Here We Are Together

I’m afraid I’m going to have to rant for a minute here.
If you read my blog then chances are you agree with at least some of the things we do,the way we raise our children and educate them. We co-sleep and our boys are intact. We don’t hit (or smack ) our children , we don’t let anyone cry it out and we certainly don’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want to. We don’t have a TV, (we do watch DVDs sometimes though!) we have family meals and family story time, we begin our day with a morning circle or meeting in bed, and, what I think is really quite a big part of our life, we homeschool.

(Pictures are from a recent nature walk in our little forest. Because “the world is our classroom“)

For the past four years we have seen our children grow from tiny helpless newborns into independent smart people.
I can only repeat again and again “you are your child’s first teacher“. We read to our little ones, we answer their questions, we take time to do experiments, go to the library to read a book about how something works, we learn together.
Our children actually enjoy learning!

I understand that to some people it seems like a crazy idea, because it’s not how they grew up, it’s not what’s normal for them, but it really makes sense when you think about it.
No-one knows your children better than you do. You know exactly how to meet their needs, how to make something fun for them, how to make them feel better when they are upset.
Teachers have to learn how to be teachers because they have to teach 30 (or more) students at the same time.
At home, you can give your child your full attention, when they understand something or learn something new you can build on that, you can move on, progress.
In school your child would have to wait for everyone else to do that.
If your little one has questions, wants to know more, they won’t be embarrassed to ask, and you can take the time to explain it to them as many times as they want to.
You can do fun experiments, you can go on school trips ,hey, a school trip to Spain for a history project sounds great , doesn’t it? And even if it’s not Spain, a trip to the garden can certainly be far more educational then reading about your garden in a book. And reading the book in the garden? I’m sure you know what I’m trying to say.
Besides, how many three year olds that are not homeschooled can tell you which leg-bones belong to which animal?

Anyway, my point is, the way we choose to raise our children, the choices we make for our family, we do these things because we feel they are the right thing to do. We know our children better than anyone else, and homeschooling is not easy, we give up a lot to do this, if we both worked full-time jobs we would life a much more comfortable life, but our children are worth it, we do it for them,
so please, don’t accuse us of “ruining their future”, because I happen to find that pretty offensive.

Aehm.
I hope your day was better than ours.
Here’s to tomorrow.
♥

When I saw this children’s sewing machine in the shop I simply could not resist,
I bought it for Emi and she absolutely loves it. But oh, she is a lot like me, my girl.
A perfectionist, who wants things to work the first time ’round.

We have had so much fun, she’s been drawing her own patterns,
cutting pieces, making clothing for her toys.

Her favourite friend, WhiteDog , got a new hat:

Now, excuse us while we go back to sewing & using up every tiny bit of scrap fabric in the house!
Wishing you a lovely day!

♥

We made some bubble prints yesterday,
though they really ended up being basically just wet paper.
This is definitely more a -enjoying the process- kind of activity , but Emi absolutely loved it, she spent well over an hour blowing bubbles with her straw, making them disappear again, & trying to create the biggest bubble possible.

I asked her to explain to me how to make a really big bubble,
here is what she came up with:

First you make lots and lots of tiny small bubbles with the straw,
then you find the biggest one and poke the straw in it ’till it’s in the middle.
Then you blow it up!

That’s pretty accurate I’d say.

You really should try it, i know we will do it again!

Have a beautiful day!
♥

We made this great windsock using old plastic bags and a ring cut from a plastic bottle.
It’s an idea I’ve seen on another blog, but it was so easy & fun to make that I really wanted to share it with you.

It lead to a great spontaneous learning opportunity about the weather,
that’s the best kind of craft, isn’t it?

(Did you know that the windiest place in the world is Port Martin, Antarctica? )

Have a great day!
♥

This morning , when I really just wanted to finish cleaning the kitchen without Emily’s help,
I gave her a challenge:

With one or two bits of paper , tape and scissors build a bowl or bag to hold a snack!

I did not actually expect her to work it out so quickly, I was ready to return to a frustrated child and a crumpled up bit of paper.
I was really surprised to find this:

I think we will definitely do more of these little challenges, my girl really surprised me by thinking it through, making a plan and doing it without any help.

Have a lovely day!
♥

We made goop today!
It was a lot of fun.
It’s solid when you poke it:

It’s sticky & runny when you try to pick it up:

And things will sink if you try to place them on top!

We are going to start to do a lot more learning around here from now on,
things have been very slow and we all really want to try lots of fun experiments ,
so from now on this blog will be a lot more about our homeschool journey.
If you have a minute please share your favourite craft / science blogs for kids with us,
we’d appreciate it!

Wishing you a lovely day.
♥

I am not a fan of plastic toys. You know that, I’m sure, as I don’t exactly keep it a secret.
The truth is, I hate them, with their noisiness, their toxic glue , their horrible bright & tacky colours & their way of trying to make children play only in a certain way. But , as we have been going to many many playgroups recently I have come to realize something: They are not all evil. (gasp!)
So we have done a little thinking, & we decided to allow plastic animals. Emi used to love these , way back when she was tiny, and now they are back.

I think as long as these don’t start to take over the house, & as long as they are high quality ,(We like Schleich) I am just fine with that.

Since we got the animals back they have been played with a lot, so I really don’t regret that decision,
as long as they stay the only kind of plastic toy in our home. (Lego? We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. )

Do you have many plastic toys in your home?

ps// We figured out why Ezzie calls himself Ezzie. It simply means “busy” , & if you have ever met him you know why. Everyone who sees him says “You are so busy!” & “Aren’t you busy!” to him, so that’s what he decided his name should be. We’re loving it!

Have a lovely day!
♥

Purim is not far away, and Emi will be going to a special Purim party, complete with costumes & everything,
so yesterday we talked about what sort of costume she would like to wear.
She decided to be a queen.

Even though I do feel a little bit guilty for cutting up Anthony’s favourite shirt, I do think that this costume was definitely worth it.

I present “Queen Esther, a jewish superhero” (that’s why she’s got a cape, of course..)

Emi loves it, and I am so glad she does.

My favourite might be the wonky crown on the back of the cape..

It’s far from perfect, but it’s an Emi – Mama project (she loved picking out the buttons!),
and I hope it will last many years.

♥

Today we had a lot of fun pretending to be mad scientists,
& we made these :

There has been a lot of wanting to be a doctor around here recently ,
so we read a bit about what doctors & scientists do and came up with
a little experiment using colours & paper towel shapes.
We learned quite a bit as well,

Where did the yellow go?
Oh! We made green!!

so we thought we would share it here with you.

Mad Scientist Art

You will need:
food colouring
paper towel shapes (we cut out “patients” & butterflies)
little jars

optional:
pipette
funnel
mad scientist safety goggles (we made ours from a cereal box)

How to:

Cut out shapes from paper towels,
mix a bit of food colouring with water.

Let your little scientist mix the colours,
pour them from one jar to another ,
discover how to make completely new colours..
(Please keep in mind that food colouring will stain the skin,
so if you have a doctors appointment or a grandparent visit soon
you might want to wear gloves or at least put some lotion on your little one’s hands.)

Then, when you made a colour you like
you can use your pipette to carefully drop colour onto your shapes,
our simply dip them in or pour the colour right over them.

When you are happy with the way they look just put them onto
some cardboard paper & let them dry.

We will definitely be making more & I think it’s a great activity for a birthday party,
especially in the summer when it can be done outside.

I hope you are having a good day,
we’ll probably spend it outside, it’s lovely & sunny!
What are your plans for the day?

Today is Anthony’s birthday,
& I really wanted to share with you what Emi made for him.
It’s a little sculpture made out of our homemade clay & a drawing of Daddy that I embroidered onto a piece of linen to make a little wallhanging.

I love the white yarn hair on the sculpture, but my favourite is the
swirly arm coming out of Daddy’s head!
George drew something,too, but I did not take a picture yet.
(Emily tells me it’s a car)

Happy Birthday,Anthony,
we love you all so very much!

ps// I will post a tutorial for the natural dye later today,
I got so many requests it is just easier this way.
I really enjoy receiving your emails, thank you for taking the time
to write,it really means a lot to me.
I will try my best to reply to every one of you,
but it might take a while.

I wish you all a lovely day!
♥