Baa! Baa!

Our farm animal in focus this last week was the sheep. We visited Hillyard Farms and met Amanda and her mom, Susan. They were just wonderful. They really made us and the kids feel welcome. Now the sheep were a different story, haha. They were quite shy. They gave us some good information on the sheep. They raise Icelandic sheep. They have a small group of about 9. Icelandic sheep have two coats, tog (the top coat--soft, long and hangs in loose curls) and thel (the bottom coat which is soft and very fine). They are sheared twice a year. They are genetically predisposed to multiple births which can result in twins, triplets, and so on to sextuplets. They are good for meat, milk or fleece. Now about sheep in general, girls are called ewes and boys are called rams or wethers. They have hooves that have two toes and usually need trimming twice a year. They are ruminants, having 4 stomachs and chewing their cud. They are afraid of crossing water and of other animals. The Icelandic sheep had a donkey on the property to help protect them. A few of their sheep had been sheared and a few had not yet been sheared. They showed us some samples of freshly sheared wool and cleaned and carded wool. Amanda shears her sheep, removes the major bits of debris, and then sells it raw/uncleaned. If you are interested in some, I would highly recommend them. Amanda and her mom led the sheep near us and gave them food so that the kids could observe their behavior and do a little drawing. They were certainly shy of our little group but we still had a great time.

A few days later we went out to an open farm day at Rising Meadows Farm and Goat Lady Dairy. We got to see more sheep at Rising Meadows. There were lots of lambs and lots of "baa"ing on the property. It was fun to watch some of the lamb behavior. There was one ewe sheep that aloud us to pet on her. Pictures of these sheep and the other animals we saw that day will follow in another post. Olivia got the opportunity to do several drawings in her nature journal after these experiences.

At our Cottage Co-op meeting, we read or looked at pictures in a few books about sheep. (There was a good one that we read but I can't find a link to at the moment. Maybe our leader will comment with the title. Thanks, Kallie. :) She always does a great job picking out books and pictures and information for the kids.) We also saw some of the cleaned raw wool, yarn and a knitted scarf. To occupy the younger kids during the drawing time, I brought some realistic coloring pages, the samples of wool, a stuffed sheep, and some books for younger ones.

For our composer, we listened to Our Town by Aaron Copeland. He has been our composer for the term. I am not sure if I have mentioned him much, but his works were heavily influenced by American life and culture, specifically jazz music. Our Town was based on many black and white photographs of everyday Americans and their work, which the kids got to see some of as we listened.

Our picture study was Barn Dance by Grandma Moses. We have learned what an amazing lady she is and listened to some of her telling of what life was like in her time. This meeting, we learned that her first painting was done in her parlor to fill a space where she ran out of wallpaper. What a creative lady! (Olivia's Nana did this once when she couldn't find a piece of artwork for her foyer that she liked. She painted one right on the wall and stuck a frame around it! :)

For our habit study on self control, we played Mother May I and we sang Slow To Anger by the Harrow Family, which is Proverbs 16:32 put to music. He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city. I want the kids to hear straight from the bible that selfcontrol is very important. Oh how I could sing that song to myself all the time.

Olivia recited the first half of Nest Eggs by Robert Louis Stevenson and Gabe actually got up in front of the others by himself and recited Baa, Baa Black Sheep. Now, he was rather hard to hear and understand but his effort was exciting to see. :) I just have to say here that I love listening to all the kids recite, read, or sing poetry.

A Cow Adventure

So sometimes we make great plans for how things should go, only to realize that God had different plans. And he does have plans. We can trust him and thank him in the moment even if we feel flustered or out of control. So two weeks ago at The Cottage, we had great plans. The weather was supposed to be nice. Our nature study topic was to be cows and there is a pasture right next to the Leonard Center (where we meet) with cows in it. Each of our meetings has a schedule that the kids know well by now.

But we thought it would be great to head outside for the nature study. The kids could sit, observse and draw the cows in the field since that is really how a nature study is supposed to go. Not a problem. We would just do the inside things first and then head outside. I even planned the habit game to be relay races that we could do outside too. WELL... When we arrived at the center, it was very windy and it appeared that a storm was blowing in. But we remained hopeful. And one can certainly still go outside even with a little wind and chill as long as you have coats, right? I mean kids don't mind usually. Then we managed to get started with the group over half an hour late. But thats okay. And some of our dear kids of routine were a little thrown off by the schedule change (especially my child, hmm, could she by like me? :)) But we pressed on. Every day that we have come for the group, the cows have been in the pasture close by. Well, this day was different. The cows were not there. So we decided to make it a game, a cow hunt. So we set out to take a walk and find the cows. Except, they weren't to be found. Then we played our habit game to warm up because it was still windy and chilly. Once warm, the plan was to read our books on cows and do the nature study as best as we could. Well, then some of our little ones had just had enough. So a couple of us got the attention of some of the kids and read the books but the little ones just needed attention and food. And then it was time to go. So was the day a wash? Nope. :) A couple of the bigger kids asked why we weren't getting to do the things we were supposed to. It was a great opportunity for a character lesson. Sometimes we need to be flexible and compassionate towards our younger siblings/friends and we need to be willing to surrender our plans. Or maybe we learn a lesson about how we could have planned better but its how we handle the situation in front of our kids that teaches them far more.
I told my kids when we left that we would run by the house and grab a couple of sandwiches that they could eat in the car and then we would drive a little ways out of town and go on a cow hunt. Gabe was very excited. He really wanted to see cows. Well, I told him that we would look for a little while and maybe we would have some success. We drove out about 6 miles East from our home at the suggestion of Jeremy. We passed a couple of pastures of cows but they were pretty far in the distance. And then, we came upon a farm house with a pasture of 3 young bull cows. We were able to pull off the road and watch them for quite some time. Olivia got to draw in her journal right there. It was a wonderful fun. Yes, we had to work a little harder and it didn't go as planned but that is okay.

Charlotte Mason Co-op

We had a fun time at The Cottage last week. I have really come to enjoy this group. It has worked so well to incorporate Olivia and Gabe into the learning. Our nature study topic was sheep dogs. We talked about those that guard sheep and those that herd sheep. We learned about strong eyed dogs, who use their stare alone to control the sheep. The other type of herd dog is the loose eyed dog that uses more of his body to move the sheep. Some dogs crouch down and some dogs stay standing to work. There are headers (they keep the herd in a group) and heelers (move the herd forward). The kids practiced the different roles with one another. I immediately had the thought that a sheep dog could be a good addition to our family to help me with the kids. ;)

When we read Mountain Born, there was a sheep dog in the story named Rollo. Through that reading we got to learn a lot about the behavior of a sheep dog. This is just another way that I feel like God has really integrated our curriculum in an amazing way.

Right across the street from our home is the a rec center. The local AKC meets there each week. I went and spoke with a women named Holly who owns Border Collies. She agreed to come early one week with a dog of her and talk with the kids and allow them to pet the dog. We then went in and watched the behavior of the other dogs as they practiced for their conformation training. We had a great time. The main idea is to let the kids learn primarily by observing and possibly interacting with the dogs. Gabe was a huge fan of a bulldog. :)

Here are a few other highlights from co-op: Gabe stood up in front of the group along with Olivia and said most of Hickory Dickory Dock. This was his first time to get up in front of the group. It was a good beginning. At home, he loves nursery rhymes and getting involved but tends to be shy in our group meetings. As we sang our Folk Song, "This Land is Your Land", we learned about the Gulf Stream waters. The kids played a game where some of them lined up by twos as the currents and a couple of kids got to be the boat and go both with and against the current. We have added pictures of the Redwood forests and now the arrow showing the path of the Gulf Stream Current to our US map. It is a great reminder to the things we learn as we sing our songs.

Below is a bucket of things I put together to help entertain the "littler" ones:

I think I want a goat :)

We learned a lot about goats at our recent Cottage Co-op meeting (okay, so it was several weeks ago and I am rather behind in posting this : ) ). There are some really funny goats out there- fainting goats and tree climbing goats(they are very coordinated animals). Olivia thought it was funny that baby goats are called kids. I once thought goats would eat anything but they are actually picky eaters. They have a 4 chambered stomach and eat things like woody stems, trees and WEEDS. Seems like a goat would be a perfect animal to have in the backyard. ;) Goats may use their lips to feel with and are extremely curious and intelligent. They have a rectangular pupil and are thought to have excellent night vision. We learned about what goats provide for people. Much of the world gets their milk from goats instead of cows. We also saw goats that were raised specifically for their hair and those that are for meat. Unfortunately, we also learned that goats can jump up to 5 feet high. So that combined with the city rules against livestock means we probably won't be getting a goat anytime soon. :)

We took advantage of the free first Wednesday afternoon of the month at the Natural Science Center.

I took pictures of the goats and cut them apart as puzzles for the "littler" ones.

In addition to our nature study on goats we did our usual activities at co-op. Our self-control game this time was a stance game. The kids paired up and faced one another. They then had to stand in the same stance (we tried several) while looking at each other. No talking or touching. Then it was just a chance to use their self-control to hold the stance the longest. For our picture study, we looked at Grandma Moses' painting 'Jack and Jill'. Olivia has really enjoyed her scenes of rual life and 3 nursery rhyme painting we have looked at so far have made the nursery rhymes come to life. Olivia has been memorizing some nursery rhymes and wanting to present during the poetry recitation time.

And, to add to our folk song (This Land is Your Land) this time, we looked at some of the California on the map and learned a little about the Redwood Forests. Those are some HUGE trees. We put a picture of these Redwoods on our map next to CA so that we will remember as we sing our folk song again and again. This tied in nicely with MFW since we were studying the state of California and the California Gold Rush just the week prior to this. An interesting part of the story we read talked about how the man who lived on the land where the gold was first found did not want to tell anyone because he knew people would come, take over his land, and dig it up. Ultimately they found very little gold and not many people, if anyone, got rich. Our riches and security are not in money and it will sure make us do things we will one day regret. What a hard but freeing lesson. God I pray that you would use this little lesson in history to make the truth real to me.

The Cottage Co-op

We were invited to join a Charlotte Mason co-op. So far it has been an amazing experience. CM is very focused on the whole child. I am reading the summaries of her books online right now. Here are a few quotes from volume 1 that really struck me...
Parents must teach their children that they must not misbehave because it isn't right, regardless of the mood or whim of the parent. 
Habits can overcome nature. A bad habit isn't cured by punishment or reward and it isn't outgrown. It is replaced by a new habit.
Don't let the desire to excel replace the desire to learn. Children should be given a sense of achievement for what they have accomplished rather than feel pressure of what they haven't done.
A child who is prone to stubbornness and temper doesn't have a strong will, rather, he doesn't have a strong enough will to get his passions and temper under control. The will enables us to do that which we know is right but which we may not feel like doing. Teach changing thoughts, concentration, and every act of obedience as an opportunity to conquer his inclinations.

Okay, back to the co-op...
We do nature study (this term is farm animals), habit study (self control), composer study (Aaron Copland), picture study (Grandma Moses), sing a folk song (This Land is Your Land) and read/recite a poem of choice. We have planned a field trip before each meeting to learn more about the animal and observe its behavior. The first field trip and meeting I forgot my camera so refer to our leader's blog for the information and pictures. Our focus was rabbits. Going to the Puppies and Guppies pet store to observe and learn about rabbits was a simple and yet delightful fieldtrip. Then we met for co-op and read a book, talked about the rabbits, and drew in our journals. Olivia drew a picture of the rabbit sitting in his food bowl and also a picture of the rabbits tracks. In the co-op each of the moms have a different responsibility. My focus is on the habit of self control and also to engage the younger kids in activities on their level (although we try to let them participate as much as possible as one big group). For the habit, the kids have an I WILL pledge that they say and this time we played Red Light, Green Light. I keep any teaching short and then we reinforce the skills with games/activities. It has been wonderful and Olivia and Gabe love it.

Our second nature study topic was horses. We visited Fellowship Farms in Greensboro to watch how they care for and groom their horses. Ms. Bell, our host was a lovely lady and gave us a lot of good information.

waiting in the barn

watching a horse is being groomed

Gathering for Co-op:

Nature Study- talking about seeing the horses and listening a book on jobs horses do and "The Runaway" by Robert Frost. **notice Gabe is not participating so well. :) I had told him he needed to take a seat and for some reason he was not wanting to sit that day. He wanted to be on my lap. I was holding another baby--jealous! :)

The kids are drawing in their nature journals (or coloring pictures for the little ones). Olivia drew a picture of a horse's stall and then one of the horse nodding his head. She did this by drawing several outlines of a head as though it was moving and then added up and down arrows. I thought this was a pretty inventive way to demonstrate movement. She came up with it on her own.

Picture Study time. Today they looked at Little Boy Blue by Grandma Moses. After they have observed the picture for a while with the goal of seeing it in their heads, they turn over the picture and we go around the room and the kids tell what they could remember. 

I think the nature study and picture study are great exercises in observation and noticing detail. I think these are very valuable for my kids to learn. For our habit game, we had each of the kids take turns trying to keep a straight face or keep their eyes closed while the other kids around them attempted to make them do the opposite (without touching). This turned out to be very fun! :)

One of my "jobs" at co-op is to help entertain the "littler" ones if they get restless. They usually sit well for the books, pictures and information during the nature study time but then their attentions either run out fast or they don't participate in the drawing time. I put together this matching game of sorts with pictures from our trip to the horse farm.