The Book of Life

I’m reposting this from my classroom blog – a note to parents about how I talked with first graders about the Book of Life: To prepare for Yom Kippur, Kitah Aleph learned the traditional greeting “Chatimah Tovah”, which loosely translates to “a good inscription.” In the liturgy of the high holidays, we speak about a [...]

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….row by row

At the beginning of the summer, I blogged about our garden. I promised an update, both on the harvest and whether I succeeded in using the garden to teach my girls about the agricultural mitzvot. Some of our crops were bountiful. We had pounds and pounds of purple pole beans, and enough cucumbers to make us [...]

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L’shana Tovah

Wishing you joy, peace and harmony in the year to come. With Love, Homeshuling

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Teaching teshuvah

reprinted from the PJ Library newsletter, September 2008 This past month, my daughter Ella received a copy of The Hardest Word from the PJ Library. In this story, a giant mythical bird called the Ziz accidentally destroys a vegetable garden belonging to a group of children. Unable to fix his mistake, the Ziz flies to [...]

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Look no further (or is it farther?)

Are you looking for a wonderful apple cake recipe? I was going to post my mom’s, but it turns out that smitten kitchen and I have the same mom. Or at least the same recipe. Her write-up is a lot better than mine would be. I mean, just look at it: It’s not burnt at [...]

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Bread machine bread that actually tastes good

I’ve been a little underwhelmed thus far by my new (if you consider something from good-will new) bread machine. The bread smells great but it looks funny and has an odd texture. I’ve come up with one recipe, however, that I love. I won’t post a picture, because that might dissuade you from trying it. [...]

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Is it time for a seder already?

Although I’ve hardly had time to think about it, Rosh Hashanah is, in fact, just over a week away. We have a couple of new-ish family traditions (we’re a new-ish family after all); I make my mother’s Jewish apple cake with the apples from the trees in our yard, and we have a picnic at [...]

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At least there’s Sunday

  Last week, for the first time in a very, very long time, the majority of my waking hours were spent at work. In addition to being at my new home away from home for the length of the day (plus early arrival and late departure), I also returned every evening. I dashed home (on [...]

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Big disappointment

Both Ella and Zoe’s PJ Library books for the month of September arrived today. Zoe ripped open the envelope to reveal “Oh, no,” said Zoe. “I hope I don’t get that book,” added Ella. Sigh.

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You can’t homeshul if you’re never home

Last week I returned to work full time after six years of part-time employment (and full time parenting, of course.) I’ve spent most of my waking hours in meetings and setting up my classroom in anticipation of the first day of school. Tomorrow. I haven’t been blogging much because, well, I just haven’t been home [...]

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