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Field Trip: WNC Nature Center
What a gem! Incredibly beautiful location outside of both Black Mountain and Asheville, North Carolina – you simply couldn’t drop this Nature Center into any prettier spot. Kevin had a meeting in Black Mountain last week and our local zoo membership offers reciprocal passes at the Nature Center. It was a Thursday and we already had a field trip planned for Friday but it seemed like an opportunity too rare to pass. And we were right. The day’s temperatures couldn’t have been better – a chill in the air just perfect for crunching leaves and walking outside. Prior to departure all of the kids loaded their backpacks with their nature…
Keep Reading . . .
Noonday Trunk Show
Frankincense – a little educating (but not by me)
rocks & roots
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Journal Entries
Well. I may never have to think of an idea to write another blog post again. I realized today that I have a treasure trove of ideas in three little wide-ruled notebooks sitting right in our kitchen cabinets, directly under the shelf that stores our pottery bowls. We’ve been doing journals in school on and off for a few years now. They’ve always been endearing to me – but this year they seem to be downright entertaining. I don’t know if it’s the kids’ older ages or their improved wit and writing skills or what. But I am just getting such a kick out of these entries. Sometimes they make me laugh. Sometimes…
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Making Terrariums
After we finished reading The Magician’s Nephew (which I just love, by the way – remember Digory our dog? That’s the book his name came from. Like so many other names, I tired first to name one of our children Digory but with no success) the curriculum suggested several ways to create your own magical world. We landed on terrariums – a project I’ve actually always wanted to try. Any jar or glass container with or without a lid will work. It’s seriously super simple. We chose a jar that belonged to my mom – I think it held sugar once upon another life. The idea is basic, although of…
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Game Kit: A Great Little Product and a Lot of Fun
I cannot remember how long this sat on our shelf. At least a year. Likely more. I actually won a little box of treasures once on a blog giveaway so long ago that I cannot even remember what blog it was. It was a literal treasure box of items though. Bare books (our first introduction and now a staple to our homeschool supplies), wax crayons, a blank puzzle. And this. A blank do-it-yourself board game kit. A game kit complete with a blank board, a spinning wheel, blank cards, play money, dice – you name it. Upon a school room rearrange I unearthed the game kit hiding away and decided I…
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Field Day. Year Two.
I try not to spend a lot of my homeschooling days trying to match Wildwood Halls of Ivy to the local elementary school. Worksheets aren’t our mainstay and bells don’t ring on schedule. Bergen doesn’t have to raise his hand and Mosely can excuse herself to visit the restroom without asking permission. But last year a very typical traditional school activity became a part of our home educating experience. Field Day. Probably not an idea generated by me. (I don’t naturally think of sports-related days of competition. I’m not against it – I just don’t think about it at all. ) But the idea came up in our co-op. And…
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B. I. N. G. O. – Laura Ingalls Edition.
It’s been a while really. But when Papaw and Grandma made their pilgrimage from the great north to the even greater south, they brought along a little game with them. It was a fishing version of bingo. The kids got kind of obsessed. Otto is a huge fan of all things fishing. (“Hissing” he still pronounces it.) And all the kids love to play games. They played this bingo game about eight times every afternoon. And then again after dinner for another half dozen rounds. Insatiable. Their appetite for bingo was insatiable. Of course I needed to tap into that insatiability. And so. We created our own Laura Ingalls bingo…
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little man words.
One thing I love about kids in the mid-elementary school years …. their evolving, thinking brains. They’re just so clever and interesting. And they find the world around them new and intriguing. It’s all so glorious somehow. My nature-loving, full force, energetic eight-year-old boy came to me with a tiny piece of paper last week. He placed it in my hand. It was another poem. (This kid’s getting prolific.) And I think it’s really observant and lovely and inspiring and true. It reads … “Though the trees only wither in winter, joy comes again in the shape of the first bud.” If I was going to title this poem, I…
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Field Trip: The Carolina Honey Bee Company
Our Prairie Primer curriculum this year lends itself well to field trips. For various reasons I have not chosen to pursue every suggested field trip option. However, there are several field trip ideas that are just so handy, so nearby and so convenient, that it would be crazy to pass up the opportunity. Like the maple syrup store the week before. And last week – the honey store. For us – it was our friendly store The Carolina Honey Bee Company – located right here in Travelers Rest. All it took was a quick call and a simple question, “Can I bring my kids in for you to teach them a bit…
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Prairie Primer: Owl Pellets
Here’s what I like so far about The Prairie Primer.. The author’s extensive research and well thought out specific plans make my life easier. In three days of school I’ve been more productive and on track than a week or two of last year’s schedule I think. (Some of that may be because it’s the first week and because I love Laura Ingalls and because I have “bigger” kids this year.) Whatever. I like it. Today my guide said to dissect owl pellets. And so we dissected owl pellets. I ordered mine from Acorn Naturalists. They were surprisingly more disgusting than I remembered from the last go round. We all…
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reading. aloud. together. all the time. every day.
I have heard mounds of advice about homeschool over the years. Piles and gobs. Good advice about managing your time wisely, about organizing your day, about unschooling and school on line and classical vs. Charlotte Mason, about textbook choices and co-ops and at what age your child should be able to read, speak, think, tie shoes, make a pie, write an essay, climb a ladder. And it varies greatly. All that advice – it points you in a thousand directions frequently opposed to one another. It’s tricky to navigate and it’s personal and it’s big and intimidating and it’s overwhelming. But I don’t think I’ve ever met a homeschool parent…
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field trippin’
If you live within an hour’s drive of Brevard, North Carolina and you have never visited the Pisgah Wildlife Education Center – you have been missing a jewel of a place. Tucked in at the base of two mountains and surrounded by streams and the lovely Davidson River, the Center has been one of our family’s favorite field trip destinations for several years. Can you ever really go wrong with mountain air, sunshine and outdoor education? Oh – and all of the classes are offered at no cost. No cost! Because of life and circumstances, this week was our first trip up there this school year. And to add to…
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A Day in the Life: Part One
The forecast for the entire week was glorious. Warm afternoons. Cool mornings. The type of day designed by the creator of days to be spent out of doors. No climate controlled, temperature regulated kind of day. (Not that those days even exist when you live in a one hundred and eleven year old farm house.) I looked at the week’s forecast and I knew three things. 1. These days are an unadulterated gift. Cold weather is coming. 2. Cold weather is particularly disheartening at our home where last winter we could see our breath in our kitchen on a regular basis. 3. I need to stockpile good days of warmth…
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How To Enjoy A Corn Maze
1. Bring along a lot of your pals. And the children of those pals. 2. Approach the barn area so indecisively and scattered looking that an employee intercepts your gang and asks why you look so out of place. 3. Underestimate the vastness of the many acre corn maze before you and allow children free range to run as they please. 4. Realize the corn maze is larger and more complex than at first was recognized and try to run to catch up with your wayward crew. 5. Leave behind the one mom with the stroller to push through the rough dirt paths. 6. Toss the weakest link on your…
