Valley Mama

Co-op Day: Gratitude...A Thanksgiving Story and Craft

Since this week is Thanksgiving, our co-op day was centered around gratitude.  It was nice to get our little ones thinking about all they are thankful for in their lives. 

This is what we did...

As usual, more information on our Waldorf-inspired home-school co-op can be found here.

Our bread today was our basic Valley Mama Bread, made in 100% whole wheat.  Today, we talked about the gifts of the harvest, and made "harvest bread".  With the help of the children we shaped a braid and decorated it with wheat and a couple of little mice.  The children also made some of their own shapes with the leftover dough.  As we kneaded and shaped we talked about some things we're thankful for, and tried to shape them out of our dough. 

Dough ready to rise, we headed to the big rug for circle time!  The hit of circle time today was Oats and Beans.  To do this we stood in a circle holding hands and sang the lyrics to the traditional children's song.  During the first verse we walked in a circle, and during the second verse, someone (or several someones) jumped into the middle to be the farmer and act out the lyrics:

"Oats and beans and barley grow, oats and beans and barley grow.  Do you or I or anyone know how oats and beans and barley grow?"

"First the farmer sows his (her) seed, then he stands to take his ease, stamps his feet and claps his hands and turns around to view the lands."

We continued until everyone who wanted to be the farmer got a chance.

We ended circle time with a story about a little gnome who learns the change in perspective gratitude can bring. I wanted a story that would introduce our craft (making colorful corn necklaces), with a focus on gratitude.  I call it, The Gratitude Necklace, and it's sort of a Waldorf-style Thanksgiving Tale.  Click on the link to read the story.  

Our story led right into our craft, making gratitude necklaces.  Here's how we did it:

Gratitude Necklaces

The day before our group met I soaked some dried corn kernels so they would be soft enough to put a needle through.  I used dried blue and yellow (posole) corn from the bulk bins at the co-op, and an ear of red Indian corn I already had.

The morning of our group day I drained the corn and put it in the warming oven of our wood stove to dry out a bit.  If the kernels are too wet they are a little tricky to handle.

After our story, all the children found a place around the table and we handed out supplies.  Each child choose a color of embroidery floss and some kernels of corn.  The parents helped with cutting the floss the right length, tying a knot at one end and threading a needle on.  We demonstrated how to poke the needle through the kernel of corn and slide in down the thread.  They were encouraged to think of something they were grateful for with each kernel they added to their thread, just like in the story.  

 

When the children were done threading their corn, we helped them tie the ends to make a necklace. 

Necklace made, everyone put on snow-gear and went outside to enjoy this amazing amount of snow we have right now!  The little ones had a blast, including some fun times on the swing and experiments with shoveling snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we came in for our snack of apples, pears and harvest bread, clean-up time, and closing circle...

 

...And one more story time with Jen!

Snowy Day Doll-Making

 

Snowy days in Creede brought lots of time to spend on the Waldorf-style dolls I'm working on.  I began making toys when Mason was tiny, and it didn't take me long to realize how fun and rewarding it can be to make a high-quality, beautiful toy, with completely natural materials.  It soon became a hobby, and I branched out from simple knitted and sewn items to more complicated dolls and woodworking.  Now, making toys for my children and my friends' children is one of my favorite things.

Of all the types of toys I've made, I think dolls are the most magical.  I adore doll-making.  And, I firmly believe that all children should have a doll of some sort.  I've made several types of dolls, and my absolute favorite are the Waldorf-style dolls.  Their soft, sweet representation of the human form is perfect for little ones to cuddle, hug and adventure with.  In my opinion, the best dolls are made from natural materials and have simple facial features and expressions, so the child can imagine them to feel anything they want them to.  

Mason's first baby was made by a dear friend of mine, and was a little Waldorf-style, Mason-baby.  It looked just like him, with his crazy, straw-colored hair.  When he turned three, I made him a Waldorf doll (only my second one to make) and though Hanka (his name for the doll) spends a lot of time in a basket these days, he does still play with it, and it holds a special place among his things.  I found this photo of three-year old Mason "reading" to his Hanka doll...so sweet.  

This was the first doll I ever sold, one of the first I made.  I felt a little sad sending her off to her child, but warm and fuzzy knowing that a little girl would soon be hugging her.

The dolls I make are lovingly sewn with cotton fabric free of pesticides and chemical residue.  I stuff them with pure wool from our own sheep, and add all the little details by hand.  These days I'm loving the natural-looking hair made from mohair yarn, and clothing sewn from our old re-purposed clothes.  

I'm working on five dolls right now, and I'm so excited about all of them.  One is River's first doll.  We have a few dolls in the house that she loves to play with (she calls them babies), but this one will be all her own.  Since she's only one, I'm keeping it pretty simple.  The other dolls are all commissions for friends.  They are going to four amazing little girls, and each child is the inspiration for her doll.  I am touched and honored that my friends trust me with these gifts for their little ones.  I certainly have a lot of fun making them.  

Snow Days

While the Valley Papa was away at a conference, I packed up the little people and we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Creede.  A winter wonderland awaited us up in the mountains.  The boy was delighted, and spent many hours in the snow.  

Our first day we went on a great adventure with Grandpa, which involved snow shoeing and animal track investigation.  We saw so many tracks, which we think included moose, mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, deer, chipmunk, bobcat, and who knows what else.  We took photos of a few of them for identification later.  Then we made a quick stop at the sledding hill on the way back down the mountain for lunch.

Mason wasted no time in taking his sled up the hill and flying down...River even had a little sled ride of her own.

The next day it started snowing again, and didn't really stop for several days.  Mason spent a lot of time shoveling snow off the deck and helping bring in the firewood...

Exploring animal tracks in the snow was one of my favorite parts of the week.  I think we'll print out photos once we're home and help Mason to identify them.  Then we'll add them to his nature book.  Here are a few of them (click on the photo to see full size):

Now, if we can get my car out of the snow and up the driveway, we'll be home soon, full of fun stories for Papa.    

Reading The Little Warranty People

Last week we kicked off a new blog series called Mama and Mason Book Reviews, with some thoughts on reading Peter Pan.  This week we're reviewing The Little Warranty People, by Eduard Uspensky.  It's a Russian book, translated to English.  We found this book at the library, and it seemed light and fun, so we checked it out.

Who doesn't love the intriguing world of 'the little people".  The idea of little beings existing in our world, living alongside us but just out of view...is captivating for people of all ages.  This book is about a hidden world of little people called the Warranty People.  They work for factories, keeping all your appliances under a factory warranty running smoothly, only to leave for another assignment when the warranty expires.  Mason was intrigued from the beginning.  There is some mechanical and electrical talk, as the main characters go about their work and repair problems that arise.  While I know he did not completely understand all of this, I think he liked it...it certainly did not keep him from enjoying the story.  

The warranty people in the story travel with the family they live with to a vacation home, where they encounter a group of mice who want them gone and have deal with a clever little girl who is attempting to find them.  There is some war talk, which I was not crazy about, but everything turns out nicely.  The mice declare war on the warranty people, because that is the way it's always been.  The warranty people are not interested in war however, and feed the mice sausages instead.  It's quite humorous at times.  Even with the war talk and military jargon, there is no violence, which I appreciated.

Overall, it was a fun book to read with Mason, which has really fueled his creative play this week.  I've been asked to play 'warranty people' over and over.  Here is what Mason thought...

    

Me: "Mason, what was The Warranty People about?"

Mason: "It was about the warranty people.  They are little, tiny people that live in appliances, and they stay there until the warranty is over.  Like Coldman, Dustboy and News of the Day.  There were also some mice and two of them were really nice.  The others, not so much.  And there was a little girl, Tanya, who knew they were there, and kept trying to find them because she wanted them to be her toys!"

Me: "What was your favorite part of the book?"

Mason: "When the warranty people used suction cups to go up, up, up the wall to...what was that thing called?"

Me: "The chandelier."

Mason: "The chandelier, and then they parachuted down."

Me: "I like that part too.  Were there any parts you didn't like?"

Mason: "I didn't want Tanya to find them...I was worried Tanya would find them."

Me: "Mason, if you were a warranty person, what appliance would you live in?"

Mason: "I would live in a cuckoo clock and have a cuckoo bird for a pet!"

Mason: "Mom, do you know we have warranty people living here?"

Me: "No, I did not know that...where do they live?"

Mason: "Here!"

Me: "I mean, which appliances do they live in?"

Mason: "Mostly the vacuum, washing machine, car and fridge."

Me: "I want to hear more about that...is there anything else you think people might like to know about the book?"

Mason: "It's good [the book], and there just might be warranty people living in your house..."

Mason: "Let's play warranty people!  You be a little girl who is searching for me, and I'll go hide over here.  Then, I'll turn you into a warranty person so you can come inside my house...I can do that you know, make you small like me."

 

We then went on to play Warranty People for quite some time, hiding from big people and climbing walls with suction cups.  

Here's to the love of reading! 

 

Valley Mama Bread

The farmer gave us golden grain
For us to grind and grind.
Now it’s flour brown and white,
Soft and very fine.
Add the water, yeast and honey,

Mix it with our hands.
When it’s soft and not too runny
Let it stand and stand.
Shape the dough into a loaf.
Put it in to cook.
When it’s crusty, crisp and brown,
We’ll have a little look.

I've mentioned several times (at least) about how we begin each home school co-op day with baking bread for snack.  We make a lot of homemade bread in our house, and it is one of my favorite things to do with young children.  I've had several requests for bread recipes, so I thought I would share my favorite go-to bread recipe.  

I love this bread.  It is easily made into regular loaves (as we do for our family's bread), and also works well made into whatever creative shapes the little ones dream up.  It's fairly simple to adapt it for soaking, which breaks down the phytates and makes the bread much more digestible.  

This bread recipe is very adaptable, and I often change it up based on what we're doing each week.  When we had our carrot co-op week, I used fresh carrot juice for part of the liquid and we added grated carrots.  When we had fun with nuts, I had the children knead chopped nuts into the dough.  

Here is how I make it...

Valley Mama Bread

First, I mix 4 cups water with 1/2 cup honey and heat it on the stove.  When the mixture is warm and the honey is dissolved, I put it in my bowl.

Next I stir in about 2 Tablespoons yeast (or yeastie beasties, as Mason sometimes calls it...from the book The Too-Great Bread Bake), and let it proof until it's nice and bubbly...about 5 minutes.

While the yeast is doing it's thing, I melt about 3 Tablespoons of butter on the stove (you could also use coconut oil or olive oil).  Once melted, I add it to the bowl.

Then I add 1 Tablespoon of salt, 1 Tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten, 1/2 cup wheat germ and 1 cup rolled oats.  Sometimes I add other things instead of wheat germ and rolled oats, such as flax seeds and quinoa flakes.  

Next I add the whole wheat flour, about 4 cups.  I add it one cup at a time and stir it with each additional cup, until it looks something like this...

I hope to be grinding all my flour myself soon, right before I use it, but for now, I love this freshly-milled, locally produced flour...Mountain Mama flour.

Then I let it sit for a minute while I go get River out of the bathroom sink she's climbed into, and thank Mason for informing me of her daring stunts.  When I come back, the whole wheat flour has absorbed more of the liquid, which means less unbleached white flour to add, which is a good thing.

Next, I add unbleached white flour (also locally produced) until the dough is still a little sticky, but firm enough to work, about 4 cups.

Then I turn the dough onto a floured counter or board for kneading.  I have a nice kneading counter these days, but if I want to knead on a surface that is not ideal, I place a damp towel under the board which keeps it from sliding all over the place while I'm kneading.   And sometimes, I let my dough blade and my food processor knead it for me.  :)

Then I knead the bread, adding a little flour to keep it from sticking too bad, while keeping it soft.  You do not want to add too much flour here.

Once the dough is kneaded (you can check the gluten development by doing the 'window pane test', where you stretch a piece of dough between your thumb and fingers to form a windowpane), I put it in an oiled bowl to rise until doubled...about an hour.  I often turn my oven on warm, then turn it off and put the bread in it to rise.  Our climate in the San Luis Valley can make bread rising a challenge, and this method often works for me, especially on cold days.

Once the dough has doubled in size, I gently deflate it with my hands.  Then, I either shape loaves, or bring it out for the children to shape as they arrive for co-op day.  These photos were taken on our last co-op day, so the children did the shaping.

 

Once the dough is formed into loaves (or leaves, people, dinosaurs, cats, carrots, pinatas...), place in oiled pans for the second rise.  

Then I let the dough rise again, while I heat the oven to 375 degrees.  When it's ready, bake at 375 until done.  The time varies depending on the shapes of the bread...loaves taking longer, little rolls baking quicker.

If you are making loaves, take them out and let them sit in the pans for another 5 minutes or so.  Then take them out of the pans, but do not cut into them until they are completely cool!  I know, this is hard, but they slice so much better if you wait!

If you've had your little ones make shapes for snack, then of course, you eat them right away.  I did not get many photos of the finished product, as it was eaten pretty quickly.  I'll post some photos of loaves next time I make it.  Here are some mini-loaves made by the kiddos.  

 

We always enjoy this bread, and I hope you do as well!

If you're interested in some of my other favorite, basic bread recipes, here are a few:

Fermented Whole Grain Bread, from Feeding the Whole Family

Soaked Buttermilk Bread, from Nourishing Traditions

Soaked Whole Wheat Bread, from the Elliot Homestead Blog

Making Stone Soup

This week we celebrated our annual Stone Soup Day with our home school co-op.  This is becoming a much-loved tradition with our group of little ones and parents.  We always do Stone Soup in November, shortly before Thanksgiving.  It is such a wonderful story to hear as we contemplate gratitude for the gifts of our food and generosity in sharing with others.  There are many different versions of the story, and probably as many ways to "do" Stone Soup with a group.  I have a very simple version that I tell from memory, and as I tell the story the children tell it with me and we act it out together.  This is how our Stone Soup Day went this year...

Thanks to Mandy for some of the photos!

Everyone was asked in advance to bring something to contribute to the soup...veggies (washed, but not prepped), grains and beans (cooked), pasta, etc.   

As usual, I had bread dough ready for little hands to knead and shape as everyone arrived.  It's a wonderful, calming way to enter into the social situation for the little ones, and bread goes great with soup!  More on the bread in my next post, when I share my go-to bread recipe.  

Once our bread was shaped and placed on pans to rise, we began circle time.  Besides our usual verses, the candle verse/finger play we did this week was a huge hit...

Ten tall candles stand in a row (hold up ten fingers), burn so bright till the wind starts to blow, then (blow) goes the wind, and out one will go!  (Ask the children how many are left now.)  Nine tall candles stand in a row, burn so bright till Jonah starts to blow, then (Jonah blows) Jonah goes, and out one will go!  Repeat in this fashion, using a different child's name each time until there are no more candles.

At the end of circle time I explained that they were going to help tell the story today, and that it was Stone Soup Day.  They were asked to get the items they brought to contribute to the soup and have a seat around the circle table. 

 Then we began the story.  It went something like this (though I never tell it exactly the same)...

"Once upon a time there was a traveler journeying across the countryside.  His clothes were worn, he carried a heavy pack, and as he had been traveling for a long time, he was very tired and very hungry.  He was also rather upbeat and optimistic by nature, and he believed he would find a place to get some nourishment soon.  At last he came upon a little village on the edge of a wood, where he hoped he might find a bite to eat and a place to rest a while.  (I walk around while telling this part, acting the part of a tired and hungry traveler.)

The traveler walked up to the first house he saw, and knocked on the door.  (I choose a child and walk up to them, pretending to knock on their door.)  The door opened a little, and a woman looked out, a little warily.  "Good day Ma'm, would you happen to have a little food to spare for a tired traveler such as myself?"  (The child usually giggles and says "no".)  "No, I hardly have anything to feed myself, and nothing to spare," says the woman.  The traveler was disappointed, but was not about to give up, so he decided to try the next house.  (I choose another child to walk up to.)  He went up to the house, knocked on the door and a little old man peeked out.  "Kind Sir, I am a traveler on a long journey, and I am quite hungry and in need of some food.  Do you have anything to spare?"  (This child also says "no", and smiles because he's in on the secret.)  You see, the villagers were rather poor themselves, and felt like they had nothing to share, and besides, they were not very trusting of strangers.

The traveler, however, had an idea for how to get a meal for himself and the whole village.  He walked out into the center of the village and said, "This sure is a fine day for a nice hot pot of stone soup.  Yes indeed, some stone soup would hit the spot today.  Luckily I have my trusty soup kettle with me!  Yes sir, I'll just build a little fire right here, get some water from the well, and with my trusty soup kettle we'll be eating delicious stone soup in no time!"  (As I'm talking I'm acting it out.  I pretend to make a fire with some branch blocks and an orange play silk, and set my pot, already filled with water, on top.)  Now, the villagers were very interested in this stone soup...whoever heard of such a thing, soup from a stone!  They did not yet come out of there houses, but they stood at their doors and peeked out of their windows, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Now", says the traveler, "I just need to find the perfect soup stone..."  (I walk around pretending to look for the perfect stone.  I hold and taste a few, before deciding on one, which happens to be the one I've already cleaned for use.)  "Ah, here we have it, the perfect soup stone!"  "Now, I'll just put this stone in the pot and we'll have stone soup in to time."  (I put the stone in the big pot of water and begin stirring.  After a while I pretend to taste the soup from the big wooden spoon.)  "Ah yes, this is already wonderful!  Just the thing for a day like this!  It is great, but it sure would be better with some carrots.  Yes sir, I wish I had a couple of carrots."  (The children are usually on the edge of their seats, ready to bring what they have to add to the soup, and the ones with carrots come forward right away).  Then, curiosity overcame one of the villagers who was listening at his door, and, he opened his door and said, "Why, I have a couple of carrots, I'll bring them!"  (The children with the carrots happily add them to the big soup pot.  It is OK if they are not cut up, we'll get to that later.  Then I pretend to taste the soup again.)  "Mmm, that is even better!  The only thing that would make this soup better is just a little potatoes.  Yes, potatoes sure would be fine in a soup like this!"  (The children with potatoes come and add them to the pot.  We continue in this fashion until everyone's item has been included.)

This year we had: carrots, parsnips, turnips, kale, pasta, quinoa, seasonings, zucchini, pumpkin, local beef, lentils, and probably something else I'm leaving out.  The children all gather around as the ingredients are placed in the pot.

Time to conclude the story:

At this point, a delicious aroma was coming from the soup pot, and the villagers were amazed that such a soup could have come from a stone.  They ate, and ate, and ate until they were full, and they even had some to take home besides.  The traveler gave the villagers the perfect soup stone, to use in their next batch of stone soup, and he went on his way, good  food in his belly and a happy smile on his face.  The end.

Next, we gather around the table to prep anything that needs it.  This year we took out the carrots, parsnips and turnips for peeling and slicing.  They loved using the peelers and the chopper to get the veggies ready to cook!  They also took the kale leaves off the stems and tore them into pieces.  Then everything went back in the pot and I took it into the kitchen to cook.  I added a little more seasoning, some onion and garlic powder and a few veggies bouillon cubes as well.  The bread went into the oven to bake at the same time.

    

 Then it was playtime for the little ones while the soup cooked.  Most played outside, some played inside.  As soon as the meal was ready, we called everyone in for a delicious lunch of stone soup and bread.

After our meal it was time for closing circle and saying goodbye.  Another super fun Stone Soup celebration! 

Martinmas...and a Lantern Tutorial!

While we are eclectic in our approach to homeschooling, we are very influenced by the Waldorf tradition.  One of the many aspects of Waldorf that resonates with us is the celebration of festivals.  I love celebrating festivals with children.  They root us and connect us to something bigger than ourselves and bring a little joy and magic to the rhythm of our year.  Martinmas is one of the festivals celebrated by Waldorf schools that I completely love.    

For us, this festival is about light and warmth, and how we can find and create those things within us, even as the days are getting shorter and the icy-cold of winter is upon us.  It is about honoring and bringing out the light within us, and sharing that light with others.  It comes at a time of year when we are really beginning to feel the dimming of the sun and the shortness of the daylight hours, and when we are preparing ourselves and our homes for the winter ahead.  

We spend a lot of time working on our lanterns.  (See below for how we made our lanterns this year).  We light candles in our homemade lanterns.  We warm up by the fire in the wood stove.  We sit in the darkness with our candles and appreciate the fire and the warmth that it brings.

We tell stories.  Lots of stories.  Nature stories of the season, of light and dark, fairy tales with characters who let their light shine, even in the darkest times, and of course, the story of Saint Martin, who shared his cloak.  

We make warming, yummy food and share it with friends.  We gather food to take to our local food bank.  

Since we discovered Martinmas, we've celebrated as a family, and it's been wonderful.  This year, we decided to invite our co-op friends over for a special dinner and a lantern walk.  Everyone was invited to make lanterns on their own and bring them, along with a dish to share.   

As everyone arrived they placed their lanterns on the wood stove (which was not burning, by the way).  Martinmas is a new festival to most of our friends, so we began the evening with a candlelight story of St Martin, and an introduction into why we were celebrating that night.  (The Seasons of Joy Martinmas Festival book was very helpful with lots of great ideas for stories, verses, crafts and more.)  Then we sang our blessing verse and had an amazing dinner (our community is great at potluck).  After dinner everyone put their coats on, got their lanterns and found a place in the living room.  I told the story The Lantern Prince (a wonderful story from our friends at Sparkle Stories), and we lit our lanterns at the end of the story.

We walked into the night, all the children holding their lanterns and singing songs.  We sang This Little Light of Mine, and one I learned a couple of years ago:

"My lantern, my lantern, shining near and far.  Shining like the moon, shining like the sun, shining like a silver star." 

I remember looking back at this flowing line of little lights as these little people walked into the dark of night.  It was a magical sight.  I was not able to photograph the walk, as my hands were a little full, but it was beautiful.  

After the lantern walk we went back inside for some hot apple cider and dessert...and more time to play, of course.  

When we said goodbye to the last of our friends, Aaron and I got two tired kiddos ready for bed.  Mason wanted to light our lanterns and walk upstairs with them, so we did, and so the magic continued.  We placed them on the beam of our loft railing for story-time.

It was a wonderful ending to a beautiful night.  

Sometimes the day after we host an event is tiring...sluggish, perhaps with lots of cleaning, or decompressing.  Not so on the day following our Martinmas celebration.  The house seemed to hold a peaceful, grounding energy from the festival, and we all had a calm, lovely day.  

The magic of the lanterns continues throughout the year, especially the winter season.  They remain on display, waiting for little hands to take them down and play.  

We make new lanterns every year, and Mason insists that everyone in the family have one.  Last year, we made these wonderful lanterns from some of our watercolor paintings.  They are still used and much-loved. I used this tutorial from Frontier Dreams.

This year we decided to make punched tin lanterns from cans from the recycling bins.  We had a lot of fun making them, and they turned out great.  

Punched Tin-Can Lantern Tutorial

First, we peeled off the labels and washed the cans well.  Then Mason filled them with water and put them in the freezer.  (This helps with the punching part later.)

The next day we took them out and set them on towels on a table.  We each used a nail and hammer to punch holes in the designs of our choice.  We kept our designs in the center part of the can, since we planned to cover the top and bottom with fabric.  I made a spiral and a star, Mason made a candle and a flame and Aaron made a big smiling sun.  (Of course, we made one for River, even though she would have loved to get her hands on that hammer...)  

Once our designs were punched, we removed the ice and dried the cans.  

Next, we painted the middle part of the cans in warm colors of fire and light, and rolled them in gold glitter.  If you do this step, you will have glitter everywhere, for always.  

Once the paint dried, we cut fabric strips and used Mod Podge to apply them to the tops and bottoms of the cans.  This is where I started taking photos... 

Then the whole can got a nice coating of Mod Podge, mainly so our hands would not be covered in glitter any time we touched the lanterns.  We used tooth picks to clear the glue from the holes of our designs.  

Aaron fashioned handles out of coat hanger wire, and after drying, our lanterns were done!

The little ones have had a blast with them.

Happy Martinmas!

Reading Peter Pan

We love reading around here.  Love it.  Mason and I have spent countless hours of his childhood (and my motherhood) curled up with books.  We have about 30 books checked out from the library at any given time.  Even little River loves going to the bookshelf at night to pick out her own books to take upstairs for story time.

We read aloud to Mason, though he will still spend a lot of time pouring over new books, checking out the illustrations before we read them.  Our philosophies on early reading are fairly Waldorf-y, and I will share some thoughts on that in another post soon, but for now, I will say that we strive to foster a love of books, literature, words, stories and reading in our children in these early years.  To see their imaginations captured by this world of reading and storytelling that Aaron and I love so much.    

Sometimes it is challenging to find books to read to Mason these days.  We still love picture books, and read them all the time, but we're also reading more and more chapter books of late.  I'm finding it difficult to find books that have the level of depth and sophistication that he is ready for, while also keeping the content age appropriate.  He can listen to long stories with no pictures, and has a great comprehension of what is read, but he is very sensitive to violence or sadness (as he should be).

I can't imagine that we are the only ones with this issue, so... we're going to start sharing some of the books we're reading these days and what we thought of them.  Mama and Mason book reviews.       

Mason has been enchanted with Peter Pan and Neverland for some time now, and though I've often told him bits and pieces of the story, I chose not to read it to him...until now.  I would always pick it up at the library and look through it, and put it back down.  The original version is really not (in my opinion) appropriate for a five year old without more editing than I am willing to do.  The simplified Disney version is sort of a joke, just hinting at the story, though I suppose nice for introducing little ones to the literary characters.  

This photo is not staged...this is how I found him in his costume on Halloween day!

This year for Halloween Mason decided to be Peter Pan, and I became determined to find a version of the story I could read to Mason.  He's wanted to read this book for a while now, often asking me if he was ready yet, and so, the week before Halloween I ordered a copy of the Classic Starts version of the book, retold from the J.M. Barrie original.  At first I was attracted to the sweet illustration on the cover, but after reading some reviews this seemed like the one.

The boy was thrilled.  He could hardly contain his excitement, jumping up and down saying "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"  As we opened the book and I began reading it to him he wore a huge grin on his little face, and he could hardly sit still.  We could have easily finished it in one long sitting, though I divided it into a few to make it last a little longer.

I will say, I did edit the book a little as I read, but not much.  The retelling is very true to the original, with much of the original language and still full of excitement, but things are toned down just a little to be more appropriate for little ones.

Mason loved it.  

Here is (an excerpt) of what he had to say about it:

Me: "Mason, what did you like about Peter Pan?"

Mason: "Peter!  He could fly and was so brave!  And neverland, except for Captain Hook.  I would like to go to Neverland if Captain Hook was not there.  The lost boys had a tree stump for a chimney!  And they each had their own tree that only they fit into to get to their home."

Me: "What do you think other people might like to know about the book, if they were thinking of reading it?"

Mason: "Well, there were some scary parts, like when Hook took Wendy and all the lost boys, but Peter was so brave and good to save them.  Also, Tink was a little bit mean to Wendy."

Me: "What did you think about the ending?"

Mason: "A little happy, a little sad.  It felt a little like Neverland was abandoned, because all the lost boys went back with Wendy and her brothers.  Peter might be lonely.  But that new little girl got to go visit him in Neverland (Wendy's daughter), so that was good.  Peter did not want to leave Neverland."

Me: "Do you remember the part that says that Wendy, Michael and John all had their own Neverland (as all children do) and that they all saw Neverland differently?  What does your Neverland look like?

Mason:  "There are magical creatures everywhere, and superheroes.  Lots of superheroes."

Me: "That sounds awesome, what does it look like there?"

Mason: "Well, there's Mermaid Lake, and Fairy Forest, Unicorn Rock, Superhero City and Transformer Town."

Me: "Wow." 

    

 

Co-op Day: Carrots!

After the carrot harvest this past weekend, it seemed like a great time to celebrate carrots and how much we love them with our co-op group today.

This is what we did...

(For more info on how we structure our preschool/kindy co-op days, check out this post.) 

As everyone arrived we began kneading and shaping our bread dough for snack.  This week's bread was, of course, carrot bread!  I just used my basic bread recipe (which I will post soon), and for part of the liquid used carrots juiced in the Vitamix.  I also grated some carrots for the kids to knead into the dough.  They got right to work pulling balls of dough and shaping them...mostly into carrots!

Baking bread is such a wonderfully calming activity for the little ones, incorporating all their senses into the work at hand.  

Here are some of our finished shapes ready to rise on the pan!

We also washed our carrots for snack.  I set up a big bowl of water, a basket of carrots, a scrub brush and a place to put the clean carrots.  A couple of the kids really got into this.

Snack prepped and bread rising, we had circle time, ending with one of my favorite stories for this time of year, the Story of Hugin and his Carrot.  I found it here, and I'm so thankful they shared it!  It's very similar to The Turnip, only it's about a little boy named Hugin, some forest animals, and involves a little root gnome.  Maybe next year I'll make some little felt animals to act it out.  The props I used today were a carrot and a little root gnome figure.

Then the little ones played while we got our project ready.

This little one is a born story teller, and one of his favorites is the Three Billy Goats Gruff, which he plays every week!

A beautiful day for a swing!

Our project this week was making little wooden gnomes figures with acorn caps.  One parent had some wooden figures, and one had the acorn caps, so it seemed like a great idea!  And no, we do not have oaks here, and so, sadly, no acorns either, but Melissa had a family member mail her some.  :)

I thought of several possibilties for coloring the figures, and eventually settled on beeswax crayons, for the warming, tactile nature of the process.  I heated the wooden peg people in the oven while each child came in, found a seat and choose a crayone.  When you heat the wood first, the beeswax melts just a little, allowing it to be spread and rubbed in with the hands.  (You can also heat them after applying the wax, and then rub it into the wood.  Careful not to get anything too hot for little hands!  

Once colored, we glued the little acorn caps on, and let them dry.

Then we set the table and enjoyed our bread and carrots!  

Somehow the baby ended up with the biggest carrot...

But they were definitely enjoyed by all!

There was a little surprise at snack time today...Jen brought cupcakes to celebrate Cohen's first birthday!  The kids were thrilled.  We lit a candle and sang this song, inspired by the classic Montessori birthday celebration, while Jen walked Cohen around the candle:

"The earth goes round the sun, the earth goes round the sun, the earth goes round the sun and now Cohen is one!"

Then, of course, came the cupcakes and Happy Birthday Song.  

Happy Birthday, Cohen!

Then it was time for clean-up and good-bye circle.

Our gnomes were dry and ready to take home, perfect for adding to the nature table, and of course, playing with!

And that's how we had fun with carrots today!  

Putting up Carrots

I have a confession.  I have not exactly been on top of putting up food this fall.  I think that after a busy CSA season, I just needed a break.  (If you don't know about our CSA venture, you can visit the blog here, although it has not been updated in a while.)  Which means, we still have carrots, beets, cabbages and onions in the garden, and they probably should have been put up in storage about a month ago.  Luckily, they are all (mostly) fine.  However, the nights are getting cold here in the San Luis Valley, with lows regularly in the teens, and so is the ground, which means everything needs to be harvested and put up now.  

First up, carrots.  We love carrots.  Love them.  And having our own sweet, crunchy carrots from the garden all winter long...well, that's certainly worth the work to store them.   

Aaron dug up the carrots in chunks of soil (entangled with a few wild sunflower roots) and I went through and pulled the carrots loosed.  Then they went in a crate, to be taken out of the crate again by River.  Mason kept us safe from giant sunflower stalks.

Once the carrots were harvested we took them to the back yard to prep them and pack them for storage in the root cellar.  We trimmed the tops and separated them into three piles: storage, broken ones to go in the fridge, and little baby ones for the little ones to snack on.

Once we had a crate full of carrots to store, Mason began the process of putting alternating layers of sawdust and carrots in a big metal trash can.  He loved this process.

Our crazy goat Buttercup jumped the fence and wandered in to see if she could get her teeth on some yummy carrots.  Mason defended his carrots.

Crazy goat.

Of course, River did her part to help out, mostly by snatching and taking bites out of as many carrots as possible.  

At the end of the day, we had a trash can full of carrots tucked away for the winter, and fridge full as well.  Next up, bring on the beets!