Chicken Counting

Finding My Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:10:00 +0000

When I was a kid, I loved to act and sing. I was fearless in front of a crowd, and thoroughly enjoyed any opportunity to perform. I was in my first musical when I was 8, played the Captain in our sixth grade production of H.M.S. Pinafore (one of the benefits of an all-girls school), and fully embraced my lifelong affinity for hobbits as Bilbo Baggins in 7th grade. I loved all of it.

Also, I was decently good. My particular class in school turns out to have been absolutely riddled with talented girls, and quite a few have gone on to follow careers as musicians and actors. So I wasn't the best actress or singer in my year. Sadly, much of my young life was crippled by my own insistence that I only engage in activities in which I could excel, meaning if I couldn't be the best math student or poet or artist or dancer or whathaveyou, I just didn't bother.

Have you ever wanted to go back and take your younger self by the shoulders and shake some sense into her? Yeah.

But my own fear of competition and failure wasn't the only reason I walked away from theatre and singing. If it was, I could reserve all of my anger and disappointment for myself. No, there was something else. At some point, I think it was during high school, a teacher or someone in some sort of authority made a comment to me. It's telling that I can no longer remember who said it. Was it that voice teacher at music camp? I can't remember, and it doesn't matter. Because the point is, I absorbed this comment and accepted it as fact. Once said, it became part of my own Truth. And it went something like this:

"It's too bad about your lisp. At this point, it's probably too late to correct it. Unfortunately, even a small lisp like yours will prevent you from ever having any kind of career with your voice -- acting, singing, etc. Such a shame."

This adult probably had no idea what an impact their words would have. How much I would accept this pronouncement as the gospel truth, how these words would silence me for so many years. Of course it was a load of bull-honky. For one thing, I don't actually have a lisp -- I have a sibilant S, and it's not even that pronounced. For another thing, lots of singers and actors have lisps or "imperfect" voices.

But I believed it, and thus made it true. I have not acted on the stage since 7th grade. And my singing has been limited to children's lullabies and family gatherings.

Amazing how a 30-second off-hand comment can have that kind of long-lasting effect. It's a good reminder for those of us who are parents or work with children. You never know what an impact your words can have.

But the funny thing is, I have never actually stopped doing the things that I loved, I've just had a more limited audience. Every day for the past 18+ years, I have read aloud to my children. I do voices, I do accents, and I take pride in my reading-aloud skills. When I read Harry Potter, I am acting out Harry Potter... and playing all of the characters. Every day, my own voice is used to entertain and educate the small people in my house.

And this summer, I started learning how to play the guitar. Now every night, my husband and I sit in the living room taking turns playing new songs, practicing tricky chords, and singing. Every night, for an audience of one loving set of ears, I sing.

And it doesn't seem to matter whether it's too late to pursue these interests in a more serious way. (Maybe it isn't -- I still fantasize about a second career as a voice actor. Who knows?) In any event, after all these years, I am finding my voice.

Thankfulness Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Last year we started a new Thanksgiving tradition. Inspired by the many variations of this project I've seen around the web, we made a Thankfulness Tree. Instead of just going around the table at Thanksgiving dinner and answering the proverbial "what are you thankful for?" question, we spend the weeks leading up to the holiday itself writing down our gratitudes. Last year I made a huge paper tree that I taped in the front window, and we all wrote down what we're thankful for on paper leaves and taped them up too. Simple, and the end result was quite lovely.

This year I decided to get a little more 3D, and we brought some fallen branches inside to make a Thankfulness Tree that felt, well, a little more tree-like. We anchored them in a large vase with pebbles, and ta-da! An indoor tree.

The kids started right away making leaves and apples to hang on the tree. So far we are thankful for:

trains

friends

and pumpkin seeds. Sowing the seeds of seasonal gratitude early, I tell ya.

I love this project because it harnesses so much that I love about Thanksgiving in general. All of us -- and I certainly include myself in this group -- tend to spend far too much mental energy fretting about all that is wrong in our lives and in our world. Thanksgiving offers us the opportunity to reflect on all that is right, and take a moment to appreciate the gift of that rightness.

And when your household includes a newly-minted seven-year-old who has a tendency to dissolve into a rage when her sock seams can actually be felt, a little perspective can be just what the frazzled mother ordered.

Unearthing an Unexpected Bounty

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:08:00 +0000

This Spring, I double-dug my raised beds, worked composted manure into the soil, and gently planted my seeds and seedlings after all danger of a frost had passed. As the tiny plants began to establish themselves, I kept the beds weeded and stood sentry against any invasion of would-be pests.

And then I got distracted.

I mean, like, criminally distracted. Like, I should be barred from calling myself a gardener. I basically ignored my garden. For months.

I know, I know. How could I just leave a carefully planned garden to languish? How could I let all my hard work be taken over by weeds? The answer is complicated, but the simplest explanation is that my head just wasn't in it. I had so many other things going on in my life and in my mind this summer, I just simply did not have room for caring for Swiss chard and cucumbers.

And then slowly, as the weather cooled, I came back to my garden. My mind quieted, and I found myself longing for the feel of the soil between my fingers again. I began to pull the weeds from the garden. At first, the sight of all those spent plants, choked by vining brown weeds shamed me. The growing pile of pulled vegetation was a rebuke: Where have you been? But the simple act of kneeling in the dirt was so calming, so nourishing, that I let all the should have's go. It just felt so good to get my hands dirty again.

And then I found them. Beneath a mass of weeds, a few green tops of carrots remained. I pulled them, thinking I could at least get a carrot or two out of all of this mess. To get the full group of carrots out, I had to dig in the dirt with my fingers. And I just... kept digging. All through the patch where I had planted those carrot seeds back in May, carrots were waiting under the soil. Many of them had had their tops chewed off by the local (active) bunny population, but under the surface, big fat beautiful carrots remained. Just... waiting. Waiting for me to come find them. Waiting for me to be ready to appreciate them.

I sat there with my harvest, and laughed. With joy, with relief, and with gratitude for a world that holds its gifts in reserve, waiting for me to be ready to accept them in all their secret, delicious glory.

Stealing Time

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 04:43:00 +0000

I remember my parents saying to me when I was young (and not so young, most likely), "if it is important to you, then you make time for it." And I still absolutely agree with that sentiment, the idea that our actions are what ultimately express our values. How we spend our time is the truest reflection of our priorities. But I want to quibble with one little aspect of my parents' advice: I cannot make time.

Oh, that I could. If only I could create extra time, more hours in the day to devote to those activities I value and never seem to get around to. If only I could make the time I need to get everything done. But sadly, I cannot.

The hard truth is, there is only a very limited amount of time in any given day. And when I choose to devote time to one activity, I am inevitably stealing that time from some other endeavor. This is a zero sum game. Every hour I spend doing housework is an hour I don't spend reading to my children. And if I try to do it all, I just end up stealing from my own allotment of sleep.

What ends up happening, more often than not, is that when I try to carve time out of my day that is just for me, set aside for my own selfish interests, I feel the guilt of a thief. I am all too conscious of what I am not doing. In a family, whenever one person drops the ball, another must pick it up. Thus none of my decisions only affect myself, especially when it comes to how to spend my time. Trying to set aside some "me" time inevitably means imposing on someone else to pick up the slack.

Recently, my husband asked me, concerning some trivial decision about where to have dinner or what to do on a Saturday, "what do you want?" And I answered his question with considerations of nap time and the children's preferences, and he reiterated, "No, what do you want?" And I realized that the answer to that question hardly even occurs to me. I am mentally unable to conceive of my own needs and desires outside of the needs and desires of my family as a whole. This, my friends, is a problem.

Perhaps part of the issue, in my case, is that I was never an independent adult. I was seventeen years old when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I went straight from adolescent to mother, with no stopping for a breath in between. And from the day she was born, I was first and foremost a mother. I never had a period of life in which my time was truly my own.

So this is my challenge to myself now: to find the answer, the truly individual selfish answer, to the question, what do you want? And then to find a way to steal the time I need without guilt. To let some things go. To say to myself, you are important. Your needs are important, as an individual person. I am sure I am not the only one who finds this such a revolutionary idea. Most of us squash down our selfishness most of the time, and that's not a bad thing. But it is absurd, when I am trying to teach my children self-respect, to not treat myself with that same level of regard.

Right now, I want... time to write. And this week, I promise myself, I will steal it.

New Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:06:00 +0000

Several updates from my topsy-turvy world:

1. Someone domain-squatted on me, and the minute my domain registration expired, POOF! it was gone. (The renewal reminders ended up in my spam filter. Gmail spam filter FAIL.) So I am no longer at chickencounting dot com. We'll just have to manage with chickencounting.blogspot.com instead for the time being. So I am still here! Hmm, how do you send out change of address cards for a blog...?

2. Since a fair amount of my energies are being directed towards trying to make a go of this whole stringing-words-together thing, which may or may not be of interest to my regular readers here at Chicken Counting, I've created a new space to chronicle my attempts at becoming a writer when I grow up. Read all about it over there.

3. And speaking of that whole stringing-words-together deal, I have an exciting announcement: I have released the first installment of my serialized novel for young readers on Amazon as a Kindle book. You can read all about it here. Very exciting!!

Oh, and meanwhile the six-year-old has been writing books like nobody's business. Something about apples and trees...

Taking on the Birthday Industrial Complex

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:59:00 +0000

Does it ever occur to you that the hoopla surrounding kids' birthday parties has gotten, um, perhaps a little out of hand? In our community, it is pretty common to spend hundreds of dollars on a child's birthday party. Not to mention the hundreds of dollars spent by the party guests on gifts. Children around here put together birthday gift wish bins (much like a registry) at local toy stores. Party guests can then just select an item from the bin, pay for it, and know with certainty that the birthday child will love it.

Seriously, folks? The birthday kid has a registry? At what point do we recognize that this has gotten out of control? I know proponents of this system will argue that at least a gift off a registry won't be a duplicate or simply not the child's cup of tea. But I would argue it takes all of the fun out of gift giving when the recipient chooses their gift. The giver misses out on the serendipity of finding just the right thing for a dear friend, and the recipient loses out on the surprise of it all.

No wonder countless parents experience a sense of dread when their child is invited to yet another birthday party. Ugh, another gift to go pick up, more money to spend, another Saturday afternoon of would-be family time shot. I thought birthdays were supposed to be fun.

I say, enough with this madness! I am opting out of the crazy, materialistic mentality of what children's birthday parties have become. Enough.

In our family, we've decided to take on the madness in two ways:

1. Charity-focused, gift-free parties for our own kids.

For my six-year-old's birthday party, her invitations clearly stated "no gifts, please!" They also informed the guests that the birthday girl would be making a donation to our local SPCA in honor of her birthday, and they were welcome to bring cat and dog toys or supplies or some spare change to contribute to her donation. This gave the guests the opportunity to honor the birthday girl, but in a way that was far more meaningful than just another toy on her shelf. An interesting corollary: my daughter sat down and read and examined every card that her friends had brought her, most of them handmade. She admired her friends drawings and savored their birthday wishes in a way that I fear would never have happened if they had been attached to shiny new toys.

Then we keep the birthday magic alive by bringing the donation in person to her charity of choice. It feels wonderful to balance out the understandable self-centeredness surrounding a child's birthday with a little outward-focused giving. And let me tell you, a kid bringing a jar of coins into an animal shelter gets some pretty amazing positive reinforcement from the staff.

Now, this "rule" only applies to friends. We have a small, separate family birthday gathering, and grandparents and aunts and uncles are absolutely free to give traditional, tangible gifts. We're not ogres, after all. But again, these gifts received from her family are all the more appreciated because they are the only ones she receives.

2. Handmade, personal gifts for friends.

Yesterday, the six-year-old attended the birthday party of one of her friends. So we talked about what we thought the birthday girl would like, combed through the fabric stash for inspiration, and ended up making this little kitty. My daughter designed and stuffed it, while I did the sewing machine and hand finishing grunt work.

Other homemade gift ideas include scrapbooks, embellished photo frames, mix CD's, or a decorated t-shirt. There are also the semi-homemade kinds of gifts, such as a collection of art supplies or craft materials. The point is that it isn't about the money, and it isn't about fulfilling the specified, predetermined wishes of the birthday child. Being frugal doesn't have to seem like being thoughtless; in fact, it can be significantly more thoughtful. And in the time you would have spent braving the toy store (and your own child's inevitable desire to get something for herself while you're there), you can sit down with your child and spend some time thinking about her friend.

This might seem like a tall order, but in many ways it has made my life easier. It reminds me, once again, that the most important thing we can give another person is our time. What does it say to a child that you went to the toy store and forked over x amount of dollars? How much more meaningful is it to that child that someone spent time really thinking about them?

Say no to the Birthday Industrial Complex! Fight back! Go give The Story of Stuff another watch if you still need convincing. And maybe you'll be able to greet your child's next party invitation with just a little less dread.

Radio Silence

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:47:00 +0000

I have to make a confession.

I've been cheating on you. I know, I know, I don't know how it happened, I just... well. I've been writing somewhere else.

The thing is, once upon a time, a long long time ago, I wrote fiction. Poetry too, sometimes a lot, but always fiction. Short stories, plays, a novel I almost finished, etc. And gradually I just... stopped. I can't really explain what happened. I thought for a long time it was because my life had become happy and stable, and that my writing stemmed only from pain and chaos.

It was a theory.

I tried to keep writing after getting happily married and discovering all of the joys that currently fuel my spirit: handwork, gardening, cooking, etc. Every few months I'd get a story idea, but I'd be stuck with the idea, stymied by how to start, feeling like the words just wouldn't flow. I had pretty much accepted that my writing mojo was just... gone.

And then I started writing in this space. Without the pressure of having to somehow "make art" with my words, I was able to start letting the words flow. And in a more tangible way than just writing in a journal -- here I was able to get feedback, to have some accountability for my words. The frozen mechanism of my writing mind began to thaw.

Then this past summer, I got an idea for a children's book. A "middle grade reader," as they say, a chapter book not a picture book. And this time, I was able to take the idea and immediately start stringing words together. That rusty old mechanism was able to get going. My friends, it's going rather well. I think... I think I might actually finish it this time.

Then, round about the last time I posted in this space, I picked up a gig doing some freelance writing for children. Lots of little assignments with due dates within 48 hours. Fiction, nonfiction, 300 words here and 800 words there. It was the sort of writing exercise that in many ways I should have been doing for myself all along, as part of the discipline of keeping that writing mechanism well-oiled and functional. But now I was accountable to someone else, I couldn't sit and fuss with a piece, nitpicking and trying to make it perfect. I just had to send it out the door, and move on to the next one. I had to find the muscle-y hard-working side of my writing brain, the part that comes to work whether or not it's feeling inspired.

And now it's like the Fourth of July up there in my head. I've got more ideas than I have time to write them down. I am simultaneously working on three different pieces that I actually think are going somewhere useful. I even somehow mustered up the hubris to write for grown-ups again.

I haven't forgotten about you. I'm not sure how this space will evolve when I am spending so much writing time holed up in the privacy of my imagination. But meanwhile, you know, I'm still here. Just... blessedly, delightfully distracted.

Why Creative Spelling Is Not Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:11:00 +0000

In educational and homeschooling circles, there can be some pretty heated debate on the topic of creative spelling. ("Creative spelling" is allowing a child who is just learning to write/read to spell things how they think they might be spelled and not correct them.)

Here's what I love about creative spelling:

1. It allows for independent writing. My six-year-old can experiment with writing, making lists and maps and messages used in her various imaginative games, without needing to ask me "how do I spell...?" This gives her a real sense of ownership, making words and letters tools of play and not just school.

2. It gives my student a chance to demonstrate her understanding of the phonics rules we've learned so far. Trying to sound out a long word and write down the sounds she hears is a fabulous mental exercise, and tells me which rules need review and which have been mastered.

3. It provides an accurate snapshot of where she is with her language skills. When I look back at a paper from two months ago and compare it to today's, I can really see how much her facility with words has grown.

Now, to be clear, I do espouse a lot of the principles of classical education, and our homeschool curriculum looks more classical than anything else. And classical education does tend to discourage creative spelling, from what I've seen. I understand the reasoning behind it -- if mistakes are not corrected, the student starts to think that their "creative" spellings are the real spellings and that can be a bear to correct down the line.

We address that concern in several ways:

1. We learn phonics and spelling rules, so that over time those rules are incorporated into the creatively spelled words. It turns out that there are very few true exceptions to phonics rules, as long as you learn all of them, so eventually you will have the tools to correctly spell just about any word without ever having memorized a sight word.

2. We read a lot. For the typical non-dyslexic student, the best way to teach spelling is to read read read read read. Having seen the word correctly spelled a zillion times, the child inadvertently memorizes it (again, without flash cards or conscious memorizing) and can recall it at will.

3. We do practice writing every week, both in copywork and in our weekly letter to a friend or family member, that does use only correct spelling.

I am a vigilant defender of correct spelling and grammar. And I do strongly believe that children need to learn the right way to write and speak if they are to be taken seriously as adults. But along the path to that ultimate goal, creative spelling does have an important place.

This Moment: Clouds

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:53:00 +0000

Just a little moment from the past week that I want to pause and savor. Check out all the simple, special moments being shared every Friday at SouleMama.

Simple Autumn Supper: Butternut Squash Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:15:00 +0000

I've been developing this recipe over the past month, and have discovered many variations that work -- but this one is the clear winner. Its texture is sublime, and the flavors are like autumn distilled into a soup. Truly heavenly -- and perfect for a Meatless Monday!

Butternut Squash Soup

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 large apple, any variety, cored and cut into chunks
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 white onion, coarsely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 stick of butter
24-32 ounces chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
(optional) small amount of goat cheese

Melt the butter in a large heavy pot (I use my Dutch oven) over medium heat. Add the squash, apple, sweet potatoes, onion, shallot, and celery and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. When the onions are softened, add enough stock to cover all of the vegetables. Put the lid on, but make sure it's vented -- I put mine on diagonally to allow steam to escape. Lower the heat a bit and simmer until all the vegetables are tender -- 30 to 40 minutes.

Puree the soup either using an immersion blender or by removing in small batches to a regular blender. Return to soup pot and add salt and pepper as necessary (if your stock is already salty, you may not need any additional salt -- I only add pepper).

For added creaminess, add a dollop of goat cheese to each bowl as you serve. Autumn in a bowl!

Sound Science

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:49:00 +0000

This week, our science topic is "sound." We're learning a little bit about how sound travels, the silence of outer space, and demonstrating how the human ear works. Today we did two really fun experiments out of our new book,The Usborne Big Book of Experiments.

The first was to build a two-cups-and-a-length-of-string-a-phone. Which probably has a better name than that, but you get the gist. The kiddos were amazed that it actually worked. The particularly neat thing was that they could literally feel the vibrations of the string, which was a great demonstration of sound waves.

The second involved building a sort of makeshift drum, and then using the air vibrations created by the tapping of the drum to blow out a candle. I couldn't even count the number of times we relit the candle and repeated this experiment. A winner for sure!

This Moment: Painting the Water Lilies

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:22:00 +0000

No words, just a moment from the past week that I want to pause, savor, and remember. A Friday tradition instigated and inspired by Amanda over at SouleMama.

Teaching Patience (With a Sweet Reward)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:35:00 +0000

Last week, which was supposed to be a completely school-free week, my two littles decided they just had to do a science experiment. Like, right now. This is the sort of enthusiasm I just don't have it in me to squash, even if it wasn't on my clean-the-house-and-get-organized-before-school-starts agenda.

They found an experiment in our new experiment book for growing crystals. But the one in the book just had them grow crystals with "washing soda" (it's a British book). Boring! OK, they probably grow faster, but honestly... wouldn't you rather grow crystals with sugar? Yum.

So I found a recipe online, and we made up our super duper sugar syrup. We put 2 cups of water on to boil, and gradually mixed in 4 cups of sugar. Yes, you read that right. Twice as much sugar as water. Oh, and some blue food coloring.

We carefully poured into jars, and dangled strings into each jar (strings that had been rolled in sugar and tied to a pen to suspend them over the jars). And we watched. And we waited.

It's six days later, and we are still watching and waiting. We have crystals now (yay!), and if we wanted to, we could yank out those strings and enjoy some delicious rock candy right this very minute. We could! But, see... if we wait a bit longer, the crystals will have more of a chance to form, and the candy will be bigger.

In other words, I have created the ultimate test of patience. This is called delayed gratification, people, and I am watching it unfold day by day. So far, the lure of future candy is still greater than the desire for candy now, and the jars remain undisturbed. But when will we be unable to resist any longer? How long will we let the crystals grow?

Man, I hope these kids cave soon. I could really go for something crunchy and sweet...

A Closer Look

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:45:00 +0000

We have the coolest new toy. For months now, I've been wanting to get a simple microscope. No preparing of slides, no mega-powered lenses, just a simple tool for looking closely at stuff. So I saw a good review for the Zorb in a homeschooling resource catalog, and thought that sounded just about right. It's small, it connects directly to the computer, and you can save pictures of what you see. Cool.

Then I saw it was only $29 at Amazon and clicked "Buy Now." An impulse buy, to be sure.

Hey, sometimes I have good instincts.

Man, this thing is cool. I mean, cool. I can't even tell you how many lightbulb moments we've had around here in the past few days. And not just from the kids! Even my husband confessed that only now does he truly understand the difference between woven and knit fabric.

See? Woven:

And knit:

At 35x magnification, those fabrics look really, really different.

You know how a strawberry has its seeds on its skin? Yeah, they look like this:

Ever wondered how sharp a thumbtack really is? It's this sharp:

And granulated sugar really is made up of little crystals.

It's amazing how much knowledge can be right in front of you, if only you take a closer look.

This Moment: Sorting the College Mail

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:45:00 +0000

No words, just a moment from this past week I want to pause and savor. Inspired and hosted each week by Amanda over at SouleMama.

The Fruit Fly Trap

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:08:00 +0000

When we got home from vacation, someone had moved in in our absence. Fruit flies. Lots and lots and (shudder) lots of fruit flies. Can you say, gross?

Our fault -- we hadn't taken the last trash out, left some fruit in the fruit bowl, etc. In other words, we ran out the door without thinking too clearly and about what we were leaving behind. Oops.

So yesterday, as part of my efforts at trying to get life back to normal around here, I put together a fruit fly trap. Let me say, we have tried various versions of this many times before with very little luck. I was not optimistic, but I was desperate. Lo and behold, this time it really worked.

I mean, really worked. And since following the various instructions you find online to the letter had never yielded much for me before, I'm sharing with you my magic recipe for trapping fruit flies. Because I am no longer waving my way through a crowd of fruit flies to get to the sink, and that makes me happy.

In a vase or other narrow-necked vessel (a beer or glass soda bottle would work well), put the following mixture:

2 teaspoons of honey
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
a couple of strawberry tops

Then make a paper cone funnel with a small hole at the narrow end, and stick it in the bottle, narrow end down. Tape all the way around where the bottle meets the funnel to make a seal.

And wait. Mwahahaha. They will be helpless in the face of your sinister plans. None shall survive, I tell you! [cue organ music]

Things I Learned On the Road

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:26:00 +0000

We just got back from a family road trip to Wisconsin and back. It's been a crazy, crazy 10 days, and now I am launching into full end-of-summer panic mode, but first, I just want to pause and reflect on what I learned on this latest adventure.

1. My extremely tall two-and-a-half year old can, in a pinch, still sleep in a Pack n Play. And he will insist that he fits, even when his head and feet are literally pushing out the mesh at each end.

2. When looking at colleges, there really is no substitute for actually looking at colleges. Also, college campuses tend to be great places for little kids to let off steam.

3. Six people can share one bathroom. Comfortably.

4. Driving seven hours in one day is a cake walk compared to driving twelve hours in one day. CAKE WALK.

5. A five-year-old can hike quite a long way if there are chocolate chip pancakes waiting for her at the other end.

6. The best way to get a 17-year-old to do her summer reading is to remove her from her friends and stick her in a rustic cabin for a week.

7. My two-year-old son sings himself to sleep. (He sleeps with the door closed at home, so I had no idea.)

8. Mad Libs are a great way to teach the parts of speech.

9. Twenty Questions? It needed improving. So my five-year-old turned it into 105 Questions. And the starting question isn't "animal, vegetable, or mineral," it's "solid, liquid, gas, or plasma."

10. There are a lot of wind turbines in Indiana. A lot. I know some people think they're eyesores, but I thought they looked so graceful as they slowly turned. Very cool.

11. I am apparently the only person in my family who suffers from feeling like her organs are being squashed after sitting in a car all day. And if you use a term like "organ squashage" to describe said feeling, your 17-year-old might actually go into convulsions.

12. Based on the farms I passed along the way (and it was a LOT, people), we eat only two things in this country: corn and soybeans. We may think we eat other things, but primarily it's going to boil down to corn and soybeans.

13. If a huge fish has been lurking under a pier long enough to have earned the nickname "Sneaky Pete" and a reputation for frustrating fishermen, a two-year-old is not going to be able to catch him with a piece of hot dog on the end of a "Pirates of the Carribean"-themed fishing pole. This will not prevent him from trying, however. Every day.

14. A quiet cottage on a lake is the perfect place to embark upon a new creative endeavor.

15. Cooking for six people in a postage-stamp-sized kitchen with a tiny apartment-sized stove and no dishwasher forces creativity, but can totally be done.

16. After living with a dishwasher for many years, it's actually kind of nice to hand-wash dishes.

17. A garden, left largely to its own devices for 10 days of August Maryland weather, will outgrow its raised beds and attempt to transform your backyard into a jungle.

18. The legendary Garlic Cheeseburger (aka. GCB), as frightening as it sounds, is actually pretty good. Also: it's a cheeseburger on garlic bread.

19. A little boy, who has been up with the sun (or before!) every day of his two-and-a-half years of life, but who has been traveling and sleeping in strange beds for ten days, might be tired when he gets home. He might be so tired that he sleeps past 9 AM for the first time EVER.

20. The ability to identify poison ivy is one of those lifelong skills that really comes in handy.

21. Travel is exciting and full of surprises, but the best part is how much it makes you appreciate being home.

Our Kindergarten Curriculum

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:56:00 +0000

Last year, when I was researching homeschooling, I spent an inordinate amount of time reading through homeschooling blogs, trying to get a sense of what homeschooling really looks like. I was thrilled to stumble upon the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop, hosted last year by Darcy at My 3 Boybarians. This year, it's being hosted by Heart of the Matter, but the gist is the same -- each week, participating bloggers post about a particular theme related to their homeschool. And this year... um, I guess I have a homeschool. So here we go.

Curriculum week! Since I have been researching homeschooling in general and particular curricula for quite a while now, it was exciting to finally take the plunge and place those orders. Here is what we've decided to use for our kindergarten year.

(Please note: I do have a two-year-old at home as well, who is along for the ride on all these adventures. I do not have any particular curriculum I am following for him, besides including him as much as possible on his own level with whatever I am doing with his sister. He is learning so much just by osmosis, that I will not pursue anything formal with him until next year at the very earliest.)

Math - We're using RightStart, level A. We have completed 13 lessons so far, and absolutely love the program. It takes the time to build an intuitive sense for numbers, and I am amazed at how well my daughter is already able to do mental addition. The manipulatives are also wonderful, and serve as a great diversion for curious two-year-olds.

Reading/Spelling - We are using All About Spelling (level 1) as both a reading program and a spelling program. The whole concept of teaching word-building tools to both decode (read) and encode (spell) words makes so much sense to me. It always struck me as odd for these two skills (which are two sides of the same coin, really) to be taught separately. I can see how much it has helped with her reading already, and am pretty sure we will be moving on to level 2 by mid-year. The program is also sensory-rich, with a lot of word-building using magnetic letters. This really helps to keep my girl engaged. She is also doing independent reading to me every day, as well as reading for her own pleasure. She particularly loves the Dick and Jane books, and -- get this -- the McGuffey readers (first published in 1838). Oh yeah, we're kickin' it old school around here...

Grammar/Language Arts - We have been playing a great game called Very Silly Sentences to learn the parts of speech, and also doing MadLibs on our many road trips this summer. Once we get into a nice routine this fall, I will gradually blend in First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, but at a relaxed pace since it is technically for first grade. We'll just see how it goes. And in terms of literature, we're going to keep doing what we have been doing every day for the past several years: read. Read, and read, and read. I generally read things aloud to her that are far above her official grade level, and she has the vocabulary to show for it. Some of last year's read-alouds included The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and The Hobbit. Some of the titles I have lined up for this year:

Magic or Not?
Little House in the Big Woods
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Alice In Wonderland
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Totally subject to change based on the whims of the moment, of course, but this gives me a place to start if we're ever stuck for a book.

Handwriting - The preschool where she did PreK last year used Handwriting Without Tears, and since it seemed to be working for her, I just went ahead and ordered the next workbook. So far so good. She is still writing a hodge-podge of upper-case and lower-case letters in a variety of sizes, so my goal for her for the year is to be able to print legibly using appropriate case. Ha! It's good to dream big. In any case, we'll keep working on it.

History/Geography - Not to put down the importance of learning about community helpers or anything, but she already did that, for the past two years in preschool. She's learned about firefighters and police officers and all the usual preschool social studies jazz. Important, for sure! But we're skipping over the usual kindergarten social studies curriculum and going straight for history and geography. And to paraphrase Julie Andrews, the beginning is a very good place to start, so we're using The Story of the World Volume 1 (Ancients), supplemented with additional reading from the library. Very fun! We are also making a timeline to make sense of the chronology of history, and using mapwork from the SOTW activity guide to incorporate geography studies.

Science/Nature - This is the one subject for which we are not using a curriculum at all. My girl is naturally very science- and nature-oriented, so I am simply following her interest. We are reading a lot, checking out DVD's from the library, going on field trips, etc. She will also continue to work on her nature journal on our frequent nature walks, and keep her birdwatching log book. In some subject areas, having to make it all up myself would give me an anxiety attack, but in this arena, it feels very freeing. This is one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling -- I get to indulge her interests and allow her to dig as deep as she wants into the areas that most interest her. Should be fun.

Physical Education - Since I'm not exactly a paragon of virtue when it comes to exercise, this is definitely an area where we need outside structure! She just started a twice-weekly tae kwon do class, and will play on a soccer team in the fall. When soccer is over, I'll see whether I think the TKD is sufficient, or whether we should look for some other kind of winter activity (gymnastics, maybe?). For now, I think she's all set.

Whew! So that's our curriculum choices. I am really excited to dive in truly full-time when big sister starts her [gulp] senior year in high school. Oh, what a year we have ahead of us...

A Day in the Life of Our Homeschool

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:15:00 +0000

We've been dabbling here and there through the summer in our kindergarten lessons, getting a feel for each subject and curriculum in a low-pressure, fun way. But I was getting nervous about how it was all going to come together when we had to really sit down and "do school" for more than just a half hour at a time. So I planned this week to be our first "official" week of school, so we have time to see what works (and what doesn't!) and tweak the schedule before Fall. Also, big sister is away at the beach, so we won't be tempted to ~~pester~~ ~~irritate~~ play with her instead of buckling down.

So since today was our first day of doing a full day of school, I thought I'd share what a day in the life of our brand-spankin'-new homeschool looks like. Veterans, feel free to laugh heartily at my inevitable hubris, but so far it seems to be going really well!

If you don't hear from me again by next week, send help.

Here's how our day played out, roughly speaking...

7:00 AM - Both kids were up and we made our way downstairs. They both immediately seized the rulers I bought yesterday (and craftily left on the kitchen table, all part of my master plan, mwahahaha), and ran off to measure everything in the house. Listening to the two-year-old shout out "One... two... three... EIGHTEEN INCHES!" was priceless.

7:30 AM - They wandered back into the kitchen in search of breakfast. Thankfully, by this time I had made my coffee, retrieved my newspaper, and employed one of my favorite tricks for ensuring a peaceful start to the day. I'd covered the kitchen table with paper and set out markers and colored pencils.

Inevitably, this leads to at least a full half hour for me to wake up, read the paper, and drink my coffee. Essential to everyone's sanity.

Ahhh. I also looked over the plan I'd made for our week. I figure planning out every hour of every day is a level of detail that feels too rigid for me. However, flying by the seat of my pants feels a little too loosey-goosey. So I came up with a weekly plan, so each day can unfold as it may, but I have an idea of what we need to accomplish in order to stay on track. It's stapled to the inside of a folder in which I have already copied all the worksheets, etc. that we'll need for the week. I think this will work well for our style, but I'm sure it will require tweaking until it fits just right.

So while we were also eating breakfast (and some of us were getting appropriately caffeinated), our resident kindergartener was illustrating (and narrating, I might add) a Lion King-based story so elaborate, it would make your head spin. Pretty cool.

8:30 AM - We headed upstairs for me to shower and us all to get dressed and ready to take on the day. The kiddos get to watch a show while I'm in the shower, a routine that evolved when I was still trying to keep a young toddler from unrolling the whole roll of toilet paper and other such nonsense while I was otherwise engaged. But hey, it's Backyardigans! Who doesn't love the Backyardigans?

9:00 AM - Report to the schoolroom! Okay, it's not a schoolroom. It's just the family room. But I put all our school stuff in this corner, so at least it's not exploding all over the house. For now. In reality, we "do school" all over the house, but I love having a home for all our books and manipulatives and such.

For instance, we often do math on the floor. I don't know why, she says she thinks better on the floor...? Whatever, as long as she's focusing, I really don't care. By the way, we are using RightStart math (level A), and so far love love love it.

Little brother loves the geoboards. Which worked out well, since we didn't need them for this lesson. Shh, don't tell him he's just playing! He will tell you quite seriously that he is "doing math too!"

Had to move to the coffee table for our rectangles activity...

9:30 AM - Math was over, and the two-year-old was getting restless (and distracting). So we attempted to watch an Eyewitness DVD about plants, which is our science subject for the week. There was a lot of horsing around and not a whole lot of paying attention, but this just tells me that they needed to let off steam. No worries, they both had a few "hey, that's a cool plant!" moments, so I'm gonna call it good.

We talked about the parts of a plant, which she already knows (the kid's a gardener, after all), so she colored and labeled a worksheet.

By the end, there was a major case of wiggling going on, so I declared recess.

10:30 AM - Bike ride to the playground!

Snack under a tree!

Our daily dose of Vitamin D, as well as some much needed running around time. Amazing how much calmer and focused they were when we returned.

11:15 AM - Reading time on the couch. I selected the book about plants, but then they each chose a few others to add to the pile.

11:45 AM - Free play for the kiddos while I make lunch. Spaghetti and meatballs was requested, and since I didn't have any bread to make sandwiches, I didn't have an easy alternative to offer. So spaghetti and meatballs it was.

Yum.

12:15 PM - Lunch. During lunch, I read them a poem I had printed out: Robert Louis Stevenson's "Bed in Summer." It's about the unfairness of having to go to bed when it's still light out. They loved it. The two-year-old asked me to read it over and over and over. Then the five-year-old grabbed the paper and read it herself a few times (based on a combination of memory and sounding-out). Very fun.

12:45 PM - Time for the two-year-old's nap. We went upstairs and read a couple of books. As usual, the five-year-old said goodnight to him by declaring him to be the "best brother in the whole wide universe," and he fell asleep to his CD of folk songs from Appalachia.

1:00 PM - With little brother asleep, it was time to really focus. Phonics time. The program we are using is called All About Spelling, and was initially developed as a spelling program, but a lot of people also use it for phonics. It's a wonderful curriculum, and we have both really enjoyed using it. But it does take focus. And time. I think it took us an hour to work through the lesson, but it was worth it. It's meaty stuff.

2:00 PM - Time to unwind a bit. We have been reading the second Harry Potter book for the past few weeks, and really needed to get past the scary part. (Note to self: do not stop reading at a point where a child may be in danger. You will get woken in the middle of the night by a child having a basilisk nightmare.) We read for over an hour, and were able to get everyone safely out of the Chamber of Secrets... phew!

3:15 PM - Little brother woke up from his nap, and wanted to join in on the reading fun. So we spent the next 45 minutes reading picture books on the couch.

4:00 PM - Tea time, otherwise known as afternoon snack. (The kids get decaf tea that is more milk than tea, but they adore having tea just like Mommy.) They watched a few videos from the They Might Be Giants Here Comes Science album, and we talked some more about photosynthesis.

And that was our day! I can't wait until tomorrow.

This Moment: Farewell to the Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:27:00 +0000

No words, just a moment from this past week that I want to linger with just a little bit longer. This Moment is a series hosted each week by SouleMama -- thanks, as always, Amanda!

A New Doll

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:56:00 +0000

When we were in Maine, we all had great fun rediscovering some of our old favorite children's books. Not only are many of my own childhood books still on my parents' bookshelves, but many books from my oldest's early childhood have made their way there as well. I deliberately brought very few of our books with us, knowing the kids would appreciate the variety.

I was charmed all over again by the original Little Golden Books. One I had forgotten was the sweet story of Kitty's New Doll. (We read the version with the original illustrations, but the new edition available now seems equally charming, and the story is unchanged.) In it, Kitty surprises her mother by declining a doll with all the latest features, and instead selects a simple rag doll, preferring to use her own imagination to animate her new friend. Lovely.

And so my five-year-old started talking about making a rag doll. She made it very clear that a) she had to be a cat (like Kitty's), and b) her face and clothes had to be painted on, just like the rag doll in the story.

She drew the pattern on paper, I cut it out and machine sewed it, and she stuffed it and painted it.

Her very own simple, imagination-powered doll. Like Kitty's, but even better.

Home

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:59:00 +0000

I have just returned from three delicious weeks at my parents' house in Maine. Truly, one of the most beautiful places on earth, and we had a lovely, lovely time. Kayaking, swimming, building sandcastles at some of the world's most gorgeous beaches, walking in the woods, and just relaxing with the grandparents. I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to take such an extended break from "regular life."

But honestly, three weeks is a long time. Yesterday was relaxing in its own way, as we return to the routines and rhythms of our daily life.

And of course, there was the garden.

Three weeks is a long time to be away from a garden. Thank goodness my husband was here to keep things watered and harvested. Because, oh my how things have grown.

Before I left I planted some basil, tiny plants my neighbor had given me.

Can you say, pesto?

This morning glory is a weed. It grows in my rose bed and tries to strangle them. I had pulled it all up before I left. And in three weeks, it reached the top of the trellis. Beware the morning glory, I tell you. These things are crafty.

When I left, I had finally put cages around the tomatoes.

Now the tomatoes are taller than me. Oh my.

And these zucchini plants and not only ginormous, but they're prolific! The zukes just keep on coming.

The marigolds I planted to protect the tomatoes and zucchini are lost under all that foliage. They must be working, though.

Because just take a look at this:

And this:

Oh. my. goodness. These plants are just overflowing with green tomatoes. I could just jump for joy, I really could.

I ate this Swiss chard last night. It was incredible. I swear I could take it to the county fair and win prizes. It's unreal.

Uh-oh, the pumpkin vine is trying to escape again!

Dude, what is it with pumpkins?? Stay in your bed, dagnabbit!

The arugula is in flower, but that's okay. I'm surprised at how much we got from it, and how long a season we were harvesting it. Thanks, arugula! You were great!

The broccoli is still getting munched to within an inch of its life, but somehow it's growing! Many, many thanks to my devoted husband who dutifully removed cabbage worms for three weeks. It's a thankless job, but my broccoli is grateful.

Munched, but still hanging in there.

The green bean house is amazing.

You really can (if you're three feet tall) climb inside and sit in the shade.

And exciting things are happening to the green beans, too:

Now, I need to get back to my weeding. The vegetables aren't the only things that thrived in my absence.

This Moment: Put Me In, Coach

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0000

No words, just a moment from this past week that I want to pause and savor. Head over to SouleMama to see the other moments being shared this morning.

Tips for Unboring Vacation Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:26:00 +0000

If you've noticed the light posting around here in the past few weeks, it's because I've been camped out at my parents' house in rural Maine. For an amateur photographer like myself, one of the most fun things about vacation is the opportunity to take lots and lots of pictures in a novel setting. It's rather embarrassing how many photos I've taken already, but all I can say is thank goodness for digital photography. And yes, like everyone else, I have dozens and dozens of photos of my family members smiling at the camera and squinting into the sunlight, but I am trying to mix it up a little. Those cheesy snapshots have their place, but I'm trying to come away from this vacation with some worth-printing shots, so I'm going for a little more visual interest.

Here are some of the guidelines I'm trying to keep in mind to capture some unboring vacation pics:

1. Pay attention to the light.

This means avoiding those squinting-into-the-direct-sun pictures (oh my sun-sensitive eyes!). But it also means looking for that sweet light and dragging folks into it for impromptu photo sessions. If you know you're going to go get ice cream after dinner by the water at almost-sunset... by golly, bring the camera!

2. Vary the perspective.

Straight-on shots of kids smiling into the camera are cute, but they only capture one aspect of your kid's personality -- and often a pretty fake one, at that. I try to take a lot of photos with no faces at all. Not that I don't love pictures of my family members' faces, but it's a way to remind myself to capture other details as well.

3. Record the details.

I am trying to notice and shoot the other little details around us on this trip -- not just people, but the flora and fauna we meet and greet along the way. Especially when you return to the same place year after year, some of the details of your surroundings might escape your notice. But recording these details can help capture an even more potent memory to bring home and savor.

4. Know how to use your camera before you go.

Duh. I've been shooting with a pretty decent camera for two-and-a-half years now, and I have yet to fully read the manual. Pathetic. If I had only known how to use my camera's super macro setting, I might have actually got this adorable little crab in focus, and not my friend's arm. *sigh* Lesson learned.

5. Bring your camera everywhere.

If you don't want to lug around the heavy camera, use your phone or whatever you've got. But you'd be amazed at the times when an amazing opportunity for a shot takes you by surprise. I'm afraid people are getting used to seeing me with a camera in front of my face on this trip, but as a result I've been capturing some unexpected shots. When the big camera is too much, I've been having good fun with the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone.

6. Don't let your photos fester in your camera/computer.

I've started printing out (on my cheapo inkjet printer) my favorite shots as 8 x 10's and actually framing and hanging them in my house. Crazy, I know! But it's so easy with the whole digital thing to stockpile photos and then never do anything with them. And don't forget to share! Whether you use an online photo sharing service, or just upload them to Facebook or whatever, it's great fun to share your photo memories with friends. [Here's where I apologize to my Facebook friends for inundating them with a truly absurd number of vacation photos. I realize I have a problem, but I can stop at any time, honest.] And don't forget to print photos for those friends and family members that aren't online.

And if you can't get out of town this summer, you can follow these tips to capture some fun summer weekend shots. With or without squinting into the sun.

This Moment: Summer Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:27:00 +0000

No words, just a moment from this past week that I want to pause and savor. Thanks to SouleMama for inspiring this Friday series each week.