Second Block

I decided recently to shorten our blocks and repeat them throughout the year.  Thus, everyone is pretty much finishing up their second blocks this week and beginning their new blocks.

I tried out a new curriculum this year for a few of  our blocks.  I purchased the Christophorus Waldorf books for some of the blocks.  The books have a nice layout and the story form is nice.  However, so far we are not loving them.  Parks’ second block looked at heroes.  He began determining what the word hero means to him.  We then went through the Saints and Heroes book and chose a few of the stories.  Overall, the stories were okay.  His imagination was not sparked as it usually is with stories.  For some reason, they did not resonate with him.  I do plan to try another heroes block in the next semester but I will use materials from the library and Waldorf Essentials.

 

The same went with Sawyer’s first man/animal block.  She really wanted to study owls, but for some odd reason (maybe my type A ness popped out after I had done a lot of planning) I could not bring myself to flow with it.  If I had let her study owls in the beginning, the block may have flowed better.  She began by looking at the human and the parts of the human.  We then went through the mouse, the cow and the lion.  Again, in her seconds man/animal block, I will most likely follow the plan set up in Waldorf Essentials.

So the other two blocks went ok but not stellar.  Sims’ block was awesome!  His seconds block looked at business math and economics.  He enjoyed it so much, he asked to continue it before going into our Rome Block.  We used the book Striker Jones by Maggie Larche as our guide.  The book also has a teacher’s companion that is well worth the extra money (if purchased through your kindle it was only an additional $1.99).  The teacher’s manual laid out the concepts that each chapter covers, the definitions, discussion questions, and assignments.  He loved them all!  He also demonstrated the ability to apply the concepts throughout the month in our discussions and errands.  Next, he is going to work through the Pet Store math curriculum by Simply Charlotte Mason.  He is looking forward to the Pet Store.  He designed his logo and started deciding on his inventory.  Over the next few weeks, he will “run” the store using the principles that he learned through Striker Jones.

Now onto block three!  Parks will begin  Animal stories,(although this week we read a story from Buddha’s Apprentice at Bedtime).  Sawyer will begin the Norse myths and Sims will continue with Business Math.