First Day of Kindergarten and Third Grade (September 1)

I simply couldn't decide which pics to post, so you get them all! :)

Had to point out that small pile on the sidewalk behind Olivia. Guesses anyone? Okay, I'll tell you. That's a mushroom Livy found, unbeknownst to me. She got a knife, unbeknownst to me, and cut up the mushroom on the sidewalk...unbeknownst to me. :)

*Signs from HowSheDoes

{this moment} First day of school

Joining SouleMama for {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I Can't Help It; It Makes Me Happy!

Walter de la Mare's "Some One"

Ambleside Online's poet pick for Year 2, Term 1, is Walter de la Mare. I have selected "Some One" as a starting point for recitation, since it is simple enough that Olivia will enjoy learning it with us during circle time.

I have made up a simple printable of "Some One." You are welcome to use/change it however you wish. Enjoy...


Or copy and past this into your browser: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0YDQ0DNEZODMTBlYjBkODMtNzlmMC00ZDI0LWEyYzItZTVlZDEyYmM3YzM0&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

Homeschool Planning Pages--Carli

I love to visit blogs and look at schedules and planning pages to get ideas for my own. I combined several ideas from Ambleside Online's yahoo group to make pages that work for me. Someday, I may figure out a schedule that combines both children, but for now this was the easiest. You can see and print the schedule here. You are more than welcome to change it up and use it however you wish! Happy planning!

Grade 3 Curriculum (2011/2012)

I feel like ordering, "Drumroll, please!" I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my dear sister-in-law, Esther, knows exactly what I mean when I say that I have lived and breathed homeschool research in this last week. To be honest, as much as I look forward to the end of the school year, a big part of that is because I enjoy working on the upcoming year.

This year I have double the fun with Olivia moving on to Kindergarten next year. And an added challenge...try to do it for a LOT less money (more on that at another date). Last year I spent around $400 for just Carli. This year? Carli's comes to $167 or so. Still working on Olivia's.

Ok, so here we go! I think I'll just list everything this time, and explain more about the whys and wherefores and give links another time.


:: Year 2 History, Geography, Literature, Readers, Artist and Composer Studies, Poetry, Music
Appreciation, Natural History/Science, Free Reading List--Ambleside Online.
::Math--Teaching Textbooks 3
::Language--finish Primary Language Lessons
::Penmanship/Copywork--Pictures in Cursive
::Spelling--The Modern Speller (a classic) and customized spelling lists
:: Art--ARTistic Pursuits
::Foreign Language--Looking into free Spanish lessons in town at our local teacher's shop.

The free curriculum at Ambleside Online has been a treasure-trove discovery for me. I love Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education (that's right! More on that later), and Ambleside Online bases it's whole curriculum on her principles. It will be an intense and exciting year. I have much learning and growing to do as a mother and a teacher, but I've seen the start of it this past year as we started our journey down this road.

MFW Adventures, Weeks 7 & 8

Let's take a poll right now and see how many people think that this is a downward trend? I started out trying to get the weekly update in by the weekend of, and now has turned into every two weeks. Thank you to all my lovely readers who show such patience! :)

Besides keeping up with the three R's (or technically, the R,WR,AR)...

During the past two weeks, our Bible lessons taught about Jesus, the Bread of Life. We started off the week with homemade English-Muffin Bread (mmmm), and through the weeks, we tied in yeast experiments, dough making, and a fun book from our book basket.

Glen's boss sent home a huge bag of books home for the girls. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this book, so perfect for our study.

Mixing up the yeast/water/sugar combination for experiment

...which is poured into a bottle and capped with a balloon.

The yeast feeds on the sugar, producing carbon dioxide. The balloon expands.

Olivia documents the experiment
Cute, huh?Carli's narration of the experiment (She dictated it to me, but drew the pics herself).
Carli joins the littles for an afternoon nap, making mama very jealous!

In history, we studied the colonists in New Amsterdam (present-day New York City) and the pioneers in Michigan. Besides enjoying the Pioneers and Patriots book, we read several books from our book basket (forgot to take a picture). One of the favorite parts of our day is always the read-aloud, related to history. Carli begs to keep going. Our current read-aloud is The Courage of Sarah Noble, based on the true story of a little girl who accompanied her father to the wilderness of Connecticut in the 1700s.

We also made butter (in pajama bottoms with a sweatshirt that doesn't match, evidently)!

Lots of shaking...

...turns whipping cream into butter in about 15 minutes.

I chose Amelia Bedilia for Carli's reader this week. She laughed herself silly, as you can see.

Ooops, these should have been up further, but here's Carli making homemade modeling dough. The intention was to bake her creation and then paint it, but evidently Daddy didn't get the memo. After it was out of the oven, he picked it up, asking, "What's this?" while it fell apart in his hands. Ah well, she had fun making it.

Comparison dictated by Carli

Just for fun...One day we ran over to the Pointy Pencil to pick up some primary-lined paper, and they had a craft going on for Oktoberfest.

For a nature walk this week, I had Carli draw in her nature journal one item and take my camera (!) and take pictures of something that made her think of fall. Her pics included...

...fading hydrangeas...

...leaves starting to turn...

...the neighbor's bush changing color...

...herself in the grass (huh??)...

...the clear blue sky....

Our weeks were especially busy with extra activities. We took Kirsten to Indianapolis Museum of Art (more on that in another post),

...visited an apple orchard with Olivia's preschool (pics coming soon)...

...trekked clear over to Flora with our homeschool group to take in an Amish sawmill and honey farm...

...celebrated National Reading Day with books I'd saved back from my Usborne party (one for each girl..they were beyond thrilled and we had fun reading them aloud together).

Although I didn't get pictures, the girls also spent two nights with Grandma and attended Old-Fashioned Days at their aunties' school, and on Sunday we took part in a Life Chain to support the rights of unborn babies.

Gene Stratton Porter's home (one of them, anyway)

A few weeks ago, we took the day to go visit one of Gene Stratton Porter's homes, the one her husband built for her right on the edge of the Limberlost. I grew up loving GPS's book The Girl of the Limberlost, but I've since listened to more of them on tape. It was a treat to find more about the lady herself. Sadly, much of the swamp has been drained, and what has been preserved was a little dry while we were there, and since it was very hot, we didn't tour very much of it.

However, the tour of the house was fantastic...even the girls enjoyed it. They were fascinated by her collections of butterflies and moths, the blue herron and the golden eagle beside her fireplace, her daughter Jeanette's room and porch, the huge clawfoot tub where Gene mixed the chemicals and developed her own film. And showing my one-track mind, I forgot to take any pictures inside while I was busy trying to listen and keep little fingers from touching and little feet from climbing.

At the end of the tour, the guide gave the girls a sheet of stickers and a page of questions to match the pictures to. I was amazed how much even Olivia picked up and remembered.

So without further ado, the pictures....

(below) If you look closely at the fence, toward the edges of the picture, you can see small open spots in the wall. Gene wanted the small creatures to be able to get into her yard. The fence are original and made with rocks from the Wabash.

Gene's daughter Jeanette had her own little porch. Gene called it "A girl's fantasy porch" or something like that.

There was a cat on the premises, which Olivia absolutely loved. She would not let the poor thing alone. (I know Grandma Asbury is gasping in utter shock! And yes, my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek.)

This was my absolute favorite part of the house. Inside there is a small room brimming with plants and natural sunlight, opening into the dining room. At night, Gene would open the little windows at the very top, close off the room with the glass and oak pocket doors, and wait for the butterflies and moths to come. They were attracted to the gas lights, of course, and would land on those huge doors, making it easy for Gene to study them.

Snack time! She loves being able to drink on her own (with Thick-It)

The only remaining covered bridge over the Wabash

Enjoying the Wabash

Just because.