How Do You Use The Children's Hour for Homeschooling?

The Children's Hour (CH) is great for home educators who want to boost their cultural literacy, expand their breadth and depth of learning, and those who need to show a portfolio of work at the end of the school year. This is a simple system, it all adds up! This also saves the parent hundreds of hours compiling lists of people, art works, music, other resources and links for further study. CH has a yearly theme based on a cycle or era of time:
The Children's Hour:

• Ancient Times (4000 BC- 1 AD)
• Birth of Christianity through Medieval Times (1 AD- 1500 AD)
• Age of Discovery through the Foundations of Liberty (1500 AD- 1800 AD)
• The Restoration and the Fulness of Time (1800 AD - the present).

This makes it easy to select scripture, literature, artists, musicians, mathematicians/ scientists, statesmen, and poets throughout history to learn about.
Power of an hour has three elements:

• scripture episode.
• read-aloud from a classic.
• daily enrichment.

This is flexible enough to use from child to adult age and simple, but can be expanded and taken as deep as one wants to go. This can be a supplement to what you are already doing or it can become a whole curriculum map. So, what is included and how is it used?

For Young Children in Core Phase (about 4-6) and those wanting something simple to expand what they are already doing. We call these Family Scholars because much of their learning takes place as a family. 

If children are mid "core phase" this can be really simple. Read the scripture story from the scriptures, let them become used to the language. Then read a few pages and up to a chapter from a classic. The enrichment can be as easy as sharing at the dinner table, "Guess what I learned today..." Children this age can also learn by what they hear taught to the older children. Think of how well "Little Sister" in Laddie:A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton Porter, gained most of her knowledge before going off to school. She listened as her older brothers and sisters learned. Even Mrs. Stanton, the mother in the story was not formally educated and learned right along with her children! 

We created portfolio for core phase called the Family Scholar Portfolio. This is designed to track where these young family learners have been on their educational journey of discovery and the development of the discipline of habit. This is not a planner, this is more a portfolio. The Family Scholar Portfolio leads into the Aspiring Scholar Portfolio and helps prepare them for the Personal Scholar Portfolio when the become a young scholar. Adult Scholars use the Personal Scholar Portfolio too.

Older Children in Transition to Love of Learning (about 6-8) If children are approaching transition into "love of learning" you can actually just share the ideas and do the activities suggested. This would include reading the scriptures and a classic aloud each day. For a fuller curriculum begin keeping a Family Scholar Notebook, Book of Centuries, Book of Nations, Nature Notebook and:

Sunday- Read and discuss the general conference talk and learn about a person from church history. A great day for family councils and personal interviews too!
Monday- Learn about an artist the first week (and review about the artist the rest of the Mondays) and study one of the artist's works each week. A miniature biography, links and art work are provided. We suggest you do a Charlotte Mason style picture study, where you show your children the picture for a few minutes. Then turn the picture towards you and have them describe the picture they remember. This helps build memory, descriptive capability, and is a pre- composition activity, as well as Art Appreciation. Then teach them the spelling rule, by rule and by pattern. The lessons are short and take only a minute or two!
Tuesday-- Learn of a famous musician the first week. Review about the musician each Tuesday. Study one of his works each week. Miniature biography, picture, links to musical work are provided. Listen to a musical piece by this composer (links provided). Let the children dance or move to the music. Teach them the grammar rule it only takes a few minutes.The lessons include the rule and the pattern.
Wednesday- Learn about a famous mathematician or scientist each week. Learn a living math operation or do a living science activity each week. Miniature biography, pictures, and links to activities provided.
Thursday- Learn about a statesman each week. Learn about a different nation of the world each week. Learn a Hebrew letter, word or phrase each week (second year is Anglo-Saxon Roots, third year is Latin Roots, fourth year is Greek letters and Greek Roots). Miniature biography, links to statesman, nation info, letters and roots (including audio link) are provided.
Friday- Learn about a poet the first week. Review about the poet each week. Study one of his poems each week. Learn about a different state each week. Miniature biography, links for poet, state, and poem are provided.
Saturday- Scripture episode and classic.

Children in Love of Learning Phase (about 8-12) The Children's Hour Plus... Families can do all of the above and more, using The Children's Hour as a springboard for broader and deeper study. A child should have the three reads each day:
* be read to
* read aloud
* read to ones self.
Scripture study can usually satisfy this. Add in a daily walk.

We created an Aspiring Scholar Portfolio for children in the love of learning phase. As children are ready, they can begin to develop their writing through: year one- journaling, keeping their own personal journal, letter writing, keeping inventory, and transcription; year two add autobiography and memories; year three add research through family history; year four add digital publishing through blogging.  Aspiring Scholars also keep their own Book of Centuries, Book of Nations, Commonplace book (for copywork) of quotes from what they and their families are reading; and they keep an Aspiring Scholar Portfolio. The parent can share the extra links provided, or go to the library on Friday to pick up books on the subjects covered the next week. In addition the child can:

Sunday- put the Gospel into action through working on Faith in God, Personal Progress, Duty to God or writing letters, memorizing scripture, learning about people from church history, listening to Conference talks, and more. Also, this is a good night for family counsel, personal interviews, and a family recital of poems memorized, music learned, or anything else they want to share.
Monday- add the artist and the art work studied to their Book of Centuries. They might also want to work on learning to draw or keep a nature notebook. Look for the spelling rule expressed in the scripture or classic.
Tuesday- add the musician and thoughts about his music to their Book of Centuries. They may want to choose to learn to read music or learn to sing or play an instrument. Also, they can look for an example of the grammar rule in the readings of the day.
Wednesday- add the mathematician or scientist to their Book of Centuries. They may also want to experiment further with the living math or living science activity.
Thursday- add the statesman to their Book of Centuries. They may also want to practice writing the Hebrew, create a map of the country studied, learn more about the nation, and add the nation to the Book of Nations.
Friday- add the poet to their Book of Centuries. They may also want to memorize the poem, create a map of the state studied, learn more about the state, and add the state to the Book of Nations.
Saturday- Family activity or service project. One can just keep it simple or one can move this to a full curriculum. Notice, this is not about the parent taking hours to prepare, the preparation has is done. This is based on the idea of exposure, experiment, and embrace. What the child researches and records for themselves they are more likely to recall than when the parent doing all the preparation and the child just receiving it.

Enjoy!