Today's tiny harvest

 Green beans, beats, a potato. It won't go far, but it will be tasty!
The potatoes don't seem to be doing very well. Probably due to the giant hornworms that tried to take them out. We'll have to try again next year with row covers.

I think we'll put in another round of beets in a few weeks for a second harvest before winter. There are still a bunch out there, and now that they have been thinned I hope they'll be doing some good growing.

H&J love to help harvest and clean our veggies. They do a really good job, too.

Oh, this old thing?

 The kids were excited to find a freshly shed snake skin on a bush yesterday. J wanted to hold it, and feel the texture, H was more interested in looking at it without touching. They were both very intrigued by the area where the eyes had been. The top of the jaw was a bit curled, but luckily it was fresh enough that we could uncurl it and see the whole head.

Writing

Lots of writing practice happening around here. This is from last week. H's folder is blue, J's is red. The kids were asking for help writing, so we worked on some pre-writing shapes. After we did this together, they continued on their own for a while. It's interesting to see how differently their papers are organized. H's is very orderly and purposeful, while J's is more chaotic.

Surprise!

J wanted to make sure that everyone who looked at her drawing knew that the egg was where Surprise came from. She asked me how to spell Surprise, and did a pretty good job writing it.

Reusable Review: AusPen Refillable Dry Erase Markers & Wipe Clean Woeksheet Covers

This week, we tried out the AusPen Refillable Dry Erase Markers with a white board and Roylco Wipe Clean Worksheet Covers. I had been wanting to use dry erase markers with the kids for a while, but was uncomfortable with the smell and chemicals. When I first heard about the AusPen markers, I was thrilled to find out that not only are they refillable, but they are also Xylene free!
We loved the markers! They are bright and colorful, and draw a great, solid line which erases cleanly from both surfaces that we drew on. I think they are very comparable to the non-refillable dry erase markers in action, but without the soul-crushing agony of adding more waste to the landfill. I'm a sucker for a well designed container, so I adore the (recyclable) container that the markers and refill ink are packaged in. It's nice and slim, and fits into our school supply bin quite nicely. The only thing that I'm not feeling the love for, is the nibs (or lack of nibs, to be exact). Since I'm using these with preschoolers, I'm guessing the the kids will crush the life out of the nibs before the markers have lived a full life. They are reversible, so that will help, but I'd love to see AusPen offer replacement nibs so that we can continue to use these forever.



The kids are really getting interested in writing letters and have been asking for help making lists, so I got them a book with some pre-writing games and activities in it. I figured I'd either get a second copy if they both really like it, or just make copies on the scanner. Then I thought about it more, and just couldn't justify using all that paper and ink and then throwing it away. I thought about using chalkboards or whiteboard and drawing my own worksheets for them, but then stumbled across the Roylco Wipe Clean Worksheet Covers and decided to give them a try. They are perfect! We can use the same workbook over and over again, until the kids are done with it, and then give it to another family to use. We don't have to purchase multiple copies of the same book, and can reduce the amount of printouts from the computer. The covers cost $20 for a pack of 10, which seemed pricey at first, but I know they will more than pay for themselves quickly.




Just for Bootie Baby Blog readers, enter AUSPEN at check out for 10% off all of Auspen products at Reuseit.com from now until Nov 8!