Back to Nature

I’ve been doing something recently that is very out of character for me…  Reading!

It’s no secret that I don’t like to read.  (Gasp!)

I find it incredibly boring.

I’d much rather be doing something creative with my hands.  But lately, I’ve discovered the works of Miss Charlotte Mason, and I am fascinated with her philosophy of education, in particular, her thoughts on homeschooling.

Miss Mason was an educator who lived around the turn of the 20th century, and wrote extensively about educating children in the home.  I must say I am loving her ideas.  Her methodology is far too broad a topic for me to discuss here, but there is plenty of information to be found online regarding the Charlotte Mason (CM) method should you desire to find out more.

It is my hope to incorporate as many CM practices into our homeschool in the coming year as possible.  In fact, I’ve been so inspired by CM’s writings that, even though the monkeys are practically finished with their work for this year, I’ve already begun implementing some of CM’s suggestions into our daily routine.

For instance, we’ve begun to learn Latin, we’ve ventured into the world of Shakespeare, and we’ve devoted a small part of each week to the study of famous artists.  I’ve also managed to squeeze in some classical music and lighthearted poetry here and there.

Today I wanted to highlight another one of Miss Mason’s ideas that we’ve started using in (or rather out of) our classroom.

Nature Study!

CM believed that children should spend a lot of time out of doors.  And by “a lot” I mean 4-6 hours a day!  Can I get an “Amen”?  Sign me up!

In Charlotte’s opinion children should be allowed multiple hours a day for ripping, romping, playing, breathing fresh air, soaking up sunshine, and making discoveries.  She believed that children should be encouraged to explore the marvels of Creation on their own.  The mother should play a very unobtrusive role in the children’s study of nature.  She should casually direct the children’s attention towards a specific area of interest, like a cluster of dandelions or a bird’s nest, maybe posing a question here or there are, but never boring the children with a lecture or lesson.  The children should be allowed to make discoveries on their own, unhindered by proper “lessons.”  Then they should come back and report to mom or record in a nature journal whatever observations they made during their explorations.

Done correctly, a thorough study of nature benefits the children on multiple levels.  It hones their observation skills, it nurtures their love for their Creator, and it helps them appreciate the value of life.  Not to mention the fact that a well rounded nature study encompasses a multitude of academic subjects including geography, geology, math, composition, poetry, and, of course, the sciences, just to name a few.  With so many benefits, it’s easy to see why I was eager to add nature study to our weekly routine.

I had only one question.

Where do we start?

There’s just so much to see.  Birds, trees, weeds, insects, water, weather, flowers…  Nature is BIG, and I needed to help my kids focus.  The answer came to me while I was driving down the interstate the other day.

You know something’s up when you can hear the loud roar of insects over the sound of 70 mph traffic.  Deep in the recesses of my mind I remembered something about a periodical cicada that made it’s appearance every few years.  Could that be the buzzing sound I was hearing?  Turns out it was.  A little internet research revealed that a brood of 13-year cicadas just emerged in Louisiana and Mississippi.  What a perfect topic for our nature study!

I knew these insects were present at our home because of the roar of the bugs in our yard.  So I sent the kids outside to see what clues they could find.   Within minutes I heard squeals of delight outside.  “Mama, come see!  Come see!”

The monkeys had discovered plenty of cicada signs.  Below is a picture of just one of the hundreds of holes that they found in our front yard.  The cicadas, which have spent the past 13 years feeding on roots, emerged last week by tunneling up to the surface and popping out of these holes like some kind of six-legged gophers. 

The monkeys also found gobs of tiny exoskeletons littering the yard. 

Ty even found a few loose cicada wings.

Of course, there were plenty of live, adult cicadas to be found.  We collected a couple of them and sketched them in our nature journals, noting the unique characteristics of insects:  the 3 body sections, 6 legs, compound eyes, antennae, jointed legs, etc.

How about those red eyes!  The monkeys were really intrigued by those ruby red peepers.

Even little Tacy got in on the exploring.  I love to see her learning with the big kids!

I think the monkeys are hooked on nature study.  I know I am.  It’s such a relaxed way to learn.  I’m looking forward to more learning fun as we explore God’s creation together.  Thanks for the tip, Charlotte!

Lindsey

The Far East

Recently in our history studies, the monkeys and I have been learning about ancient China.  Like I told Ty, I honestly don’t remember ever studying Chinese history in 18 years of formal schooling, so all of the information we read about China this week was new to me too.  Surprisingly, my kids were very interested in these lessons.  There certainly was a lot of new information for us to take in.  We discussed everything from silk trade routes to human sacrifice.  Yikes!

Of particular interest to the monkeys was our lesson on the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Juang Ti, and his massive army of terracotta warriors – once again, a topic I’ve never before studied.

Ty had a terrific idea for an activity to go along with this lesson.  He suggested that he and Lucy try making their own versions of clay warriors using Play-Doh.  Great idea, Ty!  So while I read the material to them, the monkeys sculpted away.

Lucy found the task of warrior making to be quite difficult and soon gave up in favor of sculpting easier subjects.  Ty, on the other hand, embraced the challenge and took a lot of pride in recreating his figures.  To help him get a better understanding of how the real clay warriors were constructed, I found an informative PBS video online that addressed the difficulties involved in making the nearly 8,000, life-sized terracotta soldiers. 

Although Ty’s version was on a much smaller scale than the originals, he worked diligently to construct his figure using techniques similar to those of the ancient artisans.  Ty really is a creative soul.  He kept telling me over and over how much he enjoyed making things with his hands.

In addition to the sculpting activity, I found another art project that was better suited to Lucy’s skills – print making.

First the monkeys traced a line drawing of a warrior onto craft foam, making an impression in the foam.

Then they applied a thin layer of acrylic paint to the foam and pressed the foam onto a sheet of construction paper.

Voila! A beautiful warrior print.

I love the way Lucy layered her prints using different colors.  It made her warriors look like they were standing in rows.

What a fun a week of history!  We’re almost through our entire textbook now.  Only 12 more lessons to go!  This week I ordered Volume 2 of the Mystery of History for us to begin next school year.  The monkeys have enjoyed Volume 1 so much.  Sure, they are not going to remember every detail we’ve covered, but they certainly have been exposed to a plethora of ancient information.  Hopefully it will serve as a good foundation for learning to come.

Lindsey

Long Time, No Blog

Surprise!  It’s me again.

I know. I know.  It’s been so terribly long since you last heard a word from me.  Poor dears! You must be crushed!  I have the best excuse ever, though. 

My computer died.

Yep, it kicked the bucket.

Bought the farm.

Winged it’s flight to worlds unknown.

You get the idea.

Actually it was only the tangible computer that keeled over, not the brains of the machine.  The hard drive is still perfectly healthy, along with all of the priceless information stored on it.  So while I’m in the midst of transferring everything from my old hard drive to a wonderful, new machine, I thought I’d take a moment to let y’all know I haven’t abandoned blogging.

So what’s a girl like me to do when her computer is down and out?

Get outside and enjoy spring, that’s what!  Y’all know how much I’ve been looking forward to spring, and I’m so happy that it’s finally here!  For weeks I’ve been itching to get out in this winter-weary yard of mine and spruce it up a bit.  Thanks to the longer days and the warmer temperatures, the Tool Man and I have been able to tackle quite a bit of outdoor work around here.

The biggest chore we’ve completed so far has been to get our pool (a.k.a. Redneck Oasis) up and running.  The water is still far too chilly to go for a swim, (just ask Lucy who wouldn’t take my word for it) but at least it’s all set up, cleaned up, and ready to go.

In addition to prepping the pool, the Tool Man and I have spent some time giving our flower beds a face lift.  We’ve pruned shrubs, pulled weeds, relocated plants, and added some new flowers here and there.

Since we don’t have time to tend to a real vegetable garden, I decided to add a couple of tomatoes and jalapeno plants to my backyard bed.  I’ve also got a little collection of herbs growing:  rosemary, basil, lavender, and sage.

The sage bush was planted last year and is still going strong.  I believe it’s doubled in size in the last month alone!

It’s leaves are so big and beautiful; just the other day I plucked a few and added them to a chicken salad.  Yummy!  I don’t know about you, but the smell of sage always makes me think of Thanksgiving dressing.

The rosemary was planted last year as well.  I’m channeling my inner Martha Stewart and desperately trying to train the rosemary into topiary form – crossing my fingers I’m doing to correctly.

I’ve successfully grown a rosemary bush before but never once tried to prune it.  It grew to a monstrous size – at least 3 feet tall and twice as wide!  I finally had enough of the beast and got scissor happy with it last summer.  Now the poor plant looks like it’s been beaten with an ugly stick!  It’s gnarled, woody trunk grows at a wonky “60-ish” degree angle and bushes into an awful upside-down, squished pyramid shape.  I’m only keeping it around until my new plant is well established.  Fresh rosemary from an ugly plant is better than no rosemary at all, right?

I have more spring fun to talk about, but I ‘m not going to put all my eggs in one basket (pun intended.)  I apologize again for the recent blogging drought.  Hopefully, I’ll get all my computer woes ironed out soon.  Thanks for being patient!

Happy spring!

Lindsey

Dr. Jekyll and Miss Hyde

Hello, all.  So glad you decided to stop by for a minute today!  I have an extra special treat prepared just for you….

Science!

Without a doubt, the monkeys’ favorite school subject here at Arrow Academy is science.  Ty and Lucy really seem to enjoy learning about the world around them.  In case you’re out of the loop, we’ve been studying human anatomy and physiology this school year.  We’ve covered everything from cells to smells and hearts to f……  well, I guess I won’t go there.

Anyway, last month our science lessons focused on the immune and lymphatic systems.  We learned all about pathogens and diseases and how our wonderful Creator designed our bodies with a powerful army of defenders to protect us from germs.  Ty and Lucy both found the study of white blood cells to be particularly interesting.

To help the monkeys better understand the microscopic world of germs around them, I decided to order some petri dishes and attempt to grow bacterial colonies.

After discussing options of where to collect bacteria, the monkeys and I decided to take some samples from human and dog mouths.

I don’t know why Lucy found the idea of swabbing to be so repulsive.  She was even weirded out by the idea of me swabbing her teeth.

We took four samples in all:  one from Lucy, one from Ty, one from our Chihuahua, Coco, and one from our Jack Russell, Dee Dee.  Then Ty carefully spread the samples onto the sterile agar plates.  In lieu of an incubator, we placed our dishes on top of the freezer where the temperature was a balmy 80 degrees.  Then we waited.

What do y’all think we found a couple of days later?

Nasties!  That’s what.

Ew, Yuck, and Gross!

Nothing like finding out your kids’ mouths are just as nasty as your dogs’ mouths.  (Note to self:  add Listerine to the shopping list.)

As you can see, there might have been some error in collecting Ty’s sample.  Although his dish was just as gross as the others, it was definitely much different in nature.

I think the monkeys thoroughly enjoyed their little science experiment.  I do hope this hands-on experience will help them retain some of the information we talked about. 

It’s one thing to read about germs and grossies in a textbook, but to grow them yourself and see them with your own two eyes is a different story.  If nothing else, maybe this experiment will inspire the monkeys to be a little more meticulous when it comes to teeth brushing!

Lindsey

Snow Day–Part II

Can y’all believe we had not one, but two snow days last week??  Well, technically, I guess the first one was more of a sleet day, but on day two we had really for real snow!

My monkeys had just as much fun playing in the snow as they did in the ice the day before.

Lucy especially enjoyed all the white fluff.  She was less than one year old the last time we had any significant snow, and she has been dying to make a snow angel for years.  At last her wish came true!

She left tiny snow angels scattered all around our yard.

Of course the monkeys had to build a snowman.   Actually, Ty did most of the work himself.  Lucy had a hard time getting the snow to stick together, so she quickly lost interest.

Have you ever seen anyone give a snowman a haircut??

Leave it to Ty, the creative genius, to use grapes for eyes and buttons.  Oops!  Looks like this snowman lost an eye before I snapped the picture.

The Tool Man entertained himself by capturing all the fun on camera with his drone.

You know that no snow day would be complete without a good natured snowball fight.  Even I, the serious, sensible mom, hurled a snowball or two.  Although, I quickly surrendered after I caught one with my teeth!  I mean it.  I literally caught a snowball in my mouth.  (If you’re wondering, the Tool Man is the one who threw it at me.)

Lucy discovered that, in a pinch, a garbage can lid makes a pretty good sled.

If you’re wondering where Tacy was during all this snowy fun, she was warm and toasty in her crib enjoying a long winter nap.  Hmmm.  Sounds like a great way to pass the afternoon if you ask me!

Lindsey

Snow Day

Gotta love Louisiana!  It’s probably the only place on earth where an eighth of an inch of slushy precipitation shuts down commerce, sends drivers headed for the ditches, and leaves school children home, running wild and free.  Such was the scene in our corner of the world this week.

Personally, I hate this wintry weather.  Give me 90 degrees any day!  But my monkeys couldn’t have been more excited about the slush and flurries.  They eagerly watched the weather, running back and forth between windows to see whether there was more accumulation in the front yard or the back.  Imagine their delight when the kids woke Tuesday morning to see the ground covered in a thin, crunchy layer of snow.  (Actually, it was really just sleet, but, honestly, as long as it was white and frozen, the monkeys really didn’t care about the particulars.)

As soon as they had gobbled down their breakfasts, the monkeys donned their warmest camouflage coveralls (‘cause that’s the way we roll here in Louisiana) and headed outside with the Tool Man for some redneck fun.

Before my crew could decide what to do first, cousin Taylor came over with a sled that her dad made. 

Pop quiz time!  How do rednecks pull homemade sleds?  Behind four-wheelers and golf carts, of course.  And they always let their Chihuahuas ride shotgun!

Without a doubt, Lucy was the biggest fan of the sled.  When her Uncle Brian finally tired of dragging her behind the four-wheeler, Taylor stepped in and became her mule!

It was only a matter of time before the Tool Man’s redneck ingenuity took over and made the connection between snow skiing and water skiing.

Have you ever seen anything more ridiculous in all your life?!  Frozen water skiing!  Surely this will be an Olympic sport before long, and the official uniform shall be camouflage and rubber boots.

Ty was a natural at the sport, skiing with ease behind our golf cart.  Then the Tool man decided to give it a go.  First, he tried it behind the four-wheeler, but he kept losing his momentum every time the machine shifted gears.

He finally found his groove behind the golf cart.  I still can’t believe he trusted me to be his driver!  (Yes, I drove the cart and took these pictures at the same time.  I’m quite talented like that.)

With all of the activity, the kids worked up quite an appetite.  Luckily, they found some of nature’s popsicles hanging in the woods.

Even Tacy Mae enjoyed the cold, crisp air, wrapped snug as a bug riding with me on the golf cart.  She cried when when we finally took her back inside.

So, I guess that was our snow day for the next 3-4 years.  It certainly was full of excitement.  I know the monkeys will never forget the fun they had slipping and sliding in our icy winter wonderland. Y’all stay warm!

Lindsey

Tacy Tales

Remember way back when, during Tacy’s first year, I used to give a monthly update on her growth and development?  Well, I’ve been thinking about that recently and realized that over the last 4-5 months, there’s a lot of fun stuff going on with her that I’d like to jot down.

I’ve been keeping a rough list of Tacy’s milestones and funny antics, but I know that with the passage of time I’ll forget some of the details.  I thought I might share a few Tacy tales with y’all today.  This way I can come back and read them whenever I want.

(Please forgive me if my writing seems kind of random and haphazard today.  I really had trouble deciding on the best way to organize all this information.  I hope I don’t confuse y’all too much as I jump between topics.)

I’ll start with Tacy’s language.  Tacy has been really busy adding new words to her vocabulary over the past few months.  Now she goes to the pantry door and says, “hungry,” when she wants a snack.  When she hears our geese and chickens honking and clucking she says, “Gee,” and, “bock bock.”  And Tacy has a nickname for her three special blankies that she loves so much – “Buddy”  We never go anywhere without at least one Buddy.

During her 13th month, Tacy mastered saying and waving, “Bye bye.”  She used the term to mean, “Good night,” “I’m ready to go,” and, my personal favorite, “Go away!”  Ha ha.  Gotta love that brutal honesty!

Tacy is not only talking these days, she’s singing too.  Old McDonald.  She loves to watch an animated version of the tune on my iPad and sing along, “I-E-I-E-I-E.”  She watches it again and again and again…

In addition to oral language Tacy has learned to sign few words.  She signs, “All done,” when she is finished eating and, “More please,” when she’s still hungry.

More interesting than what Tacy is saying is what Tacy is refusing to say.  She absolutely refuses to call our chihuahua Coco by her name.  Tacy always calls her, “Dee Dee,” which is our other dog’s name.  Without fail, every time I ask Tacy to say, “Coco,” she happily responds with, “Dee Dee.”  I’m pretty sure it’s a game to her now.  Tacy also refuses to say, “Lucy.”  She insists on calling big sister, “Ty Ty.”  I think it’s a matter of over generalizing.  To Tacy all dogs are Dee Dee and all children are Ty Ty.

I’ve really enjoyed watching Tacy as she learns about the world around her.  It’s fun to see her picking up on things like how to use a hairbrush, hug a baby doll, use an iPhone, and put on shoes.  Boy does she love shoes!  One thing Tacy is not interested in, though, is television.  You read that correctly.  She has absolutely zero interest in TV.

Since learning to walk, Tacy has proven to be quite the little billy goat. She climbs onto and into everything she can get her big toe on – coffee table, stairs, step stools, drawers, pantry shelves, boxes – you name it!  Her favorite place to climb is at our breakfast room table, a.k.a. school table.  She loves scaling the chairs and trying to get the big kids’ school books and supplies.  She wants so much to be a big kid!

Perhaps the most significant development Tacy has made over the past four months has been her discovery of self and free will.  It was like a light bulb came on for her at 15 months.  She suddenly became aware that she had free will and could choose whether to obey or not.

A few examples:

• Tacy could choose to eat her dinner, or spit it out and pitch a fit.
• She could choose to stop climbing the stairs when told to stop, or race to the top instead.
• She could choose to hand me an open marker, or frantically scribble on the chair.

In any case, when Tacy does choose to obey, she’ll more than likely stick her bottom lip out as far as it will go, duck her chin, and look up at us with the most pitiful eyes you’ll ever see.  On the other hand, when Tacy is forced to obey, her favorite response is to lie face down on the floor and cry.

One last thing I’ll mention today.  Tacy has been working diligently learning to use a spoon.  She’s gotten really good at it too.  Almost every morning last week she fed herself yogurt and applesauce for breakfast, which was a tremendous help to me, because it freed my hands up to help Ty and Lucy get started on school.

Wow!  My little baby is growing so fast.  Whenever I see a photo of Tacy from just 3 or 4 months ago, I’m amazed at how much she has changed.  I’m so thankful for her life and her health!  And I’m thankful for the opportunity to stay home with her everyday and enjoy all these precious moments.  They do fly by so fast.

Lindsey