Hello, my friends. Summer break is officially over and school has begun here at Rivertree Academy. We completed our first week of school last week and it was blissful. I decided to go with Winter Promise Adventures of the Sea & Sky for the two older boys. It is a themed learning program with a Charlotte Mason approach. They are excited that their history is based on sailing, flight and space travel; and their science focuses on oceans, weather and outer space. For me it it nice to have them show some enthusiasm for learning.
I have been reading a lot about Charlotte Mason's teaching philosophy and am intrigued with the gentle art of learning. One idea I really liked was nature study. I was hoping I could incorporate it into our schooling. Nature cooperated the first day of school. Duchess rescued a cicada from a death grip of a cat out in our yard. She brought the injured creature into the house and we were all able to take a closer look.
We did some research about cicadas and the most interesting fact we found was that they live for 13-17 years. Isn't that amazing? I gave each of the children a clipboard with a piece of drawing paper attached and asked them to draw the bug. We then glued the drawings into their Nature Notebooks ($0.50 composition books from Target).
I asked the girls what they learned about cicadas (implemented narration--another Charlotte Mason approach) and I wrote what they said into their Nature Notebooks:
Maiden's is on the left. She said, "Cicadas lay eggs and sings not that good. They make a hole in a stick and lay eggs in it."
Duchess' is on the right and she had a little more to say, "A cicada sings if it's a male. A female doesn't sing. The mama makes holes in a branch to lay eggs to make babies. It doesn't fly but turns into a flying one after it molts. It lives underground before it can fly."
It was a fun day for us. I am thrilled to be giving our children a Charlotte Mason-style education. I'm sure I'll be telling you more about it in upcoming posts.
I am delighted to be back in the blogosphere. I have missed my blog friends and can't wait to see what's been happening in your lives.
Blessings,
