Washington D.C. Part 2: The Art Galleries

The next few days in the Washington D.C. area were pretty much filled with the usual tourist sightseeing hot spots.  I have to admit that I knew my nature girl would be very attracted to the green and natural places, like the U.S. Botanic Garden and the Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History:

I was a little surprised, however, at how many Art Galleries and Museums she chose to visit.  Or maybe I just didn't realize how including artist and picture study in our days has become another amazingly wonderful natural part of our lives.  Days in which she now can appreciate and seek the beauty for herself:

 

She was tickled about "Miners in the Sierras" it was part of our CA History year.

Her appreciation did not stop at the galleries either.  We visited places where she would comment on how much she enjoyed statues, murals, mosaics, and structures:

 

 

I'm always pleased to see my children enjoy themselves this way, but I have to admit my favorite part is when they want to share the connections they've made with other areas they've feasted on as well.  This makes for such delightful and pleasant days ; )

 

"We cannot measure the influence that one or another artist has upon the child's sense of beauty, upon his power of seeing, as in a picture, the common sights of life; he is enriched more than we know in having really looked at even a single picture."

-Charlotte Mason, Volume 1 Home Education, pg 202 in the 2008 Wilder Publication



Washington D.C. in June Part 1

My 9yo daughter and I recently returned from a memorable trip to the east coast.  It started with some wonderful time spent in the very green and cozy Ferrum College campus in Ferrum, Virginia; site of the Charlotte Mason Institute Conference.  This was a great event.  Both my daughter and I found comfort and comradery in an amazing CM community.  Everyone we met was lovely and I'm, honestly, still mulling over the abundance of thoughts and wisdom I gained.

The lake was her favorite spot on the campus.

Energized and refreshed we headed to D.C. for a special mother-daughter sightseeing vacation.   I've done this trip before with my oldest daughter and knowing well that my girls are two unique individuals I wasn't quiet sure what our destinations points would be this time. Well, I was right.  I ended up visiting different places because my nature girl had a few things already in mind ; )

After attending mass at the nearby church of St. Mary in Alexandria we headed to George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate (just a gorgeous drive down the Parkway along the Potomac):

She's trying to figure out what she wants to add to her nature journal

 She chose the Cone Flower ; ) because it was the pinkest one there

"Look he practiced copy work too!"  She couldn't get over that.

 

 

Next, we spent some time near the National Mall and nearby monuments; as well a quick look at the White House:

Thus, concluded our very busy first day in the D.C. area.  I'll leave you with this friends:

“There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”  

-George Washington
address to Congress, 8 January, 1790

A Quiet Independence Day

Today will be a quiet and still day at home; a perfect day for reflection.  Holidays feel very different without Dad around, but, alas, work is duty and sometimes it happens.  So instead of a nature walk (like last year) we will snuggle up with a couple of our favorite history authors and read about our Independence Day.  Afterwards, I've already had a request for some silly 4th of July themed movies to watch too.  And much later, we'll try to watch some fireworks from the top of our little hill and I will try to start a pit fire for some smores (yes, this will be a first for me!). 

The 4th of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh and Birthdays of Freedom Book 2 by Genevieve Foster

At dinner tonight, I'll be sure to pull out one of our favorite year round poetry books and read the following:

Prayer on Fourth of July

by Nancy Byrd Turner

This is the birthday of our land;

May all her days be in God's hand.

May all her ways between the seas

Be ways of quietness and peace.

May her good flag shine high and bright,

And all the nations trust its light.

For peace and blessing may she stand,

America our Land!

Have a blessed 4th of July everyone!

Ships Ahoy!

My kids keep reminding me that I haven't  posted pictures of a field trip they absolutely enjoyed.  A few weeks back they had the chance to visit the Lady Washington docked at the Channel Islands Harbor.   It was a gorgeous day; did not seem like January at all.

While we aren't studying the 1700's this year, we did last year and the images are still fresh. They learned about parts of a ship, some sailing terms and even got to work with the ropes.

I love having the opportunity for field trips that give the kids a hands on experience.  Sometimes this is just the last bit they need to make a connection with something they've learned or want to learn ; )

Mexican Style Tea for Our Lady of Guadalupe

At the end of mass yesterday our priest invited the congregation to gather at 5:00 a.m. to sing "Las Mananitas" to Our Lady of Guadalupe followed by a special mass.  Well, we weren't able to make such an early celebration but early this afternoon we were able to have a nice Mexican style tea in her honor.

I gathered some of the only blooming roses in our side garden and we did play "Las Mananitas" from the CD  De Colores by Jose Luis Orozco.  He has been a favorite of Mexican folklore music since we met him at a UCLA book festival about eight years ago. We own several of his CDs.  His song books are very colorful too.  I also got busy making an easy recipe Flan and bunuelos this morning.  It's the first time I've made the buenelos and it wasn't that bad.  But my shapes do need some practice.  We also made some simple quesadillas and our drink of choice was Abuelitas Chocolate.  I like to add some cinnamon sticks to the boiling mixture for an even more authentic taste. 

This was enjoyed as we had a round robin read of Tomei De Paola's The Lady of Guadalupe.  There is nothing like a good book, a nice hot drink and a sweet treat to receive some wonderful narrations.  The breaks are a must for some delicious sips.  We had not had a liturgical tea in months and I can tell my kids really missed it.

And to this day, the Mexican Indians say to newborn children, " May God be as good to you as he was to Juan Diego."  from The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomei De Paola

One More Turkey (or Five)

One of our books arrived in time!  I've been wanting to add this one for a few year's now.  Time always gets away from me or I order something else.  I read Dalgliesh's The Thanksgiving Story to the boys this morning.  They really enjoyed it and it was just one of those well written books that they could understand.  How do you explain history to four little boys without getting lost and getting that complete blank stare?  This is always a challenge for me.  The book had plenty to keep their attention and plenty of good historical information about the holiday.  There was just enough for this younger age group.  I did break the book into two morning readings, but it was worth going through the book slowly.  They digest more and can tell me more about it with detail.  I wasn't requiring narrations from them, however, just like anything we read; they want to tell me about it ; ) Once again, just another example of a well written book.  I'm so glad it's part of our collection now.

To round up our Thanksgiving month here are some of our Little Keepers at Home club creative turkey mosaics that we worked on last week (so sorry for the blurriness in some):

 And now, we are off to bowling with our small home school group for our annual Turkey Bowl. (The kids just love saying that.)  I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.  I know we have a lot to be grateful for this year!  God is great.  From our reading today:

Perhaps they sang the hymn they had brought to the New World with them:

 "Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below..."

Discovering an Ancient Queen

half dug up ruin in Yahxa, Guatemala April 2011

My oldest is enjoying her ancient Egypt readings.  I gave her a list of books to choose from for free reading and just for enjoyment.  She will occasionally write a narration as part of her two required weekly narrations or will just share with me what she is reading from the list.  She had picked Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw about a month ago.  This was a wonderful book; she enjoyed it very much.  However, the book is about Mara and by the end of the book, she really wanted to know more about the queen mentioned in the story.  Who and what kind of person was she ... really?  I gave her a second book to read: His Majesty, Queen Hatshesput by Dorothy Sharp Carter.  She just finished the book this morning (literally with wet eyes) and asked if I would write about it on the blog.  Thrilled at her eagerness I asked her to write a comparison and I would type it here for her.  This is her assessment of two very good and well written books:

When I read the book " Mara, Daughter of the Nile" I really liked it.  It was about a slave girl named Mara and she was living in the time of Queen Hatshepsut.  Mara became a double spy for Hatshesput's kingdom and rebels who wanted Thutmose III (Hatshepsut's stepson) to be the rightful Pharaoh.  In the book Hatshepsut is a tyrant or villain of the story.  I actually thought of her as a tyrant, a villain.  But that was before I read "His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut".  By the end of this book I began to see that Hatshepsut wasn't evil. She had the courage to stand up and proclaim herself Pharaoh of Egypt.  In her last years of being Pharaoh, things became hard.  Thutmose the III and the priests of Amon (Egypt's head God) were her enemies.  She faced a lot of sorrow, for many sad things  happened.  Her daughter Nefrure, was bit by a snake and died; Senmut, her closest friend and love also died.  She fought bravely against her stepson until finally she was poisoned by someone she trusted.  I almost cried at the end of the book: Hatshesput was a great Pharaoh and, indeed, I saw her from a different view.  I think I discovered what and who she really must have been.

I get so excited when my children can create such relationships to history and other subjects.  Her curiosity led her to want to know more.  Along the way she has read some online articles about the Queen, she also picked up a few books that were meant for her sister like Hatshesput, His Majesty, Herself by Catherine Andronik and a couple of others that we borrowed from the library.



ruin Yahxa, Guatemala April 2011 trip

My daughter is young and I know that this is pursuing knowledge at a very basic level  by reflecting and creating her own opinion on books given to her.  The idea that on her own, she chooses to pursue interests and form her own opinion on matter is truly, to me, the essence of knowledge.  I wasn't planning on submitting a post to the CM blog carnival this week but when she came to me this morning a little bulb went on.  As much as I think that I am in charge of my children's education, I was humbly reminded by my daughter that:

"He is furnished with the desire for Knowledge, i.e., Curiosity; with the power to apprehend Knowledge, that is, attention; with powers of mind to deal with Knowledge without aid from without––such as imagination, reflection, judgment; with innate interest in all Knowledge that he needs as a human being; with power to retain and communicate such Knowledge; and to assimilate all that is necessary to him.

He requires that in most cases Knowledge be communicated to him in literary form; and reproduces such Knowledge touched by his own personality; thus his reproduction becomes original."  Charlotte Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education Vol. 6, pg 18-19

Ms. Mason was one smart lady ; )

A Book That Fits

Since we started homeschooling I've loved the idea of providing living books to supplement the history text my oldest was working out off.  Transitioning to a whole living book education has not been very difficult.  As I mentioned in my history focus post, this is our most involved subject.  I really try to approach the subject as a family.  I chose a spine for my oldest, which she is loving, and decided on a family spine as well (this is another big hit).  Along the way the younger kids have looked at and listened to a couple of picture books.  As a family they've also enjoyed some of our DVD selections.  We just finished watching Nefertiti Resurrected and the kids were completely captivated.  My oldest has a list of books to choose from for the year besides her spine for extra reading.  First on her list was The Gift of the River by Enid Lamonte Meadowcroft (which I purchased several years ago at a used library sale).  After just a few pages she came to me and suggested that this was a more appropriate book for her younger sister because it looked a lot like her spine; just easier reading.  Hmm...I hadn't picked a spine for her.  I just assumed she wasn't ready for a narrative all of her own.  Well, I followed my daughter's advice and had my younger daughter read a few pages aloud to me.  She's over 1/4 into the book : D

I recently read an article in the last Home Educating Family Magazine that made me think of her.  The article talks about parents being focused on finding particular titles (both in print and OOP) and not straying from their course.  Curriculum's out there will have their book lists and only those on the list are appropriate because of course those are the books that go with the plans.  The author was making a point of how there are so many books out there that are just as good as the next one.  One child might just love and engulf themselves with a particular title while it might not be the next child's spoonful of sugar.  The parent just has to be open to finding appropriate and good books that their child will enjoy.  Not being tied to someone else's plan has allowed me to do this for my children.  I know that there are wonderful titles out there that some of my children would just not enjoy.  I've quickly discovered that is the case in our home.  I underestimated my daughter's ability to focus on a complete book for her history studies because I was just concentrating on what some book lists suggested for her age group.  She almost missed experiencing a treasure on the history of Egypt.  I'm so glad that we have given ourselves that freedom from a must be this way or it won't be right mentality.  

On the specific issue of history (although she also makes this point with almost every other subject) Ms. Mason said:

"For the matter for this intelligent teaching of history, eschew, in the first place, nearly all the history books written expressly for children; and in the next place, all compendiums, outlines, abstracts whatsoever.  For the abstracts, considering what part the study of history is fitted to play in the education of the child, there is not a word to be said in their favour; and as for what are called children's books, the children of educated parents are able to understand history written with literary power and are not attracted by the twaddle of reading-made-easy little history books."  pg 281 Volume 1 Home Education

Don't misunderstand the quote.  I still think there is a place for many wonderfully written picture books that all my children enjoy; from the oldest to the youngest.  I think that Ms. Mason would agree with me that if it is a well written book even a children's picture book is worth introducing when studying history.  My point is simply that I almost missed an opportunity with my eight year old because I thought our family read aloud was all she could handle.  I even contemplated getting some of the books that Ms. Mason would have deemed as twaddle to supplement our family spine.  Well, my daughter has proved me wrong.  The Gift of the River is such a good living narrative of the era that she enjoys having this spine to give her the following experience:

"...[I]s a subject which should be to the child an inexhaustible storehouse of ideas, should enrich the chambers of his House Beautiful with a thousand tableaux, pathetic and heroic, and should form in him, insensibly, principles whereby he will hereafter judge of the behaviour of nations, and will rule his own conduct as one of a nation." pg. 279 Volume 1 Home Education

Her narrations have been so vivid that I know she is not only understanding the history of Egypt but enjoying it as well. I have been very pleased with this book selection for her.  History as a subject is one of the most living book rich subjects that we have.  There is just so much of a selection out there.  Don't get to hung up on a list;  just be mindful that it meets your criteria for picking a good book.  Of course you are always in charge of what those parameters might be.  There is always a good living book that fits.

* I should disclose there is language/terms in The Gift of the River  you might want to make sure you discuss with your child.  For example how people of other countries are referred as.

Upcoming School Year In Focus: History

I've been debating on the best way to write this post for myself and anyone who might be curious about what we're doing this upcoming year.  The reason I've struggled with it is because it has become clear that there are subjects in which I can and do combine siblings.  So, rather than explain each child's schedule, I'll break it up into a few posts about subjects and attempt to define who will use what materials within them.  I'm still working on this so please keep in mind that I may peel layers if things don't seem to be working.  I also apologize if it seems a bit confusing but hopefully you can at least enjoy looking through some of the links to the books will use.  I'll pick the meatier subjects first, the posts will get smaller ; ) .



Top of one of the Ancient Ruins in Yahxa, Guatemala;  from our April trip.

 We'll cover Ancients this year.  My goal is to get us to maybe early Romans.  I won't hold my breath, we want to savor.  I will have a very involved & advanced 6th grader,  a young 3rd grader, a 1st grader, a young kindergartner and a couple of preschoolers (thus the picture book & craft days).  I'm not expecting much from the younger four, I really just hope to fill some enjoyable time with them. 

Monday:  As a family, I will read aloud from A Picturesque Tale of Progress as a weekly starting point spine.  I love the illustrations for the younger audience and the language/content for my oldest (be warned there may be some n*dity or bear bre*sts).  Also, since my oldest is a voracious reader and a middle schooler, she will on her own read as a spine Dorothy Mills' The Book of the Ancient World and The Book of the Ancient Greeks. 

Tuesday:  For our craft Tuesday we will work our way through some History Pockets: Egypt, Greece, Greek Myths, Ancient Civilizations and my friend is letting us borrow The Story of the World Activity book.  On Tuesday we will also read  from Modern Rhymes about Ancient Times by Susan Altman while they work on their craft.

Wednesday:  We're calling it Picture Book Wednesday.  I've picked one book a week relating to our readings for our term 1 (I still need to work on term 2 & 3).  I'm sure one of those terms will pretty much be covered by D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths and Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales.  I should mention that my oldest will have several appropriate middle school age books to choose from as well;  she's not required to listen to our picture books, but she usually does. She enjoys picking from the list I give her and will likely get through at least 12 additional books on Ancients. (Through out the year I'll post on the side bar her current read.)  These are our term 1 picture book choices, some really intended more for my 3rd grader:

Picture Books

Term 1: Ancient Egypt

Week 1:

Pyramid by David Macaulay

Week 2:

Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki

Week 3:

Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself by Catherine Andronik

Week 4:

Nefertiti: Mystery Queen by Burnham Holmes

Week 5:

Tutankhamen’s Gift by Robert Sabuda

Week 6:

Cleopatra by Diane Stanley

Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

Week 7:

Moses in the Bulrushes by Warwick Hutton

Week 8:

The 5,000 Year Old Puzzle by Claudia Logan

Week 9-11:

Gilgamesh Trilogy by Ludmila Zeman

Thursday: This will be our language arts day; a time slot set aside for them to work on any written work. My oldest will continue with her Book of Centuries, one oral and one written narration is required per week from her for this subject.  We'll have group narrations on PToP after reading on Mondays, but the younger ones will keep a copywork notebook they'll work on this day.

Friday: Friday's I've set aside for a family fun read aloud, for term 1 it will be Boy of the Pyramids (yet to choose term 2 & 3).  This will also be our DVD day for those lazy after park day afternoons.  Our choices:

DVD’s to Watch:

Joseph: King of Dreams

Prince of Egypt

Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs (IMAX)

Nefertiti Resurrected

Time Life’s: Lost Civilizations

The Mummy: Quest for the Lost Scrolls

Now here is something I'm playing with and I'm not sure yet where to fit it in.  I really want to also cover a second strand of National History.  I know this is something Charlotte Mason encouraged.  My thoughts are to pick a few D'aulaire biographies and some picture books to schedule around certain holidays.  I'm still working on this schedule.  I envision having a U.S. History basket which will include our selected books and readings.

Whew ... that's history for the family!  Up next, will be Geography.