Month: January 2012

Nature Study Demonstration: Lily by Deborah Dobbins

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Last spring, Margaret demonstrated the nature study process for us. This demonstration took less than one hour. Journal writing includes the common name of the species, the scientific name, the date and the student’s initials. Students may include other notes such as the location of the nature walk. Margaret began by painting the stem using a thin line of green which she mixed using yellow and blue watercolors.  Margaret then outlined the shapes of the lily’s petals and leaves. It’s important to capture the correct size, shape, and color of the specimen.  Margaret added the stamen.    Margaret filled in her petals using a mixture of red and red- violet.  Margaret paused for further observation of her lily after adding the pistil.   Pollen color was created by mixing a combination of yellow and brown.  “Dots” of pollen were added on the petals.   Margaret’s final touch was green at the center of her flower.   ©2012 Deborah Dobbins Deborah teaches 2nd grade Nature Study classes at Perimeter School in Duluth, GA.  Margaret is currently …

Margaret Coombs – The Authoritative Biographer of Charlotte Mason

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Margaret Coombs Speaking at the 2012 ChildLightUSA Charlotte Mason Educational Conference June 6, 7, 8, 9, 2012 Gardner-Webb University, Boiling Springs, NC Near Charlotte, NC Margaret Coombs at Newtown School Archives Margaret Coombs is a social historian, researcher and retired mental health practitioner, who has worked in a variety of mental health posts, including community care rights and as a Mental Health Act Commissioner. She is married to an Anglican Priest and has two children, an artist and a theatre director. Through exploring the history of education for parenthood for a post-graduate degree in the 1980’s, she first discovered Charlotte Mason  via the Parents’ Review, listed in the vast hand-written catalogues in the former round Reading Room of the British Museum, where the Founder of the PNEU had studied for her Geographical Readers, around 100 years earlier! Margaret met with Essex Cholmondeley, Charlotte’s first reluctant biographer, at Nynehead in 1983. Finally retiring in 2008, she resolved to research Charlotte Mason’s secret family history in preparation for a new, more accurate biography. Although there is no …