Youthful exuberance

They were young and energetic. In fact, they weren't quite sure what they should do with all that energy. All they knew that some unknown force was propelling them to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. Now what? Sometimes there was a project to be finished from the night before. Perhaps they should play something? What about some Simchas Torah reenactment, complete with energetic singing and dancing? Or maybe they should press the buttons on the new telephone/answering machine, they really liked the electronic voice announcing that indeed there were no new messages. How about banging their bedroom door open and closed over and over again, while attempting to keep some siblings in and some definitely out? Homework? Not such an appealing option. How about a good fight? Let's see who should be started up with next. What should they bicker about today? Whose turn to take the baby out of the crib (she must be a light sleeper if she can't sleep through all this ruckus)? Maybe they should play another game now, the wilder and louder the better. What's wrong with that clock anyway, it's way too slow, it's still not even 6:30. So, how about that game? Nah, much better to go and see if they could manage to get one of the parents up. Not such an easy task that. Why are these parents always so reluctant to abandon their cherished slumber, don't they know there is the whole world waiting out there? They took turns trying to think up most original and innovative ways to accomplish their goal. Sometimes it was a group project. Most often success and victory were theirs. At times, they've made up their mind to be very virtuous and truly were model children, siblings and citizens. On those days, they were constructively occupied, kept fights to a necessary minimum, took care of their siblings, got ready without being prompted and let their parents sleep for 10 or even 15 extra minutes. But perfection is often an elusive goal, acquired slowly and with effort; there is only that long one could be virtuous without slipping up here and there, when one is well, young and energetic. And so it went, day in and day out as they danced, sang, fought and played their way towards the future and adulthood.

The goings on

This week has been basically dedicated to getting everyone back into the routine, washing the sky high pile of laundry accumulated from yom tov and getting organized for this season of "mommy schooling".  It's been  very hot this week, hopefully the summer's last hurrah before the coming rain season. As the result,  there's been plenty of opportunities for indoor activities such as rearranging furniture, cleaning up, cooking and doing art projects together in between  other things.  I've been rereading some of my teaching and homeschooling books.  I like to do that from time to time, because as children get bigger and their abilities, skills and interests change and develop, some subjects and projects which before were not relevant suddenly become relevant  so we can try learning and doing new things.  The plan for now is to continue to work on phonics, mental arithmetic, writing practice and elementary grammar, as well as more geography , looking at maps and globe, plenty of art and other projects and of course read read read about all kinds of things. We are thinking of starting music lessons for the big ones too.   I'd like to also start doing some more formal learning with the younger set , they would probably really enjoy it and feel very important.    Meanwhile, here are a few interesting things I've discovered  that might be of interest.
budgethomeschool.com - lots and lots of interesting stuff for all subjects
artprojectsforkids.org - a ton of art lessons and projects, great when you need a project to do in a hurry
myaudioschool.com - I haven't had the time to look at this site extensively but it has some interesting history and science stuff
handwritingworksheets.com - you can make your own worksheets for handwriting practice on this site
There are many audiobooks for children online and quite a few sites that are free such as librivox.org , gutenberg.org and booksshouldbefree.com that might be interesting  because they have a lot of children's classics in audio but obviously parents have to prelisten to everything to make sure it's appropriate. 
I'll be writing about some of my favorite teaching resources soon, as well as our family favorite picks for good children's books.

Teaching History

I've been trying to formulate my thoughts about the best way to teach history to young children.  So after reading up on the subject for a quite a long time now, I think I am finally getting an overall picture of a good approach.  I've been reading a book by Jacques Barzun, a famous intellectual, who wrote extensively on the subject of good education.   Here are some of his thoughts which are in agreement with the ones I read in a few other books as well. There doesn't seem to be one comprehensive resource for teaching history to kids, they all seem to fall short either in scope or depth.  The reason for this is because history and the forces behind it are very complex and cannot really be taught or understood on one foot especially by a child.  Therefore Barzun suggests (and in general this is the approach taken by Classical Education and to some extant by the Charlotte Mason approach as well) that when children are young one has to concentrate on geography and stories from history to give them a panoramic view which when they are intellectually mature will serve as a framework for them to understand the larger picture by reading and researching history in depth, usually starting in the teenage years.  So when children are young, it's a good idea to read good quality story books with historical themes, as well as animal and plant atlases, to look at maps or a globe, to learn about the diversity of people and climates around the world, teach flag recognition, etc.  Field guides, travel guides and travel diaries could also be very useful.  When you look at it that way, suddenly there are many ways of teaching the subject without feeling like you are trivializing it and not doing it justice.  A jewish parent will still have some homework to do to make sure the materials are appropriate and chances are some modification will be required but this seems to be a good overall direction to follow with history.

More nutrition ruminations, lacto-fermentation and other food links

I've been reading up more on nutrition, the health benefits of lacto-fermented foods such as sauerkraut for example.  I've revisited a cookbook called Cooking the Wholefoods Way that I first checked out of the library something like 8 years ago at least and it suddenly hit me that macrobiotic diet recipes might be very good for my allergic child because they usually don't include dairy or eggs, so that suddenly opened up a lot of cooking possibilities.  My family is generally into soups and with the weather getting colder in the evenings we are full force into the soup season - mushroom barley, cabbage barley, chicken soup in its various incarnations are a few that we've had recently.  I've been looking at some homemade healthy soda recipes and found some quite interesting ones, also for other health drinks that could be made at home.  Some of course we can't make because of the dairy allergies  but maybe you can, so enjoy.
Lacto-fermeted Fizzy Drinks
Soda making at home
Lacto-fermented blueberry soda
Here is something else I would like to try making at home - sour dough bread .
Sour dough bread basics
More sour dough recipes
Some more sour dough recipes
Naturally, you can try making all these things with your kids, that should cover quite a bit of science as well as health and practical skills.

Wine making links

As promised here are a few links for making wines at home.   Have a good time!!!
Beginner wine recipe, plus links to other wine making resources
Mead honey wine recipe
More easy wine recipes includes mead, fruit wines and other exciting possibilities>
Another easy homemade wine recipe

Wine Wisdom

I like to experiment and make different things at home.  I have been thinking of trying to make wine at home for a long time, but the books I've looked at made it sound somewhat complicated and it sounded like you would need all kinds of special equipment so I kind of put it on the back burner, that is until now.  Over Succos we were visiting my husband's grandparents and while we were there our grandfather showed us his shack where he keeps his homemade wine and described the process he uses which he learned from his late father-in-law the last Rabbi of Babruisk.  It sounded very simple, didn't require any special equipment and so of course I got interested.  Our grandfather uses emply 1.5 L soda bottles which he washes carefully, he perforates the top so the bottle wouldn't explode while the wine is fermenting, he fills the bottle almost to capacity with grapes, with a funnel puts in about 100gr of sugar, shakes it around a bit and then lets it sit for about 5-6 month in a dark place.  That's it.  After that the wine is strained into a glass bottle (usually a recycled wine bottle with a cork)  using a collander and a piece of cloth.   After that you can continue to age the wine for as long as you like or just use it.  He's been doing it for years. Sound's very promising doesn't it?  Anyhow, there is a ton of information on the web about home wine making and loads of recipes so hopefully I'll be posting some links in the near future.  Enjoy!!!

Outside/Inside

It's been a lovely, lovely holiday season.  It was busy and hectic but also very happy and joyous for most part.  The weather was beautiful and mostly rainfree.  There were family get togethers with local and overseas relatives. Times spent together looking at old family photos, reminiscing and catching up.  There was a lot of cooking, cleaning and eating.  Lots of reading of stories, conversations and playing.  It was mostly a time of informal learning and just enjoying being together without necessarily doing anything extraordinary.  The kids were first busy helping build the sukkah, then decorating, then eating, playing and sleeping outside. They really enjoyed going on excursions to visit their great grandparents, great aunt and uncle and various cousins and also having their grandmother visit from the US.  There was the shul simchas beis hashoeiva complete with a juggler and unicyclist show for the kids which  they were enthralled with and tried to replicate in part the next day.  So there was plenty of excitement.  In between all of this, I had plenty of ideas for various posts but unfortunately not much time to write, so now I have at least a week and a half worth of writing to do.  It's such a beautiful time of the year when we really take ourselves outside of the regular routine to inspire and orient ourselves as to our priorities before we settle in for the winter and the rest of the year. Now the holidays are over and it's time to implement our plans and resolutions for the year ahead, but instead of taking ourselves outside, now we take what we learned outside back in with us.