Cultivating Childhood

Daddy had Columbus Day off, so we spent the day at the pumpkin patch! The day started out by going to Frost Doughnuts in Mill Creek.  Phil can't resist the Bacon Maple Bar! We decided to try a different pumpkin patch this year since we were going on a Monday.   Bob's Corn and Pumpkin Farm looked fun and seemed to have a lot more going on during the weekdays. We had to get the compulsory pictures next to the pumpkin growth chart.  You can see where they were at last year on my post from last October.  They've grown a bit!  =) It was a beautiful day to be out at the farm.  You could see for miles around, and the farm was relatively empty. Thankfully, there was one preschool group there.  We unintentionally sort of followed them around which meant that we got to take advantage of the hay ride and cow train that otherwise might not have been open to us normal folk. Can you see the boys hiding in the tractor ...

One of the things that burnt me out with doing preschool a couple of years ago was all the crafts.  I really didn't like all the paper and glue and buttons and pom poms.  The end results may have been cute, but they weren't really anything that I wanted to keep.  They weren't useful and if they weren't cluttering the walls of our house, they were filling our trashcans.  It seemed like a lot of work for little reward. Then I discovered the concept of handicrafts.   Charlotte Mason Help  has a good article on the subject, but it really comes down to four key concepts: 1. The projects should be useful and/or decorative: if it doesn’t make the home more beautiful, it is not worthy of the child’s time. 2. The child should be taught slowly and carefully what to do; no slipshod work should ever be allowed. 3. It should suit the child’s abilities. 4. It should bless others. Basically, handicrafts should be handy .  I love this!  Ever since then, I...

Books, books, and more books.  We love  books around here.  Except for the new-found love of Lego, books are the number one thing that I have to clean up around the house.  There are books that Noah's learning to read, books that the boys have requested to have read to them, preschool books, library books, daddy's books, mommy's books... the list really goes on and on. In some ways, it is hard to really define the line between just a love for the all things words and what is actually stuff for "school".  Thankfully, we really don't have the make that distinction.  We have a schedule that we try to adhere to, but it seems like more often than not, we just read the stories in whatever order we want and enjoy them when we are in the mood. Learning to Read For our school time, it feels like there are two different times for reading.  The first is the time where Buddy (and sometimes Button too) is learning to read for themselves.  In our five(...

I just love my boys right now.  As challenging as the preschool years are (seriously, where does all  that energy come from?), the boys are finally at the age where they can play together well and communicate.  And it is wonderful to see how much they love each other. Button is old enough to really be a good playmate for Buddy.  They just adore one another and almost feel lost without one another.  I'm glad we are homeschooling because I think if they were separated for school next year it would be traumatic.  Buddy has come to look forward to his times with Button.  He's sad when he's napping because he wants to play with him.  He saves spots for him on toys on the playground and sometimes gets upset if another little kid comes to join him instead of his little brother.  "Mom!  He's not part of our family!" (At which point, I have to remind him that all the toys at the playground are for everyone...) They are even in...