Our Books

June 30, 2014July 1, 2014 / thepantrybook / Leave a comment

Here is the finished “built-in” bookshelf in the schooling room. I think it really looks built-in. The crown molding is an exact match and with a coat of paint it looks like it’s been there forever. We added the beadboard wallpaper on the outside edge and fluted vertical trim as well as an egg and dart horizontal trim at the top (to hide a gap between the shelf and the crown molding).

I have the books for preschool through year eight in here (three tall bookshelves and two small) and the high school books are in our living room along with our regular family books (four large bookshelves).

For the younger level books, I have them organized by year (mostly literature, biographies, poetry, and free reading to be read in a particular year according to the ambleside online list) – one year per shelf with the required books to the left and the free reading books to the right (all the other subjects are just mixed in together). Then we also have separate shelves for certain subjects that overlap years: nature study, field guides, experiments/science, Shakespeare, composer study (Opal Wheeler bios), picture study (large-format books with one artist’s work) mixed in with artist bios written for children, globe and large-format atlases, geography (I put some fiction here if is helps to understand what it’s like in a particular country or region), my shelf (Charlotte Mason books, teaching helps, and my CM notebooks – Book of Centuries, commonplace books, portfolio for prints from picture study), and a shelf for large picture books (on the bottom shelf so my daughter can reach them easily). Then I have two smallish built-in shelves that hold our history and biography books (arranged chronologically). I used to have biographies separate, but then I thought it made more sense to put them in with their time period — of course one book spans their whole lifetime, so the arrangement isn’t precise. I also have pulled artist and composer bios out – they now have their own shelves. I also pulled out the history and biography books for upper-level readers and put those in the living room (arranged chronologically on just two shelves).

Below are the two bookcases that came with the house. This one is on the left and it houses history and biographies up to 1800. On the bottom shelf I have a few history series shelved together.

This one is history and biographies 1800 – present

Now we go to the living room. These bookshelves are taller than the ones in the schooling room because there is no crown molding in here. The ceilings are really high – I think nine feet tall!!

I have a few shelves dedicated to a collection of works by an individual author (CS Lewis, Elisabeth Elliot, Sir Walter Scott, GA Henty, etc.) or a particular topic (homesteading and permaculture, cookbooks, family/wife/role encouragement, child training, theology (arranged alphabetically by author). Then, I have all the high school “school” books (which we are a loooong way from using) on the upper shelves (I need a step-stool to reach them).

This bookshelf (below) is the last one still waiting to be finished. I still have to do a bit of caulk and painting and then it will be finito! Our goal is to be completely done with all our “house projects” by July 4th (we moved in on March 15th and had a baby April 27th). Hopefully we won’t have any more bright green ladders in our living room or “tool piles” on the sideboard after this weekend!!

Since the books are in the living areas of our home, I have tried to make the shelves themselves look nice (they are just cheapo Ikea Billy bookshelves with some trim, crown moulding, caulk, and paint to make them look “built-in”), and I’ve tried to arrange the books with some breathing room and a few knick-knacks for visual interest. I want it to look like we love books and beautiful things, but not like we live in a library — even if we really do =).

Living Room/Family Room/Fireplace Room (with pics!!)

April 14, 2014April 21, 2014 / thepantrybook / 4 Comments

Once again, I struggle to know how to refer to this room. I don’t like the idea of TWO rooms with couches (i.e. having both a family room and a living room), but which name do you use when they are combined? For clarity, I can say the fireplace room and since there’s only one fireplace in the whole house at least people know which room I’m talking about. But, “fireplace room” does sound a bit silly. Any suggestions?

This room is open to the dining room (separated by French doors – to the left in the pic below) and also open to the kitchen (separated by two huge doorways and the half wall that is at the bottom of the pic below). I would have liked to have three couches and a chair like I did at our old house, but this room just wasn’t large enough. It’s plenty wide on either side of the fireplace, but not in front of the fireplace. If we owned this house, I would take down that half wall, which would give enough room to put two couches facing each other in front of the fireplace, but with the wall there it would look weird. So, even though having more seating would be great, we can always bring in the dining room chairs if we need to, and I actually love the size and shape of the room. I think it works pretty well for hosting small- to medium-sized bible studies and pot luck dinners. People usually don’t mind being a bit crowded for a party (I hope!).

This room has four bookcases with extension shelves all the way to the ceiling – did you know that I/we love books??? I put our “non-homeschooling” books in here, but I don’t really think that’s a great distinction because our “homeschool books” are real books (not textbooks or workbooks) and we would read them even if we didn’t homeshool. Similarly, I think our “non-homeschooling” books are super-relevant for homeschooling because they have to do with life. But, I just had to draw the line somewhere. In here you will find our theology books (alphabetical by author except certain authors like: Elisabeth Elliot, C. S. Lewis, George MacDonald, and J. R. R. Tolkien – who each get their own shelves) and shelves dedicated to certain topics we are interested in, for example: parenting/child-training/childbirth, womanhood/role of a wife, marriage/family, and peacemaking books. You will also find favorite family read-aloud series, homesteading books, cookbooks (arranged by color), Kent’s books, our family MyPublisher photo albums (which I am FOUR years behind on!!!), and my lovely Coralie Bickford Smith-illustrated clothbound classics (spread out among each of the four bookcases). On some of the higher shelves I put high school homeschool books (which would make more sense in the front room bookshelves, but I just ran out of space in there).

The first thing that I got for this room was the 9 x 12 wool rug (which I bought on ebay – it was a customer return, looks absolutely brand new, and I paid less than half price!!!) and I got a suuuuuper-thick (1/2 inch!!) rug pad so it’s really comfy to sit on the floor or even lay down to play with Everett – I’m just so happy with it!!! It kind of looks dirty all the time, but it’s an all-over “dirty” – which I think will be perfect for us =). I also found a slipcovered couch on craigslist (in PERFECT condition and it came with TWO slipcovers, white and linen/beige) — YAY!!!

I feel like we are just trading furniture back and forth with craigslist! I sold two Lee Industries couches, two matching linen-slipcovered settees, and the piano from the old house (all of which originally came from craigslist!) and so far for the new house I’ve bought two armoires (from CL), the new rug (from ebay), a bunch of extension shelves for the bookcases (new from Ikea), and now this couch (from CL). So I think we’re pretty even. =)

And I have some smaller furniture in here (from the old house) which I think has good bones and appropriate scale, but it all needs to be painted and/or reupholstered (green chairs, I am talking to you!) — none of which is likely to happen before the baby comes =( But, eventually, there will be no green in here, just gray, beige, white, light brown, etc. The green stripe chair is moving up to our bedroom once I find something to replace it — it’s super-duper comfortable (and Kent loves it) but the curvy legs are rubbing me the wrong way in here – so it has to go (I paid $65 for it on craigslist!). Then I need to get a few more seating options in here – I’m thinking of a simple, padded bench in front of the (non-working gas) fireplace as well as another comfy chair or two. Also, I’m keeping my eyes open for some side tables and lovely lamps. Having a place for each person to put a bible (or pens, teacup or whatever) as well as adequate lighting are my main priorities in here.

So, the bookshelves are already on 2×4 bases, so that we can use 2x8s as baseboards (just like in the Keeping Room/Homeschool Room). We also need to add all kinds of trim (and caulk and paint) to make these look more built-in. And, Derm Dad isn’t exactly on-board for this expansion of the project, but I also REAAAAALLLLYYYYY want to add four DVD shelves (not for DVDS, they are just skinny enough to fill the space perfectly) as well as shelves over the two doorways, to connect the bookshelves on either side, so that they really look built-in. Kind of like this:

My main inspiration for the fireplace room (all furniture in neutral colors, lots of textures, and that rug) has been this lovely space:

And this piece of art (for punch colors and also something lovely to put over the fireplace) — I plan to get some throw pillows in these colors, too:

And these rooms too:

See the rest of our new house tour HERE.

Keeping Room/Homeschool Room/Work Room

April 11, 2014December 29, 2014 / thepantrybook / 4 Comments

Even though we have already done A LOT of work in here, it’s still a really long way from done. I’m still not sure what I’m calling it, but this is either the Homeschool Room or the Keeping Room. Or, maybe the Work Room – I really like Edie’s Work Room HERE but hers also has laundry, so this room might not be multi-use enough to justify that name. Anyway, this room houses (or will house) three Ikea Billy bookcases with most of our homeschool books, two smaller truly built-in bookcases (biographies on the left and history on the right), our desks/work area, and all of our arts and crafts supplies in an armoire. It’s like the “craft room” from our old house minus all the sewing stuff (which I’m keeping in the “basement sewing room” in this house). I did that because, when I’m sewing, I generally need to be alone — but I like to do arts and crafts WITH my family, so I didn’t want to keep the supplies somewhere remote with bad lighting (even though the basement in this house has surprisingly excellent lighting). And I like the supplies in an armoire because you can see everything with the doors open, yet you can easily close the doors and the room is clutter-free. I do think that art supplies are pretty and can be inspiring to look at, but I’m super sensitive to clutter and I need clean, cleared-off surfaces to concentrate/be creative. In addition to a place to keep our homeschool books and do some arts and crafts, I wanted this room to be a place where we could work on our Charlotte Mason notebooks (Book of Centuries, nature notebook, commonplace book, etc. . . . ) — basically the concept for this room as a “Keeping Room” is inspired from one of my favorite books – The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte Mason by Laurie Bestvater (not an affiliate link, but I REALLY REALLY REALLY recommend the book!). I don’t really want to call this a homeschool room because my brain conjures up images of “School at Home,” i.e. a room that tries to look like a classroom with visual overload (for me – some people like it) everywhere you look (for example, alphabet letters on the wall, gaudy bulletin boards, bright colors all over, plastic and/or melamine furniture, etc.). I need a functional space that looks and feels good because we have to actually want to spend time in here. Here’s what the room looks like now: These are three of the bookcases from the old house, with three additional extension shelves that Kent had to cut down in order to clear the crown moulding. Now that was a project in itself because he replicated the complicated holes that he chopped off so that they connect with the same hardware are they did before (my husband is a genius!!!). It was Derm Dad’s idea to make the middle section extra tall so we’d have a place for the atlases and the globe – which I think worked out perfectly! In case anybody is interested in book organization, Starting at the bottom left hand shelf, we have the books for Year One (for the Ambleside Online Charlotte Mason curriculum), then above that we have some read-aloud books and some other books that are supposed to be good, but I haven’t read yet), then above that Year Two, then Year Three, Year Four and Year Five on the three shelves above that. Then some other great books on the skinny shelf above that and Year Six at the very top (which I can’t reach without a step-stool). In the middle, starting at the bottom, we have artist books (for Picture Study), then some field guides on the skinny shelf above that and Nature Study/Natural Science books above that. Then, with the wooden figure thing, we have the Shakespeare shelf and the poetry shelf above that. We have composer study above that and then the globe and atlases at the very top. In the bookshelf on the right, starting at the bottom, we have some random tall books (mostly picture books), then above that it’s multi-person biographies (I wish I had room to keep those with the regular biographies), then our nature shelf above that. Then, it’s Mom’s shelf, with homeschool planning books, teaching books, books with book lists, etc., and my own Charlotte Mason notebooks. Then we have handicrafts (a whole bunch of scouting books, a kids cookbook, some books on how to draw, sailing and knots, etc.), some science books (astronomy, inventions and how they work, weather, science experiments, etc.), and then some blank notebooks. Then, above that, I have foreign language (to the left) and geography (to the right). I’m still not sure what I’ll put in that short shelf, but I have books fro Year Seven and Year Eight at the very top. It’s hard to restrain myself, but I am trying not to buy any books for Ambleside Online Year Seven or older. I do like to buy the ones that I am personally interested in, though, so I have quite a few – and I’ve enjoyed reading them for my own enrichment. All the books on the Ambleside Online list are just such great books!! I want to own them all!!! I have the high school books that I have purchased on the top shelves of the four bookshelves in the Living Room/Fireplace Room. There just wasn’t room for them in here. =( These bookcases are bolted to a 2×4 frame as a base and then Kent is making a baseboard of sorts out of 2x8s that he’s going to miter cut and I will prime and paint. The top of the 2×8 will line up perfectly just below the bottom shelf. Then he’s going to hang crown moulding (hopefully we can find a perfect match to the moulding that’s already in the room) at the top, so the bookcases will truly look built-in. We are also going to add vertical trim so you don’t see the seams between the shelves (just like we did at the old house). I can’t wait because I know it’s going to look soooo good!. Now, about the desk nook. It’s 114″ long! I went back and forth about whether I wanted a plank desk built in to the window nook (one floor down from the same nook in Adele’s room, which is now a window seat) or two drafting desks that adjust from horizontal surfaces (like a regular desk) to slightly elevated (for writing and calligraphy) to vertical (to use as an easel for painting). I really liked the drafting desk option and the drafting desks from World Market are solid wood and would have fit PERFECTLY in this little nook; but, ultimately, I decided to go with a built-in flat desk and just use foldable easels on top of the regular desk for tasks that require a different angle. I think the clincher for me was that even when I want an angled workspace, I also need a flat workspace to set other things on (like supplies and a cup of tea!). And, the built-in plank desk is more minimalist in this nook (which has such a low window that the desks have to go in front of quite a bit of glass – so less stuff going on under the table means less visual noise). I got three “base” units from Ikea (one with drawers and two with open storage inside) and Derm Dad is building me a wood plank table top from 2x10s using his kreg jig. The wood color will be something like this: with two DIY table-top adjustable angled work surfaces like this for calligraphy, painting, etc.: I’m thinking about painting the white melamine Ikea bases in an oil-rubbed bronze color to make them look sort of like metal. Something like this, but only if I can figure out to make it look like metal rather than painted Ikea furniture: And I’m thinking of some sconces like this or this: Tomorrow, Derm Dad is driving an hour (I love that man!!) to pick up this armoire to replace that black shelf-o-craft-supplies: It will go between the two windows, where there is a dresser right now. Sorry, I just realized I didn’t take a picture of that wall, but it’s the wall on the right. I think the armoire will be great because of the whole closed storage thing but also because the rest of the furniture in the room is from Ikea, so I think it needs something with a bit more depth/age/dimension (you know what I mean?) to balance it all out. The final wall (which I also didn’t take a picture of) has the two real built-ins on either side and then the walkway to the dining room in the middle. I’ll take a picture when this room is a bit more finished. And on the floor, I am going to use my FLOR tiles that were in the front room at the old house, and layer a light-toned hide rug on top (later, if I have the extra $$$). Then a few casual poufs or stools for sitting like this: or this: And, I want to hang a magnetic strip on the inside of an armoire door for scissors and other metal implements (needle-nose pliers, grommet punch, etc.). Or maybe on the inside of the door to one of the desk bases. I don’t like how classroomy most whiteboards look, but I love the idea of writing on glass inside a frame with the back removed like this (in this room, the wreath is hung in front of the frame when it isn’t being used as a whiteboard): And, probably the lowest priority but definitely something I want to do eventually is get a heavy-duty map roller and mount it on the ceiling in front of the wall’o’bookcases (painted white, obviously). I’ve already made some big changes to this room. See them HERE and HERE. See the rest of our new house tour HERE.

Our Nature Study Sideboard – December 2013

December 13, 2013December 13, 2013 / thepantrybook / 1 Comment

Most of this stuff was previously on our mantle, in fact I think my header image still reflects that – I better update that pronto. But, since we decorated for Christmas and Kent didn’t want to drill a new hole for the hanging star for the nativity over the sideboard, I had to put it the same place as last year so I could use the existing hole in the ceiling. And then I thought this was best anyway because what good is a nature study shelf up on a mantle, where little hands are not free to touch and explore and just take it all in? So we gained a bit more space in the transition to the sideboard and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I just love to look at at! Adele spends quite a bit of time here too, examining things with the jewelers loupe or just the naked eye. Gosh, it’s hard to see all the little things in the front. Let’s try a better angle, shall we?

That’s better, right? So let’s see how many things you can find:

milkweed
black-eyed susans
hydrangea
bird’s nest
assorted acorns nut shells (i.e. we haven’t identified them yet)
a large and small bumble bee
broken pieces of a star anise
maple seeds (i.e. helicopters)
assorted rocks (i.e. I have no idea what kinds since we haven’t ID’d them yet)
some evergreen clippings from our yard
shells and other beachy items
butterflies
lovely pinecones
some beautiful leaves
seed pods from garlic chives in the back yard garden
and an empty glass cloche – I am trying to find the perfect things to go in there, but so far it’s just waiting expectantly =)

And here’s our little bird-watching area on the other side of the dining room. In the clipboard is a printable from Marbles and Wildflowers (which is my new fav blog) where we keep track of birds we’ve sighted at our feeders (which currently sit on the empty chicken tractor). Of course we keep our bird field guides handy to identify the birds before we forget what they look like. Also, we have a few nature study readers we are currently reading right here where we (I) won’t forget about them =)

P.S. We’ve REALLY enjoyed watching THESE short videos on birding skills! If you check the videos out or if you have a fun nature study area in your home, leave a comment to let us know.

Living with Books

July 16, 2013July 17, 2013 / thepantrybook / 4 Comments

I met a lovely woman at the Charlotte Mason Conference who has several thousand books in her home. When I asked if she had a library (i.e. one room in her home dedicated to books), she responded that their whole house is the library! She said pretty much every room but the bathrooms are used to store books. Ahh, someday . . .

For now, we just have our books in one room. Wanna see? I didn’t want to give the (wrong) impression that I’m a wonderful housekeeper, so I just left the dirty socks and chewed up board book on the rug. I’m real like that =) Except for the light fixture which I despise, this is really a very lovely room. The two walls that aren’t covered in books have enormous picture windows (facing North and East, so the books are never in direct sunlight) and we have three comfy couches and a comfy chair with an ottoman. We have bible study in here (we bring in a few chairs from the dining room) and I love it!

At the bottom of this next picture is our Ambleside Online first grade shelf, with some storybooks (for family readalouds) on the shelf above that and some random stuff on the shelf above that.

On the bottom of the next photo is our Ambleside Online second grade shelf. The shelf above that is bibles (of various translations) and some devotionals. The shelf above that is nature study (partial).

This next picture is the bookshelf in the middle of the 1st and 2nd grade shelves. It houses our large format books – mostly art. I try to find art books with large prints by a single painter – and not much commentary. The shelf above that is some more nature study. The two shelves above that are biographies, which I am now going to organize by Dewey decimal system – I can’t wait!

Here’s the top half of the 1st grade bookshelf – the top shelf is Ambleside Online 3rd and 4th grades. The shelf below that is CS Lewis and Elizabeth Eliot. They both really need their own shelves, but I need more bookshelves! I’m not willing to cram each shelf full of books – I think bookshelves need white space and some objects to be comfortable in a living space. I think these are way too crowded now, but what can I say, we’re in transition.

Top shelf is overflow from 5th and 6th grades (mostly the paperbacks). The shelf below that is the regular 5th and 6th grade books. Then 7th and 8th below that.

And see that burgundy book (that’s Miracle Gal, Kent’s grandmother’s excellent autobiography). Well, behind that, I have my most recent exciting finds . . . These are all on the AO list and I got them for only $2 each! Aren’t they beautiful? I hate to cover them up, but again, I need more bookshelves! =)

Next is the top half of the third bookshelf (above the 2nd grade shelf) which houses the high school books (I’m trying not to buy these because I don’t have the room – and my oldest is only 4 years old). Below that is the Shakespeare shelf, flanked by our steins from Germany. Below that is poetry (but some poetry in on the grade shelf), with some biography overflow.

Homeschooling books for the teacher/parent with health/nutrition below (and some prepping books and Tenth Amendment Nullification books thrown in). To the right (what looks like a photo in a black frame) is our large format family yearbooks (the Handfield Chronicles). I do one per year but our trip to Germany and our wedding have their own albums). And I am over two years behind!

The top shelf in the next photo is music (composer study, hymn study, folk song study, etc. . . ). Below that is my active “pile of stuff.” Near the bottom of my pile there is a portfolio that I am using for my own picture study and hymn study.

The middle shelf in the next photo contains some books that I have no intention of reading – I just like to look at them.

Christian books, alphabetized by author on the top shelf, with more on the shelf below – and some homesteading books on home design.

Pregnancy and child training books, loosely arranged by age group referenced. Then, my homesteading books below that with nature study books (parent resources) too.

Charlotte Mason saw books as literally the child’s teacher – she talks about how the children have a direct relationship with the book itself.

I recently read a study that looked at children from several countries in vastly different socioeconomic situations, the parents had different levels of education, etc, and the best indicator of the child’s future success (whatever that means) was whether the family had more than 500 books in the home.

Do you live with lots of books? Share in the comments.

Our Charlotte Mason Nature Study Gear – UPDATED

July 6, 2013August 6, 2013 / thepantrybook / Leave a comment

UPDATE 8/6/13: I have a new favorite paint. It’s Reeves (I got this set). I found that the Loew Cornell paints got too hard, but the Reeves paints seem to stay a bit more workable in my palette – and there are more pre-mixed paints in that set. I found that I just couldn’t mix the right blue for my damselfly, so I started searching for a few new blues and ended up buying a whole new set. I thought I was taught that you can mix any color from just the main primary colors, but I found that was NOT the case. I also have a new favorite palette. Even though I really liked the one with the circles (shown below), I wanted more area for mixing. Now I’m using a plastic lid from a “to go” container (from a restaurant – no idea which one) shown HERE. I bought a palette with a lid on Amazon, but I just really like this lid because it fits in my plastic case where I keep my brushes and other stuff. I also purchased a clip-on cup (pictured HERE), which is an improvement over holding my cup in my lap, but still not ideal because my book isn’t always flat and if it moved or gets bumped then water spills on my book. If you paint “en plein air” please share what works for you in the comments!

I want to be clear up front that I am not an artist or an expert. I made my very first nature study painting at the Charlotte Mason Conference less than one month ago. So, this is advice from a true newbie, for whatever that’s worth =) I am writing this post because I bought a very nice watercolor kit that seemed like it would be perfect for our nature study walks, but I ended up liking my homemade kit a lot better. So, I thought you might like to see what I am using in case you are purchasing supplies to get ready for some awesome summer nature walks.

Here’s the kit I bought and didn’t love as much as I thought I would. It’s called Field Plus.

It has a little water bottle and two water cups that clip on to the side. So cute and perfect for painting outside. But, and this is true for all the little travel kits I’ve come across, the paints are separate from the mixing trays. That means you have to get your wet brush and massage it into the paint and then transfer some paint over to your mixing tray. I found this painfully slow and just frustrating. Maybe there’s a trick to it, but I like my original setup a lot better. Never fear, all is not lost, I gave this set to Adele for her very own and she’s thrilled! She’s four, so her favorite part is the pouring into the little cups. =) And she does love to paint, so it gives me a chance to do some painting of my own. Also, the little bottle leaks! So, do you want to see what I like better?

A few years ago, we went on a cruise with my Mom (Mimi), my grandmother (Mammaw), and Kent’s parents (Grammy and Grandy). My Mom and I took a watercolor class on the cruise and this is the paint kit that came with that class. I have no idea if these paints are good quality or not, but they seem to work fine for me. And they must be pretty inexpensive because I bought them in a class kit with a few brushes and a plastic palette and the whole thing was about $15. I’ve seen just one small tube of watercolor paint for more than $20. The white tube is missing, but I’ll explain that later.

I leave this box with the tubes at home, but I just wanted to show the brand and the little tubes.

This is the little tote box I bring along with a bottle of water (which doesn’t leak – yay!) and one or two tiny little plastic cups (from yogurt I think) for water along with my notebook (or you could just bring some loose watercolor paper). The plastic case is something extra I had lying around in the craft room (extra components from my thread storage setup) – it’s called Snapware and it comes with a few more pieces that all click together.

My favorite thing (and the reason for this post) about my paint “kit” is the plastic palette with the circles in it. I think it came with the paints from the class on the cruise. I like to put my paint (which will harden and need to be pushed with a wet brush to use for mixing or painting) on the upper edge of the circle. Then, I can get paint with a wet brush or if I want to mix, I can put some water in the bottom of the circle and swirl my brush around to get the paint. And, when I’m done nothing is wasted because once it dries it’s still paint. I use the other little plastic “palette” (I think it’s a lid from something) for making a wash (lots of water) or just some auxiliary mixing. I also put in a little jar of water with an eyedropper in the lid. If I’m adding a lot of water, I like to be able to add it with the dropper – it’s a lot easier than using a brush (IMHO).

Here’s my setup all together. Ignore that blue pen – I have no idea why that’s there. I like to bring the white tube (which I recently learned isn’t watercolor at all, but gouache) to use for detail at the end. I know, you are supposed to leave white areas with no paint, but I’m not that good! Eyes need that teensy little sparkle of white or they don’t look real. I’m all about the mixed media!

I bought a few things to add to my kit that I am happy with. The first thing I bought was that Cotman brush; it was less than $4 and it’s very nice. I had a few brush sets in the craft room, but I didn’t have a brush that was thin with longish bristles like that; it’s my main brush for nature study now. I also bought the set of Micron pens. They are waterproof (i.e. the ink won’t run if it gets wet); I like to use them for writing and adding fine detail. The fat brush came with my watercolor class on the cruise, but I read that you shouldn’t give kids doing nature study any fat brushes like that. They do really well with teeny tiny brushes only. They will automatically go to a big brush first, and then their work won’t look as nice. But, this is my box and Adele has her own, so it’s OK (and I haven’t used it yet anyway).

I had a clipboard lying around, so I threw that in the nature study bag too. Here’s my practice rabbit. I don’t think you are supposed to do pencil first (I read that is a PNEU article I think), but I really like my nature notebook and I wanted to make sure that I could make something that sort of resembled a rabbit before I put it in my fancy notebook.

Here are the field guides we bring along to identify species and also to look at for details in painting (for example if the bird already flew away).

Our sweet friends from church gave Adele this lovely zippered set for Everett’s birthday (I know! she is so loved!) and she likes to have this as another option if she doesn’t feel like painting).

And these little notebooks with the elastic band are great for pressing leaves and flowers!

Want to see what I’ve been working on with all this gear? It’s not finished yet – I’d still like to add the kitten, but I just love doing nature study!!!!

Adele is READING!!!

June 7, 2013July 16, 2013 / thepantrybook / 4 Comments

I thought I would give Adele some public affirmation as well as describe our method for anybody interested (mostly in case I forget for our future kids).

A long time ago, a mom on some other Charlotte Mason homeschooling blog said she started teaching her children to read by going through Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. So, over two years ago, I ordered that book and we casually started doing a lesson or two whenever Adele seemed interested in “learning to read.” I think we went through about 20 lessons and then Adele just seemed frustrated so we put the book away. At that point, I would ask Adele to read a word and she would read it backwards. I would correct her, but she just didn’t seem to get it, so we dropped it for awhile. Then I loaned that book out and we just worked on letters and the sounds they make kind of casually. The main thing that helped (I think) is that we would read books together all the time. I don’t mean “learn to read” books but stories that have a “literary quality” in a compelling story. So, during family story-times before bed, reading one chapter a night, we have read the entire Little House on the Prairie series, and we have only one-and-a-half books left in the Little Britches series. Plus, during the day we read lots and lots of other books – some of her favorites are Curious George (not my favorite) and Fancy Nancy (definitely not my favorite) — I guess I have higher standards for literary quality during family story-time than during the day. So, in the bedtime story-times, Adele started noticing that some words began with capital letters and she would point out (just by recognizing the first letter) every time she saw “Ma” or “Pa” or “Laura” or “Mary,” etc. . . . I tried to affirm and encourage her “reading” and she just started recognizing more and more words (mostly names) while we were reading to her.

So, that same blog article I read a long time ago mentioned switching to Bob Books once her child got tired of 100 Easy Lessons. I had a box of Bob Books Set 2 that I had found for a few dollars at the Tot Swap a year or so ago. I tried Adele with them and she liked them but they were a bit hard for her. So recently, I ordered a few Set 1 Bob Books. I kid you not, the afternoon they arrived, Adele read the first eight books BY HERSELF! And she was loving it. I was prepared to stop and put them away if she got frustrated or wanted to do something else. She has been so excited about reading I can’t stop her. One thing I think is important is when she comes to a word she doesn’t know, she sounds it out (“say it slow, then say it fast”) and after she gets the word, she goes back and reads the whole page perfectly before moving on to the next page.

I also bought a bag of Bananagrams, which is basically a bag of Scrabble letter tiles. Adele loves making words with the bananagrams!! I had some letters cut out on heavy duty cardstock, but I like the Bananagram tiles a lot better.

P.S. I covered this on my About Page, but just to be clear: I have a No-Swag Policy. I do not receive any perks at all for mentioning products or services on my blog. I just like to share what I have found helpful. Most bloggers feel that they can receive items for free and then give an honest and unbiased opinion on their blog. I think they are deceived. It’s not right for doctors to have conflicts of interest (i.e. they are so entangled with the pharmaceutical industry, they couldn’t possibly be unbiased) and it’s not right for non-doctors either. OK, I’m getting down off my soapbox now.

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