Rain Rain Rain

What a rainy few weeks we have had in our area. A few weeks back we had a Nor'easter come through. The next day we walked down to the pond to see how much water was "dumped" on us. I found some before pictures of the spill way to compare. 

Before the rain

After the rain

I had to add this picture of the mill house that is on the property that is across from the spillway. The water that you see surrounding it has flooded over the banks of the stream that runs adjacent to the mill house. I am thankful that our house is uphill from the pond!

A Spring Trip to the Zoo

This past Monday brought with it a taste of spring weather so we decided to do a quick trip to the zoo. We are so blessed that our small city has a zoo that is less than 10 minutes away. This was sort of a rush trip, because Daddy had to get back to work, so I didn't have as much time to take pictures as I would have liked. As we came to the prairie dog exhibit I noticed in the bushes, right next to the walkway, perched three pea-hens and a peacock. I could not believe how close they let me get to them. They were not camera shy at all! 

Note Card Party

This is my first attempt at joining the Note Card Party hosted on the blog A Haven for Vee. Vee hosts the party on the third Wednesday of every month. Check out the party here: 

I had originally put these pictures in a collage but I decided they would make great post cards. 

Winter Birds

Photo Practice

A few years ago I purchased a "new to me" digital camera. I have been using it regularly but I really need to figure out all the bells and whistles that it came with. What I need to do is to put the owner's manual CD in my computer so I can actually figure this out with proper direction but in the words of Scarlet O'Hara "I'll think about that another day". Today I have been playing with the sports setting. I needed to practice with fast moving subjects and since I there were no sporting events going on at my house this afternoon I decided to take to the window and watch my fast moving feathered friends. Normally our bird feeders are crowded with guests but today I was lucky to catch these three birds. Not bad for a first attempt. There is also a Slate Colored Junco but I forgot to add it to my text when I was editing my collage on Picmonkey. 

"I wonder does the mind need food, too, and regular meals, and what is its proper diet?" Charlotte Mason Vol 6 Ch.

Garden Spider on our back door

Jellyfish at Assateague

When I first began learning about Charlotte's philosophies, I didn't understand her term "self-education". I had wondered if she meant that the children just wandered aimlessly and "studied" only what they wanted. I began reading Vol. 6 and writing a "narration" for myself as I worked through the book. Many things impressed me about this chapter but the one thing that stood out to me was that the mind needed food and a regular diet of it. That spoke to me because I wasn't comfortable with the idea of just letting my children pick and choose what they felt like learning. I was so inspired that I could become their "guide". I love offering ideas from great works of literature or poetry and watch as my kids take in and digest the material. We have always homeschooled our family and before I found Charlotte Mason, I used unit studies with a brief diversion to textbooks. I must say that by presenting living ideas, my children have remembered so much more than any other method I have used. There is so much less pressure on me or my children when we are learning for the shear joy of learning rather than to earn a physical reward or just to spit out answers for a test. One of the ways I guide "self-education" in my children is through nature study. We all have nature journals. Sometimes I pick a specific theme for that weeks drawing but mostly I have just let each child choose what they want to draw. They spend time looking up all sorts of information on their specimen, which has led to some really fascinating conversations.Thanks for stopping by my blog- Have fun with the rest of the CM Blog Carnival.  I've included my "narration" on "self-education" below.     

One of our Nature Journals

Philosophy of Education vol. 6 Chapter 1 ‘Self Education’

From what I can gather there was a movement in the educational community in Charlotte’s day that started professing success in “self-education” for children. This probably included things like dance or other types of self expression. Charlotte doesn’t disagree with using some of these types of things, and even goes so far as to say that she looks forward to seeing the manner of citizen it produces, but in reality these “external educational appliances” “which are intended to mould his character are decorative and not vital”. The point being, that people are not ‘built up’ from without but from within. To accomplish this, Charlotte reminds us that the function of the mind is like the body and needs a quantity of nourishing food each day. That knowledge is not and should not be attained through sensation, but rather, by being “fed” the great thoughts from great minds is what makes one thoughtful. There are examples given of children who love learning and with a single reading of a passage can recall, point by point, in their own words, what was read. They can recall the details months later because the mind has been properly fed, material digested, and the thoughts have now become the child’s in the form of knowledge. She challenges us to look at a method of “self education” that is practical and pleasant and has produced capable men and women, with great character, over the past 30 years. In the final paragraph she likens the student’s education to a horse. A horse that is “light” rides over the ground using his own joyful will as opposed to the horse that is heavy in hand, which becomes a burden to the driver. Like the driver of the horse, the teacher then becomes one who is a guide to the student rather than someone who is forcibly feeding information.

Lessons from "Our" Pond

Just a short walk from our driveway is "our" pond. It's not really ours but I like to think of it that way. After living in city limits until 2006, I count it as a major blessing to be within walking distance of such beautiful natural surroundings. Almost every day we walk down to the pond to see what's going on and admire God's creation. We have watched geese raise their young, Mr. & Mrs. Mallard swim from one side to the other, turtles sunning themselves on fallen logs, and several kinds of fish being caught. There is a grey heron that lives on the banks of the pond and every once in a while we see a kingfisher perch on the dock. On a few different walks we were so excited to see a bald eagle fly over and one of those times Dan and Abi watched it dive into the pond to fish. We have watched water snakes sun themselves on the rocks and even saw a huge snapping turtle crossing the road one day. Lately I have been taking a few moments to pray and thank God for not only "our" pond but for the lessons He is teaching me.

 Today while I was standing there, it was a bit breezy and I noticed the gentle ripples across the surface of the water and how it was distorting the reflection of the trees along the banks. I thought back to a time when there was no breeze and the pond looked like a mirror reflecting the trees with perfection. The Lord's plan is for us to be a reflection of Him to the world. How often do I let the things of this world blow across that perfect reflection, distorting all that He is working in my life. I was reminded that I daily need His help to show the world who He really is, for there is no way that I can do that perfectly, without Him.  

Snow Days

We have had so much snow in the past three weeks here that I am beginning to wonder if the books on "snow" we are reading had something to do with it. I have been using FIAR with Abigail but have been adding in various different topics each month depending on holidays or events that strike our fancy. When we went to the library for this last load of books at the end of Janurary, I decided to explore the topic of the winter olympics, which led naturally to the topic of snow. Little did I know that this would bring the onslaught! We have had plenty of hands on experience with snow. I didn't even have to look far for a field trip- just walk out the front door! We have enjoyed reading "The Snowy Day" and making footprints like Peter did. Eating snow cream- it was the first time I had made it for my kids. But the best, by far, has been the birds. We have several bird and suet feeders which have attracted so many birds we have not seen at our feeders before. We typically have Junco's, Cardinals, Nuthatches, and Chick-a-dees but this storm brought Red-Winged Black Birds, both male and female(which are not black at all),Cowbirds, Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Starlings, a Downey Woodpecker, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and Purple Finches. I also thought I saw a Gold Finch. Abigail made homemade suet with my mom and covered pinecones with peanut butter and birdseed. Britni has taken some beautiful pictures of the icicles we had hanging from the roof. We've gone for walks in the snow and took in the wonder of a snow covered frozen pond. This is not at all what I had planned in the lesson book but I can say that we learned so much more. This is not to say that I won't enjoy getting back to "normal" school days, but I am glad that we can look back on these past few weeks and know that all was not lost!

Winter Time Nature Study

I have to admit, the city girl has begun to enjoy nature study. But what to do when the weather is cold, wet, or snowy? If it is a day that we don't feel like braving the elements, rather than totally abandoning our nature notebooks we get out the field guides and choose something that is not native to our area. Another thing we enjoy, is reading a "living" nature book like Pocketful of Pine Cones, Girl of the Limberlost, or one of the Burgess books and draw what flora or fauna is mentioned in that chapter. We get out the field guides and look up our find just as if we went outside to search it out. It kills two...ahem..."birds" with one stone, so to speak, kiddos keep up with their nature study while mom gets to sit beside the wonderfully, warm wood stove.

Our Nature Notebooks

This is a sampling of our Nature Notebooks. We have been reading through Karen Andreola's book 'A Pocket Full of Pine cones' and then drawing what we read about. This has been helpful during the winter months when we either can't spend a lot of time outside or when there are limited things to draw. We try to make Mondays our nature study day. I found that if we didn't do it early in the week we would usually miss the opportunity to enjoy and learn about God's magnificent creation. I want the journals to be personal. An expression of the owner. To do this the only requirements I make are the date and that the Latin name accompany the drawing. Until recently Britni chose to only draw with a grey art pencil. She is just beginning to add some pastel pencil drawings. I love to add poetry to my journal or write about the place where I am drawing, or add scripture.



The picture above (left) is a coloring book that I bought to use with Abi because she is not drawing things on her own yet but has fun coloring the pictures like the pictures in the field guides.

To the right is a woolly bear caterpillar that I drew and Abi colored.

This is Britni's custom made cover for her Nature Journal (left).

And this is an excerpt from her journal. Pictured is a bumble bee on a flower.

And here are a couple of entries from my Journal: A Ruby-throated hummingbird on the left and a wildflower - Cosmos below.

Nature journaling is also a great way to learn some basic science. I am amazed at the different birds my three year old can identify. It is so exciting to watch the children learn about the habitats of different animals or types of clouds. How many three year-olds know what a contrail is? What I have come to enjoy most is spending time with the girls, quietly enjoying the beauty of God's creation.

Nature Study

One aspect of a Charlotte Mason education is Nature Study. We have been inspired to keep nature journals. We purchased spiral bound sketchbooks and covered them with pretty paper bought in the scrap booking section of our local craft store. For added protection we put a layer of clear contact paper over the paper cover. After going for a walk in our neighborhood, the park, on the beach etc. looking for something that peaks our interest to draw, we sketch the specimen into our notebooks. Britni usually draws hers in pencil. I prefer using color pastel pencils and Abigail is currently using crayons. We add things to our entries like the date and place or a selection of poetry that fits our drawing.