heartofdakota.com

I have been homeschooling for K and am currently preparing for first grade. We used Horizons and it went very well however I have been taking a close look at Beyond. I am having trouble understanding exactly "how" the student learns if there are not tangible workbooks, etc. for them to write down answers. I realize that the Charlotte Mason approach uses living books but I am just having some difficulty in understanding the learning application. (I hope this makes some sense!)

Thank you!

Lisa D in Ohio

We haven't quite started Beyond, but I have been pouring over the book and we are finishing Little Hearts. I am sure there will be others that will be able to explain better I can, but I teach at the college level and you would be surprised how much I am gearing my lecture time and assignments to CM. Narration is huge - when you verbally retell something you have just read or listened to, you have to know it. I have seen a huge learning curve with my son in Little Hearts this year with the very basic narration we do for the storytelling. I do the same thing with the history stories, we go back and verbally talk about what happened and review new words. CM and HOD uses the various learning styles to help learn material through activities that include writing, drawing,art, and thinking games. For example, there are different activities each day for the spelling words to help learn them. Math workbooks are used, but the additional activities Carrie has given have really cemented the ideas for my son. We did a little math before HOD, and I can see the difference. One difference that I love between textbooks and living books is the concept of what I call "little samples of information", that students tend to memorize, versus stories of information that will be remembered better because they are in story form, and call for more thought and analysis versus rote memorization. My students struggle greatly because they are used to memorizing and spitting the information back. However, you cannot do that in the type of profession I am preparing my students for (health field). Critical and analytical thinking are a must, and my students struggle so much because they don't want to critically think with the info, the just want to write it down and reproduce it. I guess it is hard for me to explain what I am trying to say, but I am sure others will share as well. It is hard to let go of something that seems to natural and traditional to us. I have been there too.

Beyond is a really wonderful program. The other poster got the two biggies nailed - living books and narration. The history spine in Beyond is really great. It contains stories, mostly about children in families experiencing history, to which young students can relate very well. My ds loved all the stories about other children in different times. He remembered so much from readings. I was able to know if he had learned the information because he was able to give me detailed, insightful narrations. The history activities and projects further solidify the learning. It really is a wonderful way to teach for mom too! Rather than spending so much time wading through a big textbook and dragging over a workbook page, you sit on the couch with your little one enjoying a great story and then doing a fun activity. The child is engaged, happy, and learning. As a former ps teacher, I can't tell you the difference in the quality of education this provides. It's not about how much you have taught, but how much does the child CARE. With HOD, the child cares about learning.
hth,
Laura