Today was a rough day...
Our morning walk began with our (almost) 6-month-old German shepherd puppy pulling me off of our porch. The whole left side of my body is aching, especially my shoulder and hand. Pain is not conducive to a peaceful, happy state for me, so I was a bit off my game for the whole day.
What this meant was that I did chores then rested on the couch while the kids played board games together. We all decided that it was time to purge some of our less thrilling games which resulted in the discovery of an old kid-sized Big Bird that we'd all forgotten about. I think we've had it since the twins (now nearly 8) were 2! This immediately brought on a bout of nostalgia for the twins. I am never more proud than when I watch my children working together and helping each other to learn and grow. Iambe(2) was eager to work on the puzzle, but it was a bit beyond her. The older three didn't take over but rather helped her to complete the puzzle! My heart nearly burst. They went through this many times until Iambe was doing more and more of the puzzle without any aid.
There were games of Memory, Chinese checkers, Chutes & Ladders, and even a few impromptu child-made games.
We were all looking forward to going to the Popcorn Festival parade in the evening, but with rain threatening and my body aching, I decided against the miles of walking. We did get to see the plane flying over our house with the "Gilsdorf for Mayor" banner. Instead, the kids put together their own parade using toy cars, figures, ribbons, and other odds and ends. It was really cute!
While outside watching the plane (and the gloomy storm clouds overhead) I found a dead sparrow on our lawn. All of the children were eager to observe it (no touching) and the differences between it and the fledgling starling we'd found earlier in the summer. They noticed that the fledgling was bigger than the full-grown sparrow, but the sparrow had many more feathers. None of us could really figure out how the bird had died because there were no visible wounds. Annie guessed that it had been overwhelmed by the storm last night. Airius thought maybe the bird had just died of old age. The girls held a bit of a funeral for the poor bird, then it was inside for time with Daddy.
Tonight's Bedtime Story: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
September 7, 2011
After a few days of failed attempts to do things we've been wanting to do...
The kids asked for coloring pages after our morning walk in the rain. Callie specifically wanted a coloring page to "teach" her letters (which she already knows), then the rest of the kids trickled in with their requests: a tiger for Annie, a T. rex for Airius, and an Olivia page for Iambe. Callie hasn't had to do a lot of coloring in the lines type work, so I was impressed with her outcome.
The play-work was interrupted when the flower girl dresses for my brother's upcoming wedding showed up at the door. The girls were beside themselves with excitement!
But once the (frighteningly pristine) white dresses were off the girls, they asked to paint the clay figures they'd made from air dry clay a week or so ago. So we did. They'd used the cutters from their Play-Doh set to make shapes in the clay, but Callie also made a free form face. Airius's sculpture was too fragile, with lots of long, spindly pieces, so it broke before he could paint it. He handled it well.
At cleanup time, Annie took it upon herself to reorganize our bookshelf, putting the books which belonged to each child in separate piles and the shared books in another.
Dinner found Airius and Callie back to magnet experimentation, making long chains of metal objects from their magnets then hooking them back up again to make magnet necklaces.
Tonight's Bedtime Story: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The kids asked for coloring pages after our morning walk in the rain. Callie specifically wanted a coloring page to "teach" her letters (which she already knows), then the rest of the kids trickled in with their requests: a tiger for Annie, a T. rex for Airius, and an Olivia page for Iambe. Callie hasn't had to do a lot of coloring in the lines type work, so I was impressed with her outcome.
The play-work was interrupted when the flower girl dresses for my brother's upcoming wedding showed up at the door. The girls were beside themselves with excitement!
But once the (frighteningly pristine) white dresses were off the girls, they asked to paint the clay figures they'd made from air dry clay a week or so ago. So we did. They'd used the cutters from their Play-Doh set to make shapes in the clay, but Callie also made a free form face. Airius's sculpture was too fragile, with lots of long, spindly pieces, so it broke before he could paint it. He handled it well.
At cleanup time, Annie took it upon herself to reorganize our bookshelf, putting the books which belonged to each child in separate piles and the shared books in another.
Dinner found Airius and Callie back to magnet experimentation, making long chains of metal objects from their magnets then hooking them back up again to make magnet necklaces.
Tonight's Bedtime Story: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
September 1, 2011
A touch of our unschooling day:
It seems that, without my prompting, the children have felt the shift in seasons and are asking for a slight bit more structure to our days.
Callie, being quite excited to be a "kindergartener" now, decided that her first "lesson" should be to make a dolly hospital. She and Annie each made a sign (they copied the words from an idea book we have) to tape up, then Callie overturned a box for her exam table and fished a clean syringe out of the drawer with which she could do her doctorly duties. This was quickly abandoned when...
Annie decided that she wanted to make kissy face pictures. The child draws a face sans mouth. The parent then applies some lipstick to the child's lips, and the child kisses their picture where the mouth should be. These are especially well-loved by girls, though my boy will sometimes join in the fun. The picture is meant to *always* be given to a loved one. While the girls were busy making quite a few of these...
Airius really struggled trying to make a milk jug T. rex skull. His obsession with dinosaurs continues, but he is still really struggling with finger strength. Ever the perfectionist, he was a bit discouraged that he wasn't able to cut as smoothly as he wanted to, but I think he enjoyed this project anyway. For anyone that decides to make one of these, WATCH OUT. Those pointy, plastic teeth are really sharp!
Airius also continued to help me plan our whole yard nature garden makeover. He is particularly smitten with butterflies, and this love blossomed further this summer when--just last week--we found our first ever monarch caterpillar on the milkweed we've been growing for five years now! The kids were ever so vigilant about watching him all day every day and even named him Blotchy. Alas! I think he met an untimely demise. I didn't tell the children this, however, so Airius insists that Blotchy has become a beautiful butterfly. As luck would have it, we have had several monarchs visiting the butterfly bush that Airius picked out and helped me plant last year. He's been looking over and over the butterfly books that he chose at the library, but he hasn't come to me with any new facts or asked me to read anything for him. To build on this butterfly interest, I pulled up some YouTube videos on the monarch migration. (here and here) I thought this might spark interest in a visit to the Franklin Park Conservatory's Blooms & Butterflies Exhibit, but Airius insisted he did not want to go. He just wants to study Blotchy.
After the videos, Airius asked how butterflies can manage to fly since their bodies seem so much heavier than their light, delicate wings. I googled it and found this explanation. I thought, perhaps, that Airius would ask about some of the unfamiliar words in the definition, but he didn't. I didn't offer any explanations.
I had also noticed that Airius carried a magnet that he'd somehow pried loose from a toy with him on our morning walk. He kept talking about "getting vibrations" from it, so I went to our library website to try to find some books (particulary Mickey's Magnet), but the library is switching systems so their online catalog wasn't working. Harumph. Airius asked what I was looking for, so I told him. He was very excited and asked if there were magnet science kits that he could ask for for his upcoming birthday. We found a few to add to his wishlist. The horseshoe magnets especially intrigued him. There was one on Amazon that had a 30lb limit. That was extremely thrilling to him, and he wanted to have that one right. NOW. Tonight I must search for some more magnet fun ideas. I know that there was a post up recently on Chasing Cheerios about playing with magnets, but I'd like to find some stuff geared toward the older set too.
Tonight's bedtime story: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
It seems that, without my prompting, the children have felt the shift in seasons and are asking for a slight bit more structure to our days.
Callie, being quite excited to be a "kindergartener" now, decided that her first "lesson" should be to make a dolly hospital. She and Annie each made a sign (they copied the words from an idea book we have) to tape up, then Callie overturned a box for her exam table and fished a clean syringe out of the drawer with which she could do her doctorly duties. This was quickly abandoned when...
Annie decided that she wanted to make kissy face pictures. The child draws a face sans mouth. The parent then applies some lipstick to the child's lips, and the child kisses their picture where the mouth should be. These are especially well-loved by girls, though my boy will sometimes join in the fun. The picture is meant to *always* be given to a loved one. While the girls were busy making quite a few of these...
Airius really struggled trying to make a milk jug T. rex skull. His obsession with dinosaurs continues, but he is still really struggling with finger strength. Ever the perfectionist, he was a bit discouraged that he wasn't able to cut as smoothly as he wanted to, but I think he enjoyed this project anyway. For anyone that decides to make one of these, WATCH OUT. Those pointy, plastic teeth are really sharp!
Airius also continued to help me plan our whole yard nature garden makeover. He is particularly smitten with butterflies, and this love blossomed further this summer when--just last week--we found our first ever monarch caterpillar on the milkweed we've been growing for five years now! The kids were ever so vigilant about watching him all day every day and even named him Blotchy. Alas! I think he met an untimely demise. I didn't tell the children this, however, so Airius insists that Blotchy has become a beautiful butterfly. As luck would have it, we have had several monarchs visiting the butterfly bush that Airius picked out and helped me plant last year. He's been looking over and over the butterfly books that he chose at the library, but he hasn't come to me with any new facts or asked me to read anything for him. To build on this butterfly interest, I pulled up some YouTube videos on the monarch migration. (here and here) I thought this might spark interest in a visit to the Franklin Park Conservatory's Blooms & Butterflies Exhibit, but Airius insisted he did not want to go. He just wants to study Blotchy.
After the videos, Airius asked how butterflies can manage to fly since their bodies seem so much heavier than their light, delicate wings. I googled it and found this explanation. I thought, perhaps, that Airius would ask about some of the unfamiliar words in the definition, but he didn't. I didn't offer any explanations.
I had also noticed that Airius carried a magnet that he'd somehow pried loose from a toy with him on our morning walk. He kept talking about "getting vibrations" from it, so I went to our library website to try to find some books (particulary Mickey's Magnet), but the library is switching systems so their online catalog wasn't working. Harumph. Airius asked what I was looking for, so I told him. He was very excited and asked if there were magnet science kits that he could ask for for his upcoming birthday. We found a few to add to his wishlist. The horseshoe magnets especially intrigued him. There was one on Amazon that had a 30lb limit. That was extremely thrilling to him, and he wanted to have that one right. NOW. Tonight I must search for some more magnet fun ideas. I know that there was a post up recently on Chasing Cheerios about playing with magnets, but I'd like to find some stuff geared toward the older set too.
Tonight's bedtime story: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Friday, September 10, 2010
{this moment}
Following Soule Mama: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The First Day of Homeschool
And what a day it was!
My dear littles knew it was coming, and they were literally begging for it to begin for about a week beforehand. The day of, however, was a different story. I'll admit that I wasn't completely prepared for the issues that came up. I knew that Airius would probably immediately pronounce everything to be "booooring" (he did) and that Callie would want to be included in absolutely everything (she did) and that somebody would ask about watching TV or playing DS (they did). But I didn't realize that my children would be anxious in that most negative of senses. I could see for most of the actual "schooling" time that the twins were really reliving the anxieties and fears that had been brought about by their preschool and kindergarten years in the public school system.
Annie woke up and immediately pronounced every piece of clothing she owned to be itchy or hurty or otherwise unsuitable, including the outfit she'd laid out for herself the night before. She cried for an hour, despite hugs and reassurance and many, many outfit changes, and only came down to breakfast when I said it was time to go for a walk. Airius was on a hair trigger and had mini-meltdowns anytime anything was perceived by him as going the least bit wrong. On our walk we saw some of the children from their former school waiting at a bus stop, and both the twins said they were sad that they would not see their old friends at school today. Airius repeatedly brought up that all teachers are "big meanies" with the unspoken fear that I would suddenly turn on him looming in the background. Oy. I... stayed calm and carried on. Oh yes I did!
Biggest high of the day: Airius realizing he could finger knit! Last year he tried and wound up so frustrated with it that I made him put it away. He refused to pick it up again until today. He spent quite a bit of time knitting today and is really looking forward to making his own needles and knitting just like Mama!
I had planned to give the whole play by play, but honestly I'm more than a little exhausted and have to wake up early to take the two littlest ones to their well child checkups in the morning. It may not have been what I planned, but I think our first day was what it needed to be. Here's hoping for smoother sailing ahead...
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Celebration and a Question
We recently had one special 4th birthday party at our house. Here's how we celebrated:
Homemade decorations
A singular present, long awaited
Flowers picked in the morning by the birthday girl, a photo of the day she came home to us, and a cupcake just dripping with purple frosting
A grandma-made dress with fabric and pattern both specially selected by the birthday girl
Facepainting
A reluctant adventure in NeverNeverLand
Neverland obstacle course in the BLAZING heat
And now for the question. You may notice that, despite our Waldorf inclinations, we do not have a birthday ring tradition in our house. This is partially because I don't understand the birthday ring. I suspect that there is a story to this particular little tradition, perhaps some symbolism that I'm unaware of, but I cannot find this information anywhere. Does anyone know how/when the tradition of the birthday ring was started?
And now for the question. You may notice that, despite our Waldorf inclinations, we do not have a birthday ring tradition in our house. This is partially because I don't understand the birthday ring. I suspect that there is a story to this particular little tradition, perhaps some symbolism that I'm unaware of, but I cannot find this information anywhere. Does anyone know how/when the tradition of the birthday ring was started?
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Build and Grow
Oh my. I have been neglectful of my blogging duties, and the blog has barely even started! *sigh*
This past weekend we attended our first "official" Build and Grow workshop at our local Lowe's. I say this is the first official one because we were actually introduced to the program through a carnival at a local business, but there they simply gave us the kits to take home. This time we actually went to Lowe's and built our project there, mainly because it's good to get out of the house and be surrounded by other people once in awhile.
Let me say, in all honesty, that I really try to avoid the big chain stores of the Lowe's type, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity. I've been wanting to add woodworking to our list of activities, but my husband is more than a little trepidatious about the idea. Hammers and screwdrivers equal DANGER to him, and while that certainly can be the case, I think the best thing is to teach our children how to use these tools in the proper, respectful manner to avoid injury. This little workshop, with Lowe's workers presiding, seemed the perfect thing to assuage his fears and let the kids get down with a few tools.
I had originally planned to take the three older children by myself, but at the last minute my husband graciously decided to come, so it became a family event (which thrilled me!). The project was to build a toy UFO, complete with blinking signal light at the top. My son was so very excited. While the girls' enthusiasm didn't quite match that of their brother, they certainly didn't want to be left out of the experience. This was especially the case when they realized that they got goggles and a project apron with nametag to keep (the children are meant to bring their aprons and goggles back for subsequent projects). All of the toy's pieces were pre-cut, and nail holes were pre-drilled but still the project had its challenges. We managed to get all three UFO's built in the matter of half an hour or so though, including each child putting the decorative stickers on their completed toy.
When we were done we were given certificates of completion, Boy Scout-like badges to sew onto their aprons (which, of course, I still haven't done) and six free frosty coupons which I felt was an okay, rare treat on an extremely hot day. The kids were thrilled!
The workshops happen every two weeks, and each of my three older children is eager to go back for the next project, a bug house. Right up their alley...
Overall, I think this is a great fit for our family with its tool phobia, even if my husband did hammer his thumb to the point of bleeding. ;) (It just HAD to happen to HIM, didn't it? Sheesh.) If you are interested in attending a clinic near you, please visit the Lowe's Build and Grow website.
Also, I feel the need to say that I was not in any way compensated by Lowe's for this post. Thanks!
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