November 4, 2009 - November Lessons

On The Liturgical Calendar for November:

All Saints Day ( Nov. 1)

Commemoration of All Faithful Departed (All Souls, Nov. 2)

A beautiful reason to make a Saints & Souls Tree

(This is nice way to decorate the dining room for Thanksgiving, too.)

St. Martin (Nov. 11)

This is one of my favorite days of the church year. Here's an especially lovely version (thank you, Lisa) of the story of Martin, Bishop of Tours.

Today, the children and I will be culling warm layers from closets and dressers and taking these donations to the thrift shop, making soup, and lighting our lanterns to enjoy on the supper table.

Advent Begins (Nov. 29)

From the archives:

Advent Inspiration

Advent, Part 1

Advent, Part 2

Advent, Part 3 

Advent, Part 4

Lighting the first candle

St. Andrew (Nov. 30)

 Another beautiful story to share with your children.

Poetry: Poetry For Young People Series: Walt Whitman

Geography: European countries and capitals

Natural History & Science:

These topics are combined this month as we finish up Biology class with a project; Kevin has chosen to study the garden spiders who are weaving amazing orb webs all around our yard these days. So far, he's been creating art in several different media and taking lots macro photographs. We've found a chapter in this book to be very helpful:        Discover Nature Close to Home by Elizabeth P. Lawlor

Oh, and honey bees! Our art teacher's husband is a beekeeper. His delicious honey won a prize at The State Fair this year. It was so kind of him to share his knowledge and enthusiasm with the children yesterday. We read about bees beforehand in Jean Henri Fabre's, Storybook of Science. The bee stories come near the end of the book-- so wonderfully told and informative-- a must read for Charlotte Mason-inspired folks like us.

Math:

Continuing Saxon 6/5

Book Club: Our theme this month is "Hard Times". And who knows hard times better than Dickens? We're reading The Cricket on the Hearth,  Librivox has a free audio version that is very good-- grab a cup of cocoa and read along!

Picture Study:

Yesterday, we toured the Picasso exhibit at The Nasher Museum of Art. The docent was wonderful and our small group of children was very engaged. They allowed us to stay and sketch for a bit after the tour which was very cool. Kevin ended up sketching a study of the child's feet that Picasso had done for this painting:

First Steps, 1943

I love the face on this baby ♥

Happy Learning, Dear Ones.

xo Ann