We have “officially” started back to school.  We are concentrating on a Charlotte Mason approach this year and I am borrowing lots of good ideas from Ambleside Online.  We are doing short lessons in the morning in math, copywork and reading.  There is still lots of time to play outdoors which is a high priority for me.  Today all three of them rode their bikes in front of our house and played in the yard.  When they came in to do schoolwork, they seemed ready to settle down and work on their math workbooks.  There was actual quiet in my house for those 20 minutes or so!  Then after a short break we did copy work:

Hurt No Living Thing by Christina Rossetti. 

Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.

This is a great poem and dovetails nicely with the yogic philosophy of non-violence, something I am concentrating on this week.  Later today, we plan to make rice krispie bars, have teatime, and read some more.  I also hope to get some cleaning done.  And maybe we will even watch the Nancy Drew DVD we picked up from the library. 

Songs of Innocence-The Schoolboy

by William Blake

I love to rise in a summer morn
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
Oh, what sweet company!But to go to school in a summer morn,
Oh! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn
The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay.

Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour;
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn through with the dreary shower.

How can the bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?
How can a child, when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring?

O, father and mother, if buds are nipped
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are stripped
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and care’s dismay,

How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear?
Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy,
Or bless the mellowing year,
When the blasts of winter appear?

We went ice skating at the pond again today.  It is our best antidote to the winter doldrums.  We were out there for two full hours.  The three kids, a couple of neighborhood friends, and I all skated.  I love going out there and being on the marsh.  I love shovelling the snow.  (I did a lot of that yesterday and today.)  I love seeing how my children are getting better and better on the ice.  I love being outside with my children.  In short, I just love it!

It is part of our daily schedule to go outside.  I want my kids to spend at least 15 minutes a day outside, preferably an hour or more.  And today, we spent two glorious hours on the ice.  I did a lot of shovelling and the kids skated and played a bit in the cattails that border the pond where we skate.  They were resting in the cattails with one of our neighbor friends and hiding from her brother at one point.  Of course, it wasn’t long before my 3 yo ds gave them away!   

Skating outside on a frozen pond is a fond childhood memory of mine.  My siblings and I grew up on a street that had a pond at the end of it.  Every winter the neighborhood kids would shovel it, lace up their skates and play.  The boys played hockey and the girls practiced their “figure skating”.  I remember dreaming that one day I could grow up to be a Olympic figure skating champion.  Do kids these days have the same aspirations?

Anyway, I am thrilled that my children are now growing up with the same opportunity I had.  The opportunity to skate every winter day on the pond across from our house.  It is one of those things that a child should do if they grow up in a climate such as ours.  That and perhaps, ice fishing???   

I want my children to grow up having embraced the “out of doors” as Charlotte Mason would say.  Even when it is cold outside, there is always something to do.  Because of the heavy snowfalls and frigid temperatures, this winter has been great for sledding, snowboarding and ice skating.  I would like my family to try snowshoeing and cross-country skiing some time too.

I agree wholeheartedly with Charlotte Mason.  ”Never be within doors, when you can rightly be without.”

Today started out with me reading There’s A Batwing In My Lunchbox by Ann Hodgman.  My 7 yo son has really taken an interest in this book even though I am sure it will not land on the Charlotte Mason lists for recommended reading.  Nonetheless, it was a very (unexpectedly) entertaining read for me, W and my 9 yo dd.  We finished the book tonight amidst a lot of jumping and running.  H, our energetic 3 yo, was dressed in a cape (courtesy of his elder siblings) and he ran around the house tonight saying he was Super Why from the PBS series of the same name.  H loves this show.  He calls it his show.  It teaches kids to read and even the older kids seem to enjoy it although they (esp. W) would not admit that.  H wanted us to read him The Lady With The Alligator Purse for his bedtime reading.  W started to read the first page to him, then told us he didn’t want to read it in front of all of us.  W seems to be progressing in his reading abilities but seems to lack the confidence to read much on his own.  It is usually a “forced” subject.  I hope that changes in time.  I know that he really likes to be read to; he really can follow a storyline.  That, I think, is more important than skill at this point in his education.  I want all of my children to have a real love of books and so far, I have yet to be discouraged.  

Harry Potter was being read over the past few weeks.  C and W read the first 3 books in order.  W listened to them on audio CD/or tape.  He erased some of the window markers that C had applied to our bathroom mirror at Christmas time and replaced “I (heart symbol) Henry” with “I (heart symbol) HP”  At first I wasn’t sure what it meant or who wrote it but then it dawned on me.  W really liked the books.  Unfortunately, watching the video of the first HP movie seemed to fuel some nightmares so we are going to give the whole HP series a rest for the time being.

Yesterday the boys put on shorts and their MN Twins t-shirts (gifts from TCF last summer) and played catch in the living room.  It was fun, even for mom, and it took our mind off the fact that it is very cold outside these days.  All three kids also spent some time sledding down the hill in the backyard.  We have had new snow to cover some of the bare patches in the back, thankfully. 

Today it was skateboarding.  Papa John (i.e.  Daddy) let the boys do some tricks on the skateboard in the lower level.  It didn’t seem to matter too much that the floor was carpeted.  Fun, regardless of the conditions!

C spent a good portion of the day reading and building on the Lego extravaganza she and W have in the bedroom.  We need to take a photo of it and record it.

Triton, our betta friend, got some clean water to swim in today.  It was looking pretty cloudy.  It made me realize that I need to come up with a schedule for all the work that needs to be done in a given day/week/month.  There is so much to do that we need to come up with a better plan to get it all done.  So that is one of my goals for the month - to get more organized.  Yeah, I know.  It has been a goal of mine for a long time.  

Hopefully, we can figure out what has been fatiguing C these past couple of years and get everyone back on some sort of a schedule.  It seems like the new non-dairy diet has made her a much happier, more even-keeled, more energetic girl.  If eliminating dairy can do all that for her, it is more than worth the effort.  It has been a bit of a shift to switch from our dairy-laden diet to a diet high in meat but like I said, it seems to be working.  I plan to incorporate more fish and legumes into the diet as well.  Heck, I would go vegan if I could.  That could be something to work toward.  C told me last night before she fell asleep that she feels happier on this non-dairy diet.  That is definitely a good thing.