Adventures in Mama-Land

Isn’t everything better with a friend or two??? Yum!  Cream cheese on homemade matzah – the ones that didn’t burn to a crisp, that is…   Not perfect, but yummy.  And a few lessons learned for next time – over here on my bread blog !

This was the cutest thing ever and super-easy to put together!  I was looking for a simple printable Snakes & Ladders game board to supplement our math, and completely ran aground.  I decided it couldn’t be THAT hard to make one… and why not build the Pesach theme right into it?  I’m very pleased with the way it turned out.  In case you are concerned, this printable includes no images of snakes, if you are afraid of them or avoid non-kosher animal pictures! Download this printable from my Limudei Kodesh printables page here (scroll down to “Yom Tov”). For General Studies (English & Hebrew) printables, click here .

The word GREEN is tedious already; enough has been said elsewhere about just how OVER that word is…  So how about… GREENING? Are you up for a little GREENING? We’re doing a little GREENING around here… yes, indeedy-o!) Right now, I’m in the middle of starting (yup, procrastination will do that!) an article I swore I thought would be absolutely fascinating when I pitched it to my editor… but it turns out, it’s kind of dull.  And wholesome.  And green.  The article is about an organization with the word “Greening” in its very TITLE… meaning I will undoubtedly have to use the word about fifty times in the next five hours it will take to extract this article, letter by painstaking letter, from the very depths of my miserable soul. Shudder. Here is the most dull “greening”-related material I could find, so I wanted to share it with you because I am expected to actually READ this document while the rest of you can merely glance at the cover and move on with...

וַיִּקְרָא / vayikra / Leviticus 12:1-13:59:  Read it ;  hear it . This is a basic overview of the parsha story in a format that can be adapted for a wide range of ages. Sources include parsha text, commentaries and midrash.  When introducing midrash or other non-pshat elements, I use the words “some people think” or similar. Please see the Vayeishev overview for how we use these narratives  in our homeschool.  I also have copywork sheets to go with the weekly parsha… enjoy! Do you remember the story of Pinocchio? He was a little wooden marionette whose nose magically began to grow every time he lied. Those changes weren’t permanent – when he finally told the truth, his nose shrank again. Can you imagine what it would be like if everybody knew you’d been lying? And what if there was a kind of bad speech that was even worse than lying? ...

(but now I remember – thank you, Internet!) The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont  Here’s a review I wrote of it on Amazon almost ten years ago: This is one of our perennial read-aloud favourites. As a previous reviewer points out, it IS a little strange; in our house, that's what makes it stand out from the run of the mill. You never know exactly WHY the baby is called a "bad baby" even before the story begins -- but that makes it even more intriguing for kids. And of course, the art does look dated and peculiar, and the words ("crisps," "sweet shop") are all kind of funny to my kids. Also, because we're Jewish, when I read it, I say "meat store man" instead of "pork butcher," so as not to offend my kids' kosher sensibilities! But all of these quirks just make it more fun to read and -- judging from their reactions -- all the more fun to listen to. The story is straightforward and fun -- a baby an...

Searching for a very light poetry curriculum for young kids that a) included real poetry, and b) gave a little information about authors, just as our music and art studies do, I kept coming up empty-handed.  (if you know of one, let me know) I did find a copy of an old public-domain book called Three Years With the Poets and started adapting its suggested poetry – formatting it nicely, including “Victorian” clip art and writing a little blurb about one author a month. The result is a loose curriculum called “A Poem Every Month.”  As the original book suggests, each month includes a short main selection along with three “elective” poems.  These can be used for memorization, but so far, we’re just reading the main one together a couple of times a week.  My kids have been fascinated by the brief biography of Robert Louis Stevenson for March.  It’s always nice to be able to put a name and a few facts together with a poem, and there are some truly great au...

Why the weird dates? Click here to find out!  Other “weekly challenges”: Six Word Saturday Homeschool Diary We’re a Jewish family of 6 (2 parents, 4 kids) and all our meals are kosher.  Read my MPM intro here or just visit my big ol’ list of Everything We Eat .  We eat mostly vegetarian, with one vegan meal every single week – on Vegan Vursday , of course! Aaagh!  What is happening?  Why haven’t I done this in SO long???  Oh, well.  Let’s try getting back on track as our spring courses and programs ramp up this week (not to mention Pesach)… aaaah!!! Sunday:  Falafel, Pizza etc takeout at Mommy’s Monday (Ted off):  Chicken supper – what kind?  I dunno!  I want wings!!! Tuesday:  Better lasagna than last week’s Wednesday:  Perogies, salmon & side veg  (bread???) Thursday (vegan vursday):  Stir-fry tofu over rice (Ted’s request) Shabbos :  Turkey Meatloaf wi...

I will update this page as I create or find excellent Pesach resources!  And scroll down for my own special, ongoing personal Pesach project…. To begin with, on my own site… Great Big HUGE Pesach 5771 Lapbook / Lapfolder (all original PDFs, available by donation) My husband’s original 10-page Ten Plagues for Passover Colouring Pages Passover / Pesach Printables Activity Pack #1 and Activity Pack #2   Haggadah Printable Overview – to read aloud with kids and/or incorporate into your own studies and/or Seder. The RonyPony Haggadah 5771 .  “Bare-bones” but complete Hebrew text interspersed with the English from the Haggadah Overview, above.  This is just a “beta” version.  Feedback welcome for next year!!!! A Small Pesach Mah Nishtana / Four Questions Book for Kids Other Pesach and Yom Tov resources here (scroll down to “Yom Tov”), including a cute Pesach Snakes & Ladders game! Videos of various kinds: Fun...

Why the weird dates? Click here to find out!  Other “weekly challenges” I participate in: Homeschool Diary Menu Plan Monday It turned three in January , but now… Beloved blender ; a billion shards… GONE.

Haven’t done one of these in a while, and that’s because my head  has been encased in a fog of apathy that may be winter or may be sleeplessness or may be something else entirely; I have no idea. But anyway, here’s the menu!  (*=Me, T=Ted, K=kid)  Lines through stuff that’s already done – which is (scarily) hardly anything, as of 4:44 pm. Supper * Challah T – Soup w/ K – kneidlach T – Shepherd’s Pie K – stick-style carrots * Corn * Desserts Lunch * Challah T – Pareve Cholent T – frozen blintzes (fried by Ted) K* Cucumber Salad * Tabouli (except tomatoes which will be added last-minute) T – Lettuce Salad (to do on Shabbos) K – cheese slices  (to plate on Shabbos) K – orange jello w/cherries floating in it * Desserts Desserts Carrot cake (mix) with Tofutti cream cheese frosting (if Ted can get find the cream cheese!) Hmm… something chocolatey, but what???  Blondies !!! Shalosh ...

Once again , I’m planning a Pesach lapbook this year… and I’m SELLING it, too! Although I have some resources that I have bought online, I’m finding that most of what I want to cover is not available… so I have once again painstakingly created several excellent resources to include in our lapbook. As with my Jewish Book of Centuries , I have to charge for this one, and I’ll email you the files directly as PDFs in one big ZIP file.  PayPal me something , say $4 or $5, I will email you all FOURTEEN components of this lapbook so far, PLUS anything else I create for our own lapbook between now and Pesach.  Read on for the fine print! Here’s what’s included: Erev Pesach Observances – Circle MiniBook Getting Ready for Pesach – 4-way Shutterfold Seder 15 Steps to Freedom – Staircase MiniBook Four Names of Pesach Four-Flap MiniBook Moshe Story “Passover Haggadah” MiniBook Mah Nishtanah 4-Tab MiniBook Pesach Foods Tab Flaps Quiz Book Pesach Numbers Pyramid MiniBook (plus P...