Survey Says

December 5, 2016

Clarissa is doing a survey for school today. Please take a minute to help her out and answer in the comments. Her question is: Which of these dangerous animals is your favorite?

1. Cane Toad
2. Shark
3. Snake
4. Cassowary
5. none of the above.

Wisdom from "Anne of the Island"

October 11, 2016

I am currently reading Anne of the Island with my girls before bed each night and this part really struck me as a beautiful thought and I wanted to share it with all of you. 

"There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it to ourselves - so much in men and women, so much in art and literature, so much everywhere in which to delight, and for which to be thankful." pg. 217

Post It Notes & Weighted Pencils

October 2, 2016

Jeremiah's school work and his ability to learn and express what he is learning has always been something that has been a real struggle for us.  Koolen DeVries Syndrome comes with global mental delays and permanent mental challenges in a lot of areas.

I think we are finally figuring out where and how to help Jeremiah with his school work. He is finally starting to write with a weighted pencil and a post-it note per letter. The weight from the pencil seems to help keep his hand on the page and from going everywhere at once and the post-it gives his eye a good space that is different from the white worksheet in which to write each letter or number.

His assessments also went really well the last time they were done because he had a scribe for everything they weren't testing handwriting for. I was blown away with the results his teacher showed us. I think post-it squares and that new pencil weight just became my best friends. At least when it comes to school and home work time.

The Hard Life of a Shakespearean Reader

October 1, 2016

This year as part of our homeschooling I decided that it was a great time to introduce my children to Shakespeare.  In the beginning I was struggling to figure out why I would want to torture myself since it was the bane of my high school experience.

I still have very clear memories of English teachers who made us pick apart and analyze each scene as we read them.  I also remember trying to read "Julius Caesar" and deciding by act two that I was done and I would just fake it on the tests.  I still feel a bit ashamed that I never finished it.  "Macbeth" was about some lady who went crazy.  I never finished act one of that play.  And I am sure everyone can remember the groans that came with the writing assignment that required a teenager to discuss the motivations behind Hamlet's actions.

Fortunately I had an Honors English teacher who read "The Merchant of Venice" with us.  She didn't expect us to pick it apart and justify every characters action.  We weren't expected to pass judgement on each event of every scene.  She just read it a little bit in every class out loud.  At the end we watched a Black and White movie production and then she wanted us to write about it.  Write about what you learned, what you liked or what you didn't like and then tell me why.  This sounds a bit like Charlotte Mason's written narration, doesn't it?  I am so grateful to this woman.  She gave me the one good memory I have with Shakespeare.  This memory has given me the courage to dip my toes into the waters of Shakespeare with my own children.

So here I am trying to tweak our homeschooling experience to spread a wide feast of learning before my children as I begin to learn about classical and Charlotte Mason principles of education.  Part of that feast is Shakespeare.  My twelve and eleven year old girls are hosting a Shakespeare Read-Aloud group one day each week this fall.  We are closing in on the halfway point of our very first play "Twelfth Night".

I had all the hopes of starting with Lamb's "Tales from Shakespeare".  Thinking it would give the girls an overview of the play we would be reading.  But although I wanted to do this I still felt intimidated by it.  And I continued to put it off.  Fortunately I scheduled the Read-Aloud group before I started feeling super intimidated and it was too late to back out and cancel.  So we began our weekly reading club without getting to Lamb's version of Shakespeare.  Even without the children's version my girls are learning to enjoy it.  We have girls doing voices and being silly as they sing the songs the Fool performs.  Now we are reading Lamb's version a little at a time throughout the week as a way to make sure we understood what happened in the reading we did as a group.  Hopefully in this fun way I can give my children a better appreciation of Shakespeare than I had growing up.

I am currently reading a book which brings up teaching Shakespeare and sums up my thoughts so precisely I just can't resist sharing it with you.

"I always tell students they do not have to love Shakespeare. It is understandable. The real sin is assuming that because you do not like his plays there is something lacking in them."

~Mere Motherhood pg. 80~

Thank goodness for this clear wisdom shared by Cindy Rollins.  Just because I didn't like my first experiences with Shakespeare and it still wouldn't be something I would pick up to read just for fun, doesn't mean that I can't learn to appreciate his work and learn something from them.

Gardening and a Spoiled Harvest

August 18, 2016

So apparently I managed to mess up every plant I touched today.

I thought we had some sunflowers ready to harvest. So I cut them and brought them in and then watched you tube to figure out what to do with them. They aren't ready until the outer leaves turn brown and the seeds have white stripes. STRIKE ONE.

Then while we weeded today some of our grapes looked close to ready so I tried a couple that were fine. Then I picked a couple bunches. Apparently we have concord grapes and they aren't ripe until they are almost black everything I picked was super tart. STRIKE TWO.

Finally our poor little branch on our apple tree is so loaded it is dragging on the ground so I picked a few to lighten the load hoping they wouldn't be to bad. Well apples aren't ready up here until after the first frost and they taste grainy. STRIKE THREE.

Gardening must be a talent I don't have yet.  But don't tell the kids that because spoiled or not, they tell me it was the best gardening day ever and they can't wait to try again.

The Coolest Dragonfly Ever!

August 2016

Our nature walk today gave us a close up of one of the most unique and cool looking dragonflies I have ever seen.  Definitely one for the kids to add to their nature notebooks and one to keep photo's of so I can add it to my own book someday.  Anyone know what type of dragonfly it is?

Sour Cherry Jam...Just Add Bread

July 2016

My husband has been talking about wanting to make jam for a couple of weeks now so when his Aunt Joann called and said that her sour cherries were ready to be harvested he jumped at the chance.  So he gathered up the kids a couple of buckets for putting cherries in and drove over for an afternoon of cherry picking and visiting.

It was the next morning that he set up shop in our kitchen and made not only a small batch of sour cherry jam, but also made some cherry pie filling with them.  The girls had a wonderful time and were invited to do some future canning with Tolmour's cousin Jill when the grapes and apples are ready to harvest.

Just looking at this wonderful jam makes me want to bake some fresh warm bread to have with it.  Anyone have a favorite recipe?  Feel free to share in the comments below.  I am always looking for tried and true, good and tasty recipes to add to our list of family favorites.

The Wisdom of Charlotte Mason and Mothers

July 7, 2016

So while reading a bit of Charlotte Mason this morning I came across a quote that I really wanted to share with all mothers everywhere. So here it is:

"If mothers could learn to do for themselves what they do for their children when these are overdone, we should have happier households. Let the mother go out to play!"

This is such a gentle reminder to me that I have to have time for myself to unwind and relax not only for myself but for my entire family to be happier.

Tartar Sauce or Cream of Tartar Sauce You Decide

June 20, 2016

Clarissa called to me from the kitchen today and asked

"Mom, does Tartar Sauce for fish really go in the cookies I want to bake? I can't find any in the fridge." 

After thinking for a minute I asked her if she meant Cream of Tartar and she looked and said

"Yes, is there a difference?"

So she learned the difference today and made cookies while I was out of the house. It makes me giggle to think of her making tartar sauce cookies. I am grateful for cellphones so she could learn before and not after baking them today.

End of the School Year and Time to Repack the House Again

May 27, 2016

Well we have officially wrapped up our first year of homeschool. I can't teach or plan while trying to pack for the second time in a year. At least this is for the move into our permanent house. We are all looking forward to being settled enough we can finally unpack everything.

Writing Skills Improvement

April 27, 2016

I am having one of those awesome days. After having the kids do a writing assignment, I can see specific things they have added to it that they learned about this year with me. Such amazing progress and so encouraging.  This was Clarissa's most recent writing assignment and she even volunteered to type it up for fun.  We must be doing something right.

I have Discovered a Thing Called Nature Study

April 2016

One of the first things I have discovered as I have started to ready and study about Charlotte Mason and her Philosophy on Education was her thoughts on an activity called nature study.  Something I had honestly up until this point never heard of before.  And I am certain that I don't quite understand it fully yet.

Understanding it completely or not I figured that spending more time out of doors appreciating and observing God's creations and the world around us seems like no bad thing.  And so we have begun.  Knowing so little about how to truly begin and looking at all our supplies I felt a little overwhelmed by the idea of taking art supplies for four children and all those said children on an outing of any kind I decided that we had better start simply with our own backyard such as it is.

So with the meager supplies we already had on hand I ushered the children outside with vague directions to find something in nature that was cool or disgusting or interesting and draw it in their sketch notebooks.

Our Nature Study Supplies:

Strathmore Sketch - spiral bound pad 8.5x11 we already had this for art lessons

Pencil - sharpened or mechanical it depended on the child and their preference

Erasable Colored Pencils

Felt Tip Washable Markers

While they wandered around the yard I tried to explore it myself with fresh eyes and a camera.  Since I was busy fielding questions like "How long do we have to be out here?" and "Why are we doing this?" or "Hold this mommy I need to get my jacket." I knew there wouldn't be any time for me to actually spend drawing to keeping a nature journal myself.  But I have a lofty dream in my head of someday.  Someday I would like to learn to keep one myself.  I would like to go for weekly nature outings to draw, paint and observe the wonderful world I live in.  So today I do that through a lens and maybe I can start my journal by sketching my pictures into a journal when I can set aside free time for myself, instead of trying to contend for it while helping the children enjoy and have their own successful outing.

The reading I have been doing in Charlotte Mason about nature study has inspired me to order a couple of books to add to my reading list for the near future:

Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by: Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth

Circle of the Seasons: The Journal of a Naturalist's Year by: Edwin Way Teale

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by: Richard Louv

Last Child in the Woods is my book group's next read so I am looking forward to reading it and having a wonderful discussion about it with a great group of ladies who are also trying to learn, grow and teach their own children.

Potential to Learn and Potential to Teach

April 15, 2016

Picked up a book called "Mommy, Teach Me!" to read yesterday evening on a whim and I am so glad that I did. This quote has really stuck with me and so I wanted to share it with all of you.

"Throughout centuries and over a wide range of cultures, parents have been their children's primary teachers in the early years and sometimes longer. This leads me to believe that since every child has the potential to learn every parent has the potential to teach...I believe that any parent with a desire to teach can learn to do it and do it well."

I think this sums up my feelings about homeschooling perfectly. Because even without a degree in education, I am researching and reading everything I can get my hands on about child development and learning and I feel like with the Lord's guidance I am learning how to teach my children and teach them well. Even when you don't know how to do something you can always learn if you want to.

All Sentences Must Have 7 Words! What ???

March 5, 2016

We had an eye-opening conversation during school yesterday. After working on a grammar worksheet that focused on complete sentences and sentence fragments independently Clarissa was confused about why so many of her answers were wrong.

Clarissa - "But mom, none of these have seven words in them so they can't be a complete sentence."

Me - "What do you mean seven words long?"

Clarissa - "Well all my old public school teachers said that that a complete sentence had to be at least seven words long, or it wasn't a sentence."

Now I understand why both my girls have struggled so long with grammar and writing. And it makes me even more grateful we are homeschooling now.

Homeschool + Toddler = Total Distraction

February 11, 2016

Here I sit helping Clarissa work on her math lesson, and in comes the cutest and biggest distraction there is in our family right now, Kyrilene AKA: The Toddler.  We love her dearly and wouldn't trade her for the world but she is certainly giving me a challenge at figuring out how to keep her busy and happy and still have the time and focus and energy to give to the older three children with their lessons.

Right now I admit that TV time happens so math and science can happen and if nap time doesn't happen then reading and writing or something else equally important has a much harder time getting done.  I mean who can resist that cute little face?

Suggestions?  Ideas?  Advise?  I will take them all, anything that will help us with our family routine and schedule so we can get to everything that needs to be done each day.  On the plus side today we did get three days worth of science done this morning while "The Toddler" watched Tinkerbell.

Lego's, Dangerous Animals and a Child's Imagination

February 4, 2016

Treysen choose the cassowary bird as his dangerous animal to write about a couple of days ago for his creative writing assignment and today he begged me to let him do legos as his art time for school.  He even promised that it was school related.  Although bummed that we didn't have enough of the right colors for a realistic looking bird he didn't let that stop him.

Clarissa not to be outdone by her younger brother set to work on her writing project subject a cane toad.  She used every single green block we owned and even convinced her brother to swap out the green blocks he had used for other colors but to no avail.  We still didn't have enough green and just like his cassowary her cane toad ended up a rainbow of lego color.

I love watching my kids use their own ideas and imagination when they play and build with their toys.  It means so much more to them and they learn and grow in so many more ways then when they just follow a printed set of directions.  They both think they would make good lego set designers someday.  I smile and nod knowingly and look forward to what they will decide they want to be when they grow up tomorrow.

Lack of Writing Interest and a Change in Assignments

February 1, 2016

We are still struggling with attitudes that came home with each of the children in varying degrees from public school about writing.  Mostly, a general feeling of it's difficult and not fun and a major lack of understanding when it comes to knowing how to go about writing even a basic paragraph.  What I didn't expect was for science TV to pay off today when it came to writing and attitudes.

When I let the kids sit and watch an animal documentary for science one day last week I didn't think much of it at the time.  They picked 72 Dangerous Animals of Australia and while I don't consider that particular show to be the most educational I figured they were learning something and I was catching up on grading papers so win, win.

Today however it paid dividends two-fold.  No one liked the writing topic from our lesson book today which was a descriptive paragraph about something you like to eat at lunch time.  So I gave in and told them to write a descriptive paragraph about one of the 72 animals they learned about last week.  Suddenly they were excited and couldn't quit talking about which animal they were writing about about and everything they had learned about it while watching the show.  I was frankly amazed at just how much they actually remembered.  Needless to say I am grateful for the inspiration today with a simple solution to our anti-writing attitudes.

Shark TV

January 21, 2016

Is it admitting defeat when you plop the kids in front of a documentary on sharks and call it science for the day just so you can have a few minutes of quiet for yourself? Cause that is sure where I am at this afternoon.

Family History

January 9, 2016

So we are studying the prophets this year as part of our religion in homeschool and while reading from our short stories book we came across the name of one of our ancestors. The kids got so excited and thought it was super cool to learn something about someone we are related to. They all begged me to break out my grandmothers research and stories so they could learn more. It is so amazing to me how quickly my kids can catch the vision of something. The girls insisted that learning about our ancestors is important and they want to start doing family history.

So can you guess what we will be doing on Monday?

This is something I would never have been able to share with them or teach them without all the work and research my Grandma Cowley did. And it was definitely not something I pictured happening when we began our homeschool journey nine months ago. It makes me even more grateful for the time I got to spend with my grandmother, learning about our family history. It's going to be an interesting spring.