This week I'm featuring two families to show their 'keeping' practices in a Charlotte Mason education. The first photograph below is of a Nature Display that the Ellery family have in their home. Adele has a newborn and a toddler and teaches her two older girls using the Ambleside Online curriculum, which they have used … Continue reading Notebook Showcase #2
Nature
Grief and Loss
27th January 2020My mother died at six-thirty this morning. 'Died' sounds so harsh but something in me resists the 'passed away' or 'passed' terms. I always feel that they're terms of avoidance that have taken over our expression of this common destiny we all eventually experience. But forgive me if you find that offensive. I'm … Continue reading Grief and Loss
Nature Study in Australia: The Christmas Bush
Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum) - is an Australian native that flowers in spring. It's not the petals or 'flowers' that stand out, though. This native bush or small tree is unique in that its sepals turn a brilliant red colour after flowering. Just in time for Christmas, hence the name, Christmas bush. I … Continue reading Nature Study in Australia: The Christmas Bush
Finding the Balance: Nourishing Spirit, Soul & Body
We've recently been looking at the paintings of Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) and this week's picture study has been on this painting below, 'Fortitude.' When we nourish something, we strengthen or fortify it. Fortitude is the steadiness of mind and soul that helps us to choose the right in the face of danger or opposition. It … Continue reading Finding the Balance: Nourishing Spirit, Soul & Body
Nature's Role in the Disposition of the Mind
I've been reading aloud the Australian classic, I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall, the story of a young boy who contracted polio in the early 1900's when an epidemic swept through Victoria. Alan had been taken to hospital to have surgery on his lower body. He was encased in a plaster cast but … Continue reading Nature's Role in the Disposition of the Mind
Nature Notebook – April 2014
There's a place I've been wanting to visit ever since a couple of my older boys told me of their discovery. It's a bike trail but it's accessed via a bush track which is difficult to navigate with a bike. So I didn't ride but helped my daughter and her little friend carry their bikes … Continue reading Nature Notebook – April 2014
Nature Study
"If the love of Nature be frozen or crushed out, the character can hardly fail to suffer from the loss. To look is much less easy than to overlook; and to be able to see what we do see is a great gift. Many of us walk through the world like ghosts, as if … Continue reading Nature Study
journey & destination 