After School Clubs: Have You Considered...Yourself?

Whether you home school your own children or you send them off in a buss every day, we as parents know how important it is to be involved in our child’s education.  As the school systems are growing increasingly more generic in their teaching methods, our job as involved parents, grandparents, and community members will increase if we want to raise successful individuals. A half hour playing a math game with manipulatives can help a child who was previously struggling to bloom into a math whiz. A little extra attention in the area of spelling, or reading, given by a caring parent or grandparent can make an enormous difference in your child’s confidence.  These small, caring acts can give your child a boost as they head back to the classroom more prepared for learning.  As for those home scholars out there, we have a more flexible curriculum to be sure, but there are areas some parents may not feel confident about. Sometimes a child has a talent that their parents wish they could nurture further but are at a loss since it is not one of their own strong points. Most important is the aim to teach children to enjoy learning, while being sure not to neglect teaching them the things they really have to learn that may not always be fun such as grammar and arithmetic.

Some of these are reasons I started my first after school club, the Robotics club. Honestly, robotics is not my thing, nor am I some kind of engineer. But my boys wanted to build robots almost non-stop, and I found that a low cost robotics club in my area was nonexistent. So, we started our own with the help of some great 4-H curriculum. Turns out there are quite a few little boys who are hungry for connecting wires, learning about physics and watching their motorized creations come to life. I have seen these kids integrate math into their problem solving skills, and express an interest in exploring their learned skills further, on their own time. From time to time they bring in a brilliant creation to share with the rest of the club, or they tell me how they’ve modified our latest project after they have taken it home.  The children seem to enjoy the relaxed social atmosphere of our robotics club, while also getting the chance to learn some new skills and getting their hands on items that might not be readily available in their home, such as motors, wires, and little light bulbs.  

Some parents don’t have the luxury of home schooling or even of being home when their child returns home from school. If you have a hobby or talent that you can share with your own children, why not share it with five other children as well, and spread your influence into the lives of others?

When I started our club, it was to fulfill a need for my children. I was afraid it would cause too much stress since I am already quite busy. However, I have found it to be an enjoyable experience that is worth making time for. Since it is a “club” the boys and girls are always excited to be there, curious to know what we are going to build today.  They leave my house swelling with pride and jabbering to their mother about the cool project they have just built. It has inspired me to start a club for something I do know about- gardening. As we continue to nurture our robotics group, I will be starting a gardening club this spring, to encourage families to enjoy sustainable gardening as a way of life.

What kind of club could you start? Is there something you or your children enjoy that you would like to share with others?  Do you need a tool for making friends? The possibilities are endless. Math club, Chess club, knitting club, drama club, singing club, entrepreneur club, Bible study club, book club,run around the back yard and play games club… all you need is a little imagination and a few people to invite. Try offering your club to your group of friends, local home school co-op, or the public school on the corner.  How many lives could you touch? How many minds could you inspire?

Merry Christmas!

 

 

Here is a song we have been working on for several months. We hope you will enjoy it. The Little Drummer Boy

 

 

 

 

 

"Bilbo was sadly reflecting that adventures are not all pony-rides in May sunshine..." -Tolkien from The Hobbit

Soupy Afternoons

As we cruise toward a long winter break, the boys study quietly in their rooms preparing for the last tests of the semester, and I steam the floors, organize books, fold laundry and decorate for Christmas. December will bring late mornings, advent readings and a flurry of craft projects and baking that we’ve been saving for a simpler time. Social engagements have been kept to a minimum to maximize on happy family time. We take a short break for lunch after a morning of busy activities. The fridge is bursting at the seams with leftovers as is common at the end of November, and I decide to let my picky eater make his own pot of soup. What a great idea this turned out to be. He simply made some instant beef stock and threw in the bits that looked appealing to him. I ended up scooping a bowl for myself as well. Then we sat around slurping while listening to our recording of “The Hobbit” and fell under the spell of an afternoon nap before going back to work refreshed. It is days like this that make me appreciate the home schooling life. Life moves too fast outside this red door. People seem to have lost an appreciation for hearth and home, for close family ties and time to replenish one’s soul. Soup is one of the things that brings us back to it. Here is the left over soup recipe, substitutes welcome. Happy slurping! 4 cups water 3 teaspoons beef base or bullion Handful of chopped broccoli Handful of leftover turkey meat Handful of elbow noodles Leftover mashed potatoes 1 small can bushes baked beans Dash of oregano Dash of basil Simmer until noodles are cooked. Top with cheese. Slurp with a side of literature

An Answer To The Question "How Do You Spend That Much Time With Your Children?"

I get varied responses when non home schooling women find out that I home school my children. The most common one though is, “I could never spend that much time with my kids!” This comment always saddens me since I feel that every day with my kids is a priceless treasure. But I was thinking about that today. If I didn’t already spend every day with my children, would I consider it a priceless treasure? If they had picked up the bad habits and disrespectful behavior a lot of kids learn while away from their parents, maybe I would feel like that too. I have always felt that my children have been given to me as my responsibility and to give that responsibility to someone else could possibly be irresponsible. The Lord told the Israelites that they should keep His commandments and remember His great acts and that they should teach them to their children while they were sitting in their house, when they walked along the way and when they were lying down so that their days would be multiplied. (Paraphrased from Deuteronomy 11:19.) If we want to pass our faith or anything else that we have, down to our children we have to spend time with them and tell them what we want them to know, so that they can have a good life and that their days will be multiplied. I started home schooling my children not just because I wanted to be with them, but because I felt it was my responsibility as their parent. God put them in my arms. Not in the arms of the state, or my neighbor lady, the day care, or even my Mom. So I was diligent and taught them while I was sitting in my house, while we were walking along the way and especially when I was laying down with exhaustion on some particular afternoons! Sometimes it was difficult. Sometimes it was frustrating. A lot of the time I would have rather been doing what I wanted to do instead of what I was supposed to be doing. But now that I am five years into it, I would have to say it’s one of those hard things that is very much worth doing. My boys are nice to be around; they are obedient, and loving. I enjoy spending my days with them. They have a desire to know God and to serve Him with their lives, and they have had the time to develop their own special personalities free from the boxes the world would like to put them into. Home schooling has had its effect on me as well. Having to discipline my children has taught me to discipline myself. Being with them while they were going through inconvenient tantrums and phases, taught me patience and compassion. Being outnumbered by small, dirty, noisy, needy people taught me to depend on God at all times for my strength and for my answers and for all that I need. Certainly He has provided all I have asked for and more. I found that when there was a character issue with my children, my Heavenly Father would remind me of the very scripture that I needed to share with them in each situation. Despite my own less than ideal education, my children are getting a very good one. I am surrounded by a family who though not “perfect” loves and values one other, as well as our friends, neighbors and acquaintances. I actually can enjoy teaching my own children, in addition to spending evenings and weekends with them! I can’t think of one fear that I had going into this that has been realized, but many blessings that I didn’t expect have been bestowed upon me. So, if you think you really can’t spend that much time with your children, I would like to challenge that. I would like to suggest that you can and that you may find it will do you both much good.

No More Wormy Apples

Earlier this spring I wrote an article about growing apples organically. If you’d like to read it, it’s on my gardening page under "Permaculture" below the apple blosom picture. I used trichogramma micro wasps to help control the coddling moth population in my apple grove. I also used a panty hose sock on each apple to make sure no stray worms could get in. This morning four or so apples fell off the tree so we took them inside to see how they were doing. I was very pleased. Not quite ripe yet, but no sign of worms. We made a rustic tart with them. ------------------------------------------------------------------

School in July!? Now, I am not what you would call a hard core home scholar. I do not have chore charts hanging on the wall, my kids don’t wear uniforms, and I don’t blow a whistle while my children sit in clean little school desks during a tightly scheduled day. So, when I hear other home scholars say, “we are doing school right through the summer!” I barf a little in my mouth. I’m usually the last mom sitting out on a rock in the park waiting for the leaves to actually turn color and frost to coat my hair before I will succumb to taking my kids inside and cracking a school book. But last winter, my kids petitioned me to consider letting them do some school during the unbearably hot days of summer so they could enjoy more vacation time in the cooler months. This, I am thinking is not such a bad idea after all

in light of the fact that this July has been the hottest July in the history of the universe. This took a little planning on my part, as I had to make sure I didn’t put off ordering our curriculum and got the school room organized for another year two whole months ahead of time. Heck, while I’m ahead, I decided to make my Christmas card list while I was at it. Those might actually make it to the mail box this year! While the grass roasts to a crispy yellow in the back yard all by itself, we have been in the nice air conditioned school room, happily doing arithmetic and spelling, waiting for things to cool off, and when they do, we’ll cancel school so that we can run outside and enjoy the nice weather. Funny, I have always been resistant to a year round school year, but my kids showed me a better way, just like they usually do.

Happy Fourth of July

" "Well, so here we are today," the man went on. "Every man Jack of us a free and independent citizen of God's country, the only country on earth where a man is free and independent. Today's the Fourth of July, when this whole thing was started, and it ought to have a bigger, better clelbration than this. We can't do much this year. Most of us are out here trying to pull ourselves up by our own boot straps. By next year, likely some of us will be better off, and able to chip in for a real big rousing celebration of Independence Day. Meantime, here we are. It's Fourth of July, and on this day somebody's got to read the Declaration of Independence. It looks like I'm elected, so hold your hats, boys; I'm going to read it." Laura and Carrie knew the Declaration by heart, of course, but it gave them a solemn, glorious feeling to hear the words. They took hold of hands and stood listening in the solemnly listening crowd. The Stars and Stripes were fluttering bright against the thin, clear blue overhead, and their minds were saying the words before their ears heard them. "When in the course of human events it becomes neccessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impell them to the seperation. "We hold these truths to be self'evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that amond these are Life, Liberty and the persuit of Happiness... "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full right to levy War... "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." No one cheered. It was more like a moment to say, "Amen." But no one quite knew what to do. Then Pa began to sing. All at once everyone was singing, My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing..." Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prarie from the chapter Fourth of July.

Natural Playgrounds

I was happy to discover an article today confirming, yet again, that I have been right all along. Ever since I had my children, I have been integrating my garden to include child friendly spaces where my children can enjoy being in nature. I have always felt it was important for them to spend unstructured time enjoying plants and letting them make up games and toys the natural way. Just today I read an article in Energy Times (June 2012) stating that since “the average child in the US spends four to seven minutes in unstructured outdoor play a day-compared with more than seven hours in front of TV, computer and other screens”… “Parents and community leaders are building natural playgrounds with free form designs that incorporate plant material and other natural elements.”It also stated that researchers are finding that children grow bored less easily in a natural environment than they do on artificial play equipment. I find this to be true as well. Thanks to my parents, who allowed me total access to our beautiful gardens as a child, I have always known this. I am happy to hear the rest of America is finally catching on. I’m sure the “experts” will turn this into an expensive endeavor where the help and advice of other “experts” must be brought into the conversation, and parents must have their gardens mapped out for them by professional designers. I think our grandparents called it “wandering in the woods” and it used to be FREE! You can use your own God given instincts and have fun discovering what suits you and your family. Here are a few guidelines I have followed in the past. *Think ahead. Plan what areas you want for your adult space and decide what areas are OK for the kids to have control over. We don’t use fertilizers or pesticides in our back yard since we hate them anyway, but especially since our kids will be coming into contact with the plants and soil. You may want to refrain from using poisonous plants if you have very young children especially. *Remember that kids are messy and creative. Allow them an area they can dig or build in without making you feel stressed out. Make that area pleasant for them to be in by planting large colorful flowers nearby or providing a shade tree with boughs that scoop close to the ground providing a natural play house, climbing area or cave, and giving protection from summer’s heat. *Forego the sand box for a mud pit. Have you ever noticed that the only person who consistently uses the sand box is the neighbor’s cat? Kids would rather play in the mud. It holds its shape better. And if you happen to have clay soil, you are especially lucky. Just leave an area unplanted. If you don’t like how it looks, plant tall flowers in front of it as a screen. *Inter mingle flowers with vegetables. Flowers provide hours of enjoyment as your child studies them and uses them in their play while at the same time, who knows? Your kid might just pull up a carrot and start eating it! *Don’t worry about things looking perfect. I go ahead and let weeds grow sometimes. Heck, I’m busy washing all that mud out of their clothes! I’ll tidy things up more when they grow up and leave me all alone in this big old house. The important thing is to get enjoyment out of your garden. *If you live in a limited space, I encourage you to make the best of what you have. It might be worth your effort to get together with some others in your community to develop a shared natural space for all of your children to enjoy together. If you don’t know where to start, look up your local community garden and get involved with your kids in tow. You will notice right away that they will trail off in happy ecstasy as they discover interesting bugs or tasty berries. *Allow your garden to evolve. One of the fun things about having a garden is that you can sort of let your new ideas take shape every year. Each year can be different and fresh. That makes it hard to really make a mistake. Your variety of plants can start out very small. Maybe a few sun flowers and a strawberry plant. As your enthusiasm grows, so will your plant collection. It won’t take long for your children to catch on and find their own favorite plants to grow. I hope this article encourages you and your children to get outdoors and enjoy a garden, the very surrounding God gave man to begin with.

Simple Summer Fun With so much on my to do list this summer, I realized I need to help the boys find stimulating activities they can do on their own. Here are a few of the ideas I have used so far, Back yard camping! They really loved this one and it kept them occupied for several days. Just remember to put the tent up on the patio if you have sprinklers that come on at night! We used our tiny two man tent that is a snap to set up and small enough for the boys to handle on their own. Art, art and more art. I don’t know about your kids, but mine never get enough art in during the school year when math and English are priorities. I find the best way to do this while retaining sanity is to set up work stations outdoors and make sure it is cleaned up before a different art project is started. A kid can have hours of fun with an inexpensive water color set and a sketch book. Nature offers unlimited inspiration. I also give them those knitting looms and left over yarn. They go to town. Check my craft page for more ideas here. Good books. Mechanism was sent a set of Madeleine L’engle books from his grandma and Texas has finally gotten into the Magic Tree House series. I try to instigate a quiet reading hour sometime in the afternoon each day. Re-organizing. In the summer I let my boys re-organize their rooms. This year they decided to have their own rooms again so they have a lot of work to do. Don’t forget the obvious fun with a hose! Although I try to watch the water bill so we only use this option from time to time.

School ended last Wednesday, but I feel like I am finally landing on my feet today, a week and a day later. We have had a major project every day leading up until now. First it was ripping out some old fencing on Thursday, loading the truck with all of it on Friday, baking pies for Mechanism’s birthday party on Saturday, Sunday was the party; a lot of fun but left me exhausted, and Monday was a marathon with the vending machine business. Tuesday was Mechanism’s actual birthday and we got in some relaxing family time and Wednesday it was back to the vending machines again and shopping. This morning I sit here reflecting on the day ahead. The garden is washed and new smelling from last night’s rain. The robins are twittering and I can smell the chicken broth stewing in the crock pot. There will be no school today, or tomorrow, or the next day. I can hear wrestling in the room next door. As the sun streams in my school room window, it falls on the collection of books and miscellaneous items piled high on my desk. School ended just in time. Another week and this room would have exploded. I would like to paint, but probably a good, deep cleaning is all I’ll get around to before I order more curriculum and we start another school year all over again. There are too many treasure hunts to go on, gardens to weed and books to read. Summer time for me, a home school mom, is a time I look forward to every year with as much anticipation as when I was a school girl. I don’t mind my kids being around because they are always around me anyway. I am relieved however to let them run and jump and do as they please most of the time. It takes a lot of self control to keep them focused on school during the fall and winter and to be able to focus on my own projects is a big release. This summer I have so many piled up in my mind, I don’t know where to start. And then there are the fun adventures we’d like to go on, and mostly, the days we’d like to spend doing nothing at all. Today feels like one of those days.

Our last Robotics Meeting

Wednesday was our last club meeting. All the students ended up with some form of a working robotic arm, powered by syringes and tubing filled with air or water. Most of them picked up an object and some of them even would move the object to a new location. It was really fun to watch them work successfully. Some of the kids built a kind of hand or squeezing mechanism at the end of their arm. One boy used an electromagnet to pick up a staple and drop it off. All gave a presentation of their project, and learned from eachother. Everyone got a big, blue ribbon and a decadent chocolate cup cake.

School day # 166

Today is day 166 out of 172 (the “legal” number of) days we have set aside for school. We are itching, twitching, poking, and giggling. We are cramming to finish all our books and take the last of the last tests. To measure how far we’ve come and where and when we should pick up in the fall. It is probably good that there are laws and standards for home scholars. Citizens must be accountable. I am also glad I live in one of the states with fairly minimal governmental controls. I can’t help wishing we had fewer, or somehow I could just not care so much about them. I meticulously record each hour spent doing school just in case the state should ask for my records. Those standardized tests hang over my head like judgment day looming. I can’t help but think how our school would be different if I didn’t think so much about those tests. I like to see high tests scores. We get a little wrapped up in it. But what if there weren’t numbers to look at. What if we just looked at the people? What if I wasn’t so afraid of the government’s judgment of my children’s academic accomplishments? I think my school would be different in a few ways. We probably would never need to take summer vacation. We would learn and live at a more relaxed pace. We’d have less school books and read more. We would do more hands on projects. We would cook and exercise more. Life would be pleasanter. Would my children receive the education they needed to succeed? What would happen if everyone had the freedom to be themselves all the time? Would there be more or less educated people? Making grades helps our children prepare for college I suppose. But then what? Last week the news reported that about 50% of new college graduates cannot find work right now. What if they had learned more life skills and less book knowledge? Would they be starting businesses instead of moving in with Mom and Dad and flipping burgers? Would some of them be too busy inventing new technology to go to college? Self discipline is good. Learning is good. Having high expectations of your self is good. Making sure all children all know the same certain facts at the same time is...organized. Is it really good? It is manageable if you have large volumes of children surging through your school every single year. Should home scholars be held to the same constraints? Is there a way to do things differently inside of an actual school? If the government didn’t force us to educate our children a certain way would our society fall apart or get better? What percentage of people would go on a crime spree and what percentage would live happily and successfully on their own inspiration? Are there so many lazy, dull, illiterate people because they have always been forced into learning, or are they predestined to be that way? For now these questions will have to wait. I’m too busy making my children finish their worksheets. Maybe I will be re-thinking my school this summer. I don’t have the answers, but I think we should all be asking these questions, and working to find better ways to educate our children and to help them find a future.

More Crazy Robotics Fun

We are nearing the end of our school year and our first robotics unit. I have to say, I may have bit off more than I could chew this year, but it turned out to be a really fun experience for myself as well as the kids who joined our club. We successfully finished all our projects! We had an extra long session this week to give everyone time to finish their arms. The kids were inventing great things that I'm sure there are technical names for, but I have no idea what they are. We figured out the pneumatics method of making our arms move and one of the boys added water to his tubing, increasing the amount of power it gave his arm. Wow! Great thinking! When these kids left my house the kitchen looked like a disaster area. That's how you know we had a great time! It is now all cleaned up and I can't wait for next month when each student will give a short demonstration of their robotic arm. Here are some pictures from our session.

Incase you are interested in starting your own robotics club, I bought my curriculum through the 4-H web site. I chose Junk Drawer Robotics, but there are three different curriculums to choose from.
http://www.4-h.org/resource-library/curriculum/4-h-robotics/junk-drawer-robotics/

Serendipitous Field Trips

An impromptu trip to the library provided us with an unexpected educational experience. As we approached the square,we heard bagpipes. The boys broke into a run and stopped a good way from the bagpiper. He sensed their excitement, turned and marched toward them slowly, playing his Scottish tune. He marched right up to them and finished it. Then he knelt down on one knee to talk to them. It turned out that he was a fire fighter who was there for a fire and police meeting. But he also took the time to play his pipes out in the square and talk to little boys. They peppered him with questions which he patiently answered.

He gave us quite a lesson. We learned that bagpipes are played at many fire fighter and police meetings and funerals because when the Scottish and Irish emigrated to America, no one wanted to give them jobs. So they became fire men and police. Those were undesirable jobs back then. It was only natural for them to reflect their culture in their ceremonies. He also showed us how his bagpipe worked and we talked about how it was similar to the recorder. That was exciting for the boys because they have been learning to play the recorder in music time.

It was so nice to bump into a fantastic role model while we were scampering around town. This happens to us from time to time and it enriches our home school experience. It makes me think of the missed opportunities for the children who spent that day cooped up taking a C-SAP test. That makes me sad. I wish more people knew what a great reward for their children and for themselves it can be to educate children at home. It allows for serendipity to take place in our lives, for a deeper family connection, and for our children to be the individuals that they are without the hindrance of social conformity. In my opinion, those things provide us with a richer life than the money I could bring in at a job, or the feeling of security that the government was taking care of my children's education.

Celtic Knots

Today we are studying the vibrant Celtic Warrior Queen Boadicea! We also started exploring the complexity of Celtic knots, which I find a fascinating form of design. I think they are especially beautiful when worked into knitting. The boys are experimenting with drawing some. We found a great web site that had helpful printable grids and directions for drawing Celtic knots. Check it out.
http://mysite.verizon.net/mihaloew/celtic/class_basic.shtml#sample

Garden Days Again

It is only February, and around here usually that means screaming wind and icy snow. But this winter has been rather mild, and we are predicted to have an early last frost; So when The sun was shining and the snow was melting yesterday, I looked out the window at my kids and decided to join them. I ended up where I always do, poking through my garden. First I scraped aside some mulch and peered down at the slumbering garden patch. Instead of frozen tundra, I saw brown, moist, gooey dirt. Much like a perfect pan of brownies. I could hold myself back no longer! I grabbed my shovel and started turning it over.

Before long, I had the spinach patch done. The boys soon joined in, collecting handfuls of worms and watching them work their way back into the ground. It was what I would call, a perfect afternoon. It may freeze up soon for another month or two, but we got our little garden fix and we're happy.

Valentine's Day Fun

I remember valentine's day being one of my favorite holidays as a kid. I always looked forward to sticky sweet pink cup cakes and the Valentine exchange at school. We make our own Valentine parties at our home school now days and we all really have a lot of fun with it. I do very little planning which usually consists of picking up small valentine themed items while I'm getting groceries and hiding them in a drawer for the big day. Then I pull them out one by one and slip them into little moments throughout the day. Here is what we did this year.

We started with pink heart pancakes for breakfast. A drop of almond extract really adds the finishing touch to make these pancakes extra special. It makes them taste just a little like sugar cookies. We used red food coloring to make them pink.

Later, I ran out to the play house and slipped a few cheapo valentine cards into the boy's little mail box. Kids love to get mail and my boys found a small mail box at the thrift store a while back and placed it right outside their play house. They love to go outside to play and check to see if there are some cookies or little notes in there. I frequently try to place things in there to surprise them.

At lunch time, We sucked on conversation hearts, and traded them with each other.

The boys had some of their own plans as well. I made sure I bought the supplies they needed on grocery day and let them loose in the kitchen this afternoon. They made a big chocolate chip heart cookie for their Dad and a special pink love potion for me. I incorperated it into our special valentine's dinner. I made meatball sandwiches with tomato sauce. Everyone likes that and it's red. We handed out our valentine cards to each other and ate the treats the boys had made. Instead of buying cards for the boys, I went with the mouse theme we've been working on for Etsy and sewed them small felt mice that fit inside red felt hearts.

After the kids were in bed I brought out the Wild Man mud Bath Salts and Muscle Rub form Wild Rose Herbs; one of my favorite Etsy shops.We made a relaxing spa night at home.

No diamond rings, or giant boxes of chocolate and yet a surprisingly satisfying Valentine's day. Although my husband does get credit for bringing me some lovely flowers.

Bible verse of the day: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

The Greatest Love Stories Of All Time

“The night wore on. The waters rose and rose. The moon rose likewise higher and higher, and shone full on the face of the dying prince. The water was up to his neck.
“Will you kiss me, princess?” said he feebly. The nonchalance was all gone now. “Yes, I will,” answered the princess, and kissed him with a long, sweet, cold kiss.
“Now,” said he, with a sigh of content, “I die happy.”

-The Light Princess by George MacDonald

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, it is time for some good love stories. My very favorite love stories are contained in George MacDonald’s book “The Golden Key and Other Stories”. There are four rather short love stories making up the entire book. Written in the eighteen hundreds and by an astonishingly wonderful author, these are in my opinion, the most divine fairy tale stories of all time. They do contain witches and evil but also light and goodness and true love. There is no nasty smut to keep you from sharing them with your children. If you are OK with your kids watching Snow White or Cinderella, then you’ll probably be OK letting them enjoy these stories too. Not only are they sweet stories, but George MacDonald ingeniously creates theological parallels with Christ our Savior and his sacrificial death to bring us life, the ways that God is ever changing us and bringing us closer to him, and others;echoing the real, ture love story of all time. Hunt for them as you read.

Happy reading, and Happy Valentine ’s Day.

Mechanism's Comic Strip

Mechanism drew a comic strip today. Here it is.

Mouse House

As a little girl, I spent hours out in the garden with my set of plastic gnomes or tiny stuffed animals. I would make them houses from sticks or bricks in the moss and use the flowers and plants as props in the stories I would make up for them. Imaginary play is really important for children's development and most kids these days don't get enough of it. Some kids don't even seem to know how to play anymore! Our yard includes a section where the boys are allowed to trapse around, dig ditches and pick any and all the flowers. I decided they needed a little mouse house for their garden play, similar to the one I made my niece(see the crafts page). So, I crocheted a gourd, dyed it in Kool Aid and made little mice to fit inside it. This is a durable toy that can be carried outside or to the grocery store and the little mice bounce aruond inside their gourd without much risk of falling out. The boys love them! They are also for sale in my etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/HILLSIDEminiFARM

Love In A Mist

I made myself a felted cloche hat last year, and started wearing it to save my ears from the winter chill. It is so sturdy I feel comfortable wearing it out in the garden, but I also wear it to church and out shopping becuase it makes me feel pretty. I get compliments on it everywhere I go. This winter I decided to make one for my etsy shop. Other women deserve to wear these hats too and I am now making them available for sale. Copy and paste the below link to see it in my shop.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/89966940/love-in-a-mist-cloche-hat

Gum Ball Machines

With all that has been going on with the economy and our own experience with trying to make a living, my husband and I have been putting extra thought into how to best prepare our boys to support their families when they are men. We came to the conclusion that above all, they must possess the entrepreneurial spirit. So, we set out to help them develop that. Our first attempt has been to help them start a gumball machine business. We found some machines and bought them as a family. They boys are buying a share in the business by using some of their profits to pay us back for as many machines as they’d like. Recently, we sold some of our machines to generate the funds to better place the rest. Texas and Mechanism helped with cleaning the machines before we delivered them to the buyer. Instead of just cleaning it, they took the things apart, every piece. Then they gave me a tutorial on how the coin mechanism works to dispense the gumball. Then they put them all back together. I was a little dumbfounded. It made me think of the Wright Brothers and their bicycle shop. Well, I don’t know exactly where my boys are headed, but this confirms my theory on sticks. (Refer to last posted entry Just Give Them Sticks).

Just Give Them Sticks

The more I observe boys, the more I think they should be spending less time at a desk doing “work sheets” and more time with technical manuals and sticks. Yes, yes, I know we must teach them the three R’s or we are all doomed. But even those can be learned without doing so many actual work sheets. It just gets me that they are so amazing with sticks! And their curiosity about the laws of physics is so unavoidably dangerous. Boys also have an uncanny ability to understand complex technical ideas. Did you ever know a boy who couldn’t sit still and couldn’t STOP TOUCHING EVERYTHING! But you put five of those boys around a table with a pile of odds and ends in the middle and watch out, you are about to see some amazing creations! Weapons of mass destruction and little robots begin to appear. If boys learn so well this way, why don’t schools use it more? Maybe because that kind of thing is hard to grade. Maybe because the teachers don’t feel up to the task. I know I don’t feel quite up to it, but I’m finding it doesn’t matter so much what I am up to doing. Boys will take over in this kind of environment and do most of it themselves.

At the end of the summer this year the boys and I started a robotics club. Not because I know what I’m doing…at all. But because my boys can’t get enough of this stuff and I couldn’t find any robotics groups for kids in my area. I bought the Junk Drawer Robotics curriculum from 4-H and invited some kids. The curriculum is inexpensive and lets the kids actually build all their own components instead of just having them put together a kit. It starts off pretty easy with engineering and design principles and moves into some problem solving and trebuchet building. We are working up to building a simple, air powered robotic arm.

Recently, we had our club meeting and started building our trebuchets. I had spent days researching the subject and trying to build my own lame trebuchet to prepare for the club meeting. I wanted to know what I was doing so I could help guide the group if someone needed help. I finally gave up and got bored with it. Just then my two boys walked into the room, “watcha doin mom?" They grabbed those paint sticks and just put together a couple of catapults and started slinging marshmallows. Wouldn’t you know that’s exactly how the club meeting went too? It was a flurry of industrial activity. (And I was glad I had done my research or I would have been left in the dust). Each boy had at least one new idea that no one else had thought to try. At our next club meeting we had time to see who could launch a payload of marshmallows the furthest. I’ll just tell you, I’m still finding marshmallows behind the furniture.
So, if you know a boy who has “behavioral issues” or is struggling in school. I might suggest, just give him some sticks and let him use his imagination. You may begin to see him in a whole new light.