A Babbling Brook of Ideas

Over the last several days, I have felt as though I'm missing something (or things) in our schooling. We've been doing the readings and narrating, but I just didn't feel deep enough. Being so new in all of this, I just have had no clue how to help the learning process or take it a little further for the kids. However, now I've been given a small nudge and the ideas are beginning to stream in (well, more like a small brook, but they're coming nonetheless).

Today, I happened upon a neat little website that happens to have a list of activites for the book Paddle to the Sea (used in AO year 1). I was so excited to read all of this that we are going to start over with the book and do more of it. I just don't think that Benjamin Bunny has soaked in very much, so we are going to have more fun with it! Here's the link Paddle to the Sea. I'm so excited! I also found a canoe coloring page here. And this website has great coloring pictures of birds.

On a walk yesterday, we saw a hummingbird. Those little critters are so quick, it was hard to tell what kind it was. I think it might have been a black-chinned though. A few weeks ago, we happened upon some California Quails in a parking lot at a hiking park near here and that was cool. They sure are beautiful birds! There were so many of them! We also got to see some cactus wrens.

Beginning Shakespear? It's been interesting for us. I'm loving the stories. (Why didn't we read these in school when I was younger? I'm getting it so much better now!) Now, Benjamin Bunny on the other hand, not so much. I'd have to say this is not his favorite reading. But he participates. So, I did some more searching and found this website or blog or something specifically about Shakespeare for children. There are some great printouts and at least a couple good ideas to get the wheels turning or interest turned up a little. We're going to do this week's reading again and try one of these and see how it works. This link is on that page, but I must mention it here because it is absolutely wonderful! You've got to visit this place, there are some great activities for the kids - a few online games that could occupy for a little while (something completely necessary now and then), a neat page with activites to share for Puck, word scrambles and meanings, challenge questions, and several others. It's pretty cool!

We also have our handicraft idea for at least this term. A clock. He's interested in them right now and it will be neat for him to read up on how a clock works and then make one on his own. We're not going the whole gear route this time, most likely. It's going to depend on what kits we can find. That would be cool though.

Well, that's it folks! I do hope you enjoy those ideas and web hits. They seem pretty cool to me and like they will be rather helpful.

Beginning the pendulum swing back into a somewhat semblance of normalcy, and signing off for this time,
~me

In Need of Time Off

We sure did get back into the swing of things! But I'm afraid I did it too soon. We just moved! I'm still trying to get things back in order for the house and we have several boxes unpacked. I haven't hammered a single picture up to the walls yet and it looks very sad to me. We do have a map of the US up though! I thought that would be good for school. ;) The World Map is next. Ha! Listen to me! Before I get family pictures and decorations up, I'm putting up school maps. What a teacher am I, right? We have been enjoying the winter season and Christmas activities. The kids have made Santa hand pictures (oh, how I wish I could post pictures right now!), lots of snow flakes, lots of sweet treats, snowmen, and we've wrapped Christmas presents. I'm thinking about taking time tomorrow to make some general Christmas cards and then find a nursing or assisted living home for the kids to take them to. I read that idea today and thought it would be good to help the kids think of others right now. We've had a lot of "me, me, me" and "I want, I want, I want."
For me, Christmas is a season that I get to see other people light up! I love to get together with family and friends and see other people smile and laugh! I love to sit back and watch it all unfold. All of it. I'd rather watch the madness of opening all the presents than to open those given to me. Oh, don't get me wrong, I open them and I'm excited about that part too. It's fun to see what others put into their thoughts about us. But I enjoy the laughter and squeals of excitement.
This is a season that so many dedicate to Jesus, his birth. I'm so thankful that God sent Jesus to earth for us. I'm so thankful for that night that Mary gave birth to our Savior! We have definitely started talking about the tree and what each part of the tree represents for us. We never did that while I was growing up. We didn't emphasize Jesus at Christmas time. I understand why my parents did that and it makes sense to me. But at this time in my life, it is important. The approach we take on this flows in the following manner:
1. We put up the tree - talk about what the tree is. It has wood (among other things). But we get to the wood part. We talk about the cross, it was wood and came from a tree. We talk about Jesus and his life and what he did for us at the cross.
2. We talk about the lights. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus lives in us and so we are lights too. All the small lights represent Christians and the star at the top represents Jesus because his light was the ultimate light for us all.
3. Then we get to the ornaments. We talk about all the special moments in our life and how God has blessed us with those moments and memories. Each ornament has a story behind it and we spend at least a few seconds on each one.

This year I have noticed that perhaps I'm not spending enough time on thinking about others. As of today, I am going to change that. Cards tomorrow, treats for others at the end of the week, and other things to come.

Christmas, I love it! We were definitely in need of some time off. We jumped right back into school immediately after arriving at our new home and haven't quit. Monday was a day that I had the "I do not want to teach!" feelings! I want to get things in order! I want to have time to do all of these projects! Christmas is here - it's time for a break!

Term 2 ... Lots to Do!

Whew! Term 1 was pretty good. I did find myself questioning the method, if it really was right for our family. Wondering if I was doing things right. Term 1 exams were very telling. Also, now that we are into T2, I know the answer to all of those questions. The answer is a resounding YES! Things are going so fabulously wonderful right now. Readings have gotten better and I feel that we are on the right track. The only thing is that I do feel we might need to add a bit more for science. I've been looking at the God's Design series. I think we are going to start with the Life set soon.

We have recently moved to the Phoenix area and this is largely different from our atmosphere in Kansas! However, I'm loving it and we really do have quite a bit within good distance from us. We are fairly close to mountains, half a day from the ocean, and we live in the desert. There is a lot to be learned about God's creation with that variety! I'm so grateful for the moves we have had because our children have had the opportuinity to see so much of the great creativity God had when creating our world! This summer we made a trip to Canada, driving. Our family has nearly driven from one side of this country to the other in it's entirety. It is a beautiful country! I am glad to say I'm a part of it.

Now to get to what we've been doing for T2 and what the plans are (they are just plans, they can change!).

Bible - OT: beginning in Joshua; NT: starting in Luke
Composer - Edvard Grieg
Artist - John Singer Sargent
We are following the reading list from AO year 1 and we are enjoying all of the books. The only change we have made is that we are reading The Wonderclock instead of The Blue Fairy Book.
For nature studies, I'll get us out to as many places as we can find. There is Papago park close to the zoo, Estrella mountain, south mountain, and some other mountains close by. We have talked about going up to Sedona sometime and finding lots of hiking around. Next summer, we are going to go to the Grand Canyon! Sometime after that, we will head out to the ocean!
For science this term we are supposed to be studying birds, but I'm not sure how we will really incorporate that, we haven't seen too many birds around here. I'll have to take a trip to a wildlife store of some kind to see what I can find out about wildlife out here. It is really different! Lots to learn!
This Christmas, I am planning on us learning a little more this year about traditions, symbols, and read more Christmas themed books.

We started Flopsy in Kindergarten officially this week. We have her "curriculum" and we are doing about 45 minutes each day. Right now, we are working on the creation and making a creation book. We're using MFW right now for this early year. She was just so anxious to get started and wanted something official! It's been interesting figuring out how to school two children at once while entertaining a busy toddler. So far, overall, things are running fairly smoothly. I have my moments though!

Well, I wanted to get on and update after the move. I'll try to post more this term.

Term 1 ... Nearly DONE!

Woo Hoo!
Man, have the last two months been insane! We are now MOVING!! We have been keeping up the work, but boy am I getting tired. My thoughts about home educating my children...

Wow, this is a lot of work!
Charlotte Mason was an amazing, inspiring woman and I am so glad that I was pointed in her direction. There is so much for me to learn. I have yet to make it through the first volume. I feel slightly frantic about that because I am wanting to keep up with the discussion on AO's yahoo group, but they are already in Vol. 2! I tried to start up a discussion group here locally, and that went down the drain immediately, no one showed up. I wasn't too bothered by it, we are moving and there just wasn't enough time to really devote to it. I'd really like to have someone to talk to (in person) about it. A group of moms who are trying to follow the same path as I.
In other directions ~ I am loving the nature studies. Well, mostly. I love getting out with my kids. But I'm also wondering if they are really learning anything. We've been looking at mammals this term (after what I saw scheduled on the AO site). I have had Flopsy and Benjamin trace or color a picture of the animal we are currently learning about and then we go to farms or other places and watch them. The kids have definitely had fun with it. I suppose I'll know eventually if they've learned anything about them.
Music has been a little more enjoyable. We have really liked listening to Mendelssohn. The kids favorite it the Spinning Song! They actually made up a story to go along with it. It was a story about our family franticly cleaning our house and yard. It was hillarious! I should have recorded it.
Picture study has been nice. I have absolutely loved Monet's work. He's my favorite right now. We went to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and that was fantastic. We went right after they opened and we went just for Monet's works, so we got out of there pretty quickly. No fuss and no mess from the kids! Monet's works make me want to jump right inside and just stay there forever. They are simply lovely. Benjamin's favorite was the Field of Poppies.
Art, well, lack of it is all I can say.
History. WOW! Even I am getting some new knowledge from this subject. Today, we connected Benjamin Franklin with England and then that back to the book Our Island Story! There was quite an "Ah Ha!" moment! We are beginning to see things connect together. It's wonderful. He has learned that the US wasn't always the way it is now. We didn't originate on this continent and that the story of the US actually starts on the other side of the world!
Literature has been fun. We love Aesop. Parables from Nature has been fun too. We have really been enjoying Just So Stories. Shakespear had a great introduction. We had been listening to some audios of Magic Tree House stories and a few weeks before we read Midsummer Night's Dream, we heard the MTH story for that one. Jonathan loved it. Well, I did too. ;)
We've been working on cursive writing and that is going well. Copywork has been all over the place. Memorization has not been that good this term. I'm going to have to get better about that one. Also, I've been perhaps lacking in the Bible part of our schooling. Character traits. We did great for the first six weeks, but since our move has become a bigger deal, I've really slacked on more than I should. I just figure that once we get settled in our new place, things will get better.

I'm still contemplating everything about this method of homeschooling. There have been many a day that I've wanted to throw it down and say I've had enough. My little Peter Rabbit. He's becoming a two-year-old and wants ALL of Mommy. We have had to adjust our schedule quite majorly and we are still ajusting to that. Some mornings, all Peter does is scream at us. It's a struggle, but God is helping us through it all. I know we'll be okay. On days like this my thoughts have turned to putting someone in school (and that may happen for little Peter - preschool isn't all that bad). I've wanted to switch to the boxed curriculum where it's all there for me and Benjamin could just sit down and do the work mainly on his own. All the reading that I'm having to do this year has been at times frustrating. But then I think about how much he loves it. How much I love what I'm learning. What we wouldn't have if we were doing it any other way! We have noticed a change in our two oldest children. They are maturing, they are growing! Just today, I witnessed complete selflessness from my daughter! We have seen what true love is shining through these young children! {Now, complete obedience is still in the works, but... ;) } Without homeschooling (and yes, I think even using the CM method has done this) I know our children wouldn't show this kind of love to one another.

I will leave you with a note that my husband and I found last night while putting some clothes away in our Flopsy's room. This brought tears to both our eyes.

"I {heart} you Flopsy. You are A big girl. You make me laph. You make me hpey.
{heart} Benjamin."

(blog names inserted in place of given names)

A planned interruption

Week 2 encompassed more than just a week. We took half the week off to get ready for our trip to Canada! We were gone for nearly two weeks and it was fabulous! Oh, I wish I had time to write everything about the trip. Let me just say that the trip was very fun, we got to see my sister and her children (after two long years!) and we experienced a lot of Geography, including some of the places we'll be talking about in Paddle! It truly was an exciting trip, but I'm glad to be back home.

Today, we began week three of term 1, year 1. I've thought that perhaps that planned interruption was not such a good idea. We've had to work back into the narrations and sitting down for copy work and everything else. We didn't even get to math today! Ahh! I've got to get that done tonight. Anyway, I'm sure that we will smooth back into the routine we had going for us and things will begin to go much better soon.

Some of my thoughts about the Charlotte Mason method have wandered everywhere from, "This is fantastic, exactly what I was thinking!" to, "Is this really getting through to him? Is he really going to learn doing it this way?" I guess that we all go through periods of time when we have highs and excitement and then, we have the lows of unsurity. In-spite of the lows, I'm going to keep trucking along. I really do enjoy the reading and the short lessons. It's been proven for so long, so I must have faith.

Today, being the start of the third week also marks the start of new picture studies, change of song in composer studies, new animal for nature studies, and a few others. It's going to be a great week, I know it!
We began looking at Monet's "Field of Poppies", we will listen to Mendelssohn's Spinning Song, and we are studying our cats for nature studies!
Until next time, my friends.
Blessings from my heart to your home!

Walking through a zoo or farm

Yesterday, when we were walking through the farm, we enjoyed our stay so much. I told the children that we were there for the goats and that we would do other things after we were done watching the goats. It worked out wonderfully!

While we were studying them, I noticed a few families that came by. The children would so be soaking in every bit of what they could. They were having fun getting to know these wonderful creatures! After just a couple of minutes, not even enough time to appreciate the animals, mom would start saying, "Come on honey, we need to go. Let's get going. Come on, let's go see everything else. Let's go!" I know I used to be this way too, but when one learns how to appreciate nature and then hears this, it makes one want to turn around and say, "Now, hang on a minute! Your child just got here and wants to have a nice conversation with a new friend! Why don't you come over here and find out how amazing these creatures are! Give your child a chance to at least say hello and watch it for a few minutes!" But I must keep my mouth shut. It is a pity that children are so often rushed on to the next activity.

That is one aspect of Miss Mason's methods that I have come to appreciate so much. It has really made me slow down and soak in all that God has blessed me with.

Another wonderful CM day! Wk 2 Day 1

We finished off our reading for the day and Benjamin Bunny's narrations are doing great. Flopsy is even beginning to tell a little about the things she hears. Today, we read the Burgess Bird Book and she just loved that our favorite Beatrix Potter character was in the story!
We finished the field study for our Nature Study of goats today. We got to ask a few questions and the children were able to feed some baby pygmy goats. It was absolutely wonderful. Tomorrow, I'm going to ask them some questions about the goats and get an official writing for what we've learned about goats. We'll work on the pictures for our Nature Journals as well. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these lovely creatures and I call them my friend.

Week 1 down and now on to #2

Last week was fantastic! We thoroughly enjoyed all the berry picking. The nature study of goats was so fun, we get to do it again today! All the books are so wonderful, I have never read such beautiful works! Benjamin has been saying, keep reading, don't stop! He said so many times last week - I love school! I love school! I love math! The only thing we're going to struggle with is going to be writing and doing his own reading. I've told him that right now, he needs to be reading to me at least for 10-15 minutes a day. For writing, I'm going to gradually work him up to 2 verses for copy work. I also have available for him a notebook for creative writing.
Well, I'm looking forward to another wonderful week. I'll leave with a few pictures from last week.
Enjoy!

A Lovely Morning Walk!

This morning, Benjamin and I went on a regular morning walk and went off the road on a little excursion. We found the most wonderful thing! WILD blackberries!
It was fabulous. What a wonderful way to start a new day.

Day One, Day One, 2nd grade has begun!

Well, folks. We officially made it through our first day of our first offical CM / AO year 1.

Notes:
my schedule is out the window now! It was a great ideal, but goodness, did God ever show me that I have no say in how our days go! We did fine though. I just need to give more time to things like meals and clean up. And I need to do some of the reading while Peter Rabbit is taking his nap.
I do fear that I pushed too hard on the first literature reading and naration. It was "A Lesson of Faith" from PARABLES OF NATURE. It was only 7 pages, but how could I expect him to narrate 7 pages!? He did fine for that nevertheless. I am proud of him and have decided that I need to divide up the readings quite a bit more, but now I'm wondering how I'll fit it all in.
Today, we also did nature study. We are doing mammals and the goat was our first subject. We went to a local farm and watched the goats for probably 15-20 minutes. The children loved it so much! We really did have a good time. One thing that Benjamin said he learned today is that he thought nature was only plants and insects, but it's not, it's animals too! Oh, there is a world of knowledge awaiting him! I'm so excited for him. Little Flopsy just soaked it all in and loved the animals. We also took some time to look at the other animals there and went to pick some black berries. It was a lovely day.
But I've got to slow my horses down. I have this perfect picture in my head and I need to do some serious erasing! Well, school is over for today and tomorrow is day two, a fresh new day with a clean slate.
Thank you, Father, for the graces of this day.

A wonderful morning at the lake...in a wild flower meadow

Saturday was wonderful. We woke up early and got some things done and then decided we had enough time to go to the lake and just enjoy the peaceful morning. It couldn't have been more of a CM morning for us so far! It was absolutely lovely! I needn't say anymore. The pictures will speak for themselves.

Scheduling...AAHHH!

Actually, I guess it's not a horrified scream. Maybe more of a rejoicing scream! Today, I think that our schedule came together. I'm hoping it works. I keep looking at it in wonder and amazement, thinking, "how do I ever get it all done?" I've been trying to read Managers of Their Homes and have been working to implement the scheduling ideas. All I can say is I hope this works. I think it's going to be nice. We laid down what chores will be for each child (yes, even Peter Rabit has chores) daily, and weekly. If this works, our 'home' will be running so well! My main thoughts are about how the school part of it all is going to work. Using CM, there are several things studied once a week and so that puts us in a position of basicly a different school schedule each day. I'm anxious to see how it all plays out.

Two Weeks...Count down continues!

Yep, we have two weeks till our first official day of our first year using AO. I'm excited. We celebrated a wonderful 4th of July and are now head long into preparing for our first week. I've been trying so hard to get a schedule put together, trying to figure out when to do everything and what days. It's going to be a great schedule, as it looks right now. I'm just trying to figure out how to make it all work with an anxious pre-schooler (Flopsy) and an ever growing mischevious toddler (Peter Rabbit). I'm not too concerned though. God will guide us.

We purchased "school suppplies" yesterday. It was fun for the kids to pick out new folders, notebooks, and pencils for the new year starting so soon. We have also decided on our selections for term 1 composer study, and the print selections for picture study. This first term, we are not going to follow the suggestions for these two. Since we will be reading Mid-Summer Nights Dream in Shakespear, we are going to listen to Mendelssohn and use his Wedding March during that story. We will be looking at the artwork of Monet now as opposed to term 3 because there is an extremely large work of his "Water Lillies" at the museum in KC and we may be moving very soon. I wanted to give the kids a definite opportunity to see a work that we will be studying in person. How fantastic will that be?!

I've just about got everything in place and I think I can say,

I'M READY, BRING IT ON!

Yay!

A Nature Walk through Echos of History

Last night was marvelous. We went to Shawnee Mission Park and went down into more of a natural area. It had the tall grass prairie of KS and it was down by a creek. It was simply a delightful walk for our family. We came to a display stating that some Native Americans lived in that area about a thousand years ago. The kids really got into it. We heard a lot of sounds that made the kids think there were still people living down there, carving rocks. Then, later, as we were walking more in the prairie part of it, Flopsy related that we were like the Ingalls! We then proceeded to run in the tall grass, just like Laura did as a girl. It was fun to pretend to be in a time so long ago. We picked a few wild-flowers and brought them home. We also picked a couple of leaves from two different trees to bring home and try to identify. That is still in need of being done. I want to have the kids identify them and then do a leaf rubbing. That would be fun! We also took some of the flowers and pressed them, preparing our scrapbook of pressed flowers (as discussed in CMs list of attainments for a child of six).

Today has been pretty wonderful too. This evening, Flopsy found a frog in our garden. We watched it for a while and then she really wanted to get out her Nature Journal for this upcoming year and paint this frog. She wanted my help so I helped her see the lines in the shape of the frog and we figured out how to draw it as best we could, then she filled it in with her water colors. It turned out quite cute. I must remember to date it and label what it is and where she found it.

The school year is nearing rapidly as we have two weeks until our first day. I'm sure this promises to be our best yet. Flopsy will begin a light kindergarten year including: a plethera of reading material (AO's Year 0 book list); a letter for the week; about two or three numbers a week; a color each month; and nature studies, composer studies, picture studies, art studies, handicrafts, lifeskills, hymns, folk songs, and Bible studies all with big brother Benjamin. Benjamin's 2nd grade year will include the above studies with Flopsy and AO's Year 1 book list and schedule. We are awaiting these new studies with extreme excitement!

Bible Studies

This morning, I found a fantastic free Bible Curriculum! As I was sifting through things in the Padfield website, I discovered the website for Wycliffe Bible Translators. They have a few links to a wonderful set of Bible class curriculums, most of which seem to be geared toward missions. At first glance, it seems fantastic and definitely something we will add in to what we will already be using. The first set we will use will be on prayer. They have a journal for children. This is going to be a fantastic journey through prayer, I think Flopsy and Benjamin will benefit greatly from this study.

18 days until DAY 1 of the new school year!

Plans for today: A trip to Shawnee Park, fun in the summer sun, but also a small amount of Nature Study.
Time to prepare for the day.

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Charlotte Mason Seminar

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending a seminar learning about the method of Charlotte Mason and some tips on how to apply her method in our home. Here are a few things I took away from this wonderful day.

She was an amazing woman and I am so thankful to God for her insight!

I am, I can, I ought, I will. We are made in the image of God. We should have balanced goals that we can accomplish. We are under God's authority, our conscience should lead us in the right direction following the rules of right and wrong. And through Christ we should be compelled to do what is right, propelled forward to conquer!

No formal academics before the age of six years! No exceptions. The eyes of a child were formed to see at a distance, to grow a relationship with God and his creation. They just aren't developmentally ready for the formal lessons.

Take your time when studying art and composers. This was one I am so glad to have heard. I just wasn't sure about how to go about studying those two. But the suggestions about how to take our time and really get to know each piece was great. Two weeks at a time will be perfect.

There is much more to learn. Just like the Bible, I don't think I will ever be done learning about all Ms. Mason had to offer. I am going to begin a discussion group studying her volumes. I pray that there is at least one other woman who wants to join me in this journey.

Since I returned home, I've been planning our new school year. We are planning to begin on July 20th. We've got a trip to Canada planned that will occupy two weeks out of the school year and so it was just logical to start two weeks earlier. Also, we may be moving (who knows when - perhaps by Dec.), so starting in September would have just put us farther behind. This way we will probably finish either early or right on time at the end of May or June. Maybe.

For our first year, I am beginning Benjamin in Year 1 of AO. He will technically be in 2nd grade, but I didn't want him to miss any of the readings and I don't think that he will be too far behind starting at this point. For Flopsy, we will begin Year 0 with reading, but no formal reading lessons or math lessons. However, she will be more than welcome to sit in on our lessons with Benjamin! With Peter, I just hope to survive. I'm working on the schedule through "Managers of their Homes." Hopefully I can get it all tied down by August. But realisticly, I'm guessing I'll just get us through each day until we move. I'm going to work at it though.

Introductions

To begin this "story" you must know who we are. We've got three rather bouncy bunnies around here, so to properly refer to them, we have settled on Ms. Potter's names of a few characters in her stories.

The eldest, we've decided will be Benjamin Bunny. This Benjamin is 7 years old and just finished first grade. He's the leader of these three and is quite the protector of his siblings. He's not quite as mischevious as Peter Rabbit, but as Benjamin did in the book, he can get into quite a pickle, right there along with Peter. This bunny, loves to be out doors, play music, play sports, and has expressed a growing interest in being an artist like Van Gogh.


Our second, we've decided will be Flopsy. There isn't a lot written about Flopsy, Mopsy, or Cotton Tail, so we decided the name just fit her better. She is extremely flopsy! She loves to bounce off the walls! We are constanly catching her trying to do "tricks" on the living room furniture. She's my tree climber already. She's also quite the little runner. She will be 5 this fall and is ready to begin kindergarten. She is eager to read and write and count! She enjoys coloring and being out doors, especially nature walks.


Now, our third, we've decided has to be "Peter Rabbit". He has been just as mischevious as that little tyke of a bunny. He's gotten a thrill out of secretly coloring himself head to toe with (thankfully washable) marker while he was supposed to be napping. He's a climber too, who loves to get on the dining table. He thinks he's just as big as the other two and wants to be just like them, but in his own way! He's very independent and wants to experience life to the fullest! He's also lost several shoes already, so the name just fits this little tyke! He is one and a half, will be two in Nov.

Summer Time

With the heat and humidity rising, it is so tempting to stay indoors! We have found a new appreciation for the outdoors and are striving to soak in as much of the fresh, God-given air as we can! This is the first of hopefully many more posts documenting our life long learning. Welcome to our blog and we hope you enjoy the posts to come.

Blessings!