Posted in From my kitchen, Moderation and Economy, Playing/ Free Exploration on Jul 28th, 2010
Just a quick post to share the recipe for my favorite childhood snack.
We were given 40 lbs of honey (albeit, crystallized, so I’ve had to de-crystallize it in batches), so I’ve been trying to come up with ways to use it in my cooking. We’ve made several batches of jam, substituting honey for a portion [...]
Posted in Learning, Playing/ Free Exploration, Spinning on Apr 20th, 2010
We’ve been studying a lot about map reading and map making, and yesterday afternoon I brought out a huge sheet of posterboard and let the children create and label their own “treasure map”. (Little Hen’s idea is to re-create the map in real-life in the backyard and then use their map to find the “treasure”. [...]
Posted in Crafting, Learning, Playing/ Free Exploration on Apr 9th, 2010
Look who decided to help himself to the craft supply box while I was attempting to make dinner (and the girls were having a tickle war).
It’s hard to believe that Tum Tum will be TWO next month…he’s outgrowing so much of his sweet baby-ness. I loved watching him drawing intently and singing to himself all [...]
Posted in Learning, Our home, Playing/ Free Exploration, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Mar 1st, 2010
We scrapped all other plans for today,
and simply played in in the dirt.
As Firecracker said, “There’s nothin’ more natural than gettin’ dirty.”
Somehow, in the midst of playing “dirt fairies”, “cruel dirt queen who makes her workers dig all day”, “climb dirt mountain”, “search for worms and buried treasure”, and “fill and empty buckets of [...]
Posted in Building Community, Changing Seasons, Nature Table, Playing/ Free Exploration, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Feb 22nd, 2010
We’re working on a converting our front lawn into veggie beds, and the unseasonably warm and dry weather has helped us get a jump start on sheet mulching. Goodbye lawn, hello permaculture landscape! While Tum Tum and I spread cardboard, straw, manure and compost, Little Hen and her Daddy were busy building cold frames out [...]
Posted in Books and Reading, Learning, Playing/ Free Exploration on Feb 9th, 2010
This photo pretty well sums up our morning literary activities of late.
First thing this morning, we had to get a bit pot of chili blanco going on the stove, and batch of brownies in the oven, since it’s our turn to bring dinner to our homegroup. While Firecracker helped measure out the spices and crush [...]
Posted in Books and Reading, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Playing/ Free Exploration on Dec 12th, 2009
The dolls hosted a little Christmas tea party for their sparrow, cardinal and swan friends yesterday morning. Pretend mint tea, fruitcake, gingerbread, and bird seed were served under the Christmas tree.
The girls were inspired by my favorite childhood Christmas book – Tasha Tudor’s, A Doll’s Christmas. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. [...]
Posted in Changing Seasons, Crafting, Learning, Locally grown, Outings, Playing/ Free Exploration, Uncategorized on Oct 7th, 2009
The past month has left me feeling stretched pretty thin because of obligations and responsibilities to my family and others. Tackling domestic duties and “home schooling” the girls while my non-stop motion toddler “explores” the house into a distaster zone has also been a challenge. Crafting has been particularly tricky – Tum Tum either attempt [...]
Posted in Books and Reading, Learning, Playing/ Free Exploration on Sep 23rd, 2009
We’re studying Africa off and on lately, primarily because the girls’ interest in the continent was sparked by their favorite musician’s recent work in Malawi. I picked up this felt Africa playset at the thrift store on sale for a quarter, and it was a big hit. Along with Dana’s music, we’ve been listening [...]
Posted in Books and Reading, Learning, Playing/ Free Exploration on Sep 1st, 2009
Here’s a look at some of the mathematics we’ve been studying this week. The girls LOVE the Sir Cumference series of books, and even though the math concepts are technically “above grade level” for them, the girls seem to have no problem understanding the material. For example, Little Hen informed us that the slice of [...]