- Mason 1/64
...Give the child delightful glimpses into the world of wonders he lives in, to reveal the sorts of things to be seen by curious eyes, and fill him with desire to make discoveries for himself.
- Mason 1/64
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There is no reason why the child's winter walk should not be as fertile in observations as the poet's; indeed, in one way, it is possible to see the more in winter, because the things to be seen do not crowd each other out. - CM 1.86 "The cattle mourn in corners where the fence screens them." "The sun, with ruddy orb Ascending, fires the horizon." "Every herb and every spiry blade Stretches a length of shadow o'er the field." "The sparrows peep, and quit the sheltering eaves.
"The redbreast warbles still, but is content With slender notes, and more than half suppress'd; Pleased with his solitude, and flitting light From spray to spray, wheree'er he rests he shakes From many a twig the pendent drops of ice That tinkle in the wither'd leaves below." -CM 1/86 "It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "And freezing." "However," He said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately." We're working our way through Long's Geography and the questions this week happened to be quite fitting:
Tell all that you can tell about the wind. What was the direction of the wind during the last snow-storm? Why is the north wind cold? My son dictated a lovely little made-up poem in answer to the first question which I promptly wrote into my Mothers Notebook. Love. "Truly parents are happy people to have God's children lent to them." -Charlotte Mason I am reposting some entries from a previous blog. Enjoy another handcraft idea via our Truth Beauty Goodness homeschool community. In light of the upcoming Christmas holiday, and to get us in the mood for all things Christmas-y we read a little excerpt from this book. One of my favorites. Then we began making our ornaments! Having done a bit of hand sewing in a previous lesson, I decided to have the group try a little bit more advanced project that used a blanket stitch to edge their ornaments. We made two kinds of ornaments, stars and ice skates. The stars shown on the cover of this book. It has a detailed how-to and can be used with just a regular running straight stitch too. You can find an ice skate ornament pattern here. The tutorial we used is found here. Another ice skate ornament here. And here are a few post Thanksgiving photos from our lovely walk around the lake. It was a chilly but lovely holiday. "To push ourselves to work daily at education, to live, act, think and speak in front of children so that they'll be better every hour because of our example, is a lot harder than making a single enormous sacrifice." --Charlotte Mason It's November, and we're settling into a gentle rhythm for fitting school into our days here at home. It takes a little bit to get supplies organized and the posted routine turned into an actuality. It also takes some thought and preparation to take a child who at age four has free exploratory play taking up the majority of his day, to then, by age six, be able to sit down for a structured period of time and apply his mind to learning as well as telling back what he knows. I have found a slow, gentle introduction to one new subject at a time to be the most attainable in our home setting and much preferable to a throw-them-in-at-the-deep-end approach. School is pretty high on the ‘fun’ list around here, for teacher and student. I mean that too! Really, who wouldn’t appreciate a guilt-free opportunity to ignore housework and laundry and go read a few really good books for a while each day. I hope and pray that the day I begin to find it turning to drudgery for either party, I would pause for a long hard look and make the necessary changes. How well can learning happen when the mind is overwhelmed or in a state of resistance? In an ideal world, where obedience reigns, nothing falls apart and fairies do the dirty dishes, this is what the school portion of our daily rhythm looks like. I've heard it called gathering time and morning meeting and other lovely names; we begin our time after breakfast with the same concept. We've found which subjects work well while the little one is dashing between our feet and save the others for nap time. I'm still crossing lots of fingers praying he doesn't grow out of nap time for a long while. It's been an adjustment for me to give up my mid-afternoon time to get some work done around the house. I'm not a fan of change in general, but in this case, the rewards far outweigh any negatives. During a morning we try to do the following subjects: Bible Reading/Prayer Recite our memory Verse Calendar-Weather check Listen to our composer Spanish lesson Sing our Hymn/Folksong Read our daily poem Chores and outdoor play fit into our morning, as well. Other times we run errands or have play-dates with mom friends and their little ones before lunch. I might remember to grab the cds and then we listen/sing/recite any of the above subjects in the car. We also love books on cd in the car! Using Ambleside Online Year 1 as our guide, our total time spent in focused learning during a given day is about an one and a half to two hours. I take my planning time (usually about 15 minutes) on Friday when school's over. Then my thoughts from the week we've just completed and where we're headed are still fresh in my mind. I find that it takes me much longer and is harder to get back into the mindset if I wait until Sunday night. As soon as baby's down for the afternoon and the table is cleared, big brother and I pop onto the couch and begin with a book and narration, which one depends on the day and our reading schedule. Short and varied lessons are the keys to keeping attention and interest. We do 5-20 minute lessons depending on the subject. When he asks, I let him choose which order the afternoon falls into, but, as I can sense that a certain predictability is a comfort to him, we generally follow his favorite order of things. Number comes next, then copywork. Next he does his letters (aka learning to read), and then another reading and narration. Handcrafting, nature notebooks- a.k.a. science, drawing, outdoor geography, timeline, common placing, citizenship etc. fit in here depending on the day. We attempt to do each at least once a week. And Shakespeare comes last. Often baby wakes up and does Shakespeare with us. And that's it for school! We used to head out and pick eggs after this. I 'm already looking forward to resuming that part of our daily rhythm with new birds next year and listening to contented chicken noises and giggling at their antics once again. The majority of the time the teacher role falls to me. Dad likes to be involved in school, more than just, "We did this or that today," but among his many bread-winner responsibilities he doesn't have much chance to dive too far in. It makes sense for me to help offer opportunities for him to connect to what we're doing. One evening I set out an 'assignment' for suppertime, a Picture Study narration that had already been assigned to us for our TBG community. It was very fun to sit back and listen to it happen. They looked quietly at a beautiful print from Vermeer. Afterwards, these are a few of the comments I heard. "There was a box on the table." "It was brown." "No, Dad, it was blackish brown." "She had a letter in her hand." "Ya, it might have been a letter from her husband." "There was some cloth." "No, that's the table. It was blue." "Like her dress!" "Let's look at it again. Oh, I see what you were talking about that was a hook on her face. It's her hair, a curl." "It's hard to see." Another recommendation I've heard for dads is to keep a read aloud book going at all times, one they can pick up and read to the kids whenever it works. We're using the free reads on our list for some of our 'dad books.' It's an opportunity not to be missed! "...let us consider where and what the little being is who is entrusted to the care of human parents. A tablet to be written upon? a twig to be bent? Wax to be moulded? Very likely, but he is much more-- a being belonging to an altogether higher estate than ours; as it were, a prince committed to the fostering care of peasants." "...mothers owe a thinking love to their children...
how shall this heart, this head, these hands, be employed? to whose service shall they be dedicated?" ... woke up one morning to snow!! It's mostly gone now, but it was a glorious frosty surprise in which we were out playing before 7 am. ... participated in an online nature exchange and received a fun package of beachy items all the way from sunny CA! The sand dollar and piece of lobster shell were the favorites. ...said goodbye to our chickens. It was a cold but successful butchering day. Despite the gross factor, I have to recommend the experience to everyone at least once. There's something natural and wholesome to get up close and personal with the circle of life of which we are so often far removed. Oh, and I learned what the eggs look like when they're not out yet... strangely fascinating. I kept recalling childhood memories from butchering day at Grandpa Joe's farm w/ my large herd of relatives. We are hoping to raise a new flock again next spring. ...stuck the baby in a giant pumpkin... he didn't like it too much. I thought it was very cute. ...took an evening walk down our country lane. ...read a favorite story and had a birthday party. The big 2! ...harvested the last of the garden. Carrots. Yum! Harvesting in snow reminded me of when we planted last April. See? ...did some geography and some sloyd with friends. "We must make it our business, as much as in us lies, to bring beauty to places where it is not."
-Charlotte Mason XO from out here on the prairie! "We must be able to see those things which are invisible, or how can we lift up our eyes to God? Imagination is, like faith, the evidence of things not seen; indeed, is not faith the supreme effort of imagination wherein she stretches her wings, compels her powers to produce mental pictures, or ideas, of the things eternal?" - C. Mason ...making time to play outside with my little ones
...imaginations filled with characters and heroic, fanciful events from the stories we read as well as the magic of make-believe ...living with an awareness of and delight in the majestic created world around us just some thoughts about the important things... and a book we liked on this subject I love learning a new handcraft, especially one that is reminiscent of ages past such as the time when all cloth was made from fibers extracted by hand from animal or plant. Most people are more familiar with yarn made from wool or animal hair. Less know about the fascinating process of spinning, or in this case, twining, with plant fibers. This dry brown Swamp Milkweed plant was harvested in a ditch near a lake last October. The plant has narrow pointed leaves and when blooming, it flowers only at the top of the stalk... ...compared with the commonly known Milkweed plant that has thicker more rounded leaves and flowers all the way up the stem. As you can see the next close-up, the blossoms look deceivingly similar. On to our first handcraft of the year! All it takes are 2 smooth stones, a stalk or 3 of dried milkweed, and a careful hand with which to harvest the hair-like fibers that reside just below the thin bark or outer covering of the stalk. Here's the how-to we used, and a video demonstration. Videos 3 & 4 show the process using Dogbane plant. The cordage is used for making fishing nets, woven food storage bags, clothing, bow strings, etc. We're getting a taste of the process by making simple bracelets. It was slow work, but I think it's safe to say everyone in the group got into this handcraft! A few more interesting things:
2 videos on Flax: Extracting and Spinning like in Ox-cart Man A recommended living book here. I'd love a link back if you happen to try this out. Let me know what handcrafts you've been up to lately. and... My handcrafting page (my gift to you all) is up and running now! Check out the tab at the top of this page when you are in need of new crafting ideas. I plan to keep adding links for current handcrafts so stop back again. Enjoy! the soulful poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow this term. Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary. |
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! Categories
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August 2018
I Participate"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 “It may be that the souls of all children are waiting for the call of knowledge to awaken them to delightful living.”
- Mason |