Resurfacing

Gosh, I know I'm not the best blogger in the world, but I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted.  Not too much has been going on lately, other than the typical- homeschooling, therapy, dance for Madeline, and life in general.

I previously mentioned that I would try to videotape Caleb narrating Shakespeare using his finger puppets.  In actuality, it's a bit hard because there are always several different characters involved, and I am always participating with him.  So I decided to ask him for a brief recap, after he had finished narrating one day.


 
 I just love how he says proper names he's not familiar with- just like my Gramma! It's so precious. 
 This week, I took the kids down to our local pier for a nature walk. This is something I've wanted to make a weekly occurrence out of, but unfortunately, that hasn't happened. I was thankful that, as we were preparing to head home, a snowy egret decided to make an appearance. 

The other thing we've been doing a lot of is reading.  Lots.  Caleb has recently finished Toad for Tuesday by Russell Erickson (awesome!), The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh, and The Courage of Sarah Noble also by Alice Dalgliesh.
For read alouds, we finished up Pinocchio.  Even Madeline enjoyed listening in.  I thought I might lose her because the language in the original is quite rich.  Nope, she hung in there.  There were so many lessons to be learned, too.  It was a great way to talk about how God calls us to act without sounding preachy (another Charlotte Mason nugget.)  We're now reading a great little fairytale The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin.  It was his only book for children, and boy, am I glad he wrote it!  It is a feast for the imagination.  Add it to the list of books "I wish I read this when I was kid".
And me?  In preparation for next years reading selections from Ambleside Online Year 2, I am reading Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Alongside Pilgrim's Progress I am reading Helen Taylor's Little Pilgrim's Progress.  The reason for doing so is because Ambleside spreads Pilgrim's Progress out across Years 2 and 3.  And although I love, love, LOVE the original writing, I prefer Caleb to read Helen Taylor's version for little children before I read the unabridged version to him in Year 3.  So far, I think she's done a fabulous job at staying true to the original. Really.  Amazing.  
If I'm being honest, this is my first time reading both Pilgrim's Progress AND The Wind in the Willows.  See?  I told you I suffered severely from exposure to literary masterpieces while growing up.  A Charlotte Mason education is not only a good choice for my children but for me as well.  In fact, after I read the first chapter of The Wind in the Willows, I wrote down my own narration.  Seriously, I rather enjoyed typing up my narration!
Anyway, as you can see, we've had our noses in books.  Lots of them.  And really loving it.  It just warms my heart to see Caleb reading to Madeline, as he does so almost daily.  And watching Madeline reading to her dolls, priceless.
Tomorrow we head out to celebrate the New Year with friends.  Hopefully, I'll take some photos (haven't done much of that lately) if we don't get rained out.