Leap Year Fun

When you are three and four years old, as my two children are, four years is pretty much an unimaginable amount of time.  While trying to help them understand the concept of Leap Year, I decided to do a fun project with them.  This was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment thing, so without any preparation, we spent the first part of our morning yesterday putting together a Leap Year time capsule.  We did some math (just using fingers) to figure out how old they will be four years from now when we open the time capsule.

I let them start decorating the box as I explained more about what it was for and how we would use it.  (I just grabbed an Amazon box that hadn’t been taken to the recycling center yet.)

We tried to think of things to put in the capsule that express who they are and what their interests are right now.  Mr. BANG immediately brought out his Cranky toy (the crane from Thomas and Friends), saying that that’s his favorite toy.  Once I reinforced that the things in the box would be put away for four years, he quickly put that back on the shelf.  However, Drama Queen brought out a single piece of wooden train track – perfect!  They have a huge bin of track pieces, so they’ll never miss that one.

We thought of some more things to put in that represent activities they enjoy:  stickers, a crayon, WikkiStix in the shape of a balloon (their favorite thing to make with WikkiStix, a little puzzle, etc.

    

Drama Queen helped me choose some recent photos of the two of them doing fun things, such as making Daddy’s birthday cake, meeting Daisy Duck in DisneyWorld, and Drama Queen dressed in her own self-made Peter Pan costume.  I just printed those off on my printer since I hadn’t planned ahead and ordered prints of them.

Mr. BANG got to work on making some artwork for the box.  He loves dot painting, so he chose a picture and started painting.  Drama Queen later made one of her own.

   

One activity Drama Queen loves repeating during school is to make booklets of her number writing.  She added one of those to the box as well.

As they worked on those things, I wrote out a list of things that would be interesting for them to reflect back on when they’re older.  I included items such as Favorite Thing to Do Outside, Favorite Thing to Do in School, and, of course, What I Want to Be When I Grow Up.  For the most part, I wrote down exactly what they answered, but there were a couple times that they said something random, so I put my observation of the real answer.  For example, when I asked Drama Queen about her favorite thing to play, she answered “truck driver.”  What?  She had driven a ride-on dump truck in my bathroom that morning…for about five minutes.  What she spends all day doing, though, is acting out Peter Pan, her latest obsession.  So I wrote down Peter Pan.  Also, I started out asking Drama Queen each question first, but quickly realized that Mr. BANG would parrot her answers.  (As he did with “truck driver.”) For the rest of the questions, I asked him first.

As we moved into our normal school lessons, I decided to take pictures of the children as they did their work.  I compiled those photos onto a couple pages and included them in the time capsule, along with a written out schedule of the day.

             

Once everything was in the box, they helped me tape on a note reminding us of when the box can be opened, then we stashed it away in Mr. BANG’s closet.  That may not be the best place for it as he gets older, but for right now his large, walk-in closet is used for family storage so it’s a perfect spot.

I realize that I’m posting this after Feb. 29, the special day of Leap Year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still do this project with your family.  The Leap YEAR is no where near over yet! 

DIY: Green Boards

I’m actually a bit baffled by the subject of this post, the Montessori Green Boards.  I have two pages about them in my Language manual, and they are presented as an important exercise in developing beautiful handwriting.  When I was preparing to introduce Drama Queen to them recently, I assumed I would likely make them, but decided to check prices online first.  To my surprise, I haven’t been able to find them anywhere!  I checked several of the discount Montessori websites as well as Nienhuis, and haven’t found anything like the Green Boards described in my manual.  A search for the term “green board” only brought up personal-sized green chalk boards on which to practice writing letters.  Strange!  I considered skipping the Green Boards, thinking that they must not be very important if no one even sells them.  However, upon further reflection, I decided that I really like them and really thought Drama Queen would benefit from working with them.  So, I gathered materials to make my own green boards.

The Green Boards are an extension of the sandpaper letter lessons.  First, the teacher gives the child one-on-one lessons with three sandpaper letters at a time until the child is familiar with all the letters.  Then the child is able to play games with the letters, such as guessing which letter the teacher is tracing in the air, writing the letters in sand, or tracing a letter blindfolded, making the sound of it, and having a friend verify the correct sound.  The next step is for the child to work with the Green Boards, which contain several letters on each board.  The purpose of the Green Boards is to help children understand the relationships between the written letters – all the letters of a similar formation are grouped together on one Green Board.  This is how I grouped the letters (keep in mind that the letters are in cursive on the Green Boards):

c o a d g q

i u w t

n m v x y z

s r j p

e l b f h k

My Language manual’s description of the Green Boards is that they are similar to the sandpaper letters in terms of the size of the letter and the fact that the letters are made of sand, to be traced by the child.  Instead of on red boards (consonants) or blue boards (vowels), they are all on, wait for it… green boards.  I didn’t want to spend the time to cut sandpaper letters or even felt letters, as I did when I made the Sandpaper Numerals.  Instead, I wrote the letters in pencil (about half the size of the sandpaper letters).

I then used a black Sharpie to trace over the top and bottom lines and the middle dashed line.  This is the child’s first exposure to lines in letter writing.

I traced over the letters in glue, then sprinkled sand from the children’s sand table over the glue.

At first I was using Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue, but it wasn’t working well.  I ended up switching to plain old Elmer’s glue.  In this pic (which I couldn’t get to stay turned the right way), you can see the top with Elmer’s and the bottom with Aleene’s.

I made these with 12×12 green cardstock I already had on hand.  I didn’t have enough of one shade of green, so I used two different shades.  Also, I couldn’t fit all the letters on one strip, so I did some taping together once the glue dried.  (I also went back over the Aleene’s letters with the Elmer’s glue.)

     

I let them dry overnight, then they were ready for Drama Queen’s fingers the next day.  She initially was very excited about working with them, as she is with any new material.   I first introduced the “c” board.  I explained that all the letters on that board start the same way when writing them.  We went through the letters one at a time, with me tracing, then her tracing.  It was a good review for her.  Then we traced through the whole set quickly to really feel the similarity.

After the first board, I told her she could practice with that one more on her own, we could stop for the day and continue again the next, or we could continue right then to the next board.  To my surprise, she wanted to keep going through every board that day.  At one point, she proclaimed, “I never knew this would be so much fun!”

I put them back on the shelf after the lesson, but that evening I taped them to the closet door.  In that location, they can be an easy visual reference when she is writing, and they are low so that she can still trace them with her fingers at any point.

     

Living in the Real World

Do you ever feel like you were born into the wrong time period?  I totally do.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love being able to wear blue jeans every day, and I really would not want to trade that for long, heavy dresses and corsets.  And I’m all about having a shower with hot water and a washing machine that takes care of my kids urine-soaked and paint-splattered clothes.  BUT…this whole virtual world thing, where we keep in touch with everyone we’ve ever known by means of very shallow interactions through a flat screen and some buttons that we push to express our words…that’s not what I want.  We even try to express our emotions through those same buttons.            :*-(     :-/         

Even the people around us, who we see casually on a regular basis, are also virtual friends.  We run into someone while picking up a new jar of natural peanut butter, and suddenly have to race through mental images of facebook screens:  “She just said something important on fb, what was it?!”  Or we get moderately irritated because we have to explain something to a fellow facebooker that we already explained on facebook.

It seems like we don’t even expect to develop deep relationships where we really share our lives with each other.  We’re too busy keeping up with everyone to focus on a few real relationships with people currently surrounding us.

I think I would fit much better in a time period when the people in your life were the people who lived right there with you.  I love the idea of being fully present with the people in my own community.  Right now, I can see out the window to my neighbor’s house.  We’ve been to their house and they’ve been to ours, and we talk in the yard sometimes, but you know where the majority of our interaction is?  Facebook.  How strange!

I also don’t fit in a world with all this crazy computer technology stuff.  Albeit, my house, clothes, and food are provided by that crazy computer technology stuff because my husband’s job involves him typing stuff into a computer in languages I could never dream to comprehend.  But all these things like iPhones, iPads, Nooks…is there something called a Nano?  Oh, I just don’t get all those!  I’m only 33, but I’m such an old grandma when it comes to those things.  Actually, that’s not fair to say – my 70 year MIL is more up-to-date on these things than I am.  The Brain from time to time offers to buy me some new something-or-other for birthday or Christmas.  I pretty much always turn him down.  I don’t need some expensive gadget that I don’t even understand!

So, really, all of that is to explain part of the reason this blog has been silent for the last month.  I spent a mainly-computer-free week at my parents’ house between Christmas and New Year’s.  It was wonderful!  When I got back home, I did of course make use of the computer some, but I just haven’t had that same desire to reach out to that world of people that exist beyond my screen somewhere.  It is so much nicer to be available to play games and read books with my little active, imaginative munchkins.  Our homeschool preschool has been better this month than it ever has been, because I’ve been more invested in it.  We have been having SUCH a great preschool experience!

I got to have another completely computer-free experience for most of this week.  We spent the time at my dear friend’s house, and it was such a refreshing blessing.  She and her husband have five children under the age of 8, and they are the most incredible kids I have ever had the opportunity to know.  Normally with that many young children (my two were also thrown in the mix, of course) there’s a fair amount of chaos and loudness and resulting headaches.  Not with this crew.  Not at all.  They have a fabulous time playing together, but somehow manage to do so without getting out of control.  There are many reasons for that, of course, but I think two main aspects of it are that their mom is fully present (she’s not half-listening/half-computering), and that t.v. is, for the most part, not a part of the kids’ daily lives.  They fully live in the present.  Now, they do have their own detailed imaginary world that all four of the older ones play together, but it’s from their imaginations!  There is no virtual world for them, other than the imaginary one they themselves create with their own minds, and they pull visiting friends right into that one.  They don’t copy inappropriate phrases or actions from t.v. or movie characters.  They are fully themselves, confident in their own thoughts and opinions, and respectful of the opinions and desires of others.  I truly love being around these kids!

So what does this have to do with anything?  I don’t know.  I’m rambling-typing on a computer instead of taking care of some personal e-mails that are waiting for responses.  I could just call those people.  But I’ll stick with the virtual interactions for now.

I did pull up the blog today specifically for a Montessori/Mason compare and contrast post, based on some reading I’ve been doing.  I don’t seem to have made it to that.  (shrug) I’ll get to it sometime.  You know, Montessori and Mason both lived prior to t.v. and computers.  Maybe that’s why I like them. 

Disclaimer:  This whole post may be a result of reading the Little House books way too many times over the past few months.  I want to be in that family.  Although, I’d probably be Mary, who is significantly less cool than Laura.

Disclaimer #2:  I actually wrote this a week or two ago, whenever it was that I got home from Corrie’s house.  I’m a bit slow in posting.

Disclaimer #3:  I kinda feel like I should put some pics on the blog to make it a little more visually appealing.   But…I think I won’t bother with that.  Sorry.  Again, I’m Mary, the boring one.

Light the tree, unplug the computer

My family (as in my parents and siblings) are doing something new for the first time this year:  we’re leaving computers stashed in bedrooms during our family Christmas gathering.  This is incredibly strange for us, and I’m not really sure how it’s going to work – or what we’ll do without computers to stare at!  This has always been the norm with us…

(Picture a roomful of people sitting on couches, each staring at the silver or white laptop balanced on his/her lap.  I can’t find the actual photograph.)

Even more important, though, is that I am able to completely focus on my husband and kiddos over the next week.  When the kids want me to build a train track with them, I want to say, “Yes!” instead of “Yes, later today I would love to do that with you.”  When they’re ready to play chase, I want to immediately start running without having to clear my lap first.  When they want me to fully be engaged acting as this character or that character…okay, that will still get just as old, just as fast.

So, my friends who for some reason read this blog, I’ll see you after New Year’s!

Merry Christmas!

“This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. “

(1 John 4:9-10 The Message)

Wrapping the Block

Do your kids love any opportunity to wrap gifts?  Mine do.  Especially using tape.  Tape is SOOO exciting if you’re under 4 ft. tall!  So, I decided that since ’tis the season for gift-wrapping, I’d let them have some practice – and get to use tape.

I decided that wooden blocks would be ideal for wrapping practice, so I figured out exactly what size of wrapping paper would perfectly fit one block.

Then The Brain was kind enough to cut out a whole stack of wrapping paper rectangles that same size.  I gathered several blocks in a basket, then put the basket on our art shelf next to a tray with the papers and two tape dispensers.

Of course, in the morning they were very excited to find out what this new exciting-looking thing on the shelf was.  It actually was one of those “she’s getting it!!” moments:  I overheard Drama Queen tell Mr. BANG, “Remember not to touch it until Mommy shows us what to do with it.”  Woo-hoo! 

In the lesson, I first carefully demonstrated how to pull a small amount of tape from the dispenser, push downward to cut the tape off, and stick the end of the tape onto the art table (former breakfast-in-bed tray).  I instructed them to cut off four pieces of tape to hang from the art table.  (This step has continued to be tricky for them.  I had to help Drama Queen for awhile, and still am helping Mr. BANG tear the tape.)

    

Next, I showed how to place the block in the center of the paper.  I used the pincer grip (thumb against index and middle fingers) of both hands to pick up the two left corners of the paper and fold them over the block.  While the left hand held the paper in place, the right hand grabbed a piece of tape and taped the paper onto the block.  As an adult, that step is unnecessary, but it makes a big difference to a child trying to get the hang of keeping the object in place and keeping the paper held down.

I showed the right side the same way – use pincer grasp of both hands to pull the right corners of the paper into place, and use a piece of tape to hold them together.

The ends are a bit trickier.  I modeled how to fold the top down, fold the sides into triangular shapes, then fold the bottom up and tape.

At that point, they were ready to place the wrapped present under the tree.  However, they usually wanted to “write” the name of the recipient on the present first.  Then they would run to place the present under the tree and come right back for the next one.

      

They loved this activity so much, they actually used up all our rectangle wooden blocks of that size.  I then got out soft blocks of the same size.  When they had wrapped all those, they started experimenting with two blocks that would combine to make the rectangle.  Then Drama Queen started experimenting with completely different shapes, such as the cylinder blocks.

It was clear that this activity was VERY successful!  That afternoon, we celebrated a “practice Christmas.”  We all sat by the Christmas tree and handed out presents to each other.  The kids were so funny, saying things such as, “(gasp) What is it?!”  and “This is just what I’ve been wanting!!”

They were eager to start the wrapping over again the next day.  I decided to add another step in the process, however.  It occurred to me that this could be wonderful cutting practice.  So instead of cutting the wrapping paper, I drew bold lines with a black Sharpie on the back of the wrapping paper.  They got to cut their own paper!  Again, this was a thrill to them.

Mr. BANG unfortunately got frustrated because he wasn’t able to cut his paper very well.  (He seems to be left-handed.  Left-handed-experienced people, do I need to buy him special scissors?)

Drama Queen is perfectly happy cutting paper for both of them, so the thrill of wrapping presents is on-going!

  My little tree-hugger

Why We Don’t Do Santa

I’ve been planning to write a post on why we don’t do the “Santa thing.”  I was going to explain that Drama Queen and Mr. BANG are very interested in differentiating reality from make believe.  For every book we read, every story I tell, every show we watch, they ask at least once, “Is this real?”  They also love pointing out make-believe things themselves, with the joy of being able to show that they know it isn’t real.  It would be rather odd to then convince them that this fictional gift-giving magical man (and his colorful, short, toy-making helpers) are real.

I was going to describe that we don’t ignore the Santa items all around during the Christmas season.  I have cheerfully pointed out to them the enormous inflatable Santa that we regularly drive past.  We read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” as well a few other stories involving Santa.  (Given to my kids by others, incidentally.)  When Drama Queen and I were in a mall recently, she asked “What’s that?” as we passed the “sit in Santa’s lap” area.  I said with enthusiasm, “Oh!  It’s a man in a Santa costume!  Children are taking turns sitting in his lap and talking to him.  Would you like to go sit in his lap and talk to him?”  Not surprisingly, she answered, “No.”  Sitting in the lap of a strange man who isn’t a friend of Mommy’s or Daddy’s?  Awkward.

(Can I add a little side-note here on behalf of young children?  Forcing children to sit in Santa’s lap when they don’t want to is quite selfish.  Just because a parent cherishes this annual cutesy photo, even thinking it’s funny when the child is crying in it, she demands that her young child sit in a stranger’s lap when he wants the comfort and security of Mommy.  I encourage you to please think about it from the child’s perspective.  And, yes, the child’s perspective does matter.  Even at one year old.  But I digress.)

I was going to share that, as a Christian, I really want to keep Jesus’ birth at the center of all the fun and celebration of Christmas.  We read about his birth daily and the children repeatedly act out the story with our nativity set.

    

As God generously gave by allowing His Son to leave the wonders of heaven to come down to our screwed-up world for the sake of us, I teach Mr. BANG and Drama Queen to be givers.  They’re continuing to pile up toys to give to other children.  They’ve been making Christmas cards and ornaments to take to a local retirement home on Christmas Eve day.  They’re practicing wrapping presents, and excitedly declaring who each one is for.

    

So I was going to write out full descriptions of all that.  Then articles and videos started popping up on my facebook feed.  As I read/watched them, I became increasingly challenged.  Am I really making Christ the focus of the season?  Am I teaching my children to be materialistic?  I’m still sorting through the thoughts that these articles and videos have created in my mind.  I don’t know yet how my own family’s Christmas experiences will be shaped by these people’s experiences.  I haven’t even shared the details of the articles/videos with The Brain yet.  But they’ve definitely got me thinking.  In case you’re interested in taking a fresh look at what the holiday is about and how to express that as a family, I want to also share some of them with you.

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The Rich Family in the Church

Apparently this one has been circulated quite a bit, but I had never read it before.   It’s the story of a widow and her three daughters.  In 1946, despite getting by eating only potatoes for a month and wearing cardboard in shoes to cover the holes, they were told they were poor for the first time.  They had never thought of themselves that way, and it stunned them.  It’s a powerful look at what being “rich” and being “poor” truly mean – and what importance material possessions really hold.  If you decide to read this one, also read “Update on the author’s life” in the blue box on the right.  Amazing!

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When Christmas Gets Radical:  Whose Birthday Is It Really?

(Warning:  this site has continuous music in the background.  If that drives you crazy, as it does me, be ready to push the pause button in the top middle or go ahead and mute your computer now.)

This is from the blog of Ann Voskamp, author of the much-talked-about and incredibly-loved “One Thousand Gifts.”  Which I haven’t read yet.  But I WILL!  I promise, at some point I will!  For now, though, I am absolutely loving her blog.

In this particular post, Ann receives a challenging question from her five-year-old son:  “What does Jesus get for his birthday?…Why don’t we give things up so we can give to Jesus for his birthday?”  From that Christmas on, ten years now, they have given gifts to Jesus instead of each other.  They flip through catalogs, selecting things such as milk, blankets, or mosquito nets for the needy.  “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

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The Christmas Conundrum

This blog is by another author, Jen Hatmaker.  I don’t know anything about her books, but I found her ideas to help “pull out of the system” to be very powerful.  Early in the post, she writes, “What happened to Christmas? What on earth happened to it? When did it transform from something simple and beautiful to what it is now? How insidiously did the enemy work to slowly hijack Jesus’ birth and hand it over on a silver platter to Big Marketing, tricking His own followers into financing the confiscation?”

The bulk of the post focuses in on five ideas for making the Christmas season more meaningful.  I’ll share with you the main points of those ideas, and let you read the full explanation on her page:

1)  “We’ve pulled out of the Santa charade.”

2)  “Spending.  Whatintheworld?”

3)  “Let’s MAKE DADGUM SURE the products we do buy don’t come to us courtesy of slave labor.”

4)  “On the other hand, we can do so much good with our dollar!”

5)  “Instead of just pulling old habits off the shelf and leaving a vacuum of void and guilt, let’s replace American practices with – and I mean this in the most sincerest sense – Christian practices.”

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What Mark Driscoll Teaches His Kids About Santa

This article contains historic information about Saint Nicholas and origins of the legends of Santa Claus.  This part in particular was interesting to me:

“In Germany, Martin Luther replaced him [Nicholas] with the Christ child as the object of holiday celebration, or, in German, Christkindl. Over time, the celebration of the Christ child was simply pronounced Kris Kringle and oddly became just another name for Santa Claus.”

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What about you?  What is your approach to the Christmas season?

Sweep Away, My Son

One adult activity that many young children absolutely love to imitate is sweeping.  They’re eager to grab that broom and brush it along the floor just like Mommy and Daddy.  So fun!  Unfortunately, they’re not actually very effective with their sweeping.

You as the parent have the opportunity to give them a very special gift – teach them how to really sweep!  Of course, they enjoy just waving the broom around, but to be able to really clean an area of the floor like Mommy and Daddy do makes them feel confident and proud that they can accomplish such an important task.*

I recently gave Mr. BANG the sweeping lesson, which involves purposefully “dirtying” up the floor, allowing him to practice anytime he wants, regardless of whether or not there’s something already on the floor.

In preparation for the lesson, I cut up small pieces of construction paper to be the items he sweeps.  I set those in a Christmas container I had on hand, and placed those on a tray along with a small stack of stickers.  Those small colored circle stickers are ideal, but I chose some small square stickers instead, just based on what I could easily find in my sticker drawer.  (As a former teacher and current scrapbooker, I have no shortage of stickers!)  We already had a child-sized broom which I had purchased from Montessori Services.

   

Here’s the lesson, as I showed it to Mr. BANG.

1.  Carry the container of confetti to an empty space.

2.  Sprinkle one pinch of confetti over open area, then return container to shelf.

3.  Pull backing off of sticker and throw it away.  Place sticker in center of scattered confetti.

     

4.  Bring the broom to the confetti area, holding it vertically with two hands.

      

5.  Holding the broom with two hands, set bristles on opposite side of the sticker from you, and slide it toward the sticker.

6.  Walk in wide circle, pushing confetti toward sticker.

7.  Look around to see if there are any remaining pieces not on the sticker.

8.  Carry broom back.  Return with dust pan and brush.

    

9.  Sweep all bits into the dust pan, moving it as needed.

10.  Pick up sticker, fold it in half, and set in dust pan.

     

11.  Lay brush on top of dust pan; hold it like a tray in front of you.

12.  Sweep into trash can.

13.  Return brush and pan.

Mr. BANG loved this lesson, and proceeded to immediately repeat it on his own twice.  I did need to frequently check on him, though.  (As he repeated the work in the living room, I was working with Drama Queen in the playroom.)  The first time, he dropped a large amount of confetti on the floor and became overwhelmed by cleaning ALL of it up.  Both times, he had trouble getting those little paper pieces to slide onto the dust pan.  In retrospect, I actually think Cheerios, beads, or some other small 3-D item may be easier for a very young child to practice with.

Drama Queen also became re-energized with the thought of sweeping after watching Ethan.  She sometimes uses the confetti, sometimes just cleans up crumbs she sees on the floor.  She usually doesn’t bother with the sticker at this point.

*Do not immediately turn this into a chore that your child must do on a regular basis.  Just let him enjoy the experience of sweeping things up for now.