Community Building
CM West :: A Beach Retreat filled faster than I had hoped, and we now have a waiting list. Yay! I'm a little nervous, which I can tell because I keep having dreams where I am going to the house and it is either completely different from the pictures, dirty, or I just can't find it at all. But the house is beautiful, and I'm sure it will be a great weekend. There's lots to do in the meantime, but it is also a lot of fun to work on, particularly because I'm working on it with Celeste.
And also on the Charlotte Mason front, some other wonderful women and I are working on putting together two regional Charlotte Mason conferences in 2017. I sent out a little bit of information over the weekend to the Charlotte Mason West email list, announcing the conferences and asking for an advance deposit to help cover the deposits we need to make to reserve the locations. I am not anticipating a huge response, but it seemed worth trying and every little bit helps.
And also on the Charlotte Mason front, some other wonderful women and I are working on putting together two regional Charlotte Mason conferences in 2017. I sent out a little bit of information over the weekend to the Charlotte Mason West email list, announcing the conferences and asking for an advance deposit to help cover the deposits we need to make to reserve the locations. I am not anticipating a huge response, but it seemed worth trying and every little bit helps.
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| The pond at our nature study spot. Can you see the geese at the far right? |
Nature Study in Nevada County met again in February, and this time a new family came... but none of the others who where there in January! We had a wonderful time though and explored a cattail, watched a frog, fish, and geese, and the kids had a great time climbing on the rocks and exploring. It is such a beautiful location and we're perfectly happy to go there once a month even if no one else joins us. But it is great to have company!
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| Cattail seeds - I have never seen them explode before and I was completely amazed! |
The Teaching from Rest Live Online Video Discussion had two discussion times for the same material in February to accommodate people's schedules, but no one ended up coming to the second discussion. So, in the interest of simplicity, I'm just going to do the discussion once each in March and April. We had a good discussion and the technology seemed pretty easy for everyone to figure out, so I definitely count it as a success.
I'm going to start some preparation for the Start Here: 20 Principles Discussion in March, but I am still not planning on beginning sign ups until April. I'm trying to figure out what I've learned from the Teaching from Rest discussion experience as well as figure out just exactly how I want to publicize it.
The Shakespeare Co-op was off to a slow start until my dear friend Katherine asked if she could extend the invitation to some people she knows down in her area. We ended up picking up three more families, and we had a very successful first meeting in February. We'll have two more in March, then another in April along with our final performance.
Our Home
I'm still plugging away on sorting books, but I'm just about done. There are still a couple of boxes of books in storage that I need to get down, but I've gone through all the books that are out in various places in the house. I've also sorted most of the books into give away and try to sell. I'm hoping to drop off at least some of the give aways to the Friends of the Library as well as share some of the Catholic books at our Religious Education program tomorrow. |
| Most of the culled books (eek!) |
Don't worry, it's going to be great! It has been really fun working together so far. (And I'm a little nervous too. ;))
ReplyDeleteYour pond looks just like our usual spot except that the trees on the other bank are sycamores and willows here. :)
And funny story about the cattail: we brought one home to draw a year or so ago and left it on our nature shelf for a few days. One afternoon we walked in the door and found the hall, entry, and living room covered in little fuzzy bits -- it had burst when we were out. It took *forever* to clean up. I didn't even know they DID that, so it was completely unexpected to me. My husband was less than amused. LOL The next week, one of our nature study friends met us with, "You're never going to guess what happened to our cattail!" Yep, same thing at her place. :) Moral of the story: watch what you keep on your nature shelf!
Oh my goodness, that is really funny! And I can only imagine the mess - we came home with those little bits of fluff all over our clothes and were only able to get them off in the wash. I didn't know they would explode like that either, it just started happening as we were touching it. I'm thankful it did, or we could have had the same thing happen at our house!
DeleteHi Amber, so glad I found your blog. I am new to Charlotte Mason and always looking for ways to incorporate it into our home. I grew up in Calaveras County, not too far from you but now I follow my husband's job and we are currently in Brazil. Nice to "meet" you.
ReplyDeleteNice to "meet" you too, Emily! Thanks for leaving a comment. And Brazil, wow! What a completely different environment from where you grew up. What a wonderful opportunity to see some different parts of the world.
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