Homemade Alphabet Book: H

H is for hearts and horse.

Backyard Bird Watching

Three types of bird food

This has been a really fun month in our household with nature study!  This month’s focus with The Outdoor Hour Challenge was birds.  Ever since my first backyard bird identification a few months ago, I have been looking forward to this month- with the bird focus- with great anticipation.

My preparations began at the end of last month.  I started purposefully looking outside at the birds who would visit our bird feeder, staring intently at them to notice their unique shading so that I had something to type into Google instead of just “little brown bird,” or “little gray bird.”  I successfully identified 6 different birds that were frequent backyard guests and printed out pictures of them.  I also borrowed a couple of bird field guide type books and a few bird videos from the library.  My favorite is The Backyard Bird Lover’s Field Guide by Sally Roth.  She has her book organized by region with great pictures and tons of interesting facts.  I learned a great deal reading through this guide and was able to identify a few more of my backyard birds by the pictures and information.

She said a couple of things that I found to be so very true:  “Once you know their names, birds aren’t just birds anymore.  They’re on their way to becoming friends…. Anything we pay attention to becomes more special to us.  That’s why learning to identify birds will give you a closer connection to them.  It will make you feel more connected to nature, too.” (The Backyard Bird Lover’s Field Guide pp 20, 22)

Filling up the feeder with goodies for our backyard bird friends

I have found this to be true, not only this month- though truly, this month’s jump in enthusiasm as I was able to name more and more birds and describe little facts I knew about them was very dramatic in myself- but this whole year as I’ve been doing nature walks and participating in the Outdoor Hour Challenge.  I have always loved nature.  I have always enjoyed walking through the woods or by the ocean and drinking in the atmosphere.  But as I’ve examined nature closely, to uncover identifying features to be able to discover its name and ways, I’ve found an even deeper delight in nature.

Charlotte Mason could have spoken of adults as well as children when she said, “Let them once get touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life.” (Vol 1, p 65)

So after I did a brief backyard study and identified a few birds, my husband and I took a little trip to Target while the kids were at Awana.  He was quite amused (and maybe a little impressed) at my jabbering on about the different types of birds we can see in our backyard and the different types of bird food we could get.  We found several types of bird food in the pet section and I enthusiastically threw all in my cart!

Then I was ready to embark upon a month of backyard bird watching for our nature study.  First, I showed my kids the pictures I had printed out of birds that we might see.  We carefully looked at the pictures, noted the coloring and the interesting features of each bird, and learned their names.  We filled our bird feeder up with bird seed and hung the suet and the finch sock feeders.  Then we waited.

All ready for the birds!

It took a few days for the birds to realize that food was available again (the bird feeder had been out of seed for a couple of weeks at this point)- just long enough for the kids’ initial enthusiasm to wear off.  My enthusiasm, however, gained momentum as I was able to recognize several birds and go on to identify several more using the field guide and Good Ole’ Google.

The first birds the kids were able to identify were the Dark Eyed Juncos (when they heard this name, they laughed- this was the most hilarious name for a bird they’d ever heard!), Chestnut Backed Chickadees, Mourning Doves, and the beautiful blue Scrub Jay.  Then one day, about a week after hanging up the goldfinch feeder, I spotted bright yellow bird with a black cap.  A bright spot of color in a brown tree!  It was so exciting!  Now I see dozens of Lesser Goldfinch every day.  That same day, I saw a bird I recognized by description but never had actually seen in person (in bird? in real life? in nature?).

Dark Eyed Junco

Scrub Jay

Can you believe it?  This month, I saw my first American Robin.  Wow!  What a beautiful bird.  It was not interested in the offered seed, but it rested on the branches of my tree awhile.  I was delighted.

A Robin resting in my tree

It was around this point that X-man started getting much more enthusiastic about this study.  One day, when he was playing outside, he called out to me, “Mom, I want to grow a bird!”  (My response: “Huh?”) Several minutes later, he came rushing up to me and explained, “I found a bird seed on the ground and I dug a hole and planted the seed.  Then I turned on the hose and poured water on it.  I sure will grow a bird!”

A Robin, a Lesser Goldfinch, and a House Finch

As he became more familiar with the birds frequenting our backyard, he began looking every morning for his favorite bird- the Dark-Eyed Juncos.  In his observations, he noticed that some were duller, with more of a gray head than a glossy black one.  This led to a discussion about male and female birds and their coloring and he has since applied his knowledge to other species of birds.

A Whole Bunch of Finches

We watched a Backyard Safari Birds video and they were able to identify a few birds they saw.  With X-man’s budding interest (and mine) and the bird video, my other children have caught the enthusiasm.  My daughter’s favorite birds are now the Chickadee and the Song Sparrow.  My 2 year old yells “Dark-Eyed Junco!” whenever he sees one and scares them all away.

A little morning birdwatching

The Dark Eyed Junco- his favorite bird

Our nature studies this month have not been set-aside hours of time, but rather, we’ve watched birds throughout the days and whenever we spot one we love, or one we haven’t yet seen, we stop what we are doing and go look at it.  We did take some time last week to look again at the pictures I had printed in the beginning, choose a favorite bird, and draw the bird in our nature journals.  X-man cannot be limited by such rules as, “Pick a favorite,” (even though truly, the Dark-Eyed Junco is his favorite), so he did two journal entries.

Pointing out the Mourning Dove- a bird she had seen this morning

We also started reading The Burgess Bird Book for Children.  I printed out pictures of each bird described (in the first few chapters for now) and we have started a project of making a “book” of the birds mentioned in The Burgess Bird Book and writing down a few things that we learn about the bird in each chapter.  The kids thought that “Bully,” the English Sparrow enjoying dust baths was so funny.

Yesterday, I happened to be at Michaels and they were selling 2013 calendars for 25 cents each.  I picked up one themed “Birds and Butterflies.”  I took it home and showed the children.  My husband was so very impressed that they were able to identify over half the birds on the front cover!

Our Journal Entries and Bird Grid

My personal backyard bird list

His Chickadee journal entry

Our Burgess Bird Book Project

What a fun month this has been, making new friends.  A new interest has stirred in all of our hearts- one that will bring us delight for many months, I’m certain.

dadlab #1: Bouyancy!

Hey there, loyal readers of Following Footprints!  I’m Scotty, a guest contributor to the blog.  I’ll be doing posts on dadlabs, a bunch of physical science lessons with an emphasis on hands-on learning.

Wait, who is this guy?

My credentials are thus: I’m married to the blog’s author, so I get to post on her blog.  If you want to blog here, you’ll have to marry her, too.  I wonder how long before she’ll make me edit that sentence out.

The lab

Today’s dadlab is on bouyancy, and the magical stuff that happens to fluids that are heavier or lighter than other fluids.

Materials

We did this dadlab opportunistically, based on the fact that we came across some helium balloons.  And because we were in a supercharged muscle car that simply jumped off the line.

Princess K with some lab equipment.

State-of-the-art mobile science laboratory

And because helium balloons in cars are awesome.  If I had planned it better, we would have tied a non-helium balloon to a string as well, but we made do.

Time for Science!

We first established inertia, that is, the tendency of matter to resist acceleration.  Naturally, we did so without using the words inertia, matter, or acceleration.  Tragically, X-man’s balloon had already popped, but it provided a good example of inertia.  I had him hold his broken balloon by the string as still as he could, so that it dangled straight down.  I hit the accelerator from a standstill, and the kids observed how the balloon swung backward.  On another pass, I had the kids try to sit forward (not very easy in 5-point harnessed carseats), and observe how they get pushed back into their forward-facing seats.  The baseline was established: when the car speeds up, stuff goes back.

So what happens when a helium balloon is floating freely in the middle of the car?  When daddy hits the gas, where does it go?  The kids were cautious about their hypothesis that it, too, would go to the back of the car.  So I put the pedal to the carpeted flooring.

That balloon raced to the front, and then promptly popped loudly.  Science is exciting!

We discussed the results.  We talked about how the balloon really wanted to rush to the back of the car, but that the air in the car wanted to do so even more, because it was heavier.  “That, kids, is called buoyancy!”

“Bouya-what?”

“Never mind.”  I need to remember to keep things age-appropriate.  I remember how confused I got about density from watching Eureka!  at too young an age, and had to relearn it much later.

Beyond Balloons

Later that day, we looked at an example of liquid buoyancy.  I poured some canola oil in a cup, and some water (with food coloring in it) in another container.  I looked up the specific gravity of canola oil (0.91 if you must know), so I knew what to expect.

I asked the kids what would happen when I poured the water over the top of the canola oil.  Would the water sit on top of the oil?  Would they mix together?  The kids stated their hypotheses, and then we poured!

Canola oil floats on top of food-dyed water

To our budding scientists’ surprise, the water went to the bottom, and left the oil on top!  Then I sealed the top of the cup and turned it upside-down.  The oil stayed on top!

Conclusion

We talked about the connection between the cup of liquid and the balloon in the car.  What’s the common principle?  Heavy stuff goes down and pushes lighter stuff up.  For a 4- and 5-year-old, that feels like just the right amount of detail.  We didn’t go into why the water and oil didn’t mix.  We DID go into what helium balloons would do on the moon.  You know, the important stuff.

This lesson was lots of fun, and hopefully didn’t try to take on too much.  It was my first dadlab, so I’ve got some refining to do.  But the kids seemed engaged, and the lightbulbs did seem to turn on without too much trouble.  Frankly, if I’d had to explain too much, it probably would have killed the fun of the lesson.

I look forward to the next dadlab, and when we do it, I’ll be back!

I’m out!

Memorable Moments: Weeks 15-19, More European Countries

It’s been over a month since my last Memorable Moments Post.  This is due to the fact that when we went to Legoland, our laptop died.  The hard drive was left intact, so we will be able to get at our old documents, files, and most importantly pictures; however, we have not yet done this.  The aforementioned pictures that are on that laptop include some pictures from our school week #15, so I have been waiting until I got those pictures to write this post.

I wait no longer.

Since it is taking longer than I had anticipated to complete this hard drive download project, I’m just going to record what we did and give you the pictures of all the other weeks.

So, here it is… memorable moments from our last several weeks of school:

Bible story- Water From A Rock

Bible– Several weeks ago, we were at the beginning of the stories of Moses.  We are now near the end of his life.  We have gone through the stories of the Exodus, the Ten Commandments, and stories from the wilderness wanderings.  We read about the 12 spies and the people rebelling and Moses disobeying God when he hit the rock instead of speaking to it.  The kids know “On Christ the Solid Rock,” and the New Testament books to a melody I grew up singing (since X-man had to learn these for Awana).  This week, we’ve been reviewing the hymns we know, including “This is My Father’s World,” and “Trust and Obey” (a hymn that was very applicable to our Bible stories this week).

“Trip Around the World”-  We have now finished the countries we will study in Europe.  We read several of the Exploring Countries series, for the countries we studied and then the following books:

Scandanavia-

Pippi Longstocking (from Sweden)- A book the children thought was quite funny and provided opportunities for us to talk about honesty and respect.

Nail Soup from the collection Around the World in 80 Tales– A Swedish story similar to Stone Soup.

The Children of Hat Cottage by Elsa Maartman Beskow (from Sweden)- A memorable story of children who lived on an island with their mother in a cottage that was shaped like a hat.  X-man mentioned this story just a few days ago- recollecting with grins this tale we read several weeks ago.

The Princess Mouse by Aaron Shepard (from Finland)- My little princess loves anything with a princess in it.  They enjoyed this sweet story.

Crystal Mountain by Ruth Sanderson- A combination of a Chinese tale and a Norwegian tale, it was a fun, adventurous and beautifully illustrated story.

Netherlands-

The Boy Who Held Back the Sea, paintings by Thomas Locker and retelling by Lenny Hort- A familiar folktale with masterful and dramatic illustrations depicting the sweeping scenery of the setting.

Katje, the Windmill Cat by Gretchen Woelfle- Princess K loves cats, so I thought she would enjoy this story with warm, captivating illustrations.  I ended up tearing up at this beautiful tale that is based on a historical account.

Austria-

Mozart in the World’s Greatest Composers series by Mike Venezia- a fun recounting of Mozart’s life.  We also read a picture book based on his opera, The Magic Flute, which was a very strange tale.

The Frog’s Wedding from the collection Around the World in 80 Tales– a fun little fairytale about a frog who learns to talk and marries a prince.

Switzerland-

The Apple and the Arrow by Mary Buff and Conrad Buff- A short chapter book recounting the legend of William Tell.  We read a chapter every day and on the third day, I asked the kids what they remembered from yesterday’s reading.  Z-urchin (my 2 year old!) piped up, “Shot apple off head!”  I was very impressed.  At the beginning of reading this adventure, we found on YouTube an orchestra playing the William Tell Overture and listened to some of it.  That was cool.

Pitschi by Hans Fischer- A cute little story of a kitten who wishes to be something else.

France-  (we ate French Toast for dinner!)

The Sleeping Beauty in a collection of French fairy tales- a crazy and interesting version of Sleeping Beauty that focuses more on what happens after she wakes up than on the events leading up to the 100 year sleep.

Puss in Boots in the same collection- a fun fairytale about a cat and a third son.  We enjoyed the tale.

My Little Orsay– A book purchased for us by my mother-in-law when she visited Paris a few years ago.  The book shows pictures of paintings and sculptures found in the Orsay Museum.  It was neat to see many French works of art.  After looking at the art in this book (and seeing a Monet and a Renoir), we took a walk around our house and found our Monet (a print of the Japanese Footbridge painting) and our Renoir (a print of A Girl with a Watering Can).

“Bangers and Mash”  (without the gravy)

England- (We ate “Bangers and Mash”- sausage and mashed potatoes for dinner!)

Moses the Kitten in James Herriot’s Treasury for Children– An adorable story we’ve read before and greatly enjoyed.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter- Another story we’ve read previously and enjoyed.

The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley- I look forward to reading this book this weekend, to conclude our England studies.

Phonics, Math, and Copywriting-  We are working through consonant blends and digraphs and X-man is excited to begin being able to read more words that he finds around the house or community.  We are working slowly through Right Start Math and we are still greatly enjoying it and the games we play.  We started the handwriting curriculum, Delightful Handwriting, bought from Simply Charlotte Mason, and I look forward to seeing their handwriting improve.  They think writing in rice or on the whiteboard is great fun!

Writing in rice

 

Writing on whiteboards

Delightful Handwriting

Cutting shapes

A square

Geo-reflector… the kids love it when we use this in math!

Sounding out SH emphatically

Poetry- This past week, we had a special poetry time.  It was raining outside and a little bit cold that day.  We happened to have animal crackers in the cupboard, so I offered the kids animal crackers and cocoa for snack.  So of course, we had to read the poem, “Animal Crackers,” by Christopher Morley.  Then we read a few other poems in my poetry book (a scrapbook I’m working on putting together of my favorite poems), including one about a lovable girl (for Valentine’s Day) and a few about falling snow.  The kids then wondered how snow was formed, so I pulled out a Charlie Brown encyclopedia on weather and we all found out together how snow is formed.  It was a very fun snack time.

Animals crackers and cocoa to drink, that is the finest of suppers I think

When I’m grown up and can have what I please, I think I shall always insist upon these

We’ve got our books all ready for next week!  Goodbye Europe, Hello Asia!

Books I’m Reading Now

A few months ago, I wrote a list of the books on my bedside table.  I had planned to read a little bit before going to sleep.  Well, that just doesn’t work for me.  But, I do have a couple of books that I’m in the middle of, reading sometimes a bit in the morning, sometimes at naptime, and at other random times.  So here is my current reading list:

1.  Seasons of a Mother’s Heart by Sally Clarkson- Actually, I just finished this book this week.  It was so encouraging and inspiring.  I highly recommend it as encouragement for the homeschool mom.  I have now exchanged it for rereading Sally & Clay Clarkson’s Educating the Wholehearted Child, another book I highly recommend.

2.  Trial and Triumph by Richard M. Hannula- I bought this book many years ago, before I had children, when I was teaching at a homeschool co-op at my church.  We were doing Tapestry of Grace Year 3 and this book was recommended.  For various reasons, I never read it or went through it with my class, but I always wanted to.  So, recently, I have been very inspired to read stories of Christian heroes to my children to inspire them to more fully love the Lord.  Before I read it to them though, I want to read through it myself.  So I’ve been reading a chapter a morning with my devotions since each chapter is so short.  I am enjoying it so far.

3.  21 Days to a More Disciplined Life by Crystal Paine- I am reading this and going through the process she outlines to develop more discipline.  I’ve skimmed through the book and I’m on Day 2 of  my project.  I am very inspired by her encouragement and words of wisdom.

4.  Home Education, Volume 1 in Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series- I’ve been slowly rereading this book and keeping track of the particularly helpful suggestions and ideas- so far I’ve read through  Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.

5.  When I get a chance to read something fun, I plan to read either The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer or continue reading through The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Homemade Alphabet Book: G

G is for gold glitter, guitars and goggles.

Redhead Club Day

My cute date to the museum

A few weeks ago, we went to Legoland (and had quite the adventure, for sure).  Only our older two were able to ride most of the rides (Z-urchin got in on a few, Baby Shortstop rode on almost none and didn’t seem to mind much).  Therefore, we did a lot of parent swapping- where one parent would ride with one child and the other would wait with the other three.  Then the other parent would ride with the other admissible child while the first parent waited with the three.  We decided to take turns riding with different children and on the dragon roller coaster, my oldest son broke down in tears because he didn’t want to ride with mommy, he wanted to ride with daddy.

I’m totally ok with Daddy being the favorite roller coaster parent.  Before I became a parent, I was prepared for Daddy to be the “Fun” Parent and for me to be “Wallpaper.”  My mother had warned me that this might happen (thanks, Mom, for the warning!), as it had happened to her.   Of course my siblings and I all love our mother and due to her intentional hard work as a mother, we all have a very close relationship with her.  But when we were young, Daddy was the fun one!  We all wanted to sit next to Daddy when he was home; or be on Daddy’s team, or be the one to help Daddy with his project.  Poor Mom, no one wanted to help her.

I think perhaps this was due to the fact that time with Dad (my parents held the traditional roles of go-to-work Dad and stay-at-home Mom) was rare and therefore quite valuable.  The same is true in my family now.  For my children, time with their Dad is rarer than time with me and therefore more exciting and more special.  This is totally understandable.  Furthermore, boys’ first hero should be their father; it is only natural and right.  But still, crying over having to go on a ride with me?  No, thanks.

So, Hubby and I discussed this problem and thought a good solution would be that I should take him specifically- and all of my children subsequently- out on a date by themselves, for special Mommy-Child time.  This idea was modeled to me as well- my parents were very intentional about quality alone time with each of their children and often that would come in the form of special dates.  Of course sometimes, it would be a date to the hardware store and then McDonald’s for a milkshake, when my dad needed something for the house; but I remember those times with great fondness.  I always knew I wanted my children to go out with their Dad on dates, but since my son cried at time with me, I decided some special time with Mom was also in order.

Last week, a friend of mine invited Princess K and Z-urchin over to her house for a morning play date with her children, who are their ages.  I thought carefully about what I would do with that time.  I would only have two children- the redheads!- and I wanted to be wise with my time.  I decided that a redhead date to the Children’s Museum downtown would be an excellent idea.  We have a membership there, but I never take four children by myself- there are too many places for wandering children to get lost.  In fact, our last trip there, we lost this redheaded son of ours- though it turns out he was just where we had left him and he with his orange hair and in his orange shirt blended into the bright orange wall behind him… I tell you what, I am not at all used to my redhead blending in with his surroundings!

So, the day of the playdate arrived, I dropped the blondes off, took X-man to the store to pick out a special treat (he chose a lollipop) and we headed downtown for our date.  It was a wonderful morning.  I let him direct our morning- we went to whatever exhibit or activity he wanted to examine or participate in and we stayed as long as he wanted to stay.

Shortstop took a nap in the stroller and I got in there with X-man, building ramps for a ball to rush down, putting my face and hands in the pins to make impressions (only True Love would stuff my face where thousands of other faces have been, I tell you what), playing with Mammoth figures, weighing objects in scales, putting together a Mammoth Skeleton puzzle, working a lathe, constructing a stair rail, and fitting together gears to turn a clock and to spin a doll.  Finally, we tugged and pulled on a rope to move a ball to the top and watched as the dropping ball caused the attached fan to twirl.  The whole morning I thought over and over to myself, “Now this is the life.”

X-man spent a lot of time here, changing the placement of the ramps to see how it changed the movement of the ball

Fun times and True Love- the silvery-white faces and hands are his, the red face and hands are mine

When he decided to do the skeleton puzzle, he glanced over at the large Mammoth Skeleton statue and declared, “Those will be our instructions.” And he did use that skeleton as his reference.

Gears, Balance, and Lathe

When he saw the picture of the stair rail in the book, he decided he wanted to copy that as closely as he could- he did a pretty good job at it!

Pulling the ball all the way to the top and letting it drop!

The Benefits of My Date with My Son

1.  Time to Study- In my post yesterday, I mentioned that to develop a relationship with your children, a parent needs to take the time to study her child- to get to know his or her personality, interests, needs, strengths, and weaknesses.  It was fascinating to see what activities X-man chose to spend time on.  His choices gave me insight as to what he is interested in.  It is good to know what he is like, so that I can relate to him according to his personality and it is good to know what he likes, so that I can tailor my school lessons to him.  The more delightful and attractive the lessons, the more motivated he will be to learn.

2.  My Delight- My love language is quality time and I glowed for the rest of the day after X-man and I had the time together.  I felt loved, just by virtue of spending delightful time with him- he was happy and cheerful and wanted me to play with him.  It was a wonderful feeling.

3.  A Happier Son- The date had the effect that I was hoping and intending.  His heart has definitely softened toward me.  My son is now much more cooperative with me and much sweeter toward me.   Ever since that day, he has frequently looked at me wordlessly and formed his hands into a heart.  Be still, my beating heart!

So, an invaluable lesson has been learned here.  I need to be intentional about spending alone time with each of my children, doing things that they like to do and delighting their hearts.  It helps achieve my deepest desire as a mother: a close relationship with my child.

The Redheaded Club Lunch

Monday Musings: Sympathy

My daughter hates having her hair brushed.  As I run the bristles through her tangled tresses, she cringes and cries out at every tug.  Then she’ll whip around and hug me tightly as I finish.

This has always struck me poignantly.  Here I am, causing her pain, and she wants comfort from me.  When I think about it, it is not really me causing her pain, but the knots in her hair that require smoothing and untangling.

I am reminded of our Christian life.  When the Lord is smoothing out rough edges of our personalities, it hurts.  But we must turn and cling to Him to get through it, even though it may seem that He is the one causing our pain.  We will feel better if we hold on tightly to Him and bask in His comfort and sympathy.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.   Hebrews 4:15-16

Lately, I have been reading Seasons of a Mother’s Heart, by Sally Clarkson, in preparation for a book discussion night with my homeschool group.  Something I read yesterday really struck me: “It is so easy for me, as a parent, to become overly concerned with every jot and tittle of my children’s behavior.  I can spend so much time correcting them and teaching them rules that I forget the real goal of my instruction- to win their hearts for the Lord.”

She explains that a close relationship with your child, built by sympathy, compassion, and unconditional love is foundational in your purpose to reach your child’s heart for Christ.  Our relationship with our Savior is built on these very things.  God had mercy and compassion on us and in His incredible and completely unconditional love, He sent His only Son to die in our place, that we might have eternal life with Him.  Jesus had sympathy on the people He encountered while He was on earth and He relates to us with sympathy even still.  So we should reflect these attitudes as we raise these precious children that He has entrusted to us.

Three Ways to Develop a Close Relationship with Your Child:

Watching his Mario Show

1.  Discover, accept, and embrace each child’s unique personality.  This means that I must study my children to learn what their personality is.   How I relate to each of my children should be different, based on who they are and what they need.  My standards- based on Biblical principles,- are the same for the whole family.  But how it plays out is different in each child.

I am still learning about my children- but I am inspired to keep studying them, keep spending time with them to see how I can validate and appreciate each unique individual God has given me to raise.

2.  Enter into their interests and spend time doing something they like to do.

For my daughter, this means games, tea parties, baking cookies, and playing princess.  For my oldest son, this means playing video games, doing mazes he has made and drawing ones for him to complete, playing tag and games he makes up, and watching his ‘shows,’ for my toddler, this means reading books and doing puzzles with him.

3.  In difficult times- when they are sad or in need of correction, instruction, or discipline, I can validate their feelings, express understanding and sympathy for their struggles and use God’s Word, rather than my own, with gentleness for any rebuke.

Whenever I am upset- whether I am in the right or the wrong- I always need my husband to at least see the validity of my feelings.  He needs to express that he understands why I would feel this way.  If he does this for me, it is so much easier to work through my feelings.  So I can see the wisdom in doing the same for my children.  I can express understanding for their frustration or anger or sadness, and in this way, hopefully, soften their hearts to hear God’s Word on the matter.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14

I pray that I do nothing to hinder my children from coming to Christ, but rather in my weak and imperfect way, usher them into His presence, where there is abundant life and joy and love.

Highlights of Charlotte Mason’s Volume I, Part IV

It is pleasant to know that, even in mature life, it is possible, by a little persistent effort, to acquire a desirable habit.   Charlotte Mason, Volume I, Part IV

I have been rereading Charlotte Mason’s Home Education.  My last post on her writings went over Part III, which introduced the idea of Habits.  This section elaborates on the formation of certain mental and moral habits.  Here are a few points that particularly spoke to me today:

Our Marble Jars

1.  Develop the habit of developing habits.

“…she herself acquires the habit of training her children in a given habit so that by-and-by it becomes, not only no trouble, but a pleasure to her.” (p 136)

“The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days, while she who lets their habits take care of themselves has a weary life of endless friction with the children.” (p 136)

“The mother devotes herself to the formation of one habit at a time, doing no more than keep watch over those already formed.” (p 136)

I don’t want a weary life of endless friction!  I definitely see the truth in these words.  If I would do a better job of developing the habit of orderliness in my children, I would be less wearied by the mess in the house.  The same goes for the mental habits she mentions in this chapter and our homeschooling.  If I take the trouble to develop good habits in my children, my days will be more peaceful and enjoyable.  I can also see that setting an achievable goal of a specific habit and working on it for 8 weeks and then seeing improvement in my children would be an enjoyable effort.  I think developing the habit of developing habits is a great idea.

Right now, to aid us in developing the habit of answering with “Yes, Mom?” or “Coming, Mom!” or other such response when I call, I have pulled out our marble jars.  Whenever they answer my call and then come immediately, they receive a marble.  When the marbles reach the top of the jar, they will get to choose a prize from the prize box.  We all really like this system.  It is simple for me to track and the kids really enjoy selecting the marbles they want to place in their jars.  As the habit becomes stronger and stronger, I gradually lessen the marbles given for that habit as I introduce the next habit and give marbles for that one.  I don’t think I will use this system for mental habits, but rather use more natural consequences be the punishment and reward for those.  But for these behavioral habits, marbles are working well!

My Toddler Tornado developing his attentiveness with his “school toy”

2.  Develop the habit of attention: “Attention… is simply the act by which the whole mental force is applied to the subject in hand.” (p 145)

“Here is the secret of the weariness of the home schoolroom- the children are thinking all the time about something else than their lessons…” (p 139)

“When a child grows stupid over a lesson, it is time to put it away.  Let him do another lesson as unlike it as possible, and then go back with fresh wits to his unfinished task.” (p 141)

Here is a habit that we can work on naturally, as we do lessons.  Miss Mason describes a mother noticing what catches the attention of the young child and as the child’s attention wanders, to bring the attention back to the object neglected and exclaim over it with interesting facts and ideas about it.  Thus, I can be diligent during lessons to pay attention to my children’s attentiveness and call back their attention to the matter at hand.  Keeping lessons short and varying the order of lessons is helpful in developing this habit.

Right now, we start with Bible.  Then we move to math, then we read.  Next, we cover phonics and copywork.  Then we go outside and observe nature and have snack and some free time.  After lunch, we read another book, then have free time, or a game or some special crafty project.

3.  A Time Table is employed in a home schoolroom managed upon sound principles.

“In the first place, there is a time-table, written out fairly, so that the child knows what he has to do and how long each lesson is to last.  This idea of definite work to be finished in a given time is valuable to the child, not only as training him in  habits of order, but in diligence; he learns that one time is not ‘as good as another;’ that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time; and this knowledge alone does a great deal to secure the child’s attention to his work.” (p 142)

Given only a few strokes to copy and those that were not perfect, he pointed out, we erased, and he tried again

4.  Mental habits- including attention, rapid mental effort, thinking (conscious effort of mind, tracing cause and effect), imagining, remembering, and perfect execution come by practice

“If the children get the habit of turning out imperfect work, the men and women will undoubtedly keep that habit up.” (p 159)

Miss Mason encourages parents to turn the children’s “why?” to them.  Once they have exercised their own mind to contemplate “why,” then the answer might be given to them.  They will remember better if they have taken the time and trouble to think about the question themselves.  She also urges parents to not give a child work that he cannot do perfectly, but what is given to him to accomplish should be done perfectly.

5.  Moral habits, such as obedience (which is the whole duty of man), truthfulness (accuracy of statement), reverence, consideration for others, respect for persons and property, and sweet temper can be trained intentionally but also can be formed through the atmosphere of the household.

All of my children know to strive for a happy heart

One idea she gives regarding developing sweet tempers is to “change the child’s thoughts before ever the bad temper has had time to develop… give him something else to think about.” (p167-168)  Since my children were small, I do not allow temper tantrums to be carried out in the living areas of the house.  Children who are having temper tantrums are told to find a happy heart or go work out their tantrum in their room.  It is amazing how quickly even a 2 1/2 year old can control him or herself when it is expected of them.  And when they want to avoid being separated from the rest of the family.  But this idea of Miss Mason’s to give them something else to think about or do is a very practical suggestion.  Before the tantrum begins, when their hearts become upset, angry, whiny, or otherwise agitated, I can give new direction for their thoughts by giving them an errand or task.  Or perhaps by bursting into song!

Altogether, I find myself very excited about this idea of developing habits in my children and in myself.  The first one in me is to develop the habit of going to bed on time.  So off I go!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Princess K was very excited about Valentine’s Day.  In fact, she woke up at 3 in the morning and wanted to get up to celebrate the day.  Daddy sent her right back to bed.  One of the things she was so excited about was that she and I had plans to bake heart shaped cookies.  She has a tea party (play date) with a friend tomorrow and wanted to bring Valentine’s Day cookies as her contribution.

We decided to make snickerdoodles (that we rolled and cut out) and then frost them with cinnamon buttercream colored pink with pink sprinkles.  The result is a very beautiful and tasty cookie.  The highlight is definitely the cinnamon buttercream frosting- umm, wow.  I found the recipes at Love From The Oven.  Princess was determined to do as much of the work as I would let her do.  So I tried to carefully explain how to do it and let her at it!  (Handicrafts, right?  Home Ec? This is totally school.)  I had to help a little here and there, but she really did a lot of the work.  Good job, Princess!

Rolling out the snickerdoodle dough

Hearts, for Valentine’s Day

Lining them up on the cookie sheet

Ready to go in the oven

Heart shaped snickerdoodles

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Ready for a (day after) Valentine’s Day Tea Party

 

 

We had a lot of fun today, celebrating Valentine’s Day.  Auntie Lindsay had already sent a package of goodies and they eagerly anticipate each possible treat moment.  Grandma H had sent delightful cards-  X-man’s was a search and find card that they spent a long time poring over, looking for all the hidden things.  Now X-man attempts to photobomb every picture I take so that he can be the hidden thing to find.

They also spent quite a bit of time with their homemade sprinkler.  In case you were wondering, I am aware that it is February.  However, it was actually a really nice, warm day… and they were so excited, I found that I just could not say no to the bathing suits -even in the middle of winter.  They put on “Water Shows” for me where they ran through obstacle courses they had created.  They kept sending me away so that they could make a new one.  (Exercise and creativity- also totally school!)

We also spent quite a bit of time looking at birds in our backyard (I’ll write more on that later) and a package arrived from “T Grandma” with fun stuffed animals for everyone.

What a great day!  Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Made the other day from a water bottle and the hose- they were very proud of themselves

Having fun with the sprinkler in February- their obstacle course involved a tunnel created by those chairs behind them and jumping over the rake and other garden equipment

X-man and the Tiger

 

She named her bear “Holiday Bear Pink”- even though it is red- and decided to call her “Holly”

 

Z-urchin and his Giraffe. He was asked repeatedly by his siblings, “What are you going to name him?” His answer never changed: “Giraffe.”