Back to school!

We started back to school last week!

"How do we make our nature walk and journalling time shorter?" asked nobody ever! We had our first nature walk this week, on Monday (I couldn't get myself organized enough to actually take Fina on a nature ramble last week. She got in hours and hours of outdoor play, but either with her friends or with me, but without any journalling).

We went down to the creek and I asked her to wander a bit to find something that would catch her fancy.  Fina found a tiny clam (she loves clams!) and painstaking painted one half of its shell, from the convex side and from the concave side. And look at what she had me write!

This first photo shows three 3 images - the first is Fina's painting of the outer side of the shell, the second shows the painting of the inside of it. The blue splotch was Fina trying to trace the clam with paint -- the paint ran, she worked furiously to try to contain it, and then to wash the paint out of the paper etc. She was a bit upset as this was her new journal, but she did not get frustrated (which completely surprised me. I expected her to cry!) and decided it would be a lovely colour for a background and traced her shell in pencil. She really wanted to depict the actual size of the shell. I told her that next time she could draw just the outline with a really fine brush (without tracing, but free hand.)

We were out for 2 hours that afternoon. We had a lovely ramble and a detailed observation time, with lots of discussion and enjoyment and gazing at God's splendour, focusing on a tiny clam shell that is only1cm in diameter.

And on Thursday, she did these brush drawings during our nature time, with ample written narrative as well. (It was freezing cold, windy with such a terribly cold northerly wind blowing on us. But Fina would not be deterred. Good thing, because I would not have chosen to stay out there to journal.)

We got a new sloyd book this year and we are really giving it a go!

I'll have to get a pic of Fina cutting her folds with an exact-o knife. She just loves it!

One of our poets for the term is William Wordsworth. We read his "There was a Boy" poem on Thursday.

I didn't really know what this poem was about, but after we read it she told me that she thought the boy was maybe actually the sun, or maybe even God. Because she figured the boy wasn't human. How on earth did she get that? But she did!!! Incredible. She said it was because how he had his hands held, with fingers interwoven, and shouting across the Vale, and being received into the Lake. The sun could do all of that! We had this interesting discussion about this poem.

A little group of us have started a mom's study group to read volume 1 of Charlotte Mason's Home Education series. There were 8 of us at our first meeting. Such a blessing to have an actual, in real life, local group. This is something we've been praying and hoping for for a long time!

I'll leave you with this cuteness: Fina and her little friend built this house at outdoor playgroup this week.

First day of school!

Well, I had hoped to give you a summer recap post, but I haven't had a chance yet. I hope to do so. The short version is that we had a lovely Manitoba summer (without mosquitoes and with beautiful weather) and then we left for a visit with the in-law family to Florida (Disneyworld with the cousins was a highlight for Fina). Then we went to visit my family in Ontario for a few weeks and Fina got to enjoy lots of time with her two baby cousins. And now we are back home!

A cool thing: our local library got a flag that was flown on Parliament Hill in June.

In preparation of starting school today, I wanted to get back into a proper morning routine of spending some time in prayer and reading etc. Look what God had in store for me this morning.

- I read the beginning of Mark 1, which is what we will be looking at today in our Bible lesson. It is the story of John the Baptist. Fina will love it!

- The Cloud of Witness p 385, thanksgiving. "What shall I give THEE got all these thousands of benefits? I would I could serve THEE all the days of my life!" (Thomas à Kempis)

- I wanted to read a bit from my fancy new CMPEdition volume 1, CM's Home Education. I just picked it up where I had the bookmark (I have not read from here in a few months). I read the small section on "Hindering the Chidren."

The most fatal way of despising the child falls under the third educational law of the Gospels; it is to overlook and make light of his natural relationship with Almighty God. "Suffer the little children to come unto Me," says the Saviour, as if that were the natural thing for the children to do, the thing they do when they are not hindered by their elders. And perhaps it is not too beautiful a thing to believe in this redeemed world, that, as the babe turns to his mother though he has no power to say her name, as the flowers turn to the sun, so the hearts of the children turn to their Saviour and God with unconscious delight and trust. (CM, vol 1, 15-16)

-this led me to look up, in my fancy old SOTW volume IV, book IV, poem LVII:

“Of such is the Kingdom” (The disciple)

IN the Kingdom are the children; You may read it in their eyes;All the freedom of the Kingdom In their careless humour lies.

Very winsome are the children,— Say, whence comes it, their sweet grace?Small the pains they take for goodness, Scarcely know they Duty’s face.

Frail and faulty little lieges,—
Yet well-pleasing to their King:
Scanty thought they take to serve Him;
Yet the chosen Offering bring;

Ours, the weary long endeavour;
Theirs, the happy entering in:
Ours, to strive and wait and labour;
Theirs, to joy before the King!

“Except ye be as the children,
Have ye in my courts no place:”—
Lord, how meekly would we ponder
The glad secret of their grace!

Not in holy painful living;
Not in tears nor suppliant prayers;
Not in white days free from sinning,—
Not such sanctity is theirs.

What do they to take the Kingdom?
Only this leave they undone—
Suffering Christ the King within them,—
They in nought invade His throne:

On the children’s brows no witness
That themselves do fill their thought;
In the children’s hearts no strivings
That to them be honour brought.

Therefore finds the King an entrance; Freely goes He out and in;Sheds the gladness of His presence; Doth for babes great victories win!

All I can say is "Wow!"

We are using Mason's Alveary by CMI, doing 1A this year. Our schedule looks great! Another new thing is that we are leaving MUS behind and using Richele Baburina's Mathematics: An Instrument for Living Teaching, a CM Living Math. I am very excited to try this out.

I mentioned to Fina last night that I thought it would be a good idea to get dressed before starting school. But she really wanted to stay in her pjs. That is part of why she likes to homeschool, she says! And who wouldn't want to stay in their pjs if they were so comfy as these ones are?

We started our day with morning prayer and our Bible lesson.
Fina wanted to do math next, so we explored the numbers 1, 2 and 3. It went really well.
Recitation will work a little different this year. Each day, we will be reading through a different recitation piece. We started with reciting a hymn today. Fina really enjoyed trying to read in a beautiful way. She almost memorized the first verse. And reading the other verses was great reading practice for her.

We did some sol-fa work, learning Sol and Mi.

We reviewed some cursive writing.
I read a handful of poems.
I read and Fina narrated a portion from one of our current nature lore books, Dallas Lore Sharp's The Fall of the Year. It is quite different than other nature lore things we have read. It is very flowery and poetic, but Fina surpassed my expectations with her narrations.

We learned to sing "A Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea." It is going to be fun when we add the clapping game to this one. This is a blast from my past!

We continued on with our Pio Peep for our Spanish lesson. I love that Fina is never reluctant to speak words in Spanish.

We went out for our outdoor playgroup and got to spend some time journalling about a spruce tree at a museum before our friends met us. We did no painting or sketching. We observed the tree carefully and Fina dictated her observations and I wrote them in her nature journal. This is really going to work well for us!

Thanks for joining us today!

Spring becoming summer!

Dear blog readers!

It has been a very busy couple of months. I will just give you a glimpse at the things that have been occupying our time.

• Fina had her tonsils out
• We had visitors from out of town (my dad, sister and baby niece)
• We have spent a lot of time outside
• We went to see "Romeo and Juliet" put on by Shakespeare In The Ruins at one of our favourite spots. It was just wonderful!
• Fina has continued with her piano lessons, nature study, reading aloud and being real aloud to. Every day learning and living life without the lesson structure
• Fina and I built a raised garden bed in our yard and we also planted a big plot at one of our friend's houses. We have really been enjoying gardening! We started most things from seed and it has been incredible to watch these little seedlings sprouting up. We even harvested our first radishes already. "This is what radishes are supposed to taste like" she said with glee!
• I had the opportunity of attending a big Charlotte Mason homeschooling conference in the States in June. I met many wonderful people (online friends who I now got to meet in person!) Fina and Fina's homeschooling dad had a fun time while I was gone. And it was just an incredible experience for me.

Enjoy a look at our days!

To give you some weather context, these were on April 12

And this is April 16 (Easter)

Then April 21. We took the kids to play in the muddy banks of the creek.

And back to snow on April 22!

We had a lovely visit. Fina so enjoyed having her baby cousin here for a few weeks.

Hospital prep. They have this wonderful tour they give to kids before the surgery. It really helped calm Fina's fears.

Here is Fina driving herself away to the OR.

We got to see some deer up close at one of favourite spots, Bois des esprits.

Rome and Juliet was just so wonderful! It was outside at the monastery ruins. They gave us lawn chairs, which we had to move around from scene to scene. It was just great!

Here is some garden box and garden progression. Enjoy!

Fina also went bike riding with nonno, which was so much fun!

And if you ever go to Kentucky, try out this great pop (soda). Yummy!

Year 1, week 33, day 4, April 5

This pic is from Monday. All of our snow is GONE and just look at that sky!

On Tuesday, we had a great outdoor playgroup yesterday.  We found this little guy.

And the kids enjoyed swimming in the chilly water that had pooled on our friend's yard from the flood of the creek. The floodwaters are receding, so that is great.

Today, Fina spent a long while doing a bunch of free "how to draws" from artforkidshub.com.

We started with our Bible reading, Genesis 4:17-26.
We ran through her current recitations, including "The Owl and the Pussy-cat."
I read "The Butterfly that Stamped" from Just So Stories, stopping a few times for Fina to narrate.
We worked on some new Spanish vocab, "el dormitorio/bedroom" from page 10.  We finished Peppa se va a dormir.

I read our next poem, "The Story of Augustus who would Not have any soup," poem #176 from The Oxford Book of Children's Verse.

Fina read aloud from Benjamin Bunny.
We made a model of Fina's room out of wooden blocks and hid things on the model and in the room for each other to try and find. It was fun! (Yes, tiny Twilight Sparkle was on our model and stuffed Twilight was hiding in the room. It was serendipitous!)

She spent some time working on her wood carving. We are currently reading Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz as our free read. I read a few chapters today. They are very short chapters.

We went out to play for a while in the afternoon.
We have our second Manitoba Charlotte Mason event tonight. We will be looking at narration and doing a nature study / dry-brush painting with a nice group of moms. I'm really looking forward to it!

Year 1, week 31, day 3, March 20

Fina started by practicing her piano pieces.

We read Matthew 3:13-17 and Fina narrated.
We did some math work. 17D2 and 17E1.
We reviewed her recitations.
We continued with the D'Aulaire's Benjamin Franklin. We read from page 18 to 28, narrating throughout.

We reviewed our Spanish nursery rhymes and we read through Bedtime for Peppa in Spanish. Fina was able to understand much of it, just by the pictures and of her knowledge of Italian. Next, we will read a few pages at a time, with Fina repeating in Spanish and narrating in English.

She worked on her cursive for just a few minutes.

We read "Nuts and Nut-Eaters" from Eyes and No Eyes. We learned about catkins and weevils.

I read poem #150, "The Migration of the Grey Squirrels" by William Howitt in The Oxford Book of Children's Verse. It was cute. The squirrels use their tails as sails on the rafts. "Just like Squirrel Nutkin!" Fina shouted!

We sang our hymn and folksong.

Fina then read aloud from the English version of Bedtime for Peppa.  She read the whole book.

She worked on her crochet while I read from The Olive Fairy Book.

We looked at our next Hans Holbein painting, "The Last Supper."

Fina had a lot to say about it. We think that Judas is on the left. He's wearing sandals because her was in charge of the purse!

Then Fina spent 40 minutes painting this, a plan for a bedroom for her pony. This is the pony's bed.

She played outside all afternoon. It was plus 5 celsius and so sunny!

Yup, she is sitting in a freezing puddle!

And she did some loom knitting before bed. She is working on a "surprise" scarf, for my birthday. She keeps saying funny things like "mom, if you could choose your favourite wool, would it be thick and multi-coloured?" and "do you think a scarf would be your favourite gift, hypothetically?"

I had my first meeting as board secretary last night. It was great! A little long, but great!

Year 1, week 29, day 4, March 8

Yesterday, we had a day full of riches only! Fina's homeschooling dad was home from work, they are on their reading break. We did a piano lesson. Fina learned p 10 out of the Alfred book.

She spent a long time in the morning working on some handicrafts.

This was a pre-existing doll's sleeping bag. 

Fina wanted to machine sew over the three sides with a fancy stitch!

And she is sewing a Moana costume for herself. The red and brown triangles were an existing patch. But she machine sewed all the other little patches to it.

I really must keep the machine out. She would easily sew a few times a week if it wasn't that I had to drag the machine down from the closet upstairs.

She also did some hand sewing on a doll's dress.  She also did some wood carving.

We read a few stories from The Olive Fairy Book as our free read while she worked.

She also did some dry brush painting to send a little note to our Ontario friends.

In the afternoon, we had our playgroup. We had 70km winds and it was a blizzard (but with very little snow). One other family joined us and the kids had a lovely time. We really are polar bear mamas!

Our creek was slushy, kind of frozen in spots, but not in others.

On a peninsula and tiny island in our creek. Yes, that is Fina sitting in 30cm of slush! 

Her boots and pants were soaked!

I have been busy getting my feet wet in my new position as secretary of the board. I don't think it is quite public yet, so I won't say which board it is. But I'm being blessed beyond belief there already!


TODAY

Fina practiced some piano and we learned a new piece, Alfred page 11. We are having short lessons every few days, with practice sessions in between. And by short, I mean less than 10 minutes.

I read from Genesis 1:26-31, day 6 of the creation story. Fina narrated throughout.

She completed 16 C, D and page 1 of E in her math book.

We reviewed Fina's recitations. She ran through all the passages she learned from A.A. Milne's When We Were Very Young.

We read two Aesop's Fables. "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothes" and "The Milkmaid and Her Pail." Fina narrated both.

We continued with our next passage from Pio Peep. "De Colores" which I sang for her and she tried singing along. It is a catchy tune. I can not believe what a good attitude she has towards this whole Spanish thing. I'm so glad that I finally decided to start it in earnest!

She worked on her cursive for a few minutes.

We read chapter 24 from Paddle to the Sea, where we see that Paddle spends the winter with a kind old lady outside of Montréal, along the St Lawrence River. Fina wanted to check some things out on Google Earth, so we did that. We looked at Winnipeg and St Pierre and Toronto, Niagara Falls, the Great Lakes and more.

We read our next poem, #130 "The Boy and the Snake" by Charles and Mary Lamb, from The Oxford Book of Children's Verse.

We sang our hymn and folksong.

Fina read aloud from Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit.

She spent about an hour painting, while I read some of our Olive Fairy Book free reads aloud to her.

A diamond shaped canoe in our creek. Aren't the summery banks just lovely?

There was a snow day here with the local schools, so Fina spent the afternoon outside playing with her little friend K.