“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

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

‘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.

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

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

I’m home.

Today is a work day for me, but I’ve enjoyed so much getting back into my little garden after a few days away, walking up and down my little garden paths and noticing big changes in little flowers.

My Ambleside reading this week is in Volume 6, pages 154-158. Volume 6 is titled Towards a Philosophy of Education.  You can easily print the pages from the Ambleside website and read along.  I’ve only had time to read a short amount this morning, but I loved this:

In devising a syllabus for a normal child, of whatever social class, three points must be considered: –

a) He requires much knowledge, for the mind needs sufficient food as much as does the body.

b) Knowledge should be various, for sameness in mental diet does not create appetite (i.e. curiosity).

c) Knowledge should be communicated in well-chosen language because his attention responds naturally to what is conveyed in literary form.

I love the richness of the books we are reading using Ambleside Year 5. 

Well, I could write on, but I must get to my work desk.  That, too, brings some excitement. I have new information at my fingertips and it’s made my job easier and more of a fun challenge.  As well, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t see some grammatical or scientific fact that I want to share with my chidren.

Today’s Quote: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” ~Winston Churchill

Happy Monday. It’s good to be home.
Lynn

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

We’ve completed our second week of school, our second week of using Ambleside Online, and all is well.

Michaela’s first written narration attempt was so cute, folded up like a little love letter and slipped into my “in box” on the Narration Station. I want longer entires with more details, but no way will I be too critical on this first attempt!  She did it with willingness and seems to be enjoying this particular book very much.  I believe as we go along, the written narrations will improve and we’ll find more and more ways to incorporate written narration.

I have already found two ways of incorporating narration: one will be her art appreciation notebook and another will be her timeline.

As we cover people and events in our reading, I am providing images to Michaela. (One more reason to love old, tattered history books from the thrift store.) Each image is glued onto a note card where she can write down information, dates, copywork, or narration and then the whole card can be trimmed of excess and glued onto the time line. The timeline is a series of 8-1/2 x 11 art pages taped together. This will easily come down at the end of the year where it can be folded accordian style and glued into her end-of-year notebook.

The thought of written narration has mae me really excited about all we can put on the timeline. Why can’t narration and even copywork be glued onto the timeline for us to see regularly? 

One of the facets of Ambleside Online that I have not written much about is the artist study. Each term of every year one artist is studied. There is a group online that has links to PDF images (so kindly put up by one of the members — thank you) for personal school use. I copied the files to a CD and had them printed onto beautiful 8-1/2 x 11 glossy photo paper for around 1 dollar each.

Michaela now has an art notebook in which these will be kept in clear protectors. Michaela put them into the protectors and then the notebook yesterday, in the order she wanted, and we talked about the name of each painting.

Her art appreciation notebook will be another way to implement narration and copywork. The only way she will truly remember about Raphael and these paintings is to read about them, talk about them and look at them. I will assign narration and copywork related to this art throughout the term and she can put it into her notebook to refer back to.

We have done an art wall in the past, but I think including copywork and narration in a notebook will help Michaela learn the artist even better.

I feel like we are really getting into a nice routine here, but we need to step up the reading. I’ve been very relaxed this first two weeks, allowing us two weeks to do one week’s worth of reading. (The assigments are plenteous!)

To complicate our already busy schedule, Michaela, as she put it, “messed up her peace sign” this week.

Yes, her left index finger fell victim to a backyard stunt that went terribly wrong and we spent an evening in the ER, didn’t get to bed until after midnight, and slept late the next morning. 

In a nutshell, she tried to jump through a seat-swing hanging from a swingset (running, by the way), got her finger tangled in the rope which twisted her, by her finger, so hard that it threw her to the ground, abraded all the skin off the underside of her finger and made her finger turn blue and become as big as her brother’s finger.  I think she thought that last part was cool, if it weren’t for the pain.  We’ve been icing and buddy-taping and waiting to see the orthopedist to make sure there’s no hairline fracture around a growth plate.

Hopefully we’ll be even more on track with reading next week. Real construction began on the potting shed today, so I’ll be putting up pictures soon. We have science experiements to talk about, and more! Until then…

Happy Saturday!

Oh, you know me and visual appeal.  I love the thought of having something visually stimulating when it comes to assigning lessons and inspiring children to want to create and write and do.

Narration, or the act of telling back in some form what she is reading, will be a bit of a change for Michaela.  I have always incorporated some of Charlotte Mason’s ideas into our schooling, but following the CM style and Ambleside very closely this year, Michaela will be doing a lot of narrating.

If I say, “You are going to tell me every day what you’ve read,” oh my does that produce some sort of expression!

In this pretty, old creamer are narration assignments.  I’ll continue to add to them as I get ideas through the year.

Here are the ideas written down so far:

• If you could send a postcard to tell me what happened, what would it say? Create it! Illustrate, including the stamp! 
• Reporter! Make me a news story to tell what happened.  In fact, do a newspaper page including ads, sales, whatever!
• Draw a picture of one of the scenes you read about today. You can add words if you like.
• Imagine! If the characters could magically fly to modern times, what would they think? Would things have been different for them?
• Use these words to write a creative story about a character you are reading about. (To do this I pull words from the reading and let her choose randomly as she writes.)
• You are the main character and want someone to visit you. Make a travel brochure telling them why they must see where you are.
• Pretend you are the main character and write a journal entry about what happened.

This idea came to me when I found a piece of bright red fabric at The Scrap Exchange. It already had two pockets sewn onto it, but nothing else going on. Except my idea to turn it into a pretty “in/out box” for our writing assignments!

I hot-glued one end over a hanger and then began to embellish it with pretty fabric and tags. I reinforced the back and gave it more length by hot-gluing a bright white and red piece of fabric to the back.

The out box is where I put outgoing narration assignments for Michaela.  I choose an assignment that I think is especially good for what was just read. For example, Michaela talks about Isaac Newton’s mother as if she knows her so I think for her to write a journal entry as Hannah would be good.

There’s a pretty strip of fabric that hangs from the top. It’s our “ready” signal. We can switch it back and forth from “in” to “out,” something fun to signal we’re done!

The “in” box of course is where she puts her assignment incoming to me. She can fold her paper in half longways and slip it right in!

I am already working diligently week by week on our end-of-year notebook (I ended up going with spiral again!) and all of her narration projects will be put into this as we go.

I feel like at some point we won’t be using this bright Narration Station day in and day out for every little thing, but as we make the transition into Ambleside and get Michaela used to narrating, it’s something to make it more fun.

I’m not sure at this point how Charlotte Mason would have felt about it, but given her respect for a mother’s need to lead and nurture and her awareness that children were individuals, after all, I think she would have known that I’m just a visually driven, artsy person who had to do this. 

Narration Help Resources

• Lapbooking and Charlotte Mason
• Simply Charlotte Mason Narration Ideas
• Ambleside Online Language Arts Scope and Sequence for Language Arts

More to come!

Lynn

Encouragement That I’m On The Right Track:

If there was any doubt that I had made a wrong choice about using Ambleside Online this year for Michaela, that doubt was alleviated this morning when we started school.

It’s a refreshingly cool morning here.  In fact, the weather is so much cooler, we turned off all air conditioning last night.  Michaela and I retreated to her bedroom this morning, closed her doors, opened her windows and let the bunnies out to run around in the breeze blowing in under the curtains. 

I asked Michaela, “Would you like to do your reading in here this morning?”

“Yes,” was her immediate reply.

“I’ll go get the books,” I said.

“Get Isaac Newton!” she yelled after me.

Inventor, Scientist, and Teacher: Isaac Newton by John Hudson Tiner

Ambleside Year 5, as part of the assigned reading, includes simply ”biography of Isaac Newton” under Science Biography for Term 1. I love that we have some room for personal choice here, and that freedom to choose on some occasions will be exactly how I work in Beyond Five In A Row this year. 

We chose the Isaac Newton biography shown above and so far it is excellent.  I have skimmed the first chapter and then let Michaela take off on her own.  I was very pleased that she is now asking for this book, especially since she was clearly (and verbal about it) put off by the idea of reading about Isaac Newton. She told me this morning that she had expected it to be a boring book full of dates she’d have to remember. 

Beginning The Day In The Garden:

This morning began for me in the garden, thinking about how to make the most of the day. Days off go by quickly here and I know I have to make the most of them each week. If I don’t, we don’t get enough done.

I’ve been going through old magazines (I have way too many of them), tearing out the articles that I love best, putting them in clear protectors in a notebook, then recycling the old magazines.  I mean, I have only so much book space and it can’t all be devoted to magazines!

Since today is September 1st, I finished up the rest of my August magazines and have now pulled out all of my old September issues. I’ll go through them little by little this month, weeding out, preserving articles, and choosing which ones I just cannot part with. Going through these magazines was a restful time and allowed me to think easily about the day’s school work that lay ahead.

I pulled out an old window to look at and dream about while sipping on tea.  Thomas told me last night that his goal is to have my potting shed done by our anniversary in September!  That’s two weeks away, people!  Do I dare get my hopes up?  He’s a busy man and I don’t like to nag too much for him to work here after he’s worked and done building all day in someone else’s house. Still, my very own potting shed/greenhouse.  Sigh.  I can’t wait to show you pictures.

The garden is bright and cool. The sunlight even seems different this morning. How can I share the just-right temperature with a photo?

Even the goldfish seemed full of energy this morning and there weren’t any mosquitoes that I could see, where usually they are such a nuisance, even in the mornings.

I think it’s a perfect day to do some schooling outside on a blanket.

How Yesterday Went - Working and Homeschooling:

Yesterday was a work day for me, but I had Michaela’s boxes filled with work.  She moved through them with enthusiasm while I typed.  Some of the things she did:

• word find
• Mavis Beacon typing
• Saxon 7/6 lesson 4
• reading in Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis and Clark
• reading in Isaac Newton (see above)
• made brownies for our dessert
• worked on her knitting (scarf)
• began a science experiment from the science bags
• drew a picture for friends who are having to give up a beloved pet
• oral narration

Doing Even More As We Go Along – Finding Our Rhythm:

Today I’m off work and am trying really hard to get a rhythm going so that our weekly Ambleside reading gets done, I get my Charlotte Mason reading done, and Michaela’s boxes are always filled with work on my work days.  Working in Language Arts in the Charlotte Mason style is on my list of things to conquer this week. Michaela’s a good writer — a creative writer — and I want her doing plenty of writing this year, even on my work days.

I could continue writing on and on and on, my to-do list is so full of wonderful things (art, timeline, our yearly notebook, ideas about the workboxes), but I’ll stop here.  More later on how this day unfolds.

Happy Tuesday!
Lynn