Catherine Love~ Ramblings from my Heart and Home

Fabulous Freebie

Homeschool Freebie of the Day has a wonderful free download today!  Little Hands Folded in Prayer is a collection of prayers for children from the 1800's.  Excellent resource for copywork, memorywork, etc.

Blessings,

Catherine

Glorious Weather

I love, love, love those first cool days of Autumn, and this is the second gloriously cool morning we have had!

I had to remind myself of Charlotte Mason's habit of declaring a "holiday" on those really lovely weather days, because this is, after all our first "official" week of school.....but, how could I resist 3 pairs of blue eyes begging to go outside and play this morning? 

So, out we went, Mom with a cup of tea and her notebook (still finishing up those curriculum and lesson plans- which will change time and time again as the year goes by); and  girls with quilts and other things to create their little home with. 

Nature study showed itself quickly- a tiny walking stick that hopped onto one little lady's leg.  Then, the hunt was on for other creatures- damsel flies, butterflies, and other things were enjoying the Autumn morning as well.

The other books can wait until afternoon, after all- Living is a wonderful way to learn!

Off to have more tea and read my own books on the porch...

Catherine

OH.....we planted the Fall garden at the new house yesterday!  So exciting, I'll tell you about it later...my tea kettle is calling!

The 100 Species Challenge

We are going to participate in the 100-Species Challenge as part of our Nature Study this year.  The rules and other necessary information are below.   It would be great fun if some of you would join us! 

Blessings,

Catherine

The 100-Species Challenge

1. Participants should include a copy of these rules and a link to this entry in their initial blog post about the challenge. I will make a sidebar list of anyone who notifies me that they are participating in the Challenge.

2. Participants should keep a list of all plant species they can name, either by common or scientific name, that are living within walking distance of the participant's home. The list should be numbered, and should appear in every blog entry about the challenge, or in a sidebar.

3. Participants are encouraged to give detailed information about the plants they can name in the first post in which that plant appears. My format will be as follows: the numbered list, with plants making their first appearance on the list in bold; each plant making its first appearance will then have a photograph taken by me, where possible, a list of information I already knew about the plant, and a list of information I learned subsequent to starting this challenge, and a list of information I'd like to know. (See below for an example.) This format is not obligatory, however, and participants can adapt this portion of the challenge to their needs and desires.

4. Participants are encouraged to make it possible for visitors to their blog to find easily all 100-Species-Challenge blog posts. This can be done either by tagging these posts, by ending every post on the challenge with a link to your previous post on the challenge, or by some method which surpasses my technological ability and creativity.

5. Participants may post pictures of plants they are unable to identify, or are unable to identify with precision. They should not include these plants in the numbered list until they are able to identify it with relative precision. Each participant shall determine the level of precision that is acceptable to her; however, being able to distinguish between plants that have different common names should be a bare minimum.

6. Different varieties of the same species shall not count as different entries (e.g., Celebrity Tomato and Roma Tomato should not be separate entries); however, different species which share a common name be separate if the participant is able to distinguish between them (e.g., camillia japonica and camillia sassanqua if the participant can distinguish the two--"camillia" if not).

7. Participants may take as long as they like to complete the challenge.  You can make it as quick or as detailed a project as you like.  I'm planning to blog a minimum of two plants per week, complete with pictures and descriptions as below, which could take me up to a year.  But you can do it in whatever level of detail you like.

For Our Botany Studies

I am ever so thankful to Ann Voskamp at Holy Experience for this Botany Photo of the Day link.  This will be excellent for our homeschool Botany studies, as well as my own studies.  There is a whole list of links for daily homeschool or even just daily "things": photos, words, games, stories here.

If you aren't familiar with Ann's writings, please don't miss the blessing of her Grace-filled words.  Visit Holy Experience today!

Blessings,

Catherine

Fun Craft - Bean Mosaics

We made these last week on craft day and it was lots of fun.  Even the Moms had to join in and make our own bean mosaics!  We left them to dry and one of the ladies is going to give them a coat of clear sealer of some type to keep them looking pretty! 

Have fun creating your own masterpiece .