“There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather” book review

This Book!!!! Yes!!! Oh I love it so stinkin' much!! I have been SO blessed by God with the most amazing sister in the world who is the world's most amazing homeschooling mama, ever! I am so thankful to get to learn from her and follow in her footsteps with her wildly loving, helpful, and supportive self. And because she is so awesome (homeschooling 4 kids of her own!) she has inspired my soul, flipped my perspective, shown me truth, and opened my heart to the actual fact that the way America would have us raise our kids with its unnecessary standards and indoor school systems-making little ones who are so young to sit so still and do so much paperwork and follow such structure is just not the way children should be taught if we can at all help it. And if we can make sacrifices to help it-we should. Our children's childhood is dependent upon it. Obviously, not every home has a parent who is able to stay home but getting kids outdoors constantly should remain a top priority no matter one's situation. Children so small NEED to be outside playing. It is essential and childhood is so so fleeting. In fact-this benefits their learning...without the classroom. These are proven facts. Just dive in and find out the wonderful truth for yourself.

I am constantly reading books. My most recent read was "There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather" by: Linda Åkeson McGurk. This is a Swedish mom who lives in Indiana with her two daughters. She takes them on a 6 month trip to Sweden, her hometown, and they experience life in Sweden where there is less pressure and stress of structures in schools, encouraged outdoor play, forest schools are common, and parents taking a step back in the worry department is favored vs frowned upon. It is a refreshing, enlightening, empowering, and encouraging read. Their normal is too often viewed as "weird" here and that is really sad because what they have is so beautiful and right!

This book absolutely factually proves how the outdoors in and of themselves are the best medicine and environment for kids. Screen time (particularly constant and daily and as a "go to") is  detrimental, crippling, and robbing of a child's communication skills, imagination, immunity, growth, and development physically and cognitively. It has its place for doing research of course. Children were designed by God to thrive outside. And not even just children but adults too. Research proves and is listed in reference by our fabulous author in the book multiple times that just the mere act of being outdoors is revitalizing to the system, the brain, and our health. She goes into great detail in her research and provides beautiful tantalizing details of proven facts how much better children perform, behave, sleep, eat, learn, and grow when given daily time outside to play-in all forms of weather.

As a southern belle I'd be darned if I'm going out in anything below 50F. However; having a little one who is growing and learning at such a fast rate-knowing the benefits that God's great natural design gives-I will wear 5 parkas if I must in order to let my daughter absorb all the richness of the outdoors. I really deeply encourage caregiver's to read this book for even just these research facts.

The rain has never been anything I am afraid of getting out in. I bought Ellie a HAPIU rain suit last year for Easter and rain boots. I don't mind if she goes outside and gets soaked-heck-she could run around naked in the rain and swim in the mud for all I care! However; it is not always desirable for a little one to be wet. Therefore; rain suits were invented and they are the most amazing things. In these, kids can go hiking, puddle jumping, and any other activity staying warm and dry! There are different brands. Ellie's is HAPIU,but another popular brand is oakiwear. I'll link one for example.

HAPIU Rain Suit

Note: There are several brands, colors, prints on Amazon, just do a search for "rain suit"

Our author notes that the proper clothing is really one of the key factors to getting a kid outside and playing comfortably without complaint. (If complaint is an issue-and with toddlers, we all know at times that is the case).

This book has changed my attitude. The novel took the knowledge I already had obtained from the wisdom of my sister, and established in me a strong root system and attitude towards going outside in the seemingly unfavorable conditions. Such as, EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING- without fail, Ellie wakes up and the first thing she says to me, "Good morning, Mommy! I wake up and see you! I wanna go outside!" And I say, "Ok! Let's get you dressed to play!" I cringe at the idea when it is still 26F out but I also rejoice because I am so happy my daughter loves the outdoors. So, I suck it up, put on 3 coats....yes, seriously....and we go out and play first thing every morning. Even before breakfast. And we explore, play games, and within minutes, we warm up as our bodies move full of curiosity and adventure. The book encouraged me to not respond with, "No let's wait 'til it warms up." "No, it's too cold." I say, "Ok!" And I mean it. Actually, just recently, Ellie asked to go outside after dinner. Eric, my husband (A Michigander) said, "It's cold now, Ellie." And I passionately shouted from the couch, "No!! We don't say that around here!" He paused, and then stated, "Ok Ellie, let's get you a coat." And I had to laugh. He never knows where my research is going to take us next but he is always on board and supportive. He is the best. 

One other point I want to hit on that I love about the facts written in the book are the better immune systems of children who play outside and get good and dirty. I'm not bragging, I swear I'm not-But I know this to be true because the only illnesses Ellie has ever had in 2.5 years is ear infections (got that from her daddy), a couple colds, and a tummy bug. She has only ever gone to the doctor for ear infections regarding sickness. We are blessed humbly with a healthy baby and after God's own grace I place this good fortune on the earth and dirt God made as well. After all, God made dirt and dirt don't hurt!

Read the book! 5 stars from this "free range" mama!

Gladden's Garden: Progress and Children's Links!!

When I started researching a year ago to prepare for our garden, I was shocked to overwhelmingly read how planting vegetables is not as simple as dirt, rain, and sunshine. Honestly, I'm pretty annoyed with the fact that proper gardening is not a life skill taught in public elementary schools. Our school had a garden area with raised beds and sadly they were so ignored by like 98% of the school. Each teacher had a garden bed assigned to their classroom. The year these were built, my teacher got us outside one time to work in the garden. I learned nothing. I'm not blaming the teachers....curriculum and expectations of a public school education is above the heads and out of control of the teachers. But, it is so sad that more was not done with these. What a great opportunity for outdoor learning. So, I am pretty upset I didn't learn more about this at a younger age. In fact, while I loved my career in surgery, I rather wish I had studied horticulture as I knew I planned to stay home as a wife and mother one day.

So here is where we are currently:

Ellie and I are taking this on as our project together. We both are having to learn as we go. Which is really cool and special. We went to Home Depot a few weeks ago and purchased organic pepper, onion, broccoli, carrot, and beet seeds. We bought organic soil and we went home excited to start planting our seeds.

Note: When ALL the things tell you to only plant 2-3 seeds per soil pod...LISTEN! Hahaha! I made the poor executive decision that some of our seeds were just so teensy tiny that maybe we could use like 6 a pod! Sure Em, you've only been gardening like a second-by all means you are ready to fly solo and ditch the expert advice! Ha!

Also further note: One packet of seeds is like way more than enough for your 4 garden beds....we are not feeding an army! haha! I think I planted like...gah, I can't even count or recall how many seeds per each species I planted. I just couldn't picture how much or how little I needed until they were growing. I know. I'm ridiculous and I give you full permission to tease. But, this is seriously new to me....my green thumb is a little too green! Haha! Definitely a learning process to be sure.

So we planted our seeds and they took off growing. In two weeks we saw the seedlings sprout and form their cotyledon. The trays of seedlings took up my kitchen table.

 I still had no idea I planted way too many seeds. Ellie loved planting, watering, and watching the process, making observations throughout. As we began this life lesson together, we also have been reading books to help us understand and learn, and I must say, I have learned so much from these children's book! Wow! Where were these lessons in school?! Ah!! I cannot get over it. I'll link our books we are reading daily. Here they are:

1. My First Vegetable Garden by: Wendy Lewison

2. The Seed Song Book by: Judy Saksie

3. It All Starts With A Seed by: Emily Bone (Usborne book!)

4. Gardening For Beginners by: Emily Bone & Abigail Wheatley (Usborne)

5. The Tiny Seed by: Eric Carle

6. Plant Parts by: Leslie Nash....no link for this one...maybe try a search?

Ellie has her own gardening bag complete with gloves, rake, trowel, watering can, and fork. She loves using them and digging in the dirt. Highly recommend getting your little one a gardening kit. 

As part of learning about growing a garden, we are not only growing from seed but also from cuttings. My mom gave us the base of a head of lettuce. it was completely bald and in 2 days we saw a large amount of growth. All we did was place the base in water and set the bowl in the window to drink up sunshine. We have done the same with cut carrot tops. This is so cool!

Ellie observes the growth every day. 

The next thing we did was separate or "split" our seedlings to place one seedling in a pot of soil by itself. Here was when I really realized I planted way too many seeds and had a good laugh at myself. But not all is lost. Whatever I may have in excess, I can give to my other best friend, Laurel, who is starting her garden soon too. And I love sharing with my dear friends and helping if I can! Now, not only my kitchen table is full, the chairs, and dresser behind the table are full of pots. It is the sunniest spot in the house that is not one of our bedrooms. This has shown me I need a fluorescent plant light or a greenhouse. With time I'll resolve this issue and for now I will laugh at my kitchen situation. Separating seedlings also really helped me to separate the weak from the strong. Since having separated, I can further see who is going to make it and who is just too weak to go on. The tomatoes are awesome. I have two strong peppers, a handful of strong broccoli, and a couple strong carrots, and the onions currently look mostly all strong. The beets may be a small handful as well. This phase is the one that makes me most on edge as I wait patiently (Romans 8:25) to see what I will be able to transplant. Transplanting will be our next step.

Building the beds:

Eric and I spent one Saturday outside for 9 hours building our 4 garden beds to create the idea I had in my head. Eric is like so awesome. I showed him a photo of my idea for the garden structure. And that man took it and made it happen. I love being married to that guy. He makes all my dreams come true. We worked together with the cedar wood we ordered. We measured, cut....ok....he did the measuring and the cutting...and we put them together framing my young emporer japanese maple tree. We got the beds built and placed over weed tarp; then we filled them with dirt. Then, we filled the garden area with pea stone. We still plan to border the exterior with stone. I then want to buy some planters to place in the garden near the beds to plant a myriad of pollination flowers. Flowers for the bees!! I've got a plan for this too-just need to implement that. That will be a big Ellie project! She will be filling the planters with soil and planting her flower seeds. 

(I spray painted yard to get an idea of size and outline. Still to add: stone around exterior border and wildflower planters.)

As for the recently individualized seedlings, several are starting to grow their first "true leaves" just 2 weeks after planting the seeds. Not all, but some are at this stage. 

So that is where we are and what we are doing, thus far! I have so so so much to learn but I am thankful to be learning such an essential part of life. That old saying "you are what you eat"...yes. I am so excited to grow our own healthy vegetables. To provide for my family through patience and hard work as well as to teach my daughter an important life skill of knowing how to produce her own food and save money by doing so. 

The Carrot Seed - BFIAR

I home school Ellie, for those who aren't aware; and I love it! But her "Schooling" at this point in her life is anything but structured. We play, play, play and read all day! Her work is playing, exploring, moving, creating, and imagining! She LOVES books more than any other thing that we play with. Books are the best way to play and explore! The concept of Before Five In A Row per their own website is the following: 

"Dedicated to protecting and nurturing the early years of childhood, Before Five in a Row opens up the world of learning through great books and creative play, and builds a solid foundation for more formal education to come.

This important product has two sections: the first presenting 23 Five in a Row-style mini-units (plus an extra mini-unit) based on outstanding children’s books for ages 2-4+.  The second presents an entire treasury of learning readiness activities intended to be used in your every day life: things to do in the kitchen, at the store, at bedtime, bath time and more".

So, it instills in children the love of reading, classic stories, comprehension, and following a FUN theme! It is not a "curriculum" or "work". It is reading, bonding, and learning through playing. Which is exactly how a toddler should learn- not through worksheets...but through PLAY and hands on interaction!! I love it!

Our very first adventure in diving into the Before Five In A Row book list was "The Carrot Seed."

This was the perfect one for us to begin with as our family is currently also starting our own garden and we have sown many carrot seeds over the last couple of weeks which are now beautiful seedlings. 

Ellie and I began our adventure with first reading the classic story. Then, we baked carrot cake cupcakes!!

We made a very healthy recipe so they were guilt free! My favorite kind of food. Here is a link for the recipe we used: Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Ellie got to measure, crack eggs, stir, divide, and ice the cupcakes! She loves baking with mommy in the kitchen and she is quite good at it!

We also cut the tops off all our carrots to attempt to regrow carrots! We simply cut the tops, placed them halfway deep in water, and sat them on the windowsill so they can soak up the sun! We will wait a few days and soon, God willing, see some regrowth begin!
After I had cut them, Ellie sorted them by counting each one and moving them to the side. We counted a total of 9, and therefore counted out 9 bowls to place them each in. Ellie found this a very interesting project and got so tickled at her responsibility of placing each carrot in a bowl and carting them to the window. It will be awesome to watch them grow!

We also used an egg carton and pretended it was a field. We sowed the field with our make believe carrot seeds! (toothpicks). This is a fine motor skill and wildly entertaining for a 2 year old. She on her own, when finished and satisfied, asked me to count them with her. That we did! More math!

We also made an art project with carrots! We painted using carrots. Oh, Ellie found this very fun!! We used baby carrots and rolled them in the paint and across the page. Great messy fun! We cut the carrots into circles and stuck toothpicks in them so they may be used as paint stamps! I think this was Ellie's favorite method. And we also used a large carrot like a pen or brush! We both made pictures...Ellie helped me with mine too! And at the end, she used the carrots to paint her hands and arms! 

And last but not least, to finish our carrot seed themed day, we observed our own growing carrot seedlings!! We have a large excess of seedlings, so I pulled a couple out to show Ellie how our planted seed had grown. We observed the root, stem, and leaves. We talked about how eventually that would become a carrot, which is a root vegetable that grows under ground! 

Our bible verse for this book is Romans 8:25 - "We must wait patiently." 

Above all the things I will ever teach Ellie as her teacher in home school, the most important thing is Jesus first. In everything we can see Jesus and He is the reason and purpose  of our lives. We want to glorify Him in all we do-even in school and gardening. It takes patience (a huge lesson for a 2 year old) to grow our plants and vegetables. What a great way to help steward that fruit of the spirit. No pun intended! Also, In the book of Mark, which we happen to be reading through during our bible reading every morning together, there are two parables Jesus uses to teach the crowds and His disciples that use sewing seeds and harvesting a crop. Of course these parables are to paint a picture of what it is to reap what we sow, and to follow Jesus and be "rooted" in Him.