The top left corner rock is painted as a pumpkin.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, Kaia LOVES horses, so 90% of the time she draws and colors horses (the other 10% is family).  What I really loved about rock painting is it forced her to be more creative – she had to look at the shape and come up with something to paint that fit the shape of the rock.

The top left is a flower, top right is a rainbow, bottom left is an eye with yellow shadow, and the bottom right is a blood-shot eye (note the red!)

We stopped on a rocky shore to take a break.  Conan promptly asked for his nature journal, made himself comfortable, and spent a good half hour creating.

Kaia chose to collect clam shells and she thought each one was prettier than the last.

On Sunday Kaia and her dad went canoeing and fishing and then spent a couple of lazy hours swimming at Echo Dale.

We spent about 8 hours outside today – it was a terrific day!

I Took His Hand and Followed
Mrs. Roy L. Peifer

My dishes went unwashed today,

After the concert, we spent some time in the museum and in the ‘Food for Health’ exhibit where Conan made his debut on a cereal box.  It was a morning well spent.

The Outdoor Hour Challenge instructions were to:

1.  Read page 15 and pages 23 & 24.

2.  Take a 15 minute walk and listen to the sounds of nature

3.  After the walk, talk to your kids about sounds they heard and  come up with one word to describe something they heard (rustling, chirping, etc), two words for something they saew (tall trees) and three words for something they felt (freezing cold wind, rough sticky pinecone)

4.  Optional nature journal entry

1.  Read page 15 and pages 23 & 24.

“The chief aim of this volume is to encourage investigation rather than to give information.”

2.  Take a 15 minute walk and listen to the sounds of nature

Instead of walking, we took the canoe out on the river – it was a gorgeous day.  The temperature was around 23 C (73. 4 F), the sun was bright in the sky and there was a soft breeze – the river was calm and easy.  Although some would argue that Southern Alberta has the most boring terrain, there are some beautiful spots. 

This is the left side of the river.

This is the right side of the river, directly across from the photo above.

We stopped paddling for a while, closed our eyes, and sat quietly for as long as we could.  I’m afraid it didn’t last too long, as Kaia was just too tempted to blow the whistle attached to her lifejacket and Conan kept yelling out, “I hear a bird!  I hear a bird!”

3.  After the walk, talk to your kids about sounds they heard…

They heard the few main sounds – water and birds, so the conversation was short.  We spent more time talking about what we saw in the water – bugs, sticks, frog eggs, and watched the birds dive for fish and other food, and then the kids put their hands over the side of the canoe and played in the cool water.

4.  Optional nature journal entry

Today was our first day of nature journaling.  The kid’s couldn’t wait to get started and I was a little hesitant – I have never been a drawer at all – I’ve always been very self conscous of it, as I really don’t possess any talent in that department; however, I did make an honest effort and we all enjoyed ourselves – I think it will be really great to look back at our journals one day and see the progress and remember all the fun we had.

Conan (3) drew the river.

Kaia drew a beaver dam.

Our first ‘assignment’:

1. Read pages 1-8 of the Handbook of Nature Study
2. Spend 10-15 mins outside observing
3. Talk to the kids about 2 things they found interesting
4. Throughout the week, find out more information about those 2 items

1.  Read pages 1-8 of the Handbook of Nature Study

This was really interesting – the book was written about 100 yrs ago (give or take a decade or two, but still!) and it is shocking at how everything still applies today.  A couple of quotes that really struck a chord with me:

“Nature-study cultivates the child’s imagination, since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes, which affect his imagination as much as does fairy lore; at the same time nature-study cultivates in him a perception and a regard for what is true, and the power to express it.”

“Out-of-door life takes the child afield and keeps him in the open air, which not only helps him physically and occupies his mind with sane subjects, but keeps him out of mischief.  It is not only during childhood that this is true, for love of nature counts much for sanity in later life.  This is an age of nerve tension, and the relaxation which comes from the comforting companionship found in woods and fields is, without doubt, the best remedy for this condition.”

I am not sure if it’s because I’m getting older that I wish I was more of an ‘outdoorsy’ person, but I do – I think both of these quotes are true and really should be a reminder – it’s crazy how little time many, many kids spend outside these days.  So here is one of our first steps to improving our family’s love of nature.

2.  Spend 10-15 mins outside observing

We took our dog, Meeka for a walk at our usual spot – the off-leash area at Kin Coulee park and the kids were watching the robins.  As our walk continued, we were lucky enough to see a beaver swimming in the creek.  We read the park sign about the Northern Leopard Frog and watched the Red-Winged Blackbirds playing in the water; and nevermind the dozens of dog breeds we encountered on our walk.  We promised the kids we would go to the kid’s part after the dog park – they lasted about 5 minutes playing before the bridge was too tempting to resist.

 3.  Talk to the kids about 2 things they found interesting

Kaia mentioned how pretty the girl robins are with their bright orange tummies, which prompted our first real discussion about robins.   She also wanted to catch the Northern Leopard Frog, but we discussed why that wasn’t a wise thing to do. 

So we’ll carry on with learning about robins and frogs.

4.  Throughout the week, find out more information about those 2 items

I assumed that the females didn’t have orange tummies, but was mistaken.  They have the same coloring as the male, only not as bright.  Robins are as common as mud, so we’ve talked about them a lot this week.  After walking Kaia to school this afternoon, Conan and I sat on the sidewalk in front of someone’s house and watched a robin pecking for lunch.  We were so still and quiet that the robin hopped towards us and stopped about 5 feet in front of us, which thrilled Conan to bits.  We talked about what they eat, which prompted a lively conversation about worms.  When we walked up to our house, there was a robin on the lawn and Conan was thrilled that his ‘friend’ followed us home.  He asked if the bird will stay here in the winter (in all the snow), which brought on another conversation, including what they use to build their nests, and what they eat. 

I had to do a bit of coaxing to get the kids interested in frogs this week, so we went back to Kin Coulee and re-read the sign about the Northern Leopard Frog.  We talked a bit about the life cycle, what frogs eat, how far they can jump, how fast they can swim, and other fun facts.

I’d say that our first Outdoor Hour was a success – tomorrow I’ll take a look and see what our 2nd challenge is.

Book # 1 Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Yikes. I must admit, it looks a bit intimidating. Oh well – we’ll jump right in and I’ll learn alongside our 5 yr old! I have read tons of reviews for this book and if it does what everyone says it will, Kaia could very well be reading beginner chapter books within 6 months. That would be a pretty good return on 15 minutes a day!

Book #2 Games for Learning by Peggy Kaye

The back of the book reads, “The games cover all of the important areas of the school curriculum from kindergarten to third grade:  reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, logical thinking, and even science, history, and geography.”

I cannot wait to get started with this book – I love sly education.

Book # 3 Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock

This is the book that I think I am most excited about – all 887 pages! 

Following the Charlotte Mason method, we plan on doing a ton of outdoor activities – nature walks, studying birds, animals, plants, the solar system, rocks, etc.  Since I really don’t know where or how to start, we’ll be following the Outdoor Hour Challenge site. Each week they give you (the educator) instructions that you will carry through with your students and then ‘report back’ via a link to your blog to show how you did in the challenge. It’s not a typical challenge with a ‘winner’, but rather something to challenges ourselves and to give ideas to others, which is nice. Since both kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being outside, I think we will all really enjoy our ‘Nature Study classes’. In fact, I think Kaia was born in the wrong era – she would have fit in beautifully as a sister on Little House On The Prairie. I think this book will be a hit for the whole family.

So we’ve made a few (I’m sure of many) changes – around the house, in workbooks, and in resources:

Toys - The first major one, is taking all of the toys out of the kid’s bedrooms (which is where the vast majority of their toys were in an attempt to keep the rest of the house tidy).  We moved them all to the basement and have re-organized them into boxes, bins, drawers, and bookshelves.   We moved 2 chairs out of the basement and into their bedrooms.  Their bedrooms now contain the bed, a reading chair, books, and their clothes.  I would like to add a small night table into their rooms with lamps, as we don’t mind if they read before they go to bed.  This morning our little guy slept so late I went to check on him and there he was, sitting in the chair reading a book.  He said, “Mommy, I love my new room.”     When I asked Kaia how she liked not having toys in her room and she said it is really nice and that it’s easier to go to sleep.  What a relief!  The basement is nicely organized (albeit it seems much smaller), and the kids love playing down there.

Learning Room – We have converted the large office in the basement into a learning room.  We’ve put school related books (amazing how many I had before homeschool was even an option for us) on one 5-shelf bookshelf, moved a nother 5-shelf bookshelf into the learning room from the rumpus room and that is holding all the craft supplies (again, it’s amazing how many we had and didn’t even know it).  Craft supplies are now in clear plastic containers and jars, the different types of paper is layed on the shelves along with playdough, markers and pens, etc.  It’s so nice to be able to see what we have on hand. 

Books – We love books.  Always have, always will.  The kids have a TON of books that we just brought home from storage.  They are still in bins.  I need to go through them and would like to organize them into categores – science, math, language arts, music, art, geography, etc.  I would like to put those types of books into the learning room and then leave the rest of the books for free reading.  We’ll see how it actually plays out.

Method of Teaching – I’ve been doing tons of research on methods and David and I have decided (again a no-brainer once we read a bit about it) that the Charlotte Mason method is the method that lines up the best with our interests and beliefs.  You can get a general overview of her methods here. There are a couple of sites I’d like to quote because they really hit home for us:

“…while others thought that children were no more than empty slates to be filled with information, she believed that they were already real people capable of independent, intelligent thought and that they needed vital ideas, rather than dry facts, to feed their growing minds.”  Ambleside Online

 

“CM is not about making learning fun. Charlotte Mason felt that, although children enjoy being entertained, entertainment is a passive activity. Children need to apply their own minds to the effort of getting knowledge from their books and making their own mental relationships with the world around them. However, since humans have an inborn curiosity to learn things, the process of education itself, while challenging, can be enjoyable for its own sake.”  Ambleside Online

By the way, the above quote doesn’t mean that we don’t want our kids to have fun – it means we want them to make their own fun, using their own curiosity and minds without having to be weighed down with pre-made games and toys.  Go back a couple of days and read my post about the Great Sand Hills – now that was learning at its finest (and a heck of a lot of fun!)  And on that note, it doesn’t mean we’re going to get rid of the toys – they are kids and they’ll play continue to play with them as they choose.

It feels like such a relief to have found something that makes sense to us – it lends support to our decision.

Workboxes – I found the workbox system online this week and it screamed at me!  I was a little worried about staying organized and keeping a day ahead of kids in the lesson planning department.  Now, granted, the Charlotte Mason method doesn’t support a day full of lesson plans, but let’s be realistic – when I talk about lesson plans for our 5 yr old, I’m talking about crafts, handicrafts, music and dancing, collecting ladybugs, teaching the calendar, about money and time, and all that kind of stuff – I don’t mean formal lesson plans where she sits still for hours on end.  Anyways, now that I’ve clarified that, let me explain the workboxes.  Basically, they are 12 empty clear containers on a shelf (or 12 envelopes in a large box – whatever works for people).  Each day, I would put an ‘assignment’ into each of the 12 boxes.  Each box will contain everything she needs to complete the assignment, for example, if I put in a wipe-clean book  and ask her to trace 3 pages of numbers, I will also include a dry erase pen and eraser in the box so we don’t waste time looking for supplies.  When she is done the assignment, she will put the book and supplies into a ‘Completed’ bin and then take the 2nd box which may include a cd with a certain song marked.  We will listen to the song and maybe talk about the moods it creates.  When we’re done, the CD will go into the ‘completed’ bin and she’ll take the third box which may instruct her to go into the yard and find a ladybug to watch while she draws a picture of it in her nature journal.  And so on.  Now, because she is 5 yrs old, each assignment will take about 10 minutes and less than half of it will be spent sitting at the table.  Remember, though, that Kaia is in Jr. K for another 6 weeks, so during this time, I will fill only 4 boxes a day for her to do – I don’t want to burn her out and it will be good practice for us.  This system should keep me accountable and on track.

Whew!    It has been a full few days and things are looking really good so far.  I’m feeling happy. 

It’s amazing how little moments like this feel like a huge vote of confidence.

**********

And yet another moment that reassured our decision to homeschool came at Kaia’s school this afternoon.  Her teacher let me know that Kaia’s Scholastic book order came in.   Our conversation went something like this:

Teacher: (in a questioning tone), “It’s a chapter book.”

Me: ”I know – we read them all the time.” 

Teacher:  “Chapter Books?”

Me: “Yes, we read them together and  talk about them.  Right now we’re reading the unabridged Black Beauty and the kids both love it.”

Teacher: (in a very doubting voice) “Wow, okay then.  Have a good evening.”

Instead of feeling frustrated, it felt pretty good.  Again I say, it’s amazing how little moments like this feel like a huge vote of confidence!

Instead, we ended up here:

Last summer we bought a book about the top 100 places to visit in Canada and it listed The Great Sand Hills as one of the places to visit. I googled it this week and realized that it was less than 2 hrs from here, so we decided to give it a shot.

It was a bit of a hassel getting there, as there very few signs for it anywhere. I knew it was south of Sceptre, so we took the map and followed it. When we got to Sceptre, there was a Sand Hills Museum, which was closed, so we drove around until we saw a road marked with a sign “Sand Hills Trail”, so we took it. After a few rough kilometers on a gravel road, the road forked evenly on both sides. With no signs to direct us, David steered the car to the right and we drove and drove and drove – no signs, no indication of sand anywhere. Out of sheer frustration, he turned left to turn around and lo and behold, a sign stating the dunes were 9 kms ahead. Yay! We found it – now, if only the car will make it down the sand road… it did and the kids were thrilled! We parked, and the kids were so anxious to get to the sand. We climbed, the kids rolled, shoveled, made snow angels, slid, dove, ran like animals, and pretended to make popcorn in the sand – we spent over 2 hrs playing and had no idea what time it was.

A great day was had by all – we were all exhausted when we got home.  After bathtime, the tub was covered in sand, much to the kids’ delight.  When I tucked Conan into bed, he said, “Can we go back to the giant sand box tomorrow?”

I guess that the authors of Ambleside Online really knew what they were talking about when they wrote the following about Charlotte Mason’s methods:

“CM is not about making learning fun. Charlotte Mason felt that, although children enjoy being entertained, entertainment is a passive activity. Children need to apply their own minds to the effort of getting knowledge from their books and making their own mental relationships with the world around them. However, since humans have an inborn curiosity to learn things, the process of education itself, while challenging, can be enjoyable for its own sake.”

And today proved that to the letter.  Without a single toy, CD/DVD, or even book, we learned about the animals who live in the sand hills, we observed the way the sand moves depending on how the wind is blowing or where we step, we saw the plants and trees, the bugs, and the heart of our family.

Now that’s what I call learning.