Lagniappe Academy

Super Bowl (learning) Celebration!

2012-02-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

There were problems with Tuesday's post, How I Spend a Homeschool Week Off, not posting properly. It should all be worked out and groovy now. Sorry for any confusion. Now for today's post . . .

We are a football family. No doubt about that. But, let's face it, an entire day of pregame smack talk followed by a 3-4 hour game can get a little boring for the kiddos. Even mine. So I like to involve them in the day, let them help plan things, and keep it fun. Oh yeah, and educational. Of course.

Map it Out - We have maps that we fill in throughout the season to learn where all the teams and divisions are located, but you can just help the kids find where both teams' home states or stadiums are located. We've already played and mapped NY this year, so I'll take the opportunity to teach my oldest which states are considered part of New England (cross your fingers, I never remember them all).

Mascots - No zoology lesson this year, but it brings up the opportunity to talk about what a patriot is. For the Giants, how about Jack and the Beanstalk for the younger crowd? Patriot fans can title it Tom the Giant Killer. :)

Colors - Preschoolers can learn the team colors, and older kids will just have fun dressing up in their favorite team's colors and decorating the house. You could even practice patterns by making a paper bunting to hang in the living room.

History - Read up on the history of the Super Bowl and past games, or have your kids create trivia questions to quiz the grownups before the big game.

Math - Please your budding statisticians by asking them to help you keep track of how many yards your favorite running back accumulates, what percentage of passes your team's quarterback completes, or make a graph charting how many car, junk food, or other types of commercials are shown.

Food - Everyone needs a good party planner! Learn a little about each team's food culture while you snack! We're serving New England clam chowder, NY style cheesecake, and Sam Adams (for the grown-ups, and yes, mommy will have a tummy ache for two days after one gluten-filled beer). We'll have more traditional football snack-types foods that evening during the game. If you have older kids, they can easily help you research foods from each area, plan a menu and shopping list, and even younger kids can help prepare the feast!

Most of all, have fun and remember to include young fans in the day. Also, wish us luck. We might have a house divided, since I'm not certain how strong my Long Island husband's loyalties are anymore. :)

Happy Super Bowl!!!!

How I Spend A Homeschool Week Off

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

We're taking this week off. I know we took two weeks off for Christmas not long ago, but I didn't get much of anything done during that break. I really needed to plan out the rest of our year, so I decided to do four weeks in January, then take a week off to plan the rest of our second semester.

Shhhhhh . . . . I did most of that planning last week.

So, why am I still taking off this week?

Because I want to.

And because I can.

So there.

Plus, we're switching gears in math (moving on to geometry), so this is a nice way time to give Ella a brain break. But a week off doesn't mean a week of doing nothing. No, not at Maison du Lagniappe! Here's what we're cooking up this week:

Reestablishing a daily rhythm. I did not re-enter the world well after our last break. Today we're focusing on our "heart" rhythm, and tomorrow we'll get the "hands" in order. Our needs have changed, and our routines must change accordingly. I'll post more on this later when we make a little more sense out of it all.

Reading. We didn't get to all of our books about explorers last week, so Ella and I will finish up those. She's also going to finish The BFG.

Administrative stuff: filing school papers, requesting library books for next week (Ella has requested info about the Titanic for next month), writing up weekly checklists for her (she's wanting more independent work lately), and thinking about next year (yes, already; my mind just wants to go there)

Clearing out the playroom. Yuck. Always decluttering in there.

Gardening. I cleared all the leaves from our beds yesterday and moved around things that weren't doing well in certain spots (they weren't kidding, cabbage does not like lettuce). I thinned out some of the plants, planted another round of lettuce, carrots, radishes, and (for the first time) a few beets. Later this week we'll start our tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings in the new mini-greenhouse.

lettuce, strawberry, and herb bed

Yes, those are flowers on the strawberry plants.

No strawberries yet, though.

winter veggies, cilantro, green onions, and snap peas

Those were "cheater" cabbages, bought from seedlings.

None of the winter veggies I planted from seed have done well.

The swiss chard did ok, once I saved them from the slugs.

We have a few things coming up this weekend to prepare for as well. Basically, a week off is hardly that! But it is a nice way to catch up and regroup . . . sort of recharging our batteries for next month!

A Wee Bit of Food Growing

2012-01-28T13:04:00.000-08:00

After seeing someone on Pinterest grow onions in a jar, I figured it was worth a shot. Easiest gardening ever, right? So I put the bottom ends of some store-bought green onions into a glass, filled it with water, and waited. Let me tell you, I didn't have to wait long!

These suckers grow FAST!!!

I've replanted green onions in my garden before, but they usually look pretty anemic.

Probably because I

*ahem*

don't water them enough.

These puppies are ridiculously low maintenance, and they keep coming back!

But . . .

WARNING:

If you have allergy issues (like I do) this method could present a problem.

Plus, the water smells foul.

I change it regularly, and it still smells bad.

I will probably transfer them to a window pot with soil and just overwater them.

Other than that, I have no winter veggies to show.

Mostly because we have had very little in the way of winter down here.

But I do have lots of lettuce.

And gigantic radishes.

I think they're even bigger than last year's!

That's all for garden show and tell today.

I can't believe I'm already buying seeds and planning this spring/summer's garden.

Time, it's a-flyin'!

Happy Lunar New Year!

2012-01-23T13:23:00.000-08:00

Celebrate the Lunar or Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon with us:

photo by William Murphy

Read about dragons, write stories about them, or practice drawing them.

Sweep away all of last year's bad luck! Ok, so I didn't have time to clean my whole house today, but I made sure to dust, sweep, and shake all my mats outside. Bye-bye last year's dirt and dust!

Write happy poems to welcome spring (although we seem to have skipped winter, here in Louisiana). Decorate the house with red papers decorated with poems and the Chinese characters for spring or good luck.

Eat dumplings for good luck. (We skipped this one this year. But I ate my cabbage and black eyes on January first like a good Southern girl. Tonight I'm cooking a vegetable soup, a red one . . . red is for good luck also!)

Try to guess the Chinese zodiac sign for each family member, then read up on your signs. The kids thought it was very funny that mommy is a snake, considering my well-known fear of them.

No time today? That's ok. Some Chinese New Year celebrations last up to fifteen days, so take the whole week to celebrate!

Happy New Year!!!

P.E. Plans

2012-01-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

We finally gave in and let Ella quit taekwondo. She hasn't been into it for a while, but we wanted to make sure it wasn't just a passing phase. And maybe it still is, but she's welcome to rejoin any time. For now, she's had enough. Two years is pretty good, as far as I'm concerned. And our little one will take her place and start going to Tiny Tigers classes next week. Oh my gosh, you've never seen a little girl so excited! Anyway, that left a gap in our physical activity plans.

I never really had to plan for p.e., because I figured between park days and taekwondo and lots of time running around outside at home, we didn't need to worry about it. We want to enroll her in swimming lessons in a few months, but that doesn't help us at the moment. I got them Just Dance Kids for the Wii last summer, and that's great . . . except Ella doesn't like it anymore. (Noticing a trend with Ella not liking things lately?) At least she doesn't like it enough to do it on a regular basis. So, what to do?

Luckily, I found and printed some p.e. activity cards (you can find them here), and so far it looks like we have a good plan. For now, Ella gets to choose one or two cards each day to complete, and later we'll do some sort of random drawing so she doesn't pick the same activities over and over. Maybe we'll do something more formal when they're older, but for now this feels like a good fit.

Embracing the E-Reader

2012-01-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

I said I would never own one.
So, you know what that means, right?
I am now the proud owner of a Nook. :)

Of course, I sill like reading a real book and physically running my hand along all those spines at the library . . . nothing will ever change that. But it is nice to have something I can hold (and turn pages) with one hand (sure would have been handy back when I was nursing babies!). For a while, it was a super expensive crossword machine. Now that I'm a little more comfortable with it, I'm realizing some of the unexpected benefits for homeschooling. I can keep all of my homeschooling books (including all of those downloaded .pdf files and e-books I never find time to read at the computer) in one place, and I can bookmark pages, write notes, and highlight passages for quick reference. But I kind of knew those things already.

Last week, I realized I'd need to order the Jataka Tales, since my library doesn't have a copy. After a quick check on the Nook, I realized I could download an old edition for free. Since these are stories I want to tell to the girls and I don't need a copy with pictures, this works out perfectly! Another quick search led me to Aesop's fables and a few classic works of literature that I might like to use for read alouds . . . all for free. Plus, I can borrow e-books from my library for two weeks at a time. The selection is pretty limited, but it's a nice option to have.

I think my first non-free purchase will be Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit. I've been itching to get in some regular, creative, just-for-mama time, so I'm excited to dive into this book. But maybe next week. I'm having some serious caffeine withdrawal this week. Blame it on the weather and sinus issues or this detox/cleanse/elimination diet I started today. Either way, my head hurts, and the only creative thought I have is oooowwwwwww.

If you have an e-reader, I'd love to hear your favorite unexpected perk or favorite homeschooling benefit.

2012 Dreaming

2012-01-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

I just might be the last person on the planet (or at least this country) to set goals for the new year. Normally I'm on top of this. I love January like I love Mondays. No joke. I love the fresh slate, the freedom, the opportunity. But this year, I actually considered a year without (yikes!) goals. Well, I can't exactly manage that, but I can't think of my word either. You see, I like to come up with a word for the year. Last year, my word was CHOOSE. Here's a snippet of how I wanted to use the word:

Choose happiness.
Choose peace and simplicity.
Choose to laugh at myself and my mistakes.
Choose a passion. (Because being passionate about everything is exhausting. Focus on one thing at a time. Make a choice: What do you want to do today? Also, see #5.)
Choose to be present. Always.

It worked out pretty well for me. I made a lot of choices, let things go, added some new elements to my life, and embraced simplicity.

Now, I'm stuck.

I have no word. No focus.

And, for once, I think that's ok.
That doesn't mean I don't have desires . . . dreams . . .

I want to take more camping trips with my family.
I want to read more fiction.
I want to have more fun with our homeschooling.
I want to embrace new creative activities - painting, knitting, & drawing.
I want to sew and craft more things for myself and my home, not just gifts for others.
I want to raise chickens and expand our garden.
I want to make a habit of writing poetry and journaling.

Basically, I want a balance of grounding and dreaming. In the past, I've been involved in creative pursuits that led me to live too much in my head. I wasn't grounded, and I was always looking for an escape. I've spent the past year correcting that, and I feel so much better. I focused on spending time with my family, teaching my children, growing food (nothing grounds you like digging in the dirt!), and making our lives simple yet full. This year, I want more of that, but I also want to bring back my other passions. Slowly. Hopefully I can achieve some sort of balance this time.

No word this year.

Just dreams.

Adding Art to Your Weekly Rhythm

2012-01-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

One week down. Phew! How many more to go?

Just kidding. This week went pretty well as our first transition week of the second semester. It's a good thing I planned a light first couple of weeks, because this week was derailed by all things birthday. No worries, though. We did enough review and form drawing and reading to count for "official" school days, and we got through our first week with zero school-related tears. Mark that in the win column.

What we didn't do was art. I'm bummed about it, but, like I said, birthday derailment. And that's ok. But generally, if something has to get shoved off the schedule, I don't like for it to be art. Or at least not all of our art plans. We now have weekly afternoon sessions for painting, drawing, and modeling (play dough for the little one, and beeswax for the older one). I can't say that we still paint every week, but if we do at least one of those activities every week (and I mean an official drawing session, not just "Hey mom, look at the Luke Skywalker I drew eating sushi," which happens regularly anyway), then I consider that a successful week. And usually, we manage to get in two afternoons of art each week, which I'm pretty happy about. Now I'm itching to get back into our art rhythms. I never thought I'd say that, but it's so true.

If you want to read about how we schedule our weekly art sessions and maybe pick up a few ways to include more art activities in the second half of your school year, you can read my post at The Homeschool Classroom:
Start the New Year with a Weekly Art Session

*** Complete side note - One of these days, I WILL change that fall header. Holiday derailment became birthday derailment. Eh, what can I say? I still have two more months of winter to get it right . . . right?

Pink and 4

2012-01-04T16:44:00.001-08:00

So, my baby girl is 4 today.

And she is definitely all about pink.

Pink twirly skirts, and pink legos, and a pink Leapster.

Pink, pink, pink, pink.

Have I ever mentioned how this was so not me? How the pink aisle at the toy store has always made me want to puke? How my oldest is more into bugs and dirt and icky stuff and nothing girly at all (although she is quite fond of the color pink now, although only as it applies to her clothing and only if it deliberately does not match anything else she's wearing)?

A friend recently shared a link to this article about gender-free toys. A few short years ago I would have had a completely different opinion about the subject, and I probably would have had a few negative things to say about the evils of marketing and gender-typing. Not that I don't still have a few of those same complaints, but, you see, that shining face up there in all the pink has taught me a lesson or two. She has been exposed to far less media than my first child (and probably less than I was exposed to as a child) and we certainly did our best to offer her the same gender-neutral (and sometimes decidedly "boy" toys) that belonged to my oldest, yet she still came up with this strong affinity for all things pink. I mean, the color pink made the top of her list of things she was thankful for in November.

Not that I have a problem with it. I mean, how could I have a problem with that happy face? It's just one more lesson she's here to teach me. She's her own little person with her own little wishes and desires and opinions. And that's that.

Easing Back Into Homeschooling with a Head-Heart-Hands Rhythm

2011-12-29T11:45:00.000-08:00

At first, the thought of starting school again next week terrified me. I feel like I'm finally catching up and getting a break (although we do still have a birthday next week to plan for), and I don't feel like I've had any time to regroup and plan for our second half of the school year. I considered taking an extra week off to do this, but the kids get restless if we take long breaks. Instead, I'm going to treat January the same way I treat August, as a month of transition. We're going to start slowly, and build as we go.

First, we're focusing on form drawing for the first two weeks. Ella and I both love that, and we can get start on some of the new forms that deal with symmetry.

Second, We're easing back into math. Slowly. Earlier this month we gave Life of Fred (Apples) a shot, and it was a BIG hit. Continuing with that and relearning those 11+ fact families that never quite stuck. That should help us with that pesky subtraction block. Multiplication is going well (just the 7-9 tables left to learn), so we'll just review 1-6 for now and maybe add the 9's.

Most importantly, we're reestablishing our rhythms. Particularly, we'll be focusing on what Waldorf educators call head, heart, hands. It's a method of teaching the whole child (head, heart, and hands) at different points throughout the day. I find it's far too easy to finish with the head part of our schooling and kind of zone out for the rest of the day, but those heart and hands activities are so, so important. I'm going to make it a point to really build some good habits and hit all three parts each and every day. If you want to read more about head-heart-hands scheduling and what we're trying to fit in different portions of our days, you can read my post over at The Homeschool Classroom.

Head, Heart, Hands: Daily Rhythms and Educating the Whole Child

Of course, we read a lot, and maybe doing a little spelling (because it's easy and rhythmical, and no one complains about it), but everything else can wait. Baby Steps.

What's your plan for January? Do you like to take things slow, or do you prefer to jump back in with both feet?

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Winter Solstice! (activity ideas & links)

2011-12-21T12:01:00.000-08:00

*** Ok, so I scheduled this post for the 22nd, got confused, posted on the 21st by accident, then, after researching, found out that this year's solstice occurs at 12:30 am on the 22nd. Hmmm . . . I'm not sure what to do with that. Anyway, we're enjoying the gorgeous weather today, staying up late with candles and no tv tonight, then tomorrow when it's rainy and gross out we'll do the quiet indoor stuff. Works for me. :)

I loooove celebrating winter solstice. It's the eye of the hurricane. I finish shopping and planning and running around like a crazy person, and in the middle of a week filled with baking and sewing and last minute preparations, I'm guaranteed a day of quiet serenity. No tv or electronics (for the record, I'm scheduling this post ahead of time . . . no cheating here). We spend lots of time playing outside (weather permitting, but rain gear is certainly donned if it isn't too cold and wet), smelling and taste-testing soup simmering on the stove, playing board and card games, reading, and making crafts together.

Ahhh . . . I love it.

Last year we made paper stars, but this year we have a few new activities:

playing with our winter scented play dough - pink peppermint, green pine, white sugar cookie with gitter, and brown gingerbread

(pinterest inspiration)

cutting more snow flakes to hang (pinterest magazine snowflakes)

hanging twig stars outside (extras from a co-op service project)

(pinterest inspiration)

feeding the birds with feeders made from this fall's leftover munchkin pumpkins (pinterest inspiration)

Today, we're breathing in. Filling our cups. Tomorrow I'll finish baking and sewing. Tomorrow there will be more daylight to burn.

Happy Solstice!

May you find or carve out your own moment of peace this week.

Rhythm Update

2011-12-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

That's right. I'm talking rhythm again. Today, I'm over at The Homeschool Classroom giving an update on my search for a little rhythm in our homeschooling. I discuss how I looked beyond daily and weekly routines to include a little monthly and seasonal regularity as well. Of course, I haven't perfected our rhythm, and it will continuously change as we change and grow, but I'm feeling more comfortable with the concept. Read the article here . . .

December

2011-12-07T11:31:00.001-08:00

December.

It's an exercise in letting go.

And redefining learning.

In addition to creating winter crafts and learning new Christmas songs in French and on the piano, I'm trying to let go and include more fun in our month.

Sure, we're doing some math review, but we're also making puzzles during football games,

and learning some new moves with Wii Just Dance Kids,

(love this game for cold, rainy days)

and making books with the new typewriter.

A fantastic garage sale find!

Seriously, she's been typing books and spelling words and anything else she can think of.

I highly recommend a typewriter if you can find a cheap, used one.

And, of course, we made time for watching Elf,

and drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows and sprinkles!

And laughter.

Lots and lots of laughter.

May your December be filled with chocolate and smiles as well.

DIY Preschool Number Cards

2011-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

A while back, I considered ordering some tactile, Montessori-style number cards for my three year old. Then, thanks to the awesomeness that is pinterest, I got the idea to make some instead. I first saw this tutorial, but I decided that was way too many tiny cuts into sandpaper. My fingers hurt just thinking about it. Plus, I didn't think my printer could handle the sandpaper, so that would be an extra step to trace the numbers on there first. Then I saw another tutorial, which gave me the fantastic idea to use glue and sand to make the cards. Brilliant, right? Even better, we needed to fill in some holes in the backyard, so I planned to use some of the extra sand from that project. Surprise. My husband came home with top soil. Um, I didn't think dirt number cards were the best idea. So there I was, ready to make my number cards with my green poster board, glue, and no sand. But . . . . I had glitter. Pink glitter.

The process is simple. Cut up a poster board or card stock into equal sized cards. Mine are about 7" wide and 5 1/2" tall, but you can make them any size you want. Squeeze some glue in the shape of the number (or letter) you want on the card. Leave some space on the side for your child to hold the card down while tracing.

Sprinkle some glitter (or sand, if you have that instead of top soil, colored sand would be fun also) over the glue to completely coat the number. Shake off the excess. Put a little green dot at the "start" of the number, and put a red dot at the "end" of the number. Add some arrows to help guide their little finger, allow time for the glue to completely dry, and voila! Tactile number cards. Sparkly tactile number cards. My kid loves them. Sure, a few pieces of glitter fall off now and then, but it's so worth cleaning up a few specks of sparkles to have her excited about something. I only made through five, but I guarantee I'll be making the rest of the numbers and later the lowercase and capital letters on different colored poster board.

Burnout & Shifting Gears: Making Peace with Math

2011-11-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

It's not uncommon for homeschoolers to feel burnout around this time of year. Classroom teachers feel it, too. There are so many extra activities to fit in, and the kids are exceptionally excited and anxious. But as homeschoolers, we have extra burdens, because we have to fit in all the other household holiday tasks while we're teaching and learning and trying to have fun in a month that should be joyous. Instead, I feel overwhelmed, and we aren't even in December yet.

I had a plan. (Isn't that how all homeschooling-gone-wrong stories begin?) Really, I did. We were going to take it easy and fill the month with crafts and games and review and fun. But after another month of Math Wars with my oldest, I knew I had to completely shift gears. I considered taking a month off of math, but that wasn't going to solve our problem. We've hit a subtraction wall, and we need to go back and work on those subtraction facts (mostly the above ten fact families) she didn't get the first time around. So, that's what we're doing. Unfortunately, she's so cranky about it, that I felt I needed something to get her excited about math. Enter Fred.

I ordered the first book (Apples) of the new Life of Fred elementary series. I was always hesitant to use these, because I didn't think it would work as a stand-alone curriculum, and I have math issues. I feel like I need something to tell me what to do in math every day. I'm slowly getting away from that mentality, but . . . baby steps. That said, my very verbal sciency girl LOVES this so far. She asks me to read an extra chapter every morning, she doesn't complain when it comes time to answer the questions at the end of each chapter, and she's learning so much more than just math. Even though the first book is way behind where she is, I'm glad we started there so she could start at the beginning of the story. Plus, there's lots for her to absorb besides the math facts in there anyway. I don't know how long we'll stick with them, or how we'll incorporate them later, but for now, some couch cuddle time with Fred is just the math therapy we needed.

In addition to Fred, we're also relearning those fact families. I ordered the Math Mammoth Add & Subtract 2A book. She hasn't complained once this week about doing any of the exercises. Seriously. I'm also rethinking doing the full curriculum next year, and maybe ordering the individual topic books as we need practice. Just . . . thinking . . .

Actually, I'm slowly warming to the idea that I can do math on my own, with the help of a few workbooks or worksheets just for those areas that do need drill. I'm not there yet, but I can potentially see us leaning in that direction. It's no coincidence that I've been reading Free Range Learning: How Homeschooling Changes Everything. I don't think I could ever completely be an unschooler, but I definitely welcome the inspiration. It's an excellent reminder to let go a little. And I think that's what December is all about.
Let go.
Trust.
Have fun.

And craft your butt off.
:)

Gratitude

2011-11-23T08:20:00.001-08:00

Our fall "tree" needed some sprucing up.

So we painted some watercolor paper with autumn colors,

then traced and cut out leaf shapes.

We took turns saying things we are grateful for.

Harper's list included the color pink and worksheets.

Ella's list included dragons, books, and imaginary friends.

A nice transformation, yes?

I am also grateful for clearance racks at Michael's.

I picked up a box of foam Thanksgiving craft puppets.

You know, the kind of kit I would never normally buy, but I simply can't pass up a 50-cent activity that keeps my girls happy and busy (and not fighting) while I work beside them in the kitchen.

Today, I am grateful that the stomach virus that hit our house was a mild version.

And I am grateful for holiday pajama school.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Recognizing Developmental Changes

2011-11-17T12:05:00.001-08:00

All year, I feel like I've struggled with my youngest. She's not happy with games and puzzles while I do lessons with her older sister, but she's not quite ready for "real" school work. I feel like I've been just trying to keep her busy all year while I focused more attention on my oldest.

Meanwhile, I've been reading Playful Learning. More accurately, I've been reading the first chapter for two months now. Then, last week, I read a little more. And while I was looking for projects to do with my oldest, I read a little about the beginning stages young readers and writers pass through. Then, I really started thinking.

Could this little one have passed into a new stage of development without my noticing? I'm with her all day, every day. How could I have missed these changes? My baby, who just yesterday picked up her first crayon, is now drawing pictures actual pictures, with people and objects and meanings. And the toddler who had little use for story time is now sitting with stacks of books and telling the stories as she sees them. She's growing up, despite my lack of intervention. I'm amazed how this works, just as it's supposed to work, and I can't wait to see what she figures out next.

It has, however, made me realize that I need to pay more attention to her needs. She's no longer a baby or toddler along for the ride. She's a growing kid, and I need to start incorporating her in our educational plans. For now, that means lots of the same - art, reading, play - but it also means more meaningful writing and math activities. I made some tactile number cards this week, and so far she adores them. I'm going to make more and take photos this weekend, so look for a post on those soon.

This week, we took a very big step. Harper got her very own library card. She is SO stinking proud. She now has her own library book bag, her own card, and her own space on the bookshelf for her library books. I think she feels a change, and I'm trying my best to honor that. Also . . . she's had fewer potty accidents lately. I'm not certain that's related, but I'm thinking it has to be, right?

Creative Discipline

2011-11-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

You know how you feel sometimes like you're just running into the same wall day after day? Yeah, I've been hanging out there lately. Stuck. So I decided to try something different last week. Ella was once again whining about not wanting to pick up anything. Instead of yelling or ranting about how I always get stuck picking up after everyone else, I gave her a little assignment. It hardly counts as an assignment, since she loves to write stories anyway. After she picked up her toys (grumbling and complaining the whole time, of course) and before I let her have computer time, I asked her to write a story with 11 lines (it was 11/11/11 . . . we'd already learned our 11 x's facts that day) about what would happen if no one picked up anything. I don't know if she got anything out of it, but I felt like I did something without resorting to yelling or getting angry. I'm trying. But it's haaaaaard. Anyway, here's Ella's story. Enjoy.

The World Where No One Picked Up
- by Ella Hulse

It was dirty, smelly, very, very,
very, very, very, very, very,
very messy. Everyone was
covered in toys, books,
games, work, bean bags,
baskets, tv's, computers, pianos,
violins, guitars, lamps, couches,
everything imaginable.
Imaginary wolves prowled
the streets and ice wolves
in the toys. That's what happened.

The end.

Camping and the Texas Renaissance Festival

2011-11-13T15:27:00.000-08:00

It feels like forever since I've posted. Since we went on our trip last weekend, it took several days to climb out from our dirty laundry and catch up around here. Then, near the end of this week, the little one had an accident. She's ok now, but let's just say I was one scared mama for a while. Since then I've been holding them both tightly and watching them smile and play and just be themselves. I'm still a little shaken, so all I'm up for sharing for now are happy thoughts and photos.

So. Last weekend.

Friday began with a wonderful pre-trip trip. A friend invited us to her parent's farm, where they took all of the kids on a little riding lesson.

So cute!!! Ella definitely has the horse bug now. (Shh . . . mama, too!) They both talked about the horses all the way to Texas.

Ah yes, Texas. Home of the Texas Renaissance Festival. Ken and I have always loved this festival, and this was the first year that we brought the girls to this one. I intentionally planned our school year so we'd finish our Medieval unit in October and start learning about the Renaissance and the printing press and DaVinci and all of that fun stuff just before our trip. It was fresh and alive in Ella's mind, and I was just as excited as she was to go on this trip.

This year, we decided to camp in the family camping site on the festival grounds. It was actually our first time tent camping. We had a blast! Actually, the camping was the easy part. The festival itself was exhausting. Fun, but exhausting.

The first night was cold. Like, 41 degrees cold.

Still, we learned that 41 degrees is completely do-able.

It made us feel capable. Like we could survive anything together.

And still wake up smiling.

We also played Uno.

And climbed trees.

Ella's favorite pastime.

I can't believe I don't have a picture of the tent itself, or anyone standing outside of it, or any typical camping-type photos. Probably because we didn't get back to it until after dark every night. And yes, we set up in the dark the first night. Again, completely do-able.

And what would a Roman Bacchanal be without hanging with Caesar???

It was awesome to see Ella understanding the skits and really getting into it all. Her favorite show was the birds of prey one. We got to sit in the front row, and even Harper paid close attention to everything they said.

This is Harper and I waiting for a nice swing ride. Don't be fooled by the smile. She had just finished The Fit to Beat All Fits, complete with throwing dirt at me and screaming that she hated me. I had to carry her off the stone path at one point so she wouldn't hurt herself, and I'm pretty sure everyone around us thought I was trying to kidnap her. All because her daddy went with Ella in some haunted house thing and they left her behind with me. It was awful. But the swing ride to follow was sweet.

We each pulled on a rope to make it swing, so we could go as high as we wanted. It was such a quiet, gentle break from the busy day. And the smiles were totally worth it.

Here are the girls posing by the arena:

I wish I had a picture of Ella in her dress without the cloak.

Harper, on the other hand, refused to wear a costume once we got there, even though she talked about it for weeks beforehand.

Harper was fascinated with throwing her cloak around her body like an evil villain.

Waiting for a joust!

The kids weren't really into most of the shows, but we did find one on our last day that was a HUGE success. It was an interactive class for children on the art of defense. Very cool.

There were tons of great activities, but I forgot to take pictures of most of them. There was a blacksmith, an armorer, weavers, spinners, broom makers, a printing press, and even a coin mint. I highly recommend a festival if you can find one near you. If you decide to go to THIS festival, and you decide to camp there, I have one warning for you: The Train. It passed eight times the first night, and the darn thing sounded like it was going to run right through our tent. Still, it was a fantastic trip, and the girls (and mom and dad) are asking when we can go camping again!

Personality

2011-11-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Don't you love when you get one picture* that captures the personalities of all the kids in it?

Yep.

These are my girls.

(Keep your fingers crossed. We'll be making our first camping trip soon. In a tent. With no running water. Yes, we're a special kind of crazy. Details coming soon.)

* Posting the pic again, since for some reason blogger ate it last week.

Fall in Louisiana

2011-10-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Fall. I love it. It's my favorite season. Well, when it's around. You see, fall down here is a bit of a tease. It might be forty degrees one morning, and eighty-four degrees two days later. It's frustrating. Wardrobe-wise, it's a freaking nightmare. I had to take the kids' warm clothes out of storage, but I can't put the summer stuff away yet, so their drawers are overflowing. And since the cool-but-warm weather sticks around forever and things actually start to bloom again, fall allergies are as evil as spring allergies.

BUT . . .

I will say that this is a nice place to have a garden.

Still growing strong! Those are the zinnias Harper is reaching for. They weren't kidding when they called them the "giant" variety. It actually looks a bit bare to me right now, because I finally gathered up the nerve to dig up all my basil. *sniff* sniff* Oh well, it wasn't going to grow much more anyway, and I was having to fight it from going to seed constantly anyway. I have plenty of pesto, so I dried some and froze some in ice trays for later. What's left in the garden? A zucchini plant that isn't doing much of anything. A TON of marigolds that self-seeded and went crazy a few weeks ago. A couple of bush bean plants that gave us . . . wait for it . . . four beans. Yeah, not worth it. I just planted some peas, and well see how they do in the fall. There was no point plating them earlier this year, because our spring is way too short. Oh, and this guy . . .

I bought this jalapeno pepper plant for a dollar on the clearance rack in July or August. I plopped it in my raised bed, got two peppers off of it, and it's making peppers again. Well worth it.

In the other bed my strawberry plants are still happy, and there's lots of lettuce and radishes coming up. Also, I see cilantro here and there from seeds I threw down in the spring as an older plant died off. There's also some swiss chard in there. Rainbow chard. :)

I have lots of seed babies, too. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and purple cauliflower (really excited about that one). Being able to grow veggies nearly all winter (probably all winter if I get that cold frame up), is definitely taking away some of the crankiness I feel about our schizophrenic fall.

Sketchtastic!

2011-10-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

This is pretty much how you'll find Ella on any given day. Exploring the backyard, sketch book in hand, bag for collecting treasures on her shoulder. We've been reading up on Leonardo da Vinci (part of our Renaissance studies) lately, and she's really digging him. I mean, what's not to love, right? But the girl's been channeling Leonardo for as long as I can remember, and it makes sense she would connect with him. Nature lover, scientist, artist . . . the guy was even a vegetarian. Yesterday we talked about sketching the things you discover in nature, and taking the time to get the drawings right (my choleric kid does have a tendency to just "get it done" most days), and she's really taking to it.

We'll be painting more, too, as we learn more about da Vinci. Good thing I hit our JoAnn store's moving sale when I did . . .

Cha-ching! I am so not a shelf-clearer, but for 75% off Strathmore, I make an exception. :)

Not to be outdone, my other explorer wanted to show me her find.

Yes, that's a clover flower. Fall here is a very confusing time. More on that another day.

Also, proof that we do still have a very old but still mostly mobile dog. A girl's best friend.

And now I have to run. I think I might pull out a sketchbook of my own today . . .

Laundry Detergent

2011-10-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

An unexpected perk of a new washer & dryer set . . . . laundry room schooling! Ella spent the day happily watching the clothes toss around while she finished her work for the day. Oh, happy day.

When we first got the new machines (Thankfully we ordered the set instead of just the replacement dryer, because moving the washer revealed a hidden leak. Yikes!), I wondered about my laundry detergent. I've been making my own detergent for over a year, and I LOVE it. So simple and cheap, and I get to add the essential oils I like to the mix. Love, love, love. But, I wondered about using it in a high efficiency washer. It turns out the homemade stuff should actually be better than the commercial detergent for the machine, because the homemade detergent is naturally low-sudsing.

You can find several laundry detergent recipes to try at Tipnut. I always preferred the liquid detergent, so I adjusted the recipes to make a smaller batch for myself, enough to fit into two large, recycled detergent bottles. I put a little lavender oil in it to keep it from getting funky and smell nice, and sometimes I add a little extra lavender for sheets, peppermint oil for pet bedding, and lemongrass oil for towels. Just my preferences (and the peppermint is a nice bug repellent).

Now I'm considering switching to powdered recipe #4 on that site. I have used it in the past (I keep a small batch of those ratios for traveling), and I think it would be so much easier to grate the soap, toss it in the food processor, then mix it with the washing soda, borax, and essential oils. In the past I had trouble with the powders dissolving properly, but I think the new washer will do a better job with that.

Anyone else love homemade laundry detergent as much as I do?

Form Drawing

2011-10-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

My dryer finally died. Boo! It's only been here since we bought the house ten yrs ago and then who knows how long before that. Guess I can't complain. I was just thinking about how I should just put up a clothes line and hang all of our clothes since it's sooo nice outside. And then the clouds rolled in, since we had our first chance of rain in two weeks on the day my dryer broke, and Harper wet six outfits by lunch time. Yeah, not a good plan for maintaining my sanity. Well, at least it broke during Columbus Day sales. Says the woman who laughs at Columbus Day each year and celebrates by watching Who Really Discovered America? Irony? I'll take it. Because it's not like we're gonna see The Real Early American Explorer sales any time soon, right?

Also, speaking of economics, we're in the process of refinancing our mortgage.
My head is all over the place.

If you want a more pulled-together post, check out my article for The Homeschool Classroom. I discuss form drawing and handwriting, and while I still feel like I have so much more to learn about form drawing, I suggest some some very simple, easy ways to try it out for yourself. It has quickly become our favorite addition to homeschooling. Ella always says it's her favorite "subject."

Form Drawing for Better Handwriting

Teaching Politics, Economics, and Active Citizenship

2011-10-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

If you've been following me for a while, you might have realized by now that I don't get political on this blog very often. If ever. I'm going to try to keep that streak going today. Key word: try.

With the collective anger and protesting going on recently, I've been trying to wrap my brain about how I feel about it all. On the one hand, I'm sympathetic. Yes, bad stuff has happened to good people who didn't do anything to deserve it. I understand the anger and the frustration and the desire to place blame.

On the other hand, I don't think we (as a nation; as this 99%), or at least most of us, have really taken responsibility for our part in the state of things. So, instead of grabbing poster boards and markers, I'm taking this opportunity to evaluate my part in this. To make choices. To educate my children. Of course, my kids are little, but there are still some very important lessons I can teach them. Mostly, I try to teach by example (as much as I can, I'm not perfect at this by any means), but if I were to sit down and give them a lecture, these are a few of the things I'd tell my children:

We ARE the 99%. Vote. Do not limit your vote to the two choices presented by the mainstream. Do not let me hear the words "throwaway vote" come out of your mouths.

Give as much (if not more) thought when voting for your local officials as for national positions. Those choices will most likely have a more direct impact on your life, and these are the people who will one day run for "bigger" offices. Get to know them now.

Vote with your dollar. Every dollar.

Become a producer, not just a consumer. Give something back to the world and your community, whether it be your time, ideas, art, or goods.

Support local. Grocers, banks, hardware, restaurants . . . everything you can find. The people who work at these places recognize us and talk to us like we're old friends. We get good deals, and we help keep our local economy strong.

Avoid all things processed and subsidized. Buy whole, organic foods whenever possible. Visit and tour local farms. Shake hands with and get to know your local farmers. Thank them every weekend for providing high-quality goods.

Think carefully before you sign your name on any document. It is not a bank's job to decide how much loan you can afford.

There are very few basic human rights. Despite what people may say, food and shelter are not among them. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's it. Don't let anyone take those away. Everything else you must work for.

Family. You know the saying about it taking a village? Stay close to your village, or make damn sure your create a new one if you move away. Always have a community of friends or relatives you consider "family." People you look out for and who have your back. Take care of each other, and when times get tough, carry each other through to the other side.

Decluttering

2011-10-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

I'm making a massive sweep through the house this week. Normally, I try to declutter AND clean at the same time. Yes, I realize that's ridiculous and never works. But I still do it. 'Cause I'm a dork like that.

THIS time, I have a goal. Or, rather, a foot up my butt. My mom's neighborhood is having a big garage sale this weekend, so I'm going to bring my stuff to her house. I have never seen so much junk come out of my house (except for after the flood, of course).

You see, I'm no good at purging when there's no concrete garage sale goal in sight. Oh, I can do a bag of clothes here and there and drop them off at Goodwill, no problem. But one or two toys or kitchen thingies hardly justify the gas to drop the stuff off. And I can't bring myself to throw them away. I've tried the donation box by the door, but that just gets in the way, and doesn't get filled. Ever. So I plan a garage sale for some undecided far-off date. The problem? My clutter ends up in boxes, so now I have box clutter, which is just as bad as real clutter, and it actually gets in the way a lot more the real clutter.

But this time, I have a date. Set by someone else. And my mother reminding me to bring my crap over there. I should feel pretty darn good by Saturday afternoon.

And we will NOT discuss how I grabbed the outdoor baby swing to put in my car this morning, and had to put it down and walk away because I couldn't see through the crazy lady tears. No, we won't talk about that.

George and the Dragon

2011-09-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

As we continue our Medieval block, it seems only fitting to wrap up our knight studies on Michaelmas. Now, I'm not terribly traditional and we tend to take a laid back approach to festivals and celebrations, so today was just a celebration of knights and dragons and bravery. We just finished our knights lapbooks, so this was a great way to wrap things up.

First, we read Margaret Hodges' Saint George and the Dragon. I love all of her books, and this one is particularly fantastic. Great vocabulary and Ella loved the illustrations. After we read it we had a little talk about bravery and ways we can be brave, even without dragons to fight. You could introduce the dragon metaphor and ask your kids what their dragons are, but I didn't. Next year, maybe.

If you're looking for an explanation of what Michaelmas and St. Michael have to do with St. George and the dragon (I had no idea), there's a good post about that today at The Magic Onions.

Then, because I love the movie and I've been dying to watch it with Ella, we're watching George and the Dragon tomorrow night. I love James Purefoy. And really, it's worth it just for the horrendous accents and Patrick Swayze's mullet.
Pure Awesomeness.

What we're not doing is making dragon bread. I think if I tried to form some sticky gluten-free dough into anything recognizable I'd break down and cry halfway through the process.

September Slump

2011-09-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get my feet under me again. The September birthday frenzy is over, but that means October is upon us. I love that October means we finally get a break from the heat. And fall IS my favorite season. But that also means it's time to sew costumes and crank up the busy three month holiday season, and it also means a month of Daddy working six-day weeks. Boo. And this year, we're planning our first camping trip and a visit to the Texas Renaissance Festival. Basically, I'll wait to breathe in January.

But it's not all planning and holiday craziness.

I had some major gluten-free hamburger bun recipe success. I don't have tart pans, so I just formed little rounds on a baking sheet. Soft and not crumbly. Served with black bean and lentil burgers. Hooray!

While reading about the Medieval Period, we ran across this book while browsing through the library. What's interesting about that? The author is my dad's first cousin. I knew he was a writer and we have some of his older books, but I had no idea he started this series of children's books. Small world, right?

Math is still my nemesis. Mostly subtraction. So we've decided to take a break from the harder subtraction lessons to review those fact families and do something less stressful for her, like telling time or basic geometry.

I'm planting a potato. Yes, I said A potato. One. Singular. I kept one of the potatoes my grandfather grew earlier in the year, let it sprout, and I'm going to plant it in a five gallon bucket. That way I can see where it does best in the yard before we consider a more permanent potato house.

In other garden news, we have cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprout babies growing in seed pots. I don't know how I'm going to bring myself to rip out the basil and zinnias to make room for them.

Total randomness. I think I finally found a recipe for dishwasher detergent that actually works and doesn't leave behind that crusty hard water buildup. I'm not confident enough to pass it along yet, but if you're struggling with the same thing, know that there is hope.

Ok, I promise to be a better blogger. I feel like I'm finally getting back in some of our regular routines, so I'd like to get my writing routines settled, too. This is the first year in a while that I'm not doing NaNoWriMo (we're skipping the Young Writers Program also this year), so I should be able to blog like a normal person in October and November this year. Yay! Well, as normal as I can be. I'm still me.

Mixing Methods

2011-09-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

I am nothing if not eclectic. Plus, I'm a bit of a non-conformist, especially when it comes to teaching (Dear School Board Purchasing People, those ridiculously expensive, wastes-of-time, fill-in-the-bubble, crazy-words-they'll-never-use spelling workbooks you purchased sat in a corner of my 11th grade classroom all year while we read books, wrote papers and, you know, used our brains). So, while it might seem from the outside (ok, in my brain a little, too) that I tend to go overboard when I get my hands on some new method or activity, that doesn't mean I ditch everything else. I might take a little time to get immersed in the new stuff and get a feel for it, but I always come back to what works. The same has been true for our experience with Waldorf. It's like getting a new favorite outfit. It looks good on you, so you want to wear it all the time. But that doesn't mean you don't have any other good-looking clothes. Eventually, you work out a more balanced wardrobe rotation. Same with homeschooing. For me, at least. Yes, I'm pretty enamored with some elements of Waldorf education, but I still LOVE Charlotte Mason type copywork, Montessori preschool activities, and using a chronological survey of history. I'm not ditching any of those.

Visit the Homeschool Classroom to read more about which Waldorf methods are easy to start with and combine with your own eclectic mix of methods:
6 Waldorf Elements to Weave into your Homeschooling

8

2011-09-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why, but 8 feels so big. I hear seven and nine are milestone ages, but 8. 8, is freaking me out. I think it's because so much has changed during the past year since we started homeschooling. We've all grown up a little. I guess I'm just noticing how much now.

Anyway, it isn't all scary. 8 is pretty fun, too. To celebrate, we had a Medieval party with several of her friends. Everyone came dressed up. It was super cute to see.

Ella and I made tunics (no-sew - cut a piece of folded muslin, snip a head opening, and tie with a corded belt) and she decorated some heraldry shields for the fronts. (Those were made with my handy dandy xyron machine from my scrapbooking days, but maybe contact paper or just safety pins would work fine.) The hula hoops hanging from the swing set? Those were for "spear" (1" dowel) throwing.

When the kids arrived, we had them each pull a sword from the "stone." The number on the sword matched with a name and we gave them each a name tag so they could call each other by their funny names. Ella was Lady Brock o' Lee, and Harper was Lady Ginger of Bread. Hilarious.
(You can get the directions and a list of fun names here.)

They also made goblets and drank "mead" (apple juice and honey simmered with cinnamon and cloves, then strained, diluted with water, and chilled), which was a big hit. Ella has been thanking me all weekend for the fun party.

After a quiet week of relaxing and lego-building, I'm ready to get back to life. (Is September really halfway over already????)
And to get used to the fact that I have an eight year old.
8.
Wow.

Football Geography

2011-09-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

Happy 2011 Football Season!!!!

Football's kind of a big deal in this house. In case you didn't know. To get the kids in on the fun this year, I've started weekly geography lessons based on whatever team OUR team is playing each week. I wanted to do Football Fridays to lead into the weekend, but Fridays are kind of crazy here, and we just won't get to it. So, since the first game is on a Thursday anyway (GO SAINTS!!!!), I figured we'd do these on Thursdays. We follow the NFL, but if you're college football fanatics, you could follow your alma mater around the country. Not a football fan? Baseball works, or wait for basketball season. You could probably even follow your favorite golfer around the world. Whatever floats your boat.

Some of you might be wondering how we do this, or what we're using for lesson plans. Honestly? I'm winging it here. Not just because I'm lazy/tired/stressed/overworked. I want this to be fun, so it's not something I want to stress about or overplan. We just want to learn a little bit about the team we're playing and where they come from. Here's what we did today:

First, we pulled out the state card for the team we're playing. Tonight, it's Green Bay, so Ella found the card for Wisconsin in her U.S. states learning cards we found in the dollar bins at Target. I ask her a few questions, then tells me a couple of interesting facts about the state. All from the card.

Next, using the map on the other side of the state card as a guide, we fill in a few major landmarks on the state map from about.com, making sure to include the city for the team of the week, in this case, Green Bay. You could go into more detail than we did, but really I just want her to have a basic understanding of the states. We can always do more in the future. About.com also has worksheets and word searches for each state, but I'm only going to do those for our state for now. Like I said, plenty of time to get to this in future years.

Now comes the fun part. I printed two copies of the U.S. postal codes map from The Five Js free ebook. One map will be for NFC teams, and the other map will be for AFC teams. We're color coding and writing a list of each division (N, S, E, & W) in each conference. So, since Green Bay is in the NFC North, Ella picked green for that division and colored Wisconsin green. Then she colored Louisiana red, and she'll use red for the rest of the NFC South teams.

For fun, I printed two coloring sheets (one for Ella and one for Harper) for Wisconsin, also from the about.com geography page.

Finally, we're making computer time count today, too. Spelling City has a special back-to-football list up this week. I'm not testing her on this, but she can play a few of the games. Also, Learning Games for Kids has a bunch of games for all 50 states.

Now, time to check on my chili (a regular batch and a vegetarian batch for Ella) made with fresh garden chilis (not my garden, unfortunately), chill some Abita Ambers (no, not gluten free, and I will certainly pay for having one of them), and wait quite impatiently for this day to end.

Ahhh . . . football and a cool front . . . I can smell fall in the air!

Sick Day Randomness

2011-09-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

I din't want to post today, but I didn't want to leave yesterday's post up for long. I can't believe I even put that picture up, although I won't take it down because, hey, that's life. The photo itself is awful (three sarcastic cheers for bathroom lighting!) and I look awful. I just can't seem to shake this fever. It's low at least, and the sore throat is easing, but I'm seriously dragging. At least we were able to go through the kids' clothes today after school. Because, you know, there's a low of like sixty degrees, so the girls had to get out boots and pants and jackets. Yes, I said "boots." Tall, furry boots, for sixty degrees. Yes, indeed.

The yard is still a mess from Lee, but we could have fared a lot worse. I will take a few sticks and branches in the yard any day over downed trees and flooding. Also, sending good thoughts to all of our friends in Texas. What a crazy summer.

For those of you wondering about all the basil, I have no idea why it was so happy. The other types of basil in other areas did not grow as well, so I'm thinking the success had to do with:

cutting early and often
the soil mix in that raised bed (top soil and compost, heavy on the compost, but I don't remember the exact ratio I used)
morning sun - the basil on one side of the raised bed grew better that the basil on the other side, even though they both received sun all day
early start - the stuff's been in the garden since March 1st
companion planting - despite everything saying it needs full sun, my basil grew in the shade of the bushiest tomato plant (also, coincidentally, facing that precious morning sun); it really liked those 'maters

Now I'm off to heat up more tea and maybe fold some clothes before I call it a day. Wait, can I call it a day at 3pm? Think the kids will buy that?

Sometimes, all you need is a haircut

2011-09-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

As promised, I took a little me-time this morning. Ella and I got haircuts together, a sort of spa morning for the big girls. Normally, my instinct is to cut it all off; however, since my hair has been so long for . . . well, for sooo long, I couldn't bring myself to hack it all away this time. Baby steps. So, I introduce you to baby step number 1:

See that smile? That's WITH a fever people. Yes, I caught another round of whatever plague is circling this house. Still, despite the sore throat, aches, and chills, I feel better. Lighter. Ready to face the rest of the month. I still think I see bangs in my future. And eventually some super shortness. But, for now, change is good. Yes, indeed, sometimes all you need is a haircut.

(I'll have pictures of the girls' cuts later this week. They're busy running around and enjoying the fantastic cool front that passed through after Lee.)

Prepared

2011-09-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

The rain is starting to fall now, and I'm sitting at home amazed at the speed and ease with which we can prepare for a storm. After a quick trip to the gas station, bank, and grocery store yesterday, it seems like we're ready to call it a quiet weekend at home. At the very least, even if we don't loose power or get stuck here due to flooding (which is pretty likely, since our road is prone to flash flooding even in drought conditions like we have now), we won't be leaving the house to run errands. Lucky for me, I have a box of gluten free crackers and snacks stored away for just this type of occasion, since none of the stores close to us have much of that. So, when we woke up this morning, we were completely prepared for anything this developing storm could throw our way.

Oh, yeah. Except for a house full of sick people.
Yuck.

Nothing major. Just fevers and head colds and sore throats. We picked up some books on hold from the library and a few movies to keep the kiddos resting and occupied this weekend. It looks like I'll have plenty of time to rest in bed and plan the rest of our Medieval block.

So, it looks like we're prepared. All that's left is to bake a couple loaves of bread (yay! An excuse to try out a new teff recipe!), boil a ton of eggs and make egg salad, and make a few extra trays of ice. Just in case. We have plenty of everything else. Including wine for mama, should this headache ever disappear (go, valerian, go!). Oh, and basil. No, it isn't on any emergency preparedness list (although it is great for rubbing on bug bites to ease the itching), but we have loads of it.

Seriously, I cut this stuff back almost every week!

My kitchen window is always happy.

My freezer is filled with pesto. We chop it fresh on top of everything. I'm even using some tonight in a Thai soup concoction (good for the sick people) and in some spring rolls. I'm even going to try some cocktails with strawberry, basil, and vodka. But my garden is still filled with the stuff, and don't think the heat is letting up down here any time soon! So, I ask you . . .

What are your favorite uses for basil? Got any recipes or meal ideas to share?

Motherhood: Growth and Change

2011-08-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

We're almost finished our first month of school. I should be settling in and feeling comfortable and energized, right? Not exactly.

The little one is going through something (growth spurt maybe?) and crying all the time. I keep checking her temp, but everything looks good. Just tired, moody, and demanding. The older one is ok now, but we went through a really rough week where she couldn't remember even the simplest things we had worked on last year and already reviewed this year. Add in the fact that we get about fifteen minutes outside in the mornings before the heat reaches 100-degrees, and you can bet we're all a little out of sorts.

Not that I'm complaining.

Really, I'm not. Actually, I'm feeling so grateful lately for the opportunity to homeschool my kids and for my family in general. Life is good.

But.

It's not them. It's me. I feel like I'm on the verge of . . . lost. I'm happy, but I feel like I'm growing someone else's skin. I mean, I was stressed this afternoon (another crying jag from the little one), so my first instinct to find some zen was to bake. Bake. I don't bake. Ok, I bake, but only because I have to now with the gluten sensitivities. Before the kids were born? I never baked. Hated it. The preciseness and science of it all . . . blech. Give me the art of throwing things together in a pot any day over time-intensive pain-in-the-butt baking. And yet, that was what I wanted to do. Well, what I would have done if it weren't 101-degrees.

I'm not having a major identity crisis, but I do feel some shifting again. Which is ok. I like shifting. I live for change. But usually if I'm the one making the decision to change. This feels like it's all out of my hands. And so the control freak in me stands up and says, "No! Let's cut all our hair off! And run away to some beachy location for a month. And get rid of half the stuff in the house! And buy new dishes! And new clothes! And let's write a book! And chickens! We need chickens!!!" Really, that voice in my head is exhausting.

So, I'm trying, just like everyone else, to find some balance. I'm trying to allow for growth and change and still stay true to myself. For now, I'm paying attention and making little changes. No major life overhauls yet, not until I'm sure that's the direction I want to take.

Except the hair. I really think all my hair needs to go.

A Typical Day

2011-08-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Since we don't follow a strict schedule around here, I figured it would be better to show you a more realistic picture of what our days look like. We're still working out a rhythm for this year (daily and weekly), so I'll wait to share that with you when we get some of our fall activities solidified. For now, this is how things typically look around here.

6:30/7 - The kiddos hear Daddy getting ready for work. They may or may not have breakfast with him. I hide in bed for as long as possible and cross my fingers that they want to eat with him. My stomach is usually unsettled for a couple of hours when I wake up (no, I'm not pregnant, don't ask), so I really don't want to have to fix food for other people when the thought of eating makes me want to hurl. Coffee, however, is a necessity.

After breakfast, the girls do their morning chores. Ella has her morning routine written on an index card, so I don't have to nag her. I check email, read a few blogs, and drink my coffee while the girls play for a while.

8:30 - My chores - get dressed, sweep, empty dishwasher, tidy up the kitchen and dining table

9:00 - Call the girls to start school, realize they are heavily involved in some elaborate form of play, and decide to leave them alone for a few more minutes. Kind of like the "don't poke the bear" or "don't wake the sleeping baby" rules. They're quiet, they're happy, a few minutes won't hurt.

Look at the rest of the plan for my day, and see if I can check anything off my list while they're quiet and playing nicely.

9:30/10 - Lessons - Break up a fight and bring the girls into the living room for circle time. If they're really pissy, skip circle time (otherwise it's just me singing while they glare at me) and move everyone to the table for less fun but equally effective worksheets.

Realize at some point during our lessons that I should have given them a snack, and give them some cut up fruit or veggies or nuts while they work.

Depending on what time we started, we might or might not go outside for a few minutes. It's hot right now, and we take advantage of the midday shade in our backyard. Plus, there are way too many mosquitoes in the early morning.

11:30 - Lunch

12:30ish - Quiet Time - Ella reads assigned & practices piano; Harper "reads" or plays quietly; I heat another cup of coffee, write, check mail again, and try to resist pinterest. Fail and wonder what happened to the last hour.

Mid-Afternoon - Clean the house, run errands, go to the library . . . depends on the day. Follow this with drawing, painting, or handwork . . . if it was an exceptionally difficult trip to the grocery store, collapse on the couch to plan lessons for the following week while the kids play. Realize once again that I'm late with the snack, and find something to ward off the afternoon crankies.

4:30 - Computer Time (ed. stuff followed by free play); I work on dinner; wonder where the day went and why my to-do list is longer than when I started the day

5:15 - dinner with dad followed by taekwondo for Ella (2-3x's a week)

7:00 - Harper's bedtime (she doesn't actually sleep until 7:30 usually)
8:00 - Ella's bedtime
Think about cleaning and getting organized for the next day, but decide my brain is too fried and I'm sleepy from putting the little one to bed. Decide instead to watch Castle (man, I miss that show) or something from History International in the dvr. Fall asleep in the middle of a show, usually before 10pm.

Heart of the Matter Not Back-to-School Blog Hop: Week 4 - Day in the Life

Meet the Girls

2011-08-19T06:23:00.000-07:00

I meant to update the girls' pictures this summer. I meant to do a lot of things this summer. Then I meant to post this Monday. Meh. Life happened.

I'm very excited to introduce to you . . . .

My Girls . . .

Meet Ella:
Our 3rd Grader

(I'll let her tell you about herself. This is the bio note she wrote for her reading & writing group. I'm still chuckling. It's so "Ella.")

I am seven years old. (She's almost eight now.) I am very active and intelligent. My favorite food is sushi. I have short blond hair mixed with red. My favorite subject is form drawing. My favorite color is pink. I have a little sister and two parents. My favorite book is How to Raise and Keep a Dragon. My job is to help. I am homeschooled. I have a loving cat named Lola.

Love that girl. She left out that she loves bugs and snakes and dinosaurs and anything that creeps her mama out. She's a fiery one, but she can spend hours reading quietly or making her own field guides or stories.

This is how you'll usually find her.

Meet Harper:

That picture just about says it all. Except she's not wearing her pink tutu skirt. She's a girly girl who loves pink and purses. She's loud and funny, but if you look at her slightly sideways she'll melt away in a puddle of tears. At 3 1/2, she's already given me plenty of scares as the resident monkey of the family, but she's also quite the snuggler.

It's the Little Things

2011-08-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

We bought these at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. I'd been wanting a little pitcher for Harper to practice pouring, and the girls each picked out their favorite tea set (actually, they are the tiny little . . . oh, I don't know what they are . . . espresso cups? . . . smaller than regular tea cups). The tiny vase in the back is a bonus for the nature shelf. It holds a couple of little wildflowers perfectly. The whole batch cost under three dollars, and my kids have played with them for hours, pouring and drinking water, adding mint and basil leaves to their "tea," and practicing their manners. Never underestimate the power of a tea party.

My mother was pretty nervous when I handed over the pitcher to my three-year-old to carry while we continued to shop. It was pretty funny, because I reminded her that it cost ten cents. But she didn't want it to break. So I said, "Watch." I bent down and held out the pretty glass pitcher asked if Harper would like to carry it for me. While her eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly, I explained to her that it was very breakable and that she would have to be very careful. (The warning was more for my mother than Harper, because the kid carries breakable stuff in the house all the time. She knows the drill.) Then I showed her how to hold the handle with one hand and keep it balanced with the other hand, and she was just fine. And so was the pitcher.

I hope you find some little treasures of your own. Happy weekend, everyone!

Psst . . .

Salamander Dreams: Finished Snakes and a Giveaway
Visit my friend Amy's site this weekend. In addition to being completely awesome, she created some super cool stitched snakes (some of you know how I feel about snakes, and I still think these are super cool), and she's giving away some embroidery supplies.

August Plans

2011-08-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

Focus for August - Review
(These are by no means all the books we read or all the activities we do, but these are the main things I have planned for using my monthly block planner. I won't include music or p.e. or anything like that unless we include unit specific activities. If they aren't listed here, assume we are keeping up with piano lessons, physical activities, nature studies, French songs & games, and handwork as mentioned in our curriculum outline.)

Stories - Cajun Folktales & Trickster Tales

Story of Evangeline (told, not read); also watch The Princess and the Frog to compare/contrast
Why Lapin's Ears Are Long
Lapin Plays Possum: Trickster Tales From the Louisiana Bayou
Clovis the Crawfish books, by Mary Alice Fontenot

Independent Reading - Charlotte's Web

Writing/Form Drawing - review straight and curved line forms; introduce running forms

Spelling - Review Fry's 1st 100 words

Grammar - nouns

Math - Math Mammoth addition & subtraction review

Art - animal & landscape drawings; painting with red, yellow, and orange

Where We Learn

2011-08-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

This is not a school room post, simply because we have no school room. I'm not even sure I would want one. You see, I'm quite a fickle girl. One day I like doing our work with clipboards on the couch, another day I like the kitchen table, and the next (I'm dreaming of cooler weather here) I might want to spend the morning outside with our books (or without books, which is so much better sometimes).

Instead of a school room, we have a place where we keep all our stuff . . .

and a place where mama does her planning . . .

(Actually, I don't do a lot of planning there; I take my binders or folders or laptop on the couch or even in my bed and spread them out while I get comfy with my coffee or tea for my planning sessions.)

and a place where we keep some of our books (the rest are on bookshelves throughout the house) . . .

That bag houses our new tent.
Yes, I still have trouble getting the little one to put books away properly.
Proof, I think, that I need and deserve a house elf.

and then we have the kitchen table, our go-to spot for sit-down work.

And this is our school buddy. . .

He's pretty much there all the time, because he's old and he can't move past that bed anyway.

So. Our school buddy. :)

There you have it! These are all the places we learn.

Visit Heart of the Matter to see where other homeschoolers learn in Week 2 of the Not Back to School Bloog Hop.

Waldorf Baby Steps

2011-08-03T05:41:00.000-07:00

Two days down. So far so good.

Then again, everything is better with white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I have a new fondness for amaranth flour. Seriously, where has this stuff been all my life???

So, while I sit here in first week back-to-school bliss and stuff my face with cookies, you can hop on over to The Homeschool Classroom to read my post about Waldorf-inspired homeschooling. This particular post highlights quick ways to incorporate Waldorf ideas into your life, whether or not you are homeschooling, and these are ideas that can easily be incorporated into any other style or method of homeschooling as well.

5 Simple Ways to Add Waldorf-Inspired Elements to Your Life

While you're there, don't forget to download the free ebook, Homeschooling by the Numbers, which is now available free to everyone who subscribes to the feed (in a reader or by email) and also still free for Facebook fans.

2011 Curriculum Outline

2011-08-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Not-Back-to-School!!!

Today's our first day back. I scheduled this post ahead of time. I'll let you know how much enthusiasm I have after a few days. :)

I think I've settled on a plan for the year. I'm sure it will change at least five times throughout the year, but this is what we're going with for now. Some of you may notice that while Ella is considered to be in 3rd grade, we will be following some of the suggestions for Waldorf 2nd grade. That's because she has a September birthday and started public school quite early. Since the Waldorf story list is recommended for a specific developmental age, we are using those recommended for an eight year old in second grade. We will continue our chronological study of history (we did ancient history through the dark ages last year), and we'll do 3rd grade math (no sense in backtracking there). Everything else kind of falls where it falls. It looks like a lot, but there's never a time when I'm doing all subjects at once. We space things out and focus our attention on monthly blocks or units.

And don't ask me about Harper. She's 3. With littles, I consider it parenting, not preschool, so I'm not including her in our curriculum plans. Not that we won't do anything. The girl's gotta have stuff to do. I'll be adding in more Montessori-type stuff later this fall, but I don't have a plan or anything for that.

2011 3rd Grade Curriculum Outline

Math - Math Mammoth, light blue series, grade 3 (switching from last year's Singapore Math)

Reading/Literature -

Saint and Hero stories; Aesop's fables; Trickster and Jataka Tales
oral reading practice, independent reading, and classics for read alouds

Writing -

form drawing (running and symmetrical forms)
introduction to cursive writing
Workbook -TCR Writing Paragraphs, grade 3
Reading and Writing Homeschool Group
copywork, journaling, letter writing, simple reports, lots of creative writing

Spelling/Vocabulary

Grammar - Workbook - TCR Grammar, Usage, & Mechanics, grade 3

History - (made from scratch units)

Medieval Period
Early Americans
Geography mini-units (including U.S. football geography!)

Science -

nature and seasonal studies
gardening and herbal studies
camping and survival skills
lots of unschooling :)

French -

Hop, Skip, and Sing French songs & games
Lapin Malin CE1 (6-8 ans) dvd-rom (picked this up at a French Immersion school book fair, and so far Ella really enjoys it; it is, however, nearly entirely in French - yep, even the instructions - so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone with no French language experience)

Handwork - knitting & hand sewing

Art - weekly watercolor painting, beeswax modeling, and drawing sessions

Music - continue piano lessons

P.E./Health -

Taekwondo (may drop this soon)
roller skating with homeschool group
park playdates, weekly with group
Oh, you know . . . lots of stuff

Join the 3rd Annual Not Back-to-School Blog Hop and share your curriculum plans for this year at Heart of the Matter.

Circle Time Planner

2011-07-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Finally. I'm clearing tons of clutter out from this house, and I'm getting my head back in the schooling game. Considering we're starting next month (a review month, mostly, but yikes! already?), I needed to figure a few things out.

After a lot of trial and error, I realized I don't like detailing everything we'll do every week. But I like to have a plan, a guide, options for the month. So, I came up with this circle time planner for myself.

I was kind of opposed to the whole idea of circle time, mostly because I didn't know how it was going to work with just two kids, only one of which is school aged. Eventually, I found some things that did work for us. Starting each day with a song, a verse, a few games, etc. puts everyone in a good mood. It's a transition from morning chores and play time to lesson mode.

For games, I pick fingerplays (mostly for the little one), tongue twisters, and clapping games (remember those fun playground circles with the intricate clapping combinations? yeah, those) we want to practice or try during that month. For active math, I plan which addition fact families, skip counting, or multiplication tables we want to focus on (tied to our math lessons for the month), and we can either skip or hop those, or bounce a ball or toss a bean bag back and forth while we recite them.

I simply write the name of the game, poem, or song, then I make a note of the book and page number where I found it (if it's complicated or I need to memorize it). Sometimes I'll keep printed copies of seasonal poems to keep in my monthly folders, and I'll paper clip them to this sheet.

So far I like the idea of having several options for things to do all in one place, and still having the flexibility to choose which ones we want to do each week or day. I print a sheet for each month and keep one in each monthly folder. If you want to print your own, you can find it here:

Circle Time Planner

How about you? Do you have circle time, or do you do something different to start your days? Do you have a favorite morning song, verse, or activity you do for circle time or just to bring everyone together?

Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Painting

2011-07-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but painting day has saved my sanity on many occasions. Something truly magical happens the moment that piece of paper is set in front of each child. They get completely drawn in to the colors, the process, the images in their head, and the images that result. Today my three year old marveled as her cleaning water changed color, and my seven year old has gone from being cranky that she can't draw exactly what is in her mind to starting with form and color and watching her paintings evolve from there.

Me? I'm enjoying this weekly hour of zen.

When we first started this back in January, I thought I'd never keep up with a weekly painting day. In all honesty, we haven't painted EVERY week, but we certainly painted more weeks than not. It helps when you see the results. Quiet. Focus. Serenity. And the setup and cleanup aren't very difficult.

The girls know where we keep everything, and they help every step of the way. The first few weeks were tough, but it's a process of training. Better to stick with it, endure their crazed enthusiasm, and help them set up and put things away step by step for the first few sessions. In no time, they got the hang of it and I don't have to worry about spills anymore. I keep one side of the sink half filled with soapy water, so after they are finished they know to pour their dirty water into the empty side of the sink, pour their excess paint back into the "mother" jars, and put their now empty jars and brushes go into the soapy water. Towels and painting t-shirts go on the washing machine. Easy peasy.

We began by experimenting with just one color at a time. Yes, that means we had an entire page of blue, but it was a beautiful page of shades of blue. In the spring we added yellow to our paintings, so our friend green surprised us with a visit. This summer we switched to red and orange, those beautiful warm colors that we feel so intensely this time of year. Now we are using all three primary colors, and it is wonderful to see how many variations the girls can come up with for their artwork. Next year I'll add more colors, but I am so glad we took things slow and really took the time to play with each color and really learn how they play on the page.

Ella, age 7 1/2 - "Cave and a Tree"

If you're looking for information on how to do wet-on-wet watercolor paintings, take a look at these tutorials:

Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Painting with Sarah Baldwin at Simple Homeschool - The best short overview I've seen.

The Wonder of Childhood: Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Painting Setup - This is a relatively new site, and they provide a nice list of supplies.

The Wonder of Childhood: Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Painting Tutorial - This is a fantastic painting tutorial, and it also offers ideas at the end for what to do with all those paintings you'll accumulate.

A List

2011-07-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

The girls now share a room. Best move ever. They were spending all their time together anyway, and now I don't have to hear, "My room, my rules!" anymore.

Fried green tomatoes = Awesomeness (especially when they are your own green tomatoes salvaged from your own garden)

I found a new use for old t-shirts and no longer used cloth diapers. Dog diapers. Need I say more?

I placed a fedco seed order this week for our fall/winter garden. I am giddy over the idea of purple cauliflower. And brussel sprouts, of course. Ella would never forgive me if I forgot the brussel sprouts.

Giant purple zinnias in mason jars make me smile.

Is there a twelve step program for Pinterest? Oh, I added button to follow me on pinterest (or to request an invite if you aren't a member. I love, love, love pinning all the great tutorials, recipes, and project ideas I find around the web. I struggle searching through my bookmarks, and since I'm a visual person the pinboards work perfectly.

I have done ZERO planning this month for next year. Thankfully, I did my yearly and monthly planning in the spring, because I have taken a complete mental break from school this summer. As soon as I finish decluttering the house, I'll get back to it. We may or may not start the first week of august as planned . . . especially since I haven't even sent in my letter of intent yet. Either way, the summer break has been good for me. I hope you're all enjoying the summer as well!

Beginner Hand Sewing

2011-07-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

My original plan was to learn to knit with Ella this summer, but it's so hot I don't even want to look at yarn at the moment. She did some finger knitting and practiced rolling up balls of yarn, so it isn't like we're not doing any handwork, just not knitting with needles. Yet. (I also gave it a shot on my own and, ahem, failed. Miserably.) And they don't want to paint and draw every day, so what do you do when it's unbearably hot on those looooong July afternoons? You sew, of course.

Nope, not a real needle or thread. Mostly because I don't want the three year old anywhere near a real needle for now, and the two of them can't seem to do anything separately anymore. Ever. It is adorable and infuriating at the same time. But this seems like a good enough introduction to the skill anyway.

Plastic needle
Ribbon
Foam-type coasters from the dollar store

Thirty minutes of peace and quiet.
Ahhhhhhh . . .

Free Homeschooling Ebook

2011-07-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

The Homeschool Classroom is offering a brand new ebook, written by the crew at The Homeschool Classroom (including moi!) and a few other friends, for FREE to all of their Facebook fans. Just become a fan of the site on Facebook, snag the free code, then visit the ebook page to download it using the facebook free code. (Not on Facebook? Don't worry, it will be offered for free next month to RSS & email subscribers.)

Homeschooling by the Numbers (ebook)

The book is filled with great tips for newbies and veterans alike. In it I share my own piece, "Five Ways to Conquer Your First Year with Flexibility." You'll also find recipes for homemade art supplies, ways to avoid burnout, things to do with broken crayons, travel tips, ideas for a mental health day, and so much more. I'll be rereading all of the articles in it several times over the next month as I get ready for next year. :)

*** Note: The host site only allows 100 downloads per day, so if it has already reached the max for today, try again tomorrow.

Easy Art Display

2011-07-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

For years, I have complained about the lack of color in our living room. I am by no means afraid of color on my walls, but I like having a sort of neutral color on the living room walls so I can change the feel of the room with the seasons or my mood without having to worry about matching the wall color. The problem? I just never found a way to add enough color in that room and keep it having that minimalist feel that I love.

A while back we had a string in Ella's room so she could hang up her creations. At some point, we took it down because we rearranged her room, the string was too low, or whatever. So one day while I was bemoaning the lack of color in our living area, it hit me. Duh. Why don't we hang the kids' artwork there?

Again . . . Duh.

Of course, I wanted something simple and easy to change often (weekly, at least). Re-enter the classic string and clothespins:

String, eye hooks (or just nails or screws), and clothespins. It doesn't get much easier than that. Now, before you wonder if that would look tacky in your main living area, keep in mind that you don't even really see the string. All you see is the kids' art.

We were able to bring color to a bare wall, show off their work, and keep visible inspiration and a reminder to keep making art. And it makes a nice dinner conversation piece right behind the table, yes?

I'm thinking we might pimp some clothespins later this summer. I'm thinking scrapbook paper scraps and some homemade mod podge (I have a recipe for it that I've been meaning to try out anyway). Then again, I don't want to distract from all their lovely creations!

HSV Garden Challenge, Month #4

2011-06-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Today is the last link-up for The Homeschool Village's Garden Challenge.

Remember our garden back in March?

Our Garden - March 31, 2011

Here it is now:

Our Garden - June 30, 2011

Well, we lost our pole beans (grasshopper - it was kindly relocated, but too late for the beans), our sunflowers (I don't know what those bugs were), and zucchini (borers), but I think we did quite well overall for our first garden.

We learned a very important lesson:

Tap water is not equal to rain water.

Thankfully it's raining again, so the plants are happier. The drought now has me thinking about some sort of rainwater collection system. One day . . .

For now, the cucumbers are finally growing, and I'm going to plant a second crop later this summer.

Yes, I realize these babies need to climb. I'm going to add a homemade trellis something-or-other soon and plant more beans, too.

The giant purple zinnias were just a bit too "giant" for the raised bed,
but they transplant nicely into the front beds.

See that delightful bunch of goodness hiding amid the tomatoes? That's the lemon-lime basil.

SOOOOO good!

I am still in shock that I grew tomatoes. I mean I actually grew tomatoes. Tasty ones.

We're so excited about the garden, and I have big plans through the fall.

Plus, the seven-year-old has requested her own bed of brussel sprouts (yes, you read that correctly, brussel sprouts), so we're planning a winter garden as well.

Thanks for visiting our garden!

Block Crayon Practice

2011-06-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

I've decide to continue my trend of posting on art-related topics throughout the summer. Since we're focusing more on art this summer anyway, I figured it would be appropriate to do a weekly post on the different projects we're working on. And Fridays work as a good kind of show-and-tell day to recap the week.

Today we were all feeling either under the weather or out of sorts in one way or another, so we took it easy and decided to spend our "sick day" experimenting with our block crayons. Beeswax Block Crayons are one of those Waldorf essentials, and I had never even heard of them before this year. I'd heard from many people how great they were, and when I got some, I had to admit . . . well, they smelled nice. But honestly, I had no idea what to do with them. Ella mostly used them for a little form drawing and to make borders on her pages. But all of those beautiful pictures I'd seen made with them were completely beyond my grasp. Then, at the end of the school year, I finally decided to order the Coloring with Block Crayons DVD (it went on sale and I JUMPED on it), but the DVD sat on my shelf for another couple of months. Finally I made time to watch it this summer. So far, it's fantastic. I especially love that she does all of her technique using just the three primary color blocks. I think I might actually figure out what to do with those darn blocks pretty soon.

The first thing I noticed in the DVD is that she recommends using a coloring pad as a base. I can't find them sold anywhere (I didn't even see them on her website anymore), so between her instructions and this easy tutorial we made our own this week using newspaper and paper bags. I was skeptical of how much of a difference it would make, but it really does help the color settle into the pages, especially if you're drawing on individual sheets (as we always do) instead of drawing on a sheet of paper still in a drawing pad. I'd recommend using one even if you don't use block crayons.

So, today we did a little experimenting with the basic techniques. Ella seemed to catch on pretty quickly to some of them. The author doesn't really recommend practicing specific techniques with the kids, especially in the beginning, but I couldn't help myself. Plus, I know Ella. She'd be crazy frustrated if she couldn't figure out how to draw something later, and she wouldn't want to practice it then. Here are some of her practice pages:

I'm pretty excited about figuring it all out. And I can't wait to make some drawings of my own soon, too!

Transparency and Truth in Blogging

2011-06-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

I've had conversations with different groups of people over the past few weeks about keeping it real online. I know both sides of this. When we started homeschooling, it was easy to read about everyone else's lives and feel completely overwhelmed and utterly defeated. Of course, I read these sites because they're inspiring and have great ideas, but it's a slippery slope to feeling like you'll never measure up to their perfect days so what's the point in trying? It's an internal battle I just don't need some days. So . . . when I started this here blog, I wanted to do a couple of things:

1. I wanted to pay it forward. I wanted a space where I could share resources and ideas, in the hopes that maybe someone will be helped by something I've found, created, or learned, in much the same way that I have been helped by so many others this past year.

2. I wanted to give an honest account of our first year. I wanted to document the highs and the lows and hopefully have a truthful representation of how the good outweighs the bad, even in that tumultuous first year.

Number one is easy. Number two . . . I'm not so sure now about number two. I did share some of our struggles, and I'm not under any delusion that I come off looking like some perfect mother (HA!); however, I'm not sure how truthful or transparent I've been.

Then again, do you really want complete transparency? I usually talk about problems we have once I have some sort of plan or solution, because I don't want to come here day after day to whine or vent about the same things. I could. But would anyone want to read that? I certainly don't want to write that, although I'm pretty sure I've done a good bit of that here already.

As a gesture of full disclosure, let me tell you that we had a rough start to our summer. Actually, rough doesn't begin to describe the past two weeks. My oldest has been looking for a fight every single day. It starts before breakfast is finished and continues until bed time. There was sick and medication weariness. We have virtually no summer rhythm, despite the snazzy printout I made. There was the dog at death's door (he's still battling advanced arthritis and needs lots of help and attention). I overreached in my goals for the summer (that's clear even though it's only June). Clearing out the clutter is sucking the life out of me, even though I know it's going to feel great when I'm done. I've been called names, had things thrown at my head, and been screamed at in my already aching ears. There MIGHT have even been an event with a mouse who was determined to use the lint from my laundry room to nest in my walls no matter how many peppermint-soaked cotton balls I stuffed in that pipe hole behind the toilet.

So, you see, the next time you feel inadequate reading someone else's blog post about how they made homemade granola and line dried their clothes and sang songs with their children and had a fantastic day, just remember that the day before could have just as easily been filled with angry, shrieking kids, a dying dog, clutter busting, and a nest-obsessed mouse.
For real.

Stress-Free Art ~ with Amy Hood

2011-06-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Amy, from kids in the studio, is here to talk about how easy it can be to expose our kids to art. Real art. Which I so appreciate. Kids have way too many experiences with coloring pages, paint by number, and step-specific crafts, and I love any opportunity to see them thrive as little artists. The lazy days of summer are the perfect time to break out the supplies and allow them some freedom to create!

from kids in the studio

I have an art minor and a creative streak, so the art portion of homeschooling never stressed me out, but here’s the thing: Even without an art degree or formal art experience of any kind, it’s way easier than you think to set the stage for meaningful art experiences. I’m passionate about exposing kids to open-ended, process-oriented art. What does that mean, anyway?

Open-ended: There is no specific end result in mind. You don’t have to follow step-by-step instructions to make a specific drawing, craft, or project. In fact, the opposite should occur. You and your children should be open to seeing what happens.

Process-oriented: The focus is on the doing. Sometimes, you’ll get something you want to hang on the wall. Other times (especially if your children are very young), the time will be spent exploring and investigating a new material, with no product at all at the end. The opposite of process-oriented would be product-oriented, where the goal is to construct a pre-set project, with little creativity involved. If everybody’s project looks more or less the same, creativity is at a minimum.

from kids in the studio

The great thing about this approach is that the pressure is off of you. You simply need to step back, let go, and see what happens. It helps if you’re okay with things getting a little messy. I’m 37, and I make a mess when I’m creating. Creativity is rarely tidy. I definitely direct the experience a bit; I choose the materials, and sometimes the subject, but the end result is all in my kids’ hands.

When we began approaching art this way as a habit, I did more of the subject-choosing. These days I mostly introduce new ideas or techniques. Together, we are learning what various art processes can do, so we know how to get the results we want to fulfill a specific vision. Do we want charcoal, pencil, black and white or color, tempera or watercolor? After experimenting with different materials, we feel much more confident in choosing for ourselves.

from kids in the studio

Summer is the perfect time to experiment. Either bring paper and drawing materials outside, or bring some nature in. Get an up-close look with loupes or magnifying glasses. Take time to really, really look, and then begin to draw. Try different media—chalk pastels, oil pastels, watercolors—and see how that affects the finished piece. How is drawing the flower different than painting it? How about if you draw it and then use some paint? What if you use crayons and paint together? Does it matter what kind of paint?

That is the gist of what we do in our studio. Our pieces look different, although we do inspire each other. My children take different approaches to their artwork, and I never say how something ought to look. They are given time and space to think about what they want to do and how they want to do it. We’re discovering what sorts of materials and art-making the kids like best. And my children think of themselves as artists and creative people. Too often, we are stripped of this identity; we learn that “artists” are special people who do something unique off somewhere else, forgetting that we all have the capacity to be creative and expressive. Even if you can’t draw, you can be creative. You can provide basic materials and a space to create—not just for your kids, but for yourself, too.

~ Amy lives in coastal New England with her three kids, ages 2, 7, and 9. She blogs about their artistic adventures at kids in the studio and her own crafty pursuits at Salamander Dreams, but now that it’s finally summer, she’s looking forward to spending time digging holes and making sandcastles with her kids at the beach.

End of the Year Portfolio

2011-06-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

Wow. Are we really halfway through June already??? I think I completely lost a week somewhere. Thankfully, the dog is still with us. He's finished a round of meds and it turns out (much to our surprise and the vet's) that we have a pretty healthy fourteen year old dog. Some antibiotics and probiotics patched him up and now we're back to just monitoring his arthritis. I'm still fighting The Sinus Infection That Won't Go Away, so I'm also on meds and feeling a little wonky. Actually, a lot wonky. (Have I mentioned how much I hate taking medication?) I'm not even sure they're working. I think I feel a little better this morning. Maybe. Moving on . . .

We finished Ella's end of the year binder before last week's craziness. I put some samples of her work from the year along with page protectors in the back filled with extras - roller skating admission cards, brochures for museum exhibits visited, special reports/projects, etc. I decided to put all of my administrative papers (lesson plans, school calendars, curriculum outlines, etc.) in another binder, and I'll probably keep a larger, ongoing file for those.

We printed a couple of pages from the elementary memory book pages from about.com to put in the front of her book. We liked the favorites page (also this one) and my friends and future page.

These are my favorite answers that she wrote:

Next year I plan to: teach Harper her letters. (Yep, apparently mom's not doing her job around here.)

When I grow up I want to be: a cat farmer (For real.)

Then I made collages using pictures of projects and activities she did throughout the year. I made mine in picasa, saved as a .jpg, then printed them as 8x10's and put them in sheet protectors after her favorites pages. You could also make the collages on one of the printing sites. I'd check to see which option would be cheaper depending on the available coupon codes.

What I'm doing for next year is setting up an album in picasa (on my computer) for next year's school pictures. This way, as I load new pics in the computer, I can quickly label the ones I might want to use in next year's collages, saving myself a good bit of work searching through everything at the end of the year.

In Bloom

2011-06-07T11:02:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a slow week here on the blog. I'm on antibiotics; we have a very old, very sick doggie; I'm way behind on a couple of projects; and Operation Get Rid of All this Crap is still in action. I did, however, manage to put together a potfolio to wrap up our first year. Ella is so proud of it. I hope to have a post on that later this week. It all depends how our vet appointment tomorrow goes.

BUT . . .

To brighten my day and yours, here are a few pretties from around my house:

Lace Cap Hydrangea

I'm pretty sad. It doesn't look this nice anymore.
Most of the blooms are falling off.

Nasturtiums

Pansies
Ella's favorite "mustache flowers"

A baby zinnia
These giants are much larger now.

Marigolds
Yeah, everyone has them, but I love this particular variety.

Sunflowers
They're over 8 ft. tall now.
Happy Day.

Conquering Art Phobia

2011-06-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned our Art Box on here, and today I'm over at The Homeschool Classroom to give you the details on what goes in our art box and to talk about our ongoing struggle to make art a priority in our house. We set aside Fridays as Painting Day the second half of the year, but somehow things still came up to push it off the schedule. My plan is to build the habit again over the summer and move Painting Day to maybe Wednesday afternoons or some other time that's less busy.

You can read more about the art box here:

Art in a Box: Conquering Art Phobia

A Quick List

2011-05-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of all over the place today. That means, you get a list.

I'm recovering from a rough health weekend. To top it off, I'm still suffering from allergies (yeah, since December). Nothing seems to work well enough, so I finally decided to check out this Allegra stuff. The verdict? I still have allergy symptoms, only now I feel nauseous.

In other news, did you hear? Nauseous is the new nauseated. People, pick something. It's almost as bad as the whole comma thing. Really, I don't care. (Says the former English teacher. And really, I mean it, I don't care.)

We are officially on summer break now! Looking forward to lots of drawing and knitting and playing with my girls.

This week begins Operation Get Rid of All this Crap. This week I'm filing school papers and going through supplies. I have absolutely no idea what to keep. The important stuff (letter of intent, curriculum outline, lesson plans), of course. But I have no idea where to draw the line after that. I'll probably keep her math workbook, French worksehets, and the SpellingCity.com test result printouts from the lists we did, but what about all that copywork? Holiday word alphabetizing? Ocean and continent labeling maps? My initial reaction is to keep it all and throw stuff out later when I need more space in the boxes.

Operation Get Rid Of All This Crap will continue through June and July. I'm tackling a different room each week. I can handle working at that pace. I think. I'm using the plan in Organized Simplicity, except I'm turning her 10 Day Plan into a 10 Week one. It's summer. I'm not rushing anything.

A friend introduced me to Pinterest. I'm hooked. I'm not even completely sure what I'm doing on there yet, but I already love it. This is me. I don't have many boards or pins yet, but I can totally see myself having to set a timer so I don't fart away my days on there. You can request to join or ask someone you know for an invite.

Math Switch: Math Mammoth

2011-05-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

What's a girl to do when blogger won't let her post pictures?
Talk math, of course.

After much consideration, I've decided to switch math programs next year. I liked Singapore Math, but I had some reservations about using it again. It was quick, easy, and inexpensive, especially since I used either the text or the workbook, not both. Yes, you read that right. The first semester, I used just the workbook with Ella, and introduced the concepts in each section on my own before assigning practice. That worked pretty well, but I was afraid as we went along, we'd need more in later years. The second semester, I used only the textbook, and printed extra practice worksheets from the internet when she needed more practice. The problem with that was that she hated working the problems in a separate notebook. I mean h-a-t-e-d it. So, no more of that. At least I know she's capable of taking a problem and figuring out how to set it up and solve it on her own without a worksheet, but no need to hammer that lesson into a kid. She likes worksheets. So, I guess, math worksheets it is.

For lack of a better solution, I was prepared to go along with Singapore for one more year. But I'd been examining some of the samples on the Math Mammoth site for a few weeks, and this weekend I finally decided to make the switch. Math Mammoth it is. Here are a few things I like about it:

Buy once. Use for two kids.
Still inexpensive.
Won't need extra supplements (unless we want fun holiday-themed sheets or things like that).
I can print as much or as little as we need.
She likes the word problems better. Singapore referred a lot to things she wasn't familiar with (like durian fruit), and it drove her nuts. Silly, I know, but the fight wasn't worth it.
It's mastery oriented (similar to Singapore) which makes it easy for me to plan. I can change the order in which we introduce of some of the material, and we can do the review exercises as needed, but there aren't a ton of long, drawn out review pages.

Now it isn't without it faults. Or at least stumbling blocks for me.

I have to print everything myself. I hate buying printer ink. Especially color ink.
There's a lot of work in there. I'm not sure a third grader needs to know or do everything in this curriculum. I have the option to not do everything in there, but will I feel pressured to print it all just because it's there?
It's kind of dry. No fun pictures or cartoons. But if the kid's ok with that, so am I.

I'm optimistic. It's the best I've seen for what we want, and it's flexible. I'm all about flexible.

If you're interested, check out the sample pages on the site. They have some for each grade level in the light blue series, which is the complete curriculum. Plus they are running a sale this weekend (through tomorrow) of 20% off the downloads. The code is MAYSALE, and the sale info is listed on the main page. That means I got our complete math curriculum for third grade for $25.60 (not counting computer ink and paper). I'll let you know later next year how we like it.

* I am not an affiliate for Math Mammoth nor did I receive any compensation for writing this post. I simply wanted to share the information I learned and pass on the sale code.

HSV Garden Challenge, Month #3 - Harvest Time!

2011-05-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

It's the end of May, that means it's time for The Homeschool Village's Garden Challenge Link Up #3.

So far, we've had mostly salads with fresh radishes (WOW, for "mild" radishes, those sure had a kick!), roma tomatoes, and basil. Mmmm . . . and fresh (from the market), grilled corn with lemon basil (mine) butter . . . Yum! Then there were the few precious zucchinis (more on that in a minute) and the one bean we harvested so far.

When I started the garden this year, I had no idea what I was doing. I'd read a bit from Square Foot Gardening, but I'm not one for following rules. And seriously, there was math in there. And geometry. And stuff. So I read a bit more about companion planting and threw in a TON of seeds.

Lesson Learned.

My garden became seriously overcrowded. In a way that was good. Certain plants got the shade they needed. Other things didn't grow much. And then there are all those silly flowers that I love but are sucking up precious nutrients. But seriously, how could I not throw some pretty flower seeds in there? And the pansies we put in to give color while waiting for the seeds to sprout? They've taken over too. So now I'm transplanting a few things and hoping the rest can get enough of what they need in the crowded conditions.

Not to self: Next year, be patient.

Oh, and I STILL can't get any pepper plants to grow in there. Bummer.

Here are a few current pictures of our garden:

Our raised bed at the end of May

New strawberry plants from a friend.

New raised bed for strawberries, lettuce, & onions.

Proof that it is crazy hot. Radishes are bolting like crazy.

Lettuce is finally growing.
In the heat.
Go figure.

Lemon/Lime Basil
I can't tell the difference anymore.
Has a very strong but lovely taste.

Green beans are growing up the sunflower stalks.

Cherry tomatoes grown from seed

Roma tomato plants from local nursery.
I can't even count how many tomatoes
this particular plant has on it.

Our first harvest!

Carrots - growing slowly

Growing new pineapple mint from cuttings

My poor cucumber plants.
This, sadly, is the best looking one.

Even sadder, this is all that is left of my zucchini.
We got a few small ones before the #$%*ing squash borers got it.

New Spanish Cilantro!
Tastes like the regular stuff,
but super cool looking and likes shade.

Did I mention it's hot already?
My poor oregano, only one day after watering.
It now lives in the shade, too.
(It looks much better now.)

Guess what's growing behind those impatiens in my front yard now . . .
More Lettuce!
And carrots and purple basil, if they ever decide to grow.

Tomorrow (or maybe this weekend) I'll post some pictures of all the flowers we have growing around here now. I am still in shock that I have things growing.

Pretty things, in fact.

DIY Bug Spray

2011-05-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

I hate bug spray. All kinds. To be honest, we do have some here. I keep wasp spray for the occasional hornet or wasp nest and and spray for the patio perimeter when the fire ants take over the dog's food. But given the choice I'd rather not use anything at all, and I try to limit their use to just those. But I live in the South. The Deep South. Near the edge of a bayou. We have bugs. LOTS of bugs. Bugs that I would rather not share my home with. So I needed an alternative to the nasty chemical stuff that I would rather my babies not inhale. I came up with two solutions that have so far worked pretty well.

Personal Insect Repellant

In a travel size fine mist spray bottle, fill halfway with a carrier oil. I use canola, because it is light, cheap, and doesn't have much of a scent, but you can use olive, almond, calendula, or whatever you like.
Put 10-20 drops (depending on the size of your spray bottle and how many different oils you use) in the bottle. I use lavender, peppermint, and lemongrass, because I like those, I already have them in the house, and they don't make me gag like some of the other ones, but you may like something different. (List of Essential Oils for Repelling Insects)
Fill the rest of the bottle with oil and shake well.
Do a skin test to make sure no one has a reaction to any of the oils. Diluting in a carrier oil usually helps prevent this, but better to be safe than itching or burning. Especially if you're using on kids.
Spray on exposed skin and rub in. I have no idea if this actually helps, but I like to pay special attention to pulse points. Plus, I like to smell like air freshener for hours.

We went hiking at some nature trails last Friday, and even though the mosquitoes were out in full force I wasn't bitten even once. And I'm usually the first one to find bites on myself. Harper was also bite-free after the hike. I will warn you, however, that I did have a couple of bees buzzing around me. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe they thought I was a lavender bush in need of pollination. I have no idea. Still, no stings or bites, so I count that as a success!

Home Bug Spray

(Very similar to my fabric spray, but I use a smaller spray bottle and more drops of oils specifically to repel insects, not just the ones I like)

In a small trigger bottle (one that can adjust from spray to stream), put 10-20 drops of each essential oil. I use my trusty combination of lavender, peppermint, and lemongrass. (List of Essential Oils for Repelling Insects) Fill the bottle with water and shake.
Adjust the bottle to a stream setting, and spray the bottom edge of baseboards, windows, and doors, or anywhere you know bugs like to hide. I do our trouble spots regularly, then every so often I'll spray closets, under/behind dressers, behind the bookcase, etc.
Don't spray directly on pet bedding.
Doubles as a house freshener. :)
The only downside is that it doesn't last, especially in the spring during peak bug season, so I have to spray it weekly (sometimes twice a week) to be effective.

Beach Fun

2011-05-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the tent camping tips. Keep 'em coming! And yes, that means I'm planning future vacations when we've only just returned from one. That's how I roll. It doesn't mean I didn't enjoy our trip. Quite the opposite. I'm just always planning for new adventures!

Mother's Day at the marina

Once again, we went to Gulf Shores, AL for our vacation. We love the whole area, and I've been going there since I was a kid. It's amazing to see it change over the years. Devastation after hurricanes, rebuilding, and now, once again, the area is thriving. Actually, it's thriving a little too much for my taste. We're off-season beachers. Ken's busy at work during the summers, so we usually vacation in the spring or fall. I LOVE the beach in the fall. There is something different and pleasant about strolling the beach in a jacket and having the whole place practically to yourself. Spring is a little more crowded, but at least the pool is warm enough for the kids to swim. And it didn't feel crowded most of the time, because we seemed to have a different beach rhythm than everyone else.

We spent our mornings playing in the sand,

and the water,

and being silly,

and our afternoons at the pool,

Ella finally got brave enough to try
swimming without her floaties!

or at the condo enjoying snacks.

In the evenings we hunted for critters,

We found crabs, snails, and clams and studied them
for a while before setting them free each evening.

Ella says these are mole crabs.
I'm not going to question my little naturalist.

hanging out,

and taking lots of evening strolls.

We drove down to Fort Morgan one afternoon, and found a stretch of deserted beach.

Well, deserted except for this guy,

and some barnacles,

and some Alabama beach mice, which we didn't see, but found their homes near little piles of sea oats.

(The Alabama beach mouse is endangered, so we tried our best not to disturb their areas.)

Even though we're talking about camping and visiting different places on future vacations, I will always feel that pull to spend time at the beach. There's just something about it. Despite a few bumps during the trip (tired, cranky kids, and I'm trying to forget that I was told this was "the worst vacation ever"), we all had a wonderful time and are looking forward to going back. Whenever that might be.

a sand sculpture create by one of our neighbors

Squeeeeee!!!!!

2011-05-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

We are tent shopping (online) today.

This is all I have to say.

:)

*** Any family tent camping tips would be MOST appreciated! ***

End of Our First Year

2011-05-19T05:34:00.000-07:00

Wow.

I can't believe our first year is already coming to a close.

Technically, we completed our required 180 days the first week of May, but I have a few things left to wrap up, so we're doing another week after this one, then a review week, then a week of filing, binding papers into books, and packing and organizing for next year. We should be in full summer swing by mid-June.

I'm still in shock that it's gone by so fast.

I wrote a post over at The Homeschool Classroom to wrap up my first year series. Thank you to all of you who have followed the series, and thanks so much to everyone who has followed our journey here and offered support and advice along the way this year. I can't tell you how much your help and encouragement have meant to me. If you're interested in the end-of-the-series post, you can find it here:

Homeschooling the First Year: End of the Year Lost and Found

Louisiana Flooding

2011-05-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

I had the intention to write a post today about our vacation last week. (For those of you wondering, I did have a few posts scheduled ahead of time for while we were away.) We had a wonderful time at the beach, and we spent the weekend after we returned doing what we called vacation part deux, building a new garden box, harvesting our first tomatoes, and spending the entire weekend outside. I wanted to post pictures and talk about all of that, but I can't. Not today. It just doesn't feel right. The pictures will have to wait for another day.

You see, this is when we flooded seven years ago. In fact, I think it was this exact week in May. We had six inches of water inside our house and had to leave our home for several months for renovations. We only lost stuff, and the three of us stayed safe, but it was a challenge to go through that with a ten-month-old and during that time both my father and my father-in-law passed away. So, I'm a little twitchy this time of year. They're saying we should be fine where we are, but all of that water has to go somewhere, and we live only a couple of blocks from a river known to flood in the past. So . . . twitchy.

My heart goes out to all of those who are and will be affecting by this year's flood. They have begun opening the Morganza Spillway (slowly, to give animals and people time to evacuate) to save Baton Rouge and New Orleans from being overtaken by water, but that means that our friends east and south of us will soon be under water. Thinking about them waiting and packing up their belongings and waiting more, watching the water levels rise and knowing there is nothing they can do about it, breaks my heart. I've been there. I know the fear, the pain, the anger that goes with it. I wish there was something I could do to help, but I know that all there is to be done is for them to save what they can, keep themselves safe and out of harm's way, and remember that it's all just stuff. We got through that very difficult time together, and so will our friends and neighbors. But . . . that doesn't make this any less difficult for them.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

Super Cool Stretchy Bracelets

2011-05-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

I've been completely fascinated with these bracelets.

I struggled for weeks trying to wrap my brain around the finger knitting. We've done chains, but we hadn't attempted multi-finger knitting before. What really threw me off was how she linked together all those ridiculously long strips of fabric to make one bracelet. Well, I finally figured out that we only needed one strip of fabric to make a two-finger knit bracelet long enough for my wrist or for my kids' wrists. If I used more fingers I needed to link the fabric strips together.

Here's what I ended up with:

We each have a pink and a blue one now.

The girls love them, and I think it's something I can easily show Ella how to make on her own. Plus, I realized that this is a perfect project for the pile of t-shirts and polo shirts I salvaged from our closet. I am on a mission to repurpose all of that fabric. So far I have plans for bracelets, skirts, shorts, head scarves, and doll dresses. It makes it so much easier to let go of old clothing when you know you're turning it into something new and beautiful!

Summer Plans

2011-05-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Wow. I can't believe this year is almost finished and I'm already planning for the summer. But it is and I am. I debated a lot about where or not to school year-round. Finally, I decided that I need the break, Ella needs time for this year's information to settle in, and we want time to do some of the art, projects, and handwork we didn't fit in during the year.

Here are the links to last summer's plans:
Summer Plans (part 1)
Summer Plans (part 2)

We'll still be working on the transitioning and rhythms again this summer. We're also adding in co-op on Fridays, so we'll need to adjust our rhythm to incorporate that.

I'm keeping our existing daily rhythm in place, but instead of doing math, writing, etc. during our mail lesson time in the mornings, we're turning main lesson time into gardening, drawing, painting, knitting, and sewing time.

I ordered the Coloring with Block Crayons DVD set this week (it's on sale here through 5/15), and I'm looking forward to learning this. Seriously, look how beautiful and easy she makes it look:

Of course, there will still be reading in the afternoons, and some occasional review work with computer games and worksheets, but mostly we want to enjoy the summer and each other. And hopefully I can squeeze in a little time to do a little more detailed planning for next year and to organize and declutter the house a little more.
What are your plans for the summer? Schooling year-round? Traveling? Share so I can live vicariously through your plans! :)

To All The Mama Folk

2011-05-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day

with love,

from all of us at

Lagniappe Academy

If You Give a Girl a Skirt

2011-05-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

If you give a girl a skirt, . . .

(especially a pretty spring one made from $2 clearance fabric)

. . . she'll need a head scarf to go with it.

And once she makes a head scarf, she'll realize she has just enough fabric to make a little bag.

And once she makes that bag . . .

. . .

. . . she'll just want to make another skirt!

Learning Colors

2011-05-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

Homemade gluten-free play dough

with neon food coloring

kidsparkz color recognition pages

Dot pages from DLTK

and this list at Simply Montessori.

(I got the 'H' for Harper here.)

You can buy the really nice, expensive dot markers, or you can buy the plain old bingo markers from Dollar Tree. If you go the cheaper route, be warned: they can stain and get messy.

Pick a color for each week and do a different activity each day.

kidsparkz color manipulatives

Color Matching Cards from Homeschool Creations

I put a piece of matching cardstock on the back of each card before laminating them. She really liked these.

Chopsticks, pom-poms, and a muffin tray.

Hours-o-fun!

(Ok, maybe not hours, but quite a few minutes.)

I can now say that my child is not color blind. We were concerned for a while, but with a little play time and some time to let it all rest (that was the key), she is now a color recognition pro.

HSV Garden Challenge, Month #2

2011-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Another month, another garden check-in!

Remember how our raised bed looked last month?

Well, here it is at the end of April:

That big white bucket in the background? Filled with ants. I dug the suckers up. I learned while they didn't like the oatmeal, they just buried themselves for a while. Digging up a portion of the colony worked better than anything else. I haven't tried the molasses-yeast traps yet (as suggested in the comments), but I'm going to give that a shot very soon.

Here are some of the things that are growing really well so far:

Nasturtiums

Radishes

(The package says mild, but they still have a much stronger flavor than store-bought radishes.)

Lavender

(the bees just LOVE it)

Roma tomatoes

(bought from a local nursery)

Zucchini

(you can't quite see the little zucchini babies growing on the back of the plant, but trust me they're there)

Pole Beans

(one growing up a bamboo stick, the other two quickly outgrowing the sunflowers stalks)

We're also having lots of success with our lemon thyme and pineapple mint in containers, and this week we're trying to grow new plants from cuttings. So far so good.

Of course, they can't all be winners. I had to pull two cucumber plants (some sort of fungus killed them, I think), and the third is growing slowly. That third one does have a flower now, so I'm still holding out hope for it. Here are a few other slow-growing babies:

Cherry tomatoes

(In the tomato's defense, I planted these from seed late and didn't fertilize. That's just one of them in the back of the box. The others are smaller and spread out in other places.)

Pepper Plants

(hot and sweet peppers, none of which are growing well; those are fertilizer pellets we threw down there in desperation this week)

Lettuce

(It's just starting to grow, and I'm starting a new batch in containers in the shade that are doing better. The ones in the box are starting to grow now that some of the larger plants are shading them. Apparently, they needed more shade than I accounted for.)

Our carrots are also growing slowly, but that was to be expected. Oh, and the basil is just starting to stretch its leaves.

I borrowed Sugar Snaps and Strawberries: Simple Solutions for Creating Your Own Small-Space Edible Garden from the library a couple of weeks ago, and I really loved it. While the focus is on small, urban container gardens, the pictures were beautiful and the individual plant information in the back was extremely helpful.

The girls have lost some interest in the garden. They love to water and transplant good bugs in there, but the actual plants are less interesting. Unless, of course, there is a radish to pull. And my seven year old loves to pluck mint and lavender leaves to chew on as she hunts for new critters. I'm not pushing. There will be plenty of excitement once again when those tomatoes are ready for plucking!

Really, I'm loving the whole experience this year. Next I want a potato box. Actually, I'm thinking about filling my front garden beds with potatoes. My only hesitation is that we have sprayed for bugs in the front of the house, and I don't know how compromised that soil might be. But I have plenty of room in the back yard. In fact, every time I go out there, I'm mentally converting new corners into garden boxes.

There is even talk of chickens.

I never thought there would be talk of chickens.

Planning our School Year, pt. 2 (Monthly Planning)

2011-04-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

Continuing from the planning discussion (see the Yearly Planning post), today I'm going to show you how I'm planning for next year using my monthly planning sheets. First, I print out twelve of my monthly block planning pages. Yes, I print out twelve even though we only really "officially" school for ten months. I like to make a loose plan for the summer months (more on that in the near future), #1 so I don't forget major events, holidays, or activities, and #2 so I can plan for lots of fun handworks and art lessons in the summer (yay, mama gets to learn to knit and draw this summer!). So . . . twelve sheets.

Now, before you start to wonder if I'm overplanning things or if I'm going to fill out every subject for every month for the entire year . . . well, let me just stop you right there. No. The reason for all of this is that while I liked the flexibility I had by not overplanning this year, I didn't feel I planned enough. Or, rather, when I came up with an idea for something to do, I had no system to process that idea. No place to put printouts or notes, and lots got forgotten. (Loving my file crate!) These pages give me a place to put my ideas when they strike me. I DO NOT fill out entire planning sheets in advance. I simply took my yearly sheet and used that to transfer all of the major events and topics I knew I wanted to plan for onto the monthly sheets. I added a few things here and there as I thought of smaller details. Really, it took maybe half an hour.

Next, I took the two workbooks we're using for grammar this year, and I broke them up into chunks, to make sure we did enough pages each month to complete them over the course of the year. I wrote that on a separate sheet of paper (I'll do that for math later, too, when I pick up the Singapore Math books), and I transfered that info onto my monthly sheets. Here's an example of one of my sheets:

Most of them don't even have this much information on them yet. It's a good way for me to see at a glance if I have a busy month or not, and where I can add (or not add) activities or subject material. For example, September is a busy history/geography month, so I won't plan for any formal science. Now when I go to plan French or our handwork for the month, I'll know to plan for vocabulary lists that deal with knights and castles and maybe get some little hands helping to sew costumes for the Renaissance Fair later that fall. If I run across an idea on a website, I'll know exactly where to write notes to myself. Basically, I consider these my Brain Dump pages.

If you want to download a copy of the monthly page I made, you can find it here:
Monthly Block Planning pdf file

Next, I'll probably discuss our summer plans and save the weekly planning for later, since I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do the weekly planning yet, and since I probably won't work on any of that until later in the summer. For now, this is where my planning stops.

Easter Fun

2011-04-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

This was the first year I did food dyes with the kids, and it was . . . interesting. Actually, it wasn't too bad, except I ran into problems with dying only the egg shells. We blew out the middles so we could dye them earlier in the week (I used the middles to make egg muffins for dinner), and that was a pain and a mess. Then, I couldn't figure out how to keep the shells submerged, without making the holes bigger and potentially cracking the shells (lesson learned). So, we had little floating eyeballs pressed down with spoons and tongs.

Welcome to my mad scientist kitchen!

Some of these are brown eggs and some are white. A couple of light coats of vegetable oil kept them from getting too light and chalky.

Pretty, huh? Don't ask me which eggs are which. Except the tumeric. Wow that stuff glows!

The one in the middle actually has a tint of blue from some blueberry herbal tea. I think next year we might experiment with just fruit tea packets to make things simple.

Here is one of the felt carrots. So cute! Really, it came together quite quickly, and they are easy to chain and do the whole assembly line thing. The rest are still under construction. And yes, I am well aware that it's 7pm on Easter Eve and I have to make carrots for six little girls.

My new pink lacecap hydrangea baby.

This has nothing to do with Easter, but we bought it this week and planted it this morning.

Because, of course, I didn't have enough to do this week.

Happy Easter!!!

Balance? What's That?

2011-04-19T05:34:00.000-07:00

Yep, still enjoying the great outdoors. And the ants are back (grrr). Since I'm sooo good at balancing things around here, I'm making these cutie felt carrots for the girls for Easter. The items I was originally going to make for them never worked out (do NOT ask me about tweezers and turning tiny bunny fabric shapes), so I thought the carrots would be cute. I've never attempted felt food before, but this seems like a perfect time to try. Yes, five days before Easter. Did I mention I don't even have orange felt at the moment?

So . . . yeah, balance. I struggle with that probably more than even the rhythm thing. Hop on over to the Homeschool Classroom today for more about my lack of balance, and how, in the end, I'm kind of ok with it.

Spring Blog Break

2011-04-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

This is pretty much what our days have been like. Lots of time outside. Running in the backyard. Puttering in the garden. Collecting caterpillars. Playing with friends at the park. Not much time for writing posts. A rainy day would cure that, but we are way behind on rainfall totals this month. Make that this year. Leading off the previous drought year. Rain would be good. For now, sunshine is good. Real blog posts can wait. Not too long. I have lots to say. :)

*** Update: The oatmeal helped eliminate a large number of the fire ants in the garden. I think the grits just made them move to another corner. I'm going to put another round of oatmeal on the remaining ants and hope that they aren't just hiding deep in the box somewhere.
By the way, whoever said that cedar deters pests LIED.
I'm just saying.

Grrr . . . Ants!

2011-04-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry, folks. This is going to be a grumpy post. Stupid, stinky fire ants have taken over my beautiful raised garden bed. I've been fighting them off for about a week now. The peppermint oil spray helped with the aphids, but the ants don't seem to mind it at all. I even tried pulling leaves from the lavender and mint plants and placing them on and around where the ants were congregating. Nothing. This morning I found a large mound in that corner of the box, right around one of my tomato plants (which has little baby Romas on it . .. . YAY!). I'm not concerned for the plants (the ants don't seem to do anything but eat other bugs in the area, but I can't let my kids freely dig up our radishes, and even I don't want to dig around in there even with gloves. A friend suggested oatmeal or grits, which I've heard either kills them or does nothing but provide more food for them. Since I'm already feeding them, I figured it was worth a shot, so I have oatmeal back there and a backup box of grits ready to go. Anyone have suggestions in case those don't work either?

Planning our School Year, pt. 1 (Year)

2011-04-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Can you smell it in the air? No, I'm not talking about the pollen (we won't speak of pollen, still fighting a lingering sinus infection from spring allergies). I'm talking about the scent of frenzied homeschoolers everywhere getting a jump planning for next year. Personally, I like to do some big picture planning in the spring. I take time to evaluate your current year, define some goals for next year, and come up with a basic outline for the year to come. That way I can order materials now, leaving plenty of time to look them over and do my detailed planning over the summer.

If you're looking for a good overview on how to plan a homeschool year, check out The Magic Onions' post on Planning for the Year. Even if you don't use any Waldorf elements, this still describes a good approach to planning. Even before we started incorporating more Waldorf ideas, I liked to plan in monthly blocks. Last year I took Donna Young's Ruled calendar and filled in the major themes, holidays, seasons, or subjects I wanted to address each month. This year, I took an idea from Melissa Nielson (I think she explained in a video that she got the idea from Barbara Dewey) and divided a sheet of paper into twelve squares. Each square gets a month, and I start by listing major holidays, birthdays (just immediate family), and seasons. No forgetting those anymore. Then I fill in any major themes, subjects, or topics to be studied each month. That way, when I go to schedule individual subjects, I'll have a clear picture of which months are busier than others, so I don't schedule an elaborate unit or try to teach a complex new skill in a super busy month.

This is the easy part. I'm a big picture person. A forest kind of gal. This is fun for me. Even if you're not big on planning, just doing this will make a big difference in giving your year some structure. In fact, I planned this year (our first year) with just a yearly outline like this one. I didn't go into any more detail until I got down to planning one month or one week at a time during the year. And we did just fine. It gives you structure AND flexibility. Gotta love that forest.

Ok, so the second part of my yearly planning is a little new for me. After reading about the File Crate System explained on Rockin' Granola, I thought this would work really well for me. I was having trouble making my big binder work the way I wanted it to. And I had a file drawer with folders for different subjects, but I still ended up not knowing what to do with certain papers. And then there were the endless projects and worksheets I'd find filed months AFTER the time I wanted to do them. away So, we're giving the file crate a shot.

Basically, the idea is to start with twelve hanging folders, one for each month. Then you can add whatever folders you want for whatever else you use regularly. I added a couple for preschool worksheets and file folder games for the little one, and I moved some out our subject folders up there so I can have easy access to them. The folders or binders we use regularly just stand upright in the front.

The best part of this system? When I find a cute poem that would be great for the fall, I can file it immediately in the October folder. Those Mardi Gras color sheets we didn't get to this year? I put them right back in the March folder . . . no wait, they went in February, since Mardi Gras will be earlier next year. That email I printed with the ideas for a spring seasonal table? In the March folder. Now, when I do my monthly planning, those papers and ideas will all be there ready to go. I won't have to look through math and language arts AND French folders to find potential work for each month. So perfect.

Next week, I'll share my monthly planning sheet and show you what it looks like in these early stages.

Eat Local: Candy-Striped Beets and Bok Choy

2011-04-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

You gotta love a good farmers market. Aside from showcasing great food for . . you know . . . eating, it's a great place to get ideas for veggies to grow next year.

Check out the gorgeous bok choy and beets we picked up this weekend.

But wait, those aren't just any beets. You see, the added bonus of going to a farmers market is that you get to learn about all kinds of new vegetables, like these chioggia, or candy-striped, beets.

Aren't they gorgeous?

The stripes will bleed when fully cooked, so I only blanched them and served them chilled on salad. The beets are mild and sweet, and they were a huge hit. Then came the bok choy.

There is something special about buying food that still has dirt on it. And maybe a few bug bites in the leaves. And knowing that you're eating food that was pulled from the ground within days of eating it . . . so nice. And when you have something that special, you want to make it the star of your meal. So, simple beets and bok choy became a meal by themselves. Well, almost by themselves. The beets, as I said, were served on top of a simple green salad, and I stir fried the bok choy with garlic, soy sauce, and peanuts (I would have preferred cashews, but we had peanuts in the cabinet) and served it over rice. Simple and lovely.

Bonus: I'm sautéing the beet greens to serve with tonight's dinner.

How Does Your Garden Grow?: HSV Garden Challenge, Week One

2011-03-31T05:31:00.000-07:00

Lookie, lookie! Stuff Grew!!!

Sorry I don't have a good closeup shot for you. I gave Ella my old digital camera, so she took the photos for this week. The only closeups we have are of the marigolds we just put in. Speaking of marigolds, the seeds we planted never came up. We put some directly in the bed and sowed some indoors, and . . . nothing. I have never failed with marigolds. Shocking. But everything else is doing well!

In the back, we have cherry tomatoes, bell peppers (not doing so well since this surprise cold snap), cucumbers, lemon & lime basil, parsley, and pole beans planted with sunflowers to climb the stalks. They're all doing well, but we planted indoors late, so we got antsy and picked up some roma tomato plants from the local nursery. What a steal: six plants, each at least a foot tall, for only $2.49. And they're filled with flowers, so we're looking forward to an early crop while our cherry tomatoes grow at their own pace. Up front we have tons of radishes, carrots, and lettuce (not doing well, I think they need more shade), along with a couple of zucchini and jalapeno plants. Sprinkled here and there are giant zinnia seeds. In the front planter we have tons of nasturtiums and some dill (for the baby caterpillars!) and off to the sides (and, unfortunately, out of this shot) are our planters with pineapple mint, lemon thyme, and lavender (with flower shoots ready to bloom).

Our other big project is to dig up the front flower beds, and we're halfway done. Now we're researching what plants we want in there, because most of it is completely shaded, which limits our choices quite a bit. The good thing is that Ella and I are learning about all kinds of new plants and flowers.

I put together a binder with all of our notes and extra seeds, but I also got Ella involved last week with creating a journal entry for each plant we're growing. I'll show you how we put that together next time, once we get it all in order. It's a good way to keep track of when things are planted and when they mature. It's also a good way for the kids to see it as a science experiment. Did different vegetables grow better with different companion plants? Did more/less shade help a particular plant? Did the earlier crop grow better or worse than the later crop of the same vegetable?

So far we're really enjoying our first gardening experience. Next up this week (along with the garden journal . . .
Does peppermint oil keep those pesky aphids away?

Drool

2011-03-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child

The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasons

Oh Amazon, dear Amazon, why do you tease me so? See, this is why I don't look at the stupid recommendations. Please stop recommending things I can't have. Yet. It just ticks me off. Plus, while I really, really, really want a lot of the patterns in the Sew Liberated book, I'm only going to want a baby to wear all those itty bitty cutie creations. Good thing I have a nephew on the way! ;-)

Spring Pretties

2011-03-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

The Girls - new flower fairy friends

Lavender and lentil filled bean bags for spring (in the 3 yr old's hands)

the 7 yr old with her bean bags

eating outside at the new table

GF Vegan Muffaletta!

Ok, so nothing to do with spring, but I found this one on my old camera.
Those girls and their cuteness!!!

This Week I Am . . .

2011-03-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

Watching the girls transport ladybugs into the garden. We have quite a little colony living in the parsley just in front of the tomato seedlings. Bring it on aphids, we dare you!

Continuing our 40 Days of Nice. It's going well. And I've only had to pull from it (for myself) a few times.

Finished with my mom's taxes. Found three white eyebrow hairs the night we e-filed. Coincidence?

Tired, but happy. We dug out half of our front beds and we're researching all kinds of shade plants. I've never had much luck before with all the full shade areas, and I'm determined to get it right AND add some color out there. Plus some shade-tolerant herbs. Too much?

Waiting. My grandfather is in the hospital today with pneumonia and my sister is due with her second baby very soon.

I'll have photos (spring flower fairies for our gnome friends!) and a real post soon.

For now, coffee . . .

Dislike

2011-03-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

Despite the title, the 40 Days of Nice challenge is going well. I'll do an official update on that after we have a few more days under our belts. You know, to make sure all this nice isn't a fluke.

Today, I want to share with you my least favorite chore. We all have that one chore we loathe, right? And disliking it doesn't make us lazy or inferior beings. With all that we do, we get to have at least one chore we dislike . . . and that sometimes gets put off for other people to do. Or not do. Then it gets out of hand. And we hate it even more. For me, that chore is folding laundry. Hate. It. I have no good reason for this feeling. In fact, when I have a day when I stay on top of it and all the laundry gets put away on the same day it got washed, I feel really good. But making myself do it . . . there has to be some kind of magic involved.

Ok, let's put this in perspective. I do a lot of things others might cringe at. I don't bat an eye when it comes to cleaning toilets. I cook almost everything from scratch. I would bake gluten-free bread every day if we actually ate that much. Heck, I cleaned poop out of carpet yesterday. (stepped in and ground in, doesn't get much worse than that)

And I still hate folding laundry more than that lovely task.

I tried the whole fly lady load-a-day thing. Pffft . . . with towels and sheets and diapers, I wash something every day anyway. And I'm completely fine with that. Doesn't help with the folding, though. And seriously, since I hate it so much, the thought of having to fold laundry every single day is enough to drive me insane. I've tweaked my system this spring, so I'm now washing clothes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Yesterday, I folded and put away the last of the clothes. Yay me! But guess what? Yep, it's Tuesday. Lather, rinse, repeat. Blech.

All this nice has apparently made me cranky. Now you are obligated to share your least favorite chore so I don't feel like a totally lazy lima bean whining about my clean clothes. Share, or I will share with you my clean clothes to fold.

xgfx

2011-03-11T06:28:00.000-08:00

I am absolutely THRILLED to have recently found xgfx, a gluten-free vegan community recipe hub. I found a ton of new food blogs to follow (like this one and this one), and each site has its own gf vegan flavor. One of the founders is the genius behind those delicious recipes at Manifest Vegan (seriously, Thin Mintz), so, you know, street cred right there.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, you can find me at The Homeschool Classroom this week talking about labels and how homeschooling has saved us from an endless cycle of paperwork and evaluations.

Happy weekend!

40 Days of Nice

2011-03-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

Along with my shunning of Mardi Gras the past few years (gf king cake aside, of course), I have also ignored the entire season of lent for quite some time. As a teenager, I remember struggling with the concept as I watched everyone around me "fast" with crawfish boils and seafood platters every Friday. But dang it, they gave up cake for lent, cut them some slack, right? It didn't make sense to me then, and it doesn't make sense to me now; however, I have enough distance and clarity now to make this time what I want it to be. Lent is a time of reflection and renewal, leading up to some sort of rebirth at Easter. I think no matter what your spiritual leanings might be, this can be a lovely tradition to observe.

This year, I have issued a decree. A 40 Days of Nice decree. As a family, we are all going to work on being nicer (to ourselves, one another, the earth . . . the whole shebang). Anyone caught doing something decidedly not nice will have to draw a slip of paper from the Nice Bucket. In the Nice Bucket are orders for random acts of niceties: hug someone, write a thank-you note, sing a song to someone, hide a love note for someone in the house, clean something, put away something someone else forgot to put away, etc. No argument. You just have to do what the paper says. A nice alternative to punishment, I think.

So far we've already had to dig into the bucket a couple of times, and the results are . . . nice. But seriously, if someone says something awful to someone else, then they have to sing a song to them (especially if it is a silly, cute, made-up Harper song), it completely diffuses the situation. We all smile and move on.

I'm also going to be spending some time being nice to myself. Reading (nothing new there). Reflecting. Writing my morning pages (maybe not in the morning, but writing them nevertheless). GF veganish goodness in, exercise to get the toxins out. For the next forty days, I'll be pretty much bathing in Nice.

DIY Art Drying Rack

2011-03-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

Mardi who? Normally, I'm all over expressions of my Cajun culture; however, I just can't get into Mardi Gras. For one, the hubby's off doing his musician thing, so the girls and I are left here to ~~drive each other crazy~~ enjoy some quality girl bonding time. So, instead of mixing it up with the crowds and the noise, it's spring cleaning week here in the Lagniappe House! We're already behind (big shocker there, right?), but we're cutting through the clutter and giving everything a good wash and wipe (yep, even behind and underneath the big stuff in all those gross places). With the heat the last few weeks, I've seen an awful lot of buggies. And spring buggies means buggie eggs and buggie babies, so time to wash all the curtains, cushions, and crevices.

While we're having . . . um . . . fun, I figured I'd leave you with this quick little tip for drying artwork. I heard this idea a long time ago and never had the chance to use it, and now that I have the time I really wish I could remember where I first read about doing this. Anyway, we've been painting every week, and we needed a place for our artwork to dry until it was ready to hang or get stored. Enter homemade drying racks . . .

Easy as three stones between your painting boards. You don't even have to move the wet papers themselves. Just place three stones in a sort of triangle along the edges of the bottom board. If you use three stones instead of four in the corners, you don't have to worry about your stones being different sizes, since a three-point structure is much more stable than a four-point one (think, wobbly bar stool). You could also use shells, small plastic containers, or anything else you can find around the house if you don't have enough stones. Place the second painting board on top, and continue like this until you have them all stacked on top of one another. Voila! A compact, portable art drying rack. Happy painting! :)

Isn't She Lovely?

2011-03-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Meet the new garden box mentioned in Monday's post . . .

garden markers by Ella

Lovely Lavender

tomato & pepper seedlings

Now, here's a curious thing . . .

Ok, please tell me these are lizard eggs. We found tons of them in an old pot in the back of the shed. They're about maybe half an inch long, and we have tons of little anoles all over the place. Please tell me I'm not breeding snakes in the shed. Please, please, please don't tell me that. I found a little brown one under some leaves the other day and nearly gave up on nature altogether.

So . . . lizard eggs, right?

The Three Billygoats Gruff and Mean Calypso Joe

2011-03-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

Last week I talked about bringing more storytelling into our days. I also talked about how this was difficult for me, and how I'm much more comfortable reading something from a book. Surprisingly, the transition from reading to telling was much easier than I thought. Probably because I've had a little training.

You see, there are certain books that just beg to be told. Acted out. Performed. And, once you've read them a million and one times, you can easily tell them by heart. You know, while you're waiting for your kid to potty. Again.

As a kid, I LOVED the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. I used to ask my grandmother to read it every time we drove down to Houma to visit. I didn't care about any of the other stories in that fairy tale book. Just the goats. I remember going down there when she was in the hospital and after she had died, and I'd sit alone in a room and flip through pages (I always had such trouble locating it in that book), desperately searching for my favorite story. And I read it to myself. Over and over again. It was comforting, and I guess I still carry it with me in my heart today.

One day when Ella was about Harper's age, we happened upon a new version of the story in our library. Three Billygoats Gruff and Mean Calypso Joe was probably the most fun I had ever had reading a picture book. And Ella loved it, too. We read that book every night and several times a day. We checked it out every chance we got (probably should have bought the darn thing a long time ago). Then, she got a little older, we stopped borrowing it, and I forgot all about it. Until a few weeks ago.

This time, I checked it out for Harper. Same joy. For all of us. Even Ella remembered the story, and she doesn't have much of a memory at all for anything beyond the past few months. It's fun to do the voices and the accent and we can all easily recite the dialogue from memory. (Plus, you'll never find a better way to talk to little kids about manners. You know, without pounding in some boring lesson on the stuff.) It's so funny to listen to Harper run around shouting, "Hey mon! Who's dat crossin' me bridge? Makin' all da racket? Disturbin' me sleep?"

Now, of course when we do actual storytelling with the more serious fairy tales, we don't use crazy voices or accents or Disney-fy anything. I just . . . tell it. In other words, the story tells itself. Still, it's fun to go wild and have fun with a story now and then. Especially one that we all enjoy.

Man, I love me some Jamaican goats.

Weekend Goodness

2011-02-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

Guess what we did this weekend.

We read. A lot.

Then we bought some wood.

Thanks to Ana White for the idea to use cedar pickets instead of hardwood. Cheaper and I got me some red cedar now. Yee-haw!

Instead of standing out with the drunks at the Mardi Gras parades, we spent Saturday afternoon building a beautiful 2'x8' garden box. Oh, and she's definitely a beaut!

Next came the seeds. There are more than this, but I just wanted to show you how I store them. We had all of these old plastic picture things that go in binders, and the seed packets fit in the PERFECTLY. I'm so excited. I can keep all my extra seeds and our plans and notes all in one place.

Awesomeness.

Oh, and after a lot of frustration, I have decided that I am ordering seeds next year.

'Nuff said.

I'll have pictures of the final project later. Crappy weather is settling in tonight, and I didn't want to put the poor seeds out to suffer on their first night all alone, so I'll take a nice picture of the box with all the garden markers (courtesy of Ella) later in the week.