Botanical Garden and Little Keepers

Our Little Keepers group has been working on earning five pins for the year.  Among them is a Wildflowers pin, which they began in February.  We've had our monthly meetings and worked on some of the following. They created some flashcards (picture of flower on one side/name on the other) and then at our next meeting they quizzed each other for recognition.  I also read a chapter from Shanleya's Quest: Botany Adventure for Kids to study our Mustard flower a bit more.  I gave the girls a diagram as well.  I'll take a moment to say that the green book was a must buy since my nature girl wanted to learn more about Wildflowers than just what we covered in our monthly meetings.  She has really enjoyed How To Know the Wild Flowers and pulls it out after every hike we take.

 

On a different meeting the girls brought in some samples of wildflowers and then made a great effort to watercolor dry brush their flowers (I should also mention that they were encouraged to bring some poetry about wildflowers to share at every meeting):

And now we come to our last meeting of the year, in which, we decided to head to our local Botanical Garden and take a nature walk.  The girls enjoyed this!  They took a stroll through the garden; they were able to pick out some wildflowers we'd talked about, looked up a few unknown in my field guide and enjoyed other wonderful living things on the trail : D

 

Before meeting the rest of the moms and siblings for cookies and juice (and lots of playing time)  the girls gathered in a circle.  One of our youngest member recited part of a poem the girls memorized for recitation at the beginning of our school year.  It sums up our group and another wonderful year together:

 

Others

by Charles D. Meigs

 

Lord, help me live from day to day

In such a self-forgetful way,

That even when I kneel to pray,

My prayer shall be for others.

 

Others, Lord, yes others,

Let this my motto be:

Help me to live for others,

That I live like Thee.



Blueberry and Strawberry Picking Weekend

This weekend the kids wanted to go blueberry picking and as a bonus our favorite spot had a strawberry patch this year!  We invited my sisters and nieces to join us.  I remember the first time I ever picked strawberries from a local farm.  I was in college!  The strawberries were so sweet and juicy; the experience was wonderful.

Even before Charlotte Mason was present in our home the idea of going outdoors and visiting the farm has always been, well, a tradition.  To pick our own, take it home, enjoy it and, yes, even make some connections to some very well loved stories and concepts; there's no better way to present it to my kids.  As busy as we've been this year, I need to remember this and get back to the little things that are much bigger than what we might perceive.

Don't get me wrong our nature walks/hikes are a weekly routine and habit around here.  However, there are few other things that I must get back into "living our education"  ; )

A Look Back At March

So so hard to believe this month is gone.  Once again, life is full!  We had some wonderful adventures this month and a very emotional good-bye to an amazing lady. 

I couldn't let the month end without posting some pictures of our trip to Palm Springs.  Along the way we visited the San Gabriel Mission (perfect stop for our CA history year):

The Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve:

The amazing Joshua Tree National Park; we have to go back soon.  This is just a teaser, I'll post about the wonderful nature study on our trails there:

And finally Palm Springs!  Our time here was mostly spent at the pool and on a pretty neat trail with a great view at the top:

Full of excitement we headed home only to peacefully kiss and say goodbye to my husband's maternal grandmother.  We mourned with our loved ones during a beautiful memorial mass and gathering.  As we get ready to celebrate Easter tomorrow I can't help but feel very emotional that she won't be with us.  Amazing doesn't begin to describe her!  We all truly felt her love and loved her in return.  My children still feel the emptiness of not having their weekly visit to the senior care center, her hugs, smile and a parting treat:

Life is oh so full!

We will miss you so much Gamy!

A Little Bit of Selsam

My second grader is co-reading Pagoo by H.C. Holling with me this term.  However, on his schedule, he also has a day of independent natural history/science to read per week.  I love science, especially the life sciences, so no surprise my children do too.  Since starting on our CM journey and discovering that I can put in front of them wonderful books to meet our curiosity, well, I haven't been shy about it ; )

I have a nice selection of I Can Read and Find Out Science books.  These are just wonderful for those emergent readers.  A few weeks ago he happened upon one of the books in that section and thus a little bit of Millicent Selsam sent him searching for more (I happen to have a few of those as well).  We picked a handful to get him through the rest of our Term 2.  The first one on the list was Seeds and More Seeds.

Mrs. Selsam has written and/or illustrated various science and nature study books for young children.  What I enjoy most about her books is that one little thing that makes a book a good living book:  an idea "appears to feed in a curious way" Charlotte Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, Volume 6 pg37. 

The love and admiration Mrs. Selsam had for science is within her words and illustrations.  Here is a simple obituary written by the New York Times in 1996; by the way, her MA was in botany.  I just giggled at some of phrases that were used: "nagging why's" and "simple science booklets".  Well, thank goodness for them.  I'm sure Ms. Mason would agree with me.  It doesn't have to be complicated and textual.  A genuine connection and relation can be had by placing good ideas in a very curious mind wanting to be fed.  As expected, each of my children will have a particular interest and it is my job to nurture and feed it. Right!? 

"Our business is to give children the great ideas of life, of religion, history, science; but it is the ideas we must give, clothed upon with facts as they occur, and must leave the child to deal with these as he chooses." Charlotte Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, Volume 6 pg37-38

Needless to say, while we've done our bean in a bag experiment before, my son was eager to "do it again".  So we did :D 

He and his siblings were also eager to get some seeds planted in our little patch.  We did that too and we can't wait to see those growing.  It is that time of the year. 

Oh, can you guess what book is feeding mom's mind lately? ; )

President's Day Hike

We've been really good about keeping up with at least one weekly trek.  Unfortunately, I haven't been so good about posting our pictures.  Yesterday was such a beautiful day that I just had to come in here and share.  We teamed up with friends and headed to one of our favorite spots; taking a flatter and certainly more scenic trail this time.  Enjoy!

 

 

Don't know if you see the same symbolism as I did when I took the pictures or if it's just my very sensitive heart being immersed in the season of Lent, but oh the emotions ...

Lent 2013: Simplicity & Routine

We've had such a busy year so far that our table and our Lent season really need to stay simple.  There have been several unexpected emergencies and highly emotional moments that our goals are simplicity, reflection and routine.  This year our board is decorated with one cross, purple ribbon,  a muslin pouch filled with nails, a wooden hammer and our Alleluia wrapped in the second muslin pouch.  Each day after we've read from Lent for Children a Thought a Day suggested by Jenn at Family in Feast and Feria we will hammer a nail to our cross. 

I also loved the idea of a Montessori style Lent box for our stations of the cross.  Visit Holly at The Three Sided Wheel for her wonderful tutorial and printouts.  I was able to put this together last year and the kids really enjoyed it as well.  It was just perfect for my very sensory needy boys.  So it is on our table again this year.

As for our book basket; it is filled with our favorites and last years additions. I have just a few new ones that I've collected since then:

- Lilies, Rabbits, and Painted Eggs: The Story of the Easter Symbols by Edna Barth
- The Story of the Easter Robin by Dandi Daley Mackall
- The Legend of the Easter Egg by Lori Walburg

I can't wait to see if I find any new treasures by Easter Sunday.