Snack time!

Monday

Reading books. . .

sorting planets. . .

connecting dots. . .

blasting off. . .

blowing bubbles. . .


and, enjoying the wildlife.

Trip to the library

Yesterday brought sun, gardening and Earth Hour. Today brought rain and a trip to the library. Here are some of the books in our book basket that I will be enjoying with J and B this week.

The Story of the Root Children is and old favorite. We've read The Happy Hedgehog before but not for a while. How Mama Brought the Spring is new to me. It looks wonderful. In the story the Mama makes cheese blintzes and there is a recipe at the back of the book. We'll make the blintzes this week.

The Robins in Your Backyard is a sweet book about our feathery friends. Frogs has some spectacular photographs. Linnea's Windowsill Garden is a favorite, full of fun activities and information.

I also picked up Living Sunlight-How Plants Bring the Earth To Life(amazing illustrations), the classic, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck and First Spring (an Innu tale).

Another book on frogs, sheep shearing and Diary of a Worm. I will be using this book next week for a chemistry class I am leading (we will be making worms as we learn about polymers). More on that next week. There are few things better in life than returning from the library with arms full of books!

Earth Hour

Last night we participated in Earth Hour. All across the world people turned off their lights from 8:30-9:30 as a symbolic vote for Earth(a vote to take action against climate change). We spent Earth Hour first by taking a walk around the block carrying lanterns. When we got home the kids got into their pj's and we gathered in our candle filled room to read The Story of the Root Children. Then it was off to bed. What a wonderful night!

House for sale!

All fairies must be pre-approved!

He's got the whole world in his hands(or B's taken up felting) and pattern blocks

Half Trees

There has been a long standing joke in my family about how I start projects and never finish them. I have a mitten with no thumb, a sweater with no back, J's bureau is painted(all except the legs), piles of mulch sit in my driveway all summer, the wheelbarrow is left in the yard full of leaves. Then there is the half tree. I decided a year or so ago to paint a mural in my basement. I was full of enthusiasm. For about a day. When I got tired of painting I stopped, put the paints away and moved on to something else(probably the garden). I didn't even remove the blue painter's tape from around the woodwork. Every day when I go down those basement stairs I see that tree and I am confronted with my lack of sticktoitiveness. And, I feel bad. So. . . this week there is rain in the forecast and I am determined to finish that tree. Yes, I WILL FINISH THAT TREE! I'll show you the tree when I'm done.

Indoor gardening

We did a couple of fun projects today. First, we made a terrarium! It was so much fun and so easy. We took a large jar and filled it with pebbles, activated carbon, sphagnum moss and potting soil. Then we went outside and dug up some moss, a stick, rocks and birch bark. We added these along with a couple of fairies to the terrarium. We watered it well and that's it, it should be pretty self-contained.

Next, we planted potatoes indoors. We bought some seed potatoes(but I'm sure you could use some old potatoes you have hanging around), cut them up so each piece had at least one eye, and planted them in a large pot. Hopefully we'll get some potatoes in 2 or 3 months! Thanks to 5 orange potatoes for the potato idea!

Some new additions to the nature table!

After visiting my sister in MA I was inspired to do some needle felting (she was felting a bunny while I was there). Here are pictures of Mother Nature with a newborn(with very long hair) and an Easter egg. The egg has a bunny on one side and an Easter basket on the other. Now I'm finding needle felting to be kind of addictive!

Spring nature table

I know it's a little summery with the bee and the picture of the gnome with berries but I'm loving it! I saw the book on By Sun and Candlelight and had to get it. There is a poem for each month.

Fun with cousins and furry, feathery and winged friends

We're back home now after a few days visiting with my sister's family in western MA. J and B enjoyed playing with their cousins and exploring the co-housing community where my sister lives. We found a woolly bear on a nature walk, fed the guinea pigs and collected eggs from the chickens, visited a nearby park and played with the pygmy goats(we discovered they love bark and dried leaves) and went to Magic Wings in So. Deerfield to see the butterflies-it was a fun thing to do on the first day of spring! Now we're settling back into our routine and I've started cleaning up the garden(it's a beautiful, chilly spring day). Welcome spring!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

The Simple Woman's Daybook~March 17th Entry
For Today...

Outside my window... my husband and J playing soccer. . .at 7:30! Without jackets!

From the learning rooms... what learning room? We have a learning house!

I am thankful for... my wonderful home school community!

From the kitchen... grabbed a sandwich for dinner. . .it's too nice to cook!

I am wearing... L.L Bean shirt and sweats

I am reading... Country Wisdom Know How

I am hoping... my drive to my sister's goes well tomorrow

I am hearing... happy voices

Around the house... all the usual clutter

One of my favorite things... gardening season!

A few plans for the rest of the week...Heading to western MA to hang out and kick back with my sister's family. Maybe take in the butterfly conservatory and a sugar shack

Please visit thesimplewoman.blogspot.com to view other entries.

Life is Good

We've had a wonderful couple of days. First of all, the weather's been great-who can complain about the mid to upper 50's in March! Our days have also been filled with fun, interesting activities. Yesterday was our 2nd meeting of our learning co-op. We were studying famous artists and the kids painted and sculpted in the style of the artists. The parents who have been in charge of the last two weeks have put so much time and effort into the "classes"-what a great homeschooling group we have!

Today, we started the day off with a tour of the post office. Very cool. Then, we went to the Boys and Girls Club to sing, play games and learn about inertia. The parent in charge set up 5 or 6 experiments for the kids to do. All hands on and fun. After physics we headed to the waterfront with another family and had a picnic and played running games. The kids were laughing, running hard and falling to the ground in exhaustion. J and B came home in the car singing about spring and the perfect day they were having. What could be better?

We have butterflies!

This is what I did once the kids went to bed. The tutorial is here: http://www.lollychops.com/lollychops/tutorials/

Playing with Smileys

Believe it or not I just figured out how to use these smileys. So tomorrow I think my day will go like this: . We'll see!