Rhythm of the Home | Author at Rhythm of the HomeRhythm of the Home

Seeking Warmth

As a lover of language, I get words stuck in my head. Maybe they make your mouth do tricks like persnickety or lollygag. Or maybe they are powerful like revolution or mother. Or a little word like at that if said too many times in a row turns into a nonsensical syllable. Or maybe they [...]

Dark Chocolate Covered Orange Peels

Winter holidays are so full of sweet temptations that it can be hard to choose between from-scratch gingerbread cookies and grandma’s fruit cake and kid-made peppermint bark. Recently I stumbled upon a new favorite that has rocketed to the top of my must-make-and-eat-too-much-of list. Dark chocolate covered orange peels are so decadent the most difficult [...]

Gingerbread Cranberry Muffins

With the season shifting, I am finding my way back into the kitchen to bake. I dream of pumpkin, gingerbread, and warm winter spices. These muffins came to be after I reworked an old favorite of ours to be gluten free. These muffins are low in sugar and healthy enough to serve for breakfast alongside [...]

Poetry Made Fun Throught the Seasons

I love to make up little rhymes and songs about what my children and I are doing. More often than not, they don’t make sense or I throw in some obscure word just to get it to rhyme, which my son thinks is hysterical. These days he joins in too or makes up his own. [...]

A Big and Little Collaboration :: Abstract Printed Scarf

At my core I am a creator. I’m not happy unless I have a project, or twelve, to keep my hands and mind working. While I love creating on my own, I find that when I invite my children to create with me the experience is even richer and more fulfilling, for both of us. [...]

A Halloween Surprise from Sparkle Stories

Need a little something to help anxious and excited littles pass the pre-Halloween celebration minutes a bit more quickly? Well, you are in luck! Our friends at Sparkle Stories have a free Halloween story available for download on their website today. You can find the free, fun and not-at-all scary story by clicking here. We [...]

Simple Burp Cloths Sewing Tutorial

Burp cloths are one of those necessities in the life of anyone who cares for babies. You’ve likely used them for throwing over your shoulder or lap for burping, wiping some sweet potatoes off of tiny lips, or laying them on a surface for a makeshift diaper changing pad. You can certainly find burp cloths [...]

Capturing the Season :: Autumn Photography Tips

One of the true joys of each season is capturing our children, our families, and our surroundings through the lens of a camera. Each season here at Rhythm of the Home we want to bring together photographers, both amateur and professional, to share the best ways to capture the light and essence of the season [...]

Celebrating Autumn :: A Community Perspective

Each new season brings a time to celebrate with family, with friends, with our community. Creating traditions for our children and ourselves around these special times of year helps all of us to value the present moment, and prepare for the transitions ahead. Here you will find a few simple ways that our readers are [...]

Autumn Reading List

Autumn is a perfect time for reading by an outdoor fire, or snuggling up under the covers. The following is a collection of some of our favorite books to read with your children in this beautiful season. :::::::::::: The Winding Road: Family Treasury of Poems and Verses Compiled by Matthew Barton Mother Earth and Her Children: [...]

Simple Homemade Ricotta Cheese

I’ve never been much of a city girl; yet since leaving the comfort of the quaint, New England college where I was interned for four years, I have yet to managed an escape from cities. They have followed me, and I them. Historically, my draw to the city has been my previous lines of work; [...]

A Magical Trio to Inspire Budding Citizens of the World

My dream is for my daughter to grow up with a confidence and conscience as a citizen of the world. To that end I have found three things – the “Magical Trio” – to be a great support in this desire. The Magical Trio consists of a globe, a Felt Continent Map, and corresponding Geography [...]

Dance Like a Tree

The trees just know when to let go. Their leaves dance and thrive in the heat all summer long. Their branches sway back and forth. The cool weather comes and the trees show their bold, vibrant colors before going dormant for the winter. Then one day, after turning brown and dry, the leaves drop, and [...]

First Day of School Cones

Whether you home- or traditional-school your children, the first day of a new year of learning is an exciting milestone. Celebrate the day with a surprise – a homemade schultuete, or school cone. A German tradition since the early 19th century, school cones are given to children on the very first day of their school [...]

Interview with Erin Barrette Goodman

Erin Goodman is one of those women who you really wish you could meet in person. Erin lives a full life, soaking everything in as she goes, and making sure that she leaves a positive impact on the world around her. Erin’s work caught our eye a while back, and we thought what better way [...]

Interview with Renee Tougas of FIMBY

Renee Tougas, of the blog FIMBY, is a woman whose life seems as authentic as they come. As a homeschooler, passionate plant based cook, and avid lover of the outdoors, Renee has cultivated a unique life path that brings and her family fulfillment, and is truly all her own. She joins us here to talk [...]

A Photographic Journey :: Your Photos from Summer

As many of you already know, we have extended an ongoing invitation to members of the Rhythm of the Home community to share the rhythm of their own lives and families with one another through photographs posted to our Flickr group. These photographs are submitted by our readers and contributors, and are organized around themes [...]

Autumn Pizza with Roasted Figs, and Apples

Autumn is a season for savoring every last taste of the harvest. It is a time when apples and figs are at their sweetest, and we gather them with joy knowing that soon the cold weather will be upon us. My first experience with figs was not until late in life, after I graduated from [...]

Using the Kitchen as a Place to Bond

I remember as a child standing on a chair at the kitchen counter, spooning flour into a coffee cup, making cakes with my mum. Then a few years later it was my little brother doing the spooning and me doing the instructing (I am sure he would call it ‘bossing’), making the same recipe. My [...]

Four Fall Simplicity Seeds

Some of the seeds planted in the springtime garden are just bearing fruit for us to enjoy and share with loved ones on these crisp autumn days. Similarly, the rhythms and rituals instilled around that time have manifested into sunny memories of fleeting summer days and the time and space for true family connection and [...]

Pretty Fall Scarf

This is a great scarf for everyday wear. Using simple crochet stitches and chunky yarn, it is perfect for keeping warm as early autumn turns to winter. This scarf can be worn wrapped snugly around your neck, making it a great accessory to a warm sweater or jacket. KEY: CH-Chain SS-Slip Stitch HDC- Half Double [...]

Baby Bear’s Apple Cinnamon Porridge

Porridge is such a wonderful and nourishing comfort food on cold blustery days. My little girls love to pretend to be Daddy Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear while we cook. Incorporating food and storytelling is always a magical way to bring literature to life, and kids into the kitchen. Share with your children the [...]

The Case For Psychosomatic Medicine :: From the Perspective of a Marriage-Family Therapist and Classical Homeopath

Until recently, the term “psychosomatic” has been largely associated with over-anxious patients who “create” physical symptoms in order to cope with overwhelming emotional influences. From a homeopathic perspective, it is exactly these emotional and mental states that are meant to be associated with physlcal complaints. They always exist in varying degrees and can be used [...]

By Hand

I sit in a pool of October sunlight at my kitchen table, my legs drawn up on my chair, a cup of honey-coconut hot chocolate and a plate of fresh bread with jam at my elbow. I am alone, quiet in the stillnes of my house, feeling my breath deepen as I let go of [...]

Simple Knitted Apples

I knit this apple day by day In hopes to hold it while I play As they grow with love and care I shall knit them carefully by the pair [...]

An Easy Shadow Puppet Show

It begins imperceptibly. It’s dark–not just twilight–by 8:30. The sun is completely below the horizon for our after-dinner walk, rather than still floating along on the tops of our neighbors’ roofs. But before long, we won’t be outside after dinner at all. The cold, dark part of the year is slowly creeping towards us, and [...]

Twisted Cord Jump Rope

When stacking firewood my husband always chants, “warms you twice,” with a smile. Obviously firewood heats you while it’s burned, but he’s also talking about that heart pumping heat your body gets while stacking. Autumn is a great time to make a twisted cord jump rope for some fun heart-pumping heat. The reward will be [...]

Jack and the Beanstalk :: Grow Your Own Magic Seed of Storytelling for Fun Family Times

Just about everybody knows the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. In short, it’s the story where Jack swaps his family cow for some magic beans. His mother admonishes him for such a foolish act, and throws the seemingly worthless beans out the window, where they grow overnight into a glorious beanstalk stretching far into [...]

Simple Newborn Mitten and Hat Set

This knit set is my go to gift for babies born in the colder months. A simple quick knit for beautiful, warm protection for new little hands and heads. The mittens are thumbless since babies under one are in little need of outdoor dexterity. Hat This hat is ideal for a newborn’s first few months. [...]

Make a Quill Pen and Natural Ink

One of the earliest writing implements — and the one that dominated for the longest period in history — was the quill pen, made from a bird feather. So it’s no surprise that the word pen comes from the Latin word penna, which means “quill” or “feather.” Making a quill pen is a charming way [...]

Wild Apples :: Wild Apple Sauce

I grew up wandering in the woods with my dog. There were ancient apple trees on the edges of the forests around our home—overgrown from years of neglect since being planted by ‘settlers’ (as we called them) decades before. I loved the apples they yielded. Those small, hard, sour orbs—suspended much too high for us [...]

When The Student is Ready

Having spent most of my adult life as an educator, fall naturally brings to mind the beginning of a new year of teaching. This year, however, my thoughts are more along the lines of being taught. My mentor just happens to be my one-year-old daughter who began my instruction before she was even conceived. In [...]

No-Bake Fall Treat :: Haystacks

My family looks forward to autumn when we celebrate the cooler weather with fun traditions. We make our own Halloween costumes, head down to the local farm for a hayride, and make no-bake desserts like caramel apples and rice krispie treats. Of all the fall-themed goodies, haystacks are our favorite; they are quick, easy, and [...]

Autumn Watercolor Crafts

When I was first introduced to Waldorf education, perhaps one of my most favorite crafts was the wet-on-wet watercolor painting. I remember visiting the classrooms of older children as they blended these vibrant colors together to make a dream like painting come to life. When my own children reached the age of being able to [...]

Autumn Festivals

Celebrating the season’s festivals is one of the most beautiful aspects to Waldorf education, and a favorite with children as well. Here is our collection of the many of the season’s festivals (for 2011), and a few resources to help make each a cherished tradition for years to come. :::::::::::: Autumn Equinox :: September 22nd, [...]

Baby’s First Wooden Toy Set

When my nephew turned one a few months ago, I was at a loss as to what to make him for a special gift. I had wracked my brain for something appropriate for gifting a one year old and came up with nothing. Then one day while playing in my sewing room, Hayden began playing [...]

Crocheted Fabric Nesting Baskets

Baskets are a necessity in my house. With so many little toys and nicknacks that need storage, these baskets have proven to be a great alternative to my regular baskets or bins. With simple crochet stitches, they are a very quick and fun project to do during naps, or with a little one’s help. Materials Fabric yarn [...]

Color Me Happy

Red and yellow and pink and green, Purple and orange and blue, I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too! This year I am noticing the changing colours of the seasons more than ever before, since I started painting again in January. It is as though colour was calling me, and [...]

A Season of Rebirth

As Summer winds down, I find myself breathing a sigh of relief. Most people find Summer relaxing, invigorating, and free. They come alive and spend their days immersed in the vitality and life that surrounds them. I, however, find myself shutting down. It is too much of a break from the daily rhythm that flows [...]

The Blessings of a Slow Family

We took our places in the circle with the others, mid-morning light slanting through the school windows. Soon, beautiful voices lifted together in an ancient, yet recognizable, song. The hand-dyed shawl was lifted and placed over the shoulders of the four pre-pubescent girls who would be graduating from Sunday school and moving on. I was [...]

The Story of an Apple

Before my husband and I had children, we had lots of ideas about priorities, those values that would loom large in raising young people. We both believed in fostering a love of reading with our children, spending lots of time outside, and being as present as we could in their lives—which meant that family time [...]

Nature Lovers

When I think back to my own childhood, all of my fondest memories revolve around being in the outdoors with my family. I remember camping trips to the lake where we slept in a giant tent and ate marshmallows. I recall going for bike rides, hikes, jumping in piles of leaves, and fishing as a [...]

Needle Felted Chicken Ornament

A needle felted chicken resting in a walnut shell nest can be a great simple gift for any chicken aficionado. Materials Needle felting supplies (needle & foam board) Small pieces of wool roving (dark grey, red, yellow, blue) Half of an empty walnut shell Approximately six inches of embroidery thread Hot glue gun Instructions Gather [...]

Sew Your Own Reusable Sandwich Bags

When my sons began attending full day preschool last year, I found myself intimidated by the prospect of packing lunches. Such a simple act, yet somehow so very perplexing, I’m not sure why. As the year went on we fell into some sort of rhythm that seemed to work well enough for all. That seems [...]

Knitted Harvest Flower Vase

The perfect reward for a summer spent weeding, tending, and nurturing is the gathering of friends for a fall harvest feast. Together, we break bread to celebrate the fruit of our labors as well as the bounty and fertility of the earth. This simple knitted sleeve fits over a wine bottle to enhance a gift [...]

To Live Each Moment

Oh when does she breathe, when do her feet stop and how does she find time to simply be, enjoy, live? Walking into the cold of her rarely lived in kitchen, my heart skipped momentarily at October’s monopolized calendar, not a day free, not an unscheduled moment anywhere. Each day had an abundance of [...]

Butterfly Celebration

Each year, our family celebrates the migration of Monarch butterflies. The tradition began with an email from my parents, sharing that they had seen an announcement for the annual Welcome Back the Monarchs festival at one of our favorite state parks on a trip down the coast. My husband and I have strong ties to [...]

Happy Summer Everyone! As the month of June comes to an end and we prepare to move into the height of summer days, we wanted to share our favorite selections from the photos posted to the community Flickr group over the last month. These photographs are submitted by our readers and contributors, and are [...]

A Photographic Journey :: June 2012

As the month of June comes to an end and we prepare to move into the height of summer days, we wanted to share our favorite selections from the photos posted to the community Flickr group over the last month. These photographs are submitted by our readers and contributors, and are organized around themes that speak to [...]

Summer 2012 Index

Inspiring Projects to do With Little Ones Gardening an Extra Room Trash to Toys: Three Easy Toys From the Recycling Bin Dandelion Magic Time to Look: Creating a Garden Book Dancing With the Flower Fairies Leaf Crowns Rain Stick Saving Summer’s Blooms Bubble Wands Sewing Projects Small Garden Doll Sew a Simple Scarf Simple [...]

Seashells, Seashells, Play Your Song for Me

We are sorting the shells into categories: bumpy ones, thin ones, pointy ones and tiny ones. Each is examined closely. We notice the jagged, broken edge on one and a brushstroke of pink inside another. We question why a barnacle has hitched a ride to shore on a blue mussel. We wonder who used to [...]

A Photographic Journey :: Your Photos from Spring

As many of you already know, we have invited members of the Rhythm of the Home community to begin sharing the rhythm of their own lives and families with one another through photographs posted to our Flickr group. These photographs are submitted by our readers and contributors, and are organized around themes that speak to [...]

Picking Stories out of the Air :: Storytelling Simplified

I think we can all agree that Parenting is indeed the spiritual practice of our time. Nothing shows us our margins – the clear edge of our capacities and sense of what is possible – like Parenting. Parenting forces us to find energy when exhausted, wisdom when sleep-deprived, and creativity when the well is dry. [...]

Summer Firsts: Two Simple Recipes to Celebrate Summer’s Bounty

As a local vegetable grower, I am intimately entwined with the rhythm of the seasons. Occasionally my life is actually as full of nature’s mystery and romance as the previous sentence would have you believe; when a stroll through the fields just after the spring snow melt brings me within fifteen feet of a preening [...]

How to Sew a Summer Tealight Candle

When summer comes calling in my home, we tend to do a big clear out and our home veers towards being minimalist. “Stuff” is recycled, shelves are tidied, and some of the decorative items in our home are stored. I often don’t feel like making much craft at all and instead am pulled outside to [...]

Finding My Rhythm

When you work from home, it’s very easy to get caught in unhealthy patterns, and it takes time to find your rhythm. When I first started working from home, I was living in far north China with my fiancé (now husband), and there were minimal distractions. Television wasn’t a problem because we didn’t speak much [...]

The Playscaped Yard

Outdoor play can foster a sense of discovery, of exploration, and it builds relationships with both social and biological communities. It gives children all the health benefits of exercise along with the character-building benefits of play. I want to get them out so that, paradoxically, they develop a healthy in. - from A Natural Sense [...]

Dancing With the Flower Fairies

When I was a little girl I was fascinated by flower fairies. These magical creatures were first introduced to me through the books of Cecily Barker and soon became a central part of how I viewed the natural world. It was through them that I learned the names of many flowers and wild plants, and [...]

Developing the Habit of ‘Yes’

I was in my second year of working with toddlers and was looking for a new story to tell. The children never tired of “The Three Little Pigs” and “Goldilocks,” but I was getting tired of them! I tried to think of an appropriate tale, and came up with one I thought might be [...]

Drawing Your Rhythm

Rhythm is an important element of our days – for our children as well as ourselves. Yet as parents with young children know, despite rhythm’s importance and the benefits it provides, a smoothly flowing rhythm does not always come naturally! This has certainly been the case in our family. My sons thrive on rhythm, and [...]

Instilling Family Passions

Long before I even started a family, I knew I wanted my kids to be writers — not as a career necessarily, but as a passion. I wanted to instill a love of putting thoughts into words and wanted them to flow as easily and confidently as anything else that comes naturally. This desire [...]

Trash to Toys:: Three Easy Toys From the Recycling Bin

The old adage that children often like the box a toy comes in better than the toy itself is certainly true at my house. Although he has plenty of conventional toys–when given his druthers–my toddler’s favorite activity is building with, banging on, and carefully examining items pulled out of our recycling bin. Watching him play [...]

Saving Summer’s Blooms

Summer and its flowery goodness is all too fleeting. There are several ways to preserve blooms, but drying seems to be the most popular. Drying flowers doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With the heat and sun that the days of summer bring, air drying brightly colored summer flower petals is a breeze. The [...]

Gardening an Extra Room

We live in a two-bedroom house in an urban environment. Neither our home nor our property is very big and we are cozily tucked next to and in between three other properties. Privacy isn’t something we have a lot of, but we have the advantage of being on a hill, with a lovely view of [...]

The Lion’s Eye :: A Free Sparkle Story

::::::::::: David and Lisabeth with Sparkle Stories will be bringing a story to life each season here at Rhythm of the Home. “The Lion’s Eye” is the first story in the new series, The Willowbee Tree. “In the backyard of an ordinary house on an ordinary street in an ordinary town, there was once a [...]

How to Host Your Own Food Swap

The food swapping movement is taking hold in communities across the country, enchanting food lovers with its old-fashioned charm and modern day ideology. Food swaps are casual, communal gatherings where home cooks, canners, gardeners, etc., exchange their homemade, homegrown and hand foraged edibles for someone else’s, sans cash. The appeal of this sustainable trend [...]

Summer in the Kitchen

My favorite time of year to cook is summer. Growing up in Northern California taught me an appreciation for seasonal and fresh foods, and while I enjoy every season’s own taste and goodness, Summer has a sweetness, a freshness that is all its own. There is something magical about biting into the first local strawberry, [...]

Thinking About Writing :: A Self-Evaluation Tool for Young Writers

Each of us is a writer in our own way. Whether it is lists or letters, essays or articles, we all write in our daily lives and when we do so, it is with a common purpose at heart: to record and share information. For writers who are still developing their skills, understanding the purpose [...]

Simple Summertime Tents

Summer – throw off your shoes, open the windows, run outside and play. Then, when the day is hot and little feet are tired, lay under a simple sheet and daydream of fireflies and hollyhocks. Perhaps a tea party for a light refreshment? The days are long and energy abounds – come play with us. [...]

In Search of Summer Water

I live in Canada with my family, the land of plenty in so very many ways, and especially when it comes to fresh water. We have lived on the coast and experienced the wonder that comes from frequently spending time at the ocean. I have often heard relocated islanders talk of the ocean being in [...]

Bubble Wands

Bubbles and summertime go hand in hand. There is something magical about spending the afternoon watching bubbles float across the warm air, and even more so when you make the bubbles and blower yourself. My kiddos have recently fallen in love with making their own wands, and they have become a staple gift in our [...]

Call of the Summer Wild: Cultivating a Love of Nature

Call it a consequence of the long New England thaw, or call it the residual effect of an early life spent at camp; whatever the reason, the call of the summer wild is a joyous and loud cry, and my family answers it gleefully. I attended camp loyally as a child, and then I was [...]

Simple Embroidered Scarf

Summer is the perfect time for sewing a simple headscarf. This scarf works well for little ones and mamas alike, and includes a lovely little embroidered detail and some personal creative touch. Materials 32” x 26” piece of cotton fabric Tape measure Soft pencil 84 inches of cotton bias binding Embroidery silks Embroidery hoop Embroidery [...]

Knit Lollipop Pattern

Every summer, without fail, my parents packed three kids, a road map, tent, and whatever was less essential but would still fit into our truck, and we drove. Three kids packed onto a vinyl seat in the middle of July made for some hot, long miles. But each next year we’d be so eager to [...]

Homemade Baby’s First Purees

When my boy was a baby I waited the full six months recommended by his pediatrician before introducing solids to him. Anticipating that time, in the weeks ahead I began making and freezing food for him to use when he was ready. These simple recipes are perfect for first foods for babies, made using fresh [...]

Dandelion Magic

We are “those” neighbors; the ones with the two-week’s growth of grass and the yard full of dandelions. We can’t help it. We want our land to be a safe place for our child and our pets to play, which, for us, means no chemicals. I’ve tried pulling up the dandelions one by one [...]

Rain Stick

After many sweltering hot months and days after days without clouds, suddenly a little white puff ball appears in the sky. It begins to grow and grow, and is joined by other small clouds as they grow together into a huge mountain in the sky. As they build and build so does your anticipation for [...]

Time to Look: Creating a Garden Book

Oh, summer. In theory, I love the idea of meandering, lazy days. But as a stay-at-home mom with two young children, those days can get mighty long. We don’t do camps or have regular babysitters. We don’t live in a neighborhood where we can send out the kids and say, ‘be back by dinner time.’ [...]

A Full House

As a homeschooling family, our home is more than a just a place to hang our hats and gather around the table at night for a hot meal. In addition to the calming hum of laundry spinning at rhythmic intervals throughout the day, wet little footprints dotted across the kitchen floor signaling a day spent [...]

Summer Snails

Summer can be a time to slow down and enjoy days outside in the sunshine discovering nature, exploring, and reading. Nothing speaks of slowing down more than snails! This is a summer project to make a snail finger puppet that you can use to help with your storytelling and summertime play with your children. Supplies [...]

Fresh Herbal Teas

Play barefoot in the grass on an early summer’s morning. Let the fresh dew tickle your feet as you tiptoe gently into the garden. The bounty of summer fresh herbs, fruits, and flowers can provide the inspiration for so many delicious elixirs and brews. Iced or hot, fresh herbal teas are the blessings of summer, [...]

Benefits of Placenta Encapsulation

I recently took a certification course and learned how to encapsulate placentas for a living. I don’t think I will actually do it for a living, but I am so glad I got the information. I feel that information about placentas is really a lost art and I am thrilled to be a part of [...]

Sweet Summer Peach Cake

Stone fruits are the epitome of summer to me. They are sunny in color and just radiate summer sweetness. Once I see the stands overflowing in peaches, plums and nectarines at the farmer’s markets I can’t help but stop to pinch, smell, and fill my basket with them. With the surplus that the markets provide, [...]

Tanabata Wish Tree

Tanabata is a Japanese festival usually celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th month, although in some parts of the country it is celebrated in August. The story originates from a Chinese legend about the meeting of two deities — Orihime (represented by the star Vega) and Hikoboshi (the star Altair). Over the years [...]

Positive & Purposeful Parenting :: Five Tips for Happy, Well-behaved Children

A single day of parenting consists of loving cuddles, delightful interludes, humorous conversations, battles of will, tantrums and wobbly moments, tears and laughter, overwhelming tiredness and stories aplenty. There are lofty highs that fill us with pure joy and dastardly lows that can make us question why we ever embarked on this journey. For most [...]

Small Garden Doll

This sweet little doll is made from an upcycled sweater and easy to find supplies. It comes together very quickly and easily, with just a little bit of stitching and basic sewing skills. It is sweet on its own, but needle felted with vegetables and a flower, it provides a little bit of summer garden [...]

Leaf Crowns

I am in a constant state of glitter. I find it on my skin, under fingernails, in my hair and eyelashes. Co-workers and family members have stopped pointing it out. The glitter is ever-present. I am fortunate to have a job that allows me to spend most of my time researching, creating and re-creating garden [...]

Getting Lost in Life’s Cadence

Just a year ago, I found myself packing up my things into brown boxes salvaged from the dumpster behind my apartment in downtown Denver, CO. My things and myself were destined for Middle Georgia. When my fiancé (EV) got the call for the permanent change of station I was admittedly terrified. Middle Georgia had never [...]

Homemade Cheese Crackers

At my home, summer picnics are nearly daily occurrence. A piece of fruit, a boiled egg, some carrot sticks, and a handful of homemade cheese crackers fill up our sacks. I can’t imagine why it’s not a tradition in our culture to make crackers in addition to cookies. They are so easy to make, [...]

Summer Reading

Summer is the perfect time to curl up out of doors, under a favorite tree or next to a nearby creek, and read a great book. Summer reading has long been one of the true joys of childhood, and we have collected a few titles, from classics to new favorites, for your little ones to [...]

Summer Festivals and Celebrations

Celebrating the season’s festivals is one of the most beautiful aspects to early childhood education, and a favorite with children as well. Here are some of the season’s many festivals, and a few resources to help make each a cherished tradition for years to come. :::::::::::: Summer Solstice :: June 21st. The summer solstice is the [...]

Rhythm of The Home Book Query Guidelines

Rhythm of the Home was created as a collaborative voice, a way to open the world to perspectives on educating and raising our children. It has always been our hope that through sharing the voices of many, we would all one day look back and be proud of the changes that we had made, the [...]

“We All Live In a Tippy Red Canoe . . .” : Paddling With Kids

Spring is the time when our bodies start to twitch and you’ll find our whole family staring out the window longing for sunshine and brighter days. One of our favorite springtime activities is getting outdoors in our canoe. Canoes offer a fun, traditional way of experiencing the outdoors. Designs and materials have changed with time [...]

Indoor Spaces for Imaginative Play

Call me seasonally cliched, but when springtime rolls around, I awaken. I open the windows wide, letting crisp breezes freshen stale air. I scrub forgotten corners. I clean closets. Spring is raucous with new life; what better time to invigorate your child’s play space? My dream playroom is crisp and spare, so it is not [...]

Discovering A Sense of Place

“No matter how much one may love the world as a whole,one can live fully in it only by living responsibly in some small part of it.” [...]

Dream Country :: Becoming a Dream Collector

Sophie later learned that the BFG ( Big Friendly Giant) was a dream collector. She took him with her in the pale country where you can hear dreams sailing along. “Where are we?” she asked. “We is in Dream Country.” the BFG said. “This is where all dreams is beginning.” It is not a rare [...]

Surprise Yarn Eggs

Eggs just speak to us of all things spring. They fill the nests in the trees and our baskets on Easter. Many of us continue to try and find natural gifts and treats for the eggs as an alternative to all of the candy and plastic eggs. This year inspire a little creativity as well [...]

Creating a Children’s Garden

After reading a wonderful children’s book called Princess Chamomile’s Garden by Hiawyn Oram, I was inspired to create a little garden for my girls in a neglected area of our backyard. In the book, the little mouse princess helps the gardener and finds the royal gardens “too big” so she plans out something just her [...]

New Day :: Celebrating the Spring Equinox

The first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the Vernal Equinox, falls on March 20th this year. It is a time of transition in nature and within ourselves. The worst of winter is over, sunshine and warmth are returning, flowers are blossoming, gardens are being planted and the year begins again. Day and night [...]

Spring Flower Baby Hat

Spring is the perfect season for a pretty baby hat that keeps heads warm on cool days, and brightens up any outfit. Size: 3-9 months Hook: H Yarn: Weight Category: 5 – Bulky: Chunky, Craft, Rug Yarn Gauge: Knit: 14.6 stitches x 18 rows = 4″ (10cm) on size 10 (6mm) needles Crochet: 10 sc [...]