Elementary

Arrival of the Purple Finch

For years I have wanted a bird feeder. This last birthday Damien made me one for a gift. This feeder is the gift the keeps on giving. Thank you Damien.

purple finch at feeder

The most recent arrival to the feeder is the Purple Finch. This spring is the first time we've seen a purple finch; and we're all in love with the rich red of the males.

purple finch at feeder

These beautiful birds have been hard to photograph. I spent the winter in the company of friendly chickadees and bossy nuthatches, both of which are comfortable with human comings and goings.

purple finch on feeder

Not so with these purple finches; every photo of these birds has been taken through a pane of glass. And even then I have stalk carefully and slowly to get my camera into place. These crimson beauties take flight with just the hint of movement.

purple finch on feeder

The kids have been inspired to paint the birds; turning the bird feeder into a spring nature study. Actually the feeder has provided non-stop nature study since Damien installed it five months ago.

A little note about nature study

For the record, we have never done nature study in the true Charlotte Mason sense, nor do I feel the need to. I mention this only because some people get hung up on form, when you really needn't.

boy drawing bird

Are we doing this right? There isn't a right way, so stop worrying about it and just enjoy what you're doing. Whether that's biking on a wooded path and appreciating the trees as you zip along. Or, watching a bird feeder and cataloging, or not, the birds that come visit. Or going for walks in the city where you live, looking for anything that blooms and taking home some petals to press.

purple finch paint palette

The best kind of nature study is the kind your children are inspired to do.

We don't do a lot of sitting in the woods to sketch what we see. In fact, we never do that. Our outdoor time is usually pretty active. The kids instead paint, draw, and sketch (at the kitchen table) based on photographs found in books, on the internet, or ones I've taken.

watercolor nature journal birds

We've never even had nature journals, gasp. I tried, it didn't take. We just use pieces of paper and the ones the kids want to keep are often displayed for a time and then saved in their learning portfolio.

watercolor birds

Also, nature study is a self-directed study at our home. Not something I need to plan or schedule for, except in terms of having supplies on hand for when the spirit moves.

kids painting birds

In case you're interested, the Peterson Birds of North America is one of our favorite nature study apps for the iPad. We also refer to our paper technology guide book quite often. We like the eastern birds guide. But there is a western guide also.

How do you like to do nature study in your home?

Saturday Swimming

cafe open

It all started in January with our weekly French lessons. Céline and I left the house every Saturday afternoon, driving to a nearby community where our course was offered.

We were gone all afternoon and Damien felt antsy stuck at home with the younger two and no vehicle (we are a one car family, as we always have been).

After our first or second week of this Damien said, "we're coming to town when you go to French." There's not a lot of places to go in town on a Saturday afternoon in winter. But there is a cafe. And a swimming pool. And so a new routine was born.

girl with googles in pool

On Saturday afternoon we'd all leave the house together. Damien would drop Céline and I off at our French class and then he and the kids would go to the swimming pool, and after that, the cafe. Then they'd pick us up when our class ended, late in the afternoon.

When our first semester of French was over, mid-March, the Saturday afternoons in town continued.

cafe pastries

Now I'm the one dropping Damien off at the cafe, where he can work in peace for a couple hours. I take the kids swimming - where I sit on the sidelines and do my own computer work - writing, photo editing, household planning stuff.

Then we meet Damien back at the cafe, where the kids and I have our own hot drinks before we head home for the late afternoon and evening.

latte

A nice local swimming pool is a treat. Maine is not known for its fabulous recreation centers. It's known for beaches and camps, woods and mountains. We have that here also, but we also have a local pool. Score.

Last week, I asked Brienne if she would like to ask a friend to join us for Saturday afternoon swimming. "No", she said, "I like swimming with just Laurent and Céline".

kids swimming googles

As Céline grows up she lives in another world, intellectually and socially, from her siblings. The time my kids spend doing things together is less than it used to be.

When Laurent and Brienne enter young adulthood I suspect my kids' worlds will align once more. But now, it's Céline mostly in one world and the other two still in childhood.

brother sister swim

But not when they swim. When they swim, or run (or pretty much do any active outdoor pursuit) together, they share the same world. The same activity, a common experience.

This is as important to me as the physical activity itself. These children of mine who have lived nearly 24/7 for their entire lives, still like to be together and enjoy each other's company. I love that.

girl swimming pool

Yes, they need friends and we are thrilled that Céline especially has started to find her tribe (online mostly). She will be fourteen next month. Friends mean more and more to her and we understand that.

coffee cups stacked

But siblings are first friends. And when you homeschool, your siblings are the peers you spend most of your day with.

Enjoying their company isn't just nice, it's necessary to have peaceful and happy days together. I am thankful my kids share this kind of relationship with each other. And I'm happy to add swimming to our schedule if it helps to foster their friendship.

Afternoon School ~ A spring schedule

In an effort to survive March I made some changes to our daily routine. Almost every February and/or March (that I can remember of recent memory) I make changes to our New Year's routine when we hit the winter doldrums.

morning coffee

Inevitably, a scheduling or schooling idea that looks good on paper doesn't play out so well in real life. Usually, I plan for more than I am capable of achieving and I have to re-adjust my expectations. And very often I simply get tired of day-in, day-out routines and need to change things around to stay inspired. I'm guessing a few of you can relate.

I introduced a change last month that I've never tried before - afternoon homeschooling.

We are interest-led homeschoolers and we allow our children a large degree of freedom to pursue what they want to learn. This is not hands-off for us. There's a lot of parental assistance that accompanies this type of learning.

Also, in the elementary years there are a few foundational skills - reading, writing and math - that we actively teach our children. These activities: the hands-on assistance for interest-led projects, time for skill building, and the inspired mama-led learning is what our designated "school time" looks like.

kids playing on wood floor

Mostly, it's the time I set aside in my day to focus on our kids' education. I am thinking about our kids' learning almost all the time. It's my responsibility and passion. But there are certain times that I stop the other activities I'm doing to actively teach and facilitate - this is our "school time".

There is so much reading, discussion, and life learning activity that happens outside of our designated "school time" that the term seems somewhat artificial. But in our home everyone knows what "school time" means. The kids expect there will be some combination of reading, writing, math, maybe science or history. There could be games, stories, or poetry. It's never the same each day.

This routine has always happened in the mornings. Not every morning, we average about 3 days a week for "school" and we take complete breaks often, but morning was the time for it.

Last month, for the first time in our homeschooling history, I changed this routine.

walking along petite cascapedia river

I started exercising every day and decided the best time for me to do that was mid-morning. (This reflects a general trend last month of recognizing my physical, emotional, and mental needs and taking care of those first. And if that meant no school in the mornings, then so be it.)

Damien is also more available in the morning than he is in the afternoon and evening (the times of day he does his main income earning work). I have enjoyed loosening the tight grip on my mornings, which used to be my workhorse, so I can spend more time with my husband. Going for walks together, chatting on the couch leisurely instead of me stressing out about "getting things done" and cranking through my morning routine.

My morning has shifted from "check, check, check" my way through the list to "what feels like the right thing to be doing right now?"

I find I don't even have to plan as vigilantly in the morning either because I'm not hitting the ground running, so to speak, with our schedule first thing. This frees up a bit of my early morning time, so I can make a fire if I want, or sleep in if I need it.

I am writing simpler to-do lists these days also. Little paper notes (how old school) in a sweet little notebook that Miriam, from the Netherlands, sent me. I still do most of my note keeping and planning in Evernote but a switch to simpler to-do lists is a nice change.

paper to-do list

My needs required a new schedule; but the kids' changing needs also demanded a new routine. As they grow their sleep cycles are changing. And everything I've read about teenagers staying up late and getting up late has come to pass in my own home.

Our old schedule was based on a 7:30ish rising time. 7:30 just ain't happening anymore.

I have no problems with the kids staying up late and sleeping in, as long as we can still get our stuff done (throughout the course of the whole day). And get it done without too much angst.

The kids' later bedtime, and subsequent later rising time, was resulting in too much morning angst. I was stressed about getting the kids up by a certain time so we could "do our routine". But the routine was not serving us anymore so it was time to change it.

Our mornings are slower now and I don't have the stress of unrealistic expectations and ill-fitting schedules.

girl petting cat

I changed the chore system also so that everyone can work independently and at their own pace. (Chores used to be more shared.) The kids love this change. I had no idea how ready they were for this next level of independence.

So now my mornings go something like this: I get up and putter, start laundry if a load needs washing. Earlier this month I was lighting a fire, though that's starting to change.

Most days I read my Bible and usually try to grab hold of one particular verse that speaks to me and try to carry that with me through the day. I may read my e-mail, I may not. If I feel I might get stressed by reading it, I don't. I'll save it for later in the morning, to read after I've had some creative writing time or taken care of a few household tasks.

I do my writing with not quite the same intensity I used to. I was burning out writing alone in my room (I'm an extrovert). Now I like to sit with the family and be available to chat, but not too much. As it is, the kids are bed for most of this time anyway.

Saint Edgar gazebo

At some point the kids get up and do their thing - breakfast and chores. Mid-morning is when we exercise, the whole fam-damnly. Sometimes together, sometimes on our own.

In between and after exercising I fit in my major homemaking tasks for the day. Early in the week these are food related tasks - menu planning and grocery list stuff. Later in the week my attention turns to cleaning, organizing, home management, or creative projects.

This leaves school stuff for the afternoon. I'm not sure how long this will last. When the weather truly feels like spring we will take a break to revel in the outdoors which usually includes a large dose of science exploration and nature study. And then of course during summer everything is up for negotiation. So we'll see how it all works out.

mourning cloak butterfly

But for now it's working well.

Have you ever switched your school routine from morning to afternoons or vice versa? Or maybe you scatter your school activities through out the whole day? Feel free to share.