How Amie’s Summer Is Going

Math Tea Party Parrot … “Mama, when you see it IN your eyes, but not outside your eyes, it’s a dream, right?” “Yes.” “That’s why when you open your eyes it’s no longer there.” … “Mama, Peter Pan [movie] is made up of pieces.” “Yes, like Kipper: episodes.” “No, Kipper episodes are stories by themselves. …

Growing Children in the Garden

A couple of days ago Amie was helping me in the garden. She was raking away the weeds I had just hoed – though raking around is closer to the truth.  There was a lot of chopping with her little rake, too close to my face. There was also yelling – “Go away, weeeeeds, go …

Pottery by Mama and Amie

Amie visited my pottery class a couple of weeks ago, just for 10 minutes while DH picked up pizza down the road. We were glazing but I fired up a wheel for her and stuck on a blob of clay and centered it, adding lots of water. Then she put her little hands on the …

Morning at the Farm

Taking a break from our construction – we were setting tiles till 4 am – and gardening Amie, her grandmother and mself ran off to our favorite place in the US (aside from our own Robin Hill, of course): Drumlin Farm. There were birds, wild (Eastern phoebe?) and tame: And farm equipment (defunct): And strawberry …

To Play in a Wild Garden

Connected At The Roots writes about children in nature, and usually reports on going out into the wild, several kids at once, with magical results. Recently there was an interesting post on kinesthetic adventure at home (but still outside). This inspired me to make our rather wild property more kinesthetically challenging. Amie is always hanging …

Reading and Writing Checks Already, Arithmatic, and the Metaphyics of Time

What with all the gardening around here it’s been a while since I wrote about Amie’s non-gardening doings and goings. Here are some newer developments. We’re working on her letters. She recognizes all the upper and lower case and can sound out and read three-letter words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4RYw1LUqv8 But writing them is something else altogether, especially …

Two Games: the Sucker (Energy Saving) Game and Max

Our co-houser was very interested in pruning the house of “suckers” – appliances and battery chargers and the like that suck electricity even though they’re not in use. He was pulling them all over the place – especially the microwave, which is mostly my fault. He got so into it he devised a game: Each …

Miscellaneous

Yuck! I have one flat with green algae coating the surface. It started with one small spot and the next day it was all over. It shouldn’t harm the seeds directly, but it may smother them. The causes were (1) over-watering (beginner’s mistake), (2) the fact that the potting soil I’ve been using compacts too …