Meadowlarks

In our nature study, we are taking in anything we can find in nature. Our Handbook for Nature Study suggest doing birds first but we really dont have all that many birds in our yard most of the time.

When we woke up this morning, this is what we seen.... and my camera battery is dead or I would have taken a picture.

I got to see a woodpecker in the woods last night while deer hunting and some crows. But they are not near as exciting as this mornings surprise.

I cant wait for the Cardinals to come out and play this winter...we do have alot of them.

Blessings
Crystal

Our Charlotte Mason Beginnings

We are so EXCITED! We have our Nature Study Notebooks, we have fingerpaints, new colored pencils, new pencils, new crayons, and a couple of roll of old blue prints to fingerpaint on the back of.....We also have a turtle shell from Church Camp, frogs on our windows (this happens every year) and we have a new adventure starting today.

I forgot last Wednesday to take my kids to the library for the safety day and story time. I have been so busy with getting my house back in order and trying to get our school stuff organized that I havent had time to think of much else. So when I realized I forgot it, I immediatly felt bad, like a horrible mother. But Kylie came up with a solution. "Why cant we take a book to the park and read it Momma?" So that is what we are going to do sometime today. WE are going to take our blanket, some water, a book and a ziploc baggie for any nature finds that we have and we are going to the park. Crazy huh. We have no shade in our back yard and Jack will be mowing today so we couldnt very well go in the yard and have our nature study. The park has lots of big shady trees and lots of stuff to find and ducks to feed!

So we are in a very good mood around here!

What are you doing in your school this summer or are you even doing school this summer?

Many blessings and good luck!
Crystal

Books I am now reading and our recent nature study!

I am so excited! I had requested some books from the library and they came in yesterday.

The first one was this one . It looks to be a very interesting book.

The second one was "For the Childrens Sake" by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.

The third was "A Charlotte Mason Companion : Personal Reflections on The Gentle Art of Learning" by Karen Andreola.

Another one that I am reading is Vol 1 of Charlotte Masons Homeschooling series.

I also checked out the first book of "The Boxcar Children" series and am reading these to the girls.

I checked out several of the books that Ambleside Online reccommends for the Kindergarten age group and have liked all of them so far. I definately think that the CM way of educating is going to work for us. I have two different kind of learners in my girls and I can adapt this curriculum to fit either of them. Kylie will get lots of reading and quiet time while Alaina will still get her hands on, get in there and figure it out time.

I am so excited to get started. Even if we cant get all the books that are requested for the Kindergarted year, we will still be doing enough that they will learn alot. I can supplement with things around the house or spend more time outside doing nature studies or learning about the world around us. Kylie is excited also. I was explaining some of it to her and she is so ready to "...start doing school with real books momma...." She likes the idea of "Living Books".

We have been doing kind of a nature study over a frog that lives around our window unit air conditioner. He likes to sit under it and croak at night and sometimes during the day if he can get away with it. Last year we had one in the a.c. This year, we took the a.c. that we had in the living room and put in Jacks room. When we pulled the unit out of the window, the frog was under the ac. I had Paul take him to the garden because I am kinda squemish about such things since I had kids. So he took him to the garden. We put a bigger ac in the living room but it didnt work so we had to take it out and take it back to the store. When we took it out yesterday, the same frog was under that ac...How do I know it was the same frog you ask...I wish I had pictures but I dont. He has a diamond shape of black dots on his back. Really. I have never seen a frog like it before but it is amazing tha the made his way from the garden back to the ac....Amazing. We now have another ac back in the window and I heard him croaking this morning. So I am guessing that after I had Jack run him off yesterday, he has made his way back in the window. So our nature study has been frogs here lately. I am sure it will be alot about frogs this summer as during the late part of summer, we tend to have lots of tree frogs and baby toads climb up our patio door at night chasing bugs. Its really cool to watch how they cling to the window. We have actually seen them eat a bug or two. The girls ooh and ahh until they catch a bug and then they say gross...

Hopefully I will be back with some pictures next week. If it doesnt rain all week like it is supposed to.

Many Blessings
Crystal