The cake
Uncertainty…
Proceeding with caution…
Shoveling it in…
Can’t talk… mouth full…
Everyone got in on the action
Leif had a great time at his little party! We served up lots of his favorite finger foods, followed by applesauce cupcakes. Mmmm, Mmmmm, Good!
He wore his handmade (mama sewn) birthday hat and one of his new bibs. Kaia made him a beeswax dipped candle for his cake.
Can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for this amazing little boy!
I don’t have the right words to explain how much I love you. How my life revolves around you. How your sweet smile makes my spirit soar; makes me feel like I’ve just taken in a deep breath of warm spring air. I don’t know how you did it, but when you came into our lives and turned our world upside-down, you somehow set us right.
Happy First Birthday my sweet Little Man!
Smrt Lernins is having a photo contest. They want to know what homeschooling looks like to you. Well, we’ve only been doing this for 6 weeks, but it seems like I’m always posting pictures about what Kaia is up to. There are so many photos to chose from. But, I think one of my favorites is one I took this last week when we went to visit family at the beach. I absolutely love that homeschooling is portable! We packed up some of her books and headed out to the shore, where she found herself a nice rock/table and went to work.
She did a little of her language studies first and then we read some books on dinosaurs. We decided that we were in the perfect spot to make a dinosaur. We measured out 160 feet (the size of a Seismosaurus), found some good drift wood drawing sticks, and drew ourselves a dinosaur!!
In this photo, I’m standing at the tail end and Kaia, the little red speck in the distance, is standing at it’s head.
And, of course, no sand dinosaur is complete without a little dino dung!
Leif wanted to support us in our dinosaur creating efforts, so he put on his Dino-Might shirt. (Punk hair courtesy of daddy)
You need a little more of his squishy cuteness? How about a side view?
Kaia has decided that since I am taking sewing lessons, I must teach her! Now! As often as possible!!! So that she can use the sewing machine all by herself… with no one watching!
Hmmmmmmm….. We’ll see.
I did, however, help her make a little bag to hold her new fossil collection in. She did a fantastic job!!
And here’s what she’s keeping in her baggie:
Well, I think the internet might be back up… maybe… it’s slow and keeps going up and down, but maybe they are fixing it.
We’ve been snowed in, without phone and internet since the last snow 5 days ago. Let me tell you… After all the snow and indoor time in the past month, I’m getting to be one cabin fevery chick!!! OY!!!
Well, I did finish a pair for pants for Leif, finally. I started this outfit this past fall, but just got around to the pants. And they are SOOOOO cute!!!
Can you tell he likes them?
I put two little pockets on them, one red and one green, with a little owl on it.
I finally did it! I’m taking sewing lessons! I’ve been wanting to learn how to sew for a long time now. I can do a little on the sewing machine, but I’ve wanted to learn from a professional. Well, as luck would have it, I won a raffle for 7 sewing lessons from a professional seamstress!! I’ve taken two lessons so far and I’m having a blast! I won’t tell you what I’m making yet…. I’ll show you when it’s done!!! Anyway, I’m already planning all the things that will be made… a skirt for Kaia, pants and bibs for Leif, a skirt for me… I love the idea of making clothing for my family. Knitting them is certainly one way to do it, but knitting an outfit take ages. Sewing is instant gratification! So, here’s where the Great Herb Trade comes in. I have over 150 dried herbs in my apothecary… culinary, medicinal, spiritual, you name it (see list below)! But, right now I’m only seeing a few clients and spending most of my days with the kids. I have all these herbs and they are just sitting around. However, I don’t have any sewing goods. I have a sewing machine, and that’s it! So, here’s my proposal: You tell me what herbs you would like and how much and I’ll send them to you! In trade, you send me any fabric, notions, and sewing goodies that you want. You get to build/stock your herbal pantry, maybe even experiment with some that are new to you, and I get to build up my sewing supplies! Nothing wasted, lots gained! How’s that sound? Here is a list of the herbs that I currently have in stock. If you are interested, leave me a comment (and make sure I have your email) and let me know what you’d like!! Yay!! This is going to be fun!!! (oh, and ‘c/s’ means ‘cut and sifted’)
addendum – List edited 2/23/10 to reflect the herbs that are still available-
| Alfalfa c/s |
| alfalfa powder |
| Amalaki powder |
| Angelica root c/s |
| anise seed |
| Artichoke leaf c/s |
| artichoke powder |
| Ashwaganda Powder |
| Astragalus root c/s |
| Beet Leaf Powder |
| Bilberries whole |
| Black Cohosh root c/s |
| Black walnut hull powder |
| Bladderwrack c/s |
| Blue Cohosh root c/s |
| Blue Violet leaf c/s |
| Boneset herb c/s |
| Burdock root c/s |
| Calendula flowers – whole |
| California Poppy leaf c/s |
| Catnip leaf and flower c/s |
| Cayenne powder |
| Chamomile Flowers |
| Chicory rot – roasted |
| Cloves – whole |
| Comfrey Leaf |
| Coleus Forskholii c/s |
| Coltsfoot c/s |
| Copal Resin |
| Cornsilk c/s |
| Cramp bark c/s |
| Damiana leaf c/s |
| Dandelion leaf c/s |
| Dandelion Root c/s |
| Dong Quai c/s |
| Echinacea Purperea root c/s |
| Echinacea purperea root powder |
| Elder berries |
| Elder Flower |
| Elecampane root c/s |
| Eleuthero root c/s |
| Eyebright herb c/s |
| Fenugreek seed – whole |
| Feverfew herb c/s |
| Frankincense tears |
| Ginkgo Leaf |
| Goldenseal root c/s |
| Holy Basil |
| Honeysuckle flower |
| Hops strobiles |
| Horehound herb c/s |
| Horse Chestnut c/s |
| Horsetail herb c/s |
| Hyssop herb c/s |
| Jasmine flowers |
| Juniper berries |
| Ladies Mantle c/s |
| Lavender flower –whole |
| Lemon Balm herb c/s |
| Lemon peel c/s |
| Lemongrass leaf c/s |
| Licorice root c/s |
| Licorice root powder |
| Lobelia herb c/s |
| Maca Powder |
| Malva (Mallow) flowers |
| Marshmallow root c/s |
| Marshmallow root powder |
| Meadowsweet herb c/s |
| Milk Thistle |
| Milky Oat tops |
| Mugwort leaf c/s |
| Mullein leaf c/s |
| Mustard powder |
| Nettle leaf c/s |
| Nettle root c/s |
| Nettle seed |
| Oatstraw c/s |
| Oregon Grape root c/s |
| Oregon Grape root powder |
| Osha root powder |
| Partridgeberry herb c/s |
| Passionflower leaf c/s |
| Paw d’Arco root c/s |
| Peach Leaf c/s |
| Pepper – Black Malabar |
| Peppermint leaf c/s |
| Plantain leaf c/s |
| Prickly Ash bark c/s |
| Queen of the Meadow (Joe Pie) root c/s |
| Red Raspberry leaf c/s |
| Red Root c/s |
| Reishi Mushroom powder |
| Reishi Mushrooms |
| Rose hips seedless c/s |
| Rosemary leaves |
| Roses – petals |
| Rue c/s |
| Sage – ceremonial whole pieces |
| Sage c/s |
| Sarsaparilla (Jamaican) root c/s |
| Sassafras root c/s |
| Saw Palmetto powder |
| Shatavari powder |
| Shatavari root |
| Sheapherds Purse c’s |
| Slippery Elm bark c/s |
| Soapwart c/s |
| Solomon’s Plume root c/s |
| Solomon’s Seal root c/s |
| Spearmint leaf c/s |
| St. Johns Wort flowering tops |
| Stevia powder |
| Stoneroot c/s |
| Sumac berries |
| Thyme leaf c/s |
| Triphala powder |
| Tylophora indica c/s |
| Usnea lichen |
| Uva Ursi leaf |
| Valerian |
| Vitex berries |
| White Willow bark c/s |
| Wild Cherry Bark c/s |
| Wild Hydrangea root c/s |
| Wild Yam root c/s |
| Witch Hazel Bark c/s |
| Wormwood herb c/s |
| Yarrow leaf and flower c/s |
| Yellow Root c/s |
| Yellowdock root c/s |
You can’t study pre-history without making trilobite cookies!!
This was Kaia’s first time using the cookie press and she LOVED it! I had to make her a deal though… we make one full sheet of trilobite shaped cookies and she could use the rest of the dough to try out all the other cookie press shapes.
We ended up using this shape/disc. It made perfect little trilobites!
Once they were cooked and cooled a little, she used raspberry preserves to put in the middle of the cookie sandwich.
Then dip them in melted chocolate and give them some eyes (we used chopped up gummy bears:-) )
And serve them up at Trilobite Tea Time!! Mmmmmmm!! Taste much better than chicken!
Leif loves puzzles! I’m not sure why, since he’s not old enough to really put them together. But there is something about them that attracts him and if you want to give him something to do, just put a puzzle in front of him. He’ll take all the pieces and throw them all around the room! I’ve got some rainbow stacker puzzles to give him for his birthday. But check out these puzzles from Puzzled. Aren’t they fabulous??!! I will definitely have to get some of these! And there is a great give away going on over at The Magic Onions to win one of your own!!
For a family that lives on 25 acres, we seem to spend most of our time indoors, especially in the winter. Now that Kaia is at home most days, I thought it increasingly more important to make getting outside a priority! So, we’ve added a weekly Outdoor Hour Challenge to our studies. This week, we got outside and made it a point to keep quiet and listen to the things around us. It was so peaceful and replenishing. The 20 minutes outside turned into a couple of hours for Kaia while she ‘ice skated’ on a puddle of water.
Here are my notes from the things I heard/sensed/saw while outside:
Finally, it’s gotten above 35 degrees!! The snow has been on the ground for a month and it seems like every morning I’ll wake up to a little more! The past few days it’s gotten up into the 50’s and it’s been wonderful! The chickens are having a field day taking dirt baths and stretching out in the sun.
Speaking of chickens… have you ever heard of longcrowers? Check this rooster out! If you have crappy neighbors, you need to get you one of these babies!!!
Kaia and I had a great week of school! She always starts with math. She loves using the abacus. Most of what we are doing is review as we try to get caught up to her skill level in her new math program. She’s really enjoying so much hands on and not a lot of workbook pages. Leif really likes the abacus too… I’m going to need to get him one of his own 🙂
She’s also enjoying spelling, and usually does more than one lesson a day. There is a chart that comes with the program that you mark off each lesson you complete. She’s on a mission to put stickers on the chart as fast as she can. It really is amazing how fast she is progressing, though. She’s soaking it all up. It’s not that they didn’t teach it at her old school, but the kids had the choice to spend their day how they wanted and she always wanted to color. Me… I’m a task master. I think it’s important for her to start learning this stuff, so if I present it to her in a way that she enjoys, then we both win. All About Spelling has lots of hands on too… she’s all about that! Her reading skills are really blossoming! She’s feeling so much more confident and she’s started reading to Leif, writing letters to friends…
This week we also continued with Prehistory and the Precambrian period. We’ve started making a time line similar to this one. It’s fun to see the way her mind works with stuff like this. As she is filling in the pages, everything she pastes on the page goes in perfect alignment with the last piece. It’s all square and in order. Funny how some things must be in their proper place while other things (like her room) can be chaos! We focused on volcanoes this week and she made one out of model clay. We were supposed to create an eruption (with baking soda and vinegar) but she wanted to make a volcano just like Mako Island (from the show H2O: Just add Water, the Australian show about kids that are mermaids). So, she didn’t want to make it erupt.
Here are her little hands hard at work. You can see the secret entrance to the magic cave where the girls turn into mermaids.
She pulled the top of the volcano off so that she could paint the magic pool of water inside!
And here it is… Mako Island in all it’s glory! I think she should call it Phallic Island 🙂
Leif is keeping me on my toes, too. He finds all kinds of stuff to keep himself busy while I’m occupied with Kaia… like boxes full of shredded paper:
Even with his hands in the box, he can still give you a great “Who Me??? What did I do??” look!
While we aren’t busy doing fun learny-type stuff, I’ve begun planning this years garden. My cucumber, peas, greens, and beans did fabulous last year, but the squashes (winter, summer, and pumpkins) got hit hard by borers, and the tomatoes and melons just crapped out. So, I’m going to fill each bed with a good helping of chicken poop compost to see if that helps the soil. I’m also rotating what goes into each bed so that the heavy feeders aren’t draining the soil in the same place. I think the only thing I’m going to drop from my list is melons. I’ve never had good luck with them… you can’t can them up and save them for the winter, and for the space they take, you get so little return. I’ll just buy them at the markets when they are in season and use that space for other goodies. I’ve never had luck with Eggplant either, but it’s supposed to be so easy to grow. I think I’m going to try the good-old standard eggplant this year instead of trying to grow the skinny kinds.  How do you grow your eggplant?
This week was the first official full week of Kaia and I homeschooling and we had a great time. Along with the standard weekly math, spelling/language, and stuff, we’ve begun studying prehistoric times (Thanks to Sarah for the curriculum!). We started by doing our own little recreation of the Big Bang. Kaia stuffed a balloon with all the confetti and glitter that she could.
Then I blew the balloon up and attached it to a post. I also tied a bamboo skewer to the end of a broom for her to pop the balloon with (I thought it would be better if we were farther away from the balloon so that all the stuffing could burst out without us in the way, and spread across the snow like a new solar system.)  We were both in hysterics watching her trying to lance the balloon as it bounced this way and that. When she finally got it, we were both surprised and screamed! Then, all the stuffing fell like a lead weight straight down. A few stray confetti flew off with the wind. Kaia said, “Well, that wasn’t really a Big Bang, was it?” It was hysterical!
Later in the week, Kaia tried hopscotch on her prehistoric timeline. She had a blast, especially when the giant Leifasaurus tried to grab her as she hopped by.
And occasionally the Leifasaurus would plant his cute patoot in the middle of the time line and refuse to move!
Chasing and attacking the time traveler can be such fun!
But, he decided to let Kaia finish her exploration of the prehistoric time periods while he watched from his sweet wooden swing. Leifasauruses need to play, too, you know!
Kaia and I crafted felt doughnuts, stuffed with polyfill and catnip, for some of our favorite feline friends! There are all different icing and sprinkle types, for your cat’s specific tastes. We gave the first one, a raspberry icing with chocolate sprinkles, to our cats as an early gift. As you can see, they are definite doughnut fans!
“It’s MINE! All MINE!!”
The Standoff!
The Smackdown!
The victor (note: Max, the tabby is at least 12 pounds… Isabella barely tips the scales at 6 pounds!)
“It’s still mine and you can’t have it back!”
“Oh NO!! Look out for the Giant Doughnut Stealer!!”
What’s your favorite flavor??
We have had such a wonderful last few days. Being snowed in has been a great adventure for all of us. The power was out for 24 hours, but we enjoyed the peace it brought and we kept ourselves fully entertained! There was tent building:
There was lots of snow play (sledding, snow men, snow ball fights)!
We’ve perfected our snow cream recipe and began experimenting with flavors!!
Snow Cream – basic recipe:
Mix well, and then add enough fresh snow to thicken like ice cream. Then enjoy!
Variations:
Mint-Chocolate Snow Cream:
To the above add:Â 2 Tbsp cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp. mint extract
Eggnog Snow Cream:
To the basic recipe add:Â 1 tsp. nutmeg and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
We all enjoyed opening our gifts this morning! I’m happy to say that Kaia considered her new skirt her best gift! (Take that Santa!) She’s worn it all day and we had to order her to take it off before she went to bed. When she loves something, she can wear it until it’s worn out very fast!
Toby’s gloves fit him perfectly and Leif likes his new stuffed, felt toys:
Leif also seems to like his new mittens (I’ll post the pattern soon. It’s really simple!)
I knitted myself a new hat:
And Toby made me a oriental style shelf/unit to put above my computer!! (pictures to come once it’s installed)
This evening, we ended with a lovely meal and a yule log bread (smothered and stuffed with chocolate!)
Have a beautiful winter!!! Hurray for the return of longer days!!
Well, it looks like we will be hanging out on our land for a few days, possibly weeks :-) We are getting more snow that I’ve seen in 16 years! It’s a beautiful winter wonderland here, and Kaia is having the time of her life! She’s been in and out all day, coming in just long enough to let her clothes dry by the fire and then she’s back outside.
I’ve been fighting a cold, along with a nasty fever, so I stayed by the fire and knit all day! I’m working on Leif’s first pair of mittens. It brought back wonderful memories of my great-aunt Pearl. She lived in NH, and though my sister and I grew up in Miami, great-aunt Pearl knit us a new pair of mittens every year. We always looked forward to them! Maybe I’ll carry on that tradition and knit a new pair of mittens and a hat for Kaia and Leif each year!
While I was knitting, Leif was kind enough to entertain himself with a ball of yarn and the phone (if we prank called you today, sorry!)
I took him outside for a bit, but he really wasn’t sure what to make of it all…
My garden is in there somewhere…
Measuring the snow… So far we have 13 inches!
Yes, that is our lawn chair they are sitting in!
We just happened to go to the library earlier this week and got lots of books about snow and winter. One we picked up was absolutely perfect for a day like today.
Houndsley and Catina is a lovely book about the quiet and peace two friends find in the first snow of winter.
Sleep tight!
We’ve had the crafting spirit in our home lately! This weekend Kaia and I made some santa ornaments after seeing them at Write-It-Down. We just happened to have everything we needed and couldn’t resist the cute little guys.
Then we had a few friends over for more crafting. We made beeswax ornaments with beeswax from a local beekeeper! I got 5 pounds of it!! Mmmmm, the kitchen smelled yummy!
I had some lollipop molds, so I used a dab of play dough to block where the stick would go so that the beeswax didn’t flow into that part of the mold. I also put some sparkles in the bottom of the molds. (You could put some on top too, right after pouring the beeswax in, if you want sparkles on both sides.)
When the beeswax was cooling, but still soft, I poked holes for the ribbons.
Then there were the glittered pine cones:
And the pipe cleaner trees (Kaia’s is looking a bit like Charlie Brown’s tree… she said she will be putting more ornaments on later 🙂
And once our friends went home, and Leif finally fell asleep, Kaia and I just kept going and made Cinnamon-Applesauce ornaments with the recipe that we found over at 5OrangePotatoes. I love these!! I will definitely be doing them again!! And the cool thing is that you can use any cookie cutters you want and hang them around your house all year long!! They don’t have to be holiday ornaments.
We used some of the dough that was left over and made them into beads!! Just roll them into a little ball and poke a tooth pick through it for the hole.
We stamped a sweet little fairy print into most of the ornaments.
The house smells delicious!!
There is a fantastic giveaway going on over at GardenMama today for a set of hand knit gnomes from Natural Earth Farm that are just adorable! A lot of time and love went into these sweet toys, so definitely go check them out!!
OK, I’ve been hearing about this board game for a while now and, I have to admit, I have been very resistant to it! I’m not totally sure why, but I think it has to do with the feeling that if I’m a good herbalist, I shouldn’t need the aid of a board game to be able to teach my kids about herbs. (I know, that is stupid… if it’s fun, who cares, right.) Still, when the game went on sale (1/2 off!) last week, I decided to give it a try. I really didn’t think Kaia was going to go for it. It doesn’t have anything to do with mermaids, castles, or the like. But, when the mail was delivered and Kaia saw the game, she flipped out! She was so excited to play, that we had to schedule an emergency “family play night” that night! 🙂
So, did I like it? I have to say, I am thoroughly impressed! It was SO flippin’ cute and fun! Kaia loved it and for once wasn’t all competitive about who won! (No one wins, it’s all about cooperation.) We all liked the story that went along with it… collecting herbs to help with our ailments…. picking huckleberries…. It is just fun! I even learned some new herbs!
Here’s how the story starts:
Grandma needs huckleberries to bake a pie. You and your cousins embark on an adventure up the mountain to collect berries as well as herbs she uses.
Will you all harvest the right plants to help with the trouble you run into along the way?
Will you make it back before nightfall?
The only way to win is by helping each other out.
Wildcraft! teaches you 25 important edible and medicinal plants and their uses in mostly first aid situations. (Wildcrafting is the harvesting of wild plants)
It also teaches team work, for you will rely on each other’s knowledge of plants and good fortune to make it to the Huckleberry Patch and safely back to Grandma’s.
You should definitely check it out! You may still be able to win a free one here. I don’t know if the contest ended yesterday or if it’s still going…
I always love seeing kite paper stars in the windows. They are so bright and happy. They fancy-up any house! With the winter coming on and it being a gray, gloomy day, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to make some of these!  A Toy Garden and Nova Natural Toys have nice selections and good prices on the kite paper, and there are some nice tutorials on folding the stars at Arwen Art and Duo Fiberworks. Kaia and I enjoyed this calm, concentration time as we folded our stars.
Creating our holiday cards…
“I am totally the cutest baby ever! No one can compare! Even with a dog bowl on my head, I’m cute!”
“WHAT DID YOU SAY? You said I’m NOT the CUTEST BABY EVER??!!”
“Get down here and say it to my face!”
“WAIT! I didn’t mean it! Let me out of here! Hey… Hey you… I promise I’ll be good! Just let me out!”
Here it is! Kaia’s Flower Fairy/Pearly Mermaid/ Blingy Princess skirt! It is a holiday gift for her and I can’t wait to give it to her!
I’ve published the pattern, for free (yay!) in the links at the top of my blog! Enjoy!!
Kaia has just started getting into reading. She’s really not had much of an interest until I started introducing fun games and stories. I found this game through Pink and Green Mama (the original game is at The Snail’s Trail). It has everything my daughter loves… rainbows, paint chips, secret peak through windows, funny make up words…. So, I ran out to the local paint store to snatch up some chips. I felt so devious! Kaia loves it. She shows it to everyone who comes over.
Sometimes, I’ll hold all of the cards and say “Pick a card, any card!” and she loves it. It’s like a magic trick.
Leif really enjoys the game too!
Sorry it’s so blurry…
I love seeing these word cards spread out all over the floor!
What a fantastic gift this would make for a new reader!
Kaia and I took a little detour from our scheduled homeschooling (detours are fun!) to study a little about comets and meteors. The Leonid Meteor Shower is at it’s peak Tuesday and Wed. (I wrote a little about it at Homemakers Who Work), and we plan to set up a cozy spot outside tonight (well, more like early, early tomorrow morning) to watch the show!
Talking about comets and meteors brought up that “what if…” question that seems to pass through every kids head when they are learning about this stuff… “What if a meteor gets through the earth’s atmosphere and hits us???!!!”
We found some great pictures of craters online…
Here is a nice picture of a crater made by a meteor that struck the earth.
And there are some great pictures of the moon’s craters on This site.
And we also did a little experiment to make our own craters….
Comet Kaia zoomed past our bowl filled with flour and cocoa powder (Planet Yum).
On her way past the planet, she dropped a little meteor rocks (marbles) into the planet’s atmosphere. Down went the meteor rocks!
It landed with a nice puff of ‘planet dust’ (it actually puffed out all over the floor). And craters were created.
Next time, I want to get a bunch of flour and put it outside so we can really throw rocks into the pile and make big craters and large puffs of earth! (Am I showing my destructive side?)
Kaia absolutely loves to color! I think she spent most of her kindergarten year drawing rainbows! So, when I’m planning out our day, I try to make sure that she has time for coloring, and it’s even better if some of her actual ‘work’ (math, language…) has drawing required! Then she’s really happy.
Frequently, though, she just wants me to print out fairies or mermaids for her. So, you know I was ecstatic when I found this site. Phee McFaddell has page after page of amazing line drawings of magical creatures, puppets to create, stories, and other craft projects!!!
Her skin isn't yellow! It's GOLDEN!!
I’ve found so many wonderful resources for homeschooling on the internet! I have a huge file of bookmarked pages… Give me a little time and I’ll make a page for you all to access with all the resources. (There. I’ve said it… now I have to do it!!)
Tracing the image with a charcoal pencil
Pressing the image onto the rubber block
retracing the image with ink, in case the charcoal smears
Cutting out the image
The final stamp.... isn't she cute!
Some of our other creations
I have great memories of my elementary school art class. The room was dark and and crowded, but our teacher always had the greatest projects for us. One of my favorites was linoleum print making. You trace a picture onto a linoleum block, carve it out, roll paint onto it and press it onto paper, or a t-shirt…. I loved the detailed process and the “cooooool” moment when you get to see the final picture.
Stamp making is almost the exact same process. I’d not done it in a long, long time, but I was inspired when I visited winemakerssister’s fantastic etsy store and fell in love with her stamps!! I totally stole some of her ideas! But, I’m going to have to go back for this mug! (Hahah!! All you knitters out there get it!)
Kaia loves stamp making, too. Today she carved me an adorable flower!
I see some stamped holiday cards in the near future!!
We’ve been having so much fun homeschooling. Yes, there are those moments where I want to shut her in her room and turn the music up real loud to drown out the drama. But, I guarantee we would be having those moments if she were in school full time too. In just a few weeks, Kaia and I seem to have changed our relationship somehow. She is being more respectful, she is helping out around the house… I’m sure it is partly due to the fact that I am spending more time with her, focused on her.
Kaia wanted to have a ritual to start our school day. She likes the idea of lighting a candle, singing a song, and ringing a bell. So, Kaia gathered some fall leaves, got out the mod podge and made an adorable fall candle (a la 5 orange potatoes). She wants to make a new candle for each season. I like that idea!
It’s not the best picture, but the leaves on the bottom are red maple and there is golden ginkgo on the top! We melted our own wax and colored it red, another reason why it’s not so easy to see the leaves.
And what could be better than working in pile of blankets, in pajamas, at 9 pm at night, because you want to!?!
Leif likes to join us and tends to keep himself occupied very well. One of his favorite things to do is to hold onto a cloth and move it up and down in front of his face as fast as he can. He wears himself out completely and makes himself laugh! What could be better?
We’ve been talking for the past few evenings and Toby and I have decided that we are definitely going to homeschool Kaia next Jan. I did a general outline of topics today and it got Toby really excited too.
From Jan. through May (at least) I would like to touch on (formally or informally):
-Continue with Singapore math (along with manipulatives and other math games/logic puzzles)
-Continue with Sonlight Language Arts and Explode the Code, adding in as many word games and reading as possible (she’s not a fan of copy work and some of the readers that go along with this curriculum. We may add in some Starfall since she likes playing the games.) And Handwriting Without Tears.
-All the holidays that fall in those months and discuss the religions and customs of those holidays (This also includes days like Martin Luther King day, president’s day, etc…)
-Science – the scientific method and observation, how magnets work, cardinal points, states of matter, reading (and creating) a map, weather, seasons, air/water, fire/temperature, plant and animal habitat, waves/currents/ocean habitats (this will necessitate a trip to the Charleston aquarium!), sun/moon/stars/planets (and a field trip to the Morehead Planitarium), basic machines (pulleys, levers)
-History-Â Pre-history (the formation of the earth, first life, first mammals, first peoples, dinosaurs (and the creatures before the dinos)… maybe this will necessitate a trip to the Smithsonian Museums???!!)Â We may get the “cartoon History of the Universe” series to read through with this, too.
-Arts and music – I’ve asked Kaia to chose an instrument that she would like to learn and she may start lessons. We will also incorporate art into daily activities since she loves to color and draw.
-Foreign language- I plan to sign her up for a Mandarin Chinese class that is supposed to be happening in Jan. (She LOVES anything China)
-I hope she will participate in all my garden planning and planting along with learning how plants grow, what they need to survive, and the plant parts
-Then there’s always cooking, knitting, daily/weekly chores, strawberry picking, play dates, park days…..
And as far as socializing, there are home school co-ops, home school sports leagues, library groups, LEGO clubs, Odyssey of the Mind Clubs, and so much more for her to interact with other peers.
I’m sure things will change as we flow through this, but at least we have a place to start and we’ll see how things go from there. I’m excited!!
Right now, Kaia is in school 3 days a week and home schooled two. Though there are definitely those hair pulling times, we are really enjoying ourselves and looking forward to all the things we can do together. So, we are actually thinking of home schooling full time. It’s something we had thought about doing when she was first born, but house building, jobs, life happened and she ended up in a private school. But, this past summer, when she was out of school, our days flowed so nicely! We enjoyed each others company, doing projects together, reading together…
Right now, I’m kind of following the private schools curriculum and we cover similar things on her ‘home’ days. I’m curious, though, how you home schoolers out there plan out your curriculum? Do you take some time before the ‘school year’ starts and plan what you will go over for the year?? Do you sit down on Sunday night and plan out the week ahead? I like to plan things, even if the week doesn’t go as planned, so I’d love to hear how you make your lesson plans for your kids? If you write about it on your blog, please let me know!!
That’s the only way I can describe the way I felt this weekend at my first fiber festival, the Southeastern Animal and Fiber Festival It was sensory overload as I walked through the huge arena full of rainbows of yarn, roving, fleece, and knitted garments. I had to touch everything and heard others moan and groan just like I did as I rubbed the fiber on my face.I wish I could have spent all day there!! I went Friday morning and took a quick look around at all the vendors. Then, I took Kaia back with me on Sat. eve and we got to see a spinning and a weaving demo, visit with the angora bunnies, pet sheep and goats, and watch the llama games! I will definitely be going back next year!
Llama Limbo!
Beautiful Animals!
Sweetest little sheepy ever!
I’m writing over at Homemakers Who Work today! Stop by and see me there! You’ll find out what makes a sweet boy smile…
