Jean Piaget

"The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done."

-Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Swiss cognitive psychologist.

Kindergarten Nature Journal

For nature journaling this year, I am having each child pick a tree in our yard. On our 1/5th of an acre we actually have 6 trees to study - one of which is just a baby that popped up this summer.

At least once a month, I will have them observe and sketch their tree in their nature notebooks.

One of our trees appeared about the time DS5 was born so we have always called it his tree. Of course that is the tree he wanted to journal this morning. Even though I have studied this stuff and seen it a million times, it amazes me when a child of 5 years produces something like this. It's amazing what they can do if we let them.

DS5's tree and sketch

DD10's tree and sketch

I couldn't help myself

Book Review - Can You Find It Outside

Two book reviews in one day. I wasn't planning to do this, but I had to plug this book I found at the library. Can You Find It Outside? from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While at the library I also noticed another book called "Can You Find It Inside?"


This book has 13 works of art in which the reader is asked to find various objects. It's a type of "I Spy" book, but it contains fine art. This is a great way to expose young children to art and get them to really look at it.


My 5 year old son and I had a great time reading this book today.


One of the pieces contained in the book is "Peaceable Kingdom" by American artist, Edward Hicks.


When looking at this piece, the child is asked to find the lion and the leopard and the lamb. Then he is asked to find a hole in the tree and two bare feet.
My son studied the picture for a long time and said he couldn't find the bare feet. At first, I thought he was kidding. Then I realized he was completely serious. After giving him some clues, he said there simply is no bear in the picture.
Oh the innocence of it all. I love moments like these.

I can't wait to go back to the library to check out "Can You Find It Inside?"

Book Review - Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?

Quote from the beginning of the book:
"...All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from the defects in their constitution or confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation..." John Quincy Adams, 1829

WOW!
This is a great book. It is on Ambleside Online's book list for Year 7. DD12 and her dad are reading it together and they are loving it. It is a course in economics that is very easy to understand. Each chapter is only 2 pages long and her assignment is to read only one chapter a week, digest it and discuss it.

Chapter titles include (These are my favorites):
Inflation
Revolutions, Elections and Printing Presses
Fast Money
How Much is a Trillion
What's So Bad About the Federal Debt?

I like to recommend books that gets our family as a whole talking and this is one of those books. DD12 will read something and come running to us to share what she just learned. My hubby does that, too. We then talk about the ideas presented and figure out how they apply to our lives today. We are all talking about it.

As we work through the upcoming year, I hope to post other Charlotte Mason friendly books.

The "S" Word

I thought this was interesting. I looked up "socialization" and found "socialize". #1 is a little scary. Then out of curiosity I looked up "socialism". I found #3 most interesting on that one.
I wonder if these words are on any vocabulary list in the public schools. Hmmmm.

Here is what I found:

so·cial·ize (sō'shə-līz') v. so·cial·ized, so·cial·iz·ing, so·cial·iz·esv. tr.
1. To place under government or group ownership or control.
2. To make fit for companionship with others; make sociable.
3. To convert or adapt to the needs of society.v. intr.To take part in social activities.so'cial·i·za'tion (-shə-lĭ-zā'shən) n., so'cial·iz'er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Cite This Source


so⋅cial⋅ism   /ˈsoʊʃəˌlɪzəm/ Show Spelled [soh-shuh-liz-uhm] Show IPA –noun
1..a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
2..procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.
3..(in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

Compare utopian socialism.
Origin: 1830–40; social + -ism
Dictionary.com UnabridgedBased on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009. Cite This Source

South Mountain Fair

DD12 worked desparately to finish two projects to be entered in our local fair. She did both projects through 4-H. There were other homeschoolers locally who entered the fair and it was fun seeing their projects there as well.

Due to a financial crunch in our family, we are being forced to really cut back on recreational spending. We had to pay an admission to the fair ($4 per adult and kids were free), but it was well worth it since we warned the children ahead of time that we would not be riding anything. We were there to see the exhibits. DS5 really wanted to ride something, but I think he is adjusting to our budget. He only asked once, we said "no" and miraculously, there was no whining.

We first saw a man with a monkey. I had a couple of quarters and gave them to the kids. The monkey came and took the money out of their hands and kissed them each on the nose. It was sweet.

Anyway, walking through and taking the time to really look at the exhibits was a lot like visiting a muesum. We really appreciated what went into each project and that made the day very enjoyable. We also visited the commercial exhibits which weren't quite as much fun, but we got some free post-it notes, pens and rulers. We were also able to talk politics with the political candidates who were there. After that, we visited the livestock. It was a little smelly, but fun seeing the various animals. By that time we had plastic bags with our freebies and I had to tell the children to keep the bags away from the goats because they would try to eat them. And they did.

The highlight of the whole event was seeing the second place ribbons on both of DD12's projects. This being her first year, having little guidance, and not knowing what the judges might be looking for, we were all surprised (and very proud) she did so well.

The bonus was that when we went to pick up her projects on Sunday, she recieved a check for $4! She won a money prize of $2 each for the 2nd place winnings. She was beaming.

As we left the grounds, all three of my kids were thinking of projects they could enter next year.

As a mom, this made my heart sing.