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.