By admin, on September 8th, 2009%
One of Michaela’s school books this year (Year 5 using Ambleside Online), is The Fairy-Land of Science by Arabella Buckley. It was first published in 1879 and I am sure you know it does not take much twisting of my arm to opt for an old book and to think that the garden is full of fairies. 
The forces of science are presented as fairies in The Fairy-Land of Science. In our week 1 assignment we were introduced to a handful of Fairies. There’s fairy Cohesion who locks atoms together, fairy Gravitation who causes the raindrops to fall to earth, and other fairies and giants that you might want to read about yourself!
As Michaela’s copywork assignment for the day, I took a few lines from the first week’s reading, a few lines from a Wordsworth poem about Peter Bell:
A primrose by a river’s brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.
We discussed those lines and what they meant and I asked Michaela if she thought a flower was just a flower and nothing more. At that point we escaped outside and investigated flowers. We knew already, of course, that a flower is a world unto itself and yet an intricate part of Nature which fairy Life must certainly spend much of her time working on.
Fairy Gravitation pulled our water into the birdbaths.
Perhaps we’ll soon meet the fairy who changes the plants from green to brilliant reds and oranges and yellows every year.
Maybe there’s a fairy Oxidation.
I can’t help but wonder if there’s not one fairy alone whose job it is to create dandelion wish-makers for all the children who instinctively blow the dandelions’ seeds away and make wishes.
One of the passages I loved most from our reading was when Arabella Buckley was writing of imagination and how necessary it is to have imagination when trying to understand the forces of science.
Most children have this glorious gift, and love to picture to themselves all that is told them, and to hear the same tale over and over again till they see every bit of it as if it were real. This is why they are sure to love science if its tales are told them aright; and I, for one, hope the day may never come when we may lose that childish clearness of vision, which enables us through the temporal things which are seen, to realize those eternal truths which are unseeen.
I really had to stop and think about that. I considered when Jesus brought a little child before those around him and said that’s what we should be like — a little child. There is indeed a sweet, innocent and easy belief in all that is told them that children possess. I don’t want to lose that gift of believing what I cannot see.
There were tiny gourds in the garden and one that had broken off of the vine at this tiny stage. Michaela loved its little size.
We tested the fairies. Is a flower really only just a flower? Of course we found flowers to be homes, and food….
for all sorts of creatures.
Nearly every flower offered something of a wonder to us.
The flowers seemed to be even a place of refuge for the injured.
I feel like I’m still just getting started with Ambleside. There’s a tendency in me to push too hard and feel stressed when we do not get enough done. The reading assignments in Ambledside are plenteous and the books are full of important references and rich with vocabulary. I determine everyday to enjoy this transition. I aim for a little more each day. A little more reading, a little more narration, a little more stretching of our minds and training of our abilities to read well. That said, I want to aim with joy and good sense.
Lynn
By admin, on April 20th, 2009%
On Playing
Not too long ago I spied a box by the road for recycling. A very large box. A perfect box to have fun with.
“Michaela,” I said, “Do you remember Christina Katerina and the Box ? That box by the road would be perfect to play with.” We asked the neighbors if we could have it and then dragged it home.
I don’t know of many things a child loves more than a huge, recycled box to play in. A box like that is a rare treat. Even I like to go inside The Club House when I go up to Michaela’s room. (Yes, I’m allowing the box to live in her room right now. I know this sweet phase of life won’t last forever.)
Are we having fun yet?
We are indeed! Do you see that I am a member of THE CLUB? Michaela and a neighbor friend made THE CLUB sign from popsicle sticks. The box is covered in all sort of notes. There is even a key hidden in her bedroom that you must use to enter The Club House. There’s a little keyhole cut into the cardboard door.
On Children Growing Up
This past weekend was prom night for my oldest son’s girlfriend. She happens to be one of the loveliest and sweetest girls I have ever met. Did I say how gorgeous she is? She is also hard-working and smart. (Can you tell I like her?)
Anyway, I was given the okay to put a picture of them here so that you could check out how spiffy they looked. She was voted prom queen.
What I’m Reading These Days
Since Princess of the Universe will be 11 this summer, I know she’s certainly entering that transition phase from girl to young woman. She’s had plenty of years of running around screaming with her brothers and dressing in any old boys’ hand-me-downs that she could get her hands on. Yes, she’s got plenty of dresses too and she wears them frequently, but I am preparing myself for a bit of training that I know needs to take place.
I pulled Beautiful Girlhood off the shelf last night and began reading it again.
“A girl is not able “to be her own boss” until she has passed these changing years. Not till then can she look upon things with a settled gaze.”
Princess of the Universe being my fourth child, I have learned that an easy toddler can have a turbulent transition through adolescence, and a difficult toddler can grow into a dream child who never questions and never disobeys. You just cannot easily predict what will happen through “the teenage years.” That said, I’m trying to do a bit of reading about this transition for girls. She is my first girl, after all.
There are passages in the book that are good for all of us, even my boys who are nearly grown.
“Character is not given to us; we build it ourselves. Others may furnish the material, may set before us the right standards and ideals, may give us reproof and correction, may guide our actions and mold our thoughts. But we build our own character. It is we who absorb the good influence about us, adopt the ideals, reach for the standards, and make ourselves what we are.”
Nature Study
Princess of the Universe and I have been sitting on her bed this morning looking at a little bird. I was busy downstairs getting ready for the day when Michaela came tip-toeing towards me, one finger over her mouth in a shhhh stance, and whispered to me that I needed to come up and see what was sitting right outside her bedroom window. It was so sweet. It was a small, lone bird sitting quietly ourside her window. I’m not even sure what kind of bird it was, but it does give us a nature mystery to solve today.
I hope you have a bit of nature today that makes your heart sing. I hope you have time to have a cup of tea and put your feet up and think on good things. I hope you have a wonderful Monday.
Lynn
By admin, on March 25th, 2009%
Ahhh, nature study, my favorite part of homeschool. Nature study is something I like to incorporate daily into our lessons. This morning I thought I would share how we do our nature study here.
First of all, my favorite example of a nature journal is this:
The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady
It’s a beautiful and exquisitely detailed book with an amazing story behind it.
It began in 1906 as a diary kept by Edith Holden, documenting her nature observations in the English countryside. Ms. Holden kept the journal to encourage her students. Tragically, Edith Holden drowned in the Thames at the age of 49. For some years, her diary was passed down through her family and was finally published after a great-niece approached Webb & Bower in 1976. The book became an immediate success, a record-breaking best seller, but then went out of print for several years. It is currently back in print, (one can only guess at how long — hopefully for good) and it’s one of my favorite books ever. I’ve had my copy for about 10 years.
Our Nature Study
Ideally we go outside (our own backyard is a fine place for this) and spread out a b lanket.
It’s nice if the weather is warm, but if it’s chilly out, a big sweater works just fine. An added benefit of using your own backyard is that it’s easy to run inside and get a quick cup of hot tea every so often, especially if it is chilly.
As I settle onto the blanket, it’s my instinct to tell Princess of the Universe to sit down right away, but the wiser part of me gives her time to run around and get some energy out. Children love the outdoors and seem to know exactly what to do in it.
“Mom, watch.”
It’s a wild and crazy game. The only part of Earth left is the stack of two wooden blocks that Princess of the Universe must land on.
I can hardly bear to watch this. What if she misses the one spot of Earth left? Will she go into outer space? Will she disappear? Maybe she will come sit down quietly on the blanket.
Thank goodness, she came to the blanket. Sigh.
What are we doing?
I’ll tell you.
Princess of the Universe and I have discussed the style of Edith Holden’s diary. To me, it almost has the look of elegant doodling on some pages.
I have always been a doodler myself. I can fill up a 9 x 12 page with doodles taking a phone number and message down during a phone call. (Did you know that a recent study showed doodlers remember more from their phone conversations?) I digress.
The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady is also filled with an abundance of information about nature and history. In summary, the fun layout makes it interesting to read, the beautiful illustrations make it classic, and the seriousness of the information written makes it a real teaching tool. The bottom line is that I want our nature journals to favor Edith Holden’s.
How do we do that?
At this point, I simply require that Princess of the Universe follow my lead. She writes what I write, copywork-style. Our journal pages are kept in the same fashion in which Edith Holden kept hers. The difference is that we are using information pertinent to our location and our lives and we are using colored pencils to document what we see.
Oh my. Time for another pleasant distraction. My oldest, Daniel, who is off work for the day and has been fishing shows up.
Big Joe and Princess of the Universe must gather around and see the picture of the large fish he caught and released. I sip on hot tea. And wait.
Instead of coming straight back to the blanket, Princess of the Universe goes in the opposite direction, but there is a method to her madness. She needs to show me that she can jump all the way across the blanket.
“Wait!” I say. Let me move our journals. And set my camera to “action.”
Okay, run!
I am happy to report that Princess of the Universe comes back to the blanket, but look!
Another distraction. It’s totally okay, however, because this IS the heart of nature study: observation.
I think the key to successful nature study is to just get yourself outside, relax, and enjoy what comes your way.
Princess of the Universe lets the granddaddy long legs crawl onto her hands. We look at the colors. Gray. Brown. She has a patch of darker brown on her back. We note that she’s missing a leg. We let her go.
Back to work. “Use the right colors to draw your dandelion,” I tell Princess of the Universe.
Her leaf is the right color but needs more definition, I think. I don’t say anything this time because overall she has done a fabulous job. She’s documented some valuable information and she’s done it with care and enthusiasm. (I think the Earth’s-almost-gone game helped tremendously.) Mental note to self: in a lesson soon, we will color together just a leaf, working on detail.
Patience is what wins the race.
Here are our two journals side by side. How did we decide on this information? A few questions did the trick.
- What is growing in our yard this month that we did not see last month? Dandelions. Let’s draw the dandelion.
- What do we know about the dandelion? It’s a food and a medicine. It has many names. Let’s write some of that down.
- What about its scientific name? This is a short and sweet lesson in classification. Over time these little lessons add up to a good working knowledge of how plants and animals get their names.
- What fun fact do we know about March? It’s mommy’s birthday.
- What do we hear as we sit here? Birds. On some days we may try identifying birds by their sounds and drawing a bird.
What do we use as a nature journal?
For now, Princess of the Universe works in a sketch book with nice heavy paper. I have several ideas for preserving her nature journal, but I have not decided yet how we’ll do it. In the past we have used a standard black and white composition book, cutting out our drawings and gluing them in and using the lined paper underneath to write our info on. These pages we are doing now, however, are larger and fuller. I want to keep them whole and intact. For now it’s fine to just keep it all in the sketch book. It keeps things simpler. She can just pick up her sketch book and go.
I’ll be sure and post what we decide to do to permanently store her nature journal for this school year. When it comes to nature study, the point is to just do it.
Lynn
By admin, on March 4th, 2009%
What a cute book this is! And what a perfect go-along for They Were Strong and Good . It is all about family “memorabilia” and the family tree from the view of a young girl.
Aunt Claire’s Yellow Beehive Hair
by Deborah Blumenthal, pictures by Mary GrandPre
“After we’re so stuffed we can’t eat any more, the grown-ups push back their chairs from the table and talk and talk about the people I see only in old pictures.”
It’s well-written. The illustrations are adorable. As part of the storyline, the little girl describes how she puts old photos together with her own descriptions to make a beautiful family book. I recommend this book!
Lynn
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
By Lynn, on December 9th, 2008%
“It’s a strange thing, but somehow we expect more of girls than of boys. It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful.”
“What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things in their rough way! A woman’s task is to teach them gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness. It’s a big task, too, Caddie–harder than cutting trees or building mills or damming rivers. It takes nerve and courage and patience, but good women have those things. They have them just as much as the men who build bridges and carve roads through the wilderness. A woman’s work is something fine and noble to grow up to, and it is just as important as a man’s. But no man could ever do it so well.”
Mr. Woodlawn speaking to his daughter, Caddie, from Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink.
I don’t know if I’ve ever read of a woman’s calling described so beautifully. We finished Caddie Woodlawn last night, and it was such a lovely book. It’s a book packed full of life lessons, opportunity to discuss history–both good and bad, and tangents that one could follow to a full heart’s content building a fabulous unit study.
Happy Reading.
By Lynn, on December 5th, 2008%
I’m not sure what’s up, but this fella crawled around on the wall behind my desk. All. Day.
This is a brick column in my office. It’s been painted. I know, I know. It looks like a misshapen piece of cake with boiled icing, but it’s not. It really is brick. And the paint is not so white. It’s more a linen, sort of off-white color. Maybe it’s the flash. I digress.
Yo, ant. What’s up? Are you lost? Exploring? Looking for a place to build?
I’m not sure what to do with this ant. I suppose I could scoop it up on a little piece of paper and deliver it outside, but it’s freezing out there. And after watching this little ant all day — all 8 long hours, I feel like we’ve bonded.
Yes, the little ant is still crawling around on that great (to him) expanse of white wall. Looking for something.
It made me remember a book my children all loved when they were little.
Henry’s Awful Mistake
Let’s just say that Henry sees one lone ant right before having company over and basically destroys his house trying to get rid of it. It’s a cute book. It may be the reason I let the ant crawl around while I just kept on typing.
An other, more relaxing note, I found these the other day. Very current (many November 2008), very new looking…
At 25 cents apiece. I am heading into my snuggly den now to pile on the loveseat in front of the warm heater, with a cup of hot tea, to flip through a couple of these – maybe all of them,while I think of decorating a room in the doll house.
Then it’ll be time for more Caddie Woodlawn. The fun never ends.
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 20th, 2008%
We have continued to enjoy fall nature projects here. They are things that are easy to do and don’t take long. We’ll have to move on to winter projects soon because the colorful fall leaves that were everywhere just a few days ago are now gone. We have had a couple of bitter cold nights here and the leaves have turned dark and mostly fallen now.
I did find a few bright red and yellow leaves for our wax paper stained glass project today. This idea is another one from Nature Crafts for Kids .
When I look up, I see what I think is my favorite tree: a crepe myrtle I planted a few years back. Crepe myrtles grow fairly quickly, have wonderful bark, and the leaves and seeds are so pretty in the fall.
We took two pieces of wax paper, about 12 x 12 each. First I layered a piece of newspaper over the ironing board. Next I layered one piece of the wax paper. Princess of the Universe then placed the leaves in the pattern she wanted on the wax paper, leaving enough space in between and around the edges for the wax paper layers to bond. We layered the second sheet of wax paper on top. With my iron on low, we gently ironed over the wax paper to fuse the two sheets. Of course you must closely supervise this or do the ironing yourself since there’s a risk of burns. Also, I suppose you’d want to wipe your iron off after it’s cooled down.
We ended up with a stained glass “pane” to hang in our living room window. It’s pretty when the sun shines through. This marks the last fall leaf project we’ll be doing this year. Nature Crafts for Kids has a nice section on why trees lose their leaves. We read it together and then Princess of the Universe wrote in her nature journal about it.
Then It’s On To Math…
Our large white board has been one of the most handy things I have purchased for math. It stands behind the armoir you see in the corner above. When someone does not understand something, it’s so convenient to have our large white board to work on to show examples of whatever is causing grief. Also, Princess of the Universe just thinks it’s fun. If she has a worksheet with not enough space to do long problems, I let her do the problems on the white board and then just write the answer on the worksheet.
Is there anything that makes math easier for you?
Lynn
By Lynn, on November 14th, 2008%
Lately I’ve read some interesting threads on line about mommies having “me time” — whether or not they really need it. I think that is such an individual thing. I don’t have to be eyeball deep in “me time,” but I can honestly say that it does amazing things for my perspective to have just a couple of hours every so often by myself, away from my usual day-to-day activities.
Last night I had a little reprieve from all that goes on at home all the time. I guess it’s a bit paradoxical that what I did while I was out was directly related to everything that goes on here all the time, but nonetheless I got out for awhile.
I had ordered a couple of books from the bookstore and received a call that they were in. One of them was Little Oh . We are studying The Raft
right now and I just love the illustrations by Jim Lamarche. I wanted Princess of the Universe to have a few books containing his illustrations, not to mention that the story of Little Oh is a great one. We also have the book Albert , which is illustrated by Jim Lamarche. These books are all out for display right now for our FIAR study of The Raft.
While I was upstairs, I snapped this picture of one of the dressers in our doll house. Tee hee. Miss Priss LOVES animals, which is why our study of The Raft will probably carry on for longer than planned. I wonder if this is an indication of what her real home will look like when she grows up.
Actually, I did not focus solely on things for school while I was out, but I stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some thing that I really love. The Greens and Whey is something I drink every morning with milk. Yum.
The Bragg’s seasoning are really good, if you’ve not tried them before. This is the first time I’ve purchased the plain liquid Aminos because I tend to stay away from anything that says “soy,” but my husband’s heart health information says that soy can help him, so I think he might enjoy using this. The ginger and sesame dressing, though? We all love it. Love it!
So that was my “me time” for a couple of hours last night. I think it feels good to fix up a bit and just enjoy getting out, going in a couple of stores, perhaps buying something special (like my new wall calendar for 2009), and just being me.
What do you do for ME time?
Lynn
PS – I was excited to find that my total cholesterol has dropped 30 points over the last six years! Woo hoo. I plan to post soon about why I think this is so. I’m sure diet plays a huge role.
By Lynn, on November 7th, 2008%
Every time I look at this pitcher, it has me by the heart.
From the late 1800s, with its crazing and cracks, how can it still be in one piece? I wonder who used it and for what purpose exactly. The stamp on the bottom includes part of the British Royal Coat of Arms, the lion and the unicorn, and yet this does not mean it was made in England. Around the time it was made there were American potters using the mark to make their wares look more British. There were also newly American potters, just over from England, using the trademark they brought with them, so to speak.
Was her pitcher from England? Was it American? Was she slender and frail? Perhaps stern? Or was she plump with a rosy face and a cheerful laugh?
Silly me. The time I spend wondering about things like this. It’s a miracle I ever get anything done.
Speaking of keepers of long ago, I lucked out and found a keeper of a book during my last thrift store outing.
It’s called Seven Brave Women , and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it with Princess of the Universe. History is often told from the perspective of the many wars that mark our timelines, but this book tells history through the eyes of seven brave women who lived through wars but did not fight in them.
Me and my sappy self, yes I got all teary-eyed reading about women of long ago and how they worked and raised (and fiercely loved) their babies and lived through times I cannot imagine. It’s a simple concept — the author sharing personal stories of seven brave women in her family tree, but what an amazing book it turns out to be.
I love the illustrations, too. They are full of color and life. It’s definitely got a permanent place in my home library.
As a side note, it would be a great book to go along with They Were Strong and Good, in case you are doing a unit study of genealogy or if you use the wonderful literature-based curriculum called Five In A Row.
Lynn
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About Lynn
I am a 40-something-year-old mother of four delightful children, have been married for 22 years to my carpenter husband, and live in a 1921 farm-style house. I find the most joy in my garden, growing and harvesting herbs and flowers and caring for our pet rabbits.
I have a 21-year-old son, a 19-year-old son, a 16-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly (and very funny) 11-year-old daughter who is homeschooled.
I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I'm a book lover, bird lover, gardener and aspiring herbalist. I seek no help for my thrift store addiction. I do medical transcription from home part-time.
The Players
Mom and Dad
Daniel
Big Joe
John
Princess of the Universe
Annie
Oreo
Coco
Basil
Midnight
Boomerang
A Pond of Goldfish
My Symphony
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
William Henry Channing
1810-1884
Contact Me 
I would  for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
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