This has been on my crafting bucket list for ages: dying fabric & yarn with natural plant dyes. We finally did it! It was both easier & harder than I thought.

When your handwork project matches your fruits and vegetables, you swoon with joy. It’s not a failure, if you learn from your mistakes. It’s called an experience. And we’ve had a lot of experiences this past week.

When doing a main lesson block, I look for a variety of books and projects for the children. For this unit, I set up our Harrisville Designs wooden loom for my 8-year-old daughter. Weaving is just right for a grade 3 student and it fit nicely with our American History unit that was primarily for my 12-year-old.

I need your help. I just released our Colonial Times Unit Study video on YouTube, and I’m questioning pretty much all our history resources for US History.

There’s something truly enchanting about seeing undyed yarn sink into a vat of natural dye and watching it change color. .

The other day, a friend of mine asked how I learned to do all the things in my homeschool. I told her I didn’t know how to do them, I learned alongside my children. I wish I knew all these things because one thing I still struggle with is impatience and wasting time.

This super simple, frugal hands-on project can be accomplished by anyone, even if you are not crafty or do hands-on projects. It's easy, fast and you and your children will have a sense of accomplishment when finished. It's hard to mess up this project, so rest assured, you'll be pleased when it's complete.

While reading Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself by Kris Bordessa, we were inspired to do our own version of a Colonial Times mop. The supplies are readily available and affordable and this project took hardly any time at all and produced hardly any mess!

While working on our history units, we decided to make a child’s sized broom. We found inspiration for this project from Kris Bordessa’s book Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself. Though ours was more complicated than the book, it was actually really simple.

Here's another project we're doing for our American History Unit. We got the idea from the book American Kids in History Colonial Days by David King. The project was pretty exciting to do and would make for an lively science discussion on liquids that mix versus ones that don't.

Did you ever wanted to turn left over candles into hand dipped tapers? You can either buy wax or upcycle an old candle. All you need is a deep pot for the wax, baker's twine, a pair of scissors and a burner. We used an old three-wick candle by Colonial Candles of Cape Cod sold by PartyLite. It has a nice light peppermint scent and a bright red color, both of which were retained when we turned them into new tapers.

Having had boys for 12 years of my motherhood journey, I never had the need to make these adorable rag dolls. My friend, Megan, taught our kindergarten co-op how to make them, and my five year old daughter loves them! In the tutorial you can see how simple, easy and fast they are to make. I'd like to make a few suggestions now that my daughter has been playing with them non-stop:

If you've never made playthings for your kids, this might be the perfect place to start. It's easy to make rag dolls, and what's great about it is that you don't need many supplies, and even old clothes would work perfectly for this project.

I love projects that are educational and functional. A few years ago, this doll’s bed from IKEA broke when my boys ‘accidentally’ stepped on the particle bed insert.

These two apples just didn’t get eaten. Once they turn soft, no one likes them. But that’s okay. There are many things you can do with soft apples: make applesauce, apple pie or apple cider.

It is timely that our unit study on the Colonial Times, the voyage of the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving nestled perfectly with this time of year. Reservations about the actual events aside, this pumpkin pie was delicious, easy and ties in well with our unit study.

I had the best of intentions when I bought pound after pound of fresh gala apples at the start of apples season. I wanted to make all kinds of apple deliciousness. We did manage an apple pie and some caramel apples, but then our apples rested at the bottom of the crisper for literally months....

Tortilla soup is a family fall and winter favorite because it's so warming, hearty and delicious. It's also super fast! Not only can you make the soup in about 30 minutes, while it's simmering, you can garnish the soup with cilantro, avocado, pepper jack cheese and fresh homemade tortilla chips.

This is a show stopping centerpiece that tastes great and looks amazing! Add drama and intrigue to your dinner party with this perfect-for-fall vegetable soup served in a pumpkin. It's actually easier than you'd think to make, is the perfect meal or appetizer for large groups and warms you to the bone on cold autumn nights.

Baking bread is a quintessential kindergarten experience in a Waldorf school. We take this tradition and bring it home. In this video, I'll show you a quick and easy recipe for making bread.

We are making our way through our Colonial Times unit study and finding a lot of inspiration from a few activity books we have. Today we are using a recipe from Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide To Life In The New World by Laurie Carlson.

There's nothing quite like fresh butter and there's no better satisfaction than being able to make it from scratch. And when children are able to do this, the thrill of making something like butter, turning a thick liquid into a solid and a thinner liquid is pretty amazing.

Did you carve a pumpkin this fall? I hope you saved those pumpkin seeds because you can roast them with a bit of salt and olive oil for a fast, tasty and healthy snack. Don't forget to reverse a few seeds to plant them next spring/summer and hopefully you'll have your very own pumpkin next fall!

Let me tell you about all the ways our colonial feast went wrong. If for nothing else to share how sometimes the best laid plans get derailed. Firstly, my mom has to cancel last minute because of an electrical issue at her home which required her to be present the entire time the electrician was there. This sent my 8-year-old daughter into such a melancholic mood she was disinterested in all I had planned going so far as calling the decorations that adorned the table “silly”. .

Of all the units we've put together, I think I've gotten the most supplies for this one! So much that I had to split it up into multiple units: Columbus, the Pilgrims, the American Revolution, the Civil War & Slavery, the Westward Movement, the Lewis & Clark Expedition and ending with California History and the Gold Rush.

I love books. I love paper. I love pretty pictures and beautiful words. I love it when someone finds a great book and shares it. These books are mostly from recommendations from other YouTubers. Please take the time to check out these other fantastic channels and send some love their way.

Looking for a complete history of the US? I have five American History series that would be suitable for all elementary and high school. The History of US by Joy Hakim would work for students as young as 5th grade through high school. The books are sold separately or as a set and you can also purchase student workbooks and teaching guides to accompany each volume.

Finding high school material for a highschooler that wasn't a traditional textbook was not easy to find. This series of books by Joy Hakim covers US history from pre-history to 2008 in 10 well-written and illustrated volumes. The 11th volume is source book with original sources and documents to supplement the series or to be used on its own.

It's time for a new unit! This one is for the American Revolution time period. Though we completed our Colonial Times unit study, there are two books that will trail into this unit. Some audio books/songs we had scheduled for this unit, just don't want to make an appearance

For a list of the materials we used for our various US History units, you can check out this blog post which lists all the books and resources as well as approximate ages and grades for each resource. I share a few thoughts on each resource as well

I try a couple different ways to make a quill. Using a pair of scissors turns out the best. They are surprisingly easy to use, but it does take some time to to get used to the idea that you have to dip your quill in ink or you'll run out of ink!

The book Famous Figures of the American Revolution is a paper doll activity book. What I love about this book and others in the series is that you get two identical dolls for each figure. One that's completely colored in and one that's completely blank.

Dig Discover and Display kits come in all varieties. I mistaken called this one Indian Relics, when in fact it's Archaeology USA. We have been using these kits for years in our homeschool and my children enjoy them immensely.

Weaving is one of those projects you need to dedicate yourself to. It takes time, perseverance and mindfulness. Weaving engages your mind and hands, and unlike knitting for instances, you can’t easily take your eyes off your project.

At the close of a unit, I reflect on the materials we used and share with you what worked, what didn't work and what we didn't get to. I often over plan my units and main lesson blocks, and often I am choosing material we've never used before.

Pulling together books for our American History Unit, I knew I wanted a substantial amount of material on the Lewis and Clark expedition. We did a the westward movement and Texas history back in 2012-2013 while living in Dallas for a year, and I really enjoyed learning about the Lewis and Clark expedition and wanted to expand on it this time around.

The Westward Movement spans over 100 years in American History, so within this unit, there are other subunits: American Civil War, Lewis & Clark Expedition and California History & Gold Rush. Even so, I still have a lot of material, and may choose to split this unit up further.

I debated whether I should have a separate unit for Native American because the stories and history of the Native Americans spans the whole history of the US. This is a small compilation of supplies that would stand alone as a unit, but what would be more authentic is to distribute these materials over all our other American History unit, as currently each unit only has a little bit of relevant Native American material.

How do you build a unit study out of books? How do you feel confident putting the curriculum aside and diving into living books and hands on projects without feeling the pressure to hit state standards or succumb to peer pressure when you try something different? How do you make books the curriculum?!

While preparing for our next main lesson block, I came across materials I had pulled for a project to use during our Lewis and Clark Expedition and Western Movement Unit Study.

Dig Discover and Display kits come in all varieties. I mistaken called this one Indian Relics, when in fact it's Archaeology USA. We have been using these kits for years in our homeschool and my children enjoy them immensely.

Weaving is one of those projects you need to dedicate yourself to. It takes time, perseverance and mindfulness. Weaving engages your mind and hands, and unlike knitting for instances, you can't easily take your eyes off your project.

his is a great activity for a nature unit study or for an Indigenous People. It's fairly simple, but does take some practice or skill. What I did was get the project started out for my 10-year-old son who continued making it until the end, when I finished it off.

Making a journal can be easy and simple or spectacular and somewhat difficult. This is the easy version. It's the version where you don't need to fold or stitch. What this means is you can find more affordable options to make a journal.

I'm guessing that by now, these kits by Krystal are hard to come by. Dig, Discover and Display Indian Relics is an excavation kit in which you excavate a frame of 'Native American Relics' that you paint once the frame is cleaned of dust and plaster.

One of my favorite stories about the Western Movement is the story of Lewis and Clark. But in all honesty I'm less interested in Lewis and Clark and completely fascinated by Sacagawea. On multiple occasions she not only saved the expedition but saved the lives of the men of the expedition and throughout it all she was just a teenager!

Our exploration of Alaska came about because my sister, Samiah and her family, moved up to Alaska in the fall of 2020. Once there, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and after surgery, it was discovered that it was an aggressive and fast growing brain cancer.

This unit started out book heavy, but we managed to squeeze in a couple projects for which I’m very happy. I scheduled this unit for a single week. Let’s see how much we can get through. So far we’ve done really well diving into the picture books and starting both the biography and the novel.

For this chalk drawing, I used the book In Search of the Northern Lights as inspiration. I used a few pages from this book which depict a brilliantly colored sky and landscape and I was eager to include it in our unit.

Here’s the chalk drawing we did for our Alaska and Arctic unit. You can see a longer tutorial on the blog post for this unit and on YouTube. First let me tell you about the chalkboard. It’s awesome!!

Join me for this live lesson in which my 9-year-old daughter and I draw illustrations inspired by the book Raven and the Tide Lady. This lesson lasted 45 minutes and only included drawing. We did no written work. We used Faber Castell pastels and then switched to Sargent Art Chalk Pastels.

For this project, I used handmade knitting needles I made during the Handwork Conference. You can find more information about the conference by visiting Waldorf Handwork Educators I used bulky weight yarn by Lamb's Pride in various neutrals. You can find Lamb's Pride at many online vendors, but I frequent A Child's Dream for most of our Waldorf needs.

This was one easy but lengthy project! It did get a bit tedious, but it worked well with all the reading we did with our Alaska and Arctic unit. While I read, my 14-year-old son knit and sometimes, we would switch. I did cast on and bind off for him, though he is capable of doing that one his own and actually retaught his older 22-year-old brother when he made a scarf recently. I also added fringe to the end.

In all my years of homeschooling this past year is the first time we made snowflakes. Living in southern California where it never snows (where we live), we've never done winter projects that involve cold weather and snow.

This is one simple yet beautiful project you can complete in no time, especially if you do the stitching like my 11-year-old son and not like me! We used gold and metallic DMC thread to stitch designs on the wool blend die cut snowflakes using two simple stitches: the running stitch and the back stitch.

I bought this kit when we did our American history units when I put together our unit on California history. We ended up not quite reaching that California history when those history units were over (they'll be revisited again), but I had all the kits.

Opening activities which include games are a family favorite in our homeschool and one of our favorite trivia games is the Professor Noggin's Trivia Cards. Over the years, we started making our own. First with Astronomy Trivia Cards, then Bird Trivia Cards and most recently Bee Trivia Cards.

This is the quickest I've ever decided to put together a unit. I sourced books, put together the unit and did it all within about a month. Part of doing it so quickly or rather being able to complete it in just one week was the fact that we didn't include any projects officially.

In a Waldorf setting, the Age of Discovery is presented in Grade 7 along with the Age of Exploration, Renaissance Biographies, Reformation Biographies, and European Geography. The Age of Discovery covers the explorers, such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco de Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, and the Hernan Cortez and Francisco Pizarro (who conquered parts of central and South America)

The Colonial Times along with the American Revolution and Civil War are covered in the US history block for grade 8, while Western Expansion is taught in a local history block in Grade 5. However, I brought this unit to elementary school as a unit study rather than a Waldorf inspired main lesson block. 

Our American Revolution Unit Study was completed a few times with unique projects each time. While some books (especially picture books) may be used again when a unit comes around again, often I collect some fresh books to inspire all of us. This unit was small and was a companion to the Colonial Times unit. Many of the projects may be used with either unit.

Upon entering adolescence, the Grade 8 student has a desire for stronger critical thinking and refined moral capacities. The ability to engage in critical thinking is a milestone marker of puberty. The Civil War provides a rich opportunity for student to discuss, examine conflict, freedom, justice, and human rights. By this age, students can understand social upheaval and national transformation.

When I started planning our American History units, I quickly found myself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of materials available. Everything looked to inviting and inspiring and I did something I do often, I overbought and over planned. Then I had to read our way out of the massive pile of books I had purchased! We did…slowly and over years.

California history including the gold rush make up this unit. It's a mix of biographies, historical fiction, resource books, kits and a 'how to draw' book. I think I'm most looking forward to the kit we got for panning for gold. We also really like the 'Who Was..." books for their simplicity, content and illustrations. No unit of mine would be complete without a hands-on activity and this unit includes a 'gold' excavation kit.

Our exploration of Alaska came about because my sister, Samiah and her family, moved up to Alaska in the fall of 2020. Once there, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and after surgery, it was discovered that it was an aggressive and fast growing brain cancer. As a family, we decided to visit her after she recovered from brain surgery but before she began her cancer treatment which included chemotherapy and radiation.

Ever learned the fifty states and capitals only to forget them? Try adding some games like Fast Track States and Capitals or, my favorite 10 Days Across the USA. If songs are your thing, you can try the states and capitals CD by Audio Memory. These catchy tunes will get you memorizing the states and capitals in no time!