Friday, May 28, 2010

Apostles' Fast and Summer Learning

While I am nearly through actively planning homeschool lessons for the summer, we will continue to do a few learning-type activities into Summer.  We'll be working through the Bob Books series along with the exercises designed to go along with them at Letters of Grace (at a lazy summer pace).

I'd like to increase our time outdoors (even if it's just sitting in our backyard) by getting into doing a Nature Notebook.  Keeping one of these journals by sketching wildlife (or taking photos?) can be a gentle introduction to the scientific world.  As a bonus, the drawing combines the subject with Art, and the notebook can include Poetry if you are creative.  I may start doing this on my own before I foist it on the girls.  If I do a few entries, they'll probably ask to make one of their own anyway.  Then, it's their idea, not mine!

Eventually, I'd like to purchase a copy of The Handbook of Nature Study, by Anna Botsford Comstock to facilitate our learning in this area.

Since we are nearly into the Apostles' Fast, I'd like to do some kind of activity related to the apostles with my kids (although, since I am about to give birth, I don't have any big plans).

Some of the resources I am considering include:

  • Go and Make Disciples at craftycontemplative.wordpress.com ~ a Jesse-Tree-style list of twelve readings and accompanying symbols to color or craft.
Finally, for our summer education, we'll continue to use the Let Us Attend program at Antiochian.org to prepare for each Sunday's Gospel reading.  I like to do this on the Thursday or Friday before that particular gospel is read so the girls have something to listen for during the actual reading at church, and something to look for in the icon, if the coloring page corresponds to the one we will venerate at church.

With Bob Books, Nature Notebooks, a Let Us Attend activity each week, twelve apostles to read about from Ms. Mayer's book, and twelve readings and symbols from Go and Make Disciples, I think we will have plenty to keep us busy this Summer.  I'd like to lay out some of these resources in some kind of orderly fashion to give it some kind of structure (sound vague enough?), and if I do, I'll post it here.

3 comments:

  1. Alicia in New ZealandMay 28, 2010 at 5:08 PM

    Good Morning, I hope that you are all doing well. My husband teases me about my "pregnant moms" that I check on each day. I hope that you day is both restful and productive.
    I wanted to thank you for the listing of resources for Pentecost. I had forgotten the Gigi Shahid music that I had tried to get for Christmas. I could not get hold of them at all. I read you post linked over picked up the phone and got through! They assured me they would ship here no problem. Order placed and now I am so happy! Thanks again for the reminder.

    Alicia in New Zealand

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha--there are quite a few of us pregnant, aren't there? :) My day was restful, and now I'm being productive. Good balance, right? The older kids (as opposed to the unborn one) might even go to bed early tonight. ;)

    I don't remember listing resources for Pentecost, but maybe I did. I definitely love both of Gigi's CDs that we have. So, I'm glad you're able to get some of her music!

    Thanks for checking on me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. We are using a lot of the same materials this summer, and I like your idea of doing the notebook on your own. I trying the nature notebook for the first time last weekend with Juliana, and she wanted me to draw in hers--a collaborative effort. I don't recall exactly what she drew, but it was unrelated to nature. Thanks for sharing your plans, hope your little one lets you rest tonight. :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...