tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68133064179214274362024-02-20T03:49:22.533-05:00Earth Friendly MamaKerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-46771751831549431372012-01-15T09:09:00.000-05:002012-01-15T09:09:53.615-05:00Its been a long time!Dear Blogger friends, Family and Followers!
I have not posted anything on my blog since July! The reason for this was a conscious decision during the summer to "unplug". and I did! Then I kind of got used to the idea of not sitting down at the computer to "surf", "blog" or "search" (unless absolutely necessary!) It has been a wonderful experience, tho it was hard at first. Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-12462126424807856232011-07-09T21:50:00.000-04:002011-07-09T21:50:00.165-04:00Enlightening Moment with a Sensitive SonFor almost 7 years now I have been the mother to a little boy that ever since he was small has been unique in his own special ways. He is smart beyond his years, funny, creative and sensitive. Today I had a reminder of how sensitive he is...
Around other children he does his best to keep up with their "kind" of play, the ruff houseing, battles, good guy bad guy play. Still he Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-58024664141280570372011-07-02T22:04:00.000-04:002011-07-02T22:04:55.866-04:002011 Summer Happenings!Here are some of the fun things we have done in June!
Families Drum! The Haven Family along with Jessie and her son joined us for an evening of drumming and makin smores. The kids had fun toasting giant marshmallows and looking for fire flies.
"Winslow Shire" Renaissance Fairhttp://www.winslowfarm.com/
James had fun chasing the wooden toy merchant with the dragon on a stick. They Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-27546266131946435392011-06-24T21:32:00.002-04:002011-06-24T21:53:16.560-04:00Farm Birthday PartyThis past weekend was my son's 3rd birthday. (crazy to think my baby is 3!). He really wanted to have a farm party..yeah...that I can do! I LOVE to celebrate the birth of my 2 boys...I also look at the few weeks leading up to the party as "craft therapy" for me. It gives me a reason to have to make and craft things at night, instead of so easily crashing out on the couch to watch Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-17435730101619795462011-06-21T23:25:00.000-04:002011-06-21T23:25:13.630-04:00Water Chestnut removal Volunteer DayFor the past couple of years the Norton Conservation Department has been having an annual event at Borrowsville Pond to remove the Water Chestnut (Trapa natans) plants. You can find more information on the Water Chestnut here: Fact Sheet The Water Chestnut is an exotic invasive plant from Eurasia. It is and annual herb transported mostly by geese when the 4- horned seed gets Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-32070471500790315432011-06-03T09:23:00.000-04:002011-06-03T09:23:33.566-04:00Recycled Tee-Shirt into a Backpack
He has it filled with little cars, so it is pretty heavy and hanging low...I have since shorted the straps so the bag sits up higher on his shoulders.
I have also discovered that the material I used for the straps is freing, so I think I will replace them with tee-shirt material straps like the original directions called for, I will have to use a different tee-shirt since the kids ones areKerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-59422886981190184812011-06-03T09:12:00.000-04:002011-06-03T09:12:05.148-04:00Home made liquid laundry soapI have been using home made liquid laundry soap for about a month now. The recipe was very simple to make. I only made 1/2 the recipe so I could see if I like it... And I do, I will continue to make it, It also saved a ton of money and plastic bottles
1. 4cups water in pan-boil then lower heat2.Add 1 cup shaved soap a little at a time until dissolved, I used Ivory, I used a Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-50822055050436703602011-06-03T08:59:00.000-04:002011-06-03T08:59:27.565-04:00Schoolin in May--Part 3Addends greater than 10. He has strips of paper with the equation on it. I showed him how to fold his paper to make square, one square for each problem. All his work was running into each other and it was very mess to look at. This has helped!
After coloring on the little floor table, I showed James how to clean it.
and dry it!
Warm weather "was" here! We opened the windows and yuck!Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-26797565287519844652011-05-22T08:54:00.000-04:002011-05-22T08:54:14.017-04:00Schooling in May..and a new RhythmSo it is almost the end of the year and I am STILL tring to find a good rhythm for us in the morning for school! I have decided that once we come down stairs it is too easy to get involved in other activities, such as play or computer..SO..we now stay upstairs. I started to prepare this breakfast tray for them, so they can serve them selves cereal,juice,fruit,muffin etc...
They do this while theyKerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-47396437602688179072011-05-22T07:48:00.000-04:002011-05-22T07:48:21.032-04:00Muffin Tin Omelets"sorry for the poor pic"These are ham and cheese..they were so yummy. I think these would be great to make for a crowd. Nice and easy!
Here is a link to a the EHow website with the recipie for muffin tin omelets.cook-eggs-muffin-panKerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-16522464275249555232011-05-11T20:38:00.000-04:002011-05-13T16:36:51.948-04:00Schooling in May 2011This is our Movable Alphabet, click here for more info on this.Since Mason was reading before we started Montessori, I have decided to adapt the Language materials to use them in a way that better fits his stage in reading. We just started to use this (it would normally be used with a child around 4). I wanted to have it made for James anyway, so I have Mason use it for Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-30012717341640816312011-05-11T20:31:00.000-04:002011-05-13T16:36:51.708-04:00Kids Laundry LineI wanted to do this last year, but you know how life happens! I really wanted to have a clothes line that the boys can reach! They are at that lovely tender age where they actually like to help do house work! Mason has been helping to do his own laundry since he was 4. Loading the washing machine, adding soap, pushing the button... I want taking care of himself and his things to just be apart of Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-38426363017859194082011-05-01T10:29:00.001-04:002011-05-01T10:34:07.622-04:00School Days April, part 2
The weather is finally warm enough for us to "school outside". We live on a dead end street and use is a lot to do school work with sidewalk chalk. Both boys loved this ABC Caterpillar. Mason went through is saying the sounds of the letters, backwards, and hopping on one foot. James and I went down it together saying the letters and sounds.
Mason wanted to know "how many minuets does it take Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-82766574623858788912011-05-01T09:33:00.000-04:002011-05-01T09:33:23.582-04:00April's Fun Activities and Field Trips
The Greek Olympics!
In our Story of the World curriculum, it was my week to do the Olympics, it was also the last week for indoor park day with one of the home school groups, so I combined the two! More fun to have the Olympics with lots of kids of all ages then the 4 that is in the SOTW Co-Op. I am only posting this one pic, since I do not have permission to post pics of the other 19 children Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-42397078026366808952011-05-01T09:17:00.000-04:002011-05-01T09:17:33.819-04:00Baby Chicks!We have baby chicks! In the living room.... Every couple of years we get some baby chicks to add to the flock. This is such a wonderful and natural experience for the boys. I love to watch them talk to and interact with the baby chicks. It's fun to hear them saying things like "Hi, my name is Mason" or "Hi babies" is their sing song talking to babies voice!
They get to giggle atKerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-69311461939386593042011-04-22T09:31:00.000-04:002011-04-22T09:31:55.524-04:00Natural Egg DyesWe did it! Finally this year I got my act together and dyed our eggs with natural egg dyes. I really do not know why I didn't do this before, it really was not hard at all! I shared this experience with some friends and the kids loved to smash/eat the blueberries, blend the beets and mix the turmeric. I did not boil the eggs, we colored them first then blew them out and hung them on aKerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-25382254495926848432011-04-22T06:00:00.002-04:002011-04-22T09:00:42.995-04:00What do the plastic recycling numbers mean?Happy Earth Day! I thought I would share a website I found that explains what the numbers mean on the bottom of the plastic containers. It explains which numbers are easily recyclable and which are harmful if used with food! I copied and pasted this to a word document and printed it out. I keep it on my fridge to remind me which is which when I am recycling!Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-35272277340120029992011-04-16T15:47:00.000-04:002011-04-16T15:47:06.518-04:00Peanut Butter Dog TreatsOur dog turned 4 in March. We make a big deal about birthdays in our house (even the dogs!) Personally I prefer to put my time,energy and love into celebrating the birth of a loved one over a commercialized holiday.So to celebrate our pups big day we made her homemade dog treats! This is something I have wanted to do anyway...I want to stop buying commercially made treats for her. Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-51161169152110947462011-04-16T09:02:00.000-04:002011-04-16T09:02:20.755-04:00More Landforms...Here are some more landforms Mason made...here he is making the bay.I warmed the clay in the toaster oven to soften it and make it easier to work with.
James working with them, adding animals on land and in water.
Cape
The Bay and the Cape are the 2 new ones he made this week.Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-24314053415139640402011-04-16T08:24:00.000-04:002011-04-16T08:24:06.330-04:00Geography LandformsWe finally made it to landforms!I feel like I have been waiting all year to make these with Mason!
We used green modeling clay...I waited for the 40% coupon for Micheal's craft store to buy one a month.I let Mason make them, good thing too, cause his hands were stained green for days!
I bought 8x5 in foil roll pans in packs of 3. This gave us an extra one for James to use! He loved working Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-65742518377798905762011-04-14T09:15:00.000-04:002011-04-14T09:15:52.694-04:00School Days in April, 2011Sound eggsI filled the eggs with different things to make different sound like
beans, popcorn, toothpicks, pasta, rice, marble, and; pebbles. I used packing tape around them!
There is a matching set for each sound. Both boys enjoy this!
I was surprised at his concentration level and determination to find the matches, It took him awhile but he did it!Pouring Rice with a funnel
Shape sortingI Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-21869798690240034862011-04-05T08:47:00.000-04:002011-04-05T08:47:26.126-04:00Article on : 7 sins of a forced educationI love to share what we do in our home school on my blog, but I will be the first to admit that I am not a writer! I love when I come across an article that expresses my own thoughts on education that I can share with you! This is one of those articles that everyone thinks about and deep down knows its has some truth to is, but no one talks about...whats that called?....the white Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-89130813209356442612011-04-02T08:38:00.000-04:002011-04-02T08:38:26.769-04:00"Green" easter baskets!This is my new favorite Easter tradition!!! Last year Mason's teacher at the Audubon Society made these with the class and it was wonderful! We are going to do this every year!Instead of fake plastic grass (that is so very bad for Mother Earth) grow REAL grass in your Easter basket!It takes a bit of planning on the timing, but it is so worth it!We have made this a first day of spring Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-78046843789589261002011-03-27T09:37:00.000-04:002011-03-27T09:37:52.462-04:00March 2011- Addition Strip Board & Grammar Symbols
Math is a tricky subject for us. Mason is very ahead of the game when it comes to math, so we tend not to do "math" during school. He enjoys doing math related activities all the time, so I do not feel like we need to focus on it (right now). That being said, I still LOVE Montessori math! So once in awhile I will make a material that I know I will eventually need for JamesKerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6813306417921427436.post-35755695865863563052011-03-27T09:00:00.000-04:002011-03-27T09:00:38.172-04:00Lets find Spring!
We have been very busy with our home school friends searching for SPRING! We went out in the yard and brought the camera. The kids found signs of spring and then they took a picture of it.
crocus sprouting
searching
Add caption
onions in the garden sprouting
forsinthia budding
lilac buding
grass turning green
green bushes
We made eggshell planters. The moms Kerryanne Cumminshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288958396727985304noreply@blogger.com0