Some Art Projects the Kids Have Brought Home

Here's a link to the Picasa web album:

If I Were Having a Party

I'd have Carpe Donut cater it. :) I stopped by their regular Friday location last week and talked to Matt, who he said they've really been expanding their catering business. About the catering:

Please consider Carpe donut for your catering needs. We offer a basic Donuts and Coffee package, as well as a full "Anytime" Breakfast option. We always have a good time putting our fresh hot donuts in front of guests at weddings, parties, and other special events, and can customize our offerings according to your needs. Extra beverages including our signature Thick Italian Hot Chocolate, and our home-brewed Hibiscus-Ginger Iced Tea, can be added on to either base menu. Prices include plates, napkins, silverware, serving platters, etc.

Carpe Donut! Carpe Diem!

Check out the above link for some catering options.

And yes, Matt and Jen are homeschooling friends of ours, but they also have the best, freshest, donuts you'll ever eat! Did I mention that we got invited to taste test their different recipes when they were getting ready to start out? Yum!

Knitting for Charity

Many of my friends knit, my mother knits, my daughter knits--I am what you would call a nervous beginner! But I do receive an email from Lion Brand Yarn, a company that sells yarns, patterns, etc., in the hopes that I'll become inspired. :) Their newsletter features:

• Free patterns - added every week
• Screensavers, Comics and More
• Access to Lion Brand Contests
• New Yarn Announcements
• Stitch of the Week
• Knitting and Crochet Events
• News and articles of interest to knitters and crocheters
  

My mom knit me a pair of fingerless mittens and a hat:



This week they had a link to a charity that collects knitted or even felted squares to turn into blankets:

Knit-a-Square's role is to provide warmth by collecting handknit or crocheted squares from all over the world that are then stitched together locally by the Soweto Comfort Club, a church group in South Africa, to create blankets for children in Soweto and Johannesburg, South Africa areas, including those helped by Hotel Hope.

Millions of babies and children around the world live in poverty and are cold. If you love knitting, then knitting for charity is a wonderful way to help make a child or baby blanket to keep these children warm.

Knit-a-Square's website has a lot of information on knitting, including this helpful page, How to Knit, as well as how to Felt.

We have a local knitting store, Pins and Needles (this links to a newspaper article about the shop owner, a former FBI agent), that is currently holding free Kid's Knitting classes on Fridays from 1-3 pm. This event is free, on-going, and open to all. From a friend:

So far, the girls (ages 6-15, plus, us moms) have learned the garter stitch (the basic knitting stitch), purl stitch, and yarn overs.

I'm going to try to make it today and bring my (over-one-year-old) project with me. I do wish more boys would get involved in this as well, as it is pointed out at Knit a Square that men were often the ones doing much of the knitting in the past.

Contrary to popular prejudice, men knitting used to be commonplace and was not exclusively a female preoccupation.

In fact, many historians back the view that it was men who created knitting and contributed significantly to its development.

One view is based on the theory that Arabic fisherman, skilled in knotting fishing nets, probably spread the knowledge via the Mediterranean.

I know that Waldorf schools teach a lot of hand work to the students, and a friend whose boys attended a local school for a couple years learned to knit and enjoy it.

The UWWG was Fantastic!

I never posted anything about our trip up to Sandusky, Ohio, for the 2nd annual Unschoolers Winter Waterpark Gathering, but let's just say we all had a fantastic time! The waterpark is really fun, and the speakers and round-table discussions were a real boost for me and Eddie, not to mention the Funshops! I might get around to writing more, but in case I don't, here is our album of pics. I really should have taken more but we were just to busy having fun!

2 Feb 2009

Unschool Adventures:Trips for the Untethered Teen

Unschool Adventures "designs and leads innovative trips, both domestic and international, for independent teenagers. No two trips are the same, and each is designed with a specific mission in mind. We take advantage of off-season travel benefits by leading trips (typically two each year) in the spring and fall instead of summer and winter."

This sounds fantastic!

Artworks Classes--New One for Teen Homeschoolers

Pam has opened a new class on Tuesdays, starting next week, from 10-11:30am. This class is for ages 12-17. The other two classes are for ages 7-11 now. There may be some flexibility, just call her to find out. My kids will each be in one of the classes. Hope to see you there, and please spread the news about the classes. Here’s the schedule.

You Can Help Save The Natural Child Project

I received this email the other day and thought that some of my readers might be interested in helping out:

Save The Natural Child Project

The Natural Child Project has promoted attachment parenting and natural learning since 1996. We love helping families, but the current economic climate has made it difficult for us to continue.

We are sending this one-time message to our newsletter subscribers to ask for a small donation. If everyone gives just $5, we can continue to encourage and inform attachment parenting families around the world.

Our vision is a world in which all children are treated with dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion. In such a world, every child can grow into adulthood with a generous capacity for love and trust. Our society has no more urgent task.

"I want to thank you so much for your site, it has made a profound difference in my life." - Darlene Walsh

How can you help?
Donation online with credit card or PayPal: www.naturalchild.org/donate
Or by mail:
The Natural Child Project
Box 3183
Sunriver, OR 97707

Please freely share this message on Internet forums, and with others who appreciate our work and website.

Thank you for your support.
Jan Hunt, M.Sc., Director
The Natural Child Project
www.naturalchild.org/
Global Children's Art Gallery
www.naturalchild.org/gallery

This is where I found some fantastic quotes on childhood for another post I wrote a while back. In fact, this is their quote for February:

"Modern education is competitive, nationalistic and separative. It has trained the child to regard material values as of major importance, to believe that his nation is also of major importance and superior to other nations and peoples. The general level of world information is high but usually biased, influenced by national prejudices, serving to make us citizens of our nation but not of the world." Albert Einstein

Who's gonna argue with Einstein? And this was something he said before he died in 1955, obviously. Nothing's changed. I like this one, that I found on the Quotations Page:

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. Albert Einstein, 'Out of My Later Years,' 1950

You can also buy some great books on parenting through The Natural Child Project.