As in Ken has NOT given me his resource list… so sit back and enjoy the crafty goodness parade! These fingers have been BUSY!!! I must say RAVELRY is a godsend AND CrochetSpot a great place for advice and free and pay for patterns. You can access those places HERE and HERE respectively! Now for the craft show!

I am rather proud of Lil’ Unicorn. I have sold TWO of these! One in colours requested and the other the same as pictured only with safety eyes for an infant. I have this cutey listed on Etsy! HERE

This adorable cuddle toy is thanks to Little Yarn Friends HERE.

Cuteness the Fish. What I love about this one is it makes up so …. CUTE. She is for sale on my Facebook page

Cuteness is thanks to A for Amigurumi. You can visit their site HERE.

Amigurumi Chinese Kokeshi doll. I love the detail on this one. Her little buns and hanging hair have flowers in front of them. She does not stand on her own, but is just adorable and I used safety eyes so it is infant safe. This one is posted up for sale on my Facebook page. HERE

 The Kokeshi doll is thanks to Studio Ami HERE. They have some absolutely ADORABLE amigurumi.

I am in love with making little deserts. There is a swiss style roll, a marshmallow pudding and a cookie. These are on sale on my Facebook page HERE.

These three deserts are thanks to Creative Crochet Workshop HERE.

I have done up a bunch of these heart rings. They make great tiny gifts as they ship at a steal. I have these up for sale on Facebook HERE.

These sweet crochet rings are thanks to Little Yarn Friends as well (link above).

Itty Bitty Lunch. The sandwich is lettuce, tomato and cheese. And for sale on Facebook HERE.

This little snack is thanks to Abigail’s Crochet World HERE on Ravelry.

Candy Corn!!! The one in the middle is considered a Thanksgiving themed corn. I love how roly poly these are. They are for sale on Facebook HERE.

These amigurumi snacks are thanks to Josephine Wu on Craftsy HERE.

Soft baby blocks. This set of 3 are so sweet. I love variegated yarns. These are not the least bit stiffened so wonderful for any age or to display. For sale on Facebook HERE.

This baby friendly design is thanks to CrochetSpot. I totally would recommend them for a membership but also to watch for their freebies HERE.

Little owl pouches. Owls seem to be totally in right now. I actually made one of these myself. They are a small pouch with safety eyes (so they do go into the pouch a little bit) there is a button on the back for the loop to latch. I have them for sale on Facebook HERE.

These useful items are thanks to 1 Dog Woof HERE. And that is the show! Hope you all enjoyed it! 

I know I know I have been horrible about posting lately… BUT in my defense I currently have two sick kids and am working at getting my Etsy store up and running. In fact, this post is to alert everyone to that store… I am going to post more items as the days go by but for now… 6 items are up for sale! I have even more in my It’s a Hoot Facebook page. You can access (hopefully) my It’s a Hoot page from this link HERE. The Etsy store you can access HERE. And as an added apology here is a sneak peek at something that has NOT made it onto either… I am working on different expressions on my s’mores. The design is thanks to CrochetSpot (Here) and this is the more… cranky (??) of the two I have made! Enjoy! And please, share my store and page… I would love the assistance in getting the word out!! 

It has been an ongoing discussion in our family about the idea of a school routine. Both myself and Ken were completely public schooled and so when we think back to a school day we think of scheduled class blocks that repeat in a 5 day a week cycle. I personally feel a bit of guilt when I take a half day to deal with life, or give the kids a light day… after all, class was class and you went to it right? Thank goodness for Brave Writer and her amazing way with words… What we need is to treat our home as more than a schoolroom for certain hours of a day… it is a place of  life and learning and the reality of that is – we must be flexible within the rhythm of that life, of our family.

You can read Brave Writer’s amazing blog post in its entirety HERE. It is titled Don’t Trust the Schedule. But I must share with you a couple paragraphs at the end the really resonated with me:

We create the conditions of excellence and quality performance when we honor the rhythms of life at home, when we value the hot white fire of passion when we see it (rather than remarking, “But that’s not on the schedule today”). We sustain growth when we return to the comfort of the routine when all other energies are subdued. And we honor our human frailty if we toss routine, schedule, or structure when we are falling apart (sick, irritated, frustrated, in pain, exhausted, or bored).

Schedule is tempting. It holds the promise of “getting it all done” which we translate into our heads as “completing our children’s education.” Don’t be seduced by that promise. Mostly what I hear from parents under the pressure of schedule is “I’m behind” and “I feel like a failure” and “I’m terrible at staying on schedule.”

Of course you are. You’re at home. Be home. Embrace the properties of home. Love. Live. Be. Learn. Thrive.

We’re so lucky to be home. The best gift you can give your family is to be glad that you are, and to live as though home is the ideal space for learning to occur. Because it is.

I am often asked if we have a room to school, or more currently if we WOULD have a room if we could. (when we move etc etc) And I can proudly say NO our whole world is our school. Granted we have the bulk of our resources in a single place but every day we are realizing more and more that learning is not occurring at that table, in that chair or even in the house. Rather we are finding moments of clarity and interest in all things.

We have created patterns of learning that work for our family. No, we don’t do math at 10:15 and eat every day at noon… we learn and talk and laugh and cry on our own time in our own way. And as Brave Writer says: Who said there’s a certain amount you must finish by June? We spill into months, take weeks instead of days when the interest grabs us. We learn as we live and we live as we learn. That to me is the joy of homeschooling…