When Early March Seems Middle May

Charlotte Mason writes, "Never be within doors when you can rightly be without." With this warm weather, we've tried taking her advice. We'll see how it goes with the week of rain expected!

When Early March Seems Middle May

When country roads begin to thaw
In mottled spots of damp and dust,
And fences by the margin draw
    Along the frosty crust
Their graphic silhouettes, I say,
The Spring is coming round this way

When coughs are changed to laughs, and when
Our frowns melt into smiles of glee,

 And all our blood thaws out again
    In streams of ecstasy,
And poets wreak their roundelay,
The Spring is coming round this way.

by James Whitcombe Riley

Good Reads: Our Children's Poetry List Winter 2009

I grew up with poetry: my grandfather quoting it; my mother writing her own; memorizing it in school; a 4th grade teacher reading us "The Cremation of Sam McGee" for good behavior. But it wasn't until I started teaching poetry to AP students and then adults that I grew to love it. It wasn't just that I was forced to learn it and help others understand it, that helped, but more because I was then able to see poetry's ability to speak to so many different human experiences in such a simple yet profound ways.

A turn of phrase, an apt metaphor, a broken rhythm...brought forth rich discussion in class and food for thought long after the class was over. So often my own experiences are better understood in the light of poetry and I've started to enjoy writing in lines (here and here) rather than straight prose.

So reading poetry with my children is also becoming a part of our day. We've started reading poetry right before nap time. It calms them down but is short enough, they always are asking for more.


Here are the three anthologies we're reading right now:

The Green Tiger's Illustrated Mother Goose. We spend time pouring over the beautiful illustrations from over 100 artists dating from the 1880s to the 1940s in this wonderful edition I found at a used bookstore. It also maintains the older language so its syntax and vocabulary are much more interesting.

It's so easy to think of Mother Goose only for the very young but Nursery Rhymes build an ear for language and rhyme, increase musical and rhythmic awareness, aid memory, build phonemic awareness and even develop math skills. Many of the poems are just fun but others teach moral lessons.

Although the older editions are more complex, I have found that since the children already know the nursery rhymes so well that the complexity helps them learn more about the art of reading poetry.

The Complete Book of Flower Fairies by Cecily Barker

The children are smitten with this beautiful anthology of fairies of the trees and flowers. Each poem has an enchanting illustration of the fairy and a realistic depiction of the flower, leaf, or fruit. The poems are sweet, humorous, and thought-provoking, containing elements which actually teach the children a bit about the flower or tree. We're working our way through the Alphabet Fairies (which you could buy separately as its own book). The poems have led to imaginative play, tree and flower identification, and a deeper appreciation of nature. When an acorn drops they wonder if it is a fairy; they are quiet around Willow Trees, hoping to gain a glimpse; when our yard was filled with clover, they spent a good deal of time looking for the clover fairy! The book has a companion CD of the poems put to music and a wonderful coloring book. I hope to post more about our love of fairies soon!

The Ambleside Collection of Poetry. An online collection of over 200 classic poems for children arranged by month and season. I've printed and placed them in a binder. I also print a few to place on our seasonal bulletin board that has the children's art work and seasonal pictures. I pick and choose from the collection a few days a week. If the poem is too difficult for the children I encourage them just to sit back and enjoy the sounds of the words rolling together and ask what they heard, rather than forcing it.

Hope you're inspired to read poetry! Love to hear of other ways you've introduced poetry to your children and your favorite collections!

Two links on beauty

Two links on beauty one for surrounding ourselves with beauty in our day and the other for seeing it in ourselves.

Tuesday Tea Time through the Church Year and the Feast of St. Matthew

One way we attempt to follow the life of Christ with our children is by celebrating the church year in our home.

To that end, we have begun to follow the ideas of so many wonderful bloggers who hold Tea Times with their children, young and old, boy and girl celebrating the feasts of the church year.

The Tea Times look something like this:

Light Candle: as we do in church, the light reminds of the Light of the World in our very midst. The lighting of the candle is a helpful signal that something special and holy is about to begin.

Prayer: The Collect of the Day. The Collect is a prayer that "collects" our attention to the themes of Scripture for the day. It also collects up the petitions of all present individuals into one prayer. Although the Book of Common Prayer has gone through many changes through time, many of the collects are still the work of Thomas Cranmer in the mid-1500s, who wrote or edited and translated collects of the fifth and sixth centuries.

Scripture: Though at other times, we read from Story Bibles, this is a time to read directly from Scripture. To maintain the focus of our little ones, I cut down the readings if necessary but would like them to begin to learn to listen to full passages from the Word of God. The Scripture will tie to the theme of the week.

The Blessing, Tea and Snack: One of the children pray before we begin our snack and tea. The ladies at Catholic Cuisine have developed a wonderful site full or recipes and ideas to fit the day.

Hymn Study: I play the service music we are studying for the month in the background as they snack. As the bustle of pouring tea and eating our snack quiets, we listen to the hymn more closely, then discuss, and then sing again together. We work on reciting the hymn without singing. We will loosely follow the hymn schedule from Ambleside Online but substitute in our church's service music as well. So for example we are beginning with The Gloria in Excelcious Deo (Hymnal S280).

Activity or Craft: For fun and to reinforce the theme from Scripture or life of the saint we are studying.

Themes for Term 1: Introduction to the Church Calendar, The Cross, The Lives of the Saints, Advent, Christmas.

For this week's tea, we celebrated the Feast of St. Matthew:

The treat were shortbread cookies. I thought they looked easy to make and jewel-like!

Scripture: Matthew 9:9-13










The Collect:
O Almighty God,
whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector
to be an apostle and evangelist:
give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches
that we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Coloring Pages:
The Calling of St. Matthew Coloring Page

St. Matthew writing Scripture

St. Matthew's Shield


Two Activities:
We studied the Caravaggio painting The Calling of St. Matthew:












Hubby brought home a bag of candy money and we acted the story out. Boy, it was hard for them to let go of the chocolate coins--talk about forsaking "the selfish pursuit of gain and the possessive love of riches." We filled the empty tax collector's cup up with toy people to represent how Matthew became a fisher of men rather than collector of money!

We also recited and sang the Gloria as they colored, working and discussing the third stanza. It was a lovely afternoon and a fun surprise to have hubby join us!

I'd love to hear any ideas you had for this feast for next year!

Next week will be the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Any ideas on how to approach this idea with little ones?

On leaving behind an old self and finding I like the new self better.

On leaving behind an old self and finding I like the new self better.

I used to try to get everything done.
Used to think I could.
I was a teacher of literature and poetry and writing.

Then I had three kids of my own.

And started homeschooling them.

Now I

Grow butterflies instead of house plants.

Collect finger prints instead of art prints.

Eat family friendly instead of complicated gourmet.

I have an audience of 3 instead of 103.

I hear puppet-show narrations instead of expository essays.

I read fairy tales instead of the Great Books.

I receive hugs instead of paychecks.

Though I no longer teach in a public space,

I still
care, love, reflect,
plan, assess, correct,

cry, laugh, learn.

But now I get snuggles in return.

I don't get a Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring or
Summer Break from these students.

But each morning I do get

frowzy, warm, little boy hands rubbing my back

or

giggles greeting me from baby bouncing in crib

or

a groan from under pillow of the oldest growing too fast.

And I know my work has begun again.
We share OJ and oatmeal, prayer and praise.

At this school, I count baking (and eating) goodies
as my part of my curriculum.














A bike ride as

Physical Education.

I have a whole world as my scope.
My inspiration sets our sequence.

I end these students' day, not with homework
but covers pulled up under chin,

prayer, confession and blessing,
kisses, I love yous, nigh-nighs, one more song,

and a "can we have donuts for breakfast?"
I guess, it's always worth a try.

And finally they are all asleep,

hopefully for the night.

The house, our school room, is hushed.

Instead of desks to clean, there are still dishes.

Instead of piles of grading, there is always more laundry.

But no last bell, just quiet.

The quiet satisfaction of work well-done and days well-spent.
Work never quite done, always to be repeated,
fraught with imperfection and sin,
a liturgy of love,
a litany of my life for yours.


**The original inspiration for this post came from The Flourishing Mother...It was so wonderful for me to work through these ideas. Thanks, Andrea.

Apple-picking in the Fall

This past week we took the morning off from school to go Apple-Picking at Linvilla with my parents. We had so much fun! And there are so many ways to extend it into a Unit Study with science, literature, cooking, poetry, art, and math.

The Tractor ride might have been their favorite part!











We picked and picked!






















And Pop Pop collected:



















Our Favorite apple books:
The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson




Apple Stamping: From Martha

Apple Tasting: Sort, Cut, taste, and describe a variety of apples to pick your favorites. This lesson plan is very detailed!

Apple Fractions: Lesson plan

Montessori Three Part Classification Cards: The Life Cycle of the Apple Tree. I printed twice, laminated, and then cut these cards. We used them for a matching game, reading practice and learning about the life cycle of the apple tree.

The Apple Tree through the Seasons: Cards to print and color

Our Favorite Apple Recipe: Apple Brown Betty by The Pioneer Woman











For Poetry this section of the Frost poem resonated with me. The apples were so plentiful and fell to the ground so easily. It was hard to not feel guilty about leaving them behind.

For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.

from After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost

Woods

A brisk and early Saturday morning in the woods...

After a week hard-worked and well-spent, we needed to shed our heaviness in a blessed place of singing, vision and flight. My 3 year old son took my hand as we walked and asked, "Mom, are we looking for God?"

Woods

by Wendell Berry

I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees

Though I am silent
there is singing around me.

Though I am dark
there is vision around me.

Though I am heavy
there is flight around me.

The first day of Kindergarten!

We have been so busy lately, I haven't had time to post but I wanted to write about finishing G's first week of Kindergarten Homeschooling!

To make the start of the school year special for her, we went out together for a fun girl's afternoon.My mom did the same for me (although I think she cut my hair herself; the choppy bangs in all of my school pictures are evidence though I won't be posting those!).

The Haircut!

The Ears Pierced!


The New Outfits!

We finally made the decision to homeschool using curriculum from K12 which is completely FREE for PA residents!! When all of her materials arrived, including a computer, printer and supplies, it felt like Christmas.


So many of the books and curriculum pieces for each subject were on my list for this year:


The online lesson plans have been easy to follow and have saved so much time. I love the strong emphasis on art, music, poetry, classic literature, as well as history being taught through story. I like the idea of being linked to a teacher to support us and provide accountability.

In just a week, I have been able to see firsthand all of the wonderful things about homeschooling that I've read and heard:

--building a family culture of wonder, beauty and excellence in learning;
--having multiple ages learning together has provided opportunities for them to grow in motivation, patience and love;
--plenty of outdoor time, though our lessons are a bit longer than I'd like them to be, since we are at home it is so easy to send them outside if we have even a small break and then they have the afternoons to play and run. I can't imagine M. being in a classroom all day and being able to sit and focus;
--tailoring learning for each student; we get to emphasize what we love, focus on what needs to be strengthened, slow down or speed up;
--the ability to tweak the curriculum; getting rid of busy work and twaddle, but even more to bring in our worldview when it applies;
--the time for what matters most to us, like family devotions in the morning, Bible and Catechism instruction, and our Liturgical Tuesday Teas.
--the time for all the things I want them to learn Composer, Artist Study and Nature Walks that contribute to the fabric of the Christian life.
--the time for practical life and habit training, like meal preparation, chores, caring for little ones, even laundry can be done in a meaningful way that so obviously contributes to the common good of the household.


As I reflect on our first week, I know that it was not my planning, a good curriculum, the children's desire to learn that led to our success, but the prayers that surrounded us and our attempt to work for the Glory of God. So thank you to all who lifted us up in prayer and sent encouraging emails. Even when I was tired or things got crazy or G even cried, I always had a sense I was not alone. To kick off our school year, my dh focused our morning devotions at breakfast on what the Bible says about work; we started at the Garden of Eden and ended with a reading from Revelations. These ideas reminded us for whom we were working. It warmed my heart, when I went to take this picture of G on the first day of school, she looked up at the camera smiled and declared, "For God's Glory!"


May it be so!

Masterly Inactivity

There are moments when my two older children, just 17 months apart, have a hard time getting along, can't find anything to do, and set out looking for trouble. In these moments, it is so tempting for me to turn to a video to occupy them. But we want movies to be a treat in our house, not a part of our regular routine. We've all read the studies that show the negative affects of tv on young children...but it is easy to fall into that morning show and just before dinner habit.
My other temptation is to try to create things for them to do. To feel the need to sit down and play with them, to invent the game, do the craft together.

This temptation, like a good movie, has its place too.

But I've found that falling into either trap as a way of life only creates more problems. When the tv show is done, they don't seem any more ready to play with one another or come up with an activity. When they depend on me to play with them, they grow rusty in using their own imaginations and thinking skills.

Though I have many goals for my children's education, one of my biggest hopes is that they will develop inner resources to approach the world He has created with curiosity. That they will have an active mind that seeks beauty and meaning even though they are just 10 months, and 3 and 4!

Charlotte Mason, the British educator I love so much, seems to have a solution for the two extremes in my parenting, ignoring the child or overly orchestrating their time. She writes that as parents

“We ought to do so much for our children, and are able to do so much for them, that we begin to think everything rests with us and that we should never intermit for a moment our conscious action on the young minds and hearts about us. Our endeavours become fussy and restless. We are too much with our children, ‘late and soon.’ We try to dominate them too much, even when we fail to govern, and we are unable to perceive that wise and purposeful letting alone is the best part of education” (Vol. 3, p. 27).

Besides the fact that she quotes from my favorite Wordsworth poem, she gets to the heart of my over-parenting. Rather she suggests we think of our role as parents as "Masterly Inactivity." This is not the Rousseauian belief of leaving a child to their own innocent state of nature--our children need our care and direction, they need God's grace and mercy. Though our modern culture often shrinks from the idea of Authority, our duty is to be Masterly. With a "thinking love," we can create a family culture where all can thrive and develop under authority: "The mastery is not over ourselves [as the parent] only; there is also a sense of authority, which our children should be as much aware of when it is inactive as when they are doing our bidding" (Mason, Vol. 3, p. 28). Yet we must hold our authority with enough good humor and confidence to prevents us from discovering what the child must discover himself, from creating what the child must create herself, leading the child to true learning.

Thus, Mason teaches that children must be free to play and work but helped to have the atmosphere and space as well as the training of habit and ability to do so. An over-scheduled child will be too tired to "play." A chaotic or messy house filled with too many toys will overwhelm. A child who has only heard stories of twaddle or watched silly tv shows will lack a real imagination to imitate and create. A child who has not learned to control his hand or eye or tongue will not see beauty or nature or God's handiwork around them. "In this matter the child who goes too much on crutches never learns to walk; he who is most played with by his elders has little power of inventing plays for himself; and so he misses that education which comes to him when allowed to go his own way" (Mason, Vol. 3 p. 37).

All of this has come together for me in the last few days as we have returned from a wonderful week of travel and rest, where we had either lots of tv time or time together in activity. It was wonderful but they had forgotten how to play. Though they hadn't seen their toys in a week, they were uninterested unless their sibling picked the toy up and then a fight broke out. But I had been reading about this idea of "Masterly Inactivity." How could I help them to play on their own more?

The first example that came to mind was our dress-up box. I had not taken the time to be masterly here. It was an overly stuffed mess of clothes, purses, wands, crowns, and random toys that had been long missing. So I tried to do two masterly things . The first was to have us all clean out the box together, throwing away the broken and useless, putting toys back in the proper place. We then grouped together the possibilities of the dress-up box--a hat creates a construction worker, a stethoscope for a doctor, wings enough for a fairy, a sword a tool for a knight, etc. As we worked and imagined together, I realized they never played with their cowboy things, an animal skin vest from my husband's childhood on the ranch and a cowboy hat from his current hunting trips in the Rocky Mountains. And so in my second moment of guiding, I casually mentioned where the vest and the hat were from. DD and DS were full of questions about their Dad as we packed his things in the box. The next morning when the restlessness began, instead of turning on the tv or coming up with an activity for them, I waited. And sure enough, when I checked in again, they were happily playing cowboys! After a long time went by and they were starting to grow restless, I suggested that my cowgirl and boy take a ride on their "horses" to check the area for foxes or coyotes.G in her dad's vest from when he was 2!

M proud in his Dad's hat

They were so excited as we rode around the block on bikes.



Mind you, it takes a long time for Cowboys and Cowgirls to get around the block when they are busy scoping out tracks or signs of the fox and other predators.



It even led to impromptu nature study as my son found lots of Cicada skins and collected them as we went. When we got home, we read about Cicadas online and listened to the Cicada's call and went out again to look and listen for live ones.




Another example of the development of imagination through good books was in telling of the story of "The Lady and the Tiger."They were mesmerized and wanted to know so badly what happened in the end. We guessed together and left it at that. A few hours later when my dd was looking for something to do in that restless way, I noticed she eventually picked up her Disney Princess Figurines. She had ignored these of late, the old tales had grown stale. When I checked back in I realized, she also had her brother's soldier and toy tiger and was narrating the tale of "The Lady and The Tiger." This afforded her a long time lost in her own world of imagination.

To be "masterly" requires not only a sense of authority, but also a bit of thought, organization and planning. To be "inactive," takes the patience to allow the children to discover on their own. Perhaps my above examples then are a bit trite in the larger sense of what the term can mean for our parenting. Because what underlies an ability for a parent to be both masterly and inactive is a deep trust in The Authority who holds our very lives in His Hand:

"When we recognise that God does not make over [give over] the bringing up of children absolutely even to their parents, but that He works Himself, in ways which it must be our care not to hinder, in the training of every child, then we shall learn passiveness, humble and wise. We shall give children space to develop on the lines of their own characters in all right ways, and shall know how to intervene effectually to prevent those errors which, also, are proper to their individual characters." (Mason, Vol. 3, p. 35)


*All Mason quotes from the full text of Miss Mason's Original Homeschooling Series can be found at http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/3_03.html


**And for all wondering, little C tagged along too! She is her own delightful nature-lovin' buckaroo!