Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival - First Edition

The  First  Edition

The strangest thing happened to me this morning. We were just finishing up breakfast and SweetP had opened the backdoor to check the temperature. "Oh, Mama! It is the most beautiful morning outside!" Punkin and Shug came running to stand beside her. All three of them just stood there breathing in great breaths of cool air while Little Dude cooed and drooled in his exersaucer. He seemed to enjoy the breeze just as much as his sisters. Bing bong. Just then the doorbell rang. Who on earth could that be at this time of day? Thankful that this was one of those rare mornings when I was dressed before 10am, I answered the door.

It took me a few moments to gather myself at first. Should I be alarmed at what I saw? I relaxed with one smile from our visitor, however, and soon became interested instead of anxious. Her gray hair rustled around the edges of her soft, plump face and her eyes sparkled with some sort of hidden secret. She broke her broad smile only to say (in a pleasant British accent), "Good morning, my dear. I do hope I am not interrupting your breakfast. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Charlotte Mason of Ambleside, England. I have come to spend the day with your little family". Well, as I said, it took me a few moments to compose myself. How odd.

The children were naturally inquisitive. "Who is she, Mama?" and "Do you know her, Mama?" and, of course, "Why is she wearing that puffy, long dress, Mama?". But, I had no time to answer their little queries. Miss Mason was gathering them close and getting to know them almost as soon as she stepped in the door. After all of the polite introductions and a little chit-chat, the Victorian woman in my living room made her proposition. "It has come to my attention," she began, "that you have been reading some of my work. If you don't mind, my dear, I would like to use this beautiful day to show you how to live out that which you have been reading". All I could think was "Are you serious?", but I could tell from her earnest, yet sunny countenance, she was fully expecting a reply. I stammered my agreement and the next thing I knew we were bundling the baby and heading out the door.

"I have a great many friends worldwide, my dear," she explained chattily, "I have been aquainted with some for years; others I am just beginning to know well. I shall tell you about some of these dear women, and perhaps they can help you along the educational path after I have gone." She bent slightly to take a gentle hold of Punkin's chubby little hand before she continued. "With such a brood of little darlings, the first thing must be very plain. You should get them out of doors as much as is possible. Not as much as is convenient, mind you, but as much as you can possibly manage." Watching her playfully tug a bit at the baby's foot, I asked, "How often do you mean exactly?" Her reply was brisk and spirited. "No less than four hours on every tolerable day, my dear! Five or six all the better!" At this decree a jubilant cry went up from the children. "Yea! Hooray! Six hours outside!! Woo hooee!" they sang.

Oh, dear. What was I doing?

Miss Mason sensed my concern. She stopped the brisk walk we had been taking and looked me so squarely in the eye that I was compelled to give her my serious attention. She was kind, but she was firm. "Dear, I cannot tell you enough how sincerely I believe this out of doors life to be the best possible life for your little ones. I know you have many cares, but let me relieve them a bit. Here, now." She took a small pink envelope from her dress pocket. "Read this first letter, my dear. I have others, but this one is first. It is from a beloved friend of mine named Melissa Wiley. Read how she has such a vision for a natural life outdoors with her children in their own, special haunts. She has such a poetic way, entitling her letter, 'Some Breezey Open Wherein It Seemeth Always Afternoon'. Oh, yes, and here are two others that you would do well to read from the very outset. My longtime friend, Sonya, has written an encouraging note regarding the importance of nature study in her letter, '8 Reasons to Do Nature Study'. But, you are hardly there yet, so many of your children are less than six years old! This third letter is necessary for you as well. It is a letter highlighting Out of Doors Play from DeputyHeadmistress. Now, do have a seat here beneath this Sweetgum tree while the child romp and play. You will have time to read the letters carefully."

I did read the letters, and I admit that I was encouraged by these mothers living out their educational philosophies. Oh, but it did all seem rather hard. So much presses from every side when you are a young (relatively), stay at home mother. How can I just drop everything and actually Get Out There?! I must have let a shadow come across my face, and Miss Mason must have seen it. She was soon beside me leading all of us over the hill and through the tall grass.

It wasn't long before Shug decided she was hungry. "Oh, of course, my dear! Here, let us sit down and take a little refreshment." Miss Mason took a small bag from her arm and took out several juicy oranges, crackers, and some slices of cheese. "There is nothing quite like a meal out of doors!" she beamed. "That reminds me of Danna's letter", she said as she handed me another dainty pink envelope. I snuggled up with Little Dude and read about Danna and her little family's picnic table lunches. One line, in particular really struck me. "...a day spent entirely outdoors is no more wasted than a day spent deep in a great library!" Hmmm. I considered her words as I watched Punkin play with the ant crawling up and down her arm.

"Young children need something new in nature to examine daily", Miss Mason exhorted as she helped me up from the grass. She then asked if she might hold Little Dude for a bit. For a moment I sensed her deep in thought looking at his round, pink face. She then seemed to shake a thought from her mind and smiled again, handing me more letters. Cassandra's letter echoed her words about new sights each day in Simply Beautiful. As Miss Mason held the baby and silently watched the children hop, jump, and climb, I lost myself in the letters. Christie wrote, "Preparing for nature study means the kids need to enjoy nature first. Just letting them be kids outside" in Climbing Trees. Amy wrote of how the small woods behind their home has given her family plenty of encounters with area wildlife in Enjoying Nature in Our Own Backyard. Karen told of her family's day at the lake and the many ways nature shows up in their lives each day in Science This Week. I glanced up. Little Dude was asleep in Miss Mason's arms and the girls were engrossed in collecting acorns from beneath a tree. I decided to read a few more.

Amber shared an ocean wonderland recounting her day on the sea with her family in Adventure on the Open Sea. Jodi illustrated how nature is sometimes right in front of you, like when she went camping with her family. She wrote a lovely letter about Camping Nature Study. There was also a delightful letter from Katherine by the name of A Suburban Fairy Tale. (I read that one twice just for fun.) And by the time I had read about Angi's trip to the apple orchard with her husband and daughter in Family Outing!, Vicki's account of raising Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars in Our Butterfly Story, and Michelle's experience raising Monarchs with her children in Goodbye, Butterfly!, I was beginning to believe I might actually be able to try Miss Mason's methods!

My thoughts were interrupted by Miss Mason's cheerful call to the children. "Come here, my dears!" Little feet came running, faces all flushed with exercise and fresh air. Miss Mason's voice was hushed and excited. "Do you see that lovely bush over there? The one all covered in flowers? Run along and let us see which of you can tell me the most about those very blooms. Tell me only what you see and all that you see. No more, no less. Go along!" The children ran off laughing and eager to provide their new friend with all the details she desired of them.

Miss Mason turned to me, the baby still sleeping peacefully in her arms. "Well? What have you to say about the letters? Were those lovely women as much an encouragement to you as I guessed they would be?" I then told her how I had indeed been bolstered by the accounts of so many like-minded mothers, but I also confessed feelings of profound inadequacy. "Right now all we have to do is play," I explained. "How will I manage actually studying nature when I know so little about it?" I was not at all surprised when a small stack of letters found its way into my hands. "We will talk more later, when the children nap. You are not alone in your apprehension. Nature study is new to many mothers. Jimmie, in fact, has joined an email group just to help mothers get started in regular nature study with their children. She tells how she hopes this year to see nature study become a natural part of her homeschooling just as picture study has already become in her letter, Artist Study Resources. You know, mothers have such creative ways to implement nature study into their days! Dana is part of a homeschool nature group that takes children on nature study field days. She has written all about it in Nature Days. Cindy has developed a way to use page templates for her children's nature notebooks in Our Nature Notebooks. Barb has simplified the amount of planned nature study she schedules each year, aiming for her children to become thoroughly familiar with at least one tree, one bird, and one insect each year. She explains her attainable approach in Nature Study the Gentle Way. At CM and Us and The Great Outdoors Mother Squirrel from Dewey's Treehouse shows how, although they may not be the earthiest devotees to my methods, they encounter a good bit of nature along the way nonetheless. Similarly, Michelle has learned to take advantage of nature study opportunities as they come up in normal family life in Nature Study - Formal or Not. Theresa even makes use of the lowly thistle weed to develop her children's observation and attention and to lay the foundation for botany in her letter, A Thorny Subject. Michal goes to some great lengths to ensure that her children get a truly detailed view of the insects they study in Living the Entomologist Lifestyle. These letters will be good for you to have! You can go back and read them over and over whenever you wish. You and I will talk more this afternoon."

As the children came rushing back full of enthusiasm over their flowers that "looked like a queen's skirts", I ducked behind a stand of bluestem grass to read the rest of the letters. I was so glad to find that they mostly dealt with the topic of nature notebooks. Having never kept a nature notebook myself, I have been wondering exactly how other CM moms use them. Lindafay gave such a lovely and inspiring example of what nature notebooks could be in her little pink letter, Recent Pages From Our Nature Journals and Cindy R. shared how even her husband has started keeping a nature journal when he has some freetime. I especially appreciated Cindy's book recommendation for those a little unsure about how to begin a notebook in Nature Journaling. Some mothers who have blazed the trail ahead even took time to give me a glimpse of how nature study might look in the later years. Leslie shared her plans for her son's senior year in Senior Year Plan and Elisabeth writes about her experiences educating her older children in Nature Study in the Upper Levels. 

When the last letter was finished I realized that the children were singing a tune I had never heard before. Then I realized that the lyrics were in French! "But, my children don't know any French!" I blurted out. "My dear," smiled Miss Mason, "I believe you mean your children didn't know any French. However, now, they do. A lesson or two must be got in, you know".

Then, Charlotte Mason winked at me.

I'm so glad you've found the CM Blog Carnival :) We've had tons of views everyday and we are thrilled with how well this first edition has gone! As you read the entries in this carnival, won't you consider leaving a comment on the participants' blogs? We are all very encouraged by comments when we have taken the time to write for a carnival :)

Thanks!

Every Suitable Day

Gettin' Out There

 Dear Miss Mason.We read her, narrate her in our journals, discuss her, blog her, and study her. We come to love her like a wise, old friend sent to help us along in our journey as educating mothers. Sometimes, though, we have to shake our heads. Sometimes it seems she simply asks too much of us. We are all familiar with the following passage:

"And long hours they should be; not two, but four, five, or six hours they should have on every tolerably fine day, from April till October. Impossible! Says an overwrought mother who sees her way to no more for her children than a daily hour or so on the pavements of the neighboring London squares. Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them. A journey of twenty minutes by rail or omnibus, and a luncheon basket, will make a day in the country possible to most town dwellers; and if one day, why not many, even every suitable day?"

Here is the part where all of us sigh. Then we ask, "Really? Six hours?" Finally, we decide that's just too much.

I  first read Volume One only last fall. At the time, I was the mother Charlotte mentions as being quite proud of making a point to send her children out for two hours a day. Two hours a day seemed like a lot of time... until I read dear Charlotte. In the year that has followed that first reading, my husband and I have considered and reconsidered the value of time out of doors for our family. We have weighed the things on my mental "to do" list and we have weighed the words in the quotation above. A particular phrase has stayed with me more than any other from that first volume. "Mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them". Hmmm. What if? What if, for just a little while, we really tried to get outside for four to six hours on every suitable day? I couldn't just sit around wondering. I had to try it and find out for myself. We did it - and Miss Mason's right. It can be done! It gets easier the longer you do it, too. For us, every suitable day, has been about four to five days a week during the favorable months - 2 of those days being "park days".

You should know that we live in the middle of a newly built subdivision on a quarter of an acre. Our tallest tree is maybe 15 feet high (maybe) and four years ago we didn't even have grass. Although I have been able to invite an impressive amount of wildlife (birds and insects, but mostly insects) to our yard with some landscaping and garden plants, a quarter acre does eventually feel rather cramped. So, I decided to take Miss Mason's advice and leave home several days a week. You should also know that I have four children - and my oldest is six. When we really started living the out of doors life regularly, I was quite pregnant. There will be hurdles. BUT, there will be rewards. There needs to be a little bit of planning ahead to say the least, though. Here's a little I have learned so far about long days out of doors...

1) We don't have to fit in all six hours in a row. I had this epiphany when I read Miss Mason's recommendation to try for three hours outdoors in the winter months. She goes on to say that these three hours can be achieved by going out for 90 minutes in the morning and another 90 minutes in the afternoon. I apply the same principle year round and find that four to six hours split up between a midday and evening time outside works well for our family. Even if Miss Mason really, truly wanted all six hours to be always consecutive, I'm closer to the mark with three hours at a time twice a day than I would be by throwing up my hands and never trying, right? The second block of time is nearly always at home.

2) April through October are not the best months for our climate. Here, I believe, we have to look at the principle Miss Mason was putting forth. She wanted us to make use of the best months available, not just arbitrary months she picked willy nilly. In England, April through October are likely the best of the year, but here July and August are nasty months to be out in for six hours. The humidity can even make the morning exhaustingly hot. We have chosen to "drop" July and August out of the six-hour-a-day category and add in March and November. We still get the same number of months... although, not every climate can do even that. During the other months, we try for three hours or so a day. The idea is to use the beautiful months to the fullest! :)

 3) I keep the following things in the van at all times: a stroller, a baby sling, a training potty, a roll of toilet paper, a camera, bottles of water, sunscreen, a supply of diapers, jackets, and a large quilt I bought for next to nothing. These things have been absolutely key to successful days outdoors with so many small children. We are often out mid-morning when Little Dude needs his nap. He's out like a light in the sling and I can trek all around with the girls at the same time. Punkin's little bladder doesn't care too much how far we might have gone from a bathroom, so the potty in the van has saved us more than once. (Teaching them early on how to go in the grass is handy, too. Charlotte never mentions this problem). I only took the red chair in the photo along with us once - it was a pain. The quilt works fine for nursing :) After SweetP fell in a pond this week, I would also consider adding a change of clothes.

4) I check the weekly weather on Sunday nights and plan accordingly.

5) We don't go outside until school is finished and morning chores are completed, including mine. This is motivating :) I admit I do cheat a little here on the morning lessons. I save things like brushwork, handicrafts, picture study, and literature read alouds for the afternoon when the littles are down for nap. I do use the "fresh" morning hours for work like handwriting, dictation, math, etc. I also reserve Thursday or Friday morning for cleaning the house after lessons. I prefer Friday, but if Thursday is rainy and Friday is going to be beautiful, we clean on Thursday and go out on Friday. **I have to be honest and admit that sometimes I close my eyes to the dirty dishes and just run outside right after breakfast. But, I try not to. Oh, dear. What a bad habit ;)**

 6) Miss Mason gives plenty of good ideas for using the time out of doors in Home Education. She recommends letting the children run wild when first arriving at your destination. My children picked up on this without my prompting, lol. This time can and should be purposeful.

7) I know I mentioned it already, but make sure you have water! Even in colder months, the children really work up a thirst running around yelling their heads off. Oh, and the yelling is a good reason to try to find somewhere a little remote. (Look at this picture! Is this idyllic childhood or what?! I love my parks system!!!)

8) Outside picnic lunches can be really, really simple. I have been known to grab a big handful of cheesesticks, a box of crackers, and a bag of dried apricots and stuff them in a grocery bag lickety split and call it lunch! I try to think ahead when I'm shopping to come up with lunches that don't take a lot of prep and don't need a cooler. We do sometimes take a cooler, but I prefer not to. Cooler picnics are "fancy" around here :) Another mom gave me the really cute idea of a toothpick lunch. Basically, you pack foods that have been cut up into chunks (cantaloupe, ham, apples w/ lemon juice on them, cheese) and everyone spears their lunch with their own toothpick. We've done this once or twice and the girls loved it :) Usually, though, it more like a PB sandwich, carrots sticks, and goldfish crackers in a baggie.

9) Remember that if you leave your house clean it will be clean when you get back. When we had our house on the market last year, I clued in that one way to keep it relatively neat for showings was to stay out of it. Clean it up and leave it. I'm laughing a little here, but I'm also a little serious. When you eat lunch outside at a park, there are no dishes in the sink. When the toddler plays with rocks outdoors all morning, the legos are still nicely put away. There is less housework to do when you are outside all day. We come rolling in the door usually at around 1:30pm. I lay the baby down for nap right away, read to Punkin and put her down for a nap, and have a little time for extra cleaning, reading to the older two girls, and maybe a little picture study or a cat nap.

10) Park days can be fellowship opportunities. You know that younger mom that you've been meaning to get together with lately? Or that friend whose husband is deployed in Iraq? Or that buddy you haven't been able to hang out with lately? Invite them with you for a park day!

11) Save the playground for an occasional treat. This took a little bit to break my children of the "park=playground" mindset. But, after a little while, they stopped asking all of the time. They knew we were there to run around on the trails, climb the rocks, watch the squirrels, and play in the mudpuddles. And they thought less and less about the playground. We still head over to "the toys" for the last 20 minutes or so now and then, but I want to encourage them to entertain themselves with what is available in nature. How else will they get to figure out that a stick and an acorn make a really fun game when you're on a hill?

12) Lastly, you can use the van time driving to and from the park to do school! The van is the perfect place to listen to the term's composer or pop in a foreign language tape or CD of folk songs. We keep our Lyric Language Spanish in the van for this purpose. Books on tape would be another good option. Two of our three parks are twenty minutes away from our home, so it makes good sense to try to use the driving time well.

That's it :) All I can offer for the adventuresome heart that feels a tugging to pack up and go play outside... for a looooooong time. It really does get easier the more you do it. All you need is a little planning ahead and the assurance that it can be done :) And it can.

Blessings,

Jacci

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What Can a Two Year Old Learn?

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up at

Consent of the Governed! This post is my entry :)

What 2's Can Do!

In two months, I will "graduate" my third two-year-old. We won't have another two year old until a year and a half from now. I'm by no means old yet, but it's funny how my memory is already not what it used to be. They say you lose a quarter of your brain functioning each time you have a baby. Hmmm. Sounds like I'm in trouble ;) I find myself trying to remember when so and so did this or that and when we started such and such. Thankfully, I have written down quite a bit. It's sort of here, there, and everywhere, though. You would think I'd have a quick answer for younger friends who ask, for instance, when our children could sing the ABC song, but my answer isn't often very helpful. "I don't remember".

So, just as much for my own good as for anyone else who might be interested in what a two year can do, here is what I've written down over the last 3 two year olds :)

First, and not least, two years old can put forth a mighty (note Shug at right) effort in real life learning. By that I mean, they are ready to learn about anything and everything whenever you are ready to let them at it. Alphabets, counting, and scribbling aside, I am convinced that two-year-olds learn the most from lots of great experiences and lots of great books. Charlotte Mason said all educational stimuli boiled down to two broad categories: books and things. It's no different for the littles. Give them good books and a rich, wide variety of experiences with things and their young minds will have a literal feast! Dr. Ruth Beechick in her fabulous book, The 3 R's, sites studies that show the dramatic gains to be had from a wide-range learning base in the younger years. Children who play in the mud, learn about thermometers while they play outside, watch ice melt, etc. are better readers by the time they reach third grade than children who begin phonics instruction early, but have more limited exposure to real life things. This doesn't mean you can't teach even a toddler a little in the way of formal instruction, but it does mean that skill-teaching should never get in the way of a rich and varied experience.

For our little ones, this "varied experience" has increasingly included time outdoors. When my oldest was a toddler, we lived in a suburb of Washington, D.C. in a townhouse with a teeny, weeny backyard and a busy parking lot in the front. Not conducive to outdoor play, especially considering that traffic could easily make a trip to the park a 45 minute drive. Ugh. There are some things I miss about Virginia (mostly people), but nothing short of Divine calling could get me to go back. I mention this to point out that there are different circumstances for each family, but we can get creative :) Even a tiny townhouse yard can be used to grow flowers or vegetables from seed and to watch birds and ants. We've been able to be outside far more easily, though, since we've moved to Ohio, and I'm sure my children are better off for it. It might sound weird, but I get absolutely tickled when my girly little two and a half year old sticks an empty cicada shell on her shirt like its jewelry. Why? Because I'm glad she's considering creation as something to learn from and not something to scream at and drop. Cicadas fall into the category of educational "things". Now, lest I make myself sound all high and mighty, there are a few things out there that even Mama has a hard time keeping in her hands. I was pretty creeped out when Shug held a massive (and I mean massive) cecropia moth caterpillar at the butterfly house this summer. Wooee. It's my goal to hold one next year, though. If she can do it....

But, back to two year olds.  

In a home where the children are being included in much of daily life, are hearing quality books read on a regular basis, and are exposed to a wide variety of knowledge, there is no reason to hold back giving them a little teaching. When I first began looking through preschool options for my oldest, I was shocked to learn that many programs teach colors and shapes in preschool. Does that mean, then, that there are more than a few four year olds going through life with no knowledge of "red" or "green"?! That seems awfully old to me to see a group of blue, purple, orange, and red blocks as merely "blocks" and not distinctly separate groups. Do you see how just a little formal knowledge of colors can impact the way a growing child's mind is sorting and storing information in his everyday life? I want to make it clear that I do not advocate pushing a two year old to learn anything. I also want to make it clear, though, that - for most children - beginning readiness learning can happen naturally, easily, and without that nasty pushing. At least they can learn their colors before they're four.

But, two is a long way off from four. If you're wondering "why start so young?" or "what's the point?" my answer is mainly what I've just mentioned. Children with even a little of this categorizing knowledge can look at the world differently than those without it. Four summers ago, when SweetP was still shy of 3 years old, she saw a large windmill in Kansas. She called it a "spinning Y". She couldn't have made that connection or articulated her thought without an understanding of what "Y" looked like. A few minutes playing with Mama and some magnets each day helped her mind organize new information in a meaningful way. I would offer another reason; when school really begins in earnest, the child isn't bogged down with having to learn the basics and the content all at once. A little time gently invested in the years before age 6 can really make the transition into school work much easier for the child. The four year old taught early (and gently) is learning to read, not learning her colors, in preschool. Then, when her first full year of school begins at around age 6 there is not the sense that she is plunging into everything all at once. This is the common practice in many of the more elite, private schools in the U.S. More on that later...

Here's a brief list of things we have gently and naturally taught the three older children in the months between their second and third birthdays:

1) Sing the ABC song. Later in the year, to say it without the musical tune.

2) "Count" aloud up to 15 or so (we often use real objects along with the counting. Mama points.)

3) Recognize capital letters (mainly done through games with magnets on the fridge).

4) Memorize name, phone number, and address (for safety reasons)

5) Play rhyming games (Mama says "well", child says "fell!" - they get excited, lol)

6) Scribble and doodle a LOT! (begin making circles, adding eyes, smiles, legs, arms).

7) Begin to learn some everyday Spanish words and/or American Sign Language

8) Maybe touch on the concept of left and right

9) Recognize numbers 1-5

I should note that colors, shapes, and basic opposites have all been learned before age two. We have some great puzzles by Melissa & Doug that have been wonderful for teaching colors and shapes. We're also often pointing out colors, shapes, new words, etc. while we read aloud to the little ones. I'll also mention that I consider play-doh, painting, making cookies, pasting, and similar learning activities to fall within the category of "real life learning". I know, play-doh is a stretch, but great fun if you can keep it out of their mouths ;) The children never know Mama has a list of things she's working on with them. They don't realize I'm trying to teach them their shapes. They know we play games and I talk to them. There should not be a "perfomance" element to the learning.

That's it!

I stress that everything must be approached in a very relaxed way. Learning at this age should never, ever be a disipline issue. Someone will say, "But I know my son knows his colors. He's just refusing to tell me". Well, I'd say quit asking him. Quit giving him the opportuity to refuse. Just let him be for a little while. Read books, play outside. You can still point out colors casually. "Here, honey, you can have the red cup today". There's no need to drill a toddler. In fact, I would guess that most toddlers would resist much drill - or become emotionally upset by the pressure. Young children pick up quite a lot just through conversation. No conflict necessary.

Someone else will say, "Wait a minute, Miss Charlotte Mason Devotee, I've read in some of your others posts that Charlotte Mason wanted mothers to hold off on formal learning until age 6". That's completely accurate. Charlotte Mason wanted formal schooling to begin no earlier than age six. The key here is found in the word "formal". CM advocated informal learning before the school years. In Volume One, Miss Mason holds Susanna Wesley up as a model for the teaching mother and quotes extensively from Mrs. Wesley's writings. In the Wesley home, reading instruction began with great ceremony on the child's fifth birthday. In other words, before age 6. Also, Miss Mason goes on to say that learning to read is rarely a strain on the child's brain when it is taught properly:

"Many persons consider that to learn to read a language so full of anomalies and difficulties as our own is a task which should not be imposed too soon on the childish mind. But, as a matter of fact, few of us can recollect how or when we learned to read: for all we know, it came by nature, like the art of running; and not only so, but mothers of the educated classes do not know how their children learned to read. 'Oh, he taught himself,' is all the account his mother can give of little Dick's proficiency. Whereby it is plain, that this notion of the extreme difficulty of learning to read is begotten by the elders rather than by the children" (pg. 200).

As for the very little ones, Miss Mason writes of the learning they will do when given the right materials:

"Let the child alone, and he will learn the alphabet for himself: but few mothers can resist the pleasure of teaching it; and there is no reason why they should, for this kind of learning is no more than play to the child, and if the alphabet be taught to the little student, his appreciation of both form and sound will be cultivated. When should he begin? Whenever his box of letters begins to interest him. The baby of two will often be able to name half a dozen letters; and there is nothing against it so long as the finding and naming of letters is a game to him. But he must not be urged, required to show off, teased to find letters when his heart is set on some other play" (pg. 203).

May the Lord bless you as you enjoy precious moments spent discovering & learning with your two year old! It's true, we are learning right along with them :)

Jacci

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What Exactly Does "Every Suitable" Day Mean?

Because 99 is HOT.

And that was without the humidity taken into account. It felt like 106. If I haven't mentioned it before, let me do so now.

Summer is my least favorite season.

July and August are my least favorite months.

Sticky, sweaty, gross, yuck.

There. I said it.

Now, we can't bellyache about it too long, though. The young family must find someway around it and get outside for a little bit. I have been trying to follow an "out by eight, in by noon" policy, but even that doesn't work all of the time. Yesterday, it was disgustingly hot by nine in the morning. My children (who love to be outside) wanted nothing to do with the backyard. Shug, my most enthusiastic little outdoorswoman, wanted to go inside and read. There was only one answer. Well, that's not true. We could've gone inside to read - somedays this summer we have just decided to be hermits and enjoy the air conditioning all day. But there was only one outside answer (since we have no shade trees).

Water.

In many forms.

Lots of it.

So, that's what we did. We put swimsuits on at 9:30am and I filled up the little plastic pool in the backyard. You could practically see their bodies revive - like plants that had just been watered after a long dry spell. The plastic pool gained an hour outside for us. By that time, Little Dude was awake from his nap (he had fallen asleep on the family room carpet) and the neighborhood pool was about to open. Fill everyone's glass with ice and several helpings of water, hydrate, sunscreen, and away we go!

Apart from a pool option, I guess the next best thing would've been a shady spot in the yard. Like I said, though, we have no shade trees. The best we can do is make use of the shadows our house casts at different times of the day. Our neighbor's house makes a nice shady spot on the east end of our yard around mid-morning. Sometimes, if there's a decent breeze to make things tolerable for a complete heat wimp like me, I'll spread our outside quilt in the grass. In fact, while the girls were hopping around in the little pool yesterday morning and the baby slept inside, I was blessed with some quiet time in the Word there on my blankie. In the shade, with a breeze, it wasn't too bad at 10:30am.

I've been considering Charlotte Mason's recommendation to have the children outside "every suitable day" for four to six hours. She specified that this was most likely to take place from April to October. Have I pointed out that Miss Mason lived in England? Or that she was writing to mothers in England?

It was 66 degrees in London yesterday. Sixty-six.

So, I've respectfully decided that my dear Miss Mason can keep July and August and I'll take March and November. Four to six hours each day in Ohio in July and August with small children is not appealing to me. We'll shoot for an hour or two in the morning and some after dinner time, but that book and air conditioning are sounding mighty good to me around 1pm ;)

Hubby and I have also decided that we're going to go right along with school next summer. We plan on taking one "long" break in April and May (two of my favorite months!) and just make the third term a summer term. We're inside the entire afternoon anyway, right? I'm really looking forward to that long springtime break after the second term. That's when I really, really long to be outside all day. The snow has melted and nature is so busy at that time of year. I'm almost as excited about that break as I am about having the whole of September off :) Yea!

Tomorrow's supposed to be a little cooler, though. So, hope you enjoy the day!!!

On a brighter note: Exactly one month from today is the first day of FALL!

Our youngest and our oldest :)

There's so much to fit into one entry! I'll do my best, though. Sorry if I'm sparse on the details ;)

Shortly after I posted on Tuesday night, I had the third of three "interesting" pre-labor symptoms. I was beginning to wonder if something was cookin'. After a call to my doctor around 10pm (just to see when I should come in "if" something happened soon), I went upstairs to take a shower and go to bed. I finished packing my hospital bag, just in case. Ran a load of laundry, just in case. Kissed the girls goodnight and explained that one morning I may not be there and Aunt Sissy might be getting them up (glad I got that in!). I took a shower, blow dried my hair, got in my pjs. At almost exactly midnight, just as I was coming to bed, my back felt that all too familiar feeling. I laughed a little under my breath. Sam asked me why I looked like that, and I told him we might have an interesting night ;) I went to bed and decided to try to sleep. Five minutes later... another one. Light enough, but not easy to ignore. Kind of like last Wednesday morning. Except they got a little stronger. Then a good one. As a general rule, I get about 4-5 "warning" contractions before they really start gaining intensity quickly. So about 25 minutes after the first one, I was beginning to wonder if we should bunk the doctor's advice to get a whole hour of contractions in before leaving home. After the last one made me breathe through it, we decided to get dressed and head for the hospital, even though we were shy of the "five minutes apart for one hour" rule. We left the house around 12:40 am.

We drove through the snowy subdivision and I remember saying, "It looks really pretty". The roads weren't really bad, Sam just had to take it slow. After the warning contractions, I have about 30 minutes of pretty painful, but not horrible contractions...about like a mid active labor phase?  Then, they quickly get past the point of easy control. I don't spend a lot of time in "early" and "active" labor contractions. We had a smooth trip all the way through until we were about 200 yards from the exit for the hospital. There, the traffic stopped. Completely stopped. My contractions were getting intense enough that I was having to focus on relaxing, breathing, and NOT counting the minutes between. I'd guess about every 3 minutes, though. Husband noticed that there was an ambulance 3 cars ahead, so he got out just to ask them if they were empty - just in case. They were. LOL - I know, you're hoping  I gave birth right there on the highway in a parked ambulance, but I didn't. About 2 minutes after talking to an EMT, the traffic got going and we were through. We got to the hospital around 1:30 am. Ninety minutes into labor, and definitely in the thick of it. It felt like the end of active labor...

Triage kept me longer than we recommended. I was only 4 cm when we got there, but I could tell from the intensity  that these "weren't no early labor contractions". I told the nurse I dilated quickly... dilly dally dilly dally. By the time I got to the labor and delivery room at 2:15am, I had been having some serious contractions for a while. I don't remember a lot about triage, because I was in my zoned-out natural birth mode. I'd been breathing through them for a while, and like I said - I could tell they were getting really strong really quickly. This is the third baby now where contractions felt like 7 or so regardless my actual dilation. I measure four centimeters but the contractions feel like 7 or so. I measure 6 centimeters but the contractions feel like 7 or so, etc. The very, very good thing is, that those contractions get things moving and keep them moving.

When I got to L&D, 2 hours and fifteen minutes into labor, I felt like I was in transition. You know that I-am-relaxed-and-in-my-zone-but-there-is-still-no-way-I-am-not-getting-drugs kind of contraction?  The nurse could tell how strong they were from the monitor so after a while she checked. When I had arrived at L&D I was 4.5cm, 45 minutes later I was at 8. Praise the Lord! I kept saying it over and over out loud. The nurse called for the doctor. The last 10 minutes I could literally feel  the baby moving down with each contraction. With each one it felt like I could feel him slide down a little more. Each time I held a loooong exhale and mentally chanted "C'mon, baby, c'mon" with the counts of my breath. If I kept thinking that a baby was at the end of the tunnel (sorry for the analogy), it helped. Thanks be to God alone, I was still firmly in my mode. I remember realizing that certain muscles were tight and praying through relaxing. It's such a wild ride, childbirth.

The nurse checked me again, and casually asked how many pushes I gave with the last baby. "One". She remained calm and said something like, "Oh, okay, you're close...." pause.... nurse (loudly) calls doctor again. Then there was that thrilling hustle and bustle where tables get converted and nurses multiply and a doctor runs in putting on gloves. Then I said, "Can I push yet?!" They told me to hold on and I saw the doctor over by a table. I told them I couldn't wait. The doctor wasn't where he was supposed to be yet, and I just knew the baby was gonna land on the floor if someone didn't hustle and get in position. "I'm pushing!" I half yelled, and I tried to hold back, but you gals who have been there know that's not always easy. Whew - no baby. The doctor was set. I waited for the next contraction - one big push and.....man! The baby came out all at once. LOL, I'm glad that doctor got his hustle on when he did ;)

I looked at my dear husband. All smiles, he said, "It's a...." Then he had to wait for the doctor to get out of the way so he could see! LOL. "It's a boy", he said sweetly. What a wonderful smile my Sam has.

 Samuel David. And there he was, on my chest, all new and precious. All new and precious. Our youngest. Our son.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below,

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts,

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

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Two days under 6 years from that eventful night, I had a very similar cold, February drive in the dark. On February 16, 2001 my labor started with a bang at 3:30am. Six hours later, my firstborn - Hannah Cathryn - entered our lives and our hearts. Our oldest. Our daughter.

 We had a wonderful party for Hannah on Friday night. I was so thankful to be able to keep her birthday plans, despite the "eventful" week ;) She was such a joy all evening, bubbly and excited - and six.

Six.

Oh, y'all, it goes so crazy fast. I swear I rock each new baby a little more... someday it'll be the last one.

For now, though, we have four beautiful, precious blessings entrusted to our care.

God have mercy.

Lord give grace.

Father, thank You so much. Thank You so much.