Our first nature walk!

With all this new info I have acquired over the last few months, nature studies have intrigued me the most. I love to explore nature, I remember running through creeks, fields, and just leaving for hours and coming home at dark when I was a child. However, now as an adult, I think of snakes, spiders and other creatures that also live in nature and I'm not sure I want to front that alone, so...my cool idea was to ask for friends to come along! The Littles thought this was a great idea and so off we went after our Mom's meeting at church.

We went to a nearby park located on Cypress Creek. We went down to the shore and tried to find something unusual and we did. Seashells. I have no idea how those got there. We saw a lot of trash and were able to have a good talk about why that can hurt the wildlife around. Once we were through there, we headed back up the hill and onto the path. The kids immediately started seeing things that they normally would have just walked right by. The pulled out their sketch pads and started sketching.

We traveled further and saw the creek from so many angles. The kids found an old stump and decided to count the rings to see how old it was. It was 26 years old. We found trees with diseases (or so we thought).

We also found a tree that would make a very good home for an animal, and we found a centipede.

Thank you Littles for coming with us and making our first nature walk so much fun!!!

Ocean study

Since we went on vacation to the beach in February, I decided to do a beach study in the winter. Crazy, I know, but it's working. All three girls have worked it into their studies. Faith is doing a whole unit on the food chain for science and Hope and Charity are loving all the "living books" I found on Amazon and in ALL the gift shops we went into. Even Love is listening to our stories. It is wonderful to see them learn in this whole new wonderful way. They are living what they're learning and so they have a relationship that will last so much longer than if I had just read them something from a textbook. I feel like I have been given the greatest gift from Charlotte Mason and all the others since who have helped expose this wonderful way of learning to me. Thank you all for I am eternally grateful!

Homeschooling on vacation

We just got back from a wonderful, relaxing weekend at the beach. The beach you ask, in Feb? Yes, here in south Texas you can go and have an amazing time in Feb. The wind was perfect for kite flying and the hermit crabs were out and about.

My whole plan was to bring some formal lessons and then throw in a bunch of science and history, well forget the formal stuff, I needed a break. But the history is what really took over. My parents came with us and my dad was able to take my girls on a history lesson that will last with them forever! My grandfather was stationed on the USS Lexington when it was first out at sea. We toured the Lex and learned so many things and learned all about what my grandfather did. Where he slept, ate and worked. It made it completely real to them to know that their great-grandfather was on this ship during wars, and then they saw the war rooms, the ready rooms for the pilots and the ship's engine where he was "in charge." When we got home and I asked my daughter to narrate for me, I was amazed at all the things she remembered and it was so interesting to see what she took from this incredible lesson. My next lesson for her (daddy's idea) is to have her and dd#1 write a story about what it was like to live on that ship for a year. I can't wait to read what they write!!