grade 2, block I, week 3...herbs.

last week we completed our 3rd and final week of our herbs block.

this has been an amazing experience! i have learned so much & so have the boys. i now find herbalism to an approachable subject, and no longer feel completely & totally clueless on the healing powers of plants.

i am going to try & do more in the future & avoid "main stream" cures as much as possible. homemade herbals add another layer to the peace of mind that comes with living simply & responsibly. and this peace of mind is priceless when you have children in your care, not to mention both ourselves & mother earth.

and now, the lessons...

monday, august 23rd
(heart) walk/hike with circle time
(head) main lesson
*read aloud with mama, 15 min...more tales of oliver pig
*begin making addition fact flash cards for #1-12, beginning at 1+0 thru 1+12. today we did both the ones & the twos.
i wrote the problems & aydin wrote the answers on the back... i had gems ready in case he needed them, but it appears that he has got this lot down.

(this is a great way to reuse some of your old paintings. :)

*form drawing, from the book of the same title by hans neiderhauser, p. 3, fig 3
(i had lent a friend my embry-stine book w/out looking at this week's form, so i hunted down another. unfortunately i cannot find a link to this one for sale anywhere...sorry.)

*tell story of comfrey, "the knitbone", p. 96
(hands) handwork, begin work on treehouse...
for some reason i did not take a single picture of aydin's treehouse last week. :(

this project was inspired by an article i found in a family fun magazine...here is the link.

today we hunted for forked branches on our walk. we had a perfect base in the basement leftover from, hmmm...i don't know when...but today it found it's purpose!

we drilled holes for the two branches & glued them into place. then aydin set to work on adding a few platforms. (they were out of the balsa wood strips recommended in the article at michael's, but they did have another mixed lot...so, we got those.)

(will add some photos later...our card reader is acting up. :( )

tuesday, august 24th
(heart) garden day, 1 hour/week spent weeding, mulching, harvesting & otherwise exploring
(head) main lesson
*read aloud w/mama 15 min, more tales of oliver pig
*make more addition fact flash cards, today's families are the 3's & 4's...

*recall story, "the knitbones"
*make green salve...
you will need your chosen herbs, olive oil, vitamin E (preservative), beeswax & glass jars

1. we used 6 herbs in our batch...(clockwise, starting with bright green at top)
plantain, calendula, echinacea, comfrey, elder & chickweed , 1c of each

2. add the olive oil to the pot (we added 1 1/2 c), simmer mixture for 20 min


3. near the end of the 20 min, begin to melt beeswax (we started with about 1 1/2 oz) in a double boiler (or) in a can inside a pot with an inch or so of water

4. strain the herbs over an old glass/enamel bowl to catch the "juice", squeezing the herbs to get every last bit of goodness.

5. add the melted beeswax & stir. take a sampling on a spoon & place (on a plate to catch the drips) in the fridge. check in about 3 minutes or so...if it is too oily, add a bit more beeswax, if it is too hard add a bit more oil.

6. once the right/desired consistency is achieved, pour into jars (carefully, the oil will be HOT!), and allow to cool...UNCOVERED.

label & use liberally for all of bug bites, scrapes, burns, diaper rash, etc.

*we had to add a bit more beeswax to ours. also, our salve smells a bit strongly of olive oil. next time i might use 1/2 olive oil with half jojoba/grapeseed. i am thinking about melting our lot down & adding a bit of lavender essential oil, but honestly i don't know that it is entirely worth it. the smell is just a wee bit stronger than i would like...but not overpowering or anything.

(hands) baking...chard quiche
for some reason we have no pictures of this either. :(
it was good, but one of our favorite parts of quiche is the lovely flaky crust which you don't actually get with this recipe. on a side note, we discovered that aydin has a seemingly insatiable love of sauteed chard!

wednesday, august 25th
*today was miss rose's kith & kin playgroup for the under 5's & then we met on the island for our own local homeschooling playgroup in the afternoon.

it was a lovely day, & ended with the children all tripped down to their skivs playing in the river!



thursday, august 26th
(heart) walk/hike with circle time
(head) main lesson
*read aloud with mama, 15 min...more tales of oliver pig
*make next lot of addition fact flash cards, today's numbers were the 5's & 6's

*math review of all cards made so far...
*recall story
*draw comfrey & write plant profile

(hands) handwork, more work on the treehouse
aydin did quite a bit of work on tuesday, adding 3 different platforms. today i helped him with a bit of stabilizing. we added some support beams & re-did one platform on a stronger piece of scrap wood that we had, etc.


friday, august 27th
(heart) walk/hike with circle time
(head) main lesson
*read aloud with mama, 15 min...more tales of oliver pig (finished book :)
*make next set of addition fact flash cards, #7's & 8's
*BONUS: aydin decided he wanted to play bananagrams, LOVE it!
orin & aydin have both loved this game...and i love that you can play alone or with friends/mamas. ;)
*read back through main lesson book, recalling stories & favorite projects, etc...
(hands) painting,
"blue tries to calm down a wildly excited red one day"


we both also chose to do a second 'free' painting...
aydin did another mini painting with sharpie & then added a watercolor wash...and i did "happy" because i just found out that my sister is moving up here at the end of the month!

i am so very excited!!