Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival

This edition is hosted by Cindy at Our Journey Westward and the theme is "An Atmosphere of Learning."

 It's chock full of some great posts, covering a variety of Charlotte Mason topics...poetry, living books, nature study, living math, and more.

There is lots of refreshment and inspiration to be had. Just click on the button above to visit the carnival.

Enjoy!

Harold and The Purple Crayon

This past week we've had some Five in A Row fun with Harold And The Purple Crayon.

We have used Five in A Row off and on throughout the six years we have been homeschooling, and some of our fondest learning memories have been made while "rowing". This is not a curriculum review and I'm receiving nothing in return for writing about it, but I do want to give it a quick plug for those of you with younger children who may be looking at curriculum and trying to make decisions for next year.

Five in A Row is not the only thing we use around here, but it is the very first curriculum we used, and I am drawn to it again and again because of how well it fits into a Charlotte Mason education. The short lessons, gentle learning, and cuddling up on the couch each day to enjoy memorable living books with my children are all things that have laid a foundation for loving to learn in our home. Things that all of us can enjoy doing no matter what kind of curriculum we use.

To see and read about some of the Five in A Row memories we've made over the years, you can visit this page.

Even if you never check out the curriculum, I highly recommend visiting their site and printing out the list of books for which the lessons are written. It makes a great reading list to keep handy on trips to the library or used bookstore. These titles are some of the most wonderful children's books you'll ever read with your family. Many of them are old classics such as Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (one of our favorties), but there are plenty of newer titles included as well, like Arabella by Wendy Orr.

Now on to our week with Harold...

Written and illustrated by Crockett Johnson, Harold is the story of a little boy with a purple crayon and a big imagination. One day Harold decides to take a walk with his crayon and ends up drawing all kinds of adventures for himself, some intended and some accidental. Harold is always able to think fast and draw himself right out of any trouble he falls into though, and the end of the story finds him safe at home where he started.



We began our week by pulling out the butcher paper and drawing our own adventures. Even Superman couldn't resist joining in.



An Ocean Adventure

A visit to a big city


On Tuesday we delved into a lesson on fractions. (Harold draws and eats several pies in the story.) I found these free templates for "fraction pies" at Homeschool Share. They have some wonderful "Harold" resources there...all free and ready for you to download and use. :)

After working with the fraction circles for awhile, the girls came up with the idea of creating fraction pie critters. I love seeing their creative minds at work with absolutely no input from me.

Next up was a lesson on the phases of the moon. To go along with it, we read
The Moon Seems to Change by Franklyn Branley, a Let's-Read-And-Find-Out-Science book. Many of the books in this series have some great experiments that you can do to illustrate the content you've read about. This title's experiment involved an orange stuck on a pencil, a flashlight, three children, and a dark room. It illustrated how and why the moon changes throughout the month, and the kids had a blast with it.

We used a little flap booklet from Homeschool Share to illustrate the moon phases, and we'll include this in a lapbook we're putting together about Harold. You can download the flap book from this HSS page. Just scroll down to the Sun, Moon, Stars download, and it's on pages 22 and 23 of that pdf. By the way, this is an awesome free space lapbook that the wonderful Homeschool Share ladies have created.

Here are some other printables and activities we completed throughout our week. Once again you can find the links to all of these at Homeschool Share. Just go to this page and scroll down for the download link you're looking for.

• We illustrated the poem Johnny Drew A Monster. 
• We played Harold's Drawing Game.
• We made a Book of Purple.
• We made a Ways to Travel booklet.
• We watched a video about how crayons are made.

We also learned to draw a moose using the lesson from Draw, Write, Now book 7.

Thanks for reading along as I chronicled our Harold adventures. I hope you can check this story out at your local library and enjoy it with your children.

Have a blessed week!

.

Disclosure: This post contains images of books which are Amazon affiliate links.

Tissue Paper Silhouette Ornaments

One of my favorite things about Christmas is making ornaments with my children. Not only do we craft something pretty to hang on our tree, but we make some wonderful memories as well. I love it that these memories are unpacked and relived each year as we decorate our tree.

We made these tissue paper silhouettes a couple of years ago during our mini-unit on Christmas Symbols. They were simple and fun to make, and they turned out beautifully.

I found the idea and directions over at The Crafty Crow (one of my favorite craft sites). 

Before making these, we talked about ornaments being a symbol of Christmas and how they remind us of the beauty of God and His creation and all of the beautiful blessings He gives us.

A sweet story to read as a go-along with this craft is Mouse and Mole and The Christmas Walk by Doug Cushman. Our family has enjoyed this story for several Christmases now.

Mouse and Mole go on a walk through the woods in search of the perfect Christmas tree to decorate. Mouse wants to take the tree with them, but Mole suggests that they wait. They go to Mole's house to make some lovely ornaments, and when they return to the woods for the tree, Mouse is in for a delightful surprise. 

I'd love to hear about favorite handmade Christmas ornaments your children have made!

Blessings,

Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown: Homeschool Days

We recently returned from Virginia's Historic Triangle which includes Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. I have to say that it was one of the best field trips/family vacations we've ever taken. It was fun, affordable, educational, and I highly recommend it!

Before I dive into the details of our trip, I'd like to use this post to give you some information and links that will help you to plan a trip of your own.

Planning your visit during a Colonial Williamsburg Homeschooler Experience Week gives you an extremely deep discount off regular admission there. Here's a quick comparison of regular admission with the prices we paid for the Fall 2011 Experience.

• Homeschooler Experience 1-Day Ticket: Adult - $7.50/Child - $5.50                                         Regular Admission for same ticket: Adult - $37.95/Child - $18.95                                                      

• Homeschooler Experience 5-Day Ticket: Adult - $15.50/Child - $13.50                                    Regular Admission for 3-Day ticket: Adult - $41.95/Child - $18.95    

• All of the above prices are advance purchase, and children 5 and under are free.

• Add-on programs for homeschoolers are also available at $5.00 per person (all ages).                                                We attended one of these called "Life of A Soldier", and it was well worth the price.

Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center also offer Homeschool Programs at huge discounts with dates that typically overlap Colonial Williamsburg's Homeschooler Experience. We enjoyed our visits to these locations just as much as we did Colonial Williamsburg.

The Spring 2012 dates for all three locations are as follows:

• Colonial Williamsburg: February 11-26
• Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center: February 18-26

You can visit the following links for more information:

• Colonial Williamsburg Special Events for Homeschoolers

• Colonial Williamsburg: Fall 2011 Homeschool Event Calendar and Program Descriptions:     There are no programs descriptions available yet for Spring 2012, but browsing this 2011 link will give you a taste of what was offered when we attended.

• Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center 2012 Information Flyer

• Historic Jamestowne - This is the original site of Jamestown, owned and operated by the National Park Service, and has no affiliation with Jamestown Settlement. I strongly suggest visiting both sites if you are able. You can visit Historic Jamestown for free by simply filling out an Entrance Fee Waiver Request - scroll down to "Homeschool Groups" for more information.

• Yorktown National Battlefield - This is the actual site of the famous siege and battle and, like Historic Jamestowne, is a National Park. There is no affiliation between this site and Yorktown Victory Center. I strongly suggest visiting both sites if you are able. Again, free admission is offered to homeschoolers who fill out an Entrance Fee Waiver.

I'll soon be writing separate posts about each location we visited, so stay tuned!

Pin It

Homeschool Blog Awards

Just got back from a wonderful field trip/vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, and this weekend I'm doing lots of laundry and getting things organized for our school week.

While I'm on a little coffee break I wanted to spread the word about the upcoming Homeschool Blog Awards at The Homeschool Post, the group blog I'm honored to be a part of with a bunch of fabulous homeschool Mom authors.

The prize page is already up, and nominations will be accepted October 15-21. Once nominations are posted you'll have a ball checking out all of the wonderful homeschool blogs that are out there.

So just click on the button below, and it will take you to a page with all of the details. (And feel free to grab a button yourself and spread the word!)

Have a blessed Sunday!

Checking In

Just popping in for a moment to say that I have not disappeared off the face of the earth.

It's been an extremely busy summer, and I haven't been on the computer much.

Some of our summer happenings included taking the kids to a fun art day camp, lots of playdates with friends, traveling to St. Simons Island, Georgia to visit with family, having the grandparents up for two birthday celebrations (Superman turned 10 and Giggly Girl is now 8!), going to a wonderful weekend of family camp with good friends, nursing our beloved kitty cat through his recovery from a rear-leg amputation, and managing to squeeze in some school between all of the busy-ness.

Hopefully I'll be able to elaborate on our summer a bit more in future posts, as well as share about our current study of Colonial America. (We're headed to Colonial Williamsburg in a couple of weeks for their Fall Homeschooler Experience, and soaking up as much as we can about this period of history in order to make our trip as meaningful as possible.)

I've also been trying to go to bed earlier than usual, so it's time for me to say goodnight. :)

Have a wonderful week!

Field Trip: Badlands National Park, South Dakota

In August 2009 we took a trip out west, which I never finished blogging about. (You'll find my five Western Adventure posts here.)

It was a wonderful vacation/field trip filled with history, science, and fun family memories that I want to preserve here on my blog, so over the summer you'll see a sprinkling of backposts retelling our Western Adventure.

First let's head out to the Badlands of beautiful South Dakota.

Just after checking out from our little cabin in Wall, SD. From here we headed out to drive through Badlands National Park. You might be able to tell that the kids are shivering in this photo. It was unexpectedly chilly and windy that morning.

This is what our first glimpse of the Badlands looked like.These pictures do not do justice to the beautiful bands of color that make up the rugged spires and pinnacles. We noticed that the muted colors changed hues as we drove through the park.

The Badlands are the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. For the entire two-hour drive through the park we were surrounded by these beautifully rugged hills alternating with vast, flat praire-land. We made several stops to get out of the car and take in the scenery. (No, we did not see any rattlesnakes - very thankful for that!)

Extremely high winds are common year round, and it was indeed windy on this particular day. (Our jackets were in the car, and I can't remember why we weren't wearing them!)

This picture gives a little bit better idea of the multitude of colors found there. These geologic deposits contain one of the world's richest fossil beds. We did not have time to participate in one of the Junior Ranger programs here, but we did at other National Parks later in our trip, and I do recommend them. Be aware that during many of these programs the park rangers will allude to an old earth and evolutionary theory. We simply used these opportunities to discuss the truths of Creation found in the Bible.

Our first wildlife encounter...prairie dogs! These little fellows are difficult to see in the photo, but they were hilarious to watch in real life. They darted quickly from hole to hole in their "town", and when we rolled down our windows we could hear their calls. The Badlands' 244,000 acres are also home to bison, bighorn sheep, deer, pronghorn, and black-footed ferrets. We did see some bighorn sheep, but I couldn't get a decent photo. I imagine if we had been able to spend more time in the park we would have also seen some of the other wildlife.

A few more interesting facts:

• The Badlands National Park was first established as a National Monument in 1939 and became a National Park in 1978.
• Of the 244,000 acres, 64,144 is designated as Wilderness Area.
• The Park is co-managed with the Oglala Lakota Nation.
• Located in southwestern South Dakota, the park is a mixed grass ecosystem that is unlike any other on earth.
• For more information, check out the National Park Service website.

 Well that's it for this installment of our Western Adventure. Thanks for joining me!