Hello, I'm your personal shopper

Today it is in the high 70's here in Minnesota, and yet I've spent the bulk of my day at my computer shopping. That's dedication, I tell you. I've got a garden to plant and a yard to clean up, but I'm happy to announce that the RiverTree school uniform is almost completely picked out and will soon be available to order. We are still working on getting the logo ready for various items, but soon, you'll see it! In the mean time if you want a sneak peak you may look at the uniform shop at www.landsend.com We are using the classic navy plaid and will have various items in white, french blue, cobalt blue, maise (yellow) and navy. It is going to be classic, yet bright and cheerful. I've ordered several samples and will have photos of the options up on the blog hopefully next week. There also will be distict differences between K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 when we finally get to those upper grades.

Now, I'm going outside. Enjoy your day!

Don't forget the info meeting!

Thursday night @ 6:30 we are having another information meeting. We'd love to have you there. Even if you've attended one previously please come again. I think it is really good to have many opportunities for the RiverTree community to be together. For directions please email Rodney (rnelson@rivertreeschool.org).
Hope to see you there.

A wise little poem from 1st grade penmanship

This delighted us the other day. The children quickly memorized it. I find it particularly delightful to hear the 3yo recite it to the 1yo.

A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

Teaching Longitude and Latitude

The other day a homeschooling mother of a 5th grader asked me how I, using the Charlotte Mason method, would teach longitude and latitude. Here's a brief summary of my response.

• Make looking at maps part of your other subjects. For example previously this year they were reading The Story of the Greeks by H. A. Guerber. It is only natural to find the places they were talking about and reading about on a map of the Ancient World and then to compare it to a modern map so that the names and locations were recognized as places in the story, but actually places still there today perhaps under new names. Currently they are reading Treasure Island and it makes sense to look at a map of Britain and then the passage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. In both cases it would make sense to explain that places on the map had addresses and from that explain the nuts and bolts of longitude and latitude.

Last year I was reading Just So Stories by Kipling to the children, and I enjoyed "How the Whale Got His Throat" where you may find this line, "If you swim to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West (that is magic), you will find, sitting on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife, one ship-wrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity." Of course it only made sense to grab my globe and then the atlas and find the location (that is magic).

• Have fun with maps at other times so to feed that sense of curiosity about geography. That is something this family (with the original question) does expertly. I remember this now 5th grader sitting with an atlas as a Kindergartner and identifying places I knew my current high school geography students would be hard pressed to i.d. An example of having fun with maps is to simply have maps, atlases, and globes around. One family I knew got a world map the size of their dining table and put a clear vinyl table cloth over it. The map was just there and the children had fun studying it. Then when a country came up in conversations or books the children often knew right away where the location was or were eager to go find it.

• Incorporating our longitude and latitude is so much more accessible today with tools like Google earth, Google maps, and using a GPS. A practical exercise in understanding global positioning is to take up geocaching. If this is foreign to you, here's the beginning of the entry on geocaching from Wikipedia: "Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value." If you want more information on getting involved with this hobby check out Geocaching.com. There are many adventures awaiting you in this area. We haven't done this yet, but hope to this summer. I'll do a follow up once we do.

These are just a few ways that I believe you could have a living geography lesson using the Charlotte Mason method.

Happy learning!

What We're Reading -- April edition

I often have people ask me what we're reading in our house, and I enjoy hearing what others are reading. I thought I would periodically share a little about what's being read by anyone 7 and older in the Nelson household. (Considering several members of our household are still enamored with the millionth reading of The Big Red Barn and Peak-a-Boo I figured that was a good cut off point!).

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: This was/is a favorite of mine and since we've read all of our "read alouds" for 1st grade, I decided to add it in. Today we read the first, rather morbid chapter of this mysterious and engaging children's classic.

Among the Pond People by Clara Dillingham Pierson: A delightful collection of nature stories told by the animals which include great information on their species. My five year old nature enthusiast son loves these! These and the others like it are available free online.

The Complete Fairy Tales by George MacDonald: George MacDonald was my favorite author from about age 9--19. He's still one of my favorites. These stories were delightful to me as a child and still are as an adult. My favorite from this collection is "The Light Princess". I also highly recommend The Princess and the Goblin. My children have heard that novel at least twice now and still would love to hear it again. The MacDonald fairy tales are some that will be utilized in the fairytale portion of the RiverTree/Ambleside curriculum.

Redwall: the Legend Begins by Brian Jacques: Rodney is reading this to the 7yo and 5yo for bedtime stories. I read this about 10 years ago and enjoyed it then. Several boys at our church love, love, love this series. The other day Rodney commented that this book is different from the others he'd read to the children recently in that Cluny the Scourge is a modern villain vs. the classic villains of the other recent books like Treasure Island and The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. The children are enjoying this, although Cora looks forward to a "less intense" adventure book next time.

Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter published by Orbis Books: This book is arranged so that there is a reading for each day of Lent by great Christian thinkers of the past and present. I haven't read exactly one a day, so have a bit of this book left even though this is holy week. I have been blessed, and recommend it for a deeper devotional life during the penitential season of Lent.

All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholemew: Spring is here in Minnesota and I'm eager for gardening! This book lays out very clearly what I've been trying to do the past couple of years, but was trying to figure out for myself. This is a great resource for gardening efficiently in small spaces. We're doing nine 3ftx3ft vegetable beds. This is a great size for kids to work in too. Mel has a program called Square Yards in the School Yard. Wouldn't that be a fun option for RiverTree to do someday?

Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin: I tend to read and re-read various books about simplicity each year. This is one of the original books of the "movement". While I don't agree with all the principles or rational given by this author, I am a fan of voluntary simplicity. I'm hoping to be less cluttered and distracted each year and more focused on the truly important things of life. One of my favorite simplicity books is Living Simply with Children by Marie Sherlock. I've read this a couple times and continue to be inspired by it. I also enjoy a similar book called Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry by Katrina Kenison. Both are worth reading at least once.

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon: If you've seen this book, you'll understand why I can say I've been reading this particular health and nutrition book for about a year. It is a tome filled with good recipes and basic traditional foods and nutritional wisdom that I think every family should ponder and own.

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner: Our 7yo read this in about 3 days in between school and other commitments. I think that's a pretty good endorsement. I enjoyed the narrations I heard of it. She's now moved on to book #2.

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes: Again the 7yo brought this along during errands this week and is enjoying it. I haven't had her narrate it yet, so I'm not sure of the details, but it came highly recommended by my children's literature expert sister.

Rodney's Books: I can't exactly list them here because I'm sure I'd miss several. At present I know he's reading two books he's mentioned in an earlier post. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future * or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30 by Mark Bauerlein is one that Rod claims is a bit depressing, yet compelling. It marries well with some of our other favorites such as Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Another he's reading, or queuing up to read is Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age by Maggie Jackson. I'm sure there's some more uplifting reading that he's doing too, just not sure what. Rodney and I also enjoy a couple periodicals each month.

So those are the books, as far as I can recall, of April. We do a lot of reading around here and are thrilled when we find good books and can share them with friends.

Come pray with me!

Our first prayer meeting for RiverTree is on Monday April 13th at 4p.m. at the Dunn Bros. Coffee Shop on Bass Lake Road in Maple Grove. Please join me and other parents as we pray God's blessing on the future of this school, the two teachers we've hired, the teachers we have yet to hire, our board, our head of school, Brooklyn Park E Free, our students, Ambleside Schools International, and many more things. Let's lift this venture up to Jesus!

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