The three R's...

Relaxed...

We're into our second week of school here, and it's been going really well.  Nothing like a crazy summer to make a school schedule feel relaxing!  Ha. Actually, I think a lot of it has to do with our more Charlotte Masonish approach, having shorter, more focused lessons.  When our books came I was a little disappointed at how thin they were - it didn't look like I was getting my money's worth.  :-/  Now that we are using them, though, I'm cluing in to Charlotte's wisdom.  It is much better to do a smaller amount of work and do it well, than to push your way through long lessons, but not give it your full attention and effort. 

As in other years, I have the older kids scheduled in to play/teach the little (preschool) ones.  This is soooo helpful.  Leah has music time with them, Allison does art, Justine reads poems and stories and Emily plays games.  Meghan uses her time to read to all the boys.  She's been reading Jeremy's War and The Bully Boys.   I know that Brent is into the stories when he writes 1812 as the date on the top of his work page. :)

Allison, Thomas and Nadia put on a little finger-puppet play about the five little monkeys who were jumping on the bed... 



The monkeys...

And the doctor, who chimed in at just the right time to say, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Real-life, hands-on learning...

The plan for this year is to do nature study on Friday mornings.  I say "the plan" because I know how easy it is to set this kind of thing aside in the need to get more urgent things done.  Our first study was on cattails.  Everyone knows what cattails are, where they grow and how to identify them.  But did you know how useful they are?  Their roots, shoots, and flower spikes (when still green) are all edible.  The pollen can be collected and used as a very nutrient-rich flour.  Parts have also been used medicinally.  The leaves can be woven into mats, chairs and baskets.  What we found really neat was that the fluffy down from the flowers can be used for bedding, pillows, diapers, sleeping bags, life jackets, tinder and insulation.  Wow.  Just think of all the money we could have saved over the years had we known that!  And how nice that we haven't yet blown insulation into the attic of the addition.  Now we would have the perfect thing.

After reading all about them, and watching a few YouTube videos, we donned our rubber boots and went outside on a cattail hunt.  We didn't need to go far.  Just down the road, a drainage ditch between two fields provided an excellent stand of cattails.

Walking through the swampy ground, pushing aside thorny bushes, and being tripped up by tangled grass gave us a little insight into why these plants are not in common use.

But we are not easily deterred, so we dug up some roots, collected armfuls of flower spikes and cut off some leaves, then hauled it all home and got to work.

The fluff is downy-soft and would, no doubt, make a lovely pillow.  I read somewhere, though, that you would need a very thick case for it as some people will react to the fluff and wake up with hives.  It makes one wonder about using it for diapers.

We haven't done anything with it yet but strip it off the stock.  We are hoping to sew some into a pack to see if it would float well enough to work like a life jacket.  Apparently they make quite a show when you burn them so we'll be trying that at our next camp fire.

 Ridiculous...

One of the videos we watched was of a kid who took a big bite off a cattail flower.  As soon as the fluff is pulled loose, it expands, not unlike a pack of fibreglass insulation when you cut open the plastic.  We watched it and laughed and I wondered what kid would be silly enough to try it.  Now I know.  I have several  kids who are silly enough to try.  I don't know what I've done wrong with them, but these kids  are very, very silly...

At seventeen, you'd think that she would know better, but...

She tells me that maturity means that you know when you should act like an adult and when it's OK to act like a kid. :)

Hope your week is as much fun,