By Lynn, on August 27th, 2010%
Though our first “official” day of school was August 25th, some light schooling actually started for us the week of August 16th because that is when our Beyond Five In A Row co-op started with our very first week of “rowing” Betsy Ross! It was oh so much fun!! Soon I will share some pictures of the co-op, but for now I just wanted to share how our lessons will work this year.
Ambleside. Ambleside. I tried it last year and here’s what I found. I am a Charlotte Mason kind of teacher at heart, and therefore what I do is generally a Charlotte Mason sort of style without really trying too overly hard. I love the Ambleside book lists. From those, we found some great books that became part of our school curriculum last year. However, with my work schedule and my eclectic bent, I found it impossible to 100% stick to the reading schedule. This year, we are still using Ambleside, but, again, Beyond Five In A Row will be our #1 focus. From Ambleside we’ll take book suggestions, support and ideas from the e-mail loop, and once again I’ll be reading from Charlotte Mason’s own writings, as time allows.
Now let’s talk about Beyond Five In A Row! Our co-op has scheduled four books for the upcoming school year (2010-2011). Betsy Ross, Homer Price, Thomas Edison, and The Boxcar Children. If the books seem “young,” don’t worry. There will be so many lessons surrounding this and so much other reading, I don’t consider it a problem for us. And actually, Michaela has never read these books!
Each book will cover 8 weeks and from each book there’ll be 4 co-ops. The co-ops rotate from home to home with 2 of the moms volunteering to teach at each co-op. We spread the work out so that each mom teaches and hosts the same number of times. Lessons are taken from the Beyond Five In A Row manual, with children learning unit-study style from home and at the co-ops each week.
Since we started with Betsy Ross, I have made the focus of our first 8 weeks of school, Colonial America and the American Revolution. Here are some things we’ll be using.
In the Charlotte Mason style we do these: copywork, cursive, and spelling, all from Queen Homeschool; old books with reading selections covering early American historial figures; old record albums with traditional American and traditional European music from the 1700s, as well as famous composers from that time period; a journal for daily writing (dictation) covering what we’re doing.
We started with Mozart, but plan to listen to all selections before we are done, placing musicians and music on our timeline as we go.
My mother-in-law had a wonderful collection of books in her time. From those books, I was given a book called More Minute Biographies.
From this I was able to copy several pages that featured men to know from American Revolutionary times. We color in the pencil drawings while we listen to music from the 1700s, then they get pasted around the timeline.
Things are going well so far. We plan to make some very old-fashioned recipes from our Cooking in the Young Republic.
Week #1 In Review (very light week):
Read Betsy Ross chapters 1-4
Watched Episodes #1 and #2 of Liberty’s Kids on you tube.
Attended co-op: sensory awareness, quakers, kindness.
Week #2 In Review (started on Wednesday and had some celebrating, so, again, not a full week):
Took School Pictures
Review of Betsy Ross week #1
Math Review
Lesson #41 Saxon 7/6
Copy work lessons 1-2
Cursive week 1
Spelling week 1
Read and talked about Mozart.
Listened to Mozart.
Added Robert Morris, Betsy Ross and Mozart to timeline.
Colored page and talked about Robert Morris.
Journal entry Wednesday.
Journal entry Friday.
Fieldtrip at Harris Park – Thursday
Happy Homeschooling!
By Lynn, on June 1st, 2010%
Part 2. Sounds important. Makes it sound like I was at the NC homeschool conference for an extended period of time, but really I only had Friday there, and that for only 8 hours. As I mentioned before, I went in with the hopes that I would get some direction especially for my own particular needs and weak areas.
I was downstairs at the bookfair, and for the first time ever I noticed Queen Homeschool. With my love for all things Charlotte Mason, how did I miss this in years past?
The beautiful covers of some of the books appealed greatly to my senses. There were ladies dressed in modest long dresses, some looking Victorian, some looking very Colonial. There were gallant men to remind us of the Revolution and little boys playing outside. I flipped through some of the lightweight booklets of copywork lessons and thought how much easier this would make our copywork throughout the year. But which one would I choose?
My heart was drawn to Copywork for Girls.
It was filled with wonderful verses from the Bible and many excellent (some obscure) quotations from literature, all designed to instill modesty, godliness and a feminine confidence into girls. I picked one up and carried it around the booth.
I picked up a Language Lessons book, looked inside and decided almost immediately that we’d be using it for language arts next year. It appears to be exactly what I’ve been looking for to go along with some other things I already have on hand.
Written for a child between the ages of ten and fifteen – whenever they are reading a variety of classical literature and able to write a short report without much effort. This volume contains grammar, punctuation skills, copywork, narration, dictation, picture study, letter writing, and more – with a strong emphasis on learning about and learning to write different types of poetry. A consumable text with 180 daily lessons and full color classic paintings throughout, this is the perfect language arts course for your upper elementary or middle school aged child who is using the Charlotte Mason approach.
I looked at my watch. I only had a few minutes! It was almost time for the next talk I wanted to hear: Reality Homeschooling by Bonita Lillie. Reality sounded like something I needed to have more of an understanding of. What should a homeschool look like, in reality?
I put the books back into their places on the shelves and left the Queen Homeschool booth, determined to come back after the talk and get the books I wanted.
Reality Homeschooling turned out to be an excellent talk. Excellent! There were so many things I needed to hear. Bonita Lillie gave the talk in her PJs. How real is that? Very real, on some days, for many of us, I expect.
I won’t give you a blow by blow account, but one thing she said really struck me: be aware of your limitations and your child’s limitations. “Limitations” doesn’t have to mean “disabilities.” We can place all sorts of inappropriate expectations on our children. We can even try to live our lives again, through them!
It’s not that we should not exert our authority in making good decisions for them; in fact, one point in Bonita’s talk was to always cover the basics first — reading, writing and arithmetic. She also pointed out that our children need to be excellent communicators to get along well in life, both in oral and written communication skills.
It is more about celebrating the freedoms we have as homeschoolers to tailor school to fit our children’s strengths and to allow our children to become who they will become. When we place drastically unrealistic expectations on them, it’s like making them wear chains around their necks.
I thought about that copywork book I was about to purchase — the one with the long frilly dress on the front. It really was not Michaela. It was me. Thank goodness I figured that out before I purchased it! (I’m not sure how many more times I’m gonna have to be smacked by that 2 x 4!)
When the talk was over, I went straight down to Queen Homeschool to make my purchases, but for the copywork book, I chose Lessons from Leaders.
If you’ve followed this blog for awhile, you’ll know that Princess of the Universe humors her mama for things like Prairie Tuesdays, but she’s really a sometimes-rambunctious tomboy who’d rather be swinging from a tree. than wearing a frilly dress. She’s also been complimented for her leadership qualities.
I have every intention of continuing to instill ladylike qualities in Michaela, but I love the peace I have about my second choice of copywork books.
I’ll close on that note of peace.
More certainly to come later about our entire curriculum line-up for next year.
By admin, on May 26th, 2010%
Charlotte Mason says that every day children need to have something to do, something to love. For my Michaela, there are bunnies; Annie, THE beagle; and, Oreo our sweet kitty who was hit by a car and now lives inside — a bit less than her old self, but just as sweet as ever.
One of the daily chores around here is to gather greens for the bunnies. They do get some pellets too and we always make sure they have fresh water, but I have loved the results of having Michaela search for their greens.
Bunnies cannot eat just anything, and domesticated rabbits have lost some of their ability to know what to eat and what not to eat. I have found that Michaela’s knowledge of what she is picking has greatly increased because of the responsibility of feeding it to these baby bunnies! The names of plaintain, dandelion, chickweed, clover, etc., used to go right into one ear and out the other, but with something to love, the names are sticking.
Last night I was looking through old photographs and postcards that I’ve collected through the years. I dearly love this little picture. A sweet baby, haltingly reaching out to pet a bunny. I figure there’s someone behind the camera saying, “pet the bunny.” Makes me smile every time. There’s trust in this picture. I’m trusting you that this bunny’s not going to bite my fingers off.
I think Charlotte Mason might have smiled at this picture too.
By admin, on May 25th, 2010%
Strictly Wildflowers. One of my favorite chapters in Karen Andreola’s Pocketful of Pinecones.
There were buttercups, purple vetch, oxeye daisies, white yarrow, yellow and orange hawkweed, honeysuckle, and yellow mustard. A spittlebug was hiding in its lump of bubbles along the stem of the hawkweed. I picked off a leaf and rolled it up to poke at the bubbles, revealing to Don and Emily the shiny little bug inside it. Don drew the spittlebug and Emily drew the daisies.
Currently in the garden, on the lavender and on other plants as well, we have the spittlebug. Dishes, dust and dirty clothes call out to me. My computer — and all the fun therein, calls to me, but the spittlebug’s call is louder. Or, at least, it should be.
One of most vital requirements of a healthy homeschool is action. I am convicted many days because of my habit of spending too much time on line or occupying myself with things that are not feeding Michaela’s mind or heart. We’ll hearken more to the call of the spittlebug and the wasp and the gentle education that occurs with a notepad, a basket of colored pencils and nature.
Nature’s colors are real. Her lessons are enduring. There’s a time and a place for everything.
See you in the garden.
By admin, on May 4th, 2010%
My Dear Readers,
I’m so sorry I never posted yesterday! I was supposed to post about school stuff: where we are, how I am going to finish up the year… Then yesterday went crazy, as work days are likely to do, and I never posted, though I was thinking about it.
A reaping of that sown: greens to cook, greens for a fresh salad, greens for an infusion.
On Sunday evening I spent some time thinking about this school year: about Ambleside Online, Five in a Row, how much time we’ve spent in co-ops and on fieldtrips, where we are in our Saxon math text, and where we are in our writing and grammar. I say “we” because even thought it’s Michaela’s education, at this point I am totally responsible for putting her lessons together and making sure she follows through.
As I wondered about writing out yet more lessons, I could not get off my mind that, very simply, “you reap what you sow.”
I had everything I needed right at my fingertips to do a full year of Ambleside and yet we have persisted in reading only a few of the selections on the year’s list of books. We have focused on only one artist: Raphael. But I’m not going to cry over things not accomplished.
On the other hand, we have been 100% involved in our Five In A Row homeschool support group, including a co-op that split off to study Volume 4, and our lives have been so enriched with friendship, hands-on learning, review, and time outdoors and in others’ homes, the result has been beyond my expectations. But I am not going to be over-confident regarding things we did accomplish.
The summation of this is that we are not yet where I had hoped we’d be in the math book and yet we are still inspired to learn, and here it is May! I think it has been a successful year.
It is clear to me that we are reaping what we have sown through the year. There’s a harvest to everything. Perhaps we’ve a table covered in too many sweet fruits and not enough vitamin-rich vegetables, and yet, at least for now, we are doing well with what we’ve harvested. It’s clear to me though that there are some lessons I need to take from this and that we need to be wise with the time left in this school year and even this summer.
We have three more outings with our homeschool group and the year will be done in that sense. Otherwise, we are focusing only on math and writing during our days, and our evening/bedtime/independent reading will be purely the bible and the few books from Ambleside Year 5 that we want to finish but have not yet. Michaela will be required to name all of the paintings by Raphael that we have studied. Her end-of-year testing is already set up to be done with an indepedent testing service in the second half of June. Then we’ll break, except for math.
I feel like I’m tying up loose ends and that I have learned so much. As far as I know, next year we will be using Ambleside Year 6, Beyond Five In A Row, our Saxon math, and other things yet to be determined. (Must wait until after the NC Homeschool Conference!)
While we’re at it, do expect a final Ambleside post before the school year is out.
I’ll leave you with a bunny picture. Trying to crawl up out of my hand and look at the world, this little bunny does have ears! If you’ll remember, Coco sometimes looked like she had no ears, or only one ear. Like mama, like baby.
A good reminder: You reap what you sow.
By admin, on November 28th, 2009%
“O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” Psalms 8:1
After a large Thanksgiving meal, for which we were duly thankful, my mother, my sister, my sweet husband, my son Joseph and I set out on a slow, easy walk around the pond.
The beauty of the woods enticed me to think on happy things. My mind was renewed as my thoughts flew to getting back into school after a week of cooking, eating, and relaxing. We have the marvelous AO Year 5 books to devour. This season offers the chance to study some of the greatest music of all time. Handel’s Messiah comes to mind. Music appreciation should flow almost without effort.
In my Charlotte Mason reading this morning, exercising the mind was the subject of her writing.
Most of us have met with a few eccentric and a good many silly persons, concerning whom the question forces itself, Were these people born with less brain power than others? Probably not; but if they were allowed to grow up without the daily habit of appropriate moral and mental work, if they were allowed to dawdle through youth without regular and sustained efforts of thought or will, the result would be the same, and the brain which should have been invigorated by daily exercise has become flabby and feeble as a healthy arm would be after carried for years in a sling.”
Oh what encouragement to push ever onward in the coming week! And though it might sometimes seem an inconveniece to my child to forgo mindless (insert name of modern pop star who most gets on your nerves) videos on YouTube, in favor of a more noble pursuit:
Do not let the children pass a day without distinct efforts, intellectual, moral, volitional; let them brace themselves to understand; let them compel themselves to do and to bear; and let them do right at the sacrifice of ease and pleasure…
I find that we are not without things to work on.
Wishing you a beautiful and productive Saturday,
Lynn
By admin, on October 22nd, 2009%
Having in mind Charlotte Mason’s encouragment to get children into the fresh air, we pulled a plastic chair into the veggie garden for Michaela. I turned over a bucket to sit on so we could read together. The fresh air felt so good.
Well, one thing led to another and we pulled our plastic card table out into the veggie garden and placed a couple of chairs. It looked like a cozy little kitchen corner, minus the walls and ceiling.
We began reading about outdoor survival as part of our school lessons and we thought it’d be fun to really build a fire. Actually Michaela thought it would be fun and I’m easily manipulated into things like that. 
This led to pulling our little chiminea into the garden and gathering up dried grass and sticks. Our cute little outside kitchen was getting cuter and cuter.
If I have learned anything at all about home education, it’s that one thing leads to another and another and another. And also we badly needed some brain food.
So we dragged out an iron skillet and some cooking utensils, paper plates, drinks, napkins, and hot dogs. You have no idea how good hot dogs are when they are cut into little pieces and cooked in an iron skillet while you are reading about outdoor survival.
I could think so much better after this. Oh yeah, we brought out the peanut butter to put on our ginger snaps.
Actually, after the fired burned out and we had eaten an entire package of hot dogs, we tried building a fire using different types of tinder we found in the yard. It was an educational science lesson, though I will put a disclaimer right here about being careful with fire. Michaela is 11 and I was there supervising the whole time. And yes, I made Michaela pull her hair back because I did not like the looks of it swinging down near the door of the chiminea.
We invited Joseph to come out and eat with us and he seemed happy to oblige. At some point Joseph and Michaela transitioned to the more open end of our outdoor kitchen and started sword fighting with two heavy wooden garden stakes. Another disclaimer: Insert here whatever injury you think might occur from this type of behavior.
He’s basically letting her do all the hitting.
Get ‘im!
Ger ‘er!
Get ‘im!!
Get ‘im again!
Get ‘er!
Oh, look, a tie! Let’s stop now before someone ends up minus an eye or something.
By the way, we did squeeze in lots of Saxon math and some good mommy daughter talks and some great review of recent co-op and fieldtrip events.
Lynn
By admin, on October 19th, 2009%
‘The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. ” Psalm 19:1
When I was a teenager we had a friend visiting from the mountains. In driving around our county I was commenting on the beauty of it all. My mother seemed a bit embarassed and noted that our friend, having come from the mountains, was from a place where the land really was beautiful. While I did see her point, I didn’t agree at all that the mountains were any more beautiful than the sandy soil, scrubby oaks, pine trees, and blue skies where I had grown up.
I used to kneel down in the woods behind our house and marvel at the soldier moss growing at the foot of one of our oaks. The sandy trail that cut through our woods looked like a secret path to me, and I often saw snakes and birds sitting in the trees, looking at me as I walked on tip-toe trying to be really quiet like the Indians would have been. We had a montrous tangle of blackbeery bushes that offered up many blackberry cobblers through the years. I felt rich.
It is humbling to think of the beauty God has put around us to enjoy. I went outside this morning and sat in the morning sun with a cup of water infused with a few drops of Ashwagandha. (I think my adrenals are struggling, but that’s another post for another day.)
The sun on my face felt so wonderful and Annie enjoyed running around in the garden. Over the weekend I went on a foraging walk and gathered many rosehips for winter teas. They are currently drying in a sunny, upstairs window.
I woke up this morning so renewed and encouraged that Nature Study is a vital and easy thing to undertake. Michaela’s first lesson today will be outside. I may even have her continue there, but it’s cold. We’ll see how warm it gets. She’s been admiring the art in a new picture book here and I think I’ll have her experiment with the method of illustration done in the book. It appears to be black outlining filled in with colored pencils. I am hopeful that it will make a lovely start to Michaela’s Monday. Surrounded by the beauty of falling yellow leaves, purple poke berries and bright nasturtium flowers, I don’t see how a bit of nature can escape from ending up in her drawing.
I thought you might enjoy Charlotte Mason’s thoughts on sunshine, from Vol 1. of Home Education, pp 34-35:
But it is not only air, and pure air, the children must have if their blood is to be of the ‘finest quality,’ as the advertisements have it. Quite healthy blood is exceedingly rich in minute, red disc-like bodies, known as red corpuscles, which in favourable circumstances are produced freely in the blood itself. Now, it is observed that people who live much in the sunshine are of a ruddy countenance–that is, a great many of these red corpuscles are present in their blood; while the poor souls who live in cellars and sunless alleys have skins the colour of whity-brown paper. Therefore, it is concluded that light and sunshine are favourable to the production of red corpuscles in the blood; and, therefore–to this next ‘therefore’ is but a step for the mother–the children’s rooms should be on the sunny side of the house, with a south aspect if possible. Indeed, the whole house should be kept light and bright for their sakes; trees and outbuildings that obstruct the sunshine and make the chidlren’s rooms dull should be removed without hesitation.
With curtains open and rosehips drying in the windowsill, I’m busy working today and handing out school lessons from my work desk. The tea kettle is whistling. Enjoy this day.
By admin, on October 2nd, 2009%
First of all, I want to say something about health. Good health is a blessing and something not to be taken for granted. When people say, “If you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything,” I think they are usually speaking from the standpoint of having been sick. It’s hard to understand what a treasure good health is until it leaves you. And sometimes it just happens.
That said, my recent illness, which is major compared to a cold, and minor compared to what some are dealing with, has caused me to re-evaluate many areas of my life. What I feed on, and not just physically but that as well, what I place value on, and what I spend my time doing.
I have not blogged as much lately, but that’s not because I’m thinking of abandoning blogging. I’ve met some really close friends through my blog and I’ve also turned this blog into a bigtime outlet for myself. The fact is, rather, that I’ve not been blogging as much because I’ve had the “brain fog” that goes with pretty moderate (maybe even severe) hypothyroidism. Also, I’ve been trying to figure out for a year what was making me ill, so I didn’t get in this shape overnight and I’m not going to get out of it overnight.
Enough said.
My Chatelaine
First of all in this game of catch-up, I want to show you the chatelaine that my friend Marqueta made for me. I’ve been meaning to show you this for quite some time now, but my mind being in the intense Pooh-Bear condition it has been in, it just kept slipping my mind because other things like sleep were taking up so much room.
What you see around my neck is a chatelaine! Did you know what one was? I did not, but Marqueta made this and I love it. Michaela loves it too! It hangs right around my neck when I am sewing or crafting, holding on one of its ends a beautiful pair of scissors, and on its other end a pin-cushion and a little velvety thimble bag. I love it so much and wanted to show you!
Our Nature Adventures
Moving on, dear friends, I know I mentioned some exciting nature adventures happening here. We are still in the midst of them and they get more exciting every day. It would seem at this season in my life, I am being sent pets to help me. They really do help me, and I am saying that in all seriousness. I find that whether it’s an injured snake or a new puppy I am tending to, my breathing feels more regular and I’m not as anxious over my blood pressure and heart rate. It’s a similar effect to what my garden does for me.
It was quite the coincidence (or not) that I had just read in my book, Lessons at Blackberry Inn by Karen Andreola, about Donald. “Look, a woolly bear!”
The book went on to tell of the fuzzy caterpillar and the Isabella tiger moth that it becomes and also of the folklore concerning how much brown is on the caterpillar (mostly brown = mild winter) or how much black is on the caterpillar (mostly black – stormy winter).
Wouldn’t you know that the very next day I found this caterpillar scurrying along in our garden? I do believe that the Lord hears even our smallest thoughts and sometimes shows us the wonders of His creation to answer our questions.
I like gathering bits of green and little sticks for our creatures.
Of course since we are using Ambleside, we are using Anna Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study, so this is a perfect first lesson from that book. We have put the wooly bear in a large glass jar with conditions that reflect what the wooly bear likes. The jar will stay outside all winter so that the caterpillar can do what nature has intended and hopefully in May we will see the new Isabella tiger moth.
Another Creature
Earlier in the week I heard a loud thumping sound coming from the front porch. It continued, so I went out to take a look. The cats had caught a little brown snake and injured it and it seemed in shock. I immediately picked it up and examined it. It had a pretty deep open claw-mark (dumb cats but I love them anyway) so I put the snake in our spare aquarium filled with a bit of dirt, some plants, a couple of sticks to hide under and some water and earthworms for food.
I cleaned the snake’s wound with a Q-tip and peroxide and put some triple-antibiotic ointment on it. I wondered if it would live.
But the snake is still alive and it’s been four days now.
Brown snakes are frequently found in gardens (not the same brown snake as what’s in Australia, mate) and they eat snails, slugs, and earthworms. They are very cute (if you can call a snake cute).
We are hoping this snake gets well enough to be released again. Maybe the cats won’t find it this time around.
The wound looks like it is healing up. I might clean it again today.
In The Garden
The garden is so pretty right now, but in an autumn sort of way, nothing like spring. The leaves are falling. We are sprucing up with colorful pumpkins and mums, and my Clara Curtis mums are taking off now.
The paths are nearly closed off by overhanging asters…
and filled with Cassia obtusifolia and their curved seed pods. I have five new asters I want to plant over the next few days. My garden is one of my therapies right now.
Homeschool Co-op
I mentioned recently being involved in a Co-op using Five In A Row, volume 4. This is something I am so happy to be involved in. I find that time with this group — the moms and the children — is a refreshing break from the day-in and day-out chores and math and work and bill paying, etc. that occur at home.
Not that there’s not loveliness in what occurs at home, but this, to me, is like what Karen Andreola refers to as Mother Culture. Two very smart, kind and beautiful women taught our children yesterday, giving me time to visit with the littler kids and talk to the other moms.
In fact, I spent quite a bit of time with this little fella, Daniel, only yesterday he was sometimes “just Daniel,” sometimes George Washington, and sometimes the Marquis de Lafayette. He’s 5! I was quite impressed with his historical knowledge.
He diligently swept off the step with his pine needle broom.
I was about to zoom in to get a picture of a mushroom he found, but could not resist taking a picture of him. He was looking at me very seriously, probably knowing exactly what I was up to, because he reminded me that I needed to put the camera on zoom if I was taking a picture of the mushroom. He’s really smart.
Our little mushroom.
Daniel’s mommy, a most patient teacher, taught part of this co-op. I love having Michaela be a part of this.
What do you think about the weight of sugar?
No one is advocating diet sodas here, but look what the weight of the sugar does to a soda.
The kids also learned about the weight of water, molecules and much more.
Science Bags
I know many of you were wondering about how our science bags are working out. The first one was great!
Sponge and seeds anyone?
I know this has been long, but I had a lot I needed to say!
Enjoy this day.
Lynn
By admin, on September 28th, 2009%
Since I’m recovering from the effects of a non-working thyroid, which has probably been building over a year’s time, I don’t want to add any more stress to my life than necessary.
For writing, Michaela will keep a journal about her new puppy, Annie.
For reading, I am definitely following the Ambleside Year 5 lessons and just calmly going with our own flow with those books. There is one book that Michaela absolutely “does not get” right now. (The Story of King Arthur and His Knights.) Stress? No. That one’s going on the back burner right now and I’m hoping to read that one with her aloud later. In the meantime she is loving the other books and placing figures on our timeline as we learn about new people. Pictures are easily printed from a Google search for this!
Last night we snuggled up with Annie and read more from Farmer Boy, our current read in the Little House series.
I think I have to work? Well, no, Almanzo’s father had to get up at midnight, at 40 below zero, and take a whip outside to rouse the cows that were not in barns. He had so much livestock that they could not all fit into his many barns and shelters. If the cows that were exposed to the air were left to sleep too long they would freeze in their sleep. So little Almanzo awoke to the sound of the door closing at midnight — father going out to keep the cows alive. He’d drive them around until they were good and warm and then let them rest again.
Now that was hard work.
There’s a wild aster in my garden that’s beginning to bloom. I love the tiny little blooms. It’ll look like a snowstorm before it’s done.
We’ll do some light and easy nature sketching.
I’m involved in a Five In A Row Volume 4 co-op this year. I’m very excited about that. As far as creative lessons and things done away from home, that’s where my energy will go right now. It’s easy to choose lessons from the Five In A Row manual, but we’ll be getting the children together to work on lessons and learn together. So much fun!
The Ambleside takes care of itself if we just do the reading. It gives us copywork material, timeline material, discussion material and more.
Of course we are doing math (Saxon 7/6) and many handicrafts. Even now, Michaela is working on a new bed for the doll house. It is being recycled from something I no longer needed. I’ll be sure and post pictures!
Have a lovely Monday!
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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