Blazing Trails Adventure Clubs

Aquinas Learning Center--Month 1

2011-10-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

Our St Croix Valley Learning Center just celebrated our 1st "luniversary." In the mornings, we start with Chapel Time. My goals for this time are to help the K-6 children connect with the catechism & virtue lessons for the week, and to present an example of a saint whose feast day we celebrate that week who in some way exemplifies those virtues. So far we have talked about St. Andrew Kim Taegon, St. Vincent de Paul, Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, and St. Teresa of Avila.

Following Chapel Time, the children separate into K-3 and 4-6 groups. Both groups practice memory sentences in eight areas: catechism, virtue, history, science, civics, grammar, geography and Latin. The goal is to learn the memory work in a variety of ways, including songs and games.

After the memory work hour, it is snack time and time for oral presentations. Even the kindergarteners spend time preparing presentations! The focus for these presentations is to learn public speaking skills. Presentations are followed by discussions of a work of literature or story.

After discussions, the K-6 students re-group and alternate between music class and science investigations, depending on the week. So far, we have been learning a method of chant, and dissected a chicken leg (as part of our anatomy studies).

Lunch and recess are next.

In the afternoon, we have decided to combine the kindergarteners with the 3 year olds. (We don't have any 4 year olds, but if we did, this would be their place too.) The 5 year olds seem to do much better with a more relaxed afternoon schedule. They have nature walks, art or science, and cook their own afternoon snack. This is followed by group games and then free play till it is time to go back to their moms.

The K-3 group work on copy work, handwriting, spelling, basic composition skills and then have individual learning centers. The 4-6 graders work on composition skills, grammar and then have critical thinking games.

So far, I think the year has gone wonderfully. Everyone seems to really pitch in and help out, despite a high number of young babies! I am eager to see how the Center will grow throughout the year.

"Beauty is Evidence of Truth"

2011-07-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

Before I go into that profound idea, a brief explanation for the almost 1 year absence from this blog. Basically, I got too busy with being pregnant, teaching adult education classes, guiding 3 different homeschool clubs, being a business owner, being a wife and mom to say nothing of being (admittedly a mediocre) homemaker that I just didn't take the time to blog. But lots happened last year and we had loads of fun!

So...on to this year! I am opening up an Aquinas Learning Center here in the St. Croix Valley! An Aquinas Learning Center is an educational mentoring program consisting of homeschooling families who meet together once a week to learn together and then spend the rest of the week in their homes (and beyond!) expanding on the ideas introduced on the Aquinas Learning Center Day. The program provides each family with a nearly complete curriculum to use at home throughout the week.

One of the reasons I am so excited about this new project is because of AL's goal of weaving truth, beauty and goodness throughout their curriculum. This is where the quotation above fits in. I am reading Fr. Thomas Dubay's Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer. In the section I read today, Fr. Dubay commented that "beauty is evidence of truth." This statement hit me forcefully. Reflecting on "beauty" reminded me of the great portraits--the beauty we identify in these works of art give witness to the beauty of one of God's masterpieces--the human body. We see in great portraits the truth that each human being is a masterpiece. There is great wisdom in this phrase: "Beauty is Evidence of Truth." I am eager to plunge deeper into beauty, goodness and truth this year with my family and the other brave families who have boldly decided to join us in this new endeavor. May God bless this new center and all who learn together!

The Vikings Are Coming!

2010-09-23T14:19:00.001-07:00

The Time Travelers Adventure Club is back up and running after a summer of living only in the 21st century. September we studied the Vikings---their culture, runes, clothing, cool head gear and more. The club has grown and so now we have a preschool group, a 2nd grade group, and a Big Kids group. Overall, I think this has been good for the kids since they can now learn more at their unique levels. Unfortunately, I cannot show photos as my digital camera recently broke. :( If photos are posted, it means I located my 2nd camera and was able to retrieve the old photos!

New World Discoverers Book Club

2010-09-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

Our other new club this year is the New World Discoverers Book Club, an American history club & Socratic discussion group combined. The kids spent September reading about the early explorers to the Americas and reading and discussing books!

Brand New S'mArties Art Club!

2010-09-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Blazing Trails Adventure Clubs now sponsors 2 new clubs: one of them being the S'mArties Art Club. The Art Club is for kids up to 3rd grade. We spent September studying two medieval artists: Cimabue and Giotto. After learning a bit about their lives and studying two of their works of art, the children made projects inspired by them. We have done watercolors, oil pastels, scratch art (like Giotto as a boy), and fresco painting. If I can retrieve my photos, I'll put up some examples of the kids' work!

SAND Club Kicks off Hardwoods Study

2010-09-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

The SAND Club will be studying the three major Minnesota biomes this year, in an effort to understand the Minnesota-area wilderness as experienced by the early explorers, voyageurs, and missionaries. In September and October, we will study the Hardwood Forest. We are using the Jr. Naturalist booklets put out by the DNR. We visited Fort Snelling State Park and the informative ranger took us on a walk through the forest, showing us a variety of interesting plants and trees. We collected leaves (with her permission!) and made leaf prints at the Nature Center. My favorite new critter is now the leaf miner, a small insect that burrows through leaves, leaving small tunnels behind. Very interesting!

SAND Club Learns about Land Use Now & Then

2010-05-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

In May, we visited Dunrovin Retreat Center. Mary Meeds kindly took us on a tour of the grounds, which was a fabulous review of many things we studied this year. First, she showed us their herb garden, where they grow herbs for use in the dining hall. On the tour, we saw jack in the pulpits, spruce trees, marsh marigolds, and many other wildflowers and trees as Mary discussed the challenge of keeping the forest thriving despite the invasion of buckthorn. She also shared with us how they treat their water in order to make sure the St. Croix River stays clean. Finally, we enjoyed a hike through the grounds, and crossed a bridge that goes through their ponds. We ended up at a garden that now grows where folks used to swim (in an old swimming pool). There, we helped weed the garden where they grow much of the food they serve at the Retreat Center.

The second week we visited Little Flower Farm. Chiara took us on an extensive tour in which we got to collect eggs, and touch goats who tried to escape their pens. We saw the greenhouses and fields, saw how the Dowells encourage their hens to lay eggs by fooling them with golf balls, and learned about sheep shearing and how to correctly sharpen and use a scythe. In the end, we enjoyed some truly delicious goat cheese made by Chiara. I think it was profitable for the children to consider the challenges of caring for such big properties.

We finished up the year by talking about what we had learned. Today, just as in years past, we hunt, fish, grow plants, gather plants, and recreate. We also build cities, settle (semi)permanently in houses and build roads. We aren't necessarily "better" than the people of the past, and they aren't necessarily "better" than we are. What truly matters is how we live our lives---are we loving more today than we did yesterday? Are we enjoying and caring for the world God created? Are we letting God work through us? Are we turning our hearts and our lives over to Him? The measure that we radiate hope and joy manifests the condition of our soul.

Wildflowers and Wild Edibles

2010-05-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

Attempts to visit some state parks this month for programs on wildflowers went awry. Alas, Saturdays just don't work for our families! Boo hoo for my family as we have most Saturdays free. However, we did manage to squeeze in one big and fun day at our house for a wildflower and wild edible exploring/coloring/painting extravaganza. We started out with a discussion of all the native wildflowers and plants in our yard that Ojibway peoples used for food or medicines around the turn of the last century. There were quite a few because our yard is a jungle. :) We have yarrow, jack in the pulpit, wild strawberry, wild geranium, false salomonseal, nettle, blackberry, and red raspberry. Then we went on a hunt for these and other wild edibles (chives, mint, violets, and maple). We did avoid the nettles. Whew. It was a blast.

Then we headed indoors to color some wildflower coloring pages and then paint our own favorite wildflower.

The following day, my family headed to Wm O'Brien State Park to take in their wildflower walk. We felt pretty big for our britches as we have most of the flowers we saw in our yard!

Beowulf... please don't mistake me for Grendel

2010-04-29T02:28:00.000-07:00

Ah, Beowulf. How can you not shudder at the old tale? Anyhoo, lots of talk this month about monks and saints, as well as the glorious age of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. We covered St. Meinrad, Ss. Bendict & Scholastica, and St. Kevin of Ireland. In doing so, we had to cover some geography. Besides being fun, and a history whiz, our intrepid History Guide is also an amazing cartographer!

Here we are enjoying the amazing spring weather and planning the most historically involved game of tag ever. If you didn't want to be caught, you had to shout out the name of a historical figure we studied this year---one that hadn't already been called. Needless to say, I did much worse than the kids.

And you gotta love historical anachronism, because it's fun! Here a Pirate guides our review activity:

SAND Club Studies Native Peoples

2010-03-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

After a session in which we talked about the various native people groups that have lived in the St. Croix Valley, each family picked a people group to study. Some of the families planned to meet at Mounds Park. We rounded out our unit with a fasinating storytelling session at the Minnesota History Center with "Buzz," a Dakota and Cherokee man, who had us riveted to his every word. My kids still talk about Buzz and what he taught them about thunder being our friend, because it warns us of the lightning! Our projects are still in process.

History Club Visits Ruins

2010-03-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

Not ancient, but PRETTY COOL nontheless. The history club went to Mill Ruins Park to see what real ruins are like as a kick-off to this month as we study the fall of Rome. The rain even held off till we were all done!! YES!

SAND Club Finishes Mammal Studies

2010-02-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

After a Mammal Hunt in which various club members found squirrels, cats, dogs, people, moose, horses, and even a whale (these guys are thorough!) we talked about what makes a mammal a mammal and then began to discuss Mammal families (canines, etc.). We finished up with an in-depth look at the common St. Croix Valley mammal orders and families and then did our Presentations. Yours truly got so involved in em-ceeing the event that I forgot to take pics until the end--but here are some.

Time Travelers Study Martyrs and Saints

2010-02-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

It was neat to study St. Valentine in "his" month--as well as some less well known saints like St. Christopher, St. Barbara, St. Clement, St. Felix and St. Philomena. We also heard about the difficulties that the later Roman emperors had "balancing" all the duties of being an emperor, leading to the split between West and East. Here Nicholai gets a try at being an emperor and trying to balance it all....

I'm sure he was relieved to get some "caesars" to help him...

We finished out the month with a semi-serious puppet show using the hand puppets we made of the 12 disciples. The kids learned where they preached and how and where they died.

SAND Club Visits Mammals at the MN Zoo

2010-02-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

On Friday, we saw a fisher, wolf, coyotes, puma, lynx, and many other mammals and other animals while visiting the MN Zoo. Here are some photos of the children enjoying the swimming gymnastics of the river otter.

I confess I forgot to take photos during the rest of the mammal visit, but did manage to snap one when we met up at the aquarium!

SAND Club studies St. Croix Valley Fish & Birds

2010-01-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

January was a month to study native birds and fish for the SAND Club. We kicked off our studies with a great field trip to the Bell Museum of Natural History. After exploring the dioramas of bird characteristics and fish behaviors, we spent a long time in the Touch room. Here are some shots of the kids exploring and having fun!

While in the Touch room, a Bell Museum staff member educated the kids on sharks. No, not a St. Croix Valley fish (thank goodness!) but the kids seemed really engaged nonetheless.

The second week two of our dads educated us. Chris H. taught the kids all about birds, and took the kids on a bird walk. Steve H. took the second half of the class and passed around cool lures for fish while telling us all about the interesting fish we can find close to home.

The third week we did a variety of fish and bird related games projects, including Fish coloring pages, Bird Bingo, Fish Memory, a Cross-fish puzzle, Japanese fish printing (gyotaku) and making pinecone bird feeders! Whew! We ran out of time (literally) when we discovered that the batteries in our clock had run out, causing us to run overtime! Oops!

Time Travelers Study the Apostles in January

2010-01-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

January was a month for in-depth study of the apostles. We kicked off our study with a VERY fun trip to Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis to get the experience of being in a place with many cultures, as the apostles experienced on their many travels. Some of the kids wanted Viking swords and helmets. (These will no doubt be reappearing later when we actually study the Vikings!) Of course, the kids' favorite part was the indoor playground!

We read many stories of the apostles' journeys and finished up our unit by starting to make hand puppets of each of the apostles.

Backstage Fun for the Cast of Master in the Manger a/k/a the Time Travelers Adventure Club

2009-12-19T17:42:00.000-08:00

After a grueling three weeks of practice under the direction of Yours Truly, the Master in the Manger was staged at last!! Many many kudos to the Hammerschmidts for hosting this production. The kids did an absolutely GREAT job---we are all so proud of you!! Here are some fun "backstage and in person" shots of the kids...

...and here is a cast shot after the show!

SAND Club Trees Unit, weeks 1 & 2

2009-11-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

The SAND Club visited two native Minnesota habitats during our Native Habitats and Trees unit. We visited the St. Croix Savanna Scientific & Natural Area (an oak woodland and oak savanna in Bayport) and also the Falls Creek Scientific & Natural Area (north of Marine on St Croix). (FYI: These SNAs are so much fun to explore if you haven't already, check out this DNR link: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/index.html

We enjoyed some pretty steep hikes and the beauty of these woods, as we learned what two native habitats were like. The savanna/prairie habitat is typical of what the natural vegetation was like south of Stillwater before settlement by Europeans, and the white pine-hardwood forest we visited was typical of vegetation north of Stillwater. I'm proud to say that my daughter identified some white pines as we headed home!

Time Travelers Club Studies the Life of Jesus in Week 2

2009-11-12T04:09:00.000-08:00

The Time Travelers have been going back in time to study the life of Jesus. The kids spent a lot of time studying Jesus's parables and miracles, acting out some of them. ("Kateria" looked great in a St. Peter mask!) (Did I mention that we all have Latin names, now?) We also meditated on and discussed a virtual Stations of the Cross---with 14 beautiful masterpieces and works of art for each of the stations. "Marcus" had some great observations about several works of art!

Starting Out Learning about the Messiah Week 1

2009-11-06T04:18:00.000-08:00

We all trekked out to the Boomsite (on the St. Croix) north of Stillwater for a retelling of the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan. This was very very cool.

SAND Club Project Session

2009-10-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

A small group met to work on our projects, everyone else worked hard at home!

Wind Coming from God (Paint and Pencil):

The Formation of a Hurricane (Clay):

Drawing the 'Death' of Leaves in the Fall (Pencil):

Rainbows (Paint):

Time Travelers Ancient Israel Week 3

2009-10-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

We wrapped up the Ancient Israel unit with a re-enactment of several Mary stories (the Annunication & Visitation).

The kids made "Scripture Cake"--a cake or bread made with only biblical foods--it was yummy! and then the kids tried on their costumes from our Christmas play.

Weather & Climate Studies

2009-10-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

The kids worked hard in small groups researching their own questions about climate and weather, everything from "How does rain turn into snow?" to "What are the different kinds of clouds and how are they formed?" They're an inquisitive bunch!! We had a cloud group, rain/rainbow/snow group and a wind/tornado/hurricane group. Each group worked on experiments: from making a cloud, to making rainbows, and convection. All in all, I think the group had fun!

Time Travelers Study Mary & Joseph and Ancient Israel

2009-10-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

Preparing for the Messiah--so we must study the mother and foster father of Jesus!! We heard all those wonderful stories from the lives of Mary and Joseph. Sarah led us in a very lovely and fun craft of making our very own Mary Garden (a paper indoor garden!).

We also cast roles and began working on our Christmas Play, The Master in the Manger, which we will present on Friday, December 18.

Nature Hunt around Nativity House

2009-10-09T15:29:00.000-07:00

We kicked off our Climate and Weather unit with a "Nature Hunt" in which we tracked down a spruce tree, pine tree, fern, oak tree, prairie, and a maple tree--while we learned that these types of vegetation became dominant and declined according to changes in climate and human activity. Later, the kids learned about clouds and rain and the little ones made it rain indoors! We didn't actually see a mammoth though. Maybe next time...

Unit 1, Part 2: Waiting for the Savior & a Visit to St. Michael's

2009-10-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

We started off our new Ancient Israel unit with a visit to St. Michael's church in Stillwater to see the lovely Mary & Joseph statues (not the ones pictured here). The rest of the week we listened to an overview of Bible history and got our notebooks and projects in order. We're ready to go!

Presentation Night

2009-09-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

The SAND Club presented the results of our careful geology research to a crowd of admiring onlookers. There were a total of 12 presentations---everything from a really weird mosquito running around the house to a totally cool movie by "Dr. Cliff Wall".

Four presentations were of pictures the children had drawn or colored.

Two poems were beautifully recited.

A pothole poster wowed us.

Clay and lego models of volcanoes and the earth cracking open were amazing.

And everyone loved our very own molten chocolate lava cakes!!

We had a blast stuffed into our brave and generous Science & Nature Guide's living room! Thank you!!! Good work everybody!

Lava Explorations

2009-09-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

Lava, rocks, one volcano experiment done twice (worked better the second time!) and the St. Croix River Valley. Lots of people and lots of learning!

Unit 1 Week 2 Time Travelers

2009-09-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

Whew! We studied maps of Rome, and ate carob, a food from the Mediterranean (actually tasted better than we thought!) Cleopatra, a giant mosaic, Julius Caesar, Brutus...so much history, so little time! Our fingers are practically numb from glueing such a vast quantity of tiles onto our mosaic. Erika read a story to us that included all of us transported back to ancient Rome. Nicholai was Cincinnatus, Marcus was Caesar and Camilla was Caesar's wife. We laughed, we cried, the horses cried... Julius Caesar even visited our club!

Interstate State Park Trip a Success!

2009-09-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

The kids enjoyed bopping around the potholes at Interstate State Park. Watch your step!

First Day of Time Travelers Adventure Club!

2009-09-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

Entertained by ancient musicians, we reclined on our "couches" (i.e., the floor) and devoured a distinctly Roman meal, while discussing which foods are our favorites. Our history guide revealed a fascinating bit of Latinate trivia: the Romans REALLY liked pepper. Magistra H visited the club, teaching us the names for the panis, olivae, uvae, ova, and caseus which we were consuming. Then we celebrated Mother Mary's Birthday with highly sugary American-style cupcakes. The kids rounded out the successful club meeting by laughing uproariously while looking at books with pictures of the truly WAY Old Days.