Enriching your Homeschool

We have started now, and will continue, to enhance our homeschool routine day by day through incorporating more and more of a Charlotte Mason and Classical emphasis to our learning. You can use this format with whatever curriculums you are using.

* Journaling 

1. Buy Nice Journals for Sketching and Writing 

Buy Sketch Notebooks that are durable, with lots of space on the pages for studies like Art, History, Science, or Geography.

2. Buy Barrel Pens and Ink Feather Pens 

You may buy journals with lines or, you can write on blank pages around your sketches---(we are planning on doing the blank page method next year)

3. Buy Sketch Pencils, Oil Pastels, Watercolors, and Acrylic Paints 

(You may also use normal pencils, colored pencils, crayons, and markers- but these should be used on and off with the items above)

*Fine Arts

1. Make sure you rotate a subject like History or Geography for 2 days focused on Fine Arts. 

Allow students to take time with History etc. a few times a week, and let students take time with Fine Arts 2 times a week. (Your fifth day can be more core subjects or a co-op etc.)

Our plans next year are to have a separate Fine Arts Journal.

We will be doing Still Portraits, Cartoon Animation, and Sketch/Watercolor with Landscapes.

I found wonderful books for these activities on Amazon 

*Handicrafts 

Lets face it - we can't always complete these, so aim for 1 or 2 a month, this is realistic. 

Handicrafts should be repeated often to advance in these areas. Don't complete a one time project and never repeat it! Keep on practicing. 

-Soap Carving (Lots of printable templates online)

-Wood Twiddling (Carving soft wood to make small animals etc.)

-Felt Needling (Not knitting! Google this)

-Real Knitting 

-Real Crochet 

-Tin Foil Painting 

- Crafts involving gluing buttons around a template 

-Felt Dolls 

-Paper Dolls 

-Gardening 

-Taking care of herbs inside

The list will keep growing!!! 

*Nature Walks

We journal so much, I just intend on walking outside a few days a week without the stress of journaling. 

We can journal and bring nature indoors, but staying outdoors is our main focus after school 

*Living Literature

We are incorporating more chapter and picture books into our subjects. 

ie: Yesterday's Classics American History Volumes 

Chapter books related to topics of study

All living books that are fascinating!


*Vidoes/Paintings Online
Yes, living video clips, movies, or shows. When I can't get to the depth of expression with a topic, Youtube or Amazon Prime can hold a treasure trove of educational video.
View paintings online about topics of study to help with sketches.


*Copywork/Free Writing

Have children copy sentences or long passages out of books or off of the computer screen. Or print out copywork. To deepen imaginations, have children watch a video and write a paper or a couple of paragraphs (1 paragraph for 1st graders) about what they learned. Free writing can be used in the same way.
The point, copy great literature or learn to practice writing for writing skills and upper grade level advantages.