My Camera

A little mommy aggravation here.

Yes, I'm going to vent.

My camera had been missing for days. I looked high and low for it and even asked the kids if they had used it for anything. Of course the little angels knew nothing of the whereabouts of my camera. My 2nd daughter's birthday was Tuesday and that morning, I was looking feverishly for it all up until the moment we walked out the door for her party.

That evening, I started looking for it again. Dh got irritated that I couldn't find it ( I guess I complained a little about the camera being gone.)
Well, he found it. Guess where.

It was in the chicken coupe out back buried in straw.

Here are the last pictures taken on it.

When I was looking for the camera, I specifically asked the children if they took pictures of the chickens and they insisted that they hadn't. Hmmmmmm.
So my conclusion is that while we were gone, those chicken broke into the house, took the camera and just had the time of their lives taking pictures of each other out there. When they heard us come home, they quickly buried the camera in the straw and said they'd blame the kids. Pretty amazing considering they don't have opposable thumbs.

Grrrrrrr. Crazy chickens.

Mount St. Mary's Grotto and mosaics

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been preparing for a Charlotte Mason Discussion Group that I will be hosting at my home. It's good to read back through CM books and notes I've taken previously and websites, etc. It reminds me of where I should be in educating my children. Last Friday I had the thought that we needed to take a field trip. We are studying Ancient Rome and I kept trying to think of a way to get mosaics in. I have a hard time with the construction paper cut in squares glued onto other construction paper. I guess it gets the idea across of making a picture with little squares.

In the back of my mind, I remembered that Mount St. Mary's University in Emmittsburg, Maryland has mosaics in their Grotto of Lourdes. So last Friday, I checked the weather for Monday - Perfect! - and we were off on Monday morning. It's only about a 30 minute drive from my house, but well worth it with no admission fees for the grotto.

We took our lunches and picniced at the Grotto. That part was so nice that, after an hour, we were still sitting there eating and chatting. I had to force the children and myself to get up so we could go see the rest of the Grotto.

It was so beautiful. We were able to stop at the different mosaics and the children narrated the bible story that was depicted.

Here are some pictures from our day.

This is DS4, exploring a seed pod that had fallen from a tree. This is nature study at it's finest.



The mosaics:

It was tricky to get photos of the mosaics because there was plexiglass over all of them. I was surprised at how interested the kids were in them. They got up close and studied the individual tiles. Also, these pictures don't do the mosaics justice.


This mosaic stands about 10 feet tall.

Risen Jesus

Dd9 next to the Baptism of Jesus


Gabriel visiting Mary


Ds4 looking at the Nativity


This is a spring in the Grotto. The verse on the stone says:

"Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink......rivers of living water will flow from within him." John 7:37-38




This is a beautiful field trip and I would recommend it to anyone. We were able to cover art, nature study (science) and narration (languagle arts- oral language).

Niagara Falls

Isn't it amazing how when you return from a vacation, even if the vacation was only a couple of days, that it takes time to "recover" from it? We went to Niagara Falls, Canada two weeks ago for four days and I feel like our household is just now getting back to "normal". Weird.

Our vacation was great. It was sunny and 70 degrees the entire time. We stayed at Embassy Suites that overlooks the falls. The price of the hotel was a little more that what we might normally pay, but we got so much. We stayed in a suite that had a living room area, a small area with a microwave and refrigerator and a bedroom. With 3 children, that was nice because the oldest slept on the pull out sofa in the living room. Plenty of room for everyone.

The hotel included a breakfast buffet that was out of this world. There were omelet chefs and you could get eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, fresh fruit, yogurt, etc, etc. We took the kids to eat breakfast around 10 or 10:30 and that lasted through lunch. For dinner we went to a local grocery store and got frozen dinners and stuff for salads and sandwiches and sat in our room looking at the falls while we ate. Since we did that, we didn't feel the need to go up in the Skylon Tower and have dinner. That was $35 a person!

Yes, we did go on the Maid of the Mist. "Maid of the Mist" sounds so delicate, but it was quite the adventure. Despite the perfect weather, when we got to the base of the falls, the boat rocked and we were pelted with rain. My 4 year old son will tell you right out that he hated that ride. The rest of us loved it. My daughters brought home their blue ponchos for souvenirs.

We also got to see a rainbow on the falls every day.

We had plenty of opportunity to stand and look at the falls and just marvel at the enormity of it all. We were reminded of God's power every time we stood there and heard the thundering of the water pouring over the edge to the depths below. In his own words, my 4 year old son explained to the rest of us that God spoke the falls into being because that's all God has to do if He wants to make something.

I could go on rambling about this trip. It was one of the best vacations of my life and it was one of those where I didn't want to leave. So I'll just add a few more pictures here and stop typing.

Hubby got a picture of me doing what I always do - taking pictures.

Wordless Wednesday

Children's Literature

One of my favorite classes in college was Children's Literature. The professor would actually read excerpts of good children's literature to us. I was always transformed back to being a little girl while I was listening to her read. It's a shame, but for the life of me I can't remember the professor's name although she was my favorite teacher in college. She exposed me to many children's books that I had not previously ever heard of and she taught me about what reading should be for elementary aged children - that it should be an enjoyable experience and not one of drudgery. She told us of a time when she taught in public schools and the school system she worked for bought new basal readers. She totally disagreed with the use of basal readers and didn't want to use them. The administration in her school told her that they spent a lot of money on these books and she must use them. Her solution was beautiful. She told the kids to take the basal readers out of their desks. Then she told them to stand up, place the books on their seats and sit down. She looked at her administrator and said, "There, now we are using the books."




Charlotte Mason advocates using whole, living books. Basal readers take one tiny excerpt from a book and ask a ton of questions at the end of the reading to "check for comprehension". This robs the child of the opportunity to have a relationship with the characters or to ruminate on what was read. Instead of asking a lot of quiz-like questions, CM suggests to have the child narrate to check for comprehension. When you ask questions, you are checking to see if the child caught what the teacher wants the child to get. Through narration, you find out so much more about what the child "comprehended" from the reading. Narration also opens the doors for further discussion. Can you see how this helps the literature to stick with the child so much longer? If you ask a bunch of specific questions, the child thinks, "Oh thank goodness that's over with. Now I can get on with my life." There is a risk that the child won't retain what was read.

To start narration, read a paragraph (or a chapter) and ask the child to tell the story back to you in his own words. Sometimes, I will take a history reading and ask my 11 year old to tell the story to her 4 year old brother. That works beautifully. It may be difficult at first, but after your kids get the hang of it, it can be a lot of fun.

Roman Roads

A special project we did today involved making a Roman road. The Romans built roads over 2000 years ago that are still in existance today. I find that completely amazing. Compare that with the roads we drive on today in America.

As we work through the Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer, we supplement with activities from other resources. Today we used an idea from Ancient Rome! Exploring the Culture, People & Ideas of this Powerful Empire. We first read about the roads the Romans built and then we made models. All 3 of my kids enjoyed this project - from the 11 year old to the 4 year old. Here are some pictures.

I thought the Playmobile Roman soldier was a nice final touch.

That's grass seed on the sides of the road, so the kids will be able to water it and watch the grass grow, too. My 9 year old asked if she could cut her grass when it got tall enough. The 11 year old wanted to know if she gets paid to cut her grass (like when she cuts the neighbor's yard.)

Hurricane Study

For anyone studying hurricanes this season, here is a very useful website that includes tracking maps you can print out and use.
Accuweather. com

Depending on which direction you go, the study of hurricanes can cover many subject areas in your portfolios. It doesn't have to be through a purchased unit study either. The internet and your local library are great resources to find the following information.

Geography - Tracking maps: find out in what parts of the world hurricanes form
History - Study the impact of some major hurricanes from the past and how areas recovered
Safety Ed - What people should do in the event a hurricane is headed their way; What the flags for tropical storms and hurricanes look like.
Civics - Study ways people volunteer in a hurricane aftermath. Perhaps find one volunteer or a group of volunteers and find out what they do in a day.
Reading - Check the daily paper for stories on the current hurricanes.

Don't feel like you have the time to do the research? Go to the library, find books on hurricanes and bring them home. Give your child a blank notebook with the above questions and let him go to it. You might need to set a time limit - tell him this needs to be done by the end of the week. You might be surprised at what he will produce.

I'm sure there are more subjects to be covered, please post them in my comments because I would love to hear your ideas.

NOTE: All of the above subjects were chosen based on Pennsylvania homeschool law.