It's That Time Again!

It's not too late to break out the seeds and pots and start preparing for this year's garden. I found this wonderful website that has made gardening easy and exciting!

First of all she has valuable information like a how-to video on growing seeds indoors, an easy-to-read companion planting chart, and helpful links among other things. She also groups areas into colors according to your last spring frost date. Once you determine your color, you can sign up for a weekly newsletter where she reminds you what gardening activity you should do that week. I don't know about you but I need reminding!

On her site there is also a link to a gardening planning website that has software which helps you plot and plan your garden. It has a activity log and other great tools to help you get organized. There is a free 45-day trial and then if it is worth it you can sign up for a $20/year subscription.

My husband good-naturedly teases me about a gardening weakness I have. For some reason I have a hard time harvesting my garden. I have phenomenal starting (of a project) power, pretty strong staying power to carry it through, but this year I am going to work on finishing power. Hopefully these tools help me with that.

Happy Gardening!

Inspire Learning

Let's tackle Janet's question about how to inspire learning. She has recently taken her children out of public school and sounds like everyone (including her) is burned out. In school there is so much "teaching to the test" and meeting government standards etc. that often children's love of learning is squelched.

I was in a similar situation last year at this time. I highly recommend reading materials about a Thomas Jefferson Education. Through my reading, I discovered that summer is the perfect "detox" time. It's a time to heal family relationships and rekindle our love of learning.

My veteran TJEd friend Amanda W. suggests to do nothing! There was a time when I would have shuddered at the suggestion. I used to be scared of the dreaded complaint "Mom, I'm bored!" But Amanda is right! I have since discovered that being bored creates the necessary vacuum needed for children to discover and explore. My children have come up with wonderful activities and games when left to themselves. Now when I hear "Mom, I'm bored!", my response is always the same. "That's great! I love when you're bored!! You come up with the best things to do when you're bored." And they have!

Amanda also shared with me that much of what inspires her children simply comes from following her instincts as their mother. I would love to share more about that on a later post. Stay tuned!

We also read great books together. See What We've Learned From the Classics for some ideas (more to come!). Discussions and activities natuarally flow from sharing a great book together.

Camping is another great detoxing activity. It's a great time to work together as a family and heal relationships by being present in nature. On Memorial Day weekend we (by "we" I really mean my husband and kids ; ) camped in our backyard...just for fun!

Any family work projects like caring for a garden and yard where we all work together has a healing effect as well.

The key is being together and spending quality time with your children. More and more my husband and I are realizing that our children are only with us a short time. Make use of every moment.

These are only some ideas of how to rekindle our (yes, ours too : ) love of learning and is by no means comprehensive. Please share any ideas you have done to inspire learning.

Summer is around the corner and I can't wait to be LAZY! What!? You can be lazy with five children, you wonder? Well NO, not really...BUT I have found that if initially you play with your kids, it seems to fill a need and then you can go on and take care of mommy business. At any rate, it pays to have some exciting alternatives in preparation for the inevitable "I'm bored!" exclamation.

My friend Jenny R. is such a fun summer mom (she is for other seasons too : ) Here are some of the activities she does with her kids:

• "The boys each have a four-man tent that they got a few years ago. They love setting them up as forts in the back yard. They each have a pack with a compass, flashlight, water gun, snacks, etc. They play spies, army, camping, etc. for hours. They also love it if it is lightly raining."

• "Water balloons are fun for all four of my kids. I have an attachment that hooks up to the hose so it makes it a lot easier."

• "Taking a picnic to the park along with bikes, scooters, roller blades, etc. is also fun."

• "We have had a swimming pass the last few summers which makes a great incentive to get chores done in the morning. Spending a few hours at the pool is one of their favorite things to do."

• "My girls are really into crafts and projects. I taught them to crochet(Emmy loves it Kylee hates it).

• Paints, beads, weaving, and building things with popsicle sticks are some things they love.

• "For smaller kids one of my favorite things is Water Wow! El Grande Activity Kit- Color with water! It is painting with water so there is no mess. Little kids love it. I just ordered it online."

• "The girls also love the Painting By Number Kits."

THANKS for the fun ideas Jenny!

Another fun idea I haven't actually done YET is a kids projects at Home Depot. All stores on the first Saturday of the month offer a free project for children ages 4-12. Some stores have sign-up lists and some are first come, first serve (check the Home Depot near you). They ask that there is one adult for every two children to help supervise. They have done fun projects such as a birdhouse, a gift for Mother's Day, a hardware sorter for Father's Day, a picnic caddy in July, etc. Try it out and let me know how it goes!

On that note... FYI I had my comments on a restricted setting but now you can leave comments (I hope ;)

Give it a try and share some fun ideas!