Ideas for K-3
These are ideas for the younger grades—about first through third, students who are still solidifying their reading and writing skills.
1. Listen to a portion of an audiobook. It could be a professionally narrated audiobook or the parent reading the book aloud. Send a photograph and do a write-up about what the student did.
2. Draw out a picture of a narration time or audio-record a narration.
3. Do word-building. Give a word-building challenge that fits the level of your student’s reading skills. For example, the parent might assign a beginning reader to see how many words he can build with -en at the end. For more experienced readers, the parent could assign more difficult words to build, such as thinking of words with a silent gh or words that have at least one silent letter. The parent can level this assignment up or down to fit the student. Take photographs as the student is working and then have them dictate what they did.
4. Prepare the next reader story. If the student is at the stage where she is reading aloud from a reader, assign her to look through the next story in that reader and see how much she can pre-read so she will be ready to go when it comes time to read it aloud. If she gets stuck on a word, she can write it down or put a sticky note on that page. Have the student dictate what they discovered, words they needed help on, etc.
5. Copy or transcribe some favorite lines from a poem. If you have a third grader, you can also have him study the spelling of the words he is transcribing and be prepared to write some of those words from memory.
6. Play dominoes. Line up dominoes, end to end, making sure that any ends that touch have the same number of dots. That is a good way to work on visual discrimination and the skills of matching patterns. Plus, the child can be creative and decide which dominoes he wants to turn in which direction. Have the parent take photographs and the student dictate what s/he was doing.
Ideas for All Grades
Here are some ideas that could work for both younger and older students.
7. Work on memorizing (or reviewing) a poem or lines from Shakespeare. Send the poem along with the student’s copywork and dictation of what he/she memorized.
8. Listen to a song or story or rhyme in the foreign language that you are learning and then write out what the story or poem is about.
9. Listen to a composer selected from that term and then write about what the student heard and any insights s/he has about the music.
10. Look through pictures of the term’s selected artist. Have your student select one picture from the ones that you’ve already introduced, look at it, then turn it over and try to draw its elements from memory. Have the student send a work sample using that same technique.
11. Determine a given route on a world map or U.S. map. Choose a region that the student is familiar with and challenge him to find the best route from point A to point B. You can designate whether he is allowed to fly or must go by land or by sea. Have the student submit the map as a work sample showing the route and describing the mode of transportation.
12. Complete a math number sentence card or two. These cards contain a handful of number sentences related to one specific number or one specific table. They can also contain a combination of number equations from previously studied tables. The student can take a photograph as they work, or send in cards s/he has prepared to practice at home.
13. Sketch or paint something from the nature table. If the family has brought some nature items indoors, the student can take some time to look closely at an object of his choice and try to draw or paint it in his nature notebook. Drawing is important in Charlotte Mason education.
14. Sketch or paint a nature object of interest from a field guide. Some nature friends do not live close to you, so your child might like to look through a beautifully illustrated field guide and choose a nature object that s/he doesn’t usually get to see. By drawing or painting that object from the illustration or photograph,s/ he will be encouraged to look at it more closely.
15. And speaking of looking closely, the parent might assign the student to watch a nature friend quietly for a few minutes to see what habits s/he can observe. Such friends might include birds on a feeder, ants on a sidewalk, or kittens in a box, for example. Have them draw or write about what they see.
16. Do a special outdoor study. Part of nature and science lessons for Charlotte’s students included doing a special study, whether dog training, flower pressing, gardening, or whatever. Time to work on that special study makes a good independent assignment.
17. Build a model of a building from the historical period you are studying. If the family has read about a famous construction, the student can build a model of it. You can level this assignment up or down by determining the amount of detail that should be included and what materials you want him to use. Younger students can build with wooden blocks; older students might create more intricate models by designing their own interlocking pieces from cardboard.
These are just some ideas, and not at all exhaustive to the Charlotte Mason approach.