Early Fall Nature Study {October 2, 2015}

I think fall is here. With that we were able to get out to our favorite place (the family farm) for a nature hike. 

Typically, summer nature hikes don't happen because it's hot, many bothering insects, and the grass/weeds are too tall and release too much pollen. Now most of that is gone. I did get into a nest of the tiniest seed ticks I've ever seen.

The sun was out when we left the house. On the short drive to the farm it had become cloudy and extremely windy. It was cold and I wanted to go back home. But, we bundled up and headed out anyway. 

All of my pictures from the nature hike are dark from all the clouds (and we were in the woods, but the sun would have helped a lot).

We picked a trail that we haven't been on since early spring. But, we went left instead of right this time which led us to a popular trail that brought us to Uncle Kevin's creek. Since the creek was dry we decided to walk the creek until we hit the next trail head. 

It was a wonderful hike! We had never done this before so the dry creek bed held many surprises for us to find. It wasn't the easiest walking but I surprising never fell, on my camera, which was my only worry. We studied much geology on this "trail". This was the perfect walk to go along with the book Rocks, Rivers, and the Changing Earth that Tyler has been reading. Completely unplanned connection on my part but I assume Holy Spirit led.

Even Lucy was interested in all the geology. ; )

We were wondering what sleeps under there. The only water we found and it was loaded with creatures.

We eventually found another trail that would take us back up the hill and to our starting point. By that time the sun was back out and the wind had died down a little. 

I sat by the lake (in my hammock) listening to a podcast while Lucy took a nap and chewed on a stick. The boys went to start a fire for some warmth but mostly for marshmallows.

Scott joined us after work for some fishing. Scott was the only one who caught a fish (which we ate with dinner). Lucy loves fishing too. The boys also roasted marshmallows over the fire they had made.

It turned out to be a beautiful day for some nature study at the family farm.

Tyler, the rock collector, carried this large rock on  most of the nature hike.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real {October 1, 2015}

I'm linking up with Like Mother Like Daughter today. I've gotten behind on blogging so I thought this would be an easy way to get pictures posted on the blog since they are piling up. Plus, I haven't linked up with {phfr} in a long time.

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

 

 Pictures from our vacation to Pensacola Beach Florida. Plus some miscellaneous pictures.

Fort Pickins

Tyler before he lost both his sunglasses and goggles in the ocean.

Perhaps if the US military didn't encourage people not to read about history we would have avoided many repeat problems we have today. This poster was at the aviation museum in Pensacola Florida.

First time we have ever seen a ground hog in the yard. Lucy barked at it and scared it into the neighbor's tree.

Tyler is halfway through cross country season. This was from his first meet at Cole County Park.

We had a caterpillar turn to butterfly right at the front door. There was also one on the dead flower by the door.

Hay bale jumping at the family farm. Tyler with Lucy here.

More hay bale jumping with Caleb this time

9th Grade Booklist {2015-2016}

You can find the introduction and Tyler's booklist here. A post on what is in our Morning Basket will follow soon.

This booklist is for Caleb who is 14 and in the 9th grade. His list is adapted from Ambleside Online (AO) Year 7. Adaptions were made to make sure he is working at a high school level and to accommodate our personal preferences.

One thing I failed to mention in the introduction/Tyler's list is that AO is a rigorous curriculum. Year 7 is high school level in my opinion. Their years are not written to follow along to an equivalent public school grade. I picked year 5 for Tyler because it was about where he was in history. (He really was at year 4 history rotation but I thought the book choices for year 5 were more at his level.) I picked year 7 for Caleb because most of year 9 book choices were to far above his level. Year 7 also matched up the best for his history rotation too.

I'm not linking to the books I pulled from AO but you can find links to that material here (and I will say what AO year I pulled them from if not year 7).  Books that are not AO will be linked to sources of purchase. None of the links are affiliates. 

History/Geography: (British history heavy this year)
The History of England by Arnold-Forster
Light to the Nation Volume 1 (just to add a Catholic component, a well-rounded world history, and Church history)
The Crusades by Hilaire Belloc  (term 2 & 3 reading)
The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin (term 1 & 2)
Geography reading for term 3 is still up in the air. We will use a suggestion from AO or we may use Why Greenland is an Island . . . by Joyce Davis
Map drill of Europe

Science: 
We decided to take an integrated living book approach for high school science. At the end of 4 years Caleb should have a credit for biology, physics, chemistry, and whatever other sciences his reading list covers.

Eric Soloane's Weather Book (term 1 reading)
A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawkings (AO year 8 science-term 1 reading) 
First Studies of Plant Life by Atkinson
The Amateur Natuarlist by Gerald Durrell

The Practical Botany for Gardeners by Geoff Hodge

King Soloman's Ring by Konrad Lorenz (term 2 & 3)
And probably an undecided chemistry book once term 1 books are finished.

Literature:
Prose & Poetry for Enjoyment 
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle (term 1)
Term 2 & 3 readings are undecided at this point, but those choices will come from the year 7 list.  

Grammar/Dictation/Writing:
At first glance it may look like Caleb's language arts does not follow a Charlotte Mason philosophy, but even though I went with "programs", we follow them in a CM inspired way. I truly think we are sticking to Miss Mason's principles with these programs.
Fix It! Grammar: Robin Hood
Spelling You See
IEW: Medieval History Based Writing Lessons 
daily oral narrations and written narrations

Math:
Math-U-See Algebra 1
Caleb also uses xtramath.org to review basic math facts. We also use Khan Academy for extra help with Algebra.

Logic:
How To Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Chares Van Doren
The Fallacy Detective by  Bluedorn

Art:
The Story of Painting by Janson
A Child's Book of Prayer in Art by Sister Wendy Beckett (term 1)
Picture Study Portfolios-da Vinci (term 2)
(term 3 artist not chosen, yet)
Art For Kids-Drawing by Temple 

Religion:
To The Heights: A Novel Based on the Life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (I don't think this will take all year to read but I don't have other saint books picked out yet.)
Chief Truths of the Faith by Fr. Laux 

Government/Economics:
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy by Richard Maybury (term 1)
Term 2 & 3 readings are undecided but we will most likely get them from AO year 8 and continue reading the Maybury books.

Foreign Language:
Caleb has picked Spanish. I don't have any resources to share. Caleb has started Spanish, but I'm still working on customizing a program to work for high school level and in a Charlotte Mason way. It's a tough order to fill!

Caleb is also working on getting PE and health credits this year.

 

6th Grade Book List {2015-2016}

Our educational philosophy follows a Charlotte Mason liberal arts education that focuses on our Catholic faith. 

This year we've made some changes to achieve that by following the Ambleside Online curriculum.

Tyler is 11 and would be 6th grade in brick and mortar school. Tyler's book list is based off of year 5 at AO. I made a few changes to year 5 for Tyler and those changes made were mostly in bible/religion(since we are Catholic we are going to use Catholic resources). Any other changes made were because of books we already had on hand or Tyler's personal preference in book selections.

I'm not linking the book selections from AO. You can find links to those here. Selections not from AO will be linked to where you can find those. None of the links are affiliates.

History/Geography:
This Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall
Abraham Lincoln's World by Genevieve Foster (term 1 & 2)
The Story of the World Volume 4 by Susan Wise Bauer (term 3)
Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis and Clark by James Daugherty (term 1 reading)
a book on Beatrix Potter (not picked out yet, term 2 reading)
Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Teddy Roosevelt by George Grant (term 3 reading)
The Book of Marvels: The Occident and The Book of Marvels: The Orient by Richard Halliburton
Home Geography by C. C. Long
Map drill on South American, North America, and United States

Science/Nature Study:
Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton
Christian Liberty Nature Reader 5 by Worthington Hooker
The Story of Inventions by Frank Bachman
Rocks, Rivers, and the Changing Earth: A First Book About Geology by Schnieders (this was a replacement to Lady How and Madame Why since that book was started in year 4 and too big to complete in one year)
Chemistry Kit for experimenting (AO recommended a physics experiment book but Tyler got this last Christmas and really wanted to finally dig into it)
Science biographies (one book per term)on Sir Isaac Newton, Alexander Graham Bell, and George Washing Carver. AO has some recommended titles but I searched our local library and went with what they had to avoid the extra cost of purchasing. The only suggested book our local library had was the Always Inventing by Tom Matthew, which we will use.

Literature:
The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I added in Pagoo by Holling C. Holling, which is in year 3 science recommendations, since Tyler has not read it and we are going to the beach very soon.
He will also read a book by Rudyard Kipling in term 2 and/or 3 (once King Arthur is finished). I haven't decided on which one yet. AO recommends Kim, but we may pick another since Tyler has not read any of his books yet.

Free Reading selections:
Little House series
continue the Narnia series
Bush Boys series 
The Hobbit

Language Arts:
Using Language Well Book 2  from Simply Charlotte Mason 
Spelling Wisdom Book 2 from Simply Charlotte Mason (which may be too hard for him, so we may go back to books 1)
one weekly written narration
Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree  (perhaps overkill with Using Language Well, but I couldn't decided and they seem to complement each other at the moment)
daily copywork
daily oral narrations
Poetry for term 1-read a poem daily from Cautionary Tales for Children by Hilaire Belloc (hilarious!); term 2-poetry from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; term 3-poetry from Rudyard Kipling (I changed the AO order of poets for year 5 and took out Whittier/Dunbar to use Belloc instead.)

Math:
Saxon 6/5
Life of Fred Liver and Mineshaft
Xtra Math (for math fact drill along with Saxon practice sheets)

Religion:
The First Christians: The Acts of the Apostles for Children by Marigold Hunt
The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism 2 
Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity by Alma Power-Waters (term 1 saint reading)
Saint readings for term 2 & 3 have not been picked yet.

Foreign Language:
Latin was bought to be started but Tyler is not cooperating, so it is on hold at the moment. I had planned to use Latin for Children by Classical Academic Press. We may get a Greek book for Christmas per his request.

I will have another post on Caleb's 9th grade selections and our Morning Basket work coming up soon! 

Weekend Ramblings {August 9, 2015}

I know it's been quiet around here and that's because my favorite things to write about are school and nature study, which we have not been doing. I also like lots of pictures in a blog post and I haven't been taking much lately.

We did enjoy getting back into the school routine this week. A gentle approach was much needed and we did half days this week. Even with half days I was able to do some evaluations and I had some projects for the weekend. We will continue with half days for this week too.

Tyler got almost all his work done with half days (and I mean a full weeks worth). Of course, there is still math and Latin to do but other than that he only has about a day of work left. I'm not sure how to fix that, yet. Caleb on the other hand hardly got anything done. I'm not sure how to fix that either. Perhaps just a full day would help or I have scheduled too much or Caleb hasn't found his daily groove in the schedule. There has been a lot to think about this weekend.

Surprisingly, Caleb enjoyed one of his history books (The Birth of Britain) even though it's a tough read. And unsurprisingly, Tyler does not have a favorite book for the new year, yet. 

I'm still planning on doing a post of our book list for the year and I'm hoping to have that done soon (meaning a week or two since we need to take some "formal" back to school pictures).

Saturday was a lazy day. I did watch a training DVD from IEW on how to teach their writing program (the overview one that comes with the Student Writing Intensive program). I didn't finish it and plan to do that this evening while the boys are at a swim party (will be quiet here). I was glad to work on this project and get Caleb's writing figured out for the year (a gap I had in the lesson plans).

 

Summer project goals were not achieved this year. I never get it all done which maybe means I need to rethink and plan accordingly. The main problem was not having the time all at once to dedicate to a project. I had the time to do it overall, but I couldn't make it work all at once. I don't like unfinished projects so they didn't get started.  Not started projects bother me too, so sooner or later they will get done. ; )

I'm planning on a much longer spring/Easter break in 2016 so I think this will help with the summer project list. I could possible get one or two done in the spring instead of the summer. This is the most natural time of the year to do it anyway. This is could be a great solution except for the fact I still have to get it done for 2015. 

Caleb has been saving up his money to buy a new toy. He got very lucky and a kind man at our church found him a good deal on a used guitar and has offered lessons at a reasonable price. Caleb has been saving up money for the lessons too. Today he has been searching youtube and watching first lessons in guitar playing.

Cross country practice has started. We were unable to find a team for Caleb to run on this year. Tyler will be running on the same team that both boys ran on last year. Caleb has been practicing with the team though and I've been logging the hours for a PE credit. 

Friday 7 Quick Takes {July 17, 2015}

1) Reflection . . . . there had been a lot of that lately. Finishing up the last details for the new school year has been extremely difficult this year. I'm checking things off the list, yet coming up with new things to add. I'm almost there though and looking forward to moving ahead with our new year very soon.

2) Enjoy some Fourth of July pictures. I didn't take any of the fireworks this year.

 

3) Last weekend the boys braved flooding and went on a fishing trip at Roaring River (state park in Missouri-close to Arkansas). By the time they got there the flooding was over and the park was back open. I think they had a good time.

Lucy and I stayed home. I worked on school planning and relaxed via HGTV on Netflix. Lucy destroyed toys!

4)How's that summer to-do list going? you ask. Well, it started out great . . . . . and that is about it. All the bedrooms need a good deep cleaning. The kind of cleaning when you move the bed and sweep under it. That is something that is not done much here since we store stuff under the bed. The boy's closets needs a good cleaning too. I just keep putting it off! 

5)I talked earlier about how difficult planning this school year has been. Planning for Tyler has been much easier than usual. Caleb was tough this year. Most of my difficulties come from not being able to focus on our goals for high school. That is because our goals are completely different than most. You can feel yourself starting to drown at times. I've talked about this in other post, so it's something I've struggled with a while. I think the best thing is prayer. It really helps. It's a constant thing or otherwise I start to sink and once I start sinking I forget about praying with all the clamorous disorder that I've sunken to. Prayer must be constant and never ending. 


6) I've been reading some books that the boys will be starting soon for school. I've also been reading Charlotte Mason's sixth book. I'm getting towards the end and hope to finish it up in the next two weeks. I have read this book before and parts of it several times. I always pick up new things. I'm really just reading it for some inspiration of the upcoming new school year. As usual, my to-read pile is over flowing!

7)I know I haven't been blogging much lately and I think that will change next month. We've been keeping it pretty simple around here (in other words not much is going on)and I haven't felt pulled to write. Thanks for checking in on me though! I plan to pick things up next month.

 Just sharing 7 things I'm thinking about. What about you?

School Planning Progress {sort of}

Things are moving along here. A bit of an odd summer for us, but all is great.

Thursday evening before the storm. Those ruts were a foot deep when we came out Sunday.

We enjoyed two trips out to the family farm on last Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon. Pictures are from the family farm visits.

Very wet at the family farm!

Thursday night we just needed to get the dog out to run. We had to pay close attention to the weather since we were expecting severe weather, but we had a couple hours before it was in our area. (We were in the basement later that evening under a tornado warning.) Lucy got to practice retrieving in the lake. It wasn't her first time, yet she was uncertain at first but then was thoroughly enjoying it afterwards. She tends to run, full speed, crazy like, after she is done swimming (I assume to dry off). Of course, she was darting around us and ran into me. Thankfully she was mid turn so I didn't get knocked over. But, my leg was throbbing the next morning. Some pain reliever and it was all fine the next day.

It's hard to take a picture in a moving car, with a moving puppy, and no one would look at the camera.

This was the best one!

On Sunday, we went out to the farm with my parents, my aunt, and my nephew. My nephew spent the night at my parents for the first time by himself and this was his first fishing trip at the farm. He caught his first fish and ate it too! My aunt caught the biggest fish (she always does), a catfish, even though her pole broke. I didn't get a picture of that. Scott caught the smallest. I sat in my hammock and read and almost fell asleep . . . . almost as with a 4 year old nearby makes it tough to fall asleep.

I've been steadily working along to get ready for the start of school. It seems never ending! I've hit a few snags and I'm not sure what to do about them . . . . so I put them off. One is Spanish for Caleb and the other is science for Caleb. Tyler has been easy!

Waiting for someone to catch a fish.

Summer break is tough on us. It seems everyone's brain turns to mush. We enjoy the freedom but fail at staying organized because we don't have that dependable schedule in place. This works fine the first couple of weeks but at this point it is miserable! This is one reason I think a short summer break is mandatory for us. Yet, it is so hard for me to get started again and those boys have been brain washed  and they really don't understand why they can't just run wild for three months. ; )

Lucy loves fishing!

She was so excited to go fishing that she fell head first into the lake. She wasn't sure what to think of that.

I'm the only one who knows it, but we are going to start back to school next week. It will be a gradual thing but we need the schedule in place to function. We will just have about an hour of Morning Basket next week and around Thursday I will add back in grammar (because I have a new program that I want to give a test run). The next week we will continue with those two and add in math about mid-week. The week after that we are going to half days. My goal is to be done with school around lunch time each day and get a weeks worth of school done in two weeks.

Other homeschoolers do this gradual thing and I've always wanted to but didn't know how to do it. It came to me that I needed to start with subjects that were independent of other subjects and that is why I picked the ones I did. We will see how that goes!

My goals to have completed by Sunday include having Morning Basket ready to start along with grammar and math. I need to finalize our daily schedule . . . . I'm thinking a simple schedule this year term. I'm using Celeste's @ Joyous Lessons weekly schedule template for the boys to keep track of their lessons. Of course, this has the weekly lessons (not broken down into daily) and I'm curious to see how this plays out. Easier for me! I'm hoping it's not a fail for the boys though. I also need to get some papers printed, things arranged, notebooks arranged, and really what seems like an endless list of things to get done. It always comes together in the end though.

Some post I have been enjoying while planning include:
Celeste @ Joyous Lessons As mentioned above and she had some more planning post.
Brandy @ Afterthoughts has several new planning post. 
Ambleside Online  forum and really their whole site has been outstanding in helping me to get our first year in AO under control.