A trip to the Portland Headlight

Mike, the kids and I took a trip to the Portland Headlight. Instead of just hanging out around the lighthouse this time, we look a nice wander around the park area. It was a wonderful day. I am guessing that park is stunning

in the spring and summer when everything wakes up.

Window Stars

Cae and I made window stars with waxed kite paper. Below is a "how to" with Cae doing the demo. They are easy and beautiful and look lovely in a window that gets loads of sunshine. You can get the paper at "A Child's Dream" the size we got was $5.90 for 100 sheets, well worth the money. I recommend get a few booklets full as each large star takes 8 sheets (the size we made) but you can use two small sheets to make smaller stars.

Good luck and have fun!

Flowers, colors, and knights

We have been very busy these last few weeks. Sagan has been learning which way to write two digit numbers and practicing his reading in our new set of McGuffey Readers (the same type Laura used in the Little House books, which Sagan loves).

Cae has been practicing sorting things by color, which the Gnumber Gnomes have been coming in very handy.

We have also been working with water colors, which all the little boys love (Sagan, Cae and Rowan).

For Imbolc we started seeds inside the house (since we still have well over a foot of snow on the ground outside), which the boys enjoyed doing. Cae has checked on them about 3 times a day. It is very cute. I truly hope we get a few things growing, he is sure putting out the good energy.

At the library we found a set of videos about the Middle Ages, which has oads of wonderful information on life in that time, especially knights! And the videos are short and fun to watch, which works well for our limited TV/video viewing

Movie making...

Today the kids made the third installment of their "Coyote Hawkes" movies. This time adding special effects, and trying yet another video style. The kids had a great time, and so did dad (as can be seen by the horrifying monster mask he was ordered to make). I catered the "cast party" after the final photo was taken. We had homemade pizza, and cookies for lunch.

Yesterday (Friday Jan. 16th) Sagan worked on words that end in "og" and subtraction with the number "6". Then he, Cae and I played the Harvest game, a wonderful co-operative game in which everyone works together to get the crops in before winter sets in ( http://www.blueberryforest.com/fun_games/harvest-time-game-family-pastimes.htm ).

Today (Jan. 17th) the boys and I made play dough using this recipe

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups water

4 Tbsp oil

mix it well to get rid of lumps, then heat on stove top until it comes together and changes constistancy (looks like play dough). we divided it up into three sections then added a different package of unsweetened "kool-aid" to each. One grape, one cherry and one orange. You kneed the still warm dough together with the "kool-aid" and you get pretty good colors and a neat smell.

Tomorrow we will finish up our lesson on hibernation and make bears in caves with the play dough.

Sagan had a great morning learning about all the different ways you can make "6" with whole numbers while adding. He also worked on words ending in "AT".

We also talked about hibernation, and read about it in "Do Not Disturb" by Margery Facklam.

Today being Monday, which is a baking day, we will be making peanutbutter bear paw cookies in the afternoon.

Finger Knitting

Yesterday Caelan, Sagan and I learned how to finger knit. Right now we are learning about Lambs and wool. We are reading some great books right now also... "Warm as Wool" by Scott Russell Sanders, "Charlie Needs A Cloack" By Tomie dePaola, and "Weaving the Rainbow" By George Ella Lyon.

It is amazing how we take for granted warmth.

I found a lovely sight with a monthly lesson plan for Waldorf homeschooling/childcare. Check it out... http://www.littleacornlearning.com/index.html