I’ve been promising a workbox update, and here it is.  Though I don’t use Sue Patrick’s Workbox System in the purest sense, I highly recommend her book and her methods.  I simply do not have room for the cart, and Michaela LOVES the mystery of her assignments being hidden in the cereal boxes until she pulls them out one by one.  So, for now anyway, we are sticking with the cereal boxes and loving the organization this has brought into our homeschool.

Our system consists of 9 cereal boxes, which I first posted about nearly a year ago.  I fill them up with assignments each evening or each early morning, so they are all ready to go when Michaela starts school for the day.

Box 1.   I think this piece of paper speaks for itself.  And one thing I want to say right now about these boxes is that it takes me out of the loop in a way.  I know that sounds crazy because I’m the teacher and the one who puts the boxes together and the one Michaela comes to with questions, and yet once the ball starts rolling, it’s like Michaela is answering to the boxes getting done and not to me.  I love it!

Box 2.  The next day in her Daily Gram book.  Upon completion, Michaela immediately checks and grades her own paper and we talk about anything she did not understand.

Box 3.  Spelling Power.

Box 4.  Need I say more?  Well, maybe I’d better.  In years past, one of my biggest weaknesses was grading math sheets.  Then the next thing you know we’d be a week or two into ungraded papers when, lo and behold, I’d realize a child totally was not getting something and we had moved on and suddenly were behind!  With the boxes, I do not allow myself to put in the next lesson until I’ve graded what Michaela has done. 

Which brings me to a second point here.  When Michaela is done with something, she sticks it right back in the box.  I pull it out that evening and file it or put it in her end-of-year keepsake book or whatever. 

Anyway, only when math is graded do I put the next assignment in — either the next lesson or review on what she’s not getting. 

Box 5.  Oh, yeah, the chores.  They go in there too, and once again, she’s answering to the box, not to me.  I have been surprised at how little complaining there is when it just comes out of the box and not from my mouth.

Box 6.  Her read-aloud.  And no, she has not finished this book yet.  It has been a slow, wonderful read, along with our other Ambleside books that we are lazily working through.  The good thing?  She has enjoyed this book tremendously and tells me something about it each time she reads, and it’s sticking. 

Box 7.  A test I made to review some writer’s tools we’d talked about just the day before.  (Thank you, Five In A Row.)

Box 8.  Practice your harmonica.  Michaela had been wanting a harmonica.  She got one in her stocking at Christmas and is learning to play it.

Box 9.  Oh yay, the fun box!  This week our Five In A Row Co-op will be centered around Grass Sandals.  Michaela and I “rowed” this book last year, but it’s been very good to go back and revisit it.  It’s a beautiful book.

When we review like this, I like to revisit the art element of the book.  For this assignment I filled the basket with bright pieces of felt in primary colors. I put in black acrylic paint, a black pencil and a black marker.  I took a couple of sheets of blank sketch paper and folded them to make a “greeting card” shape.  Michaela’s asignment was to create a Haiku poem, type it into the card, and then decorate it with inspiration gained after looking through the book.  She was only allowed to use materials that I had chosen based on colors and art media used in the book.

This is how her card turned out!  I’ve used this specified-materials-only concept several times lately to review a FIAR book and to teach art, and it has turned out great each time!  Michaela also gets to use her typewriter, which she loves!

Making The Cereal Boxes:

Several of the cereal boxes are very large family-size boxes, because they hold large books and a lot of stuff.  Some are covered in fabric, some in scrapbook paper. They are embellished with little bits of this and that. I used some glue sticks, but mostly the hot glue gun. Be aware, it takes a few hours to cover 9 cereal boxes. I cut the tops out of the cereal boxes first. I chose either a base paper or fabric for each box and just wrapped the box using a hot glue gun. One sheet of paper was usually not enough. I did one side at a time, wrapping neatly around the bottom and sides. I did fold over and wrap down into the top about two inches for neatness and glued this down as well. It took quite a bit of glue and — AGAIN — time. I, however, LOVE doing things like this. Once a box was covered, I embellished it.  While working, I was thinking of how I would fill the boxes each day!

Tomorrow is a big day, so I better sign off and get some zzzzzzz’s.

A peaceful night to you,

I thought we’d never find it again, really, but I did not want to say that here.  Seems for the longest time after Thanksgiving, we just could not get into the swing of doing school consistently every day.  I knew since we were homeschooling, that we had room for some of that, but my oh my, it could not go on forever!

Finally, last week, we found it!  We found that spark that makes us want to do our math and reading and other subjects, every day..  Yesterday we took a quick walk outside and found a basket full of this and that to look at under the microscope. 

We were like little children, suprised every single time something new went under the lens!  I mean, have you looked at lamb’s ear under a microscope?  It is amazing.  It looks like fabric, with all of its fibers and softness. 

We had a fabulous co-op this morning and then Michaela came home and did her math lesson, and now it’s off to a play date.  It gives me the afternoon with quite a list of possible things I could do.  Not outside, because it’s raining, but many to-do’s in the house and many errands to run.  Or maybe I’ll just take a nap. 

Even in the rain, I am remembering and appreciating the two lovely, warm and sunny days we had this week.  It was a touch of spring in the middle of January.

Enjoy this day.

I never know what to say about how I feel on Thursday evenings.  I don’t know if I’m winding down after three straight days off work, or winding up to work for two straight days.  I guess it always depends on how the week went.

This afternoon was actually warm enough to go to the park and play for an hour.  Michaela and a friend wanted to just get outside and run, I think.  It was fun watching them on the swings and, believe me, these two always have plenty of ideas going on in their minds about adventures and what not, so I doubt they were just swinging without there being some fantastic imagined  scenario clouding the swingset.

I sat on a bench, reading mesmerized by the most current issue of Victoria magazine.  (Hey, I noticed on their website that they are offering a trial issue right now.)  I could sit and look at the pictures in this issue over and over and over again.  I know, ’cause that’s what I’ve been doing.  On the way out the door to the park, I reached for a magazine.  I almost grabbed something I hadn’t looked at recently, and then I said, “Nah, I’ll just look at that Victoria again.”  I had prepared a thermos of piping hot Guayaki Mate Chocolatte tea and I was wrapped in a warm shawl, so I was fine on that park bench for an hour.  Yes indeed.

Once I got home, I fixed a quick supper — breakfast casserole with venison sausage, some black-eyed peas that had been simmering all afternoon, and a big pot of noodles with cheese.  It was one of those thrown-together meals that turned out yummy after all.  Then I worked on some pins and a couple of other new things for my Etsy shop, which I am having way too much fun with, by the way.

Well, I better wrap things up and go to bed.  I better wind down.  Or I better wind up.  Whichever thing it is that I’m trying to do.

I probably won’t post in the morning, as I’ll be at my desk all day, then tomorrow night is karate night, so Fridays are crazy busy, but I’m thankful to be able to enjoy a crazy-busy day.

Dear Readers, I apologize for my absence!  I’ve had three days of appointments, lab work, school fun, and then today we had another awesome co-op day with our Five In A Row group.   With Five In A Row, for those of you who don’t know about it, you study a specific and usually award-winning treasure of a picture book over a period of one week, or in the case of Volume 4, sometimes two weeks, and even though Charlotte Mason might not have been a huge fan of unit study per se, I think she would have loved Five In A Row.  Five In A Row is just rich in lessons about God’s hand in major events throughout time, history, nature study, art and music appreciation, and relationships. 

Our co-ops are taught in teams — two moms putting their heads together and coming up with learning activities to go along with the particular book.   This co-op it was my turn again!  The mom I was working with this week opened our morning with prayer and then I read Hanna’s Cold Winter to the group of children.

Hanna’s Cold Winter – Let me take a moment here to point you to Purple House Press, a publishing company whose mission it is to bring back into print, wonderful, “lost” children’s books. They have brought Hanna’s Cold Winter back to lots of children!

One of the things I love about this co-op is that we get to see each other’s homes.  Exciting!  The kids love getting together and playing afterwards, the moms love oooohing and aaaahing over other homes’ interiors, gardens, etc.  It’s a win-win situation.    We were in a gorgeous home today!  It was old (something I love), and full of interesting and bright art and some amazing furniture!

My co-teacher taught the children about animal groups and animal characteristics and played a fun guessing game where each child was a mystery animal and then others had to try and guess what animal they were, based on clues.  They learned about biomes as well.

Here are the children asking questions and giving clues.

Next the children moved to a board game I made called Budapest Zoo.   Uh, you know me and Mod Podge. 

The board game is made from a piece of plywood decoupaged with thumbnail pictures of Budapest Zoo, some of its animals, and landmarks around Budapest and Hungary.  You throw the dice, move, draw a card and read it; it’s either just a fact about Hungary that you’ll read, or something to do, i.e. A hippo ate your flip-flops, go back 3 spaces.

Next it was on to a painting project that my lovely co-teacher had set up based on how feelings and thoughts made their way into the arts based on what people went through during World War II.  We also learned about Hungarian composer, Bartok, and the children listened to classical music while they worked on abstract art techniques.

After the class was over, there were snacks to enjoy.  The snack menu was planned based on scenes in Hanna’s Cold Winter:  eggs (turned into deviled eggs and sprinkled with Hungarian paprika) and cheese from the market, snowflake crackers for the cold winter, tart apples to offset the sweet cheese, a bit of candy (with mom’s permission) – also a market item, and water.

One of my favorite parts of the co-op is seeing my friend Daniel.  We were both pretty impressed by the large nutcracker soldier on the hearth, so we stood guard with him for awhile, with our most serious faces.  Do we look protective and like good guards?

Can anyone say zip line?  This home had a zip line in the backyard and there were screams of joy when the children were turned loose to play once the co-op was done. 

It was a very lovely day and I am so thankful for the friendship and opportunity this group of wonderful ladies offers.

“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

We had another fun and informative class yesterday with our Five In A Row co-op.  The book we are studying is The Gullywasher by Joyce Rossi.  In it, Grandfather tells his granddaughter, Leticia, about the biggest gullywasher ever, which changed him from a strong young vaquero into the old grandfather that he is now.

After listening to the story, the children gathered around a long table to learn about various fats and how they mix, or don’t mix, with water.  Some fats are lighter than others, fats melt at different temperatures, and different fats separate from water at different speeds.

Jars containing colored water and different kinds of fats were passed around, shaken and then observed.

Michaela shakes a jar while the student next to her gets his watch ready.  The children timed how long it took for two different fats to separate from the water they were shaken into.

Next, the children were shown a variety of watercolor-painting techniques.  One lesson was how they could draw something with a light-colored crayon and then paint over it and the crayon marks would not absorb the paint but, rather, separate.  (More lessons about fat!).  See the yellow lightning strikes? 

Each child was given three heavy cards with their envelopes to make watercolor paintings, turning this into an opportunity to make cards for grandparents or other friends or relatives.  The children practiced what they were just taught by Mrs. Laura.

The next part of the class was a pepper-eating contest!  Oh my!  Mrs. Laura passed around jars of dried peppers and let the children smell them.  She then explained about Scoville units and how they measure the hotness, or the amount of capsaicin, in different types of peppers.

Mrs. Laura read the names of the peppers on her chart and the children raised their hands when they had heard of a particular type of pepper before.  You’d have to know the pretty and lively Mrs. Laura to know how connected she kept the kids through all of this!

As an aside, in the next picture, the beautiful dark-haired lady in the back was our other teacher for the day, Mrs. Lea.  She read The Gullywasher and another related story to the children.  The set-up for this was awesome.  The room was darkened so I don’t have a picture of her reading, but just wanted to include her.

Each child had a chance to taste some peppers mixed in with a cheese base, starting at a level of 1 and moving to a level 10.  We have some young students, so this was a mild level 10!  Still, it was hot enough to bring tears to a couple of eyes. 

Now the “fat” lesson comes in.  Is water what you need to drink after eating hot peppers to take away the burn?  No!  Water will not wash that capsaicin away because it is not water soluble.  What you need is dairy fat, so the children had yogurt after the pepper tasting. 

Tasting!

No we did not put the children into cages at the end of the co-op.  The children ran outside to play for a few minutes after the class was done.  This just happened to be a fun structure for the children to climb under and pretend they were in a cage!

It was such a nice day.  As for me, getting a chance to get out of the house and chat with some other moms and children is worth as much as having Michaela learn from these intelligent moms. 

Have a wonderful Friday!  The rain has let up here and I’m about to put on some water for tea.  Maybe some birds will visit my window feeder to keep me company while I type today.

“We cannot escape history,” is what Abraham Lincoln said, and as we listened to Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait this morning, Michaela and I worked on our project of re-creating Lincoln’s birthplace for our homemade doll house collection.

It is simply a cardboard box that we are coloring the logs and mud plaster onto.  We cut out the one door and one window and hung a bearskin (felt) over the door.  The single window in the small cabin was covered with oiled paper (we used wax paper).  The floor was hard dirt so we painted on a thick layer of Mod Podge and sprinkled sand into it and let it dry.  After allowing it to dry and shaking off the excess, we had a nice dirt floor.

We have several items to add yet, including a bed of saplings, a homemade coverlet and a fireplace.  We will continue to add items as we read on through Abraham Lincoln’s World by Genevieve Foster.  It’s one of Michaela’s books for Ambleside Online Year 5.   I have gotten questions before regarding what to do for handicrafts and boys, and I think a project like this is so much fun!  It’s does not have to be classified as a doll house!

Lately our school days have been full of history, made even richer by our participation in our Five In A Row co-op activities.  I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoy being a part of a co-op and learning alongside other moms (super nice friends) and their children. 

A few weeks ago we had a two-hour co-op class here.  All activities were centered around the book Cowboy Charlie, which is the story of Charles M. Russell, American painter of the American Wild West.   It ties in nicely with our other current reads as the times of Charles Russell pick up where Abraham Lincoln’s world left off. 

We read the book, Cowboy Charlie, as a group and then set off to travel around the yard by pretend train to different areas set up to represent different phases of Charles Russell’s life.

Michaela and I had made a tepee ahead of time, and you can barely see it because it blended right into the background on this cold, gray day, but the children enjoyed it and some of them came dressed up and ready to re-enact!

One of the parts of the co-op that I worked on was “passports” to the west.  There was a mystery character for each child, sealed in an envelope until everyone had received theirs.  The children then opened their envelopes.  We had many famous people there:  Buffalo Bill, Crazy Horse, Annie Oakley, Laura Ingalls Wilder and others.  It was really fun to see the children open their envelopes and find out who they were!

The original passports were made from luggage tags and then laminated.  I made a quick black and white photocopy of each one to keep a laminated set on hand for personal reference.   (Not to mention I wanted a tangible reminder of the day.)

My co-teacher (love her) talks about an area concerning one of the historical figures we had chosen to tell the children about.

After being outside and getting almost too chilly but not quite, we all came in and learned about the 12 constellations that tell the story of Jesus’ birth, death, and return.   Cowboy Charles M. Russell worked under the stars, remember.

We then crowded into the toasty kitchen and had warm apple cider, coffee, venison sausage, rice cakes, peanut butter and carrot sticks.  Everyone was so kind and I enjoyed so much having everyone over.  It was a day that made some precious memories for Michaela and me.  (Leslie, thank you for the pictures!)

We cannot escape history.

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