Yarn Along

Joining up again with Ginny over at small things to share what's on the needles and filling our minds.
Last week I was eagerly anticipating the outcome of Jakob's sweater vest. I am happy to say that all has come out well! I am now a true believer in blocking and more reviewed patterns!
This week I am starting a simple project for a friend. Its just some baby legs for her little girl who is showing her momma all signs of potty training readiness, but life is proving a little difficult as its not quite warm enough yet to let kiddos run around half naked. I hope this will help.
Reading wise I have laid aside Mindful Parenting for the moment. It's a really deep read and my levels of exhaustion do not allow me to devote the mental power needed to take in all of this books goodness. So I moved on to equally though provoking but much lighter reads. The Tao of Poop and Mitten Strings For God. Both of these books give a real world view on mothering while at the same time encouraging the mother to create the world that they want to see in simplicity and love.
Both of these books are fabulous and I find myself reaching for a pen and paper often to write down the bits of wisdom.
I think I may have to purchase one or both of these books otherwise I may end up transcribing them in their entirety!
I'm off for another chapter! Don't forget to pop in over at small things to admire other works of art!

Weekly Wrapup- April 11-15

Whoa! Another week gone just like that!
We had more plain ole' ordinary homeschool fun this week, but this time I did manage to take a few shots.
Our theme this week was Mud.
Although a Mud theme is quite common in New England, I for one have never really "celebrated" it.
Up here though, you just have to well because.... its everywhere!
Once all that snow and ice melts, that is all that survives. And you are so happy to be in fresh air that doesn't slice you throat as you breathe in you just gotta go play in the mud.
No, there's no way to keep it out of the house either.
I'm starting to see the reason Crocs and Rubber galoshes were invented.

So, mud.
We painted our papermache' birds nest with mud colored paint, dug for worms, made Mud Pie, and gave each other Mud Facials.
We had a mud themed poem, read books about mud and mopped up more mud than you can ever imagine.
Of course the house was a wreck by the end of the week, which is precisely when the property manager called to say he wanted to show our house... in five hours. Opps! Thank goodness for a sunny day in which I could throw my kids outside in is all I have to say.



The day we made mud pie was soo much fun. Jakob has really been putting an effort in to try new and different foods as he is learning that he has been missing out on some tastes because of his pickiness. Well when he saw Mud Pie on the Board for our baking activity he was truly torn.
Mom! Are we really eating mud?
What does it say son?
Mud Pie
Well what kind of pie do you think it is?
*sigh* Mud.
He almost lost it when I gave him a bowl and two spoons and told him to dig up a bowl of dirt for the pie.
Of course we didn't eat dirt.
Its a really unhealthy snack of chocolate cookies, chocolate pudding, and gummy worms for fun. YUMMY!

This week we were able to go out almost every morning for a walk and explore. We had fun identifying the flowers and plants in bloom and mentally noting the ones we didn't know to look up later. I really need to get us a good nature guide for this.
The kids also took time each morning to listen and watch the birds as they are all a flutter. We saw a fight between a couple of males for a female which was really awesome!

Math this week was mostly a review about time and the various ways in which we measure time. We talked about sun dials, the lunar cycle, the Months, and how and why the stars rotate by seasons. Jakob is working on memorizing the poem about the days in the months and he had a little question or two in his math book each day to answer about which month had how many days.

Writing this week was good. Jakob is familiar with the lowercase cursive now and can write almost any word I give him without looking at his prompt page.
We started working on some Upper case letters but quickly realized that the uppercase was in a style not normally taught today. It was the style I learned in school, but now cursive has evolved. So I am looking at the letters and seeing which ones correlate and we worked on those.

Music lessons continue to improve and he is finding great confidence in playing without me. Hazel is also showing interest and I believe I will get her a flute for next year.

Other than that we spent as much time as possible playing outside, organizing for the yard sale, and cleaning up our mud.
Again here are a few books that were enjoyed this week..

Weekly Wrapup April 4-8

So this post gets later and later huh? Time flies when you're having fun I guess.
This past week was truly fun. Not in the exciting adventurous, mom documented everything with the camera type of fun.
But the simple flow of life and embracing the moments type of fun.
I'm really seeing the fruits of my labor as far as planning goes, its exhausting at times but it really makes everything run much smoother.

Math: Jakob finished learning about the 4 processes last week including Divide. We spent a couple of days relating our division to multiplication and working on those. The jewels are helping a lot and seem to be much less distracting than the plastic math cubes I was using before as jewels cannot become airplanes, guns, or magic wands. They really just work well for math. :)

Handwriting: We finished learning the lowercase letters and worked a bit with sentences and such. Jakob asked if he could write his spelling words in cursive and did a wonderful job. I am seeing how working with form drawing has helped the most with perspective and relation here.

Theme work: I have been choosing a seasonal related theme each week and basing our readings and circle time upon that. Its the best way I have come up with to include Hazel and "fill her cup" and still not lose Jakob. This past week's topic was spring animals. We read books about sheep, butterflies, and birds.

Music: Jakob is starting to show interest in privately practicing his penny whistle and is trying to teach himself ahead of our lessons. His fingers are getting stronger as is his breath control. Overall he is very pleased as am I.

In preparation for Easter and decorating we have started to blow eggs for special decorations. I always am torn with the boiling of eggs and dyeing them since they sit out, get warm, and then its a game of roulette if you decide to eat them. So the skill has been firm yet gentle as we have busted PLENTY of eggs this week. Fun times.

Other: This week and the next few weeks will be lighter and a little bit of review as we master the skills we have learned and touch back on others that we haven't in a while. Plus with the impending move and all its preparations I think LIFE will be teaching us more than we can imagine.

And just because I always love to get ideas on books to read to the kids, here's a few that were hits this week with my crew....

Books I'm Enjoying..

I love to read. I love that if you know how to read the world is your oyster. Pair that with a Library card and I am a happy girl.
Lots of times my reading has to do with whatever subject I am diving in to learn at the moment. Sometimes all I can get in are books for the kids, and even rarer still I will find a totally trivial story to read that is nothing but a sweet desert to ease my mind. Here are a few books I am enjoying at the moment. If you would like to share your list feel free in the comment section for inspiration to me and anyone else who needs a push to read.

Bible- I am still in the midst of my Bible in 90 days so this is my morning reading each day.

Cooking Fun- 121 Simple Recipes to Make with Kids by Rae Grant
This one was cute and had a few simple classic recipes that Jakob and I made.


The New Glucose Revolution:Guide to Living Well with PCOS by Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller
This book really help to shed some light on what is going on in my body right now. The light bulb moment I had while reading this is that most of what I am doing now is RIGHT. The whole low GI thing is a little difficult to understand and has conflicting success, so this basically was a great starting point for understanding the issue.

The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen by Donna Klein
I REALLY loved this book and found loads of good recipes. I'm not going gluten-free (yet) but found the variety of recipes here very interesting and a wonderful addition to our dinner rotation.

Fairy Tale Feasts by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple
LOVE this book. See previous posts.

Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce
This book was as appetizing to the eye as the belly. The photos in this book is awesome. It gave me some very good ideas on grinding my own grains and using them in just about anything. Right now this is not about going gluten free but about adding variety to my diet as I am finding this has given me the most success so far in my health challenges.

This is Why You're Fat by Jackie warner
I must say I'm not a fan of the title of this book. I checked it out on the suggestion of a friend and it proved to be a very enlightening read. Her focus is on hormone balancing foods and how to have them work best for you. Her workouts inside are intense! Some of the suggestions for supplements I raise an eyebrow at, but the rest of the foodie stuff looks really sound. It also gave me some incentive to cut back on my coffee intake. Cut back. Not cut out. Not there yet.

What are you reading?