A Charlotte Mason kind of day

I have been reading some about Charlotte Mason and her educational philosophies in the past week, and decided it was time for another nature walk. Since it is 100 degrees here (or more) all the time now, we headed out early. Instead of the Duck Pond, we visited the Sutton Urban Wilderness park on the northeast side of town. Each of the kids had a bag to gather treasures, as did I. I also brought my camera to keep me looking for the beauty around me.

 Grace's treasure bag.

 Some tracks, maybe raccoon?

 Isaac's treasures. The picture goes the other way but I really don't want to mess with cropping it and reloading.

 Grace's treasures.

 Grace getting into the painting and nature collage.

 My block printing using the Osage Orange I brought home. I made a better one later but didn't take a picture.

 Grace's block printing.

 And Isaac doing his own thing.

 My treasures. Again, blogger brought it in sideways.

 Our picnic lunch leftovers. I finally used this tray I've had forever!

 Isaac grabbed my camera to take some pictures of a dead cicada he found on the deck. These are some of the best ones.

 After lunch we headed back inside. It was getting hotter, less shady on the deck, and Grace was getting tired. After reading some books to her, I headed downstairs for some time with Isaac. Once a week I have him do a page or two in a math workbook, just to keep up the skills and to work with him on neatness on his school work. Today was the day for that, so he worked on a short page and then we headed to the kitchen. Tuesdays are Treat Days and we've been picking treats that we can make together. That way Isaac can learn some cooking and baking skills. Today we made chocolate covered frozen banana bites (and a couple of banana pops). We learned that using the microwave method to melt chocolate works better if the bananas aren't frozen yet. We were able to dip the banana pops and about four of the bites and the chocolate started getting cloppy and we couldn't get it back to smooth and melty. So I popped the last few banana bites back in the freezer to save for smoothies or more chocolate later.

Yummy chocolate. I also had Isaac go with me to the basement to load his own laundry and practice that life skill. He's not strong enough yet to get it down there by himself, but can at least learn how to do it.