Recitation: Daddy’s favorite part of the week

I think Jason’s favorite part of homeschooling is our Saturday recitation session.

Let me start with our 30 minute (ha! closer to 45 and we’re going to have to make it an hour soon) daily Circle Time.  School starts with Circle Time, we 

• pray
• sing the Doxology
• recite (Nicene Creed)
• sing our hymn for the month
• recite Bible verses
• sing last month’s hymn
• recite catechism
• sing another hymn from our past memory work
• poetry
• skip counting
• other misc memory work (name, address, phone, something holiday-related like the Star Spangled Banner in June)

I read (the same) poem every day for a week and I’m going to add a Nursery Rhyme.  This is all kept in our Memory Work binder which you can see here.

After breakfast on Saturdays (usually between 10:00 and 1030), we grab the memory work binder.

Jason and I sit on the couch and the children stand in front of the TV.  They are to stand with their feet slightly apart and hand folded either before them or behind them.  They start by singing the Doxology and their current hymn(s) all together.  Then two of the children come and sit with us.  They are to sit up, not hold any blankets/toys, and fold their hands and listen.  The child who stays in the front is to continue to stand straight, hands folded, and speak clearly (we do allow R-girl to sit in a child sized chair because the child cannot stand still by herself).

I go through the binder for their Memory work from above.  They do all their individual work, then sit and the next child goes.  This is their chance to practice elocution and to show Daddy what all they’ve been working on.

Some goals I’d like to work on as we go, I’d like to have the children present their projects [ahem] that we do for the week.  I’d like to have projects they’ve worked on for the week.  My ultimate goal is to have an annual Open House in November (the end of our school year) with all of our projects on display for family & friends.

Have I mentioned that Jason *loves* recitation? He loves hearing all the things the children have been learning that they wouldn’t normally tell him at the end of the day.  We both love that they’re working on presentation skills at this age.  I *love* recitation because I can use it as a carrot during the week, “Don’t forget, you’re going to be reciting for Daddy on Saturday, let’s work on this.”  I also use it for assessment and move their Memory Work to different parts of the binder as appropriate.

It is a win-win-win situation, and I would encourage anyone to try and fold it into their school schedule!