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Category: raising girls
What’s the perfect way to use the adorable pom poms we’ve been seeing everywhere? Make a birth-announcement-wreath for the front door, of course! (Perfect for my brand new niece xxoo) Here’s how I did it: To make the pom poms: 1.Wrap yarn around and around your fingers, until you’re happy with the thickness of it. (Pulling the yarn from the inside of the roll makes it much easier, by the way!) 2. Tie a piece of yarn around the bundle, in a tight knot. 3. Snip all…
We got new school books the other day. Please excuse the lonely little cotton stem; he needs friends. Yep. In January. Adds a little excitement to the drab days of winter. I mean, who doesn’t need a little sparkle amidst the gray? We’re conditioned to think that our students must begin a new textbook in September and be finished with it by May. And sometimes it works out that way… sometimes, it doesn’t. The reality is, a child might speed through a book because they love it and be ready for the next…
I remember where I was when I was first confronted with the truth. I’ll bet you do, too. A cousin of mine (who was much older and wiser, six months older than I was) informed me as we stood in my grandparents’ house after Sunday dinner that, of course she “didn’t believe in Santa Claus anymore…there’s no way he could get to all those houses in one night.” I stood there, stunned. She had a point there. It’s a funny story now, but at the time, I…
Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the bursts of autumn color are winding down, I wanted to share one last little bit of the season, because **it’s my favorite.** 🙂 And also because I did something new with the kids this year that I love. I really wanted to foster an attitude of gratitude with them, so I made them think a little bit. Y’all. This is one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. It’s not the perfectly printed or stenciled banner that I may or may not have had…
Homeschooling is… having to stop and think about what grade you’re in, because… it really. doesn’t. matter. Are you shocked? Homeschooling is having to stop and think about what grade your children are in, even though you are their mommy AND their teacher. Are you appalled? I might’ve been too, once. But that was before 15 years of homeschooling. Actually, home educating sounds so much better, doesn’t it? Use that one when talking to the most critical critics. 😉 My children get asked this all the time. Sometimes they answer right…
Last week, as I was using this little thingy for the bazillionth time, I realized I love it just as much now as I did the first time I ever used it with a student- 20 years ago!- and I thought maybe I should share this little goodie with you. If you have ever tried to teach a child to tell time, you know that it can be a LITtle frustrating (for them, of course.) There’s a short hand, long hand, the three is also a fifteen, the six means thirty, and then there’s the problem…
This summer, we’ve had fun speeding down waterslides, eating watermelon (an absolute summer requirement around here), going to the park, watching fireworks on the 4th, playing volleyball (they play; I watch), gardening (mostly, we grow weeds), and working on projects (fun for me, anyway!) Active things. Fun things. But today I looked outside, and saw this… Maitland & Wyland (brothers) and Bekah & Joe (siblings) and I thought…THAT is how summer days are meant to be spent. At least some of them. Green grass, warm sun, a breeze, and leisure. Permission to be lazy. To…
Homeschooling is… making connections. and I love when that happens. when our history lesson becomes our story time becomes our writing lesson becomes our art becomes our science lesson becomes our math activity becomes a project becomes a character lesson becomes a gift to someone becomes a field trip becomes family time…becomes life. and after all…isn’t that what learning is all about? In honor of connections I want…
Sara’s birthday “bike-with-a-basket” with hydrangeas from my grandparents’ yard We always kick off the summer around here with a birthday. Our last “official” day of school is always on or about June 12th, my daughter’s birthday. Her last day is the 11th, however, since everyone in our school gets to take their birthday as a holiday. This year, her party-planning sister honored her wish for a tea party by surprising her with one. Her cake-baking-and-decorating sister made a cake. It was a simple affair…
We’ve been busy the past couple of weeks, busy with a (mostly) childhood illness: chicken pox. No, it was not fun for them. But this cloud had its silver lining. It forced us to slow down and focus on simple things, the way sickness always does: comforting a miserable child just by holding them, letting them sleep on your bed, running baths in the middle of the day, and special mom-and-me movie times while everyone else is out for the evening. Another upside to this downtime was watching them practice compassion as one child put a…
