This is a fun collection of poems by Palmer Cox.
JANUARY
Throughout the year the Brownie Band
For pleasure travels o’er the land:
In January, when the snow
Lies on the hills and valleys low,
And from the north the chilly breeze
Comes whistling through the naked trees,
Upon toboggans long they ride
For hours down the mountain side,
Until the broadening light of day
Compels them all to quit their play.
FEBRUARY
When ice has coated
lake and stream,
And skating is
the common theme
Of which the youthful
people speak
By night and day
from week to week;
The Brownies
are not left behind
But manage well
their sport to find.
MARCH
When March arrives
with sweeping gales
That bend the trees
and split the sails,
And people have
a lively chase
For hats that will not
keep their place.
Then to the field
the Brownies bring
Their home-made kites
and balls of string.
APRIL
When fall the drenching
April showers
To start the grass
and bud the flowers,
Each cunning Brownie
must be spry
To keep this scanty
garments dry;
For they know where
in wood or field
The friendly tree
will shelter yield.
MAY
When flowers spring
on every side,
In gardens fair,
and meadows wide,
The Brownies quickly
take the chance
That’s offered
for a merry dance.
They place the tapering
pole upright
To which they fasten
ribbons bright.
JUNE
In sunny June when skies are bright,
And woods and water do invite
The people from their tasks away
To sport themselves by night and day,
The Brownies are not slow to take
A ride upon a pleasant lake,
Or follow fast by rock and tree
A stream that hastens to the sea;
Through dangers may the band surround
Before the night has circled round.
JULY
When July has
its visits paid,
And trees afford
a grateful shade,
And stretched across
from tree to tree
The hammocks swing
above the lea,
The Brownies
are not slow to find
Where people
through the day reclined.
AUGUST
To swim and sport
in August mild
Though water may be calm or wild,
Gives pleasure
to the Brownie band
Who haste at night
to reach teh strand,
That they may plunge
into the wave
To swim and dive,
or like a stave,
To float on water,
to and fro.
SEPTEMBER
When fish in lake
and river bright
At tempting bait
are prone to bite,
And people from
the rock or boat,
Watch bobbing corks
that drifting float;
The Brownies
also take delight,
And spend the mild
September night
In landing fish
of every kind.
OCTOBER
When woods are tinged
with all the glow
October on the woods
can throw,
And game is plenty
on the tree
And every kind
of weapon free;
The Brownies
imitate the way
Mankind does creep
upon the prey.
NOVEMBER
November’s winds
are keen and cold,
As Brownies know
who roam the wold
And have no home
to which to run
When they have had
their night of fun,
But cunning hands
are never slow
To build a fire
of ruddy glow.
DECEMBER
When comes the month
that calls to mind
The day so dear
to all mankind,
The people living,
West or East,
Begin to talk
about the feast
That will be spread
for young and old,
While songs are sung
and stories told.
This book was published in the late 1800s so I believe it is ok for me to share the poems and the illustrations. If there happens to be a copyright issue, please let me know.
Please tell me your desk ends up look like the above photo! Papers, books, art supplies pile up in what seems like just a few moments around here.
Then there is the chaos of recording what we have worked on, what we are working and what we would like to work on. I’ve played with many a store bought planner. I even demoed several home school record keeping computer programs (which btw Homeschool Easy Records was my favorite) but in general nothing I found seemed to fit my needs.
I don’t plan daily. I don’t want us to ‘fall’ behind the preplanned schedule, so I don’t plan ahead sequential lessons like math. We do a lot of spontaneous project activities, which for the most part, wouldn’t be accounted for in a more traditional planner. And of course, sometimes life happens… and well, you know how that goes.
So where am I going with all this…
I thought I would share my cork board/binder based system. My record keeping seems to have three or four distinct parts. Even if you have a totally different system… I thought some of you might find the pages I designed useful.
First a Month a Glance Planner page for the binder. Here I keep track of all the out of the house activities such as, Tae Kwon Do class, play group, field trips, doctor’s appts, etc.
Then there is the Weekly Record. This I print out weekly and hang on our bulletin board… empty. I fill in the boxes after we do things. Being on the wall means I feel free to jot stuff down throughout the day rather than feeling like I have to pull out the binder… which I would push off until the evening and then inevitably forget some of those spontaneous lessons. At the end of the week, I three hole punch it and put it in the binder behind the month at a glance. Aha, a true record of what we did. I can fit both of my kiddos on one print out for now, but I could see needing to print one for each of them down the road if they really branch out into different activities.
I also have some activities each week that I like to use an Assignment Checklist to make sure we accomplish… at some point during the week. This includes stuff like our Nature Study theme for the week, a special craft or recipe, a specific book I want to make sure we read, etc.
As for math and reading, those I just assume we do every day and pick up where we left off last. I just note what we did on the Weekly Record. We review as needed, spend a day playing games instead or what have you… never falling behind and I no longer have to keep adjusting my planner.
The fourth part is documenting some of the kids project activities. For this I referred to Lori’s post about her project journal on Camp Creek Blog. What I have done is developed a bunch of journal pages for the kids that I print out and leave where they can get to them without having to ask. I use the same journal pages to track their project progress adding photos and notes.
Journal Page – 1 Image Box, Dotted Mid-line Text Lines
Journal Page – 1 Image Box, Standard Text Lines
Journal Page – 2 Image Boxes, Standard Text Lines
Journal Page – 4 Image Boxes, Standard Text Lines
I’m happy I finally took the time to develop my own planner system and I hope some of this stuff is helpful for others as well. Feel free to print as many pages as you need for personal use, co-ops, or any other non-profit need. Also, please let me know if you find any typos.