“The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree,” doesn’t nearly say it all, in our case. At this stage, the apple is still growing, still attached to the limb, still gaining ...
To preface, let me say that some people will be offended by this. Others will be horrified. I was horrified, to be honest. I could barely watch. I got up and started folding laundry, but Ben watched i...
Eloquence in words, and turns of phrase, must start with a reverence for the letters themselves; then the words, the sounds, the rhythms and rhymes, the haunting juxtapositions, the intertwining of he...
Lately, Ben has been wanting to be scared, and scary. This morning, I stumbled onto Neil Gaiman’s Official Website for Young Readers, called MouseCircus.com. There are a couple of stories there ...
Filed under: Lessons learned from a Rap Artist, and Color Me Surprised. It’s not that I dislike rap music. I get the inherent poetry of the genre. It just hasn’t been a form of musi...
This Valentine’s Day was a Full Moon. We couldn’t see it because of the outrageous downpour of rain we are experiencing, but Ben felt it. He has been a little obsessed with werewolves late...
Our first week in to this Old-School Homeschool style has been a total blast. We are completely focused on art projects, and giving Ben something to do with his hands while we tuck the actual educatio...
Ben and I were reading about Castles in the Middle Ages yesterday, and we decided to try to find a YouTube video of some of the greatest castles in the world. Sadly, we didn’t find what we were ...
This was originally posted on my Artful Homeschool Blog – but I think I’m disbanding that after one day. I’d rather have one blog here at Country Kid Farmers....
Here’s how the conversation went with my husband earlier today… “I’m afraid I complicate things,” I said. “No, Really?” he laughed. “But first you simpl...
This morning, I read again from the gorgeous gardening, meditation, living life book, “Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World,” by Wendy John...
Ben started with a drawing, then did a paper cut-out of the body for this guitar, then headed to the shop to use his new saw that cuts angles. His dad helped him cut out part of an old license plate a...
After a day filled with highs and lows, as I suppose is the standard fare of parenting, I got a chance to go to the grocery store on my own. That trip included a detour into Barnes and Noble for a qui...
Even though we buy paper and tape in bulk, tonight Ben just needed another form of canvas, and so he started giving Bean tattoos with marker. We discourage this sort of thing, generally. A long time a...
This week, I was inspired by the drive and determination of Skateboarders. We went for an afternoon to play at the park with a friend and her kids. It was a bit of running around that we needed to bre...
This was Ben’s Saturday Project. We were in the process of de-cluttering, and making a dump run, and Ben kept pulling cardboard out of the dump pile that he could use for building. I walked into...
Over the weekend, I got to spend a few minutes out in the shop with Scott. He needed my help to move some giant thing over onto the lift, and then push it under the back of the torn down vehicle. See ...
Gears are at the heart of so many things around here. Scott is building a race car for the Drag Strip that is around the corner from our house. Both boys like to build motorcycles and bikes, and finge...
Chores. I remember being a kid and having chores, and thinking I was overworked and under-appreciated. I remember feeling like all I ever did was work. I know it takes a while to have a grownup mind, ...
Ah – the glories of learning off the computer! Could there be a more exhilarating way to see in a quick moment all the geometric wonders involved in those wonderful Cathedral windows of old? (Pe...
There is a picture circulating of a little girl in an Iraqi orphanage, who misses her mother, so she drew a chalk outline of her mom, curled up within the lines and fell asleep inside her mother. This...
The other night at dinner, Scott explained to the boys about The Mom Flower. He told them that moms need hugs and kisses and sweetness from their children to survive, and that being cross with a mom m...
In the dverse poets pub tonight, the topic is trees and Under The Canopy, which fills me with love and light. That is what we do! We care for trees. (A memory from long ago when I was in school –...
Today, we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday with a couple of videos* specifically tailored for children’s understanding. When we were done, my six-year old announced that he was...
Ben is our nine-year old, who builds with paper and tape. He wakes up every morning with a new plan, and goes after it with a rare determination. We have recently started homeschooling him because spe...