our weekend

A weekend filled with...

ice cream sundaes made on Friday night

Saturday morning rain and canceled soccer games leading to prolonged pajama time for all

(probably one of the last) trips to the farmer's market for caramel pecan cinnamon buns, loads of veggies and some farm-fresh milk (in glass containers none the less!)

lots of bed sheets being washed, dried and placed back on beds

large quantities of maple almond granola being baked and gobbled up by the spoonful

a night away for all three children

(a portion, at least! of) Saturday Night Live watched with Mike since who-knows-when

sleeping in Sunday morning and a quiet breakfast enjoyed by just the two of us

a morning spent with family at church

lots of successful potty training going on

a dinner of cream of broccoli soup, buttered bread and mugs of milk enjoyed

thunderstorms

This was our weekend. How about you?

a link to simplicity

For the past few months I have been writing a monthly post for the Blessed Nest blog. This month I wrote about a topic that is an enormous and driving force in my life- simplicity.

Although I have not, or may never arrive at live a truly simple life, I do believe that our family has taken several gentle strides towards simplifying.

If you care to read my thoughts please head over to the Blessed Nest and read Simplify.

picture study

As part of our Charlotte Mason homeschooling, we study a different artist each term. This term we are studying the work of Sandro Botticelli. He was an Italian painter during the Early Renaissance and his work is currently being enjoyed immensely by all of our family.

The above painting is one of his most famous paintings- The Birth of Venus (c. 1484- 86)- and was the painting that we studied yesterday for our Art or Picture Study.

The way we study art is this: I show a panting to the children and tell them the name of it. I then let them look at it for as long as they would like, usually about 1-2 minutes. Then I ask them to notice all of the details of the picture and to "take a photo of it with their minds". At this point there is usually lots of squinting and clicking sounds being made.

Then I turn the painting over or towards myself and ask them to narrate or tell what they remember or see in their minds about the painting in detail. This telling, or narration as it was called by Charlotte Mason, is a way for a child to truly internalize what they are learning and to put it into terms, words or context that they can relate to and remember.

It is always amazing and inspiring to hear back from the children all of the details- colors, body shapes, hair color, body positioning, complexion of character, background features, landscape, mood of the character and so, so much more.

So with this particular painting, The Birth of Venus, here is what they remembered about the painting:

a girl with fair skin standing on a seashell
the wind blowing her long hair
hair had bands of pink and purple holding it
her head was turned a bit to the side
the ocean was in the background
falling pink flowers
a man and woman embracing and blowing on Venus
the man's robe was blue
*the woman's robe was the color of a swamp, sort of like army or olive green
the couple had large wings on their backs
there was another woman trying to cover up Venus with a beautiful pink quilt

*this one is my favorite description, given by, of course, Nicolas. Who else would describe the color of a Greek goddesses robe as swamp-colored?

As they narrate to me, I am usually looking at the painting. With each description, my eyes run up and down the picture in search of the characteristic they are telling me about. They are always precise and always remember more than I would expect them to.

Picture Study can be done with any piece of art and only takes a quiet few minutes to do. It is a way for children to remember and become familiar with works of art and is something that they will be able to carry with them for a lifetime.

Already, my children have been able to identify certain paintings that they have studied in the past. They may not always remember the name of the artist, of the painting for that matter, but they always remember the details of the painting and "how it made them feel when they first looked at it".

our pilgrimage

So many amazing historic sites are now offering Homeschool Days to all the of the families out there who are choosing to educate their children at home and have the freedom to pick up and go to these wonderful places!

On Friday we traveled up to Plimouth, Massachusetts to walk through Plimoth Plantation and board the Mayflower II. The villages, both the Native and Colonial English, are filled with men, woman and even a few children who are living life as if it were the 1620s.

The most exciting part for me was to step inside of the homes- both Native and Colonist- and see what their family life would have been like.

What they ate, what kind of bedding they had, what kind of supper did they have sitting on the table, what herbs and vegetables were growing in their gardens, was there a Bible open on their desk?

After walking through the Wampanoag Village and seeing their bark lodges, smoked-out canoes, fire pits, deer-skin beds and hunting tools, Nicolas told us that he wished that he were a Wampanoag. When we asked him why he told us because that way he could use a hatchet all day and live in the woods and hunt. Yes. This is a boy who was designed to be living off the land and pursuing the simple life of self-sufficiency!

For Sophia and Nicolas, the highlight was trying to catch the chickens as they ran through the back gardens of the Colonial Village. I think that might have been my fault. I mentioned the game chase the chicken to them and then next thing we heard was massive amounts of clucking followed by laughter and panting. I actually think this would have been there job if they were Pilgrim children. The catching and plucking of the feathers after the catching.

I must mention that we were minus one that day. My gracious and patient sister was kind enough to offer to take Elias for the day while we enjoyed a day out with the older pair. We missed him, but not enough to make us regret our decision to leave him behind! We took our time exploring and lingered over certain exhibits longer than others. This was nice and very much appreciated by all.

so far, so good

Monday mornings are always a mixed bag for me. On one hand there is the clean canvas of a new week ahead in front of me just waiting to be painted (or penciled) in. On the other hand, it is just the beginning of that entire new week and I have three little people here who are depending on me to give them a lot of what they need mixed in with just the right amount of what they want too.
If there is one thing that I have learned over the last seven years of motherhood, it is that each day has a different feel. Some days are carefree and full of discovery and lingering. Other days are spontaneous and end in unplanned outings and adventures. While some are predictable, scheduled and are filled with duties being fulfilled and staying on task.

For me, the key is remaining open to what each day holds and not trying too hard to control what that particular feel may be. After all, that feel is determined by each of our particular moods, energy levels (or lack there of) and our needs for either routine or a break from the norm.

Each week ends up having a good mix of all of the above and it feels good to know that in the end, there is a balance.
This week as I look out at that canvas, I see things like playing at the park with our homeschool co-op, forging ahead with our school work, continuing to read Farmer Boy with Sophia and Nicolas, working with Elias on learning his colors (he's so close, yet so far away), making some of these magnets to use and hopefully give as gifts, staying up late reading this new book that I started, planning our trip to Plimoth Plantation on Friday and cleaning up several spots of toddler graffiti after an episode with some colored pencils this morning.




What does your week hold?

living it out

Happy Friday morning to you all! Our second week of homeschooling has been full of discovery, exploration, building, creating, stick-fighting, leaf-throwing, dancing, reading, painting, writing, bike-riding and living life as only children know how to do.

It is now customary for my kids to be out riding their bikes shortly after breakfast- which in our house is by 8 am. Our amazing neighbors go bike riding up and down our cul-de-sac every morning before they drive their son to school and my kids have joined them in this morning routine. And now, it is a ritual. Of course, most of it has to do with the fact that my older pair adore this older neighbor and can't get enough time spent with him. He is ten-years old and is super kind to my kids.

We spent one morning raking leaves from our maple tree out front. Yes, their are actually leaves that have changed color and fallen off the tree. It was a group effort and some of us didn't even make it out of our pajamas. Nonetheless, this same person was courteous enough to at least put on his mucky boots before trudging out on the wet grass!

The scene whet something like this- rake a pile, jump in it- rake another pile, dump it on your siblings' heads- rake a pile and make a "confetti machine" with it. At least the cycle was predictable.
There was plenty of hammering, as usual, this week too. It seems that at least once a day one child comes running into the house screaming "treasure, treasure". They call anything shiny and metallic treasure. But still, they search pretty hard for it and work hard at hammering each little rock to tiny smithereens!
We have started reading Tree in the Trail by Holling Clancy Holling part of our geography study for this term. It is a book about a cottonwood tree that watches the "paegant of history on the Santa Fe Trail for over two hundred years". We read Paddle to the Sea by the same author last year and L O V E D it. They kids know the Great Lakes inside and out and loved reading this living book about this magnificent portion of our country.

After reading about the buffalo hunting, teepee building and the travois of the Kansas Indians, my kids were inspired to build their own teepees using fabric, twigs and salt dough as a base for their structures. It didn't stop there. They brought their little dwellings outside and proceeded to build entire villages around the base of our tree out front.


This one chapter taught them so much about the way in which Native People lived and things like teepees versus earth-lodges, travois built from sticks for transporting and the use of buffalo-chips for camp fires (this one took them a minute, but only a minute!). The term buffalo-chip is now a common household word now- "does anyone else smell buffalo-chips in here?"

Nicolas sounded out his first word- cobra. And then his second- box. This child has a new-found interest in the alphabet and at least once a day we see him sitting in a quiet spot making sounds in an attempt to read some of his favorite books. This is true learning- self-motivated and living!

Sophia started up with her ballet lessons again. She thought we wanted to try something different last year like karate because she was "more violent than flexible". Yeah. We're totally not giving her karate instruction if this is what she things the point of it all is! In the end, she chose ballet and is thrilled to back in her class.

Lastly, we were reading out of Matthew today for our Bible reading and came to Matthew 21:21 when Jesus told his disciples that they too could do what was done to the fig tree (commanded to wither) and move mountains if they have faith and do not doubt.

I could see their eyes light up at the knowledge and possibility of having enough power to work miracles. I told them that it was true and that with faith and belief in Jesus anthing is possible.

Minutes later I saw Sophia standing out front in front of our tree saying "Die tree! Wither!" over and over. She turned after a moment or two and looked at me. "It's not working" she said. I think we will have to revisit this verse tomorrow!

wardrobe name dropping

So I think I wrote a similar post to this last year at about this time of year. It has to do with buying clothing for my children. Now, I don't really think of myself as a bargain shopper. In fact I really believe in paying a fair price for a good product that is made well, with responsibility, that was built to last and that will add beauty and usefulness to the life of my family and our home. But there is just something about shopping consignment that gets me every time.

And since it's that time of year again- you know the time when you must switch over,not only your own, but your children's entire wardrobes from spring/summer to fall/winter- I took a trip to one of our local children's consignment stores to see what I could find to fill their closets with.

I truly believe that there should be a national holiday, complete with complimentary childcare, especially for mother's to be given time to complete such a task. The important task of clearing out all-things-summer and replacing things like tank tops and madras shorts with items like long sleeved t-shirts and corduroy pants is something that must be done without one's children present. This is vital. Otherwise, you may be convinced by a seven-year old with a certain sentimentality for a pair of terry cloth shorts that she really will be needing those shorts in mid-January.

And then there is the whole size issue. After wearing a set of clothing for a four to five month period, it's only natural that clothing will be fitting snugly and be riding up on one by the end of the season. There is always the danger of your child begging to keep that one item that is about two sizes too small in their drawer because it it simply their favorite article of clothing. How can any mother refuse this. I can't. After all, it's only a shirt.

Then you are stuck with the decision to either go ahead and allow this child to actually wear the item that fit them when they were 10 lbs and 3 inches smaller out in public or to secretly try and slip the item out of their drawer when they are not looking with the hopes that they will not ask where their favorite "camouflage turtleneck" is (in Nicoals' case, this was a blue and green striped top that he, for some reason or another, believed was camoflaged and his current size).

Of course, I am all for my kids choosing their own clothing to wear on any given day. I just feel that it is my duty to choose what goes into their drawers and closets wisely.

With all of this said, I am really proud to say that after two very fruitful trips to the consignment store, I believe that all three children are ready to face the cool, breezy days of October and even the chilly, damp days of February with the adorable and affordable items that I brought home with me over the last week.

And like I mentioned in my post from last year, I do hate to (brand) name drop, but some of these finds (and prices) are just to terrific and rewarding not to mention.

one pair or hanna Andersson leggings
one egg+ avacado long-sleeved onesie
one mini Boden layered t-shirt
one Janie and Jack long sleeved t-shirt
one pair of babystyle jersey pants
one kate quinn organics cotton cardigan

... and many other lovely clothes that will keep my three warm and cozy during playing, learning,
sharing, reading, jumping, dancing and meal time this fall and winter!

{This is all just too uncanny! Just as I went to link over to last year's post, Name Dropping On a Budget, I checked the date and it was written on the same exact date as I am writing this post on consignment shopping! Am I a creature of habit or not? I suppose that seasonal shopping is pre-programmed into my maternal DNA!!!!}

switching gears

Today was Nicolas' first day of formal academics, his Kindergarten year or Year 0 as it is called by Ambleside Online. He was so eager to start our day and I have to say that I found him very careful with his writing, counting and attention to detail. In between subjects, he asked me for a fun break, a chance to burn off energy and gear up for the next portion of our day. For Nicolas this meant bike riding and popping wheelies all the way down our street.
At the end of the day, he even told me about how many words he knew about. He said that he "really knew all of the words in the world, even the words idiotic and chaotic". Ah. You've gotta love him.

For Sophia, this was the start of her third year, or Second Grade/Year 2. She also was thrilled to begin and put it best when she told me that she was "glad to start up schooling again because she was getting really sick of summer". Spoken in true bluntness and candor just as always.
There has always been something very refreshing about this time of year and all of that it brings. For us, as homeschoolers, it is a little different than how I remember it from my childhood and probably a bit different from how some of you are experiencing it.

There are no school buses, backpacks, lunches to pack or supply lists to fill. In fact, I didn't even look at my supplies until today when I realized just how dull all of our pencils were and where, oh where is that pencil sharpener. Thus began my list of supplies.

I truly feel like the most fortunate woman in the world to be able to grow, learn and live with my children each and every day. Of course, we all have our space, our time apart from one another. The distance may be as small as being in another room reading or building LEGOs or being outdoors for a time, but all in all, it is time spent doing what each of us enjoy doing independent of one another. This is key.
We do school a little differently than the traditional method and rely heavily on the methods and philosophies of Charlotte Mason. Charlotte Mason believed that all children's minds needed to be fed a rich, high-quality diet of ideas just like the body relies on good nutrition to function optimally. That children should be given source material, not material and books that have been pre-digested by well-intending adults/publishers and spit back out into tiny bite-size portions appropriate for the small minds of children. No! Just the opposite! In short, this means a no-fluff, no-frills education.

There are not worksheets, fill-in-the-blanks or matching quizzes. No prodding questions posed again and again to the child to bring them to the answer that the adult is looking for. The child is allowed to think for themselves and to come to their own conclusions after discovering the science of relations amongst the things of this world.

The curriculum is rich, broad and liberal. Even at a young age, children are exposed to good literature, poetry, art, music, history, handicrafts , Bible readings and the natural world (this is science for the early years). Children are given short lessons so that their full attention and focus may be used instead of dawdling and losing concentration. For handwriting (or copywork as it is called with this method), only as much as can be copied perfectly should be written. For a young child, this may be a word or two.

I know, we are trained to want more, more, more and think that surely this is not enough doing for a child to learn. Often times, we focus on the product instead of the process, but genuine learning cannot be hurriend. True education requires the gift of time.

Of course there are the math and phonics/reading as well and the child is allowed to move along at his or her own pace.

We will be reading some really intersting books this term. Here are just a few...
Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling
The Burgess Animal Book by Thornton Burgess
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley
A Child's History of the World by Hillyer

Sophia has already chosen this book for free reading this Fall.

I hope to write regularly about our homeschooling journey now that the school year is underway!