Like my friend Melissa, Charlotte Mason has begun to move into our house. After reading the 'oh so fantastic' book For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, I have made a bit of a shift in our approach to education. Don't get me wrong - I am still keeping to the Principle Approach, just with a more gentle delivery.  (  :

Many of you are familiar with Charlotte Mason (CM) I am sure, and so it won't come as any surprise that we are adding nature studies to our daily lessons. I have decided to use a theme for each month to guide me in my planning and so January is 'Winter' month.  Yesterday I sat down and wrote out a calendar of winter study activities with the help of this great book.

Anyone want to see what we are doing? Here is what our month looks like (sorry - the first five days are not filled in because of my procrastination):

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		Melt snow to see the volume change, read The Snowy Day	Discuss how Earth's tilt and rotation around the sun brings Winter	Think of winter words to add to our 'writing aids' binder	Look for animal prints in the snow and other signs of animals	Read Arctic Son
	Discuss God's providence in the ways that animals stay warm in the winter	Build a snow fort and make a snow angel	Measure some snow drifts and make a snow gauge	Discuss God's providence in how the blanket of snow insulates and provides needed moisture for the plants under it	Make Snow Cream	Read Snow Bear
	Read snow related poetry books, like this and this	Hunt for icicles and make our own	Read Winter	Learn about windchill	Read Owl at Home	Examine frost on a windowpane
	Read A Mother's Journey	Learn about snow crystals and read Field Guide to Snow Crystals	Cut out paper snowflakes and discuss God's individuality	Read Snowflake Bentley	Draw a snow scene using Sketching Outdoors in Winter