O Canada!

For the past two weeks, we have been studying Canada, our neighbors to the North.  Being only two hours from Niagara Falls, it has become an annual tradition to make a day trip to the Falls each year.  :)

In school, we have learned about the languages, cultures, foods, exports, economy and geography of Canada.  We also learned about the Provinces and Territories.  Canada is unique in that it is so large, its climate varies from temperate along the Southern border to arctic, in the North. 

We learned about the Inuits who have a very rich culture.  In Art, we made Inuit Animal Carvings, which the Inuits carved from soapstone - only we carved ours from soap!

Matt's Wolf, Libby's Rabbit, and Emily's Cat

We also made Maple Leaf prints by pressing our leaves into clay, painting the clay and pressing it onto paper. 

Tomorrow, we will wrap up our week with our Canadian meal.  We are having a Lumberjack breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup, sausage, bacon, eggs, homefries and stewed apples.  We learned that Canada, like America is something of a melting pot and the cultures and traditions of those who settled there came with the settlers.  Therefore, we see a mix of European, Asian, French and English traditions, mixed in with the meals that come from regional provisions, such as maple products, and agriculatural products from the plains regions.

Of course, we had a little fun, too, and watched Dudley Do-Right for family movie night last night. ;)

We will now leave North America and move on to South America next week as we head for Brazil!  Stay tuned!

Mexico - a Fiesta in the works

Since we are doing Countries and Cultures this year, we are spending a couple of weeks on each country, learning about the culture, religion, language, geography, current events, food, and interesting facts about it. At the end of the second week, we have a meal featuring foods from that country.

We are in our second week of studying Mexico, and in art class, the kids have been making a pinata and tissue paper flowers to use for decorations for our Fiesta, which will be Sunday afternoon (since our Boy Scouts will be leaving for a weekend camping trip and won't be here for dinner on Friday).

At the Fiesta, we will enjoy chicken enchiladas, quesadillas, and tacos and the kids will share with the family what they have been learning. They have been learning to say John 3:16 in Spanish (as well as numbers, colors, days of the week, etc.).

Yesterday, our curriculum suggested going to the desert for a field trip, but there aren't too many deserts in Western Pennsylvania! Instead, they walked over to Grandma's house and drew pictures of her cacti in their nature notebooks, as we have been learning about desert plants and animals.

Here are some glimpses into our art class...



Until next time, Ciao! and Buenos Dias! :)

We have Monarchs!

On September 6, our Monarch caterpillars morphed themselves into chrysalises, and we have been watching them patiently to see the final step in the process. Although our books say the pupal stage is 9-14 days, ours took 20 days to complete the process. It has been getting pretty cold at night and the day they chose to come out of their "shells" was a nice, warm sunny day, so I wonder if the weather conditions have anything to do with the timing? You will notice that the butterfly on the left has emerged, while the one on the right is just hours away from freedom. About a day before they emerge as butterflies, the green chrysalis turns dark and you can see the black and orange of the new butterfly through the now transparent skin.
Here, the first butterfly is about to be released to freedom.

He chose to fly as far as a leg and rest a bit before saying "Thank you, and goodbye" before heading out to find a mate. This butterfly was a male, shown by the dots on the bottom wings.

Here is a very cool video that someone else made that shows the butterfly life cycle.

And even more interruptions...

We returned from our family reunion (which was incredible, by the way -more on that later...) and I had to take my laptop into the computer store to get some things fixed before the warranty expired. They said it would be 3-5 days. Of course, a week later, they said they were waiting for the parts to come in. Then the parts came in, and a cable was missing from the order. So, 9 days later, I got my laptop back.

Life went on as usual, I just couldn't blog about it. :) It was a little scary - and frustrating - realizing how much of my life is housed on my hard drive, and how dependent I am - even in the classroom - on the internet! So many times we will be discussing a topic and I'll pull up a picture, or a video or song online to go along with the lesson.

One day, we read Matthew 1:1-17, which details the genealogy of Jesus Christ. I gave each of the kids a 4 generation Family Tree chart to fill out and realized that my genealogy software was on my hard drive. I started pulling files out of my genealogy filing cabinet and saw that I have neglected my paper files since I started adding my research to my software program. There were many blanks left "to be filled in later".

Yesterday, we talked about Desert Ecosystems and there was a section on sand storms. I rejoiced to have my old friend sitting on the corner of my desk, so I could easily go to Youtube and find a clip from the movie Hidalgo, demonstrating a sand storm.

While I have a great respect for Charlotte Mason and her teaching methods that were popularized 100 years ago, and there is nothing like holding a textbook in your hand from 1911 and watching your little ones' eyes light up as you read from it, I also have an extreme appreciation for modern technology and how we can use it to give a clearer picture of the topic at hand. (How's that for a fine example of a run-on sentence? :D)

So that said, my laptop is back and working great, so... let the blogging proceed! :)

Nature Study Wednesday

We devote time on Wednesdays to Nature Study. We have several different projects going on. The first was from our Properties of Ecosystems Book. For our Backyard Habitat project this week, we had to stake off a 1 yard square in our back yard...


Then, using a magnifying glass they make observations of the plants, animals and other matter that are found inside of the square. They also note the weather conditions, sights and sounds they observe.


The other project was the worm habitat that the younger ones are working on. They had to fill a jar with a dirt/sand mixture and then dig up some worms to live in the habitat for a week. They put dead leaves on top and we will cover it with a dark cloth. In a few days, we will observe the tunnels the worms make and see what they have done in their temporary home.

When we are finished collecting our specimens outside, we go back to the classroom and record our findings in our nature notebooks. A couple of the kids brought in elderberries and leaves to insert into or draw in their notebooks. They then use the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock and look up their subject to record some facts about them along with their drawings.
Here is a little toad one of them caught in the yard to bring in to study. He cooperated nicely and was released back outside after everyone had a chance to observe him through their magnifying glasses.

The last project that will be ongoing is our butterfly aquarium. They have already found some Monarch Caterpillars on some milkweed growing alongside our hay field. Each night they bring fresh milkweed for them and they have already grown considerably. We will observe the complete process from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. We've done this in years past and this is a favorite project!


Thanks for joining us in our first Nature Study of the school year. Hope you enjoyed studying Our Father's World as much as we did!

At Peace with What is Right

Did you ever notice that when you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, everything just feels right? There is a sense of peace pervading our home today. :) Everyone enjoyed school and we began our half hour of read aloud time. While the kids worked on their John 3:16 posters, I read the first chapter of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott to them. As they left the classroom to clean up their rooms before lunch, the gentleness of the sisters in the story seemed to go with them. Ah, bliss...

Organizing the Lunch Menu

I thought I would share our lunch system today. One thing that robs my time is trying to figure out what we're going to eat. We devised a schedule that has our lunches planned out for us. I asked the kids to give me a list of their favorite lunches. Then, I made a two week schedule that is repeated. List A is what we eat Week 1 and 3. List B is what we eat Week 2 and 4. We alternate every other week, so we have the same thing for lunch every other week.

Week A:
Monday: Pizza (homemade, English muffin pizzas or mini pizzas, pocket pizza sandwiches)
Tuesday: Soup or Stew (homemade chicken noodle, Hearty Hamburger Tomato Stew, etc.)
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes
Thursday: Grilled Cheese/Tomato Soup, Ham and Cheese pockets
Friday: Chili

Week B:
Monday: Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Tuesday: Hot Dogs/Sweater Dogs/Corn Dogs
Wednesday: Popcorn Chicken or Chicken Fingers
Thursday: Beef or Chicken Tacos
Friday: Pasta and Meatballs

So far, this seems to be working well. We only repeat every other week, so we're not having the same thing over and over.

Sunday afternoon, I sit down and look at the menu for the week. Then I go to the store once and get the things we need for breakfast, lunch and anything we may need to go with our dinners. This way we save money by not making several trips to the store (where we inevitably end up with more in the cart than we need!)

Tomorrow, I'll fill you in on how we handle breakfast. :)

Blessings to you and may the peace that passes understanding pervade your world today!

And so it begins...

At lunch time today, I asked the kids how they thought the first day of school was going. Our kindergartner said, "Great! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!" One of my sixth graders said, "It's ten times - no, a hundred times - better than last year!"

I'll take those comments to mean that God is blessing our new venture. Throughout the day, tiny little nuggets of wisdom were learned. We began by talking about Charlotte Mason - who she was, and what her methods were. Then we talked about how we were incorporating Miss Mason's methods into our own school. We learned the new motto...

The older kids began with a review of printing and cursive, a math drill in addition and some fun worksheets, while I worked with the two younger children on My Father's World from A to Z. When the younger ones were done with their lessons, I worked with the older three on Bible, English, Geography and Science. We read the introduction to "Window on the World" and talked about people groups around the world. Then they did their first lessons in Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons from reprints of the 1914 texts. Next we learned about the history of maps and filled out their passport applications, wrote a "pretend" check to pay for them, addressed the envelope and "mailed" them. In a few weeks, they will receive their passports to allow them to travel around the world and Explore Countries and Cultures.
Finally, they learned about Ecosystems and biospheres and to wrap it all up, they took a prestest to show how many countries they could identify on a blank map. We will do it again on the last day of school and compare the two copies to see how much they've learned.

From there, we took some traditional "First Day of School Pictures" and then they cleaned their rooms while I made homemade pizza for lunch.

The verses we read in our Kindergarten lesson today were from Genesis 1:1-5. The first day passed, and God saw that it was good. That's how I feel about our first day of school this year.

Life Changes

We are about to embark on a new school year with a different focus. Realizing that our time on this planet is limited and we need to seize the opportunity to make a difference in our children's lives, we have cast off the Cyber school "push, push, push" mentality in exchange for a relaxed, Christ centered, memory making curriculum.

I've spent the Summer re-reading my Charlotte Mason books and feeling convicted about my previous ideas of education. One day, as I was thinking about all the things we had accomplished, and all the things I realized we should have done differently, it hit me... Over the years, as our family grew, and as our children grew, we have slowly moved out of the mainstream and into our niche. We homebirth, because we looked at the path we were on and decided that it was most definitely destructive to us and our children and we felt the Lord would have us take the road less traveled when we came to the "Y" in the path. We were forced to rethink everything we knew about childbirth, unlearn what was "normal" and then forge a path toward a healthier childbirth experience.

We have done the same thing in other areas of our lives. In health issues, we look for remedies direct from our Creator to heal our bodies before turning to man-made substitutes. In our diets, we have learned that food in-season and grown naturally trumps anything the local supermarket has to offer. Yet, when I examined our homeschool situation, I realized that we were trudging down a road with the masses. We were crowded by others caught up in the monotony of logging daily progress, working toward the 100% completion by the end date. That our children did all of the assignments took precedence over what they had learned from the class. They were miserable. I was miserable. I felt like we were rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.

To be honest, it wasn't until I stepped back and examined my day to day life that I knew something had to change. Expecting our 9th child, homeschooling 6 of our kids, and taking care of my parents in a neighboring state 3 days a week were all challenges that were threatening to engulf me in chaos. As we came to the end of the school year, we were behind in our progress - way behind. I was teaching from 9 in the morning until 6 or 7 pm many days. I taught Kindergarten lessons from start to finish until our Kindergartner had completed his daily schedule. Then, I sat down with our 2nd grader and worked through her schedule. When that was done, I began working with our two 5th graders, who had been trying to trudge through their work on their own, but without the great success I had hoped for. Our 9th grader was struggling with time management and completing his work, and our 11th grader was juggling high school and college classes that sometimes needed our attention. Our wonderful education system was sucking the life out of our home, leaving little time for things like meal preparation, household chores and laundry. I felt like a tennis ball being bounced about!

As I cried out to God for an "answer", He gave me one. Follow suit. Just as He had convicted us about other areas of our lives and we had made adjustments to come under His will, this area was one that we needed to seek His will in. We needed to step back, unlearn all that we knew school was "supposed" to be, and then follow His gentle leading. I began looking at our children as individuals who had specific needs instead of percentage points on a graph. I began asking the questions Charlotte Mason proposed.

• Was I forming right habits in their thinking and behavior?
• Was I nourishing them daily with loving, right and noble ideas?
  
• Were they bearing fruit in their lives?

Sadly, no. They hated school. They weren't retaining ideas and information. They were working toward the completion date on the surface, but were they learning? I didn't like the attitudes and character that were developing in our home, so I set out on a mission to find "our" way.

And that is where we are now -- two days away from our first day of school... seeking to find our way on this journey of life. I believe the path that now lies before us will take us where we need to go.

OUR NEW ROAD MAP

The first thing I did was ask myself (and the kids) where, in all of our homeschool history, we had the most success. What did we find most enjoyable? Where did we feel the most was learned? The answer was unanimous... the year we did "Charlotte Mason". We had used Ambleside Online six years ago. As I listened to the kids, it was their memories of nature walks and living books that they remembered more than the content of the curriculum. It was discovering God's Creation and "doing" art and learning music. It was having a loose schedule instead of one jam packed with long drawn out classes and text books filled with twaddle.

My husband and I began praying for wisdom and I began looking at various curriculums that followed Charlotte Mason's ideas. One night, at a boy scout meeting, one of the other parents asked my husband if we had ever tried curriculum by "My Father's World". He came home and told me about it and I looked it up. The more I read, the more I felt at peace. I felt that God was leading us and that He had just handed us a road map. As time went on, I could see our journey mapped out before me. It was like typing our destination into Google Maps and having our trip planned for us!

So... we begin... we are packed for the next leg of our journey. The tank is full of fuel, the vehicle is tuned up and ready to go. Monday morning, we turn the key in the ignition and take off...

Until then... enjoy the good Earth our Creator has given us. :)

"We hold that all education is divine, that every good gift of knowledge and insight comes from above, that the Lord, the Holy Spirit is the supreme of mankind, and that the culmination of all education... is that personal knowledge of and intimacy with God in which our being finds its fullest perfection." - Charlotte Mason