Sweetness and Light

Bleck!!!

The new Google Reader that is.....what are your thoughts??? Here's something from Lissa. Hope your All Hallows Eve isn't blecky.

See you soon...Many blessings! 

Favorite Nature Study Resources

Nature study is as much a part of a Charlotte Mason education as is reading living books.

I thought I would share some of our favorite Nature study resources and our usual "go-to's" when we study the natural world.

We're enjoying this recent inexpensive download at Currclick from Katie's Homeschool Cottage  Along with some great books from the library we will have a nice nature study for the Fall. I see right now it's even less expensive  during Currclicks Trunk or Treat sale, check it out!!

Of course Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study  has been a staple on our shelves for many many years. We are consulting it today, as we have a Wooly Bear that we are observing. Matthias found it last week and he's been carefully tending it with grass and dandelions (loves them) and today he's baking a little mud "hideout" for it to winter over in. We will be anxious to see it spin a cocoon next Spring and then transform into an Isabella Tiger Moth!!

For sketching and nature journalling ideas we have Jim Arnosky's Sketching Outdoors in Autumn, Drawing from Nature  and Field Trips. Also on our shelf is Claire Walker Leslie's Keeping a Nature Journal. We also like The Brook Book as it is nice to consult after our Salmon Watch field days.

Because it's autumn we are cherishing  various tree and leaf picture books  as well as Tree field guides. These take-along guides  are nice too. In the Pacific Northwest we do get a pretty good change of seasons with all of the deciduous trees turning color and watching the leaves fall. Thankfully we are still profusely stocked with evergreens however, to keep things from looking too bare in winter :)

Our days have turned rainy for the time being, but here's a peek at some nice outdoor nature work from earlier this week:

And some of their finished work:

(Seamus' creation)

(Sean-Paul's)

Looking forward to a lovely weekend with my sweeties, what are you all up to this Autumn?? Many blessings in your day :)

Autumn Afternoon Crafts

We had a fun and relaxing afternoon craft time yesterday. The weather was somewhat gloomy and I had a few under the weather (just slightly). So we pulled out the craft table and got to work on some fun Autumn ideas.

Here are some random shots of the crafters and their projects ~

Bats are big here ~

(please ignore the hideous paint color)

All in all, an enjoyable afternoon and we chased the clouds away by early evening and were blessed with this beautiful gift after dinner ~

Hope your weekend is off to a beautiful start! God Bless :)

Reading Frenzy YA Edition **Updated**

**Updated** 10/15/11 ~

I'm on a Young Adult reading frenzy right now. I've been wanting to knock out a few YA books in the hopes that I can find some fun new reads for Violet, but alas the ones I've read thus far are in no way appropriate for her, just yet. I'm a little baffled at the YA rating and what is being published as YA, but also really enjoying some great reading and finding new authors.

Read so far ~

Stolen: a letter to my captor  by Lucy Christopher :: WOW, really good, but freaky to think about someone being kidnapped on any level as good.

 

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson :: Really, really good, but so much adult material and language.

 

And I finally got around to reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate  by Jacqueline Kelly :: I loved it so much I immediately bought our home library a copy. I think we'll start it as our first read-aloud of the new school year. It's SO, so good :)

 

I also just finished The Hunger Games  by Suzanne Collins, not my usual preference in fiction, but very good nevertheless and one that both Violet and Matthias can read. I've already got the second book Catching Fire  on it's way from the library...

 

On my YA stack waiting to be read are ~ (and in no particular order)

 **Midnight Dancers by Regina Doman (Violet loved this one!) :: Wow, really liked this one.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (historical fiction)

**By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Ann Peters (okay, so don't have much hope for Violet to read this anytime soon, but it looks really good) :: And yes it was okay, but not super...

**Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler :: Meh! This one had real promise and I did enjoy the writing style, but it just kind of flopped at the end.

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Sea by Heidi R. Kling (hope this one is a good as it sounds, awesome cover)

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder (another sci-fi genre, we'll see...)

**Freefall by Mindi Scott (Goodreads notes here)

**Split by Swati Avashti (brief Goodreads notes here)

**The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer  by Michelle Hodkin (Another Meh. If you read the first and second review on goodreads about this book it's pretty much how I felt about it, too bad.)

I've got more coming from the library, but this should keep me busy well into September, and October and November... don't cha think?? Have you read any of these titles?? Love to hear about them and what you thought!

Learning Room Notes ~ Autumn

Quick post making a few school room notes on all the learning going on around here. Have to jot them down before I forget, LOL!

We all survived the 13 yo birthday madness! We had quite a whirlwind weekend of celebrating and feasting our beloved Matthias and his crossing into the teen years. Whew, what a great guy!

In the learning room ~

Matthias reading :: Augustine Came to Kent, The Yearling and one of the Mysterious Benedict Society books (again) not sure which one, I think it's the 3rd. Nope, I just asked him, it's the 2nd.

Violet reading :: Louis de Wohl's Lay Siege to Heaven, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and a princess retelling Princess of Glass.

Seamus reading :: Working his way through several of the Encyclopedia Brown series, they are quick reads and fun for him. He also just finished Pedro's Journal and we are reading Genevieve Foster's The World of Colombus and Sons together.

Sean-Paul's books :: Lots of Jim Arnosky books, Garfield comics (seriously), Calvin and Hobbes, Max & Ruby's, and random picks off the shelf at the library, mostly for him to "read".

Also, the younger boys and I just finished our lunchtime read aloud The Penderwicks. I enjoy this every time I read it. Now on to WHAT next???

In other news ~ Violet is at ballet six days a week (urgh). I have picked up my knitting again from summer and have almost finished Matthias's birthday Fisherman, stay tuned :)

It's raining, ALOT. This is not my favorite thing at all, sigh...But, this gives us lots more time for reading all those great books :) Looking forward to cranking up my gas fireplace pretty soon!

Matthias is loving, and I mean LOVING his Engineering Design and C++ Computer Programming online classes this fall, they are a big hit. (Email me if you're interested in hearing more about them, they are FREE for us). Geometry is also going well and even FUN (yes indeed) for both Matthias and Violet, how about that!! Seamus continues to be 2-3 grades above level for math which is cool. He is also really enjoying Grammar, my sweet boy. He LOVES Intermediate Language Lessons (thank you Emma Serl, teehee). Sean-Paul is trying very hard to learn to read, he's just not THAT interested yet. He's made it through some of the Little Stories for Little Folks, but it's going to be a bit before he really takes off with it, and that's okay :) I can wait!

We have been enjoying occaisional teatimes for the many feast days that grace our liturgical calendar each week and our family has just begun another 54-day Rosary Novena  for a very special intention. Please keep us in your prayers!

Hope your October, Month of the Most Holy Rosary is going great so far, off to make Carmel Apples as it's that time of year!! Yum :)

 

Thirteen!!!

He is, that is...

 

Our first son is now a teenager, well, officially at 11:40pm tonight!! We love you so much sweetie, welcome to the teen years, the best is yet to come :) Happiest birthday wishes Matthias! St. Matthew, pray for us!