The Charlotte Mason Girl

Live Owl Nest Box Cam CM Nature Study for the 21st Century!

WOW! This is absolutely fascinating!  Unless you have a pair of Barn Owls nesting that you can see right outside your own window - this is the place you need to be visiting with your students, and RIGHT NOW!     

One of my friends sent me the link to this website about a week ago, and it is so neat to watch.  The man who put up the box and the camera is a layman who wanted to see barn owls in action, and he has done it, and decided to share it with the world!  His name is Carlos, and he set this box up a couple of years ago, I think.  He said this year, the pair of Barn owls - named Molly and McGee - built themselves a little home for their new family.  Molly laid six eggs back in February, and there is only one left to hatch.  It appears that she is showing signs today of preparing for the egg to hatch, so they are expecting the egg to hatch within the next 24 hours!  Be sure to get over there with your students right away!

I think Charlotte Mason would have approved of this type of opportunity for nature study, don't you?!

APACHE - What a Great Weekend!

Well, we had a great time at APACHE in Peoria last weekend!  We heard speakers we had never heard before, we made some new friends, and we learned a LOT!  One of the things I love about homeschooling is that it is truly a lifestyle - it affects everything we do as a family, and so we always come away from these conferences not only refreshed for homeschooling, but enthused about our family life!

We learned about some great resources for our school, got some great ideas for our home businesses, and enjoyed some time alone together.  In a house of 7, you can imagine that we don't often get that.  We actually had long conversations uninterrupted by little ones, we ate all our food while it was hot, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! 

I'll be sharing some insights I gained last weekend with you here over the next few weeks.  I look forward to sharing what I learned with you!

See You at APACHE!?

We go to the APACHE homeschool conference tomorrow, and I'm so excited!  I love to go to conferences - I always leave refreshed and ready to tackle the next year of school with my own children.  We haven't attended a conference in 3 years, so I can't wait to soak in all the great speakers, vendors, and the fellowship with fellow homeschoolers.  This is a great place to relax, you can let down and seek advice from those who are more experienced, and offer encouragement to those who haven't been at this as long as you have.  

What are your favorite conferences?  Please let us know about them here.  

High School Transcripts

We've entered the world of high school in our home school.  While I am loving the growing relationships with my children, and I love to spend all this time with them, I am terrified about something - creating a transcript that colleges will accept.  I am keeping records of what we do, but how do I organize that into something that colleges want to see?  

There are accreditation agencies who will do this for you - for a cost of up to $1,800!  (When I saw that figure, I about fell out of my chair!)  I gulped and moved on.  Well, I found a solution for my dilemma.  Another homeschooling mother was in this same boat some years ago, and she has created a tool that makes preparing your child's homeshool transcript a snap!  As a result of her research and hard work, her homeschooled sons had great-looking transcripts that helped them to earn full tuition scholarships to their chosen universities!  Then she wrote an ebook to show us how it's done!  Just take a look at the Total Transcript Solution and see if it's right for you! 

Please share your thoughts on high school transcripts with us!  The more information we have, the better we will do for our children!

Been Struggling Lately?!

I don't know about you, but the end of winter is the hardest time for me.  This year, especially, we haven't seen the sun much this winter.  We've also had a lot going on, as we are new to country life, and we have a huge learning curve about all that goes into living in the country.  We also added on a puppy, we have been potty training our youngest (I'm done buying diapers!), I've struggled to plan and prepare properly for school, and now we have strep making it's way through the family.  This time, I was one of the first to get it, and so I fell behind quick!  Ever since I have felt better - well, really while I was still sick - I have been caring for sick children, and have not been able to keep up with the house very well.  

Do you ever struggle to do all that needs to be done in your day?  The better question really is - Do you struggle to accept the day the Lord has planned for you?  I do.  I rail against the interruptions to my plans that come along.  Even little interruptions are hard for me to deal with, but when these big interruptions that last for days or weeks at a time come along, I about come undone trying to still work in everything that I think I ought to do!  How foolish of me!  The Lord has planned my days, not planned to run me into the ground!  He wants me to lean on Him, and do only what He asks of me.  Sometimes, He wants me to clean up toilets instead of do math- so the sick ones have a clean place to be sick.  Sometimes, He wants me to hold crabby little ones instead of teach grammar rules - so the little ones feel loved and comforted.  Sometimes, He wants me to read for hours to distract sick children instead of doing laundry.  Sometimes, He wants me to prepare a good meal to help my family re-gain their health, instead of read the science books for today.

Well, it usually takes a while for me to accept what the Lord has prepared for me, but when I do, I find His peace, and the strength to do what I need to do.  I can let the other things go for days that are free of sick children, extra laundry, and lapfuls of crabby little ones.  I'll get the other stuff done later.  Right now, I need to care for my children, and let them know how much they are loved, even when they don't feel like loving back. 

What struggles do you have right now?  Come to Him - He will comfort you, give you peace, and refresh your soul!  He has done that for me - over and over again.