Verde Huevos y Jamon

We've been sooooooo so busy. Whew. Little bits of Spring seem to be creeping into our space. Snowdrop coated spaces, the buds are swelling on the magnolia tree and the grass looks just that little bit greener. Not that I expect it to last. We still have March to get through before the nice weather will set in in earnest in these parts.

I would like to share with you a little home school joy!

SPANISH:

I'm not sure why I never thought of it- or have never heared of it before- but the girls decided they were getting a bit of Rosetta Stone Fatigue (an illness that makes you whine when its you're turn to get on the computer for your Spanish lesson) so they chose books from the picture book section of our multitude of book shelves to translate into Spanish! They have had so much fun, the excitement during Spanish lessons is palpable.

So for last week Kitty has been translating a book called George and the Dragon by Christopher Wormell.  It is a gorgeous story about a mouse named George who moves in next to a dragon. It is very British in its situations and language (George declares "Oh blow!" when the dragon cant lend him sugar for his cup of tea) and completely charming. It has always been one of Kitty's favorite story books and I couldn't count the number of times I discovered her reading it to her sisters.

Esther has been translating Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss. That has been so much fun. I cannot get out of my head : "Yo no gusto verde huevos y jamon. Yo no gusto Sam I Am."  I'm driving my family nuts every time I spontaneously burst into Seuss en Espanol.

 BTW I am Loving this months Mollie Makes. Best issue yet!

Autumn returns

I love this time of year as the whole world starts turning to paper and gold. We have pulled up the last of our potatoes (Desiree- by the way- they are the most delicious lates we've ever had!) and the chickens have been allowed on the bed to clear up the hoard of slugs we discovered sheltering under the plants...

We have returned to our homeschooling routine. This will be our first full term of everyone at home learning. We only withdrew from school last April and the summer term could only be described at best as experimental. I tried lots of different methods of recording activities and many many different time-tabling ideas all of which were wrong for one child or another. So this term I have made a simple timetable which covers all the curriculum and our own interests in textiles, cookery and home economics. And we have been working on it about two weeks now. The girls have all been enjoying it immensely and it has the added benefit of incorporating enough flexibility that when school-of-life opportunities arise we can take them and enjoy them without any pressure to make up subjects.


Tonight is cookery for E, and M and I found the most glorious field of parasol mushrooms ever- there were at least a dozen full grown and glorious. We only passed back by them when it was dark so we went scouring the field with a mobile phone flashlight examining parasols for slug damage by pale blue glow. We probably looked quite suspicious but we got a lovely enormous specimen! So E will cook Wild Mushroom Stroganoff with me tonight and it will be worth the evening scrabble in the field.

And as the vegetable garden dwindles my mind turns to Christmas gifts and winter warmth. You may hate me for mentioning it in September if you must but I have many many ideas and only so many hands and days!