Everything has its beauty. What singular beauty have you noticed and enjoyed today?
“To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature… Continue reading
Do you want to encourage your children to engage in imaginative play? In that case, I’m generally of the theory that less is more.
Kids do not need fancy costumes or toys in order to pretend. While this picture shows my son thoroughly decked out in a costume, kids can have just as much fun without such things. Dirt, sticks, rocks, and anything else they find outside are generally enough. … Continue reading
As a child there always seemed to be something magical about sleeping outside. There are different sounds. The light is different. There are different smells. The air feels different. When we’re outside, particularly during the night, our sense attune to all of these things that are mitigated or filtered out entirely by sleeping inside a building.
You can, of course, get this feeling by heading out on a camping trip. … Continue reading
My boys have talked about building a treehouse for years. My older son, in particular, has been captivated by the idea of building his own outdoor living space. And after much planning [mostly on the part of my husband], it finally happened over Memorial Day weekend. There is now a beautiful treehouse deck in our yard.
My husband designed the base and railings, making sure that everything met his strict standards for safety. … Continue reading
I love watching and listening to my boys engage in imaginative play. And when they are imagining worlds together with their friends, it gets even better.
I firmly believe that play is the work of childhood, and that imaginative play is one of the fundamental reasons why play is so important. Kids can learn so much through engaging their imaginations. … Continue reading
My boys are huge fans of tree climbing, and I am a big proponent of letting them climb. Over the years they both grown in their proficiency and daring as climbers. While I often find need to remind myself not to let my own worries – unless there’s a genuine safety issue, of course – get in the way of their learning, I remain a big advocate of letting them climb.… Continue reading
Last week I was writing an appointment in my calendar (yes, I still keep a paper calendar; you can read about it HERE) when I saw something move on our deck out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and saw this fox. He was sitting there watching me. And he watched long enough that I was able to observe him a bit, then decide to set down my calendar, retrieve my phone, and take a picture. … Continue reading
I have two active young children. This means we encounter a lot of bumps, bruises, and scrapes in our house.
When they occur, sometimes my kids keep going as if nothing happened. I may think, “Wow, that looks like that hurt,” but since they don’t pay it any mind, I also let it go.
Other times, they simply want an acknowledgement from me that, indeed, that looked startling or painful. … Continue reading
After they find out that we homeschool, people often ask me how I know my kids are learning. After all, while kids in schools (and even some homeschoolers) take tests, I don’t test my children. And the answer is, in a myriad of ways.
Sometimes I know they’re learning because they demonstrate a skill. For example, my 8-year-old can add, subtract, multiply, divide, and work basic fractions. … Continue reading
I’ve done tie dye projects with my children in the past. While they were fun, they were also extremely messy and rather time consuming to set up and clean up. So when one of our favorite children’s librarians showed my 8-year old how to get a tie-dye-effect using Sharpie markers and isopropyl alcohol, we had to give it a try.… Continue reading