Posted in Crafting, Learning, Playing/ Free Exploration, Uncategorized on Dec 9th, 2011
Grandma Jan and Cousin Ruby got the children Perler Beads last week. I have fond memories of making Perler Bead crafts with friends as a child, and was pleased to see how much the children enjoyed them, too.
Hal spent the first few minutes just running his fingers through the beads in the pie tin. As [...]
Posted in Books and Reading, Learning, Mothering tool kit, Playing/ Free Exploration, Uncategorized on Dec 8th, 2011
The children are really enjoying this book. It’s those days where we have “nothing to do” that the kids engage in deep, meaningful learning on their own terms.
This week we’ve been playing a lot of card games (Bea’s favorite), which reinforce cooperation, strategy, addition, subtraction, memory recall for the girls, and help Hal ( age [...]
Posted in Learning, Playing/ Free Exploration on Oct 28th, 2011
Many thanks to my mother for getting the kids a subscription to Highlights Magazine’s Top Secret Adventures!! Ever issue brings a new mystery to solve in a new country. It’s one of the best structured homeschooling activities we’ve ever worked on as a family.
We’re currently making our way around China attempting to solve a crime, [...]
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. [...]