Apple Cross-section

Our first foray into studying trees was to look at an apple. The Handbook of Nature Study had some interesting observations. I read through the section on my own (pages 667 to 670) one evening, and then when it was time to work on our nature notebook I was ready.

The thing that I like the most about the Handbook of Nature Study is that it has interesting tidbits of information that are things that I have just never thought of before. In the case of the apple, it mentions that "The carpels, or seed cells, are five in number, and when the fruit is cut across through the center these carpels show as a pretty, five-pointed star; in them the seeds lie, all pointing toward the stem." (pg. 668). I always cut my apples in the other direction, and thus have never noticed that the seeds in the apple are always in a five pointed star. Intrigued, I sliced open an apple and lo and behold, there it was!

We made a lot of interesting observations during this activity. We learned that the bottom of the apple is where the blossom used to be and is called the basin. The kids noticed that the seeds were brown on the outside but white on the inside. They discovered that each seed cell contained two seeds. They drew several diagrams of the apple and labeled the different parts.

We examined only one type of apple, but it would be interesting to extend this activity by comparing different varieties of apples. There is more in the Handbook of Nature Study about apple varities, picking and storing apples, and the structure of the apple.

Update:

The following week we tried the same activity with some pears we had in the fridge. The pear we cut open also had five carpels, although two of them had not been successfully pollinated. It was very similar in structure to the apple. The Nuthatch noticed all the tiny spots in the skin of the pear.

Dealing directly with books

We've just finished our first term of year one of our curriculum, Ambleside Online. We school year round, and when the Nuthatch turned 6 in June I decided to start grade one with him instead of waiting until September.

It has been a fascinating term. The biggest adjustment to our learning has been the addition of narration to our schedule. Narration is where a student listens to a passage and then tells back what they heard. For example, if you've just read the first part of Little Red Riding Hood to your child, they might narrate by saying: "Little Red Riding Hood was on her way to her Grandma's when she met a wolf".

Narration is a difficult skill to learn. I've tried it myself with the classics I have been reading, and it is not easy. At the beginning of our 12 week term, I would read a passage and ask the Nuthatch to tell me what he remembered. More often than not, the answer would be 'Umm...nothing...'

So, I started reading smaller sections at a time. We spent a few weeks where I would have him narrate a sentence at a time. Narration takes a long time when you do this. Then the Nuthatch went through a phase where he would repeat back to me, verbatim, the last sentence I read. It was frustrating.

Part of the problem was that the reading selections had many new concepts and vocabulary words for him. To help with this, I would select five words from the passage that I was fairly certain he did not know, and we would talk about them. He wanted to draw pictures for the words, which I thought was a great idea, but soon this vocabulary lesson with the picture drawing was taking longer and longer!

Through all of this I held on to the fact that he would eventually develop the skill to narrate. I did not worry too much about all the content that he was missing when the reading selections went over his head and he could not remember anything. In Charlotte Mason's sixth volume, A Philosophy of Education, she says:

It does not matter much whether he understands this word or that, but that it matters a great deal that he should learn to deal directly with books. page 172

We have had a few bright moments this term. After about 8 weeks of working on narration he said to me, out of the blue: "Hey Mom, when I narrate something we've read, I remember it forever!" And a week or two later he said: "When you're reading to me, I see pictures in my head, and then I can tell you about them" (we were reading out of the Blue Fairy Book at the time). That is all the encouragement I need to keep going.

This week I have given him exams (I can post the exam questions if anyone is interested). They are not the sort of test that is graded, rather I wanted to see if he was remembering anything from what we have been reading. While there is lots of room for improvement, he has made such great progress with the skill of narration that I am quite pleased.

I used our camera to take videos of his answers to the exam questions. I think it will be very enjoyable to come back at the end of the year, or in a few years and watch these.

The video is particularly hilarious because it is so typical of what homeschooling with little ones is like. It is shaky at the beginning because the Bluejay is literally climbing on my head. In the background you can hear the Chickadee squawking "I can't see! I can't see!" as she tries to watch the video from the back of the camera. When he answers the question he is referring to a story that we read one time, two weeks earlier, The Frogs Who Wished For A King, from Aesop's Fables.

This second video is for all of you that have wiggly boys. We had read the story of the Rhino from Kipling's 'Just So Stories' over six weeks ago. I was pleased that he had remembered the general outline of the story. Our narration selections are only read once, so he has not heard this story again since late July.

I am eagerly looking forward to term 2. I can't wait to see how his skill of narration develops as he learns to deal directly with books.

Fall focus on trees

After some deliberation I have decided to focus our nature study on trees for the fall. I was torn between focusing on something in particular, or just continuing to explore whatever interested us at the moment.

I have been hesistant to specialize in one area. I have enjoyed looking at anything and everything with the kids for the last 6 months. I wanted to develop their observation skills and their enthusiasm for nature and provide them with a general knowledge base to start building on. At this point though, I think it would be helpful to us all if we delved a little deeper into one subject, and developed a greater understanding of one aspect of the natural world we are exploring.

I thought trees would be a good initial focus area for a number of reasons. They are large and easy to find. They don't move when you're looking at them. The kids won't need any special skills like being able to use binoculars. The leaves will be changing colours soon. They are relatively easy to identify (unlike our brief foray into lichens). We have learned the names of a few trees already, so we're not starting something from scratch.

So, what will this look like? This doesn't mean that we will look at nothing but trees on our nature hikes. I will probably try to point out some aspect of trees on each hike, but then we'll continue on our merry way of exploring and examining whatever crosses our path.

I will ask that the Nuthatch's weekly nature notebook entries have something to do with trees. I'll still follow his lead to some extent, but I would like to start looking at deciduous trees while they still have leaves. We can always look at the conifers in the winter. We also have some firewood in the garage that we can take out to look at the structure of the rings and the bark. And it is apple picking season, that will be a great place to start as well.

The Bluejay on our apple picking trip last year. He even ate the apple cores!

I have put the Handbook of Nature Study next to my bed for a bit of evening reading. I read a section and then try to casually point out some things to the kids as we are hiking. They usually come up with their own things they are interested in. The Handbook has a large section on apple trees and a part about how to do leaf prints.

We were camping this past weekend and I informed the Nuthatch that we were going to study trees. He found some sap oozing out of a tree and we talked about how it is like the blood of a tree, and it comes out of the tree where the bark has been injured. Here is his photo of the sap:

That's our plan for this term's nature study. I'll continue to post on trees as we progress through the term. The Bluejay seems to think that 'Lichen tree' is a type of tree, so perhaps we'll try to clear that up first.

Update:

I've discovered that the Handbook of Nature Study blog is also looking at trees this fall. Here's the link for the first Outdoor Hour Challenge about trees. This is a great source of information if you are looking for ideas for studying trees.

Here are my posts of the tree activities we have done so far:

Apple Cross-section

Parts of a Tree

Structure of Roots

The habit of habits

In the first place, she herself acquires the habit of training her children in a given habit, so that by-and-by it becomes, not only no trouble, but a pleasure to her.

Charlotte Mason, vol 1 pg 136

I have gotten in the habit of thinking about our habits. When I first attempted to start 'habit training' my kids I chose a concrete habit to work on. I forget quite what it was, it might have been the habit of hanging up your coat when you come in the door. It was simple and straightforward, or so I thought.

My first attempts were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, I did not have the key habit in place first, obedience. If my children were not going to do what I asked of them, no other habits would be formed.

I have come to view most of our daily lives through a filter of habit. When the kids are fighting I make mental notes to work on the habit of listening to each other, or the habit of sharing. I celebrate the habits they have worked hard to master. If our day is going smoothly, I know it is because of an underlying structure of habit. If our day is rocky, there is work to be done.

Choosing the most effective habit to attack first is often difficult when there seem to be so many that would help. Red flags jump up everywhere, demanding my attention. Untangling the nest of bad habits is not easy.

Our current habit is to 'treat others the way you would like to be treated'. They immediately translated this statement into 'treat others the way they are treating you'. We still have a ways to go on this concept. I am eagerly anticipating developing the habit of 'not complaining' next.

Our habit of getting outside in nature.

We haven't been habit training for very long, but I see the rewards already. I know that we are on the right path, one habit at a time.