I have a small garden where I play “Farmer.” It’s only 4’x8′ and I don’t expect to feed my family from it. But if we can get some veggies every year while the children experience the cycle of sowing, weeding, watering and harvesting, I am happy.
This year, we already learned some lessons from it. Now, I’m back with an update. Continue reading
The Handbook of Nature Study blog challenged us to study mosquitoes. I hesitated because I really dislike mosquitoes. But how long can I keep avoiding Ms. Barbara’s challenges?
We live in a heavily wooded neighborhood and, as such, mosquitoes abound. One morning I got bitten 10 times on my legs while watering my small garden. Not fun.
Another day I wore long pants and long sleeves for protection, in 88F weather, and I still got bitten, through clothing.
Meanwhile, I am trying to rise to the challenge of spending at least two hours outside with the kids, every day. I have been spraying our clothes with repellents of the “deep woods” variety and mosquitoes still bite us. Continue reading
Back in April, our rhododendrons were putting on a show. Their explosion of color soothed our eyes, tired after a long winter.
We have several rhododendron bushes around the yard, mostly purple, my favorite color.
Our neighborhood has many of these flowers, too. My eyes feast on them as I take my morning walks.
They finished showing off for the year though. The leathery leaves will stay with us through the winter, but the flowers are gone for now.
Some of the showy rhododendron flowers in our yard, plus a bee
Here are four facts on rhododendrons: Continue reading
Yesterday was a turning point for me in my homeschooling career. A medium size one.
I have been simplifying our routines and tweaking our daily schedule and transitions ever since we started. Yesterday, I continued in the same direction by deciding we will not be doing the Junior Ranger Program this year at the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
Also, I decided to cut out the Summer Reading Program at the Sevierville Library. We will still do the SRP at the Gatlinburg Library, but only two seminars out of four. (For the life of me, I can’t remember why I thought doing two Summer Reading Programs would be good.)
After we spent the morning at home, I took the kids to the Gatlinburg Trail in the National Park. We experienced 90 blissful minutes wading in the river, chasing butterflies, listening to the river, and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. That’s what summer should feel like.
In that particular spot, I even have cell coverage. So if I needed help or wanted to quickly check emails, I could. We will definitely play there again.
I took pictures of some funny trees. I have passed by these trees so, so many times.
This tree makes me think of siblings separated after an argument
But it was only yesterday that I actually saw their funny shape. It’s only after we open our eyes wide, i.e. to the things that matter, that we notice certain details around us.
Doesn’t this tree look like an elephant?
My kids chased this one butterfly that kept coming back to play with them. They called it Mashi (think Japanese spelling if you don’t know how to pronounce it) and thought it was a girl because of its color – lavender. When a second identical butterfly flew by and allowed them to chase it, they decided it was Mashi’s twin sister and called it Mangsten.
This morning, as we came out of the house, a lavender butterfly fluttered in the yard. They started yelling, “Mashi came home to be with us.” That’s the kind of stuff I want my summers to be made of. Not rushing from activity to activity.
Here’s to a beautiful, relaxed, intentional parenting kind of summer!
In our homeschool, we lean heavily towards a literature-rich approach. We limit screen time to 30 minutes per day. We fill our days with time spent outside and lots of reading. So I was very glad to review How Peter Rabbit Went to Sea and Peter Rabbit Goes A-Visiting from Kinder Cottage Publishing.
These are small, hardback books and cost ony $4 each. They are part of a series of 10.
Ten little books that will give you hours and hours of reading pleasure with your children
These books were originally written by Duff Graham for the Henry Altemus company over 90 yrs ago and are in the public domain. They contain vintage illustrations and the language has been updated for the modern reader (bicycle instead of velocipede, for instance). However, the sentences are well constructed and the vocabulary is rich. This is the number one reason you should read these books to your children.
They are meant for ages 3-9. The little ones will love looking at the pictures while listening, while an older child could actually read these books out loud or to himself.
They both have 64 pages, with an illustration on every spread. Peter Rabbit Goes A-Visiting is shorter than the other book mentioned above by simply having less words on the page. So on a day when I feel tired, I reach for this less wordy book.
Peter, “as all good little children know,” is a naughty little rabbit who lives with his Mother and his sisters: Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail. Cotton-tail is very fond of Peter and she always takes his side, asking Mother to spare him from discipline whenever he misbehaves.
How Peter Rabbit Went to Sea contains the story of the naughty little rabbit who got into trouble because he disobeyed his mother yet again. She specifically told him not to go to the brook, but, sure enough, he decided playing Pirate was exactly what he wanted to do for the afternoon. His sisters asked him not to look for trouble, but he did.
He built himself a little boat and then sailed on the brook, which flowed into the sea. Peter thus met a whale, a shark, a seagull and several other creatures who completely scare him. By the time he got back home, he tells his Mother he never wants to play Pirate again. She does not punish him. She was a wise mom, who understood natural consequences will discipline and teach more than parent-imposed punishment.
I took this book with us to the Gatlinburg Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park because I knew we would play by the river. I wanted the kids to experience the story in similar surroundings.
My children reading How Peter Rabbit Went to Sea on the river bank in the National Park
In Peter Rabbit Goes A-Visiting, Peter gets to experience some serious adventures as he veers off his mission to hang out with Jack the Jumper instead. When Peter had to fetch medicine for Flopsy, who had a toothache, he ran into Jack, who invited Peter to go to a party with him.
Peter took a moment to consider what to do. I told my children that’s called the valley of decision. Many times in life they will find themselves in a situation where they know they must do something, but they feel like doing something else. That’s when they will come up with an excuse to avoid the call of duty – or somebody else will provide that excuse, as was the case of Peter and Jack.
The number two reason to read them is because they contain lessons about obedience and the consequences of disobedience. I have read these books to my children several times already and every time I feel inspired to stop in a different spot and point something out.
There is an illustration where Mother Rabbit is spanking Peter Rabbit with a rather thick stick. There is also a night when Peter goes to bed without supper, as a form of discipline. Modern day parents might not choose to discipline their children in these ways and I want to let my readers know about it in advance.
Even if you do not use such drastic measures to get your children’s attention, you can still use these illustrations as a means to inform them of what other children go through or used to go through.
Every spring, I buy some vegetable plants and start another garden in my 4’x8′ enclosed patch in the backyard. The whole thing started when my son was one. I felt inspired to teach him where foods come from. He is six years old now.
I have learned a thing or two every year from working in the garden. About gardening and, also, about my own character. Lately, about homeschooling, too.
This year, I have already gleaned two lessons:
1. Don’t (trans)plant too early. We planted our veggie garden in mid-April. A week later, hail and snow killed it, even though we covered it with a sheet. When it’s cold, it’s cold. Continue reading
The Outdoor Hour Challenge last Friday was about earth worms. Hmmm… I don’t want to go there. I chose roses instead because, well, they have inundated my life in the last seven days.
Our rose bushes have exploded. Then, my husband came home with yellow roses, too.
My husband and I are celebrating our ninth anniversary tomorrow. He brought me a dozen yellow roses and a card.
Bouquet of yellow roses and baby’s breath my husband brought me for our ninth anniversary
He said we already have a garden full of pink roses. And, we do. Continue reading
The Outdoor Hour Challenge last Friday was about snakes. We will keep it in mind, should we ever run into a snake. I am not necessarily scared of or grossed out by snakes, but I would not want to seek them out either.
So, instead, I chose a subject that is closer to my heart and my house – the iris. Another name for it is, of course, fleur-de-lys (also spelled fleur-de-lis), which translates to flower of lily. The word iris means rainbow in Greek – because the flower comes in so many colors.
Iris in my garden
We live in a home built by my husband’s grandparents. We remodeled it and its garden during our first year of marriage, before moving in.
We kept some of the plants and trees, which had been planted by my husband’s grandmother. Among them, a patch of iris plants – white and purple and perfect in every way. This is the time of the year they are in full bloom.
We enjoy these flowers for their sheer beauty, as well as for the memory of our children’s great-grandmother, although neither I nor the children ever got to meet her. To bring it all full-circle, my mom re-planted some of the irises along our driveway last year, when she came to visit.
A symbol of French royalty since Clovis, the iris can be found on coats of arms throughout France and England. Apparently, English kings wanted to show their claim to France by putting an iris onto their coat of arms.
The fleur-de-lys survives as a symbol on some coats of arms today, like those of the King of Spain, the Duke of Luxembourg and the House of Bourbon. Incidentally, Queen Anne of Romania belongs to the House of Bourbon.
Irises in our garden
They say French kings received an iris instead of a scepter during their coronation ceremony. As such, it is a symbol of perfection, light and life.
Anna Comstock says the iris contains a great lesson for all of us “because nothing in it is what it seems.” The pistil looks like leaves, the leaves look like stems and the petals hide under the sepals. Somehow this arrangement creates perfect tunnels for bees to do their work.
The fleur-de-lis is the national flower of France. It is also the state flower of Tennessee, where I live. Two hours away from my home, in Greeneville, TN, they have an annual Iris Festival. In fact, it is this weekend, should you want to go.
For other Wonderful Wednesday nature study posts, click here.
An integral part of our homeschool, car schooling includes listening to music, stories, audio books or audio drama in the car, on the way to appointments and classes outside the home. Recent additions to our car school curriculum, My Name is Handel: The Story of Water Music and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel are produced by Maestro Classics.
The conductor, his wife and one of their sons all worked on producing this story CD, alongside famous musicians and narrators. When it comes to CDs for children, I am rather picky. So many of them feature rhythms that make the kids want to shake their behinds.
If you, like me, would like to train your children’s musical taste buds to appreciate classical music, you will want to check out this series. The stories keep their attention while the classical music is woven throughout the CD. The CDs expose their minds to vocabulary, concepts and stories beyond just classical music.
I persevered.
After a few paragraphs, they got into it. So much so, that they asked to hear it over and over again. They like to dig like Mary Ann, faster and faster, as the story progresses and the music picks up.
My children watching a short documentary about steam shovels
After listening to it four times, over a few days, my son started saying things like, “I really like the music, mama.” Bull’s-eye!
The CD booklet has several activities which enhance the learning process: a puzzle, a maze, a mirror word game, etc. My son loved finding out the words. It’s the first time he solved a cross-word puzzle, so this is one for the books.
My Name is Handel: The Story of Water Music was a bit harder to introduce to my children. I was surprised, because they like listening to Handel’s Messiah. I was expecting them to perk up at the mention of Handel’s name. But, again, I worked with their reluctance and gently asked them to listen to it.
I think the story is really cute, how Handel, ever the showman, managed to weasel himself back into the king’s heart with Water Music. The more modern story about Handel’s living in England (I won’t give it away, you will have to get the CD and enjoy it firsthand) is even more intriguing. I never knew about that other theory.
Watching animated explanations about the Panama Canal operations
All this to say I, too, learned a lot from listening to it, besides enjoying the music.
Their website also produces free curriculum guides as companions for their CD series. Definitely worth looking into. You might have to adapt some of the activities based on your children’s ages and philosophy of education, of course. But you have a whole FREE unit study for each CD, with history, art, music, geography, science, language arts, and math.
The CDs cost $16.98 for the CD (plus shipping) and $9.98 for the MP3 download. Considering their quality and how much learning you get out of them, I think they are reasonably priced. I have always said that our children’s education is worth every penny.
The ideal age range for Mike Mulligan is 4+, while the ideal range for Handel is 5+. I can see how my four-year-old lags behind in appreciating them. My six-year-old got into Mike Mulligan after some coaxing, but now he loves it.
In order to stir more interest into My Name is Handel and Water Music, I did some of the activities suggested and the kids enjoyed playing with water and boats, guessing what will sink and what will float, and looking at pictures of royalty. We learned about the Panama Canal, the Industrial Revolution and the steam engine. My son, a budding engineer, loved every moment of it. We colored pictures of a steam shovel.
If you are looking for classical music for children, look no further. This CD series will help your kids appreciate classical music and learn so much more besides.
As a homeschooling mom, I maximize every learning opportunity. Once a week, for two hours, I have a captive audience as we drive to classes my children take outside the home. Car schooling? We got it.
Recently, I found the perfect combination of fun and learning: a family audio drama series called The Brinkman Adventures Season 2, Episodes 13-24, produced by The Brinkman Adventures.
The second time around, I started playing it on my laptop on a Friday night, at home. We were all winding down from a busy week. My daughter climbed onto my lap at the table, but then she said, “I want to listen to it at the carpet.” She meant on the couch, which is where we have a large carpet over the hardwood floor.
I brought the laptop to the couch area. My son built a LEGO project on the carpet in front of the couch and my daughter climbed onto my lap again. They loved listening to it. As they got to know the characters, they started reacting to things they said. For instance, they really like they youngest Brinkman child’s voice. They can tell she is the smallest and they think she sounds cute. They imitate her and repeat her words.
Even so, it took another week for them to get the concept of audio drama. They asked me to turn it on so we can watch it. My son, who is six, finally understood and left it alone. My daughter, who just turned four, kept asking me to let her watch the people. I told her for the fifth time that it’s only for our ears. No pictures. She finally said, “It’s a hearing movie.” I said, “Yes.”
Another day we listened to it, when the youngest Brinkman character was looking for her flip-flop in Blue Hat and T-Shirt Bible, my daughter asked, “What’s a flip-flop?” This was just the first of many times during the Brinkman Adventures that we had to stop and explain new vocabulary. Great learning was had by all.
When we listened to it at home, we trimmed nails and blew noses (spring allergies are in full swing) while listening. I did some sewing while my son built with LEGO bricks and my daughter played with her dollies. It was such a peaceful family time.
The experience took me back to my childhood. We were glued to the radio on certain nights either for audio drama or concerts, while my mom ironed nearby or trimmed our nails and blew our noses.
The story of the Chinese Christian woman who longed for a Bible touched me very much. She did not ask for money or clothes. I do read my Bible every day and I treasure it, but this woman’s devotion to the Word of God took me back to my initial love for it.
I also appreciate the quality of family interaction, especially because the Brinkmans have – gasp! – eight children. The children obey immediately with a “yes, sir.” In several episodes, we hear how the parents teach their children gently on different issues. Also, we get to hear Kate’s song for her unborn sibling – what a great voice and what a touching song she wrote! She tells the baby she cannot wait to beep his nose and tickle his toes. How cute is that!
Episode 5, the one with the trip through Mexico, was a big hit with my son. He listened to the chase scene four times. I have always wondered why thrillers have chase scenes. Now I know. My six-year-old son gave me an answer without even knowing he did so, as he started that scene over and over and over again. He said, “I love the sound of the engine heating up…” Of course, it was the suspense, too, that got his attention.
We listened to the bulk of these CDs in the car on the way to appointments. The stories take you all over the world: China, Mexico, Belize, Texas, Northern Africa, and France. When we got home, I pulled out a map and showed the kids where the stories took place.
I like how they define so many diverse concepts throughout the stories: epipens, Jean-Paul Sartre, Bach, what to do when chased by bandits in Mexico, what the missionary life is like, how to deal with grief and loss, how to like annoying people, how to rejoice with those who rejoice even when they got what you still don’t have and many others. This audio drama certainly has broadened their horizons.
For $25, you can get all 12 episodes of the second season on four CDs. If you prefer the MP3 album, it is only $17.
I would like to know how Susan Brinkman keeps her voice calm, cheerful and gentle while pregnant, grieving the loss of her stillborn twins, taking care of eight children, AND traveling overseas. I only have two children and a one-hour trip is a major stressor.
The stories are intended for all ages, but several episodes get a bit intense for younger listeners. Jack Brinkman comes on to give you that warning in the beginning of those particular episodes. He says that, if the kids are under 10, they should make sure they have a parent listening with them. I can see why. After listening to the two episodes on Sapphire Slaves, my son told me he was a bit afraid and sad for the boys in the mine. He even had a bad dream about it.
If you wanted to learn more about the stories and the people in the stories, their website contains pictures, videos and more information about each episode. They encourage the children to open their Bible, find their favorite verse, and share it with them on their site.