We are surrounded by the colors that are fall in our own little yard year after year.

There’s an abundance of seeds in the garden, signaling both the end of the harvest and the promise that there’ll be new plants in the spring. 

There’s a beauty to the end of life that is apparent in the garden — another lesson that God has nestled into his creation, if we’ll only take the time to look.

Not much beauty in the outward appearance of these pods, but inside are shiny, hard, beautiful seeds that feel sleek and full of life in one’s hands.

The coolness of fall has given some plants exactly what they need to produce a final spurt of growth, giving us just a bit more of the taste of the bounty of the garden before she goes to sleep for the winter.

Michaela and I have loved reading Farmer Boy and we smile at our own tiny garden and what we consider large work when we think of Almanzo. 

The little red seeds that Almanzo and Alice planted had grown into two hundred bushels of carrots.  Mother could cook all she wanted, and the horses and cows could eat raw carrots all winter.

Annie loves the cool fall days, running around the garden and enjoying being a puppy who’s the center of everyone’s attention.

I love the colors of nature.  I love the mystery of every single plant.  What it is capable of?  What can it be used for?

The amazignly tall lamb’s quarter is hanging full of seeds.  They are quite lovely.

Fall — caught between summer and winter, fullness and death.  There’s no lack of color in fall and no lack of interesting artifacts for children’s pockets and mother’s basket.

Though early spring is the violet’s normal showtime, this little violet has decided to bloom in the fall.  Nearly covered by leaves, her bright color jumped out immediately, letting us know she was there.

Under the arugula, a little brown snake was coiled up, perhaps thinking about where to spend the soon-to-come cold months of winter.

We are enjoying the slow-down feeling of autumn here and our leaf-gathering walks.  Michaela has found some huge leaves to press.  She has discovered that they are sycamore leaves.

Farmer Boy has been the perfect read aloud as we entered autumn.  It has made us very hungry each night at bedtime,  but also filled us with ideas for upcoming holidays and family gatherings.  It has reaffirmed my interest in eating as much as possible from one’s own land and the bountry of nature.

When Alice came home from school she smelled Almanzo, and she cried out, “Oh, you’ve been eating wintergreen berries!

…they went on their hands and knees all over those south slopes, and they ate wintergreen berries all afternoon.

Almanzo brought home a pailful of the thick, green leaves, and Alice crammed them into a big bottle.  Mother filled the bottle with whisky and set it away.  That was her wintergreen flavoring for cakes and cookies. 

May you have a wonderful October Tuesday.
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.

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

It’s been about 2-1/2 months now since our last visit to the Scrap Exchange where I bought a metal structure that I planned to turn into an easel.  So with a new school year close on the horizon and many a nature study planned, I worked on the easel today!

It sits in a tiny nook in my living room, very near to my purple chair.  I can just envision our naration and nature reading and water color painting.  Behind the easel is our nature and science bookshelf.

And underneath the easel is a basket of paints and Peter Rabbit holding our brushes.  My sister was with me when I found this ceramic Peter Rabbit watering can, and she said, “Wouldn’t it be cute with brushes in it?” She was so right.

I sanded the metal frame and painted it black.  Then I was lucky enough to find a cheap, large picture frame with an excellent, sturdy backing.  I removed the backing and it became the front of our easel.  I had thought of putting a ledge of some type on the easel, but one piece of metal wraps around the front and makes just enough support for the board to sit on, and a couple of metal clips to reinforce are all we needed.

The board itself is Mod-Podged with all sorts of nature scenes.  When we are ready to paint, all we need to do is clip on our paper with a couple of clothespins.

I love all the little scenes.

The pictures are good for inspiration, and then they are covered up with our large white paper when we draw or paint.

Are you wondering about her yet?  At the top of the easel was a hook that was actually rather sharp.  I twisted a wooden bead onto it for safety and then drew on a clever little face and some curls.  We hot-glued a little hat into place, and I feel like Miss Mason herself is perched atop the easel helping us with our lessons.

My to-do list has just a ton of stuff on it.  I made some curtains today as well, from a duvet cover I found at the thrift store awhile back.  I received two new books in the mail today for our Ambleside lessons.  My list also reminds me that I’m supposed to be reporting to my readers about the history of the American diet from the 1700s to the 1800s.    I may be slow, but I will get to it.

Happy Wednesday Evening,

Lynn

I don’t have much to offer today along the lines of one cohesive train of thought, but rather random thoughts and pictures, because that’s the way life is sometimes.

I hardly noticed this little creature because he blends in so well with his surroundings.  I’ve noticed that different plants draw different creatures into the garden, which is one reason I’m so fond of letting wild things grow. 

I stop and wonder how often in reality I don’t notice little spots of life around me — you know, the important things that really should get my attention but don’t because I’m zooming quickly by and they get lost in their surroundings: my busy existence.

Kitties growing up.  I know we don’t really need three more kittens, but it’s a wonder to watch them nurse and grow and jump and play.  It’s a wonder to see something grow up.  I stop with my tea cup in hand and look out at them for a little respite from bill paying and appointment making.

Another bright spider — a new one to me, that the Cassia has brought in.

This kitty stops playing for just a moment to look at his mommy.  Yes, we think this kitty is a male.

A Thought On CM – Nature

Why are we so instinctively drawn to nature?  Is it good to let children get too far away from nature?

All day long, every day, Laura and Mary were busy. When the dishes were washed and the beds made, there was always plenty to do and to see and to listen to.

They hunted for birds’ nests in the tall grass…

In the tall grass they lay still as mice and watched flocks of little prairie chickens running and pecking around their anxiously clucking, smooth brown mothers.  They watched striped snakes rippling between the grass stems or lying so still that only their tiny flickering tongues and glittering eyes showed that they were alive.

And sometimes there’d be a great gray rabbit, so still in the lights and shadows of a grass clump that you were near enough to touch him…  ~Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

I’m looking forward to even more nature journaling, flower preserving, and herbal work this coming school year.  We’ll sketch and draw, press and label, and make plenty of projects in the CM way.

As I wrap up daytime here and transition into evening, I thought I’d share a pocketful of thoughts.  I don’t have anything particular to write about, but I do have a myriad of things on my mind that I could share while I’m cooking. 

I invite you to picture me floating gracefully from the stove to the computer, wiping my hands on my apron, and then twirling back into the kitchen, washing my hands quickly and stirring the pototatoes after sharing a thought or two.

I heard you ask what I’m cooking tonight. 

I’ll tell you.

We’re having Clara’s Depresion Era Poor Man’s Meal.

Why?

Because I’ve just fallen in love with that Clara, and I wanted to see how this tastes (I’ve wanted to make this since I first saw it), and I want to hear potatoes and onions sizzling in my kitchen like they do in Clara’s.  And I think if hot dogs didn’t kill Clara then it won’t kill us to have them once in awhile.

Today was a field trip day.

We’ve talked about field trip days before, right?  When they roll around, I never feel like I have time to go. What about the laundry?  What about the seeds I haven’t planted?  What about fractions?

But you know what?  Last night at bedtime, in the dark, Princess of the Universe said she was so happy.  I asked her why and she said it was because she has a new bunny and a field trip tomorrow.  I said, “Yeah, I’m happy too.”  And it’s true!  I am so happy to visit with other moms.  People, these moms I get to hang out with are great!  I mean really great!  They make me happy.  So I was happy too.  I’m glad I made the effort today to go to where the blooms are.

(Demeca, if you read this, I loved visiting with you today.  You are so special. )

And speaking of blooms, this bloom has made me wonder if I can be thankful for just a little.  Last year this rose bush was covered in blooms.  I mean like maybe 20 or so.  And they all looked like this one.  It was WOW.  This year?  Only one really big one, with another one that might be as big but it’s not open yet and then two more little buds that don’t look so hot.  What happened?  I don’t know, but I’ll just have to love this one rose as much as I loved the 20-some last year.  Now, I know there’s a lesson in that and I don’t even have to explain it.   Actually there are two lessons in there. 

Oh, I can’t help myself, I’ll explain them both.

1. Be thankful for what you’ve got.
2. If it’s broken, then fix it.

And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

Something that spoke to me from the garden this week was this little bunch of spittle bug nymphs. I bet you can’t guess why they’re called spittle bugs.

Actually, I’m sure you can guess. The all-grown-up bug looks totally different from this wad of spit, called a spittlemass, and I certainly hope to keep an eye on this and get a picture.  From what I understand, the eggs are laid in summer and then they overwinter, and in the spring the nymphs emerge and produce this spittle material to keep themselves from drying out and then they go through several stages before reaching adulthood.  They are supposedly pests.

But I digress from the “something in the garden spoke to me” thought.  I was thinking that Karen Andreola mentioned the spittle bug in one of her books.  Was it Pocketful of Pinecones?

At any rate, this has me thinking of that sweet book again.  I love that book, Pocketful of Pinecones.  I first read it when Princess of the Universe was little(r) and it made me think, this is what I want her to learn — the way I want to teach nature to her!  I do pull Pocketful of Pinecones from the shelf from time to time and read a bit, but this has inspired me to read it again, like it’s the first time I ever put my hands on it.

On a more somber note, I’ve been thinking of this swine flu epidemic (pandemic?).  I feel like it would be a good geography lesson for the children to map out where the flu started, where it proceeded from there and how many people have had it/died. 

I envision myself at the white erase board and the map, pointing out scholarly things, but I’ll be at my work desk tomorrow, so I’m handing this project over to my capable two students and having them work out how to track it.  Graphs?  Note cards? 

I’ll be busy typing about sick people, and probably a lot of people who are afraid they have contracted swine flu.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed all day that they have not.

I guess I’ve shared enough of my rambling for one day.

So how ’bout just something pretty?

Or something fun?

And something to look forward to.

Happy Thursday Evening,

Lynn

UPDATE:   The poor man’s meal was good.  It was gobbled up.  And did you really picture me floating and twirling?

Ahhh, nature study, my favorite part of homeschool.  Nature study is something I like to incorporate daily into our lessons.  This morning I thought I would share how we do our nature study here.

First of all, my favorite example of a nature journal is this:

The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady

It’s a beautiful and exquisitely detailed book with an amazing story behind it.

It began in 1906 as a diary kept by Edith Holden, documenting her nature observations in the English countryside. Ms. Holden kept the journal to encourage her students. Tragically, Edith Holden drowned in the Thames at the age of 49. For some years, her diary was passed down through her family and was finally published after a great-niece approached Webb & Bower in 1976. The book became an immediate success, a record-breaking best seller, but then went out of print for several years. It is currently back in print, (one can only guess at how long — hopefully for good) and it’s one of my favorite books ever.  I’ve had my copy for about 10 years.

Our Nature Study

Ideally we go outside (our own backyard is a fine place for this) and spread out a b lanket.

It’s nice if the weather is warm, but if it’s chilly out, a big sweater works just fine.  An added benefit of using your own backyard is that it’s easy to run inside and get a quick cup of hot tea every so often, especially if it is chilly. 

As I settle onto the blanket, it’s my instinct to tell Princess of the Universe to sit down right away, but the wiser part of me gives her time to run around and get some energy out.  Children love the outdoors and seem to know exactly what to do in it.

“Mom, watch.”

It’s a wild and crazy game.  The only part of Earth left is the stack of two wooden blocks that Princess of the Universe must land on. 

I can hardly bear to watch this.  What if she misses the one spot of Earth left?  Will she go into outer space?  Will she disappear?  Maybe she will come sit down quietly on the blanket.

Thank goodness, she came to the blanket.  Sigh.

What are we doing? 

I’ll tell you.

Princess of the Universe and I have discussed the style of Edith Holden’s diary.  To me, it almost has the look of elegant doodling on some pages. 

I have always been a doodler myself.  I can fill up a 9 x 12 page with doodles taking a phone number and message down during a phone call.  (Did you know that a recent study showed doodlers remember more from their phone conversations?)  I digress.

The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady is also filled with an abundance of information about nature and history. In summary, the fun layout makes it interesting to read, the beautiful illustrations make it classic, and the seriousness of the information written makes it a real teaching tool.  The bottom line is that I want our nature journals to favor Edith Holden’s.

How do we do that? 

At this point, I simply require that Princess of the Universe follow my lead.  She writes what I write, copywork-style.  Our journal pages are kept in the same fashion in which Edith Holden kept hers.  The difference is that we are using information pertinent to our location and our lives and we are using colored pencils to document what we see.

Oh my.  Time for another pleasant distraction.  My oldest, Daniel, who is off work for the day and has been fishing shows up. 

Big Joe and Princess of the Universe must gather around and see the picture of the large fish he caught and released.  I sip on hot tea.  And wait.

Instead of coming straight back to the blanket, Princess of the Universe goes in the opposite direction, but there is a method to her madness. She needs to show me that she can jump all the way across the blanket.

“Wait!” I say. Let me move our journals.  And set my camera to “action.”

Okay, run! 

I am happy to report that Princess of the Universe comes back to the blanket, but look!

Another distraction.  It’s totally okay, however, because this IS the heart of nature study: observation. 

I think the key to successful nature study is to just get yourself outside, relax, and enjoy what comes your way.

Princess of the Universe lets the granddaddy long legs crawl onto her hands.  We look at the colors.  Gray.  Brown.  She has a patch of darker brown on her back.   We note that she’s missing a leg.  We let her go.

Back to work.  “Use the right colors to draw your dandelion,” I tell Princess of the Universe.

Her leaf is the right color but needs more definition, I think.  I don’t say anything this time because overall she has done a fabulous job.  She’s documented some valuable information and she’s done it with care and enthusiasm.  (I think the Earth’s-almost-gone game helped tremendously.)  Mental note to self:  in a lesson soon, we will color together just a leaf, working on detail. 

Patience is what wins the race.

Here are our two journals side by side.  How did we decide on this information? A few questions did the trick.

• What is growing in our yard this month that we did not see last month?  Dandelions.  Let’s draw the dandelion.
• What do we know about the dandelion?  It’s a food and a medicine.  It has many names.  Let’s write some of that down.
• What about its scientific name?  This is a short and sweet lesson in classification.  Over time these little lessons add up to a good working knowledge of how plants and animals get their names.
• What fun fact do we know about March?  It’s mommy’s birthday.
• What do we hear as we sit here?  Birds.  On some days we may try identifying birds by their sounds and drawing a bird.

What do we use as a nature journal?

For now, Princess of the Universe works in a sketch book with nice heavy paper.  I have several ideas for preserving her nature journal, but I have not decided yet how we’ll do it.  In the past we have used a standard black and white composition book, cutting out our drawings and gluing them in and using the lined paper underneath to write our info on.  These pages we are doing now, however, are larger and fuller.  I want to keep them whole and intact.   For now it’s fine to just keep it all in the sketch book.  It keeps things simpler.  She can just pick up her sketch book and go.  

I’ll be sure and post what we decide to do to permanently store her nature journal for this school year.  When it comes to nature study, the point is to just do it.

Lynn

This week we’ve got some inspiring copywork going on. 

Monday: (Yesterday)

Go Forth to Life
by Samuel Longfellow

Go forth to life, oh! child of Earth.
Still mindful of thy heavenly birth;
Thou are not here for ease or sin,
But manhood’s noble crown to win.

Though passion’s fires are in thy soul,
Thy spirit can their flames control;
Though tempters strong beset thy way,
Thy spirit is more strong than they.

Go on from innocence of youth
To manly pureness, manly truth;
God’s angels still are near to save,
And God himself doth help the brave.

Then forth to life, oh! child of Earth,
Be worthy of thy heavenly birth,
For noble service thou art here;
Thy brothers help, thy God revere!

Nature Study/art work for Princess of the Universe yesterday was to pick the bird of her choice from one of our many science/nature books and draw it.

I went to AtoZTeacherStuff and made up a nice work find puzzle to hopefully help us retain information gleaned from reading about Augustus Caesar recently.

Copywork on tap for the rest of the week:
Tuesday:

Kindness to Animals

Little children, never give
Pain to things that feel and live;
Let the gentle robin come
For the crumbs you save at home;

As his meat you throw along
He’ll repay you with a song.
Never hurt the timid hare
Peeping from her green grass lair,

Let her come and sport and play
On the lawn at close of day.
The little lark goes soaring high
To the bright windows of the sky,

Singing as if ’twere always spring,
And fluttering on an untired wing–
Oh! let him sing his happy song,
Nor do these gentle creatures wrong.

Wednesday:

A Child’s Prayer
by M. Bentham-Edwards

God make my life a little light,
Within the world to glow;
A tiny flame that burneth bright
Wherever I may go.

God make my life a little flower,
That giveth joy to all,
Content to bloom in native bower,
Although its place be small.

God make my life a little song,
That comforteth the sad;
That helpeth others to be strong,
And makes the singer glad.

God make my life a little staff,
Whereon the weak may rest,
That so what health and strangth I have
May serve my neighbors best.

Thursday:

Beautiful
From McGuffey’s Second Reader

Beautiful faces are they that wear
The light of a pleasant spirit there;
Beautiful hands are they that do
Deeds that are noble, good and true;
Beautiful feet are they that go
Swiftly to lighten another’s woe.

Beautiful is something we’ll be reading every day this week for memory work.  I think it was a very useful thing for me to memorize passages when I was young.   This week while visiting some of the blogs in my blogroll, I dropped by The Pleasant Land of Counterpane where I was directed to an interview with Andrew Campbell.   

Boy did these sentences jump out at me.

We can’t express what we don’t have words for. By stocking our minds with “the best that has been thought and said,” we have a storehouse of phrases to express, succinctly and beautifully, what we want to say
 

I am entirely convicted to incorporate weekly memory work into our schedule for Princess of the Universe. On Friday, she should be able to recite Beautiful from memory.

Our reading about Roman history has tied in nicely with our study of Angelo using Five In A Row for lesson plans.

Happy Tuesday,
Lynn

Yesterday was an okay school day.  I guess. 

The snow is still trying to compete with me.  Many neighborhood children were at the door throughout the day to see if Princess of the Universe could come out and play.  A couple of times I let her go.  I mean, how often are we able to go sledding?  Especially if one of the parents is accompanying them to a “really big hill?”

Nevertheless, we managed to get some school work done.

We had fun yesterday looking at

• a piece of dandruff – eewwwwwww
• a seed from a plant — groovy
• a little rosemary leaflet (still very green this time of year) — way cool

Michaela is not really doing any formal botany or biology yet, but I want her to become familiar with a microscope and to develop a sense of observation.   It’s a nice science lesson just to note the differences in what you see and to be able to say them or write them.

Along a Charlotte Mason line, we got serious yesterday about our nature sketching.  Michaela loves to draw, and does so regularly, but I want her to work more on her nature journal and observations.  Since there was not much stirring outside yesterday, we used a little resin robin that sits in my office as a model.

Michaela and I sat side by side in front of the warm heater, sketching our own versions of the little robin perched on the mantle. 

Michaela said she loves mine, but I love hers — the first one.  I love her drawings and the way she sees things, and I think she should further develop her drawing skills.  I see she needs to work more on observing exact colors perhaps, but I love her detail.  Tomorrow we will be placing these into our nature journals and labeling them as American robin, Turdus migratorius.

In preparation for a field trip to the Ackland Art Museum, we have read a bit about Ovid from What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know.

(there’s a newer version of this book, I think, but this is the one I have and use)

We are also reading about Augustus from Famous Men of Rome – a great book, by the way, from Memoria Press.   (Writing a review of this book is on my to-do list.)  Pictures to represent both Ovid and Augustus will go into the timeline notebook.

Finally, for math, we got as far as completeing one lesson in Saxon and then cutting out some fraction manipulatives for the next lesson…

and doing a one-minute math drill sheet. 

I guess I can’t complain, really.  Did I fail to mention how grateful I am that Princess of the Universe is learning from home?  And that she and I are great friends?  And that she really has it all: plenty of social interaction with friends and an amazing homeschool group AND she gets to be taught by the people who love her most and be the boss of her free time?  Yeah.  I can’t complain. 

Lynn

Saturday mornings always find Princess of the Universe wanting to play. Yesterday was no exception. A little friend of hers came over and they played “camping.” This little boy loves how Princess of the Universe is able to really play boy games, but hey, she has three brothers after all.

They are building their tent.  At least that’s what they said.

On my way out for my wintery Saturday walk during my lunch break, I took a picture of the two little kitties snuggled up on their favorite chair.  The one on the right is the tailless cat.  She’s much bigger, but much more shy than the smaller kitten.

All during my walk, it sounds as if little critters are walking along with me, only they are in the mass of trees and vines by the road.  Every so often I catch a glimpse of a little bird here or there in the carpeting of leaves under the tangled trees.  The animals blend right in and are hard to see.

It is very cold, but I do love my walks.  With most of the foliage gone, the train track looks long and lonely, like it only goes to somewhere even colder than here.

Another tangle of vines and trees, filled with hidden animal sounds.

When I return, the kittens have moved and Oreo has taken their spot.  I love how cats pull their legs tightly up underneath themselves to sleep when it’s cold. 

There’s not much color overall in the cold landscape of late fall and winter, but there’s something about it I love.  I love the contrast of the clear blue sky and the black silhouettes of the trees.  I love the sharpness of the air.  It makes me love and appreciate our little home even more. 

Lynn