Bookish Family: nature notebooking

Showing posts with label nature notebooking. Show all posts

Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Day with ages 9, 8, 5, and 1-year old

There are so many ways to homeschool! It is freeing (and just a tiny bit terrifying) to me that there are so many "right" ways to do this job for our unique situations. That is why I love reading homeschool day-in-the-life posts.

Every year, Simple Homeschool's linkup leaves me inspired and encouraged (and usually with a few more books on my want-to-read list). I hope you enjoy our 2020 day in our homeschooling life! Past years are here: 2019 and 2018.

This is my third year of planning a full Charlotte Mason style curriculum for our homeschool but it is only my second year planning for 7-year-old John. I still have a lot to learn about how to listen to what my children need and marry that with short, morning lessons on a wide variety of subjects according to a strict timetable designed to fit our family. I love to consult Ambleside Online, a Catholic Charlotte Mason curriculum, as well as Wildwood Curriculum for ideas, but I put it together in my own way.

I have tried to note in [ ] whether I'm using a free book or how much I paid for each of the resources we are using. I am committed to homeschooling with free or really cheap books as part of our journey to be debt-free while living on one income.

This is our third year of doing a full Charlotte Mason style curriculum with short, morning lessons on a wide variety of subjects according to a strict timetable designed to fit our family. I love to consult Ambleside Online, a Catholic Charlotte Mason curriculum, as well as Wildwood Curriculum for ideas, but I put it together in my own way.

I love our homemade Charlotte Mason plans so much for many reasons. I can plan knowing myself and my children to ensure that we can actually accomplish 90% of our plans. I can choose affordable books of the highest quality and I can keep everyone in the family in the same historical time period on a 4-year history cycle with up to three different streams of history (our country, a near neighbor, and ancient). Finally, I can avoid books that I do not care for . . . even if everyone else in the world thinks they are wonderful or appropriate.

I have tried to note in [ ] whether I'm using a free book or how much I paid for each of the resources we are using. I am committed to homeschooling with free or really cheap books as part of our journey to be debt-free while living on one income.

1st Grade Recap and Review of our Homemade Charlotte Mason Plans

I had so much planned for my son's first-grade year!!! Here is what worked, what didn't, what I changed on the fly and how this is all going to affect next year's plans.

What a year! I cannot believe the child I see in this picture was my precious John around his 6th birthday. He is a much bigger 7-year-old now who has grown and changed in so many ways throughout the year.

He has always been my child who humbles and teaches me. I push him too hard and he lets me know. I'm so thankful that he shows me in many different ways when I am lacking in patience and not doing my best. This year there were so many times when I would feel like he wasn't paying attention or trying only to realize that he just needed more time (minutes, weeks, or months) to get a concept.

At the beginning of the year, I feared he would never remember how to read "the," but, of course, he does now. At the middle of the year, I didn't know what it would take for him to understand how to "carry the one." But he surprised me by getting it about a month later even though we had just left off and never tried again! And at the end of the year, I thought it would be years before he could manage his own piano practice sessions . . . but he is doing it already! He surprises and delights me . . . when I can remember to take a chill pill, that is.

On to the recap . . . .

3rd Grade Recap and Review of our Homemade Charlotte Mason Plans

I had so much planned for my son's third-grade year!!! Here is what worked, what didn't, what I changed on the fly and how this is all going to affect next year's plans.

This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure to learn more.

Overall, most subjects went according to plan. But it was an exhausting year for me. With a new baby born a few months before we started lessons and two children doing lessons instead of one, I really had to learn a lot about juggling lots of differing needs at the same time.

My expectations were too high! Too high about how easy it would be to switch between so many lessons with two children and so many interruptions. Too high about how much everyone would love everything. And too high about how easy it would be to really step up my oversight of how the kids would spend some of their afternoon hours--basically I wanted to institute afternoon occupations and I wanted it to be easy and didn't understand how draining it would be for me to have so little personal downtime in the afternoon.

Throughout the year I did a lot of tweaking and a lot of contemplating. A lot of things clicked for me when I listened to the A Delectable Education podcast episode When the Feast is Too Much which was very encouraging. I realized that some of the "extra" things we do as a family need to be taken into account when planning what we do and don't do in our lesson time. Stay tuned for how next year is going to look a little differently.

Confession time--This was the first year we were subject to the homeschooling laws in our state so it was the first time we had to count our homeschooling days. Even though I planned out 36 weeks of homeschool lessons, which would have equaled the mandated 180 days, I was also able to count other days that we did field trips or other educational activities. So we hit 180 days way before we were finished the lessons I had planned before I gave birth. I meant to finish our lessons strong . . . but I didn't!

We did take an hour a day to finish up several books that we were in the middle of, but then we just stopped. No end of term exams, no 12-week term, nothing. We just fizzled out into an early summer break at the beginning of May. So you may notice a lot of books that we didn't get to or didn't finish!

So, on to the recap!

Nature Journaling Supplies We Love on Amazon

Shopping for craft supplies. You either love it or hate it. Personally, I hate it when it takes place in a craft store.

It is hard to find the time to go to these stores without children in tow, and for whatever reason, these stores totally overwhelm my kids and send them touching and bumping into everything.

So when starting new handcrafts or beginning our nature journals, I scour the web to see what others are using and read a ton of Amazon reviews before finding the supplies that work best for us.

Below is my simple, affordable, and minimalist list of all the nature journaling supplies that make our daily nature journal practice possible and enjoyable.

This is our second year of doing a full Charlotte Mason style curriculum with short, morning lessons according to a strict timetable on a wide variety of subjects.

This year will include many firsts for me: the first year where I have to document learning for our local school district, the first year with two students doing a full complement of morning lessons, and the first year as a mother of four. Wish me luck!

I have tried to note in [ ] whether I'm using a free book or how much I paid for each of the resources we are using. I am committed to homeschooling with free or really cheap books as part of our journey to be debt-free while living on one income.

This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure to learn more.

Language Arts: Reading/Literature, Spelling, Copywork/Handwriting, Recitation, Latin & Greek Roots

Reading/Literature (3x20min/week , oral narration after each reading)

American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenburg [$3.99 on Thriftbooks]
Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes [$1 book sale find!]
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome [$1 book sale find!]
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling [Library or free online]
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson [.25 book sale find!]
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett [Library or free online]
The Heroes; Or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children by Charles Kingsley [free online]

We may or may not get through all these titles over the course of the year. I can always save some for read alouds or next year.

Spelling (3x10min/week)

All About Spelling Level 3 (continue from near the beginning of the book where we left off last year)
All About Spelling Level 4 (we'll begin if we happen to complete level 3)

To cut costs, I buy the teacher's manuals for about $10-14 each and make my own cards to use with them.

I know this is not how Charlotte Mason would have taught spelling, but I like giving my son an exposure to phonics through this program. I don't think spelling is a necessary subject at this age but it really working for us right now and it allows me to do dictation with him in an intentional way without any more planning on my part.

Copywork/Handwriting (4x10min/week)

My Book of Writing Words: Learning about Consonants and Vowels (Kumon Workbooks)
He will complete about 1 page from this book a day until we finish it, along with a line of cursive copywork.

Once we finish this book, we will switch to doing only longer cursive copywork, which he copies in a primary notebook from a current poem or song we are learning.

It is a small amount of writing daily, but it must be his best work! I have seen amazing improvement with this small amount of consistent practice.

Recitation (3x10min/week)

Each 6-week half term he works on reciting beautifully (often memorizing) 2 poems and 1 passage. I pick 1 poem and the passage and he picks the other poem with my approval.

You can see last year's Recitation and Memorization Pieces here.

Poetry (Listen to the same poem read aloud every day for a week at morning time)

Focus on a different poet each term:

Emily Dickenson
Walter de la Mare
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Latin & Greek Roots (daily at morning time)

English from the Roots Up Flashcards
We review a card every day working through the roots meaning and definitions of English words that contain that root.

I haven't included a conversational foreign language in our homeschool at this time because it is going to be a doozy for me. But I'm starting to warm up to the idea. I expect that we may add German after I wrap my head around having 4 children!

Social Studies: History and Geography

History (3x30min/week, oral narration after each reading, plus related mapwork that I keyed to the readings)

Poor Richard by James Daugherty [$12.67 on Amazon with a coupon]
Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars, 1690-1760 by Albert Marrin [$4.19 on Thriftbooks]
The Story of the Boston Tea Party by Mary Kay Phelan [$1 book sale find!]
American Revolution Landmark Book by Bruce Bliven Jr. [$4.35 new on Amazon]
The Shot Heard Round the Worlds: The Battles of Lexington and Concord by Nancy Whitelaw [$1 book sale find!]
The boys of '76 by Charles Carelton Coffin [free online]
Give Us Liberty! the Story of the Declaration of Independence by Helen Stone Peterson [$1 book sale find!]
When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots by Lynne Cheney and Peter M. Fiore [Library]
Drums at Saratoga by Lisa Banim [$1 book sale find!]
Washington at Valley Forge by Russell Freedman [Library]
Shh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz and Tomie dePaola [$1 book sale find!]

Geography (3x10min/week, oral narration after each reading, plus related mapwork that I keyed to the readings)

Marco Polo: His Travels and Adventures by George Makepeace Towle [Printed Ambleside Online's free version]
The Guyot Geographical Reader and Primer: A Series of Journeys Round the World By Arnold Henry Guyot [free online]

We'll be alternating between these two texts throughout the year.

Mathematics: Math, Number, Geometry

Note: None of my math choices are conventional in the CM community and from what I've read they are not at all how Charlotte Mason would have done mathematics or arithmetic or geometry. However, we do use short lessons and narration. Most importantly, these choices work for us at this time for this child.

Math (4x30min/week, dictated narration after each lesson which I record in our math notebook (we use one of these)

Beast Academy 4B (finish from last year)
Beast Academy 4C
Beast Academy 4D

These volumes were kindly purchased by a grandparent for our math-loving son. I tear up the workbooks and place the pages in slip sheets. My son completes them with a dry erase marker so they can be saved for his younger siblings.

Beast Academy is a deep and broad program that explores multiple strands of mathematical understanding as discussed in Adding It Up. It is challenging choice for my son who has already completed Life of Fred and Khan Academy through 4th grade for "fun" while in first grade.

Number (1x25min/week, dictated narration after each lesson which I record in a math notebook)

For lack of a better term, I call this "number," but it consists of working through Gattegno's Mathematics Textbook 1 using Cuisenaire rods.

Geometry (1x10min/week, dictated narration after each lesson which I record in a math notebook)

Khan Academy Basic Geometry

I don't love Khan Academy for geometry. However, our regular math curriculum does a great job at covering geometry as well, and Khan Academy is free and easy to implement, so it works for now!

Science: Natural History, Special Studies, Nature Notebooking

Natural History (3x10min/week, oral narration after each reading)

Eyes No Eyes, by Arabella Buckley (1-2 chapter/week) [Internet Archive illustrated edition]
Term 1: Squirrel's and Other Fur Bearers By John Burroughs [free online MANY places, I'm using Google's free illustrated edition]
Term 2: African Critters by Robert Haas [$3.99 on Thriftbooks] & North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration by Nick Dowson and Patrick Benson [already owned gifted book]
Term 3: Secrets of the Woods by William J. Long, illustrated ebook available on Google Books [$9 vintage edition book sale find]

Ebooks are read using my small android tablet. Printed books seem to be retained better, but the ebooks are so amazing that I think they are worth it.

Special Studies (1x20min/week, oral narration after each reading)

I chose the following topics for the year:

Term 1: Wildflowers & Seeds / Birds & Spiders
Term 2: Shells and Marine Life / Birds at the Seashore [in preparation for a few weeks at the beach]
Term 3: Wildflowers & Trees / Insects

I used the rotation found on Sabbath Mood Homeschool to come up with this list.

Right now, our special study for each term involves a weekly time devoted to reading about the topic through books I've selected. I also choose additional books on the topic to read during our morning time.

I try very hard to think ahead about something we can observe about our special study while out in nature. I read up on the topic in The Handbook of Nature Study and spend just a few minutes focusing on it while we are out together. I also try to attend local events on our special study, like a wildflower walk at a nature preserve or a guided hike about animals in winter.

Finally, I encourage my son to focus on the special study when he is making daily nature notebook entries. I also set aside one day a week where I expect him to find time to make what we call a weekly nature notebook entry. Usually, he draws something about the topic he has been reading about in his special study and then dictates something about the topic which I record. The rest of the page we fill with random "I wonder . . . " and "I noticed . . ." statements that show me a little of what is on his mind.

Nature Notebooking (daily entries, weekly entries, nature watercolor drawings)

My son is responsible for noticing something from nature and dictating a line or two to my husband or me to write into his nature notebook daily. We still miss a few days a month and that is perfectly fine for us. We do this all year round, 7 days a week.

During weeks where we have lessons, he makes a weekly page leaving room for a drawing and writing about his current special study. Later in the week, he adds an illustration using watercolors.

Morning Time

I select many living science and natural history books as part of our morning time. These titles are not narrated.

Wild + Free Nature Group

New for us this year, we will be participating in a weekly year-round nature meetup at a rural property. The group includes several homeschool families as well as several families with preschool-aged children who intend to homeschool. Right now, everyone is getting to know each other and the property. We'll see how this fits into our special study as time goes on.

Art and Music: Watercolor, Handicrafts, Singing, Artist Study, Composer Study, Music

Watercolor drawing (2x20min/week)

Once a week we use watercolors to draw a specimen that I choose. I try to pick things that the kids are interested in recently or relate to our special studies. Once a week we illustrate something in our nature notebooks or paint a picture based on some of our history or reading books.

I am going to mix in some drawing lessons based on the lessons in Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes [$1 book sale find!] as well as some drawing with chalk pastels. My son struggles with enjoying this lesson, but I see so much growth in both of us, that we are going to press on with sensitivity and patience.

Handicrafts (2x30min/week)

Once a week, we do handicrafts during our morning lesson time. At this time, I am 100% available for instruction and help. On another day of the week, I have designated a handicraft work session where he is expected to work on his current project or practice the skill he has already been working on with less help from me. He is always able to work on these in his free time as well.

This year we chose to do:

Term 1: Sloyd using Paper Sloyd: A Handbook for Primary Grades by Ednah Anne Rich

Term 2: Finished up Sloyd gifts for Christmas, then embroidering using this kit.

Term 3: Sewing using Sewing School: 21 Sewing Projects Kids Will Love to Make by Andria Lisle

We used the same books and materials last year and I was very satisfied with my son's ability to progress and improve in meaningful ways. We'll be deepening skills this year and we may add some other handicraft, like weaving with lucets and wood-carving if I can figure out how to do it well.

Singing (2x10min/week)

I choose folk songs and hymns. I consult Ambleside Online but I do not follow their rotation per se. This year, I selected the following:

The Gypsy Rover
Doxology (Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow)
The Minstrel Boy
If I Had a Hammer
Go Tell Aunt Rhody
Low Bridge--Everybody Down (The Erie Canal)
Let There Be Peace on Earth
Cockles & Mussels (Molly Malone)
Amazing Grace
The Rhyme of the Chivalrous Shark
Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above (Catholic)
Star of the County Down
Turkey in the Straw
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Shenandoah

To learn more about our folk singing and get links to videos of the above songs, check out 15 Folk Songs and Hymns to Learn with Your Children.

Artist Study (1xweek at morning time)

Each term we read about the life of the artist and study 6 pictures by the artist. My son is expected to observe the picture, narrate about it from memory, then we do a picture talk about it. For the rest of the term, I display the print in our family room.

This year we are studying:

Term 1: Turner [Picture Study Portfolios from Simply Charlotte Mason, $18.95+shipping]
Term 2: Wainsborough [Picture Study Portfolios from Simply Charlotte Mason, $18.95+shipping]
Term 3: Dali [$3 art book from a Half Priced Books store]

Composer Study (1xweek at morning time)

We read a biography of the composer, which my son narrates. We also listen to pieces by the composer via a Spotify playlist I've made.

After we finish the composer biography, we listen to the short podcasts on the composer from Classics for Kids. We may also read other picture books or watch short movies as a supplement. The additional items are not narrated.

This year our composers/materials are:

Term 1: George Frideric Handel, Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler [$14.75 new]
Term 2: Nicholas Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakoff, Chapter from Story-Lives of Great Composers by Katherine Little Bakeless [$1 book sale find!]
Term 3: Frederic Chopin, Chapter from The World's Great Men of Music: Story-Lives of Master Musicians by Harriette Brower (free online)

Music (7x15min/week)

Hoffman Acadamy [Not an affiliate link! We just love Hoffman Academy.]

He watches a lesson and/or practices at least 15 minutes a day, but often longer by choice. The program includes piano theory, sight reading, and solfege, and my son loves it. The songs are timeless classics that I don't mind hearing over and over and the younger children delight in singing them as well. Mr. Hoffman also has a "method" and you can read more about it here.

Physical Education

AYSO Soccer (Fall and Spring)

Ice Skating Lessons (Winter)

Swimming Lessons (Summer)

Hikes, bike rides, and walks around town often, especially in spring, summer, and fall

You can see last year's plans here: 2nd-Grade Plans, 2017-2018.
And here is his brother's First-Grade Plans, 2018-2019.

Check out my Planning page for even more plans, lists, and logistics.

1st-Grade Plans, 2018-2019

This year, I did all my planning very early. With a new baby expected in early May (who arrived May 7!) and my first year with 2 students to manage, I was anxious to get a handle on my plans. We will start our 2018-2019 school year on July 23, and I'm 99% planned already!

Below are the books and resources we will use, although I reserve the right to make changes as I continue to grow in my understanding of my children and the Charlotte Mason Method.

As a child, I had the privilege of spending many days outside in a large rural yard with some woods out back. I was a longtime girl scout and experienced many meaningful (if not overly frequent) camping experiences as a scout and with family.

When I observed my own children in nature and when I read what Charlotte Mason expected of her students in terms of nature-knowledge, I realized that there is a lot more richness to mine from the natural world than I ever imagined. I've come to agree with Wordsworth's sentiments about nature:

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

--from The Tables Turned

Embarking on a deeper knowledge of nature can seem overwhelming at first. But I've learned that by reading and noticing and recording, you can slowly but surely grow your own knowledge and appreciation of nature. And your children's knowledge will surely blossom as well.

In our family, we read nature lore at morning time, include nature lore as part of twice-weekly natural history lessons, select and learn about special plants and animals each term, record daily observations in our nature notebooks, paint natural objects, keep a calendar of firsts, and, of course, spend time in nature regularly.

How to Identify Living Nature Books

Fortunately, it is easy to find excellent nature lore books. Sabbath Mood Homeschool has a wonderful list of nature lore books and Ambleside Online's Curriculum also includes many good titles for natural history.

And since many of these titles are in the public domain, they are available as free ebooks to read online or even print, potentially saving a lot of money without sacrificing any quality in content.

Even if you use physical books for all lessons, consider adding read alouds from free ebooks. The children won't need to engage with an ebook but will still get all the rich wonderful knowledge through you.

I've curated the following list of free illustrated nature lore ebooks. Many of the titles I learned about through the Sabbath Mood Homeschool or Ambleside Online book lists, but all the links are my own.

Note:
I prefer to link to Google Book versions when available. Once added to "Your Library" you can read them via the free Google Play Books app or on a computer or even print PDFs of the text.

If there is no Google Book version available, I link to the Internet Archive. Many of these may only be "checked out" and read online. We typically read these titles using a browser on a tablet or laptop. Even though they only have a 1-hour checkout period, you can check them out multiple times each time you read from them.

They don't always make for the best reading experience but still can be a great way to add a short book to morning time or to preview a book to decide if it is worth purchasing or requesting through your public library's interlibrary loan program.

Best Free Nature Lore Books

Jim Arnosky

All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Margaret Waring Buck
All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Arabella Burton Buckley
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books or Internet Archive.

Eyes and No Eyes [Full collection of volumes available via the Internet Archive]

Life and her children: glimpses of animal life from the amœba to the insects
The fairy-land of science
Winners in life's race; or, The great backboned family

Glenn Orlando Blough
All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Barbara Brenner
All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Wilfrid Bronson
This title can be read online or downloaded as a free PDF.

The Wonder World of Ants [Internet Archive]

All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

John Burroughs
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books.

Olive L. Earle
All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

The Rose Family
Birds of the Crow Family
Strange Companions in Nature
Thunder wings: the story of a ruffed grouse
Camels and Llamas
Crickets
White Patch, a city sparrow
Scavengers
The strangler fir and other strange plants
Birds and their nests
Pond and marsh plants
The swans of willow pond
Squirrels in the Garden
Praying Mantis
Strange Lizards

Jean Henri Fabre
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books or Internet Archive.

The Story-book of Science
The Secret of Everyday Things: Informal Talks with the Children
Insect Adventures, Book 1
Insect Adventures, Book 2
Animal Life in Field and Garden
The Life of the Spider
The Life of the Fly
Bramble-Bees and Others
The Life of the Grasshopper [Internet Archive]
The Life of the Caterpillar
Field, Forest, and Farm
The Hunting Wasps
Social Life in the Insect World

Alice E. Goudy
All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Alice L. Hopf

All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Ernest Ingersoll
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books.

William J. Long
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books.

Robert M. Mclung
All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Margaret Warner Morley
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books.

Seed-babies
The Insect Folk
Flowers and their friends
Little Wanderers
The Bee People
Butterflies and Bees: The Insect Folk
Grasshopper Land
A Few Familiar Flowers
Wasps and Their Ways
The Honey-Makers

Clara Dillingham Pierson
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books.

Laurence Pringle

All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Charles L. Ripper
All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

Millicent E. Selsam
All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

All Kinds of Babies
The Apple and Other Fruits
A first look at spiders
Where do they go? Insects in winter
Animals of the Sea
Egg to Chick
Night Animals
Play with Plants
Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints
Bulbs, corms, and such
All about eggs and how they change into animals
Terry and the caterpillars
A first look at whales
How puppies grow
How kittens grow
Land of the Giant Tortoise: the story of the Galapagos
Plenty of fish
Backyard Insects
Cotton
Catnip
See through the lake
Mushrooms
Questions and answers about ants
Sea monsters of long ago
Tree flowers
A first look at seals, sea lions, and walruses
A first look at fish
A first look at kangaroos, koalas, and other animals with pouches
Play with Vines
A first look at animals without backbones
A first look at monkeys and apes
Seeds and more seeds
How animals sleep
How to grow house plants
A first look at birds
A first look at dinosaurs
A first look at snakes, lizards, and other reptiles
A first look at animals with horns
A first look at animals that eat other animals
When an Animal Grows

Dallas Lore Sharp
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books.

Edwin Way Teale
The first two titles can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books.

All of the following titles can be borrowed online for 1 hour from the Internet Archive.

A Walk Through the Year
Journey Into Summer
The Golden Throng: A Book About Bees
Autumn Across America
The Strange Lives of Familiar Insects
Circle of the Seasons
Springtime in Britain
Adventures in Nature
Wandering Through Winter
Green Treasure: A Journey Through the World's Great Nature Writing

By others:
All can be read online or downloaded as free PDFs from Google Books or Archive.org

The First Book of Bugs by Margaret Williamson
The First Book of Birds by Margaret Williamson
The First Book of Stones by Maribelle Cormack
The First Book of Water by Jo and Ernest Norling
Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (also on Archive.org)
The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thorton Burgess
The Burgess Animal Book for Children by Thornton Burgess
Parables of Nature by Mrs. Alfred Gatty
Rural Hours by Susan Fenimore Cooper
Ten Common Trees by Susan Stokes
The Land of Little Rain by Mary Hunter Austin
A Bunch of Wild Flowers for the Children By Ida Prentice Whitcomb
Trees That Every Child Should Know: Easy Tree Studies for All Seasons of the Year by Julia Ellen Rogers

If you like free ebooks, check out my other lists of free books. And let me know in the comments if you have any other books to recommend for this list. Thanks!

You may also enjoy:

2nd Grade Plans - 2017-2018

This was my first full year attempting to follow a Charlotte Mason style curriculum for my son who is 7-years-old and in the 2nd grade. To plan out each subject, first I determined how much time I would spend on it each week and then I chose books and resources to fill the time available.

I drew from several sources in devising my plans, especially Ambleside Online, Mater Amabilis^TM, Wildwood Curriculum, and information and resources mentioned on A Delectible Education Podcast. I spent a lot of time reflecting on what materials would work best for my son while following the 20 Principles Charlotte Mason lays out in A Philosophy of Education.

Some of my choices are "conventional" choices in the Charlotte Mason community and others are purely my own. But as we are already in the last week of our second 12-week term, I can say that this year has gone better than I could have hoped and I will not be changing very much for next year.

Although my son is in the 2nd grade, I chose the best books I could find for him (and not a hypothetical child of his age). He was a very early reader and as such, he has been able to read all of these books himself without any assistance, except for a few sessions each week where he would read aloud to me and I could help with unfamiliar words.

Also, he has been passionate about math since age 3 and our math choices also reflect that. For example, although he is in Form I for every other subject, I treated him as Form II for math by starting 10 minutes of geometry a week as well as requiring written math narrations (which he dictated for me to record).

I'm so thankful that I found the Charlotte Mason method and that I'm able to homeschool him because I can create an education that is always at his level where he can take what he needs from the feast of ideas.

This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure to learn more.

Language Arts: Reading/Literature, Spelling, Copywork/Handwriting, Recitation, Latin & Greek Roots

Reading/Literature (3x20min/week , oral narration after each reading)

Understood Betsy, Dorothy Canfield Fisher (free online)
Tanglewood Tales, Nathanial Hawthorne (free online)
A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys, Nathanial Hawthorne (free online)
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Margaret Sidney (free online)
Otto of the Silver Hand, Howard Pyle (free online)
The King of the Golden River, John Ruskin (free online)
The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia Hale (free online)

All are in the public domain and are free via Project Gutenberg, or available at most public libraries.

Spelling (3x10min/week)

All About Spelling Level 2
All About Spelling Level 3 (begin, but will not finish)

I know this is not how Charlotte Mason would have taught spelling, but I like giving my son an exposure to phonics through this program. I don't think spelling is a necessary subject at this age but it really working for us right now and it allows me to do dictation with him in an intentional way without any more planning on my part.

Copywork/Handwriting (4x10min/week)

Beginning Traditional Cursive, Grades 1-3, 3-4 lines of a worksheet daily
Printing a few lines in a primary notebook from a current poem or song we are learning, daily.

It is a small amount of writing daily, but it must be his best work.

Recitation (3x10min/week)

Each 6-week half term he works on reciting beautifully (often memorizing) 2 poems and 1 passage. I pick 1 poem and the passage and he picks the other poem with my approval.

Here are the pieces we chose to recite this year.

Poetry (Listen to the same poem read aloud every day for a week at morning time)

Focus on a different poet each term:
William Shakespeare
William Blake
William Wordsworth

Latin & Greek Roots (daily at morning time)

English from the Roots Up Flashcards
We review a card every day working through the roots meaning and definitions of english words that contain that root.

I do not want to include a conversational foreign language in our homeschool at this time for several reasons. One of those reasons is that I really do not want to put my energy into it. But, I do hope to study Latin alongside my children as they get older and these flashcards are a great option for young children.