Art Camp

M attended a wonderful art camp last week.  She got to use a variety of media, and the teacher did an excellent job of guiding the students through projects but letting them use their creativity to its fullest.

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Non-Fiction Monday: First Field Guide: Mammals

I’ve mentioned before how much we love National Audubon’s First Field Guide series.  We’ve been slowly collecting collecting volumes many of which are, sadly ,out of print.  Last week, First Field Guide: Mammals came in the mail.  The mail arrived as we were getting ready to head to the pool, but all pool preparations stopped [...]

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How We Do Read-Alouds

In a comment on this post, Nina asked about our read-aloud routine. I realized the answer was complex enough to warrant a post of it’s own. Read-alouds are the most consistent part of our day.  They are the one thing M and C can count on doing every day, typically at the same time. I [...]

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Traveling With Audio Books

We held out for a very long time on getting a DVD player for the car.  In fact, we still don’t actually own one but have one on extended loan from a friend who now has a flip down one in her van.  While there was an air of you’ll-just-have-to-learn-to-entertain-yourself-in-the-car-like-we-did-in-the-old-days to our choice, we’re not [...]

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What We’re Reading This Week

M and I finished Knight’s Castle and we’re now reading Little House on the Prairie and Meet Molly: An American Girl, the first book about American Girl, Molly McIntyre who turns 10 in 1944.  M and several of her friends have recently taken a keen interest in American Girls so she’s also listening to the [...]

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Chapter Book TBR List

I’ve been keeping a list of books I want to eventually share with M whether as a read-aloud or something for her to read on her own once she reaches that stage.  The titles come from my own childhood favorites, reviews, books her friends have enjoyed, and online reading lists like the ones I shared [...]

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Non-Fiction Monday Round-Up

Welcome to the Non-Fiction Monday Round Up!  I’m thrilled to be hosting this week. Add a link to your post in the comments and I’ll update throughout the day. Here’s my book for the week:

After seeing tadpoles in a friend’s water garden, we wanted to learn more about frogs.  I’d read several great reviews [...]

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Playing and Learning This Week

On Monday, we drove back from my in-laws house after a long holiday weekend with late bedtimes and lots of playing outside.  We arrived home tired and cranky.  I searched our food stores and came up with the fixings for bean and cheese quesadillas or cheesadillas as C calls them (not that she eats them).  [...]

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Poetry Friday: Blueberries by Robert Frost

Two-year-old C would be happy to eat nothing but blueberries this time of year, and the rest of us can certainly consume our share as well.  So in celebration of all the ripening blueberries…..
Blueberries by Robert Frost
“You ought to have seen what I saw on my way
To the village, through Mortenson’s pasture to-day:
Blueberries as big [...]

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American Girls Sewing

Several of M’s friends have American Girl dolls.  Last week, I took some time to make dresses for two of them with summer birthdays.  M picked out the fabric and watched the process, guiding the fabric into the machine on a few occasions.  Here are the results of our work:

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