Hand Washing Picture Sequence

Here are some pictures I took for our hand washing picture sequence in the bathroom.My 3 years old daughter loves them.You may use them if you like.(Just click on the pictures and another window will open)

Teddy Potty Training Pictures

I used my son's big teddy bear trying to grab his attention toward  toilet training .He is 5 1/2,struggling with non-verbal autism and pictograms are not working with him right now.I am trying to use pictures instead for now.He smiled when he saw Teddy wearing a diaper,so I thought I would you use his fluffy friend to make a potty training picture sequence.His therapist suggested,after I mentioned it to her,putting Teddy on the toilet first and pouring water behind him as a simulation,and giving the stuffed bear a treat afterward.I noticed that exclamations like "Hurray! You did it!"does more the trick than a treat in his case(not complaining here!)I will be using the pictures with him this week,starting with the first 3 ones and planning to attach them to a metal ring,since he rips off pretty much everything in his reach that we stick to the wall.I thought the pictures may be useful  to others as well,so I am posting them here for you.Feel free to save the pictures and print them.Here they are.

Fabric Dollhouse Tutorial Link

I just found a neat blog with a few craft tutorials,while looking for dollhouse scale fabric.The lady is showing  how she made a few fabric dollhouses and barn,step by step with all the measurements.Here's the link:
http://uklassinus.blogspot.com/2008/08/fabric-dollhouse-tutorial.html.I just love the idea.Children can carry them around and it doesn't take much space.Have a look!Could be a nice winter project!

Painting in the Morning

I started the day this morning with a much needed shower.Not because I needed a good scrub,just to warm up my poor achy muscles a bit.Apparently.,it wasn't that efficient on my brain functions,cause sentences like these were coming out of my mouth:" I need to put shoes in my socks" & "I need to put on some socks to take out my shoes",while preparing to take the garbage out.I starting laughing and my son was laughing with me.A good thing he prepared my coffee this morning.So..I started the day by painting with my daughter.. rabbits ,birds and flowers and she was adding the missing eyes like usual.Then,the animals were missing shoes...you know..to go to the park..and socks of course(more comfortable),then a bunch of painted flies appeared on our masterpiece and it started raining all over..What a lovely way to start our day and teach the names of the colors at the same time...

19th Century Digital Math Schoolbook

I found this wonderful old math schoolbook,from 1881,from a digital library of 19th century schoolbook website.It is called"First Lessons in numbers:Oral & Written".I love the way the the information is presented.It teaches addition and substraction at the same time,and the english spelling of numbers as well as Roman numerals.It uses common situation in those days as problem solving exercices.Perfect for those who are big fans of  Laura Ingalls books like " Little House on the Prairie"or "Farmer boy"(like my son).I printed the whole thing and have been using it for the last 5 weeks.Love it!I e-mailed the site to make sure it was fine with them to print a copy. Here's the link "First Lessons in Numbers"

Let me know what you think

An Introduction to Montessori Philosophy and Materials

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Mondorfment: Karen Tyler's Geography Album Freebie!!!

Mondorfment: Karen Tyler's Geography Album Freebie!!!

This Montesori album looks amazing.Can't wait to use it!Just click on the link above.Karen is kindly sharing this for free.Please take a moment to leave a kind thank you in the comment section while you're there.

Good Old Fashion Wooden Toys

I found some wonderful sellers on Etsy.com recently.I have been on a ,non-toxic,wooden toys, treasure hunt,in the last weeks.I just love unfinished wood.We are gradually getting rid of a lot of toys getting dusty under the beds,in corners here and there,with no particular use or emotional value.The good old fashion substitutes,I am finding,or should I say discovering,are so much better.The kids are laughing and having a great time using their imagination with no commercial,preconceived idea in their mind,coming from a lucrative concept and mass produced product.The items are all handmade,with a price no higher or even less costly than the ones found in popular stores.I thought I'd share them with you.Here are some etsy shops worth a peek : Dadswoodentoys.etsy.com ,ClickityClack.etsy.com and gemmielou.etsy.com. I also found a very nice wooden craft supplies seller for wooden beads I intend to paint to make stringing sequence for my daughter.She also has some nice round discs for making handmade memory games.Have a look at her shop under sisforsupplies.etsy.com. Her prices are very reasonable and the service is excellent as well. I am also waiting for a play wooden barn fence that I bought for such a great price from footeprint.etsy.com.Can't wait to get it and set up our miniature farm,I intend to use with the Montessori method for grammar as well as free play ,of course. I'm just glad I am now able to bring back simplicity to creative play like I wanted so much!

Nature's Little Wonders

Our car broke down at the end of Spring and I walked pretty much everyday for the next day food supply & mailing packages to my etsy shop clients,for about 4 weeks in a row.It gave me a chance to have some time to myself and enjoy the small living world in the tall grass,listen to the wind and smile at birds passing by.I collected a few snails that had climbed to a fence and brought them back to my kids,gently wrapped in dandelions leaves,holing them like little treasures,with  groceries on my shoulder.I collected a few more with my son later and with ended up with about seven of them(4 garden snails & 3 pond snails),installed in a big pickle jar filled with a layer of dirt,a few rocks&sticks and a bit of moss.We were just about to release them this week,when I discoved several little baby snails on the inside of the plastic cover.We had seen them mating a few weeks before and after more reading on the subject,we had found out that they lay their eggs under the soil.We decided to keep them a while and see..Well..the experiment was a success!  I love this type of learning: observing,noticing,wondering,researching & confirming observations through books.Last Fall,we also observed Monarch caterpillars grow,make a chrysolite,emerge from it,deploy their beautiful wings and fly free.It was such an amazing experience!Living around Attention Deficit Disorder,Sensory Processing Disorder,Autism and everything in between,feeling like we are not accomplishing enough academically because of it all,can be very frustrating.I can at least say to myself that I have accomplished one very important things through it all: keeping their sense of wonder and their love of nature very much alive!

"The Blind Side" Movie

Have you seen that movie?Very refreshing,heart touching movie.Brought back all those emotions I was feeling while doing volunteer work with my husband(had just met then) 14 years ago.We encountered all kinds of people,all with a story of their own,lots of sadness,frustration and heart breaking past,some with their sanity holding by a thread,common sense disabled by drugs and alcohol abuse and, others just simply confused with a bad sense of whom they should thrust.I have seen good kids with a good heart,in the street,whom parents simply decided that they were too old to stay home,wearing colorful spiky hairs,looking for that essential little something missing in their sad young lives.I was a young adult then,with no worries for my personal safety,trying to make a small difference in these lives,listening to anger,heart braking stories,feeling so...you know.
 I personally  believe ,with strong evidence backing me up,that all these tears will be no more under God's Kingdom.We are living those last moments and if we are willing to be guided by the only truth,we have the opportunity to be part of something wonderful ahead.Look around you,with everything emerging from the ground,the birds coming back,etc...does all those beautiful,amazing nature's wonders look like they made themselves?Think about it for just 10 little seconds..How could they?In October of 1914,WW1 was declared..According to Biblical prophecies,something was directing us directly to this year and specific month,saying that Jesus would take the throne and make a little well needed clean-up in Heaven.Guess what?These bad entities didn't lose any time ..Pouf! they inflicted chaos through the nonsense of war,and the era with so much prospect we were living at the time(that dear Victorian era)took a big hit.The 30's were awful;what a lot see as liberation,I see as degradation.There sure wasn't anything dignified about the sixties and natural disaster and poverty sure aren't getting any better.The Bible compares this to a woman giving birth.Anyone that has or witnessed it,sure know what it means.But the end result is so worthed ! The Bible promises restoration of the earth to its initial beauty,to its state of Paradise.This time,with mankind perfectly aware that they sure can't direct their own path.History have proved it.Satan have been proved wrong.We need guidance from something much greater than us,that knows our nature better than we do ourselves.He made us after all,didn't He?

In The Eyes Of A Child

We were out as a family in our front yard,sociaising  with the neighbor and her kids,when I noticed that her middle child(almost 2 ) had just discovered two interesting round rocks(we got lots of those)and was looking very pleased with himself.He was smiling with such a touching spark in his eyes,looking for a face to share his joy.No one noticed at first,since they were either engaged in a conversation or playing among each others.I just couldn't resist the urge to respond to those seeking eyes.I gently bended down to his level,since he looked a bit shy and doesn't really talk yet,and started talking about how beautiful those rocks are and how nicely they could roll on the sidewalk.Suddenly his 3 1/2 sister came and took his two precious rocks from his hands,threw them in the snow and pushed him on the ground.Her mother came and handled the situation with grace,took him in her arm,but he just wanted those rocks back,I could see it in his eyes.I  put them on the bench for him,he grabbed them and all was well again.Then,some little sticks here and there grabbed his attention as well,so I helped him pick them up,counting  at the same time.He repeated 2 numbers followed by a discreet "wow'.So touching to watch.
Five hours later,I'm still feeling for the little guy.I'm sitting here,and I can still see those shy gentle eyes full of amazement towards things we often tend to take for granted.It is so easy to miss those precious little moments.As a mother of three,just like his,it is not an easy task to share a piece of ourself equally and life can be pretty crazy some days.But,it is important to nurture a love of nature in our kids,a deep awareness of all the beauty around us.Because we live in a man made world,it is very easy to loose that important connection.Just taking the time to gather sticks,pebbles or flowers,while walking to the park,or simply stop to observe an insect or a bird,can make all the difference in the world...

One Little Step at a Time..

I have learned a lot while making my daughter's baby quilt.I was pregnant then and hand stitched the whole thing,not willing really to tame the "monster"(sewing machines).Sometimes I had only 15 min.to work on it,but I still finished the whole thing in time.My grandmother added the final touch by sewing the red satin trim with her machine,turning it into a real heirloom by doing her part.Besides learning new techniques and making better even stitches,I have learned that one little step at a time will get you there as much as big steps.It just take longer,that's all

.It's pretty much the same with learning disabled kids.You make a few steps forward,a few backward now and then,but eventually you reach new goals with them and learn patience as a bonus.Frustration is part of the process,that's for sure,but worth the new virtues you may acquire along the way..if you work on it real hard and accept the fact that humans need guidance & wisdom from the only book that will make it really work.With the patience thing at least!

Eyes That Need No Words..

I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my weeping 4 year old,this evening,when I remembered it was snowing outside and that his poor fingers must be hurting like mine. I needed to show him I knew and that he wasn't alone,that yes,the wind is blowing and a little scary,I know..


He is a very sensitive,affectionate little boy.He can't speak,but sure wish he could..I can see it in his big brown eyes..So I took his hands in mine and kissed his fingers,then blew some heat on them,like we do in the winter when our hands are frozen.You should have seen his face light up all of a sudden ! I am not alone..Mommy knows..she cares..she noticed..Then all was well again..My son struggles with autism.

Mbukushu Mother and Child Photo, Botswana Picture - National Geographic Photo of the Day

Mother and Child Photo, Botswana - National Geographic

I came upon this lovely picture,while searching for images of people from around the world,for our homeschool geography continents boxes,last year.This one wasn't available for download so I kept it among my favorites.
She's got water all the way to her chest but is wearing such a peaceful smile.Her child doesn't seem to care where he is,really,as long as he is leaning against mommy,the most secure place in the world..Just click on the link above this post to see this heart warming picture..

The Smell of Roses..

 I was looking at some pictures of what my English roses used to look like before I had 2 more kids.Nostalgia came upon me,when I started thinking about their lovely scent,their soft petals,my little piece of paradise...Then,I thought ..if I had not taken it all in when I had the opportunity,I wouldn't have this divine memory to revisit.I can smell their perfume just like if they were really there,even though I have not much hope of reviving them in the Spring.

Sweet Amy

At first,Amy was meant to be held in the palm of your hand.But,she looked so small,sitting there,in our big,wide world.So..I designed a pretty swing for her,on which she could sit,adding charm to a little girl's room.I'm sure,if trying really hard,one you could actually hear her shy little voice joining in,in a sweet lullaby at bedtime..or,pretend for just a moment...If you never tried your hand at needle felting before,it could be something to discover.It is such a pleasant medium to work with...

Playing in the Sunshine

I was in the kitchen this afternoon,when I saw my little sweetheart,sitting on the floor,playing with the sunlight.She was pulling her little hand in and out,in a calm spirit of gentle discovery.It touched my heart..I quickly reached out for the camera and joined her in one of these short,but sweet moments of childhood..