Thursday, October 29, 2009

What a great day!!

So this morning I woke up late, and was a little upset with myself!! However, I reassured myself that 'I'd MAKE it a good day." I had decided on Sunday (when I was planning out the week) that Thursday was going to be a DEAR day (drop everything and read). I just LOVE those kind of days, and the cool weather was the perfect setting for a cozy sit on the couch and read kind of day.

Breakfast went great, and everyone helped clean up the kitchen...which was fantastic. Talk about make mom's day!! We then slowly made our way into the 'school room.' The kids were already all in there reading and drawing so I whipped out the Book of Mormon and had all 6 kiddos present, quiet, and happy during our morning devotional. FANTASTIC!! Who said a positive attitude couldn't turn it all around...even if I did wake up late things were looking up.

THEN I pulled out our book all about the Great Wall of China. I was excited to learn more about it, and I think the kids could feel that excitement. However, things started getting loud, and it was difficult for everyone to hear my voice. I could feel myself getting frustrated when I had a thought from our Charlotte Mason seminar about Nature Journals, which was basically a notebook of good art paper where kids could sketch, paint, and write about what they were doing each day. That was it!!

I put down my China book and told the kids we were going to the store to get colored pencils and notebooks of art paper. So off we went just like that (which is totally out of character for me to do...especially during our sacred morning school hour time). Within 40 minutes we were back home equipped to have a GREAT reading time. And I have to admit it was pretty great. The kids listened and drew while I read the rest of the book. I am sure we could have kept going for hours, but everyone got hungry for lunch so we stopped to eat. Then we had art class at 1pm and a doctors appointment for Meg at 3 so we were running around for the rest of the afternoon.

The kids have been drawing in their notebooks all day, and I had to tell them to stop so they could go to bed. I am so grateful for Notebooking!!! I even plan on starting one myself, and I want to take some watercolor classes so I can make mine pretty!!! LEARNING IS SO STINKING FUN!!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should talk to Keelee. She does decoupage on her notebooks with old magazines. SO cool! I LOVE water color a lot too though.

These Are The Days said...

I loved notebooking and nature journals...that was one of our faves. Charlotte Mason is was a genius!

Stephanie said...

THanks Andee, I loved the attitude part! You are amazing thanks for being so inspiring! We love your family and all the good you stand for!

Ranee said...

We have LOVED drawing in our notebooks too! We have been drawing pictures of flowers and trees and the I have been showing the kids some pictures out of art books and holding them upside-down for them to draw! It's pretty fun!