{Mixed Bag} :: What We've Been up to Lately

Lots of happenings over here in Beracá Valley the past couple of months...

~Royal got his much-anticipated puppy. He has been wanting a dog for some time, and his grandparents surprised him at Christmas. It's a Blue Lacy, the State Dog of Texas. Read about this impressive breed here and here if you're interested!

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~My littlest munchkin is growing up! We celebrated 'Manzo's 4th birthday at the end of January with a blueberry muffin breakfast and Star Wars light saber cake later that evening with family :-)

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~As we were working one afternoon at the dining table, a cardinal crashed into our window. Royal went out to inspect and determine the bird's state. The cardinal must have been pretty dazed because he was statuesque for a good 5 minutes, just blinking his eyes and slightly turning his head. Notice our dog sitting so close as well!

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~Alice had received a cornhusk doll kit for Christmas. We worked on putting this project together a couple of afternoons. She turned out really cute for our first attempt!

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~We have been reading Madam How and Lady Why in our Year4 lessons. It has been interesting all the connections to nature we are making: chines/ravines...glens/valleys, metals, etc.

Little "chines"

We figured this clump of dirt/clay has iron in it due to the rusty colored layers

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~One Saturday we attended a Feather Fest event, which included making pinecone bird feeders, native plant seed balls, observing birds through the park's new bird blind, and learning more about raptors.

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~And a wet walk this past weekend. It has been unseasonably warm here this winter in Texas, with very little rain; however, this Sunday was wonderfully wet! We went on a family hike at our favorite state park and just reveled in the warm showers, getting completely soaked in the process! I was reminded of how Charlotte Mason encouraged us to get outdoors even in "imperfect" weather conditions and found this wonderful quote of hers on the subject:

A mere time and distance tramp is sufficiently joyous for a wet day, for, taken good-humouredly, the beating rain itself is exhilarating.

-Vol 1, p88 

~And I leave you with another fun, rainy-day image... 

My Valentine and I were blessed with an afternoon kid-free, so we were able to enjoy the last day of the Caillebotte exhibit at our art museum.

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Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope your New Year has gotten off to a good start as well!

Handicrafts & Good Reads :: Christmas Edition

The holiday season is coming to a close and now I have time to sit down and report a few goodies from the yuletide. 

Back when the Christmas season was a near-distant future, the children and I began intentionally preparing some gifts to give our family members. 

These uber-cute felt ornaments were such a pleasure to create. Quite a selection of free patterns this kind lady has offered over at Downeast Thunder Farm! Look for Susan's Bird Patterns and Susan's Critter Patterns on her sidebar :-) 

Many of these are appropriate for beginner sewists. My 7-year-old did great, especially on the repetitive blanket stitches around the edges. My 9-year-old required less help, but I still had to be around for some of the slightly more difficult technical parts. I did pre-cut the patterns for both of them.

All in all, we completed the following birds, although they are not all pictured here:

• bald eagle
• snow owl
• Northern cardinal
• Red-tailed hawk
• tufted titmouse
• ruby throated hummingbird
• penguin
• Mallard duck
• bluebird

The children received some "new" books to add to our home library as well:

Almanzo (age 3):

• Look for a Bird, Edith Thacher Hurd - actually an I Can Read book, but a cute introductory bird guide for some basic flying friends with watercolor illustrations
• The Big Snow, Berta & Elmer Hader - lots of furry critters in this one
• The Little Engine that Could, Watty Piper - I think I may record myself reading this one because it is a fast favorite!
• Ox-Cart Man, Donald Hall - a charming book which also gives a good peek into life in the 1800s
• The Biggest Bear, Lynd Ward - lots of great hand-drawn illustrations (think Robert McCloskey) and would also serve as a good book for reading practice in Year 1/Year 2.

Alice (age 7, Year 2):

• The Year of Miss Agnes, Kirkpatrick Hill - set in Alaska, a nice little chapter book. The blurb on the back cover about Miss Agnes:

...Miss Agnes is different - she doesn't get frustrated with her students, and she throws away old textbooks and reads "Robin Hood" instead! For the first time, Fred and her classmates begin to enjoy their lessons and learn to read and write... 

(sounds very much like I imagine Miss Mason would be) 

• A Kiss for Little Bear, Else Holmelund Minarik - very short, but Alice loves Little Bear! 
• Mary on Horseback, Three Mountain Stories, Rosemary Wells - set in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky, Mary was a real person and former of the Frontier Nursing Service. These are three accounts of her experiences as a back-country nurse in the early 1900s.
• Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild - looking forward to reading this with Alice. I've heard great things about the "shoe" books :-)
• Lion, William Pène Du Bois - an imaginative tale of animal creation by heavenly artists in a palace called the Animal Factory.
• The Story of Holly & Ivy, Rumer Godden - something to add to our Christmas story collection

Royal (age 9, Year 4):

• The Alamo, Margaret Cousins - another good Davy Crockett/Alamo book
• Wolf Hunt, Walter Edmonds - set in the 1700s, this is the author of The Matchlock Gun, which Royal loved.
• Trail Through Danger, William O. Steele - Royal loves Steele's stories of frontier adventures
• The Sword in the Tree, Clyde Robert Bulla - set in the times of Camelot and King Arthur
• The Apple and the Arrow, The Legend of William Tell, Mary & Conrad Buff - I had been wanting to get this one for awhile. Royal was super excited when he opened it :-)
• The Story of the Pony Express, R. Conrad Stein - We have a whole set of these Cornerstones of Freedom books on different topics. Not written as narratives, but great for those youngsters who enjoy historical texts.

{Mixed Bag} :: Focus on the Riches

After a month of lethargy and high temperatures in July, my attitude and outlook is a bit refreshed now ... and our homeschool atmosphere perking up in turn.

:: We began our first week of Term 3 (Year 3 and Year 1) last week, August 4. So far the scheduling of our day is going well. I have forced myself to stick closer to 15-20 minute lessons/readings rather than reading to check it off the list. I am enjoying the change and feeling much more productive all the way around. I really like that I can also incorporate some much-needed cleaning tasks in the morning on a bi-weekly basis, enlisting the help of my little troopers. Interestingly enough, it also appears that we are still getting it all done within the week AND are finishing our lessons earlier in the day than in previous terms, so I guess there really is something to shorter lessons helping to keep energy levels more sustained throughout the day!

:: We have done a bit of handcrafting. Royal received a leather working kit for his birthday and has been enjoying learning how to make a few useful items. He has been working on a holster with his grandpa and has also done a couple of round coasters for practice with his tooling.

Both Royal and Alice have done a few review sessions on button sewing, and Alice brought her weaving loom back into commission.

A couple of recent mom-crafts on my part: 
~matching circle skirts for Alice and her doll: 






































~...and a decorative plate. I was invited to a Pinterest plate-painting party, which was lots of fun. I decided on this design to add to the atmosphere of our school:

:: We were blessed to get a good deal on a used keyboard from a new friend. Hoping to start my kids on some introductory music lessons sometime this fall in exchange for Spanish lessons for her kids perhaps!

:: Natural encounters have been happening this past week with moths, equine and baby cardinals (again!)

I *think* this is a Virginia Creeper Sphinx, Aug 13

the Pandorus Sphinx Moth, Aug 3

...some friendly equine...
a good opportunity to show the kids differences between horse and mule

This little baby is learning to fly. I think it must have jumped nest a tad early.
We watched it and followed it around for more than an hour.
It was hopping, then would fly just above the grass for no more than 2 yards.
Royal reported that Daddy cardinal came from time to time to give it food
on the ground.
He sure was "cheeping" a lot!

Stalking the baby Cardinal :-)

:: Painting, painting, and more painting! Yes, I think the watercolor session by Heather (part 1 and part 2 here) at the Hill Country Retreat was the jump-start I needed to flesh out my nature journaling this next year. I have taken a few afternoons to just enjoy this process and try my hand at some techniques along with honing my observation skills.

a mourning dove feather found on a Nature Walk

our resident Black & Green Argiope (or plain old garden spider)

a leaf from our Texas Redbud tree

Today I had Royal and Alice work with watercolors on a couple of projects. Royal also painted a Texas Redbud leaf, while Alice continued work on a still life painting she started a while back with a watercolor lesson book I picked up at a thrift store:

:: And we had a big birthday to celebrate this week as Hubby turned 40 :-) We went to a hoe-down and enjoyed learning some square dancing, doing the Cotton-Eyed Joe and the Virginia Reel line dance. (so fun!)

Now ain't these just the cutest little country bumpkins you ever did lay yer eyes on?

{In Short} :: Hill Country Retreat

This retreat was so fun to be a part of. It was especially exciting to get to meet other Charlotte Mason/Ambleside Online moms because I have never met any face-to-face before this weekend!

Some of the highlights were:

:: Encouragement from Silvia, Jen, Harmony & June. Talks on history, narration, highlights from sessions at the Indiana At Home retreat, God's riches for us and our children in a wide land with lots of resources, and the challenges and blessings of schooling our unique children. 

:: White-elephant style gift exchange. We each brought a book and a gift that we love and/or that describes us in some way. This was lots of fun and such an interesting way to find out more about each other! The book I gave was this one (a superb, thrilling and heart-wrenching read). My additional gift was this handmade journal cover, which was Pinterest-inspired and so fun to make. See instructions here:

Plus I was privileged to receive this lovely mug (although I *did* have to fight for it) Haha!

Thanks to Jen for the special delivery from the Indiana At Home retreat!

:: Heather's watercolor lesson & practice. I was so happy to be a part of this and to learn some paint-mixing and dry brush skills to push me past the I'm-clueless stage. There are a couple of videos of our lesson that were recorded. The first one is here. The second is here.:

Silvia making a color wheel and mixing colors:

Heather helping Beth S with some techniques in an impromptu lesson:

The impromptu session grew.

Rosa is working on her lesson in painting feathers:

Some hand-picked Mexican hats for additional practice on my part:

~Network of Texas AO Friends~
A lovely weekend with lovely ladies!

Me, Friedricke, Patti, Heather, Daphne, Beth P., June, Beth S.,
Harmony, Kate, Dawn, Rosa, Jen, Amy, Silvia & Vanessa

{Handicrafts} :: Father's Day Gift

This week for {Handicrafts} I wanted to share a fun, out-doors-y gift for Dad (or Granddad!)

I am not the best at planning handicrafts as gifts ahead of time. I usually fail in this department. Most of the time it's a mad dash to get it all together, then a big flop. I was hoping this time would be a success. I think it was! (or will be since we haven't gifted these yet). So I thought maybe I would share this in case any of you needed a last-minute idea for Dad too :-)

I found a couple of candle holders at the dollar store that were fairly heavyweight glass.

Then we went around and picked up sticks in our yard...

...cut them at differing heights with pruning shears...

...and hot-glued them around the candle holders. Jute twine added for final touches :-)

Voila! 

A cool candy jar for Dad to set on his desk at work for a sweet pick-me-up during the day.

{Handicrafts} :: Leatherwork with Nana

I love that the grandparents live just up the hill from us. It is so convenient for a variety of reasons! One of those reasons is that they have a good supply of handicraft materials, including supplies to make things out of leather.

As Royal is completely enamored with the frontier lifestyle (namely Davy Crockett) and Alice enjoys her fair share of Little House play, they love any opportunity to work on a project that involves leather.

Nana supplied all the materials AND the helping hand :-)

Royal designed a sheath for his pocket-knife.

Grandpa did all the hole-punching with the leather-punch tool, then Royal worked at sewing it all up.

Alice practiced some hand-sewing up each side of a long piece of soft leather, with Nana making final touches, including the strap and some butterfly bling :-)

Now it's time to go out and shoot a bear...

Royal, donning his leather bullet pouch, canteen, coon-skin hat and moccasins.