Living
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Monthly Memories – June 2012
Sharing our Monthly Memories. As always, sharing a month at a time means that only a snippet is recorded. Our logic classes with Father N:) Before Father N left we were blessed that he was able to present a series of logic classes to the children. We (both children and mums) thoroughly enjoyed his presentations and learnt so much. Father designed the lessons himself, and presented them on the flat screen. These lessons were such a blessing and we are still talking and implementing the skills learnt:):) Maintaining steady progress in the 4Rs, Science and the Humanities. Highlights Carpenter making fantastic progress on his essay for competition! Exceptionally well written, researched and…
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Join Us for the North Coast Catholic Homeschool Camp
For many Catholic Home Educating families in Australia homeschool camps are an integral part of our lives. Lifelong friendships are formed, isolation is eased, support is given. This year our family will be attending (and hosting) the North Coast Catholic Homeschool camp for our 12th year! Excitement is building in our home, our children are asking, “what activities are we doing this year, who is coming? Will my friends from last year be there, will we have new friends?” We warmly invite you to consider joining us for our 12th year!:) we still have a few cabins available. Held on the 10-14th September we are located at Lennox Head (Lismore…
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Awesome! – A Masculine Opinion
The layout of our study has bothered us for some time now. When we recently acquired two new computers and realised we needed to shuffle the room around yet again we decided it was time to invest in a more permanent solution. After discarding a few ideas PC decided to head to town in the search of desk modules. Having no success at any of the retail shops in town, hours later PC and Carpenter arrived home with gleeful looks on their faces. Instantly I was suspicious, what had they bought? Well… they hedged, I might not think it pretty, but it was perfect for the job, it just was…
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Monthly Memories – April & May 2012
Joining in with Kylie to record our Monthly Memories. Attempting a summation of the past two months, as I didn’t diligently record, the following is only a sample of learning undertaken and books read. The introduction of a daily Language Arts period (@1.5hrs) with our teen boys. This time is divided weekly between the study of spelling, poetry, note taking, literature analysis and Shakespeare. I’m really excited that our daily Language Arts block is faithfully occurring, I’m enjoying the interaction with the boys and am thrilled with the depth of learning occurring. We are still endeavouring to maintain steady progress in the 4Rs, Science and the Humanities, although a few changes have occurred to allow…
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Nature Walk (1)
Joining Elisa Loves in a Nature Walk Standing on my verandah I see two roos sizing each other up Deciding who is King of the Bush Mock fighting for the title Using tails for balance Kicking and clawing We realise anew how blessed we are to live in the bush.
- Blog, Home Education, Home Education - Charlotte Mason, Home Education - Nature Study, Home Education - Our Journey, Living
Nature Study Failure? – The Adventurous Years
One day we invited another ‘town’ friend to join us at the natural ponding on the edge of the hockey fields. In amongst ensuring my toddler didn’t fall in, sketching the ducks on the pond, finding a bird’s nest and discussing the pond’s flora an idea was born. An idea that was to change our nature experience, one that was to introduce our children to a whole new dimension, to throw two intrepid mothers into a series of wild nature adventures….. (Part 1) Part 2 – The Adventurous Years Inspired to expose our children to God’s natural world yet limited by the constraints of town living, my friend Margaret and I decided…
- Blog, Home Education, Home Education - Charlotte Mason, Home Education - Nature Study, Home Education - Our Journey, Living
Nature Study Failure? – The Earliest Years
Upon introduction to Charlotte Mason her wisdom resonated with me in most subjects, however there were a few that were ‘stumbling blocks’ and we have ‘tackled them’ with varying degrees of success. When Pam was so bold as to publicly admit she was a Nature Study Drop Out I immediately ‘yelled’, “me too”, but over time I began to ponder, was I really? We haven’t excelled at formal studies and have abysmally flopped at nature journalling, however we have succeeded in imparting to our children a respect for, and an interest in nature itself simply by much exposure. Reflecting upon our nature journey that covers more than a decade I began to see a pattern and decided to share…
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The Adams Family
We have a resident bat, occasionally he annoys me when he swoops up the hall and startles me, or when he swoops too low over my bed. Then I take to petitioning St Francis to take pity on me and evict Batty, all to no avail. Other family members plead his case, he is a great mosquito hunter, this mollifys me somewhat. This time however the bat goes too far. This season I have totally lost my sang-froid. Batty seems to have lost all sense of healthy boundaries and is flying TOO CLOSE, right up in our faces. Entering the house at all odd times, flying into every room of the house.…
- Blog, Home Education, Home Education - Charlotte Mason, Home Education - Language Arts, Learning, Living
Quality Literature
“For the children? They must grow up upon the best… There is never a time when they are unequal to worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well told. Let Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ represent their standard in poetry, DeFoe and Stevenson, in prose; and we shall train a race of readers who will demand literature– that is, the fit and beautiful expression of inspiring ideas and pictures of life.”(Vol 2 pg 263)When I first discovered Charlotte Mason and read her thoughts on living books, I knew I had found a kindred spirit! Some of her other teachings were harder to implement, some we have never succeeded in introducing consistently, but her insistence on quality literature was…
