"'Education is the Science of Relations'; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books, for we know that our business is not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as may be of––
'Those first-born affinities,
That fit our new existence to existing things.'"

Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education
with a quote from The Prelude by William Wordsworth

Sunday, May 10, 2009

France Projects

We changed the format of our geography group study, God's Country Club, to better suit our younger learners. We have 3 families, 10 kids, the oldest two being 10 years old. Several weeks of presenting material got to be hard on the moms and the younger kids.

For our France segment, we announced the country 2 weeks before the first class. During the first class the lead mother cooks the main dish, while the other two moms bring a side dish and a snack. (I made baguettes, of course.) The kids thoroughly enjoy the food aspect of GCC!

The lead mother next presents all the geographic facts about that country. She then has the kids pick projects to present during the next class in two weeks.

Two weeks later, after another cultural lunch, the kids present their projects. Ds#1 did a report about France during WWII. Ds#2 did a report about the origins of the Tricolore, or French flag. With 8 of the 10 kids presenting projects, the group learned a lot of interesting, if focused, information about France.

We're ending for the year since one of the moms will be having her baby within the next three weeks, but we'll pick up again in September!

1 comment:

Cheryl said...

Food just makes geography and history come alive, doesn't it?
Hope the schedule/structure change is working for you guys and the little ones are geting more out of it now.