Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival November 25, 2008

Welcome to the November 25th edition of the

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival!

There are a lot of great entries to this edition of the carnival. I hope you take a few minutes to enjoy each entry.

General Charlotte Mason Homeschool

Tammy presents The Further We Go On Our Homeschool Journey ... posted at Adventures On Beck's Bounty. In this post she shares with us how much she admires and appreciates Charlotte Mason's approach to education and shares some of her favorite Miss Mason quotes.

Jamie in Rose Cottage presents A Happy Talent posted at Rose Cottage, saying this post is some of her thoughts on the importance of play.

Lisa in her post The Essential Difference between Public School and a Charlotte Mason education shares with us her observations about an important difference between a Chalotte Mason approach to education and public school, posted at Hopewell Takes On LIFE!.

Mama Squirrel shares with us her 2nd grader's exam response in her post, Exam response: Understood Betsy, posted at Dewey's Treehouse.

History

Jeanne Webb shares her family's Charlotte Mason approach to history in her post Our Book of Centuries on her blog A peaceful day.

Math

Shannon shares with us her experience both learning and teaching math in her post Why is math so difficult??? posted at Mountaineer Country.

Nature Study
Barb-Harmony Art Mom reminds us that nature study is not meant to be a drill in her post Nature Study is Not a Drill: How I Learn to Be Flexible posted at Handbook of Nature Study.

Amanda shares two free PDF calendars to download that she has designed to help with your nature study observations in her post Nature Study Observation Calendars posted at Hearts and Trees.

lindafay presents Autumn Nature Study 2008: Wonderful WEEDS posted at Higher Up and Further In. In this post she shares with us her family's approach to studying weeds this autumn.

Music, Art and Handicrafts
Barb-Harmony Art Mom shows us how she organizes her classical music CDs in her post Organizing My Classical Music With Colored Dots posted at Harmony Art Mom.

Cindy presents Embriodery Project posted at Our Journey Westward, saying "This was a super easy handicraft that turned out far better than I imagined. I'm hoping others might find it a good handicraft activity for the winter."

Resources & Reviews
Angi presents Q & A: Boxes & Writing posted at Peakmore Academy, saying, "Freewriting & copywork --easy, cheap, useful, and enjoyable!"

Makita presents Labyrinths & Mazes posted at Twinkling Stars Family School.

Nature Study Observation Calendars

Calendars: It's a great idea to have children keep a calendar to record when and where they saw the first oak leaf, the first tadpole, the first daily walks and nature hikes! A day won't go by when something isn't primrose, the first ripe blackberries. Then next year they can pull out the calendar and know when to anticipate seeing these things again, and they can note new discoveries. Imagine how this will add enthusiasm for seen to excite them.

From Charlotte Mason Volume One, page 54

I really like the idea of using a calendar to keep track of your nature observations for each month. It would be so much fun the next year to look back and see what you had observed each day and compare to the current year's observations. You could also include a small sketch on the calendar if you wish. It could also be motivating if you wanted to observe something in nature each day- as you would have a space to fill for each day. Even if you just recorded the weather or what you see out your window, that would be something for each day. I'd love to hear your ideas.
I have put together a free PDF calendars for this purpose. It is a completely blank calendar you can use for any month you wish.

Blank Nature Study Observations Calendar

I would love to see how you and your family use my calendars, so feel free to leave me links in the comments section or to email me. Enjoy.