Charlotte Mason fan

[Love2Learn]

I am a new CM fan - have read several books this summer (For the Children's Sake, CM Companion, Pocketful...) and am so inspired by the basic components of a CM education - which led me to seek out an easy to implement CM education (I am not a good scheduler and organizer). I have found that in HOD and Preparing as it gives me the direction that I need using CM methods and ideals.

Do any of you work on Nature Journals and composer and picture studies? How do you incorporate that into your week? Do you recommend any resources in these areas?

Thank you,
Jennifer

[water2wine]

Hey there. I am not a CM expert but I wanted to give you a few threads that might help anyway. I do know that if you use the Queens for LA or with R&S there is picture study. We are choosing to do it with R&S but selectively with both so they are not over loaded. There is picture study and more CM style things there. Composer study is something you could easily add and do with all your kids. There is plenty of left over time to add whatever your desires are to HOD. Hope something here helps and I know some CM experts will give you more information. But just wanted to give you something.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=527&hilit=nature+journal
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=533&hilit=nature+journal
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=83&hilit=nature+journal

[Love2Learn]

Thank you! Lots of info there and specific titles.

[my3sons]

Hi Jennifer! Well, I'm another CM fan, and I also enjoy the structure HOD gives me to help me pull those great ideas together. We've done Nature Journals many different ways. We spend about 15-30 minutes on them once a week and use Miller Pad and Paper's 5 x 7 spiral bound sketchbooks. Here are a few things we've done:
1. nature walked outside and took a sketchbook along to sketch something we saw
2. nature walked outside and sketched when we got home, looking up something we saw at http://www.enature.com (I LOVE this website; you put your zip code in and it brings up all of the animals in your area, with descriptions and pictures
3. read from nature books and sketched, labeled, wrote facts (we used the Crinkleroot books by Jim Arnosky and the Know-It-All Treasury of Animals and Nature Vol. I and Vol. II. (We discussed the dinosaur parts we don't agree with timeline-wise with our kids. It's brief and in the beginning of Vol. II.)
At first, anything was acceptable, but as the boys have gotten older, I have these few guidelines for each entry. I started with #1, and after a few weeks of requiring that, then I required #1 and #2, a few weeks more, then #1, #2, #3,etc.)
#1: draw a realistic sketch of something in nature (either that you saw or read about)
#2: color your sketch realistically
#3: give it an interesting title
#4: label something
#5: write 1-3 facts in phrases or in sentences about it

For Composer study:
Color the Classics series - We read each illustration's written part on the first day and then they colored the illustration while listening to the music. It often took them 3 different sessions or so to finish neatly coloring (with colored pencils) one illustration. We spent 15-20 minutes on this once a week. We studied about 2 composers a year this way. I also gave them a chance to listen to classical music by that composer while they did seatwork if they wanted to.
Link: http://www.colortheclassics.com/

For Picture Study:
Smart about Art series - Study one artist for 12 weeks, once each week. We studied 2-3 artists a year. Child picks one art piece in the book to study. We both study it for a while. When he says he is ready, we turn the art piece over, and we try to tell all the details that we remember about it. Look at the art piece again, and talk about the details missed. Read any information in the book about the art piece. If interested in more information, look on the Internet.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Henri-Matisse-Dra ... 044842519X
The above link is the one on Henri-Matisse, just so you can see inside one of the books as an example. We loved Mary Cassatt, Pierre August Renoir, and also Claude Monet.

We usually did these spread out one each day a week, with nature journal one day, picture study the next day, composer study the next day, and poetry studied was covered through HOD's guides already. We also have done all 4 of these areas on Fridays instead. There are so many great ideas out there for how to go about doing this, but maybe something here will be helpful for you! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Dorla]

Jennifer,
I am also a CM fan!

I have found that it is very easy to add Hymn study by singing the same hymn everyday for a month during family worship.

For composer study I choose a classical composer of which I already have a CD of and play it in the morning while we do our chores. I usually just mention the name and if I have a picture book of the composer we will read it at least once during the month.

Keeping a Nature Journal has been the hardest for us. We observe the birds, insects, animals, stars, etc. but we are awful about keeping the journal...

For art we like to visit our local Fine Art museum. I check online beforehand to see what is on display (usually from the permanent collection) and choose 4 or 5 for a "scavenger hunt".

I love the way Carrie has incorporated situps and jumping jacks in Beyond so that our "PE" is specific and I get to exercise for a few seconds too!

And then there is HABIT.... whew!

good luck with Preparing!
Dorla

[happyhomeschooling]

Hi, I am also a CM'er Have read alot of the great books listed here. Thanks everyone for posting this great information! As we are going to be
begining school again in a couple weeks it has given me some great idea's for the new school year!

[my2guys]

Another CM fan here. Just wanted to share a couple of resources I've come across. One is a series called Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists by Mike Venezia (and he also has one for composers). Each book in the series focuses on one artist. And MaryAnn F. Kohl has written books called Discovering Great Artists: Hands-on Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters and Great American Artists for Kids:Hands-on Art Experiences in the Styles of the Great American Masters. I'm planning on using these along with postcards or pictures of each artist's work. We're not starting this quite yet, but I'm thinking that maybe I'll start introducing some art study time at the beginning of the year.

[Love2Learn]

Thanks again for the helpful information. I also wanted to see if any have used Harmony Fine Arts curriculum? I think it is fairly new. It is a schedule of resources for composer and artist study and is organized in a classical way (chronological). Also scheduled are art lessons such as from Artistic Pursuits and Drawing with Children.

http://www.harmonyfinearts.com/

What do you think? I am considering this because I am serious about these components of education but realistic to know that I may let these things slide.

Jennifer

p.s. I absolutely adore HOD and have never felt so prepared for a school year. I wanted to start next week, but I've been called for jury duty!

[eazbnsmom]

I have never used her art curriculum, but I did just discover her blog (http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/) on Nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock. I am hoping to implement that on our extra Preparing day this year.

What looks nice about her art curriculum is that is has 3 different options to choose from (kind of like HOD) and you can use what works for you.