pounding flowers onto fabric

Yesterday the girls, a friend and I took a rainy walk around the garden to collect flowers and leaves for another science (and art) project. I had some inexpensive white cotton fabric that we cut into small squares and placed over our flower petals and leaves which the girls had artfully arranged on a piece of white scrap paper. Then the girls (and West - this was the part he wanted to participate in) pounded away on the fabric until the "juice" from the flowers and leaves bled through onto the fabric. Beautiful! They used tweezers to gently remove the leftover flower bits from the fabric. Next they stitched their fabric into little pillows while watching a DK Eyewitness DVD on plants from the library.

schooling in the sunshine

Oh, how much I love that we homeschool on days like this - beautiful, warm, sunny days when Shane is off work and we're home all together. Learning, playing, working and being together as a family outdoors. Even my mom (who lives next door) ducked through the garden fence between our yards and joined us on our blankets for the afternoon.

Side note: For science the girls and I wrapped up our study of the human body before spring break and today started our plant study. We'll spend the spring studying plants using Green Thumbs and other books in addition to lots of nature study. Today we planted leeks, flowers and other seeds in indoor trays, made and recorded what we did in our awesome new gardening notebooks (found free here) and sketched in our nature journals which we've had since we first started homeschooling four years ago. Also, if you're wondering why we're crazy enough to homeschool or want more information about how it works for us, this article says it all and we school very similar to how she describes.

cozy and crafty

Our monthly 4H meetings at our house are always the highlight of our month. We have seven homeschooled girls in our club (Silver Creek Homesteaders) and Mira, Annah and I have fun planning our meetings and getting things ready. This week it was absolutely pouring rain outside and it was a perfect afternoon to spend painting and decoupaging wooden eggs purchased from this etsy shop and making these homemade pretzels. The girls had a lot of fun and I so enjoyed being with this group of giggling and so very sweet young girls.

montessori inspired activities for little ones

Now that West is almost two, I've been putting a lot of thought into how to homeschool with him in the room and how I want to structure his time. As tempting as it sounds to stick him in front of Sesame Street so I can do math and language arts with the girls in peace, that's just not something I'm comfortable with. And having him on my lap, crying or grabbing at the girls' pencils while trying to work math problems isn't an acceptable option either. I really want him to feel like he has something worthwhile to do too and that we don't just push him to the side. So the last few weeks I've put a lot of time into rearranging our school area and shelves to incorporate special spaces for both the boys and age appropriate "work" activities for them.

I've also been doing a lot of reading up on Montessori methods as I've planned all along to homeschool preschool with a Montessori approach. I love how it builds self esteem, initiative and independence and gives the child something meaningful to do rather than something to just distract them. It doesn't hurt that I now have my own advisor as my sister is studying to be a Montessori teacher and just got a job in a Montessori children's house (AKA preschool) in Portland.

Here are just of the few practical life activities I've created for West to be rotated weekly or as needed.

Garlic press sponges (as seen in photo above and an idea I got from this blog). Saturate sponges with water and let child squeeze into a bowl.

Discovery baskets - also seen in photo above. These are baskets with 30-50 various objects in each basket. For example one is a nature basket with shells, feathers, small pieces of driftwood, etc. and another is random, interesting metal kitchen utensils.

Pins and pin cushion. West loves this one. Bowl of pins and toddler puts pins (they learn to be careful real quick) into pin cushion.

Cracking nuts

Juicing an orange

Clothes washing and mini clothesline. Perfect for a warm spring day or summer. We also do it inside in the winter but without wet clothes. West enjoys hanging the clothes on his mini clothesline strung between two chairs in the living room with little clothespins. This keeps him busy for at least 30 minutes.

Drying dishes

Polishing with Bi-Carb Soda paste and small felt cloths.

Coffee grinding with mini grinder

Grating (with mini grater) nutmeg or wine corks

Beading with big wood beads and pipe cleaners

Sewing/lacing cards

Pouring/transferring water (with towels under tray and under his chair)

Peeling (with mini peeler) carrots

Making play dough with mom

Nuts and bolts activity

Hammering and nails (child set)

Tea time party (setting up - carefully - real porcelain children's tea set) and serving "tea"

Sweeping and mopping. West uses his children's broom every morning while helping the girls with chores.

Musical instruments basket

For Silas, I created a special little corner for him with a thick foam mat, a mirror at his level and I made a few mobiles for him to interact with. The one above was inspired by this blog and I have some other ring style ones that he can use to pull on and also kick. I also have a basket with a few special grasping toys and teethers.

If you're looking for more ideas to involve your toddler in meaningful activities this site and this post are great resources and this WSJ article is also very interesting. Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years is also a great book to have on hand.

farm chores

Mira (10) has her first job. She's been "hired" to be a farm helper for some friends when they are out of town. They walked her through the daily morning and evening chores, left her with a typed list, told her she'd be paid $10 a day and left for the beach.

She's taken this new job very seriously, pouring daily over the checklist which she put in a special protective cover. I've been so impressed with how responsible she's been and how she's insisted on doing it all herself, even though that means doing things outside her comfort zone like having goats bigger than her jumping on her. It will get interesting in the fall when the goat has its baby and milking in on the chore list.

{this moment}

{this moment} - Joining with Amanda today for this Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

work as play

Having a toddler (and a boy) has been exhausting and a real test of my patience.  As West nears his second birthday, I've been thinking a lot about how to incorporate him into our family routine and give him the attention and focused activities I think he needs. 

 I've tried setting up blocks, playing cars (complete with fancy roads, houses and trees to add to the "fun"), various toddler toys, puzzles and games. Yet, again and again he turns from the toys - the stuff - to follow me around and break a few eggs in the process.

 

I've come to a point where I've stopped trying to distract him with toys, forts and puzzles and instead find ways to incorporate him into what I'm doing.  If I'm cleaning a toilet you can bet there's nothing he'd rather do than have a turn with that scrub brush, or if I'm changing Silas' diaper West is ready with the wipes.

His self confidence is unwavering and his determination impressive. As I've started to allow him to participate more in my basic routines our rhythm feels natural and I've come to appreciate his constant companionship (and even his help at times!). I've stopped feeling badly because he doesn't play with cars or toys like other boys his age, and I am seeing the value of allowing life and meaningful work to be his play.

 I know this isn't a new concept, I've long been a Montessori fan, but I never really understood, until now, how important purposeful play is to the young child. This, this and this article are great reads for how to facilitate meaningful work for toddlers.

 And guess what? When West's second birthday rolls around next month he won't be getting any cars, blocks or Lego's. Nope, he's getting his own little broom and dustpan and maybe some child size gardening tools.

Side note: the little pants the boys are wearing are just a few of the Quick Change reversible trousers I made over the weekend from Anna Maria Horner's book,  Handmade Beginnings. The sweaters are the 5 Hour Baby and the 7 Hour Toddler sweaters. Details on Ravelry. Oh, and the cute little mini poster can be downloaded for free from Sara Jane Studios here.

finger knitting and fabric play

For this week's Yarn Along with Ginny, my girls wanted to get in on it and show how they like to knit. In the above photos Annah demonstrates oh-so-easy finger knitting. Simply weave the yarn back and forth through four fingers and back again so each side of each finger is wrapped. Then lay the yarn across the fingers about half way up the finger above the loops and pull the loops on the fingers up and over the working yarn that is laid across the fingers. It's that easy! It's a great way to teach the basics of how knitting works.

This week the girls also pulled out their fabric paper doll set that my mom made them. These darling cloth paper dolls are made from a yard of this fabric. Simply cut out the dolls, back with iron on interfacing and flannel and create a play mat with flannel or chenille.

As far as my own knitting, I'm still working on my Annabel sweater in quince & co. mustard yellow, but in the meantime I needed a quick and easy project because the rows of garter stitch on the sweater is pretty monotonous. This domesticated wrap skirt was just the thing. It took me about 30 minutes to make and I love the fabric - the yellow even matches the Annabel. The great thing about this skirt is that when one side gets dirty (or covered in spit-up as happens to me way too many times a day) you simply untie, twist the skirt around and retie (see the two photos above). And you have an entirely new skirt! I made this with two 3/4 yard pieces of fabric and I bought bias tape instead of making my own. You can find the directions to make your own here.