birdsandtrees

Crestwood Day School

Five years ago I started a small little "school" in our basement with three children.  This year, we have three teachers and eighteen students.  We've moved out of the basement and are now renting some classrooms from a beautiful and historic church downtown.  While it was a bittersweet to move the classroom out of our home, I couldn't be more thankful and happy with how things are now.  I'm excited for the year(s) ahead with our school.  I started a website/blog to document our days this year.  I realized I was posting (when I did post, ahem) a lot of school/kid things on here, so now I have a blog just for that.  But I do still hope to post things on here as well! I promise. 

I also wanted to thank Caitlin for creating a new logo and blog banner for our school.  I love it!  The bee skep/bees is our theme this year. My friend Lauren found this beautiful quote that explains why we love symbolism of the skep and honey bee so much: 

    “For me, the life of the honey bee has been a ‘sweet revelation’. The honey bee represents the complexity and mystery of our planet, and the genius of our God, who put it there.  I want my students to be able to catch this vision as I did — to be critical thinkers and able to grasp the significance of this world and their place in it. I pray that God gives them the same words of encouragement that He gave to me: ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge … My son, eat honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, is sweet to your palate; so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul’ (Proverbs 1:7; 24:13–14).”     - Tom Hennigan, Physical Science Teacher

So here's to a wonderful new school year.  I hope you'll come along with me on this journey! 

I'm here!

I figured it was time to do a blog post when my mother started counting the months since I last posted!

I thought I'd share some pictures from my phone, since that really shows what I've been up to. 

Since my last post, school has ended.  It was our last year for the school to be at our house.  This next school year, we're going to rent some space at a beautiful, historic church downtown.  I'll get into more details later, but I thought I'd share a present that the parents of the school gave me.  Bryan Johnson, our friend and neighbor (whose oldest son goes to our school), took school pictures for us this year (see all the school pictures on his website...they're amazing!)  He put this together and gave it to me on our last day.  I may or may not have cried. 

After school ended, I went with James to San Diego (he had to go for work). If you ever need some garden inspiration, San Diego is your place.  All I wanted to do was get home and start gardening! 

While we were there, we went to the zoo.  Even though the price of admission makes you gasp when you see it, it's totally worth it! 

Our favorite animal of the day was the meerkat.  I could have watched them all day.  You can see one of them standing guard...the zoo is a dangerous place, so you have to always be on the watch for predators. 

There was even a baby hippo!  You can spot him in the upper right corner of the picture, sitting next to his mom. 

Other than our trip to San Diego, I've been working for Bryan at his studio...doing anything and everything that he needs me to do!  He and the rest of his family have been in China for the past week or so adopting their daughter Finley (here's his post about it here).  So while he's been gone from the studio, I've been working on a little "spruce up" of his studio space.  It was so much fun!!

Lastly, I also "catered" a friend's wedding.  I made LOTS of cupcakes, several small cakes, and her wedding cake.  James even made his famous iced coffee for the event.  I'd say it was a success. 

So there you have it.  Now we're off to the beach with my family.  But there will be more to come, I promise!!   

Gee's Bend, Alabama

This year at school, the girls and I have been learning about Gee's Bend, Alabama. Gee's Bend (renamed Boykin) is a small community in the Black Belt of Alabama.  It started when hundreds of slaves were brought down from North Carolina by the Pettway Family (You can read about the history of the town here.)  The town is in (and has been in) one of the poorest counties in Alabama. 

The women started making quilts from what they had - work clothes, sheets, etc.  And people started to notice them and recognize that their quilts are works of art. (Sidenote: Pottery Barn even has a line of bedding inspired by the quilts of Gee's Bend...and an interesting article about that here).  Their quilts have now hung in museums across the country.

What's incredible to me is that they had never seen any type of artwork in their life...which in my mind, makes them true artists.

Here are some of their quilts:

Many of these, like this next one, are "Housetop" patterns.  They came up with this pattern when they laid down in bed and looked at the ceiling in their shack.  I'm going to use this pattern to make my next quilt, all from fabrics and old sheets, pillowcases, and clothes that I already have. 

We watched a documentary about Gee's Bend at school, and one quilt that stuck out to me is one that a woman made after her husband passed away.  She used all his old clothes to make the quilt, so that when she missed him, she could wrap herself up in him.  Here it is:

So yesterday, our little school made the trek down to Gee's Bend.  The girls were so excited.  We made a small quilt (inspired by their quilts) to give to them, as well as a Gee's Bend Alphabet Book that we had them all sign.  Each of their quilts tell a story, so ours told the story of our school - each flower representing the girls. 

I wasn't sure what to expect - none of us had ever been there before.  But it ended up being a perfect day, meeting these sweet women we had come to know and love. 

This is Ruth Kennedy, my favorite person of the whole day.  I really wanted to take her home with me.  She quilted the potholders that Selah (above) bought. We were all able to buy one of their small works of art.  I'm so glad I have something to remind me of these wonderful women, their quilts, and this day.

The Wheel on the School

I know I've said before how hard it is to find books that my school girls haven't read yet.  We've read some wonderful ones this year, like this one and this one.  I wanted to share with you the one that we recently finished,  The Wheel on the School, by Meindert Dejong.  This was a book that I knew none of them would have read, probably never heard of! 

I was a little hesitant when I first started reading it to them.  The plot is simply about this small school (like us!) in Holland (not like us!) who are trying to find a wheel to put on the roof of their schoolhouse so that storks will come to their village.  Sounds pretty exciting, right? 

What unfolds throughout the book is that the children slowly end up bringing the people of their community together.  It's a simple but beautiful story.  The book does have some flashbacks, and the pacing and timing of the book is a bit more complex, so I would recommend it for a middle or upper elementary read-aloud.  The girls loved it all the way through, and I was so glad they were able to appreciate this wonderful book.  It is one you definitely need to put on your list. 

We're currently reading The Secret Garden and we can't get enough of it!  If you don't have this one, make sure you get the one with illustrations by Tasha Tudor.  Happy Reading!

A Valentine's Kiss

We had our 4th Annual Valentine's Poetry Party today at school.  The younger class recited some Robert Louis Stevenon, while the older class recited a couple from Emily Dickinson.  It's one of my favorite days of the school year, and I usually make heart-shaped brownies, but this year I made some homemade chocolate kisses! I saw the recipe on Bakerella - it looked easy and quick.  And it ended up being both of those things.   The inside is simply a mixture of crushed oreos and a block of cream cheese.  Here's what it looks like on the inside:

Then you shape them and dip them into chocolate (I use this kind, which you just melt in the microwave).  I also bought some red and silver foil (already cut into the perferct size for the kisses) from Michael's, but you could easily just use aluminum foil.  I will definitely be making these again.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy St. Nicolas Day!

Since we include the Christian calendar as an important part of our school year, today we read about St. Nicolas.  St. Nicolas would secretly leave gold or presents for the poor and needy, sometimes in their shoes or stockings.  I knew I wanted to leave a little something for the kids.  So while I was reading the story, Dawn (the other teacher at our school) left these little treats in their baskets to find! 

I've seen these Candy Cane Mice on Martha for a long time and thought this was the perfect opportunity to finally make them.  They were simple to make and the kids loved them!  

Next Monday is St. Lucia Day - we'll be making these for the kids to wear.  I'll be sure to share some pictures of them! 

The Courage of Sarah Noble

   

We recently just finished this book at school - The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh, and I had to share it with you.  I had never read it before, but had seen it on many book lists (and on the Newbery Honor Book list as well, so you know it's going to be a quality book).  We've been studying the genre of historical fiction at school, and this book fit perfectly.  Combine that with the fact that it goes nicely with Thanksgiving, we had ourselves a winner!  It would be a great read-aloud to ones as young as 3 or 4.  And it's short, so it's a book that you could finish reading in a week or two - just right for now until Thanksgiving.

    It's the story of Sarah Noble and her father, trying to find a place for thier family to live.  They begin building their home and have adventures with the Indians and wildlife that surround them.  It's such a sweet story, and one I'm glad to have found. 

    Here's a passage that I loved...

    "That night Sarah slept warm under the quilts.  On a peg near by hung her cloak-and she did not need it.  She had kept up her courage and it was something that would always be with her.  Always - even when the cloak was all worn out. 

    Tonight the pictures in her mind were comfortable ones - home- family - the fireside and a door securely fastened.  The light from the fire made pleasant patterns in the darkness.  Sarah lay quietly, and the wind in the trees sang her to sleep." 

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We're now reading The Cabin That Faced West by Jean Fritz - another lovely book to add to your collection!

A Basement Turned Schoolroom

When we were thinking about buying this house, the basement was a huge selling point for me.  There aren't many houses where you could imagine using one of the rooms as a school.  But this basement had potential, and I could see it.  And it was huge.  But it took some work.  A lot of work.  And it's still not done - but I thought I'd go ahead and share what we've done so far!

Here are some of the before pictures:

The basement is broken down into three different levels, with a bottom level that you can enter from the backyard.  It has the laundry area and a bathroom area.  Then it has a middle level and then a level in towards the back, with a storage room in the back as well. 

We took up the carpet, added some half-walls to the middle level, made walls to go around the bathroom (including a curved wall that you will see in the afters), and also added walls around the heater/AC unit.  We also enclosed the stairs to make them a bit safer for everyone! 

Here's some in progress shots:

You can see the very back level of the room to the left of these new walls. 

After all the "construction" stuff was done, James painted the walls (he wouldn't let me include that picture), our handy neighbor sprayed the ceiling so that all the duct work and everything just blended in together, and my awesome sister-in-law helped us paint the floors.  We had lots of friends, family, and neighbors help us and we couldn't have done it without them! 

Now keep in mind that we're still working on it and it's REALLY hard to get some good pictures down there - let's pretend you came in from the backyard, to the lowest level:

We put in a new door and then added this curved wall, with a bathroom inside. I'm not sure how many people include pictures of bathrooms on their blogs, but I want this forever documented!  This bathroom has come a looong way, my friends. 

The laundry area is on the other side of the bathroom...I'm not done with that part so I am leaving that out.  Too messy and not photo-worthy.

Here's the middle level - the main gathering place for school and my craft area:

See those books on the wall?  They're  in rain gutters!  $5 for that and they work perfectly.  I love having the books face out - kids are always more apt to choose them.  I would put them on every wall if I could.  Here's where I got the idea.  Closer look:

And my craft/desk area:

And then some of the middle-to-back area:

And to the back! 

 
I have a table around the corner there where we do a lot of our studies. I couldn't get a good picture of it though!

   So there you have it.  Our schoolroom/laundry room/craft room.  We've come a long way, baby. 

Understood Betsy

This is my fourth year of having our little school in our house.  Every year it can be a challenge as I try to come up with new curriculum, new subjects to study, new authors to discover, and new books to read.  My favorite of all of those of course is finding good, living books to read aloud to the students. 

Our first chapter book read-aloud this year was Understood Betsy.  I can't remember where I heard about this one, but I'm so glad I stumbled across it.  This book was beautiful and one that I will always remember (much like this one).  It's the story of a girl named Betsy, who is sent off to live with her Putney cousins at their farm.  It makes you want to fill your house with geraniums and wear a gingham apron (the schoolteacher in the book wore one...maybe I should get started on one!).

One day at school, we decided to make some tea cookies to nibble on while we read the book.  I'd been wanting to try a recipe from this cookbook, and the Lemon Tea Cookie recipe seemed perfect (lucky for you there's another blogger out there that posted the whole recipe).  The recipe was easy and perfect to do with kids.  There's an icing that goes on top, but I was thinking some raspberry jam would be nice on top, too!  Perfect for an afternoon tea and alongside a good book. 

"That room was full to the brim of something beautiful, and Betsy knew what it was.  Its name was Happiness."  

- Understood Betsy

Schoolroom Talk

When we move into our new place, we'll have a huge basement that will become our schoolroom.  It's so big that I'm even adding another teacher and class to the school!  So excited about that.  I'm also excited about decorating and adding some new things to the space.

 

I'm always on the search for quality artwork, posters, etc. to add to the classroom.   One website I've loved is Eeboo.  I've bought their flower alphabet and bird numbers (see above the whiteboard in pic above) for our current classroom.  And I just recently bought their World Map to add to the room for next year.  Such great stuff!  

Another site I recently stumbled on is Imagine Childhood.  I love their nature posters, like this and this and this.  They've got some other lovely goodies that could easily fill up my cart.  

I've also been keeping a folder with bookmarked school ideas on the computer.  I'm really excited about this rain gutter bookshelf idea!  Totally doing that. 

There are so many great ideas out there...if you have any good websites or ideas for our school, please let me know!