Book Sale

On Saturday, I took my girl with me to a local library book sale, and I thought I'd share some of the treasures we found!

Dear Mili by Grimm- Illustrations by Sendak are lovely.
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo-Never read this one, but I know it's beloved. I'm sure we'll enjoy it.
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder : to add to our Little House collection
The Real Book About the Wild West by Adolph Regli (1952)- A fun collection of tales of the Old West.
Golden Tales of Our America by May Lamberton Becker (1957)- A real living book, a collection of stories from well-known American authors, such as Hawthorne, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Francis Bret Harte.
Mother West Wind's Children by Thornton Burgess- Always fun.
The Tough Winter by Robert Lawson- We haven't read this yet, but it looks like a wonderful chapter book about animals living in a forest. The simple pencil drawings are stunning.
Elizabeth Ann Seton: Wife, Mother, Sister, Saint by Janet Wiley (1977)- Ah the golden age of Catholic culture...the 70's:) Actually, this is wonderful. It's really a story about Seton's life, told in a lovely narrative way.
Mary by Demi- Gorgeous picture book about the Blessed Mother, told through scripture.

And a couple of books for Mama!

The Best of the World's Classics, Volume VI, Great Britain and Ireland by Henry Cabot Lodge, Editor in Chief (1909)- This is part of a series, and I've never seen it before. I'll be keeping my eye out. I have another old series from the early 20th c. which is similar (a collection of stories, poems, plays, in several volumes), and it looks like I might be starting another collection!

Brief French Grammar by Fraser, Squair, and Carnahan (1931)- No info online about this book, just some places to purchase a copy. It looks pretty advanced, so it won't be used soon, but maybe someday! In any case, I just had to buy it...I love the petite size, the color, and, of course, the vintage quality of it:)

I love book sales. Grand total for these gems: $10. Only downside: book buyers are ruthless and will roll their little carts right over you in an effort to grab a book cheap and sell it online. I really hate that.

Almost-Summer Sights at Home

Unfortunately, I'm down with a cold and we're missing our nature study group for the second week in a row.  Thankfully, I'm the only one sick at our house, so my kids have happily spent hours outdoors every day this week.  I even got out the water table today, which kept my toddler busy for at least an hour.  And my older two have been experimenting with what sinks and what floats all morning, so I'm crossing science off the list!

In lieu of our usual outing report, and as a follow-up to the spring sights around the garden I shared last month, here's a quick trip around our yard the week before summer actually hits:

The big star of the yard right now is our pink hibiscus tree, which burst into bloom last week.  I look forward to its season every year--it is so bright and colorful and makes that corner of the yard so pleasant.  And it's a bee magnet!

And I found the lobelia below in our front bed of alyssum and pink primroses last month.  I thought this was a wildflower at first, as I didn't plant it and it has never been there before.  But some friends identified it for me.  These flowers are so tiny (you can't tell from the photo, but they are only a half-inch across, if that!), and there were only two of them last month.  This month there are a couple more, and my children spotted one little blossom in a patch of dirt out back this morning, so I suppose they're migrating!  

Our purple hebe is still fuzzy and full.

The bees just love our white bower vine (Pandorea jasminoides alba). 

They go from bloom to bloom, shimmying their way up the trumpet of the flower until they all but disappear from sight.  They emerge twenty or so seconds later, lazily buzz over to the next bloom, and disappear deep inside its funnel, just like the last.

See?  There he is, up scooping out a snack.

And in the front: alyssum, primroses, manazanita, and society garlic, and then the blue agapanthus, also known as African Lily or Lily-of-the-Nile.  

These are everywhere in California, including our front yard.  We have a big cluster of them just outside our front windows, and we love to watch the hummingbirds visit, which they do often!  According to our Calendar of Firsts, the first buds popped up in mid-April and opened a couple weeks later.  And they have been bright and tall since then.

And my daughter noticed this morning: at the very tips of the crepe myrtles we have along our side yards are the first blossoms of the year!

Other happenings: we harvested our pluot tree last week and got loads and loads of fruit.  And if I'm feeling up to it, I'm hoping to put in a bit of a garden this weekend: just some herbs and annuals, and maybe a couple tomato plants, which we grew successfully in pots last year.

So, what's happening in your yard this week?  Hopefully it's blue skies and sunshine where you are as well!

All the Things

Ya'll, I am up to my eyes in fall planning, house building, last-minute curriculum panicking, and all my own, personal worries, doubts, and concerns. I am thinking about all the things. All the things seem important and good, and worthwhile. All the things need my attention. The books I'm not reading, the insightful blog posts I'm not composing. The people who need prayer, and those who are gone and I miss so much. They all keep me up at night. All the things are threatening to add up to one thing too many.

Today, I am going to take care of my sick little girl. I will read scripture. I will pray. I will plan until I feel like taking a break, and I might not pick it back up again until tomorrow. I am going to take a nap and enjoy my coffee and stare out the window. 

Because God hold all things in His hands, knows all things that were and are and will be, and He can handle all the things way better than I can. 

What I Love Most about a Charlotte Mason Education

Like many homeschooling moms, I am in the midst of fall planning.  And like many homeschooling moms, I love fall planning.  It's technically on my to-do list, but I think of it more as a hobby than a chore.  Sitting down with a cup of coffee, a blank "notebook" on Evernote, and a stack of books is my idea of a good time.

Now, in the online circles I run in, six children really isn't all that many, but everyone I meet out in the "real world" seems to think that it is.  I get a lot of questions when I'm out with my crew:

"Well now, don't you have your hands full?!" 

"Do you have help?"

"Wow, how busy is it at your house?!" 

"Do you run a daycare, or are these all yours?"

Moms of many, I'm sure you have all heard these too. ;)  Sometimes I just smile, nod, and move along; sometimes the questions are from a dental hygienist or a hair stylist, and by virtue of my being "captive," the questions turn into a conversation.  And when they find out that we homeschool, they go from surprised to stunned, as if the combination of having many children and schooling them all is just completely out of their imagining.  I'm always surprised by this, because, as I tell them: "Homeschooling is the fun part.  It's the best part of my day!"  And I mean it--I really do.  (There are a few things tied for the best part of the day, actually.  Kissing baby toes, watching the sweet antics of my toddlers, and getting glimpses into my pre-schooler's make-believe world are all wonderful daily moments.  But homeschooling ranks right up there with them.  I find it infinitely more fun than most of the other parts of my job: cooking, cleaning, wiping bottoms, and all the rest.)

My children are still very small, and I'm sure there will be challenges and frustrations in the days ahead.  And yes, occasionally on a particularly overwhelming afternoon, I think about what a (short-term) relief it would be to have two of my kids kept busy out of the house, in that free daycare that is modern-day public education.  But right now, almost every day, I feel like homeschooling makes my day that much more enjoyable.  Perhaps it's because I always wanted to be a teacher and did teach in college for a bit.  Perhaps it's that I'm a control freak and enjoy choosing what my children are exposed to and when.  Perhaps it's because I love learning, and homeschooling allows (requires?) me to learn alongside my kids in so many subjects.  Perhaps it's because having the big kids around to play with the littles makes our days run so much more smoothly--and means I get to watch those precious relationships among siblings grow.  Perhaps it's because I feel the grave duty of passing on the Faith to my children, and homeschooling is the easiest way I can find to do this.  Perhaps I don't like leaving the house all that often.  (Kidding.  Sort of.)  

In all of these ways and more, I love homeschooling.

But even more than that, I love Charlotte Mason's vision for education.  I really don't think I would be as excited about our school days if I were spending them correcting workbook pages, giving spelling tests, and reading comprehension questions from textbooks.  As I have mentioned before, my first exposure to Charlotte Mason felt like coming home.  Right away it seemed like the perfect fit.  It seemed like the way I would have loved to be taught as a child!  And it seemed like how I wanted my days as a homeschooling mother to look.

And that's what I love most about it: the whole thing.  (Is that cheating?)  I love the look of our days and weeks, our joyous lessons, our learning lifestyle.  It's a rich life.  It's a full life. 

Put simply, the thing I love most is this

...and this 

...and this

...and this

...and Shakespeare and nature journals and picture study and field trips and seasonal observations and all the rest of it.

And as I'm planning for fall, pulling together my weekly checklists for next year, I'm reminded just how rich this feast really is.  I mean, just look at the lovely reading list from one week of our second grade plans:

"The Battle of Stamford Bridge" from Our Island Story

Chapter 1 of Understood Betsy

"Two Gentlemen of Verona" from Lambs' Tales from Shakespeare

Part of Pilgrim's Progress

"Saint Sebastian" from Heroes of God's Church

"Two Empires" from Child's History of the World

Chapter 1 from Little Duke

"The Angel Gabriel Announces the Birth of Christ" from Knecht's Child's Bible History

"What is a Sacrifice?" from Fr. Francis' Come to Mass

"The Embroidered Coat" from Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls

"Eternity and What I Must Think of It" from Mother Mary Loyola's First Communion

Chapters 2 and 3 from Holling's Tree in the Trail

Chapter 2 from Henry's Brighty of the Grand Canyon

Part of Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Hans Christian Andersen's The Nightingale

"Peter and Jumper Go to School" from The Burgess Animal Book for Children

Haydn's Surprise Symphony No. 94

Manet's "The Races at Longchamps" (to compare with Degas' "Racehorses at Longchamps" from last term)

"The Strings" from The First Book of the Orchestra

"The Red Light in the Sky" and "The Man Drawn by Dogs" from The Kirbys' The World at Home

Poetry by Walter de la Mare

The Creation of Adam from Benson's Old Testament Rhymes

"La Bella Lavanderina" from Filastrocche Italiane

It is a thing of beauty, is it not? :) And there will be nary a spelling worksheet nor a comprehension question in sight!  (Though there will be a piano lesson, copywork, math, Italian lessons and songs, mapwork, an art project, some time with handicrafts, a drawing lesson, lots of narrations, a nature walk and journal entry, a folk song and a hymn, plenty of time for reading and free play, and much more.  As I said: full and rich.)

Does this not look like fantastic fun to you?  I admit I am a homeschool nerd. :)  But I happen to believe that a Charlotte Mason education, with its emphasis on the liberal arts and a diet of ideas for even the littlest, has the power to appeal to us all--students and teachers.  And goodness, I do love it.

Nature Study at the Beach

Inspired by Barb's recent descriptions of local hikes she has taken (she has me itching to make the trek to Yosemite!), I want to invite you on a tour of the Santa Cruz area, where we took a vacation recently.  It is a lovely stretch of coastline that has so many gems for families living a Charlotte Mason education.  And plenty of new nature-friends to meet!  Let me introduce you...

Neary Lagoon

This lagoon is a city park, a small preserve in the middle of a residential part of town, and you can either circle the park on foot via a dirt trail or walk through the lagoon by way of plank bridges that go out into the wetlands.  We opted for the latter, of course!  

I was hoping to see more waterfowl here, but I have a feeling that the inevitable noise of our "little" family might have been part of the problem--this was a very quiet park, with no street noise and very few people there when we were, so the happy shrieks of the baby and the fussing of the toddler were amplified. ;)  

Nevertheless, we did see plenty of the usuals (mallards, geese, coots), and we saw a wood duck for the first time, which my son recognized right away thanks to his  beautiful--and distinct--coloring.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get a photo, but we all drew our own at home.  And added him to our Life Lists!

There were also lots of new wildflowers:

Wild garlic, I think?

Yellow iris

Jerusalem sage

And this striking butterfly, who alit on a leaf just above us and stayed put long enough for me to get a sharp-ish photo.  I think it's a Lorquin's Admiral.

There are actually several lagoons in the city, so I think next time we're over there, we may try another.  It's a nice geographical change of pace from the beach--not that we could ever get sick of the seashore!  Speaking of...

The Beach!

We went to a few different beaches, some old favorites and some new to us, some run-of-the-mill stretches of sand, some a bit less commercial.  Either way, lots to see:

One of my very favorite parts about the local beaches are the curlews, who run along the shore all day.

I think these are whimbrels, but they could also be long-billed curlews; the two look almost identical.  From what I have read, both are present in the area but the former are more common.  Whichever they are, they are so fun to watch, darting around and dipping their slender beaks into the sand.  

Lots of lovely shells from the beaches that don't restrict collecting: 

Oh, and this little guy:

Isn't he cute?  (He's a striped shore crab.  Common but striking nonetheless!)

Natural Bridges

One of the natural gems of the Santa Cruz coast.  Besides being breathtakingly scenic, it boasts a monarch preserve, extensive rock flats for tidepooling, a creek that opens up to the ocean, trails through meadows and eucalyptus groves, and a visitor center.

I had a great time exploring the tidepools with my two oldest.  The climb onto the rocks is easy enough even for children, and on the way, we were treated to gorgeous markings along the rocks at the beach's west end, which are apparently formed of Santa Cruz Mudstone.  Nature's art, indeed!

 

And once we got up onto the flats, there was so much to see: anemones, mussels, crabs, limpets, many kinds of seaweed, dogwinkles, clams, acorn barnacles, turban snails and more.......

And what a view!

Once again, the birds there were such a treat: atop the rock bridge were a group of pelicans, flying above the waves offshore were a flock of cormorants, and of course, curlews and gulls by the dozen.  

Farther inland along the creek trail were dark-eyed juncoes and a sweet family of mallards--my daughter practically squealed when they spotted the three little ducklings.  

And the trail was lined with dune flowers, including sand verbena and these two varieties of ice plants (aka sea fig):

Seymour Marine Discovery Center

This was a new spot for us: a small-scale aquarium (when compared with the world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium an hour south) that is part of the working marine lab at UC Santa Cruz. 

The emphasis here was on how marine scientists work, both in the lab and out in the field.  The placards labeling the inhabitants of each tank weren't just informational; through guided questioning, they led visitors through the same kinds of investigation that scientists have done and are doing in this field.  A great introduction to marine biology for little ones!

My favorites there were the sunflower starfish, which were just gorgeous, and the decorator crabs.  The latter made for an interesting case study: biologists noticed that these crabs' shells were covered with whatever objects were in their surrounding environment.  Some had red algae and some had green algae, for example, depending on where they lived.  The scientists wondered why: either (1) the crabs happened to be suited to their environments naturally (green-algae crabs born among green algae, for example), (2) the algae was growing naturally on their shells, or (3) they were adorning the shells themselves as a defense mechanism.  They guessed it was the third reason, but needed to test the theory, so they put the crabs in a tank with colorful pom-pom balls.  They have replicated this experiment there at the Center, and yep: they're crawling around the tank with pom poms all over their shells!  So colorful. :)

My children's favorites were the touch pools (especially the super-soft leather starfish), the bottle-nose dolphins, and the giant blue whale skeleton outside.  

This is actually the smaller of two whale skeletons on site!

And they got to pet a swell shark!  (As you might imagine, my 6yo son was thrilled.)

And that's some of our Santa Cruz highlights.  Needless to say, I'm looking forward to our next visit!

What We're Reading

Me:

Mantel's Wolf Hall (Almost finished!  I started long ago at Angela's recommendation.  I wish it portrayed St. Thomas More more accurately, but the writing is wonderful and the story compelling. 4/5 stars!)

Clare Walker Leslie's Keeping a Nature Journal  (I'll review this on the blog sometime soon--highly recommended.)

Run Less Run Faster from Runner's World (revisiting this old favorite for inspiration!)

Fr. Matimore's Heroes of God's Church (pre-reading for next year's religion)

Healy's Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It

Macaulay's For the Children's Sake (following along with the CM Principles study on the AO Forums)

Charlotte Mason's Home Education series (always!)

With the children:

The Middle Moffat (the second in the series of four--I put the last two on their free reading shelf for later)

Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin (one of next year's AO free reading selections)

Fr. Halpin's Children's Retreats (I've mentioned this one before--we're finishing up the little First Communion stories in the back)

Dahl's The Fantastic Mr. Fox  (on audiobook, read by the author--just finished this one)

Gianna, age 6:

Rumer Godden's The Doll's House

Fr. Carbonel's Little Therese (again)

Steele's The Perilous Road (finished this yesterday)

Cole's A Nest for Celeste

Vincent, age almost-7:

Freddy and Simon the Dictator (this series has enchanted the kids all spring)

Bean's Tumtum and Nutmeg 

Burgess' Big Book of Animal Stories (perpetual favorite)

Fr. Brennan's Angel Food series (again)

To the littles:

Lavender's Blue (one of my very favorite nursery rhyme compilations)

All Things Bright and Beautiful (we're currently reading and re-reading two versions)

The Metropolitan Museum's Baby Loves and Boynton's Moo, Baa, La La La (1yo Bridget's current favorites)

Kate Greenaway's Marigold Garden and Beskow's Pelle's New Suit (4yo Cate's current favorites)

Marie Hall Ets' Just Me, Jeffers' Benjamin's Barn, Henkes' Kitten's First Full Moon (3yo Xavier's current favorites)

Veni, Sancte Spiritus

On this Pentecost Sunday, the holiest feast of the year after Easter, I'm thankful for

:: a birthday cake for the Church (with a red candle, naturally)

:: children who were thrilled to be receiving their second Holy Communion (it was a blessed First Holy Communion last week!)

:: a husband who surprises me with an apostolic blessing from the Vatican for our upcoming anniversary

:: free time for nature journaling and a bit of writing about our vacation (more on that soon)

:: a happy, holy fifty days of Easter

:: the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the prayers of the Church

Come, Holy Spirit,

send forth the heavenly

radiance of your light.

Come, father of the poor,

come, giver of gifts,

come, light of the heart.

Greatest comforter,

sweet guest of the soul,

sweet consolation.

In labor, rest,

in heat, temperance,

in tears, solace.

O most blessed light,

fill the inmost heart

of your faithful.

Without your grace,

there is nothing in us,

nothing that is not harmful.

Cleanse that which is unclean,

water that which is dry,

heal that which is wounded.

Bend that which is inflexible,

fire that which is chilled,

correct what goes astray.

Give to your faithful,

those who trust in you,

the sevenfold gifts.

Grant the reward of virtue,

grant the deliverance of salvation,

grant eternal joy.