We experienced some true Michigan weather this month beginning our days with sunshine and picnics outside; wrapping our days in snow gear and catching hail on our tongues. Mother Nature sure does make our days outside with Homestead School exciting.
First, it rained, then it snowed. What a blustery upgrade. I mean puddles are amazing but watching kiddos creatively work together and create sliding paths all the way to the base of the ravine... Now that's incredible, that's teamwork. How much joy our ravine offered us this month. The snow brought so much adventure each and every day. We made mini snow friends and shoveled piles and paths. The kids were begging for the excitement of the canopy snow avalanche. Shaking the canopy turns it into a snow sprinkler, and the kiddos run through and dive into the pillowy piles of snow this creates. What a blast. Even with the wind chill this month, having all this fresh snow was so exciting. We experienced some true Michigan weather this month beginning our days with sunshine and picnics outside; wrapping our days in snow gear and catching hail on our tongues. Mother Nature sure does make our days outside with Homestead School exciting.
“I mean puddles are amazing but watching kiddos creatively work together and create sliding paths all the way to the base of the ravine... Now that's incredible, that's teamwork."
Some days the sun was shining. The chickens were out. The children were running and playing in the ravine. The Garden Girls even joined their small human flock in the woods for a bit. It was the cutest. We worked on our nature fort and laid our bodies down on the earth soaking up the energy. There were so many magical moments with our flock of chickens this month. The Garden Girls received so much attention and care. We held just about every one of them and the kiddos offered the chickens pets and snuggles. We helped feed them and freshen up their water. So many young natural nurturers.
Communication comes in so many forms and everyone has their own favorite way of using language. We continue to use some sign language and have started adding additional options this month. Everyone benefits from this language option; both our babies just learning to communicate and our toddlers who may struggle to find their words in emotional moments. I mean, we as humans could all benefit from options and tools to work through challenging moments. We use signs for "help" and "play"; "eat", "more" and "all done". We still use some Spanish while talking at snack time and singing songs like our Hello song. Language and communication are so essential, and at this age, options and choices are not only helpful but incredibly valuable. The kiddos are interested, curious, and eager to learn.
Our Free Range Kids are still playing Wildcraft. They get to practice counting and turn-taking, sharing, and practicing patience. They gain knowledge about plants and their medicinal benefits. They learn about the way these plants can help heal our body, mind, and soul. It will be so wonderful to apply in the Spring what they are learning now,. We also learned a little about trees. We planted some Scots Pine seeds on Monday for the Lunar New Year. We continue to nurture and care for Bruce the spruce, a seed we planted in the spring. One of our favorite books continues to be "Little Seed" by Benson Shum. We also made snowflakes from coffee filters. Many kiddos got some fine motor skills practice using scissors to cut out the snowflakes.
We were very excited to learn about tapping our Black Walnut Trees this month. These up-and-down temperatures are just what is needed for smooth sap flow. The kiddos got to check on the taps and see how the sap slowly flows through the tubes and drips into the buckets. It was delicious to taste the natural tonic on our fingertips. At snack, they tasted syrup made from the sap we had just tasted. We learned how significant patience is for this process of cooking the sap all night and allowing it to slowly evaporate into this tasty syrupy treat; slightly sweet and slightly nutty. So satisfying and so rewarding. Such an excellent Homesteading lesson. "Thank you Mother Earth." "Thank you for sharing your sap with us."
We got out the sidewalk chalk, crafted friendship bags for Valentine's day, and used paint to add many shades of skin to our thumbprint peace sign. Peace and love, friendship and freedom. These are our themes for Valentine's Day, every day, and especially this month of February as we celebrate Black History. We sing our familiar song of kindness and freedom.
Strength in our Kindness. Kindness is the key. We will all feel safe when we all feel free.
We engaged in many stories and conversations about freedom and what it means to truly be free. We talked about how we can all work together for freedom. How many humans with black and brown skin do not feel safe. It is the work of humans with white and cream skin to help them feel safe and help everyone feel free."Nobody's free til everybody is free." Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights leader and powerful activist in the 1960s & '70s. Beautiful birds were hand drawn to represent this powerful fight/flight for freedom. The children each painted their own bird that hangs on our classroom wall with Fannie's quote about freedom.
We continued to share stories and conversations about freedom and friendship. We have started reading stories of strong determined children who discover that with persistence and patience, they can make a change and make a difference. Kamala and Maya's Big Idea by Meena Harris encourages our brave kiddos to inspire others around them and activate change. We talked about how history isn't just in the past; in these powerful stories we share, history is also in the present. We can make history right here... Right now... Today. So let's make history together. Our free Range Kiddos are our future and they are ready. They are confident and capable; brave and bold with the biggest hearts always coming from a place of kindness and compassion. Our future history is about to begin with these babes.
A few others we invited to guide our way this month are Rosa Parks and Garrett Morgan. A couple of powerful black change-makers in our Black History. Garrett Morgan invented the 3 position traffic light. Yup. That red, green, and yellow thing we all see every day. We play Red light/Green light in honor of this ingenious inventor. Rosa Parks was bold and brave and began the Montgomery Bus Boycott demanding equality for all in public transportation. She is honored by US Congress as "the Mother of the Freedom Movement". We read stories, sing songs and celebrate her courage in standing up for herself and for what is right. We found a really catchy song we love to listen to and sing. This reminds us of how important it is to stand up for ourselves, for our black and brown skin friends, and for each and every human.
"Show me how you stand stand up stand up. Show me how you stand stand up stand up. For what you know is, what you know is right."
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