Imagine sitting down to teach your children with
a daily planner in front of each of them. The books and resources
they are using are fun, interesting and thorough. You know that they are
learning everything they need for their grade and more. When they are
done with a subject, they check it off their planners and go on to the
next. Suddenly you realize that school is actually fun and not a
chore. After a few days, the routine becomes second nature.
My goal as a home educator was to bring the
above paragraph to life. To reach that point took many years of
teaching, beginning when my oldest (now in his twenties) was in
Kindergarten. I tried out many different books and curricula on
him and my five other children and have found that being new to home
education meant wasted money and time on materials that either didn’t
cover a subject thoroughly or were just plain boring. Since I
believed that planning is essential in order to reach certain
educational goals and objectives, I developed my own daily lesson plans.
I have found, integrated, and successfully used great resources. Camrose
Academy hopes to save other families many of the financial and
educational blunders that I have made, as well as the time of writing
out daily lesson plans.
Why Classical?
By Wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established;
and through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful
treasures.
Proverbs 24;3,4
Anything that is classical
has withstood the test of time. The classical approach to education was
developed centuries ago in ancient Greece and Rome and then throughout the
Western world. America’s founding fathers all had classical
educations. In our opinion, the classical education gives children the
intellectual, moral, and character foundation to be a positive influence on
their world. The core of classical education is the trivium. The
trivium tailors the curriculum subject matter to the natural mental
development of children. In grades 1-4, the emphasis is on
concrete thinking and memorization of facts (knowledge). There is a strong
emphasis on the basics such as grammar, writing, and math in which we use a
multi-sensory approach. History includes American, and World History,
with focus on Western Civilization. The logic stage (grades 5-8) begins when
your child starts to connect the facts he has learned and discovers
relationships among them (understanding). This is the questioning, analyzing
stage that leads to abstract thought. The rhetoric stage (grades 9-12) will
further teach analytical thinking, understanding of subjects, abstract
thinking, and articulation of the subjects (wisdom). At the current time, we
are focusing our curriculum on the grammar and logic stages grades 1 through
6, and are working on Jr. High grades. Camrose Academy uses many Christian
resources because we believe that God was involved in history and is still
involved in His creation. We have a Christian worldview and we want to pass
it on to our children.
Why Charlotte Mason?
Charlotte Mason was born in England in 1842 and was educated at home.
She was a devout Christian who spent her life teaching children and other
women to teach using her philosophy. Charlotte loved children and
believed that they should be taught with respect and gentleness. She
believed in using living books, books about real people and things, and that
children’s minds are fed on ideas. She also loved whole books and great
literature. She would have a child narrate or “tell back” to her the
story she had just read aloud thus increasing the child’s attention span and
making the story his or her own. We love this approach to education and used
her methods successfully with our own children
When you combine Classical Education
and Charlotte Mason you get an academically strong program using the various
stages of cognitive development, yet child sensitive and gentle. Mix in a
little fun and creativity and you get Camrose Academy Lesson Plans.
