, 5th, and 2nd.

It was rather different having a first grader for the third time around than it was the first time around with one school-aged child. On the one hand, I'm more aware than ever that first grade is an incredibly important and wonderful time of growth, but does not need to be jam-packed to be full, and good, and more than enough. On the other hand, I was worried that with a sixth grader and a fourth grader, I might in fact end up doing too little with my first grader just due to the tyranny of the urgent with the older girls. I was incredibly grateful in this regard for our homeschool collaborative, which was in its first year -- it was a really beautiful thing to see the efforts of many parents coming together to help provide each age and stage of children with what they needed. Truly it was heavy lifting I could not have done alone! 

Not only was our twice-weekly collaborative helpful academically from my own perspective as parent and teacher, but the girls all thrived in their own ways with the increased social opportunities, the new games they learned at lunch time, the friendships that developed or deepened, and the chance to learn from such a variety of wonderful other parents/teachers. 

As I reflected on the academic year last summer in order to send our necessary reports to the school district, I was delighted not only to recall things I'd learned with my girls, but also things they'd learned apart from me!

Molly, Grade 1:

Math: Molly particularly enjoyed math. We utilized Caleb Gattegno's methodology, working through his first textbook using primarily Cuisenaire rods as manipulatives. Molly was able to think about relatively complex questions such as "what is 1/4 of 4 + 1/2 of 2 + 2/3 of 3?", and, as we continued along, "what is 1/7 of 14?," or "1/2 of 12 minus what equals 4?" I found this book to be a very interesting approach to math, and one that certainly clicked for Molly! Gattegno's method is centered around the subordination of teaching to learning. At co-op, one of our two days a week featured a time block of math games, including both games drawn from Denise Gaskins' books and board games or card games involving math concepts. 

Reading / Literature: Molly was already a solid reader going into first grade, and continued to power through books on her own throughout the year. She enjoyed Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, read many of The Happy Holisters books for fun, and fell in love with Greek mythology through her co-op literature experience of hearing A Wonder Book by Hawthorne. In fact, she loved the myths so deeply that the day she realized the stories weren't all true she sat down on the kitchen floor and had a solid cry about it. I understood, and sat down with her, and we mourned a little bit of imagination and childhood beginning to slip away, together. Over the next few days she'd periodically ask, "But even Athena?" or "But what about Medusa?" I told her to take heart -- in a sense, sometimes stories teach us things much more true and real than mere facts!

Social Studies / History: Having a first grader who could read to herself was entirely new to me, since my other girls were later readers. Molly was able to read to herself many selections from Baldwin's 50 Famous Stories and then come narrate them to me beautifully. I began An Island Story with her, and found that the older girls enjoyed listening to it once again as well. At co-op, we studied the time period from 1650-1800, focusing on the colonial American period and the Revolutionary War. With her co-op teachers, she read The Boy Who Fell off the Mayflower (Lynch), America Builds Homes (Dalgliesh), Skippack School (de Angeli), and others. 

Geography: Our collective group has been quite helpful in the area of geography because I'm well aware that while we've loved reading living books about geography (Richard Halliburton is a favorite family read aloud, and we always find all his locations on maps), we've been a little too light on just drilling where things are. Molly did weekly map drills of both the U.S. and the world, and it was so great for her! She also had a mapmaking class that she really enjoyed: drawing maps of rooms, creating 3D maps, "mapping" storybooks and imaginative lands, learning about compass roses and coordinates, keys and legends.

Science: Molly covered topics including ocean life (The Burgess Seashore Book for Children), trees (The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown Ups), stars and the night sky (Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey), amphibians (several books including The Moon of the Salamanders by George, Amazing Amphibians by Miller, and Frogs by Gibbons), and flowers (The Burgess Flower Book for Children). She kept a {rather copious} nature journal noting the weather, sketching and identifying a variety of things found in nature, and observing creatures, things, and seasonal changes in the varied nature study topics. Most of this was at co-op and I am grateful to her nature study teachers! We traveled with several other families from our co-op to see the 2024 eclipse in the totality zone, which was surely a memorable moment of experiencing science -- a highlight for all of us.

Music: Molly is learning the violin (as are her two older sisters, and recently Sylvie (4), as well!). She's working through Suzuki Volume 1. She enjoys singing folksongs at home with her sisters, and singing and learning folk dances at co-op. She also enjoyed participating in the church's 'cherubim choir' for little ones.

Marie, Grade 4:

Math: Marie continued to work on multiplication along with increasingly complex addition and subtraction. She worked primarily in the Life of Fred series, finishing Goldfish and working in Honey. We also used with Making Friends with Numbers by Edric Cane, which I love for factors, number  chains, and general multiplication practice and fun. Since I was enjoying using Gattegno with Molly so much, I found I could draw Marie and Nell in once a week or so as well so that they could explore the concepts of learning math from his approach, too. Marie also participated in math games once a week at co-op, drawing from Denise Gaskins books as well as a variety of math card games and board games. A few favorites included Quinto, Zeus on the Loose, Galactic Conquest, Prime Climb, Proof, Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe, and more.

Writing: Marie gives delightful narrations with a vocabulary beyond her grade level, demonstrating her “writer’s voice.” Her handwriting continued to improve, with work in both printing and cursive, and she began to learn calligraphy. She is a very deliberate and careful kid, and I continue to learn patience as I wait for her to write at her own pace while also gently encouraging her to go a little bit faster and occasionally sacrifice the elusive perfection in favor of the achievable good. 

Reading / Literature: It was great to see Marie able to take on more of her own school reading independently as reading grew comfortable for her! A few of Marie’s favorite books from the past year include At the Back of the North Wind (MacDonald), The Trumpet of the Swan (E.B. White), Sophia’s War: A Tale of the Revolution (Avi), and The Courage of Sarah Noble (Dalgliesh). Marie also enjoys poetry by Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein, and read poetry by Longfellow, Cowper, Wheatley, and Pope. She particularly enjoyed reading Shakespeare this year, working through both The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night, and playing the role of Olivia in a performance of Act V from Twelfth Night.

Social Studies / History: Marie particularly enjoyed ancient history. We studied Ancient Greece, primarily using Builders of the Old World by Gertrude Hartman, covering topics including the geography and climate of the Mediterranean world; the Greek system of city-states; Greek mythology, gods, and goddesses; Greek culture; Athens and Sparta; the Persian Wars; etc. We read selections from Peeps at Many Lands: Ancient Greece by James Baikie, and also read an utterly delightful adaptation of The Iliad by Jane Werner Watson with wonderful illustrations in a mid-century-meets-the-ancient-world style that is quite fitting for the genre, in my opinion.

We covered the period in U.S. History from 1650-1800, including a focus on colonial times and the Revolutionary War. We read Makers of the Americas by Marion Lansing, and drew additionally from works including The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic by H.A. Guerber, History Reader for Elementary Schools by Lucy L.W. Wilson, and American History Stories by Mara Pratt. Independently, Marie read biographies of Louisa May Alcott and Abigail Adams from the Childhood of Famous Americans series. 

Citizenship / Pre-Plutarch: Marie's Pre-Plutarch class at co-op read Stories from Rome by Emily Beesly, stories covering from the founding of Rome in 753 B.C. through the Pyrrhic War ending in 275 B.C., and bringing to light the various characters rising to the forefront of Rome's history. She observed artwork featuring scenes from some of the stories depicted, and looked at maps of Ancient Rome. This class was a favorite of hers! 

Geography: Our co-op's 4th and 5th graders studied regional geography using Our Country and its People by Monroe & Buckabee. Marie also participated in weekly map drills for both U.S. and world maps. She particularly enjoyed engaging in mapmaking activities drawn from Mapmaking with Children by David Sobel, including drawing maps of rooms, creating 3D maps, mapping storybooks, and mapping an ancient Greek home. We also studied world geography at home as a family using Halliburton’s delightful Book of Marvels, which continues to be a favorite.

Science: Marie’s science studies were broad, including one term of Electricity (The First Book of Electricity by Epstein; Safe and Simple Electrical Experiments by Graf), one term of Machines (The First Book of Machines by Buehr), and one term of Botany (The First Book of Plants by Dickinson).
Marie made a model of an atom, built a current detector and a penny battery, made a model fuse, learned about circuits, and built an electromagnet. She worked with inclined planes and levers, wheels and axles, pulleys, and made an Archimedes’ screw. She planted green beans and zinnias, observed plants with regards to the sun and other factors, and conducted an experiment with a variety of bean plants provided with differing care. She also visited a planetarium -- oh, and saw the 2024 eclipse in totality! What more could a kid want from fourth grade science?! Additionally, at home as a family we read selected chapters from The Storybook of Science (Fabre), A Child’s Book of Nature (Hooker), and more. 

Music: We continue to plug away at the violin! I must admit to it being somewhat slow going, no doubt mostly due to my own failure to provide enough consistency. What is that saying about the cobbler's children having no shoes? She practiced Spanish Dance by Moszcowski but we never quite finished it! She also practiced the piano, and although she primarily enjoys working out melodies and harmonies of her own devising, she did get inspired to tackle Bach’s Prelude No. 1 in C Major and made some pretty substantial headway with it. She enjoys making up vocal harmonies to folk songs and singing with her sisters, and also participates in singing folksongs and learning folk dances through co-op. Ree was old enough to join the church choir trebles, participating in two rehearsals a week plus singing almost every Sunday; she was selected as soloist last December for Once in Royal David’s City in the annual service of Lessons and Carols. She's always been an intuitive musician in many ways, but does struggle with getting bogged down in the physical aspects of playing an instrument!

Nell, Grade 6:

Math: Nell worked primarily in the Life of Fred series last year, finishing the elementary series and then tackling Fractions. We also continued using Making Friends with Numbers by Edric Cane for periodic factoring fun, and like Marie, Nell joined us for "family math" once a week or so to work through Gattegno's first math volume together. Nell participated in math games weekly at co-op, drawing from books by Denise Gaskins as well as math card games and board games; favorites included Prime Climb, Quinto, Galactic Conquest, Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe, and Proof. 

Writing: Nell has a wonderful “writer’s voice” and tells stories with a vocabulary and writing style beyond her grade level. She did an increased amount of writing last year, doing several written narrations of varying lengths each week. She's beginning to enjoy finding just the right turn of phrase for the occasion, so to speak, in her writing, and is equally comfortable writing with humor as with eloquence. 

Literature: A few of Nell’s favorite literary works from the past year include At the Back of the North Wind (MacDonald), The Trumpet of the Swan (E.B. White), Sophia’s War: A Tale of the Revolution (Avi), Oliver Twist (Dickens), and The Little Mermaid (Anderson) as well as a retelling of Homer’s Iliad. Nell loves poetry by Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein, and read more serious poetry by Cowper, Wheatley, and Pope as well. Nell particularly enjoyed reading Shakespeare this year, working through both The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night, and playing the role of Viola in a performance of Act V from Twelfth Night.

Social Studies/History: We studied Ancient Greece this year. Nell used The Book of the Ancient Greeks by Dorothy Mills, covering a range of topics which included the geography of the Mediterranean world, Greek culture (religion, theater, architecture, education), City-states and governmental systems, Athens and Sparta, the Ionian colonization, the Persian Wars, and the Peloponnesian War.

In U.S. History we covered the period from 1650-1800, including a focus on colonial times and the Revolutionary War. Nell read from The American Revolutionaries by Melzer, which challenged her with many first-person accounts in the forms of letters and other writings from the 18th century. We read from Makers of the Americas by Marion Lansing, and drew additionally from works including The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic by H.A. Guerber, History Reader for Elementary Schools by Lucy L.W. Wilson, and American History Stories by Mara Pratt. 

Geography: Nell studied a bit of U.S. geography using Our Country and its People by Monroe & Buckabee, and we studied world geography using Halliburton’s delightful Book of Marvels -- I think I'll never get tired of reading this to all my kids across ages and grade levels!

Citizenship: Nell worked through two of Plutarch’s Lives this year: Demosthenes and Cicero. She wrote a paper on the life of Demosthenes and delivered a section of Cicero's first oration against Cataline to try her own hand (voice?) at being an orator. Unlike Demosthenes, we chose not to practice with rocks in our mouths.

Science: The Storybook of Science (Fabre) continued to provide fascinating stories across a variety of science topics. Nell’s science studies were broad, including one term of Chemistry (The Mystery of the Periodic Table, Wiker -- we LOVED this book! If you read it, be sure to check out the series The Mystery of Matter on YouTube, which we thought was excellent), one term of Electricity/Electronics (Electronics for Kids, Dahl), and one term of Weather (Look at the Sky and Tell the Weather, Sloane). Nell also specifically studied trees, stars and the night sky, and began to keep a notebook of species she observed across the plant and animal kingdoms, noting their scientific names, common names, families, etc.
Nell constructed a Periodic Table entirely out of individually frosted square sugar cookies she made (inspired by a cousin who did the same!), learned to wire basic circuitry, visited a planetarium, and made a barometer, as well as a variety of other experiments and hands-on activities. And of course, we saw that unforgettable total eclipse.

Music: Nell performs on her violin several times a year and continues to develop her skill on the instrument, most recently working on Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor and The Boy Paganini by Mollenhauer and beginning a more serious study of double-stops; she also plays numerous melodies by ear on the piano and has made progress in her formal piano studies as well. She is a member of our church choir, singing works in multiple languages including German, Spanish, and Latin. She was selected as soprano soloist this past year for Allegri’s Miserere Mei, Deus. Nell enjoys singing folk songs with her sisters and accompanying by strumming chords on the ukulele, and also participates in singing folksongs and learning folk dances at co-op.

Together:

Art: Nell, Marie, and Molly each kept a “Book of Illustrations” in which they periodically illustrated some of the stories we read for history or literature. Each girl also keeps a nature journal of sketches and watercolors. In our co-op, where we are pinch-ourselves-lucky to have a wonderful art teacher in my friend Kerrie, the girls studied and engaged with art by John Singleton Copley, Edward Hopper, and John James Audubon. They also enjoyed art classes where they gained practice in using the elements of art and principles of design. They practiced basic techniques of Japanese sumi-e brush painting, used ink and watercolors with salt to create Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired art, drew in one-point perspective with a vanishing point, shaded spherical shapes, created spheres with oil pastels, created a piece of sacred artwork, drew still life projects, and learned proportions of the human head for portrait-drawing. The girls also all practiced fiber arts including knitting and crocheting and basic sewing and embroidery skills. 

Music: We studied Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach, utilizing books including Famous Violinists for Young People by Gladys Burch and Famous Composers for Young People by Gladys Burch, and listening to many works by each of these composers. Our study of J.S. Bach culminated with a tour and demonstration of a pipe organ at Park Street Church in Boston, and additionally, live performances of several works by J.S. Bach. 

I began to take the girls along in tow with me to various orchestra rehearsals and, occasionally, concerts, and in this way they get to hear a lot of live music! Nell and Marie were also privileged to hear remarkable violinist Keila Wakao perform Tchaikovsky’s Concerto for Violin in D Major in performance.

Physical Education: Along with hikes with friends, Nell and Marie continued their weekly ballet classes, last year in a pre-pointe class. All three school-aged girls began to learn Swedish Drill through our homeschool co-op, participated in frequent games of four-square, enjoyed jumping rope with rhymes and games at recess, and spent lots of time on our backyard trampoline.

Mama / Teacher:

I began to learn something deeply true about myself as I saw it reflected in my daughters to varying degrees. There is a sense in which, I came to understand, I've often considered things I studied without mastering to be "failed attempts" or general failures. Latin? I studied it for a few years but never really learned it well. Piano? I used to play well but have barely played in over a decade now. Art? I liked to draw but never really went anywhere with it. I read many of "the classics" but don't remember all of them; I sometimes skimmed when the homework assignments were too much to fit in. Math and science? Surely not my strong suits; let me count the ways in which I don't understand them... starting with how the electricity and the internet in my own home function! 

I began to notice certain of my kids have a tendency to read something assigned to them for school and come back to me with a general sense of "I didn't really understand this at all" about them when what they really mean is, "there was one section I need help grasping." Time and again a certain child in particular clearly felt that her studies were not only incomplete but perhaps completely unworthwhile since she did not have a full-fledged grasp of the intricacies of a given subject! 

It was midway through the academic year I realized I was seeing myself reflected back in my child(ren). 

I'm coming to realize that those "failed" years of Latin did exactly what they were supposed to do; that I gained a stronger understanding of grammar, a basic introductory sense of a variety of foreign romance languages, and that I can translate many basic Latin words and sentences and at least get the gist of them! The piano I once rather excelled at but since grew rusty at is something I can still use to accompany my children and students. I even pulled out some old favorites: Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu and Grieg's Concerto in A Minor and practiced them again and found that they could come back to me. And as for math and science, subjects I was surely a failure at -- I'm finding that I love discovering math in new and fresh ways with my kids. Most recently, Nell and I are reading little bits of Speed Mathematics Simplified and enjoying it! As I mentioned above, Caleb Gattegno's concept of teaching math by subordinating teaching to learning is incredibly fascinating -- and it works! I was never good at geography (and still am not!), but I'm loving reading Prisoners of Geography as well as the wonderful Halliburton Book of Marvels, mentioned above, with the kids. And if I was "not a science person," well, who would have thought some of my favorite books to read with my kids would be living books about the natural world like The Storybook of Science? I don't remember all of the classics I read in high school and college, but the skills I acquired by grappling with so many of them allowed me to re-read Plutarch now and guide a group of 6th-9th graders through lives of Demosthenes, Cicero, Alcibiades, and Coriolanus.

Rather than representing a personal failure, the many things I tried and didn't master or fully pursue are a part of the essence of a liberal arts education. I was fortunate to be exposed to such a wide variety of subjects, thoughts, and ideas. Along the way, I chose to specialize in violin (which I've also yet to master, incidentally), but oh, the many other things I've grazed on and delved into over the years do add so much richness. 

Dear children, the things you aren't fully grasping? That's life. How much better it is to know that you're only at the fringes, than to foolishly fancy that you can understand it all! And that experience of being at the misty edges and wanting to see more deeply... that's the starting place to keep learning and growing. I hope you never want to stop that process, and I'm grateful I get to continue the growth in my own process of learning with each of you.

One small step closer to heeding the call of the Oracle at Delphi, this middle-aged mother may yet be.

...Come, my friends, 

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. 

Push off, and sitting well in order smite 

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds 

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths 

Of all the western stars, until I die. 

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: 

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, 

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. 

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' 

We are not now that strength which in old days 

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; 

One equal temper of heroic hearts, 

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson