ambleside online Archives

March 2019 Memory Work Plans

Kiel LemonFebruary 28, 2019Leave a comment

Here we are, marching into March already! I must say that February simply flew by around here, excepting the part of the month in which it seemed to rain for a week straight. (We did get over 13 inches of rain here in Middle TN in February, so I didn’t exactly imagine all that water!) I had to scramble to get this month’s memory work in order for today, though to be honesty, we won’t actually use it until next week. No need to start a new batch on a Friday, in my opinion! But I wanted to get it out semi-on time for you all anyway. I do want to apologize that this month there will not be a free printable, though. I have been thinking about the fact that several of the texts I am using this month are not technically in the public domain, even if they can be found online. So I am just going to link to what I can and leave it at that. I hope you enjoy learning some of these songs, hymns and texts along with your own family this March!

March Memory Work:

Prayer: a Morning Collect from The Book of Common Prayer
Hymn: What Wondrous Love is This
Folksongs: Leatherwing Bat, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Poetry: Spring by Harry Behn
Scripture: Colossians 3:12-13
Catechism: Questions 13 and 14 from the New City Catechism (children’s version)
Motto: Family Way #8 from Our 24 Family Ways

In Homeschooling, Uncategorized

February 2019 Memory Work Plans

Kiel LemonJanuary 30, 2019Leave a comment

Hi there, friends! It is coooold in 80 percent of the continental US at the moment, and Tennessee is no different! But the end of winter is coming, albeit slowly. February marks that time of year in our lives when we are weary of winter and waiting for spring. It also frequently marks that tired time of the year for homeschool families when everyone just wants to quit. So I offer you some brand new memory work to liven things up a little bit!

If you have been following our memory work plans for a while, you may notice that this month’s Scripture memory portion is a lot shorter than usual. That is because we have started using the Scripture Memory System recommended by Sonya Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason. I wanted to have time to be reviewing the passages we had already memorized without making that portion of our morning time together seem like a burden. As a result, we are probably going to keep our passages in the 1-3 verse range for a while.

February Memory Work

Prayer: God Be in My Head from The Sarum Primer

Hymn: Crown Him with Many Crowns

Catechism: Review Questions 11 and 12 of the New City Catechism (shorter version)

Motto: Family Way #7 from Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson

Scripture: Ephesians 4:29

Poetry: The Wild Flower’s Song by William Blake

Folksongs: Walk That Lonesome Valley, I Love You a Bushel and a Peck

Free Printable Plans

I am including a free printable version of these memory work plans for you all! I went back to the landscape layout for the smaller binder pages this month, as well as changing up fonts and doing a little embellishing. Let me know if you are using these memory work plans, and if you have any questions or suggestions. Until next time, have a happy homeschool day!

In Homeschooling, Uncategorized, Writing Life

Day 28: Song #write31days2018

Kiel LemonOctober 29, 2018October 29, 2018Leave a comment

If you have been following my blog for a while, you know that music and singing are important in our family. Not only is my husband a music pastor, but we both majored in music in college and have both led choirs of various ages. In our homeschool, as well, music has a prominent place.

Each day during our morning time, my children and I sing a hymn and one or two folk songs. We also listen to instrumental pieces by important composers weekly. My son has to practice piano every day, and I have also gotten back into the habit of practicing a couple of piano pieces daily!

Song is such an important part of our family culture. It expressed praise to our Creator. It gives us a creative outlet. It forms a basis for shared family memories. I don’t know what we would do if we couldn’t sing or play music together.

As I think on the importance of music in our home and homeschool, I realize that it is nearly the end of October. That means that it is time for me to get another set of Memory Work Plans posted here! So I will take this opportunity to share those as an addition to this post. We are going with a Thanksgiving theme, of course!

November Memory Work Plans

Due to the demands of writing daily for the Write 31 Days challenge, I am not able to offer a printable plan for download this month. I did include links to everything, though. I hope that next month I will be able to continue the printables, though. Thanks for understanding!

Prayer: For our prayer this month, we will be using Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem “We Thank Thee.”

Catechism: This month we are reviewing questions 7 and 8 of the New City Catechism.

Hymn: The AmblesideOnline hymn for this month is All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name. We have not previously done this one in our homeschool, so we will be doing it as scheduled.

Mottos: We are learning Way #5 from Our 24 Family Ways (affiliate link) this month.

Scripture: Our scripture passage this month is Psalm 100.

Poem: Last month we learned the first two stanzas of “When the Frost is on the Punkin,”so we will continue and memorize the final two this month.

Folk Songs: I just realized that I mixed up the scheduled AO folksongs for October and November, so we will be learning “Freight Train” and “Over the River and Through the Woods” this month.

In Homeschooling

October 2018 Memory Work Plans and Printable

Kiel LemonSeptember 30, 2018Leave a comment

It looks like I’m a bit behind on planning for the month of October. September was unusually busy for our family, and the end of month was the culmination of everything with the CiRCE Conference at New College Franklin yesterday. (It was so good, but also exhausting! So many deep thoughts to ponder!) So here I am, not a day too soon, quite literally, with our memory work plans for the month of October.

October 2018 Memory Work Plans:

Prayer: I am excepting a few lines from Douglas McKelvey’s “A Liturgy for Students & Scholars” which is one of many excellent liturgies included in his book Every Moment Holy.

Catechism: This month we are reviewing questions 4-6 of the New City Catechism.

Hymn: The AmblesideOnline hymn for this month is Like a River Glorious. We have not previously done this one in our homeschool, so we will be doing it as scheduled.

Mottos: We are learning Way #4 from Our 24 Family Ways (affiliate link) this month, in addition to the following motto from Mystie Winkler’s collection: Respon cheerfully, politely and promptly.

Scripture: Our scripture passage this month is Psalm 119:1-8.

Poem: I wanted to teach my children “When the Frost is on the Punkin” by James Whitcomb Riley, both because it is seasonally appropriate and because he was one of our poets this year. It is a longer one, however, so I decided we will just learn the first two stanzas this month.

Folk Songs: We just learned the scheduled AO folksong in August, so I picked “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Loch Lomond” for October.

Free Printable Plans:

If you need some quick last minute memory work plans, here is the free download link to print and use in your own homeschool morning time! Enjoy!

In Homeschooling, Uncategorized

September 2018 Memory Work Plans with Free Printable

Kiel LemonAugust 23, 2018August 23, 2018Leave a comment

We stepped outside this morning, and the air was almost crisp, with the scent of dry leaves hanging in the air. Fall is coming! It is still August, and I know hot days are still going to be with us for a while, but that hint of autumn weather got us all a little excited. September is right around the corner, so here are our new memory work plans for next month!

I have been trying to add a little thematic material to our memory work, sometimes to go with the season or holidays. At first I thought maybe we would do a poem and folk song with some sort of autumn theme, apples or leaves or the like. But when I was flipping through our poetry books, the poem “Eletelephony” caught my eye. I’ve always enjoyed a good tongue twister type of poem, so I chose it along with “One Elephant Went Out to Play” (made popular by Sharon, Lois and Bram back when I was a little kid!) I think my kids will get a kick out of these silly rhymes, and it’s always good to start out our homeschool day with smiles! I hope if you use these plans, your children will enjoy them, too!

August Memory Work

Hymn: Children of the Heavenly Father

Catechism: Review Questions 1, 2 and 3 of the New City Catechism (shorter version)

Motto: Family Way #3 from Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson, and “Obey right away, all the way, with a good attitude, every day.”

Scripture: James 1:22-25

Poetry: Eletelephony by Laura E. Richards

Folksongs: Cockles and Mussels, One Elephant Went Out to Play

Free Printable Plans

As I did last month, I am including a free printable version of these memory work plans for you all! I decided to simplify and just do formatting for the vertical 8.5×11 version this time. But you can still choose to print booklet style or 2 pages to a sheet if you wish, which is what I will be doing. Let me know if you are using these memory work plans, and if you have any questions or suggestions. Until next time, have a happy homeschool day!