Check Out My "Green" Family Post at BlissTree

I'm now writing at BlissTree about Parenting and Crafting. There are many opportunities to be "green" in those areas.

Check out my post, Parenting for the "Green" Family, and let me know how you're going green in your home.

Creating Children's Container Gardens

Spring is the time of year when children plant container gardens at school. From kindergarten through about third grade, youngsters learn about green and growing things by planting seeds in paper cups or other containers at school.

Often these are planned so they can bring a growing bean plant, or perhaps marigold home to mom for Mother's Day. My daughter did this in elementary school, as did both grandchildren. Then we waited until we were sure the frost was gone before we planted them in the garden outside.

When I substitute teach in these grades, the children always are ready to show me the "gardens" they have growing in the classroom and want to water them so much the plants nearly drown. However, it's delightful to see youngsters so excited about gardening.

Also, check out these Gardening Resources for Families.

Writers Publish Related Books for Youngsters & Adults

Writers are taught to "get the most mileage" from the material we research and write. When we write a book, can we write others in the same vein or related to it? You'll even find this in the children's book writing field.

When I discovered the children's story book, The Quiltmaker's Gift, I didn't realize there were related books with quilt patterns and suggestions. In researching an answer for a reader's question about this book, I discovered more and wrote about them in Follow-up Books for the Quiltmaker's Gift. You may want to check out these books:

The Quiltmaker's Gift
Quilts From the Quiltmaker's Gift
More Quilts From the Quiltmaker's Gift

Books About Daylight Saving Time & Spring

Discover facts and figures (the curious and the ordinary) about Spring and Daylight Saving Time

Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time by David Prerau
Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time by Michael Downing
Crafting Springtime Gifts: 25 Adorable Projects Featuring Bunnies, Chicks, Lambs & Other Springtime Favorites by Tone Finnanger
Time for Change: Setting Clocks Forward by One Hour Thorughout the Year by Mayer Hillman
The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Writing Ideas from Photos

Check out Mary Emma's Writing Tips at One Book Two Book for suggestions on developing writing prompts from photos. One photo can yield ideas for many types of writing. In this post, I've used a photo from my childhood of Nubble Lighthouse, Cape Neddick, Maine.

I'm also incorporating this idea into a workshop I'm teaching this week for a group of homeschoolers.

(If you'd like to learn more about my workshops for young writers, e-mail me at me.allen@juno.com .)