Special Mother's Day Message♥

Happy Mother's Day

Here is a wonderfully lovely video from Explore.org!  They send me daily learning content by sharing live video feeds with us from around the world.  The kids are currently obsessed with the nests filled with babies and the caring mama's nurturing their littles!  Scroll down to their link for a special Mother's Day message...

We love, love, love their motto... Never Stop Learning!

Photo credit: Gooseberry Patch

"We ❤️ Moms"

"Moms make the world go 'round, and we see evidence of that every day on our nature and animal cams.

From panda mommas wrangling rascals to bald eagles who teach their young to be assertive with food, moms provide a vital foundation for all walks of life. Today we honor and recognize them with this compilation of touching mom moments, and hope you enjoy watching your favorite moms live on explore.org.

Never Stop Learning,

Your extended family at explore.org"

We Love Moms ~ Explore.org ~ One of our favourite live learning experiences ♥ 

 

Blessings of Easter♥

We celebrate Easter and did so in the physical isolation of 2020 that has left it's own mark on all our festivities.  It is a challenge but Easter is the same... Easter doesn't change... the way we celebrate changes by necessity or design but Easter is the same.  We took comfort in that as we wished our loved ones from afar a Happy Easter and a joyous spring.  There is also a comfort that spring remains the same and the signs are everywhere for us to discover.

On a hygge nature walk yesterday, we were able to observe the many signs of spring that have come to grace our homestead once again.  My daughter documented her first crocus of the season with a photograph she took herself.  She marveled at nature moving on as is should with our lives feeling so stationary at the moment.  I hope you get a chance to walk around outside your home and take note yourself and revel in the renewal of springtime♥

 

 

These marvelous scavenger hunts come to us from

Primary Playground♥

Autumn... slow down... hygge with family♥

Autumn and back to school has been a busy season.  

Many new experiences in new grades with new teachers...  Many familiar beloved traditions to renew our spirits and fill our days.  Each Autumn I'm filled with nostalgia and the desire to slow the pace of life.  Curl up with the kids with a hygge fire, warm cocoa and good books♥  

 

Autumn Wind

When autumn wind goes running
It does some magic things.
It gives the shadows dancing shoes,
It gives the bright leaves wings -
When autumn wind goes running.

It curls the bonfire's tail of smoke
And shares a little whispered joke
With cornstalks who delight to prattle,
It turns a seed pod into a rattle -
When autumn wind goes running.

 Boo! is a favourite with our clan for Halloween :D

 

 

An Autumn Greeting

"Come," said the Wind to the Leaves one day.
"Come over the meadow and we will play.
Put on your dresses of red and gold.
For summer is gone and the days grow cold."

 

 I like pumpkins is a fun, whimsical read for your little's... a good book to curl up with count some pumpkins :D

 

 

We had much to be thankful for this thanksgiving and much to look forward to with all the holiday fun ahead.  Wishing you all a splendid holiday season with relaxing, peaceful moments with your loved ones♥

Fairy Tales and nurturing the spirit of lengthening days...

 
Our winter/hibernation literacy unit has come to a close as we prepare to welcome spring.  We are once again so excited to continue our fairy tales stories!  We usually turn to fairy tales between seasonal adventures.  Fairy tales are always a good idea regardless of the season and expose children to worlds of inspiring, imaginative content to stretch their vocabulary!  Poetry and fairy tales with rhythm and rhyme have many other benefits from an early literacy perspective.

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales.”–Albert Einstein

If you need a prompt to get the children to focus and introduce your story of the day, this song is a good one!  It is also very appropriate any time you need them to focus on a speaker.

Circle time beginning song

(Sung to the tune ~  Are you sleeping brother John)

Eyes are watching (pointing to eye)

ears are listening (listening hand up)

lips are closed (finger to lips

hands are still (hands crossed over)

Feet are very quiet (legs crossed)

now we can absorb it

listening well, listening well.

We hope you are enjoying the lengthening days and the warmer temperatures... and as always, cuddling up and enjoying a good book is always hygge!

 "Make books your companions; let your bookshelves be your gardens: bask in their beauty, gather their fruit, pluck their roses, take their spices and myrrh." - Samuel Ben Judah Ibn Tibbon

Happy Candlemas♥

Happy Candlemas and ground hogs day!

Let us nurture the spirit of renewal and

embrace the light of the lengthening days.

  If Candlemas be fair and bright,

Come, Winter, have another flight;

If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,

Go Winter, and come not again.  

We are ready to snuggle up for a cold February

with a polar vortex moving in by the hour.  

 

We have some wonderful reads for our long winter

and a hygge roaring fire to warm ourselves by...

Welcome Candlemas and the remaining six weeks of winter♥

It's the Winter Solstice♥

Our home is celebrating the Winter Solstice by giving back to nature. This lovely gift is hanging in our lilac trees above our bird pub.  It's a fun tradition to decorate a tree outside with edible treats for wild life. 

 Going for a solstice walk is a great way to spend this astronomical event.  Talking about the longest night and it's significance as we explore the newness of the winter season is a pleasurable way to spend the day.  A little further down is the science activity we share with the kiddos, along with some winter solstice poetry.  Embracing the darkness and celebrating the return of the light, we wish you love, peace and joy this Winter Solstice♥

 

 Winter Solstice science with our kiddos:)

Winter Solstice is the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere with the fewest hours of daylight.  

The North Pole is tilted the farthest from the sun.

Winter Hygge includes books books books♥

Staying in and curling up with a good book♥

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again...

~Bill Morgan Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

Put your love in a poem
Roses are red.
Put your love in a letter,
Words never said.
Whisper love
When you're feeling shy.
Sing of love,
And the world will cry.
Save your love for a present,
Give it away.
The perfect gift
For Christmas Day.

Rankin/Bass

 

 

I'm a little penguin
Just a few days old,
Trying to keep warm
In the Antarctic cold.
Mom and Dad care for me
...By giving me heat.
Watch me as I sit upon
Their nice warm feet.
~Angel Fuller