Posted by Cindy on December 8, 2009
My 87-year-old Granny isn’t well. She lives in Alabama with my aunt and uncle who are doing a wonderful job caring for her. We were so blessed to be able to visit, along with most of the rest of my extended family, for a Thanksgiving reunion.
We took the opportunity on the way home to take a three day I-65 mini-vacation. First stop, Birmingham. We visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which is a wonderful walk through the Civil Rights battles of the 20th century. Photos weren’t allowed in the museum, so I don’t have any to post. You’ll have to trust me that it’s an excellent field trip if you’re ever near Birmingham! We also walked through the Kelly Ingram Park just across the street from the museum and viewed the outside of the 16th Street Baptist Church where four children were killed during a violent bombing by the KKK in 1963. Unfortunately, we also had the opportunity to view several homeless people in the area, too.
Second stop, Huntsville. I can’t tell you how much all of us from the two-year-old to the 39-year-old enjoyed the US Space and Rocket Center! Real rockets, hands-on exhibits, life-size models, demonstrations, 3-D and IMax films, three rides, a playground, a rock climbing wall and more kept our attention from open to close. This is a trip my children will talk about for quite some time!
Third and final stop, Franklin, TN. It’s a beautiful little town with lots of character! I wish we could’ve spent more time touring and meandering, but a Civil War reenactment was taking place at the Carnton Plantation and that took up most of our day. Plus, the troops were beginning to wear down and we knew too much more touring and hotel hopping would send them (and us) into grump city – a place we didn’t want to visit!
Sorry for the picture-intensive post. I hope it didn’t slow down your computer too much!
Posted by Cindy on December 3, 2009
Eli is almost three! We’ve had such a good time keeping him busy this semester. Well, good time might not always describe what it was like keeping him busy! Here are just a few pictures of the little man who can frequently be heard saying, “I wanna do pwekool!”
Making “painted” cookies with Mahayla.
We pulled out the beans a lot! He loves to scoop, bury things and fill up all the wagons on his little tractors.
Mahayla is a super preschool teacher! She came up with the idea to make little cards with body parts written on them. She would read the body part and ask Eli to tape the card to the right spot on her! LOL He LOVED it!
The Dollar Tree is a great place for finding simple things to keep him busy. Several masterpieces were created with bottles of mini glitter glue.
Foam stickers from the Dollar Tree are probably his most favorite thing to use right now.
He loves stickers in general!
Cutting and gluing – anything – floats his boat!
This is one of our Preschool Activities in a Bag games.
Yep, that’s a real hammer and nail. Why not – as long as we’re supervising?
I’m going to make his “pwekool” time a little more structured this coming semester. Not anything academic, but more purposeful and planned out – so I’m not rushing around like crazy trying to find something to keep him from drawing all over the big kids’ math!
Posted by Cindy on November 5, 2009
This list of resources will be in the sidebar for a little while, too, but I wanted to be sure those who use blog readers have a chance to see this list before Thanksgiving! We won’t be doing a Thanksgiving unit this year, but several books will be in books baskets and book nooks around the house. Here are some of my favorites.
Here are a few internet resources that have been useful in the past.
Cindy Downes’ Pilgrim Unit
The Homeschool Mom’s Links
LaCelle Family Unit Study
Eclectic Homeschool Online Resources
Posted by Cindy on November 3, 2009
What a glorious time of year! In my part of the world, God’s creation is singing in brilliant colors and crisp notes. In honor of His magnificent show, I thought I’d center the theme around bits and pieces of Autumn Beauty. Enjoy the wonderful articles!
Nature Study
Julee from Abundant Harvest shares her family’s awesome nature study that came from an injured monarch in Nature Study – Butterfly.
Alicia from La Famille gives a great tutorial for making a dye from black walnut shells in Nuts About Dye!
Ritsumei from Baby Steps shares about her family’s recent trip to their local nature preserve in Critters and Moss.
Kris from At Home Science provides a nice list of living books and such for anyone planning to study rocks, soil or the earth in Geology Study Resources.
Barb at Handbook of Nature Study shares about one of her nature challenges in Outdoor Hour Challenge Autumn Series – Seasonal Weather.
Yours truly is sharing an article from Shining Dawn Books about Nature Study with a Toddler or Preschooler.
Art/Picture Study
Dana from Epi Kardia takes us on a how-to journey through picture study in Charlotte Mason Mondays – Picture Study.
I’d like to share a recent picture study resource review I wrote at The Curriculum Choice about Dover Art Cards as well as our latest artist study activities in The Thinker and Other Rodin Fun.
Living Literature
Keri from Sunny Scholars helps unmuddy the waters when it comes to finding good literature that’s also friendly to beginning readers in Readers.
Amber from The Mommy Earth shares how she and her children enjoyed a cozy reading time together in Book Review: Five Little Peppers.
Kris from Science of Relations provides a set of living literature for our reading enjoyment that focuses on history in Westward Expansion: Santa Fe Trail.
Jimmie from Jimmie’s Collage reminds us that even older children enjoy picture books, and she’s found several goodies in Picture Books for Middle School.
Science/History
Heather from Maple Hill Academy shares how she has implemented a family time line in Book of Years.
Barb from Harmony Art Mom shows us how she uses a traditional teaching text with CM flair in Apologia Physical Science with a CM Style.
Super Odds and Ends
Penny from Our Crazy Adventures in Autismland! gives us a glimpse into habit training in Bedtime Routine into Habit.
Richele from Under the Golden Apple Tree reminds us of the importance of leisure time in Masterly Inactivity.
Johnna from Living Charlotte Mason in California is the perfect ending to a cool weather carnival as she shares about her family’s adventure making Autumn Butternut Soup.
Thank you so much for visiting the Charlotte Mason Carnival today! Richele from Under the Golden Apple Tree will be hosting next time on November 17th. I hope you’ll consider submitting an article! Until next time, I hope your autumn days are spent in thankfulness to our Creator for His bounty!
Posted by Cindy on October 13, 2009
I recently reviewed some curriculum from Moving Beyond the Page that included a Poetry unit. Mahayla worked through the self-directed curriculum on her own and then completed a final project of sharing some of her own poetry in a coffeehouse setting. Here are a few pictures from the “coffeehouse”. 
This is some of the poetry she shared.
Nothing like dressing up for you big performance! (Insert rolling eyes.) The poster in the back was a display teaching the audience (her family) about poetry forms and the tv is on because it was playing soft music.
Yummy banana bread. Every coffeehouse poetry reading needs food!
This week and next, the kids are working on presidential projects. I’ll share them with you soon!
