Our Toad

     We have an interesting pet; only it's more of a visitor than a pet.  Can you see him hiding in the daylilies?  He (or she?)  showed up a month or so ago, and has been coming back every so often, to visit with us.  It's a common American Toad, but what makes this little guy so unusual is that he seems to like people.  He lets me hold him, and he likes to hop around our porch investigating things.  He seems to be very curious.

Here he is sitting in my hand

Even when held close to the ground, he didn't hop away!

Of course, I had to do a nature study on toads after seeing one so close.  This is Anna's picture of our toad.

This is from my nature journal. I sketched him from life, since he was so still.

(The pictures of the toad were taken with Anna's toy camera, since that was all I could find at the time; hence the fuzziness)

The Power of Silly Bandz

                                                                                                 When I first saw silly bandz, I thought they were just that; silly.  Anna loved them, and wanted some desperately, but they just seemed like a waste of money, so I said "no".    Besides, I usually don't like fads for any other reason than that they are fads.  But when I was trying to think of something small I could use for rewards for school, silly bandz seemed like the perfect solution.  And they've worked; better than anything else I have done in the past.  So, maybe they're not so silly after all.   The way our reward system works is that Anna gets one silly band every day that she completes all her school with a good attitude.  The reward is for behavior, not school performance.  I find that if her attitude is right, the school work is a breeze.  I am now personally hoping that the silly bandz fad lasts a while yet! 

Nature Walk

We try to go on a nature walk at least once a week. Now, this is not to say we don't get outside or around nature more often than that, but for our nature walk, I like to do a little more than stroll around the yard.  Also, we make (or I make, and try to insure Anna does too) a conscience effort to observe nature closely. We usually go to a nearby lake that has a play ground and lots and lots of ducks. There are also quite a few Canadian geese. 
     

Today was very hot, which made me long for fall, but as a result of the heat, the lake was simply buzzing with dragonflies!  I even saw some I had never seen before, like a very small gold one. The one pictured has a white body, which makes it dazzling in the sunlight.

Samuel Loves the ducks. He does a sort of gurgling croak, that is suppose to be a quack, and then squats down and does the duck waddle.  It's hilarious! Most of the ducks are very tame; some times scarily so, and they will allow Samuel to get quite close, but never close enough to touch. They always manage to waddle one step ahead of him.

This is a pretty duck. There are so many different types of ducks at the lake, I wonder if they interbreed to make new kinds. Or can ducks do that? I tried to find out what some of them were using a bird guide, but couldn't identify anything other than a mallard.  So it makes me think...

Anna likes to get right at the water's edge and look for little fish or hopefully spot a turtle.
Abriel stays closer to me than Samuel. She actually likes to hold my hand!

Artist Appreciation/ Picture Study

Mary Cassatt is the artist we are studying for this semester. I got these fun "Art Activity Packs" from Dover Publications, that have stickers, coloring book, and temporary tattoos!  I thought it would make studying art extra fun.  We do an art lesson once a week, and every one gets into it.  The babies were fascinated by the Mary Cassatt prints, and Abriel especially loved the picture of the mother washing her child's feet. She is very into belly buttons.  Samuel's favorite was of a woman sitting on a balcony with a little terrier on her lap.  He loves dogs. 
     I let Anna chose what picture she would like to do her picture study on, and she chose the young woman sewing in the garden.

I was delighted with her observations, since she didn't just describe the facts, (red flowers, white dress, etc.) but described what she thought the woman was feeling.  Anna said she "looked stern, like she was trying to concentrate, but there were children in the garden distracting her."  I loved it!
     I then had Anna draw a picture in the impressionistic style using oil pastels.  The twins drew a picture as well, and we all had a lot of fun.

Here is Anna working industriously.

Samuel was very excited to start drawing!

Nature Study

     Nature study is Anna's favorite subject in school, and I enjoy it a lot too. I started having Anna keep a nature journal last spring, and I started one too, so that she would have an example of what we were doing. Although I don't make entries as often as she does, I've had fun with it. Keeping a nature journal has really sparked Anna's interest in the natural world, because she is always on the look out for something to draw. An odd spider that she might have not noticed (or been freaked out by) before, is now a potential item to draw, so she stops and takes note.
     We don't do a nature study on every thing that is recored in her journal, but I am always on the look out for anything that would be good to do a nature study on. The wasp nest below is an example. I found it in our shed, and after making sure it was abandoned, I carefully removed it and brought it inside for our study.  I used Anna Botsford Cromstock's "A Handbook of Nature Study" to help us find out all sorts of interesting information on wasps, and then we peeled apart the nest to find the catacombs inside. She glued some of the lovely paper to her journal.  I love the swirly patterens the wasps make.

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Dragonflies- Before we found out their name, Anna called them "cow dragonflies"

     Here is an example of how Anna and I record the same thing in our journals.  Black swallowtail catapillars eat parsley, so we have lots of them around here.  I always grow extra for the catapillars. :) 

Black swallowtail butterfly in it's various stages 

A black Swallowtail caterpillar from my nature journal

Discovering our style

     I have never been one to follow one set curriculum, or subscribe to one person's methods or theories, which is why I am slightly surprised myself that we are pretty much entirely following Charlotte Mason's methods for our homeschool.
     I found out about Charlotte Mason last winter when I was once again online looking for better ways to teach my daughter.  I had heard about Charlotte Mason before, but always very vaguely, and I had the impression that it was a very laid back, let kids absorb what they will from nature, kind of approach. I like structure and routine, and although I believe that children can learn a great deal if left to their own devices, I don't trust in that completely for my children's education.  So basically I thought, Charlotte Mason- Not for me. 
     When I finally did start to learn about Charlotte Mason's methods, I fell in love.  It was pretty much everything I was doing already, but oh, so much better!  I had so much fun planning and getting read for this year, now that I have a definite plan for what we are doing.  Pulling resources from here and there like I did last year, was exhausting, and I always had the feeling I was leaving something out.  The end result was a stressed out and tired Mama.  Even though we are only two weeks into our school year, Anna already says she likes what we are doing better than last year, and I have had so much less feet dragging!

Hello

     This is about our homeschooling journey.  This is to be our first "official" school year, since Anna is starting first grade. Although Anna is technically my only student, the twins are always eager to be a part of everything, so my big goal for this year is to learn how to teach Anna with two little one year old Dynamos getting into (and on top of) everything!
     One of my great new ideas were activity boxes.  I have six boxes filled with new and fun things that (in theory) the babies will play with contentedly in their pack 'n plays while I teach Anna.  So, the first day of school I set up the pack 'n plays, select a box that's sure to enthral them, and get ready for everything to work out just as planned. Things didn't go quite like I had anticipated.  Anna ended up being the one who was enthralled; the babies were entertained for about two seconds. I still haven't given completely up on the boxes, but for right now Anna is just way too distracted by them.
     While I am waiting for the next great new idea to hit, we continue to try and cram as much school into the babies nap time as possible.  Right now it's working, but I still keep thinking, "There has got to be a better way!" And I guess that sums up my homeschool philosophy; keep looking for the better way.