Story Stones

My children enjoy playing with natural objects, leaves, stones, acorns, etc. By combining their love for nature and an idea I found on Pinterest, I came up with a great DIY gift for my nieces and nephews. I gathered stones (and since we live in the city, I had to cheat a bit and buy a package of river stones at the Dollar Tree). Then I cut out tiny story characters and objects from paper, fabric, etc. and mod podged them onto the stones. My sister's children are mad about Little House in the Big Woods, so I used an old paperback (don't worry, I have another copy of this title!) to cut out Laura, Mary, Ma, Pa, and Baby Carrie along with a bear, dear, etc. for their set of story stones. They turned out charming. I made a set for traditional stories that included a pot, an old man and woman, farm animals, a gingerbread boy, and other items that would make Stone Soup, The Gingerbread Man, The Old Man and the Old Woman, and Clever Beatrice a possibility. I made simple cut outs of a mouse, cheese, and other Mother Goose items for the youngest, and a set of woodland critters for my own son and his critter-loving cousin. I also made a set with a vintage fabric that included rosy faced children and their pet dog. Finally, I sewed drawstring bags in coordinating fabrics and made gift tags with story and game ideas using the stones. The best game idea I had was to pass the bag around the dinner table or the car and for each person to add to a family story that is made up as you go along. When you take an item out of the bag, you must add something to the story that includes the character or item you drew. This is a variation on the game my siblings and I played so often with my Dad as a child. He used to love to start a story and go from person to person adding adventures. I hope the story stones continue this tradition of family story telling! I took a picture of the traditional tales set and the Little House set for here. I hope you like them!

Cupcake Cuties

We made these cuties for Thanksgiving. I found some free cupcake printables online, so making the cupcake sticks was easy. I just printed them on card stock and cut them out with crimped scissors. Then we taped them on to sticks. We made the cake itself from the Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix. I prefer the Namaste mixes, but the Betty Crocker mix is cheaper and kids love it. Betty Crocker also has gluten free icing options, so this makes cupcakes so much easier than back in the day, when I made everything from scratch to meet our allergen free baking needs. I still make most things the old fashioned way, but I am very grateful to Betty for allowing me to push the easy button at times. We used food coloring to make the cream cheese icing orange. The acorns on top were made from turning a Hershey's kiss upside down and using a dab of icing to secure a tiny gluten/nut free sugar cookie on top. Then, just dab a bit of icing on the top of the cookie to make a stem. The sugar cookies were made from a Namaste cookie mix. We just made them very tiny. We made a dozen cupcakes, but we made many more chocolate cookie acorns to have in a bowl to eat. They were a big hit with the cousins at our Thanksgiving gathering - both allergy eaters and non-allergy eaters consumed them with gusto.

Dollhouse Decor

Christmas is here - even in the dollhouse world. Check out the adorable world of my daughter's mouse-sized house and the way she has it all ready for the holidays.

Will Work for Peace

Tis the night before Thanksgiving and I am contemplating the deep thankfulness I feel for my children and the lessons they teach me along the journey together. I thought I would teach them, I didn't realize how much I would be learning FROM them. Peace starts at home. When I began the path to gentle, non-violent parenting, I had no idea how the seed of that ideal would take root and grow in our family. My socially conscience children are always surprising me with the ways they incorporate peace in our daily lives. They struggle with the hard work of it, just like I do, but they bring such an openness to the table. My twelve year old recently was sharing with me how she found it difficult to remember to be peaceful on the playground when her brother was being bullied. Her instinct was telling her to strike out and pay back insult for insult. I appreciate her protective instincts for her brother, but imagine my delight when she told me that she immediately thought of why the aggressor might be acting that way and what was going on with him to cause his behaviour. Over a period of several weeks, both of my children had many conversations about this child both together and with me and my husband. We put a lot of time into talking over scenarios and solutions that could be a win-win for both parties. The verbal bullying continued for a couple of weeks, but after my children went out of their way to make positive remarks, model good communication, and practiced some peace making strategies, things began to improve. Now the child in question is counted a friend. They play together and have a lot of fun. I am not trying to over-simplify the massive bullying problem we have these days, only feeling proud of a small inroad made by my two sweeties. Peace really does begin at home. When we model appropriate responses to injustice and problems in the world, the children will follow. They may even lead the way.

Revolution starts at home...

The Bremen Town Musicians

I was treated to a puppet show this morning. The Bremen Town Musicians was playing at the theatre down the hall. They haven't played with the puppet theatre in ages, so it was fun to see it open once again. As the children get older, I find sitting and watching performances of home theatre, whether it is a live performance of a Twilight Zone episode or an impromptu puppet show, especially endearing. It was an excellent show, I gave it 5 stars. *****

Free Range Children

I was at the zoo the other day with my children. As we headed toward the naked mole rat exhibit (a strange, but interesting site), a group of children passed us with zoo camp shirts on. They were kindergarten age and were with a zoo camp class. The two instructors were keeping up a running dialogue at the children as they walked by holding a rope to keep their place in the line. "Walk a little faster, turn to the front, stop staring and keep walking, no talking here please, do you guys want snack because you won't have time for it if you don't walk faster than this..." on and on it went as the five year old kids walked on by. I was a bit taken aback at the severe tone of these camp leaders. The children were being very quiet and were only naturally distracted by looking at the animals they were passing. I had looked at the camps online and thought they sounded interesting with neat topics and activities listed. They were a bit expensive, so we hadn't signed up. Watching the leaders with this very young group of campers made me glad we didn't.

Why do so many adults feel they must keep up a running commentary at children about their every behaviour? I wonder how we would feel if someone walked along side us everywhere with a constant stream of chastisement? Why not just be pleasant and treat children like real people instead of inmates or second class citizens? I taught kindergarten for five years and worked in a daycare for a great many more before having my own children. I know it is not an easy job. But, is it really that hard to see children as real people?

It is a self-defeating cycle. When we are treated this way as children, it creates a need to lord our own superiority over others. Then, when we become the adults, we feel it is our due to treat children in this belittling way. It saddens me a great deal to see this being repeated over and over in our society. Are we so insecure that the only way to feel important is to become a tyrant and to push our own agenda on the children? Children are not made to be silent for hours at a time, to walk in straight and silent lines, to eat lunch in silence (as is the practice in many of our schools), or to go all day without active play and exploration. Children are citizens of our world and are due our respect as fellow human beings.

I want my children to be "free range" children. I don't want them to have to stifle every impulsive word and walk in straight lines, raise their hands to ask permission to go the bathroom (a basic human function!), or have someone stand over them with a running commentary on what they are doing wrong. I want a free range life for all children. I am not advocating the loss of boundaries or encouraging bad behaviour. I am only asking for a humane approach. Express to the children what your expectations are in simple and polite language, give them room to question you in a respectful way, ask them what could improve the class or camp and really listen. This is not as hard as it sounds. I use these and other strategies in my experiences teaching in a school setting, working with children in a library setting, and parenting my own. They really work. When working with children, it is best for us to follow our own rules, treat them the way you would want to be treated. Don't yell at them if you don't allow them to yell back, etc.

I hope for a better future for children. I hope my continued efforts to parent peacefully leave at least two more peaceful souls on this planet. I hope my continued work with the children of my community will give them the confidence they need to treat others kindly and with compassion and peace. I hope that if you are reading this post, that you will challenge yourself to reflect on the way you interact with the children in your life. Take another step towards peaceful and non-punitive interactions with the little ones in your life. You won't be sorry you did.

Antique Bowls and Baby Birds

There is an antique store near our home. It is a junky looking place surrounded by a fence and situated on the corner of a busy intersection. We pass it almost daily. There is a large fountain out by the road that sports a classical statue of a scantily clad Roman girl. My children think it is quite funny. There is an assortment of old bathtubs, yard gnomes playing cards, rusty chairs, and many more eccentricities. We generally have to sit at the light for a few minutes and the view is really better than an "I Spy" book.

The other day a new addition had arrived... and by new, I mean, well, quite old....

An antique carriage was sitting there, just inside the gate. Exclamations of approval and fascination came from the back seat. My son, with his little face pressed against the glass begged, "Can we go?"

The antique store had really just been part of the scenery - something to ponder while sitting in traffic, but now, with this question, it had the potential to be a destination. Since we were on the way somewhere and pushed for time, a visit wasn't possible, but... the idea had taken hold.

The next few days were marked by the persistence of my son and his drive to see the carriage first hand. He was also intrigued by the two large brick buildings on site. If the outside held such wonders, what would the inside hold?

We finally made a family trip to the antique store. The children both enjoyed the array of oddities in the yard. A closer inspection than the car had afforded yielded a vast wonderland of strange and wonderful objects. It was a living history lesson. The buildings were full of treasures from yesteryear, a typewriter that fascinated my daughter, a statue of a stag, very old toys like the circus train from the early 1900's, (we had seen one very similar at a toy exhibit at a museum in Virginia), and much, much more. As we picked our way through the precariously piled history, we reached the back of the warehouse.

A strange sound met our ears, and for a moment, I feared we were about to meet a creature of the rodent variety, but upon venturing forth, we discovered the most cunning little family of baby birds. They were so tiny, perfect, and adorable - really, really adorable. They were hopping about and practicing flying. They couldn't get off the ground much, but were using the antique china serving bowls as little jumping off points. They would jump and flutter their wings out and come to rest nearby, only to try and hop back up for another go. The children, and I must say, my husband and myself, were enchanted.

They were so close to us, we could have touched them, though we refrained (barely!). And then, to up the cute factor even more, the Mother arrived in the window high up on the back wall. She was carrying a little wormy thing in her mouth. She made a big show of flapping about and scolding, so we backed off around the corner of an old hutch and she approached one of her offspring that was perched on an antique fire fighter's helmet. The little bird took the worm from her in a lightning fast bite and then she was off again.

Here we were enjoying a nature and history adventure... all because we kept our eyes open to the world around us... or at least my children did. I probably would have just kept driving by that place... forever.

The Art of Educational Balance

We have officially completed sixth grade and first grade this year (2010-2011) for my children. If you have read any of my other posts, you will know that we have unschooled, Waldorf homeschooled, sampled classical homeschool, dabbled at Montessori, and taken a helping of Charlotte Mason. We have led a nature-esque co-op for a year (last school year), that met at a local park on the river, we have tried a classical class once a week (last Fall), and we have been in Excalibur for this past year (the co-op hailed in my last post). Purist, we are not. One thing has remained steady throughout our eclectic curricula, and that is the element of choice. I have tried to keep my children on a path of their choosing. This has had its moments of faltering and its moments of triumph, but it is an educational value I still cling to.

This past year has been a season of balance for me. Balancing the needs and preferences of two children who are at very different places in their educational journeys. One is anxious to tackle the rigors of increased academic challenge and has a love for languages that astounds. She has completed a course in Spanish and in Latin this past year. She is attending the "Let's Speak Spanish" programs at the local library to "keep her Spanish up" before co-op classes start again in August. She has challenged herself to pick up the sign language her brother is learning and is making plans to add another foreign language in the next two years (she is thinking of French, Italian, or... Mandarin - go figure:). She is also working on the next level of latin over the summer. When the Summer Reading Challenge at the local library asked the students to read 25 hours over the summer, she quickly adjusted her personal challenge to 50 hours and told me that as a bonus, the reading had to be done in more than one language. I see a future as a translator or a teacher (in almost any country). Of course, she could suprise us and move on to other pursuits. I always like to leave the door open for change. I don't like to label the kids too early (or at all, actually:).

My other child has come to reading in his own way. After discovering this past winter, that he really does think way outside the box and has some challenges in the way he sees print and interprets it, we made changes in our approach. He has such a desire to be able to read, but has struggled to understand decoding and being able to see and hear differences in words. For him, personal choice has evolved into much more structure. He wants to be able to read well and this recquires a new way of learning for him. Enter the Orton Gillingham, multi-sensory approach. With the structured lessons of the PAF program, he has made more progress in three months than he had in the past three years towards learning to read. Does he love sitting down every day for "book work" and painstakingly printing out letters? No. I will be honest, it is hard work for him and for me. When he balks, I remind him of his goal (to read whatever he wants, including chapter books, informational books on wildlife, etc.), and he presses on with a good will. This has really taught me the place for workbooks and lesson plans. Still, it all comes down to choice. He wants to learn to read well. (He has been harping on it for years - when will I be able to read... (fill in the blank) . He has a very strong personal drive to get there.) So, this past semester has included more structured lesson plans. We follow a very regimented, scientific approach to his reading, and, it is working. He is delighted with his progress, which is huge, because it spurs him on when the work is hard and slow. I have also developed an appreciation for reading later rather than earlier. His observation skills are amazing. Most of us can read and so we rely on reading for the majority of our information input. We rely on signs that tell us where things are in public places, we read the headlines while waiting in line for coffee, we read brochures and instructions. When you can't rely on these things for information, you notice all the little details that clue you in on what is happening and how to respond. He is always the first to notice the details and has a crazy knack for remembering information. For instance, we pull up to the Chick-fil-A drive thru. As I scan the menu for our order, he says, "I wonder what is broken here at the Chick-fil-A?" "What do you mean?" I ask, looking around to see what is broken. "The repair man is here," he says and then adds, "Oh, it must the air conditioner." (I am still looking around for something broken, and now, the repair man. "Why do you say that?", I ask him. "Because there is a repair truck here that is not in a regular parking space and the lock on the ladder at the side of the building is off and open. So, someone must be on the roof, it is probably the repair man. The air conditioner is on the roof, I see part of it, so I bet it is the air conditioner that is broken." When we pulled forward for my order, it was confirmed by the girl in the window. The air conditioner was indeed broken and the repair man was on the roof.

From our unschooling roots to structured Orton Gillingham reading instruction, our homeschool path has led us on a scenic route. We find our balance as we go, adding and subtracting formal instruction and interest driven projects on the way. Homeschooling has been an exercise in trust; Trust that the children can live a life of meaning and substance now and not just when they are "grown up". I can see the fruits of our method. At first, it was our shot in the dark, but the light has dawned even brighter than I could have hoped and I couldn't be happier with the results. The varied interests, the determination to challenge yourself, the rich home life and relationships, and the ability to cater your education to your own ideas of success. The benefits we have experienced go on and on. As we plot our next phase of the journey, my daughter transitions into 7th grade and my son into 2nd. He has a present interest in antiques and wildlife. She is enjoying bohemian fashion and wants to try kayaking. I am reading up on homesteading and intentional communites and planning a sewing day soon. My husband is reading a memoir of 18 months of living in an Amish/Mennonite community and reading new books out loud to the children at night. Ahhhh... life is good.