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Sketches From Life

By , on February 5th, 2009%

Years ago…  Ten years ago, I sketched the little sleeping face of Princess of the Universe.  Somehow, it ended up looking just like her, and I’ve always kept that experience in the back of my mind, thinking that some day I want to learn to really draw.  I want to be able to put a person’s face on paper.   It’s not easy. 

In fact, it’s very hard.  For me, anyway.

Still, I want to keep trying. 

Princess of the Universe wanted curls last night, so I curled her hair.  It was so very pretty and she is so growing up.  Conveniently, my camera had been left sitting in the hallway, so I was able to spontaneously snap a picture of her checking our her curls in the mirror.

And I love this picture.

So contemplative. 

I kept looking at this picture late last night and thinking it would be a good picture for me to try to sketch.  I cannot afford art lessons right now and I am for sure no artist, but I’ve been so inspired by Marqueta and her family.

And by this little girl named Anna whose heart seems to be full of beautiful pictures, and whose mama encourages her to draw and draw and draw.

And by Edith Holden…

who in 1906 made the first entry in a journal that was to later be published as The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

The entries are beautifully hand-written and the nature paintings and drawings are so detailed and delicate and pretty, this book always puts thoughts in my mind of a different way to record our school work. To journal it somehow. I think of the Charlotte Mason idea that quality is more important than quantity, and I wholeheartedly believe that. Why can’t we make our school work a beautiful, journaled book full of little bits of nature and our hearts and minds on any given day, and let it be a treasure to pull off the shelf in years to come?

Yes, I know math probably can’t look that way…

Or, Ken, maybe math can be beautifully journaled?

But I really believe that every other subject can.

Anyway, I sketched last night. I know her sweet little face is not right, and her head is not tilted just right.  I just don’t see her when I look at this, but her brothers recognized her by the way she stands, so a little something about it is okay.

So here’s to sketching and journaling and photographing and capturing little bits and pieces of life to look back on.

Perhaps a trip to the bookstore is in order to purchase a little book to help us learn to draw properly.

Lynn

6 comments   Charlotte Mason, Homeschooling

Science Class

By , on February 4th, 2009%

I’m sure if you look closely you’ll see a little monkey in this tree.

I wonder how many schools have their own little monkey who climbs straight up into a tree as soon as the class goes outside?

While the teacher sits on the ground underneath, dreaming of roses and violets and daisies.  Ahhh, spring.  You are never far from my mind.  Spring, I love you, even if you are slow getting here.

Oh. 

Anyway, we went outside yesterday with a mission: to gather some nature items. It was too cold yesterday to  have lessons outside, but we braved the chilly breeze for just a little while to gather up a few things to bring in for examination under the microscope. 

I pulled a small square of lichen off of this dead branch. 

I plucked up a tiny little patch of moss growing nearby. 

And I took a little piece of decaying wood from this stump.

We took everything inside and turned on the microscope.  The decaying wood was surprising in that it didn’t look ugly and dead under the microscope.  It was BeAuTiFuL, with many shades of brown, and tiny little crystal-type structures that looked like little diamonds interspersed in the piece of wood!

The moss, of course, was alive and growing, so it was a little world of green!  Viewed outside in the yard, it’s so small and under-our-feet, we don’t really appreciate it, but under the microscope, oh my!  It was like being in a little FAIRY world. 

What surprised me most was the lichen.  I wish I had a microscope that would take a picture so you could see!!  As Princess of the Universe put it, Ewwwwwwww, it looks like cheese!

And it did!  It looked amazingly smooth and beautifully yellow under the microscope, with a couple of little broken areas in the surface, and in these broken areas there were bright white fibers.  Whoa.  It was really cool.

BUT the COOLEST thing EVER was when we turned it over to look at the side that had been attached to the wood, readjusted, and took a look. 

I gasped.  Michaela, it’s a creature!

She quickly got over the eyepiece and looked.  Ewwwww.  And tiny eggs!!

You’ll just have to take my word for it that it was amazing.  This little creature — uh, it looked like a millipede, only you could barely, barely see it with the naked eye.  It looked like a dot, but only if you knew it was there.  We would have never noticed it otherwise.  And the eggs were absolutely minuscule!

Michaela’s assignment then was to write a three-paragraph paper, with three objectives.  I want her to learn to write a cohesive, clear paper.  You know, something with a point to it.

  • tell me about your microscope
  • tell me what you saw today
  • close with why everyone needs a microscope

She did pretty well, only it could have been longer.  I’m working on her.  (Susan, where is Mrs. Peele when I need her?)

I hope you all have a lovely Wednesday. 

Lynn

4 comments   Homeschooling

Fireboat

By , on February 3rd, 2009%

We read the sweetest book today. 

It’s called Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey.  This  book would be a fantastic go-along with The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge. It has a bit of trivia about New York City in the 1930s. There’s even a picture of the George Washington Bridge with the Little Red Lighthouse underneath!  The book addresses what happens when once useful things go out of date.  In that regard, it would also be great with Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

The book moves into modern time, the restoration of the Fireboat and its heroic work during the events of September 11th, 2001.

“The Harvey was a hero.  And everyone knew it.”

This book made me cry.  Of course.  Princess of the Universe was not surprised about that, and I’m sure you are not either.   I felt like the book introduced the events of September 11th to a young reader without making it overwhelming.  It does open up the topic, however.

Lynn

3 comments   Book Reviews, Five In A Row, Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

February Newsletter

By , on February 3rd, 2009%

On line today.  February 2009 Newsletter.

Lynn

3 comments   Homeschooling

The Dance To Spring

By , on February 3rd, 2009%

The weather in North Carolina is predictably unpredictable.  :)

In other words, Christmas Day might find us in T-shirts and flip-flops, or we could have an ice storm on Christmas Day.  January is pretty much cold, but we don’t always have “winter weather” every day in February.   It could be in the 60s on February 1st and in the 30s on February 3rd.

But I do love North Carolina.  At this time of year, nature seems to be dancing her way to spring.  One step forward, two steps back.  A promising day of sunny, almost-warm weather with birds singing, and then a day of snow flurries to remind us what season we’re really in and why great-aunts and grandmothers make us take our coats with us even if it doesn’t feel cold at the moment.

Another bed that I’ve been working in, carrying away dead growth and bringing mulch in.  There’s a lot waiting to grow in this seemingly barren spot.

Look at the spirea!  Every year, like clockwork, the formation of new growth heralds — in my mind anyway – the time to clean the debris from the garden beds and begin to do the winter garden work that prepares the garden for spring.  I love it!

The roses, too, are lured by the dance to send out some tender shoots of growth.   

Yesterday was a gloriously nice day here.  It was warm enough to be outside, and cool enough to do hard work without getting too hot or tired.  I mark the days like this and get outside if I can!  Even though I worked yesterday, I spent my 15-minute breaks and my  lunch break outside.

Princess of the Universe did much of her work outside yesterday.  She sat in a sunny spot where I could see her from my office window.  It was so funny to see her come in to get another assignment, blinking at the “dark” inside after being in the bright and sunny outside. 

It’s a bit colder here today, but I think it still may be warm enough to do a nature sketch while sitting on the porch or in the garden. 

Happy Tuesday. 

Lynn

6 comments   Gardening, Homeschooling

You’ve Got Options!

By , on February 1st, 2009%

Pssssst. 

Come on and sit down with me and I’ll show you what I’ve been working on. 

Okay.  Here it is.

There are so many ideas floating around in my mind for my house — you know, home improvement things.  I sometimes mention something to hubby.  Like, I’ll say, “honey, I would love to have wood flooring in the kitchen.”

I know he hears me because he says, “uh huh.”

Anyway, I started thinking that it would be really nice for him to have a reminder of the things I want done, so I made up a GREAT BIG LIST of home improvement projects.  Then I got some salsa and some chips and I even lit a candle for ambiance.  And I invited him to sit down in the living room with me. 

I told hubby about the list.  These were my exact words:

“Honey, I made a list of all the things I want done in the house.”  (I stopped and smiled at this point.  Good, huh?)  “This list has got a lot on it, okay?  I mean a whole lot.  But I don’t want you to think of it as a lot to do.  Okay?  When you look at this list I want you to look at it like this.  You’ve got options.  There’s so much to choose from, you can just pick one thing that you want to do.  Okay?”

Hubby laughed.  Then he split.

I cannot imagine why.  Can you?  I thought I was doing him a favor by giving him a choice.  Oh well.  Maybe he’s thinking about what he wants to do first.  I put the list on the refrigerator so he can see it in the morning when he gets up to drink his coffee.

Lynn

6 comments   Housekeeping, Relationships
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