Blog Archives

Golden Hours

5/30/2012

"Supposing we have got them (our children), what is to be done with these golden
hours, so that every one shall be delightful? They must be spent with some
method, or the mother will be taxed and the children bored. There is a great
deal to be accomplished in this large fraction of the children's day.

They must be kept in a joyous temper all the time, or they will miss some of the
strengthening and refreshing held in charge for them by the blessed air. They
must be let alone, left to themselves a great deal, to take in what they can of
the beauty of earth and heavens;

for of the evils of modern education few are
worse than this––that the perpetual cackle of his elders leaves the poor child
not a moment of time, nor an inch of space, wherein to wonder––and grow.

At the same time, here is the mother's opportunity to train the seeing eye, the
hearing ear, and to drop seeds of truth into the open soul of the child, which
shall germinate, blossom, and bear fruit, without further help or knowledge of hers. "
-C. Mason Vol. 1

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A Good Night

5/25/2012

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Ahhhhh... when I awoke this morning I let out a deep sigh- A FULL NIGHT'S SLEEP!
That hasn't happened in a long while. {thank you, baby!} :)
And while we were resting soundly upstairs, something exciting was going on downstairs, unbeknownst to any of us. A tiny miracle was taking place...

... this little one emerged from a 20 day sleep. Talk about well-rested!

From: March 17:
the Saint Patrick's Day finding of Fuzzy, the Wooly Bear Caterpillar

To: May 25:
the mid-night emergence of Fuzzy, the Isabella Tiger Moth

Let's just say there was an excited little boy at the breakfast table!

A little naptime sewing in honor of new fabric and new tastes.

Another tiny discovery- in Grandpa's bushes.

A handful of wildflowers he picked for me found their way to my kitchen window sill.

"Two small arms to hold you tight,
Two small feet to run,
Two small eyes full of love for you,
One small son."
-Unknown

Psalm 107:1 "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good..."

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Garden Musings

5/21/2012

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On Friday morning we had our last Truth, Beauty, Goodness Co-op/Community meeting.
I always hate to see it end for summer.
During our poetry time, my 4 yo (who is not usually at TBG with me, as he is still a little too young) listened to each child recite the poem Fog by Carl Sandburg (this term's poet) in preparation for our upcoming Family Night.
He and I had read it one foggy morning at home prior to this meeting.

Then on Saturday our family worked out in the garden, weeding and planting. It was a gorgeous day.
At one point, my son was playing quietly in the dirt a little ways away from me, and I heard him saying something under his breath. I stopped working and listened a little closer.
He was reciting Fog word for word. It made me smile.
I caught my husband's eye and he looked and smiled knowingly.
Then the poem changed to this:

"Cars, by Carl Sandburg.
Cars sit on little roads.
They drive on silent wheels
over town and city
and then move on."

Maybe I'll bring him with me for poetry at TBG more often :)

We made some herb garden markers out of old spoons and a set of alphabet stamps following this tutorial.
None of my past attempts at garden marker/labels have held up.
I'm hoping these will.
Next time we'll use a larger hammer to flatten them so the letters are more visible.
I later added black paint to help the letters stand out a little better.

Another exciting thing this weekend- we went to check in on the eggs and saw this instead!

And this little one had fun stroking pine needles- a new texture for him
(and, well, trying to eat them too... without success.)

And here's one other little thing I enjoyed this weekend and wanted to share.

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Large Thoughts: Money Jars

5/17/2012

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"In the spending of pocket-money is another opportunity for initiative on the children's part and for self-restraint on that of the parents. No doubt the father who doles out the weekly pocket-money and has never given his children any large thoughts about money––as to how the smallest income is divisible into the share that we give, and the share that we keep, and the share that we save for some object worth possessing...

how it is worth while to think twice before making a purchase...

By degrees pocket-money should include the cost of gloves, handkerchiefs, etc., until, finally, the girl who is well on in her teens should be fit to be trusted with her own allowance for dress and personal expenses. The parents who do not trust their young people in this matter, after having trained them, are hardly qualifying them to take their place in a world in which the wise, just, and generous spending of money is a great test of character." -CM

We've been having a little discussion (over here) about teaching kids about money. My oldest is turning 5 soon and we've been seeing that he's ready to begin learning about earning, spending, saving and giving. My husband and I have gone through Financial Peace University and liked Dave's FPU Jr., but I had in mind some visuals that were a little more personal and creative for our son to use. Sorry, Dave!

Our jars are made out of peanut butter containers. I wanted plastic so they were less likely to break, and clear so he'd be able to watch his money grow. I used these free printable labels and tweaked them with some scrapbook supplies. The paper airplane is really cute, but more appropriate for the spend jar, I thought. Sometimes money seems to sail away effortlessly, doesn't it? :) Here's the printable chore chart . I made the velcro smiley faces with clip art and laminated everything so it's reusable. Stickers would work too.

"One reason why she should have the spending of her own allowance is, that she may learn early the delight and the cost of giving, and may grow up in the habit of appropriating a fixed part of her little income to the help of the needy." -CM

Read more here:Rosamund and the Purple Jar

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A New Page in History

5/15/2012

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"It is a much disputed matter how we shall begin to teach history."

"children should begin with their own times and read history backwards. We want to give reality to history by showing that it is not something remote, to be found in books only; we want to show that the life of each child forms part of history; then we may lead him on to see that the whole world is different for each man that has lived, better for each noble life, and to feel quite early that God has sent him into the world with some work ready for him, and that his business is to do that work."

"To a little child ... we must proceed from the known to the unknown..."

"I venture to think that a child who begins history thus--not at the Creation, nor even at the Christian era, but at his own "nativity"---will get to understand it better than if he tried to survey the world from any other "pin-point" in time."

Enter: The Century Chart- a record of a child's life history

"The first square stands for the time before he is a year old...the second square for the time when he is one year old, and so we mark the squares accordingly. The first line gives the first decade of life, in the second line we have all the tens, in the third all the twenties... A child very quickly learns to read on a black chart the number corresponding to any square in the century of squares; "

"Later, ...historical events, are added"

The quotes above are from this article I read recently about introducing history to a child. It mentions this idea of a Century Chart; there are examples and also a beautiful little story at the very end.

This is one for my oldest son. Each square has a photo of the big event in his life that happened that year. It was easiest for me to print tiny pictures of each event to put in the square. The first photo is the night he was born. (The photos are a little different from the article's examples where stamps/drawings were used.)

This is made from 12x12 cardstock. Using a ruler, I drew a one inch grid first in pencil, then with a fine-tipped black marker.

I cut off the excess paper on 2 sides. The grid sheet is attached to some nice scrapbook paper with gold corners.

My son's name (covered up) and the year 2007-2107 (a century) are in the title line.

I might move the graph off-center to make a space on one side for writing other dates of special events.

For now, ours is in a scrapbook page protector, but I'm looking for a frame with a removable back so we can admire and add to it yearly.

"How valuable some such tabulated knowledge is as a basis of historical teaching...

... it forms a framework, which from the first saves events from getting shaken into
disorder in the memory..." (Oh, I can relate to that!)

I'm looking forward to adding a new photo for the year that has passed at his next birthday. I want to say a little prayer for his upcoming year, when we do. I also hope it causes us to reflect on the passage of time that the chart represents and the changing and growing that have been done.

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A Mothers Day Excursion

5/14/2012

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"By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis...."

"...At the door on summer evenings,
Sat the little Hiawatha,
Heard the whispering of the pine-trees,
Heard the lapping of the waters,
Sounds of music, words of wonder;
"Minne-wawa!" said the pine-trees,
"Mudway-aushka!" said the water"

"...Saw the rainbow in the heaven,
In the eastern sky the rainbow,
Whispered, "What is that, Nokomis?"
And the good Nokomis answered:
"'Tis the heaven of flowers you see there;
All the wild-flowers of the forest,
All the lilies of the prairie,
When on earth they fade and perish,
Blossom in that heaven above us."

"Of all beasts he learned the language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,...
Talked with them whene'er he met them,
Called them "Hiawatha's Brothers."

We've been loving
Hiawatha's Childhood
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Planting

5/11/2012

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First Lettuce

5/9/2012

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Tonight's entry into our Book of Firsts: First lettuce from our garden! Mmmmm...

Last night's entry: First Robin eggs discovered

A perfect day to build with Dad,watch shadows dance, look for bits of color, and marvel at ordinary things like Dandy-lions. (This is the book.)

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A Repitoire of Birds

5/8/2012

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To observe the diversity of the everyday life happening around us, that we so often fail to notice...
To see how camoflouge really works as feathers fade from view...
To learn to really listen...
We study birds.
I don't mean open a book and discuss the various species, wingspans, and habitats.
We press our noses to the window or sit out under a tree and study- how they flit, chase, scold, sing, munch, soar, honk, chirp, peck, twitter, bathe, sip, flirt, perch, dip and glide.

First was fat Mr. Robin Redbreast with his song, "Cheer-up! Cheerily!" to welcome back the spring. The rest of his feathery friends followed close behind.
It's a favorite of my son, to see him come zooming out of the bushes with mama Robin at his heels, scolding fiercely. We wonder what he did to make her so mad.
I love that he's noticing their personalities.

Junco, who'd stuck around all winter, was still scouring the ground for seeds each morning just outside our window as we had our breakfast too.

Then there was the day Wild Turkey, out for a jaunty stroll, came clipping along through the back yard and we ran to grab the camera! Once he got to that field- though still in plain view, he disappeared from our sight. We were left to catch our breath, still wishing he'd stopped to show off his tail feathers. Many days since then have been spent in the woods, rifle (I mean stick) in hand, turkey hunting.

One grey morning it was this pair of Morning Doves. They mate for life, you know.
Their "Coo-ah, coo-coo-coo" so calm- despite their looking chilly as they huddled together against the drops of driving rain and a harsh wind. We thought they must be looking for a good branch in which to nest.

But, our favorite voice belongs to the Brown-headed Cow bird. We giggle attempting to imitate his vain chortle. And we recall last summer watching him feed his vanity perched on the car door admiring himself in side mirror and fluffing out his feathers. He and his lady friend visited daily, one on each mirror leaving us a mess to clean off the doors and leaving us wondering why they liked those mirrors so much.

He loves how the Grackle's feather shimmer in the sunlight.

The spry little Goldfinches have discovered the sock feeder and bird bath we recently added to the yard. This morning we read a delightful passage describing these birds and their habits in this book.

Then there's the elusive Blue Mr. Jay who doesn't like having his picture taken.

And of course a sparrow or two. Who could forget the sparrow? This kind being Harris's Sparrow, named after Edward Harris, a companion of John J. Audobon.

But most impressive of all- one which we have never seen before, was this Indigo Bunting that grabbed a snack and headed on its way.

So, you can see, it's so much more than just a check mark on a list of skills to be attained by a certain age/grade level. We're making friends here. Ones that visit often, make us smile and laugh (like when they try to fly in through the picture window), and who enrich our life by reminding us what a marvelous Creator we have.

"The children I am speaking of are much occupied with things [ie. birds] as well as with books, because 'Education is the Science of Relations,' is the principle which regulates their curriculum..." -CM

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A Large Room

5/7/2012

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"The question is not how much does the youth know when he has finished his education, but how much does he care and about how many orders of things does he care. In fact how large is the room in which he finds his feet set, and therefore how full is the life he has before him." - CM

Psalm 31:8 "You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place."

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Welcome!

"I am recording this so that future generations will also praise the Lord for all He has done." -Psalm 102:18

I am a mama to 2 sweet brothers who aspires to a "thinking love" toward my children.

Take a peek into our journey towards a living education inspired by the writings of Charlotte Mason.

Be sure to leave me a comment if you're inspired!

I prefer to keep my text and images right here. Please don't copy without permission. Thanks!

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Previously...

Our Story

Our Year 1 Rhythm

Cloth Diapering

Century Chart

Learning to Read

Wool Felting

Nature with Little Ones

Playful Learning ABC

Living Math

Raising Tadpoles

Homemade Cleaning Recipes

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

Beginning a Foreign Language

Animal Tracking with Kids

Beginning Preschool

First History Lessons

Maple Sugaring with Kids

Children in the Garden

Sloyd handwork

Monarch Miracle

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"In this field small efforts are honoured with great rewards, and we perceive that the education we are giving exceeds all that we intended or imagined.”
- Mason