Our Nature Study

Yesterday we tried to implement our first Nature Study. It was very informal. Remember, baby steps..... We are using Anna Comstock's book Handbook of Nature Study as a reference book for the kids to dig deeper if they choose to.

For our first try at this all of us went outside in the backyard with a sketch pad to observe nature in action. I then had the kids find something of interest observe it and make a sketch of it.

Here is Sport sketching a plum tree. He chose to lay on the pavement and not the wet grass. Notice the warm ski cap. Our weather has been warm lately but he just loves the hat that his Grandma crocheted for him.

Dancer chose to sketch our daffodils that are now in bloom. Yes, daffodils in January. Last weekend we had temperatures in the 80's here. We are in desperate need for rain around here. We appreciate the warm weather but we need Rain!!!! Sorry I didn't take a picture of our daffodils to share with you.

Here is a picture of Dancers' Nature page of the daffodil. After she sketched the daffodil we read about them in the Handbook of Nature Study book. I also had her write the Latin name for the daffodil. She also wanted to disect it.

She tried to taste the sweet nectar but was quick to spit it out. She said it was very bitter. I don't blame her. She was hoping it tasted like the honeysuckles we have growing in our yard.

As you can see we even taped down our daffodil specimen to save.

I will point out to you that Sport my oldest quickly sketched his but was not the least bit interested in researching about his plum tree. He was more interested in working of working on the project he had begun outside yesterday. Now that the rocks are all cleared he is excited to begin his clubhouse construction. Did I mention...One Step at a Time.....

Blessings,

Amy

PS. As I type this the weather report is expecting rain today. Praise God!

School Schedules and Charlotte Mason

Well, it is that time of year again where I begin to reassess what appears to be working and not working in our homeschooling year thus far. I am tweaking my language arts program and my school schedule with the kids. Up to this point we have been using Character Quality Language Arts (CQLA) but my oldest Sport is getting frustrated with it. I don't want him to dread grammar or writing so I decided to take the plunge and come up with my own Language Arts program. Something I did when he was much younger but got caught up in fear and the what ifs that seem to plague the best of homeschooling mothers. More of that to come in a minute....

Since I began homeschooling about six to seven years( if you count preschool) I fell in love with Charlotte Mason philosophy of homeschooling. It is what drew me in along the with the Lords' doing as well. I feel the Lord is calling me to return to this style of teaching...something that has gotten lost in the background along the way. Shorter lessons that hit to the main point of any given subject and more of a God driven homeschool home than just recreating school at home. Coming from a mother who used to be a second grade teacher many moons ago this is a hard thing. Something that I have wrestled with for years. It is so hard getting out of a box that society has taught us to be in. But through God's grace and his leading I am realizing that I have been trusting in the box and not just Him. So instead of planning out my days and weeks to come I going to place my trust in Him to plan our days. What does He desire of my family not what I desire of my children. Rest assured I am not going to jump in and have no plan for my day....He will have my plan. Trust me I will know that Math and all the other academics need to be accomplished but if something else is begging for attention at the moment I would be better served there than in Science textbook.

With shorter lessons we will have a shortened school day. The kids are excited about this. I am looking forward to them having more free time. A chance for them just to be kids. This is so important to me. Free to roam in the backyard and to come up with their own interests. They seem to have so many as of late. Sport is excited about outer space and wants to fly to the moon someday. Dancer wants to adopt every animal that is out there..our future vet and Racer I'm still unsure about but if it involves guns he is all over it. Scary thought! He's my warrior ready to defend.

Our language Arts will not be any different from others just condensed. I will still have grammar, editing, vocabulary and writing. It will take a little more planning on my part. I am blessed to be a homeschooling Mom in the age of the internet there are tons of stuff to pull from and I can tweak it if need be.

To all those Homeschool Moms out there who read this blog .....Trust in Him. Not your schedule book or daily planner but Christ. He knows what is best for them. Step back and let Him lead.....

Blessings, Amy