Education is an Atmosphere

Over the summer I read and loved the book, When Children Love to Learn. It was very inspiring and hopefully as our routine smoothes out I will be able to post some of my thoughts. But for now I thought I would show you some pictures of our learning areas.

Our Learning Atmosphere begins with books!

This is where we keep our nature books and field guides.

Here is where you will find our art supplies and some of our prints.

This is my desk and the red nature table.



This is our butterfly collection.

On my desk, I like to put a print from the art period we will be studying along with a reminder of our nature focus (birds), and I really just like mushrooms so that is on there, too.

This is our work table and the light from the windows caused this picture to not turn out well. We have our timeline as a backdrop and on the table from left to right are the following: Turkey feathers in a gourd vase, shells in blue jars, a picture of mushrooms, a terrarium, our book of months, and finally our pencils, paintbrushes, and erasers.

As I cleaned and arranged I was thinking about the visual aspect of atmosphere. Although there is more to atmosphere than the placement of desks, pictures, and pencils, it is an aspect of atmosphere that is important. A place where the mind is inspired and at peace; a place for both inspiration and contemplation.

Wordless Wednesday

Backyard Science

A little over a week ago, one of the boys came running into the house to let me know that he had spotted a strange caterpillar on the fence. Of course this is an invitation for me to go outside and investigate with him. So I grabbed the camera and off we went. Indeed it was a very fascinating specimen. The black barbs and bright colors made us a little wary of touching it. We looked through our caterpillar book and could not match it with any of the drawings, although one was close. So, we decided to do some searching on google. We found a site with great photos and it had a perfect match to our caterpillar---the Gulf fritillary.

Later in the day he noticed that the caterpillar had assumed its position of hanging upside down and we knew it wouldn't be long until it was a chrysalis. Sure enough, the next morning we found him as a chrysalis. We never cease to be amazed at this transformation! Now we are watching and waiting for the butterfly to hatch!

Wordless Wednesday

Sketch Tuesday-Fences

Last week was so busy and I forgot to send the boys sketches in for Sketch Tuesday; so I promised to post them here!

Wordless Wednesday

10 Year Anniversary

It is hard to believe that 10 years have passed since we were married! Actually June 5th was our anniversary. I am so grateful for my sweet husband. He has been enormously patient with me! I hope and pray that God gives us many many more years together. My prayer is that we would be united for Christ and glorify the Lord together and exalt His name forever!

This year as we celebrated we not only had a special date for the two of us, but we also had a special celebration with the boys. A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love for one another, but it is also the celebration of the beginning of our family and God's faithfulness to us through the years. Marriage is designed not just for the couple, but for the family. The boys enjoyed having a part in celebrating with us.

Sketch Tuesday

We have been enjoying our summer break. One of the activities we have been taking part in is Sketch Tuesday, hosted by Harmony Art Mom. This weeks assignment was to do a picture study of the above Monet painting and then sketch the picture or a part of the picture. Here are the boys sketches for this week:

Here is an example of why 3 year olds really don't need chewing gum!

Doing the Math

I found this over at Justin Taylor's blog. Pretty interesting!

Looking for Spring

On the first day of Spring I gave the boys the camera and we went looking for signs of Spring. It was great to get outdoors and hike around. Here are a few things they found.

The post oak with it's new flowers.

A little purple flower growing near the pond.

A white flowering bush

A flowering fruit tree (peach, I think).

And the lovely fire ants we have in Texas!

The cottonwood showing it's flowers-We have been waiting to see whether this tree was female or male. The one in our old neighborhood was male. This one happens to be a female. You can identify them by their flowers.

The beautiful wisteria we found that was climbing on a neighbor's tree.

After all the fun of searching for Spring we decided to attempt to paint spring trees with the aid of this tutorial. It was so much fun and the boys loved the way the branches on the tree looked real. Happy Spring!!

Give Nature Study A Try

" Out in this, God's beautiful world, there is everything waiting to heal lacerated nerves, to strengthen tired muscles, to please and content the soul that is torn to shreds with duty and care....She (teacher/mother) finds, first of all, companionship with her children; and second, she finds that without planning or going on a far voyage, she has found health and strength."Handbook of Nature Study, page 3

I read this today on the Handbook of Nature Study blog, and thought it perfectly captures what has been my experience with nature study. If you haven't tried nature study with your children or even by yourself, I highly reccomend you give it a try this spring. It is very refreshing.

If you need help getting started the above mentioned blog is a great place to look. A recent post entitled: How To Use The Outdoor Hour Challenges: Fitting The Challenges To Your Family, gives you a picture of what it might look like with preschoolers and elementary students.

WE CONQUER BY HIS SONG

By Amy Carmichael

We see not yet all things put under Thee.
We see not yet the glory that shall be;
We see not yet, and yet by faith we see;
Alleluia, Alleluia.

We see the shadows gathering for flight,
The powers of dawn dispel the brooding night,
The steadfast march of the triumphant light;
Alleluia.

Be we in East or West, or North or South,
By wells of water or in land of drouth,
Lo, Thou hast put a new song in our mouth;
Alleluia.

Therefore we triumph; therefore we are strong,
Though vision tarry and the night be long;
For lifted up, we conquer by Thy song;
Alleluia.

Nature Study- A Vulture's Nest

I think that I have posted before about how nature study tends to involve the whole family. Well, today my husband was gathering some old wasp nests, that I had requested, from an abandoned house. All that is left of the house is pretty much just the shell. Anyway, as he was doing this he thought that he saw something in one of the rooms on the floor. He said that he caught a glimpse of something that reminded him of a deer lying on the ground. So he decided to walk around to another window to get a better view. Well, to his surprise it was not a deer, but a vulture sitting on its nest! Immediately the bird flew out the door. After he determined that it wasn't after him; he got a good look at the nest with two large eggs! If you watch closely, right at the beginning of the video, you can see the bird flying out the door. Then at the very end of the video is the nest with eggs. The nest is in a hollowed out place on the floor and the two large eggs are easy to see.

Wordless Wednesday

Outdoor Hour Challenge #45 Squirrels

We had fun observing this squirrel that often visits our bird feeders. We finally caught him removing the roof to the top feeder. We see him almost everyday out our kitchen window. He likes to retreat to a branch about 15 feet from the ground that sticks out only about 2 feet from the tree. Instead of drawing our squirrel for the nature notebooks, the boys completed a coloring sheet. The boys also loved the videos on Barb's blog. They watched them numerous times and every visitor had to watch them as well! We are very fond of squirrels and enjoy watching them and taking their picture. The two photos below are old, but memorable.

This squirrel has had something happen to his tail. We wondered if maybe he was Squirrel Nutkin, from Beatrix Potter's book by the same name.

This is a very friendly squirrel we encountered at my mother's house. We were able to get very close to him without him being frightened.