Road Trip (Or School Trip)

One of the great things I love about homeschooling is all the different ways we are able to bring learning alive, and it never hurts when you can kill two birds with one stone. In honor of finishing a certain Little House book that has to do with Pa helping out with the railroad, I thought it would be fun if “we” could actually take a train ride. So we packed up the family and traveled back in time to the 1860′s.It’s would be the first time for The Little’s to ever ride a “real” train.Only we were not the only passengers on this trip, we were sharing a train ride with union soldiers who needed to get to their next post.The scenery alone was worth the trip, but we happened to get caught in the middle of a battle.

If the train ride was not enough Miss Sky was able to tour a real working grist meal producing corn meal.

 The Little’s had so much fun and can’t wait till our next train ride.

On the way home we had our first ,up close, sighting of turkey vultures.

And Papa couldn’t believe his luck what he spotted.

A whole parking lot filled with cars from the 20′s.

With the earliest dating 1915 all in mint condition. I mean some still had cranks it was SO cool.

I could not have taught a better history lesson.

And completely unrelated, last night we had a visit from Unc’ Billy opossum.

It was a very productive weekend indeed.

Peace

Wordless Wednesday

Sewing Help

I thought I would post some videos that helped me with my hand sewing. This lady has several great tutorials including how to sew buttons and snaps. http://www.monkeysee.com/play/2144-how-to-sew-by-hand

Here is a great tutorial for the blanket stitch.<a href=”“>

Handmade Holiday 2010, Finding What You Are Good At.

I have to start out this post by saying  when I first started on the path of Waldorf Education I was very intimidated by the knitting, you see because I do not know how to. I have tried to teach myself and even had people lined up to teach me but they always fell through. In the end I give up and get discouraged so that nothing gets done.

I have since come to peace with what I don’t know and started focusing on what I do know. I love to be in the kitchen baking homemade goodness for my family, and I always find myself up for a challenge like mastering making bagels and now adding homemade tortillas to my can do list.  There are so many gift ideas from the kitchen alone to fill in those blanks of what to give, and do not forget about the ones you don’t eat like playdough. http://dkjsv05.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/run-run-as-fast-as-you-can/  And salt dough ornaments, http://crafts.kaboose.com/saltdoughgifttoppers.html ,or what about a kit with everything needed to make a volcano. http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/buildavolcano.htm

How about homemade finger paints , you could decorate the outside of baby food jars filled with the different colors,

http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_42.html#Cornstarch Fingerpaintor to be funny make lumps of coal and fill with money.http://coffee-break-whatever-craft-time.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-make-dinosaur-eggs-or-treasure.html

As a child my mother tought me how to hand sew. She use to run a home business selling creative circle (do they even exist anymore?) I have since taught myself more complex stitches and sewing is something I truly enjoy. This is where I have placed my focus in teaching handwork to The Little’s. http://dkjsv05.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/audio-books-and-handwork/  This post makes me think of making our own audio book ,maybe take turns as a family reading a chapter book and record it for someone special (Dad this would be a great idea for the girls ,they would love to hear you read them a story . )

 Again I myself can get lost in all the beautiful gift ideas.

I also have found a love for painting and not just on canvas.

( Above some of my first projects, I like to think I have gotten better.)

As for Papa , he has found a love for woodworking and like me in the kitchen loves a challenge.

(The very first treehouse given to Little Sis for her third birthday and still her most favorite toy to play with.)

I am one who believes we “all” were born creative (and for those of you who think  “Well not me”, I failed art class in high school.  No joke really). 

It all comes down to finding something that “you “enjoy doing and to wrap your focus around that this year for a homemade holiday. Oh and there is no shame in calling in reinforcements, http://www.etsy.com/,after all I don’t know where I would be without them.

Wishing everyone  stress free holidays this year. Peace

Food 4 Thought Friday

Do Children Need Toys?

http://www.becomingminimalist.com/2010/04/14/why-fewer-toys-will-actually-benefit-your-kids/

” Kids who have been raised to think the answer to their desires can be bought with money have believed the same lie as their parents.”

Sometimes the truth stings a bit.

Wishing everyone a great weekend.

A Perfect Combination

Sam Cooke playing in the background,

 homemade cookies for a snack,

and a day spent on the couch with another “marvelous” story.

Need I say more ?

Preserving The Harvest

This year we have been very blessed with a wonderful harvest, so most of this weekend was spent preserving “summer” to pull out during those bleak and dreary days of winter.

It was a feast for the senses.

Starting with one of our favorites.  http://www.food.com/recipe/freezer-salsa-24527

So far we have managed to put back 5 jars of salsa, 2 jars of tomato sauce, 3 more jars of cushaw squash, 4 loaves of zucchini bread, blueberry pancakes, and blueberry muffins.

How about you , how is your summer’s harvest coming along?

Wordless Wednesday

Puberty coming earlier for U.S. girls: study

http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/us_puberty_earlier

Um maybe it is from all the hormones in our food. Hormones is our milk, in our beef, in our chicken, in our pork, in our………

How To Tell Stories To Children

While downloading stories to use during our school year I came across this book by Sara Cone Bryant. http://librivox.org/how-to-tell-stories-to-children-and-some-stories-to-tell-by-sara-cone-bryant/

I thought I would share. I LOVE LibriVox.org not only for my Little’s but with everything else I  read sometimes it is nice when someone else does it, especially while I do dishes .