The Attached Mama

The Reading Lesson-My Review

2013-03-06T14:29:00.005-08:00

When it came time to teach my children how to read, I did a LOT of research on the various theories, methods, and products available to teach reading. One product that I liked right away was The Reading Lesson.

The Reading Lesson is a complete reading program created especially for young children. Before beginning the program, children need very little prior knowledge of the alphabet or phonics. Everything is taught within the context of the lesson. Lessons are also taught in a way that makes learning to read very simple. In other programs I have tried, they make learning to read very complicated. Children are expected to memorize long lists of phonics rules—and then all of the exception to these “rules” that we have in the English language. Children will not need to do that in The Reading Lesson. Yet, they somehow manage to give a very thorough introduction to phonics without making it so complicated.

Overview of the Program:

I think it is important for the parent to read the introductory material at the beginning of the book. Don’t skip over this material! It is short, well written, and very much “to the point”. This material also gives suggestions on how to keep children motivated during their reading lesson, and it provides pacing suggestions for children of various ages.

The book is divided into 20 different lessons. However, each lesson will most likely be spread out through multiple days (or even weeks). Parents are instructed to move through the book at their child’s individual pace.

Another thing you will notice right away in The Reading Lesson is the unique use of font size throughout the book. In the beginning of the book, the font size is very large, and there is a lot of blank, negative space on the page. My son (5 years old at the time we went through these lessons) very much appreciated this aspect of the book! It made it so that his little eye muscles didn’t have to work so hard when learning to read. It also allowed him to easily complete several pages at each lesson with very little “work”—which gave him a sense of confidence. As you continue on in the book, the font gradually (and very slowly) becomes smaller and smaller. There is also more text on the pages as you continue on. This is one thing I found VERY unique about The Reading Lesson. I have yet to see that in any other “learn to read” book.

The next thing you will notice about The Reading Lesson is the unique use of symbols and marks on the letters. For example, many young children struggle with telling “b” from “d” when first learning to read. So, beginning in lesson 5 when the letters “b” and “d” are both used, they put a little dot inside of the letter b so students can easily tell that letter apart. Again, my children really liked this! I was initially worried that they would become overly reliant on these little marks when telling letters apart. I was worried that once we removed the dots, they would not be able to tell the letters apart anymore. However, a year later, my children now very seldom mix those two letters up even without the special dots. So it wasn’t a problem.

Notice how the letter "b" is uniquely distinguished between the letter "d".

Another symbol that you will notice are the little lines under the letters. This is suppose to provide a reminder to children about which letters they need to make the sound of when reading. Another unique feature of The Reading Lesson is that consonant and vowel blends (such as “th” and “ee”) are taught VERY early on. The children are also introduced to “silent” letters right away (example: the silent “e” common at the end of words.) These lines are there to remind children which letters make their individual sounds, which letters need to be blended together, and which letters are silent. Words are introduced and reviewed over and over again with these “helping” markers. (There is a lot of built in review which I appreciated.) After awhile, most children will no longer have to “sound the word out” and will eventually be able to read the word by sight. At that point, the “helping” symbols are eventually removed, and the words are written normally. At the end of each lesson they give you a list of “key words” that your children should be very familiar with before moving on. This list is sort of a warning that after this point, these words won’t be written with a bunch of “helping” markers. This was extremely helpful. I knew that if my kids were not fluently reading these words, I should go back and review the previous lesson before moving on.

Notice the lines under the different letters and consonant blends.

The final thing you will notice right away about this book are the cute black and white line drawings throughout the book. Right away kids see that this is a book made for them! I didn't see that in other "reading program" books on the market. They were mostly just dry, pages full of text. Some kids will also enjoy coloring these drawings in when they finish a page in their reading lesson.

What a typical day was like teaching this lesson:

The thing I like MOST about The Reading Lesson is how easy it was to teach. It requires next to no prep work. It is very easy to open up the book and just start using it. Typically, what I would do is pour myself another cup of coffee, and invite my kids to come and sit with me on the couch. The book itself would guide me through any teaching that was required.

If I happened to be starting a new lesson that day, I would very quickly read the one page introduction to the lesson before I called the kids over. The introduction to the lesson tells you which letters or letter combinations will be introduced. It also guides the parent on how to properly pronounce the sounds of these letters or letter combinations. (It is VERY important to make sure you are properly pronouncing the phonemes when teaching a child how to read.)

I was teaching two kids how to read simultaneously, so my children would then take turns reading directly from the book. (All teaching and student work comes directly from that single book.) My kids had about a 10-15 minute attention span when it came to a reading lesson, so we would typically get through 2-3 pages per day. This was exactly the pacing suggestion given to us at the start of the book.

My Bottom Line:

I compared The Reading Lesson thoroughly with other reading instruction books on the market within this same price range. (My comparisons included some of the most popular reading instruction books available including: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons , The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, Reading Made Easy, and Phonics Pathways. The simple fact of the matter is that all of these books are going to give your child a solid foundation when it comes to reading. These books are popular for a reason. HOWEVER---I found that only The Reading Lesson made learning to read a bit more fun for the child. (Many of those other books were extremely dry and felt like a huge chore for the kids to get through.) I also found The Reading Lesson to be extremely easy to teach. I have never taught a child to read before—however, I was able to do so successfully with only this book. This book required no teacher prep and was able to accomplish a huge amount of instruction in just 10-15 minutes per day.

So what is my bottom line? When it comes to finding a reading program under $30, The Reading Lesson is by far the best product out there in that price range.

Extras:

The same company, who makes The Reading Lesson, also provides these other products for sale. Some parents may want to supplement the Reading Lesson with these optional books, DVDs, and CD-ROM s. Here is my quick “review” on these “extras”--

Letter Sounds DVD-- This DVD (which runs approximately 44 minutes long) teaches children the basic sounds of the letters of the alphabet. Parents can optionally use this DVD before or during The Reading Lesson. My thoughts: This DVD was nice. However, I personally prefer the Leap Frog learning DVDs for teaching this information.

The Reading Lesson Animated CD-Rom- There is also an animated CD ROM available which walks you through every lesson in the original The Reading Lesson book. Children who like being on the computer may prefer this method of instruction over the book (or along side the book). This certainly isn’t an essential item to own, but it is a nice addition to the program. (I should note that we are a mac family and had no problems getting this CD to install and run. I can’t say that about a lot of educational CD-ROMs!)

The Storybook CD-ROM- Another cute supplement to the program is the Storybook CD-ROM. It contains 40 animated short stories for your child to read. The animations do a nice job of keeping the child interested and motivate them to practice reading. My children also enjoyed the “clickable” words if they got stuck. Again, I wouldn’t say this product is essential to teaching your child how to read. You can do the exact same thing by simply checking early readers out of the library and helping them with words they get stuck on. However, children who like being on the computer, might be more motivated to practice reading with this product. This product is also nice because it follows the same letter-sound introduction used in the lessons. (It is nearly impossible to find other readers that follow the exact introductory order used in The Reading Lesson.)

The Writing Lesson- The Writing Lesson is an inexpensive handwriting program which corresponds to the lessons in The Reading Lesson. If your child is ready to learn handwriting when you are teaching them to read, you may want to get this product as a supplement. This product comes on a CD, and gives you a plethora of writing exercises to chose from. Parents are able to print just what they need and as many copies as they need for children in their family. The CD contains three different scripts (primary, script, and cursive). It also contains activities that work on forming of all upper and lower case letters, common words, and even stories. So this single product could potentially provide handwriting practice for an entire family from grades 1^st-4^th grade!

Big Words For Little Kids: Advanced Vocabulary for Elementary School Children-- This book teaches children specific strategies for figuring out the meaning of unknown words they encounter in their reading. In this book, they systematically teach children to break familiar words into their individual parts (prefixes, suffixes, and roots)….then transfer the meaning of those parts to new words. I personally really liked the approach used in this book. I have never seen a book like this written to the level of elementary aged students. I plan to add this into our language arts program down the road.

The Verbal Math Lesson-- There are two levels of these books which provide a step-by-step math program for children. The first level is meant for children ages 4-7, and the second level is meant for children ages 7-8. As the title implies, these books attempt to teach math completely verbally…. without paper and pencil. So obviously, this program might be a good fit if you have a child who does well taking information in while listening. If your child has poor receptive language skills, they are not going to do well in this program and may need a more visual or “hands-on” program instead. As far as the quality of this program, I can see using this with a preschool or kindergartner who I wanted to gently introduce to math. Many children this age do not have the fine motor skills to complete the more typical “worksheet” based math programs on the market. As far as for older children (in the 7-8 year old range), I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable using this as my only math program. I would definitely use this book to supplement another math program. I found the book to contain some fantastic word problems and activities.

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Disclosure: The products reviewed here were given to me free of charge in exchange for my HONEST review. I was not obligated in any way to provide a favorable review. These are my actual opinions of the product.

Thanksgiving Book Suggestions

2012-11-11T07:02:00.001-08:00

Authors Note: I originally published a Thanksgiving book list in 2011. I wanted to republish this list updated with some new jewels that I have discovered. My wish is that these books will help create some wonderful memories this holiday season, and remind us all to slow down and be thankful for all that we have.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. For me the holiday is extra special, because it was around this time five years ago that I first became a mother. So I have an added reason to be thankful this time of year. I also enjoy a reminder to slow down and really savor all that I have to be grateful for. For me this time of year means crisp, fall days; sweaters; pumpkin pie; and time spent gathered with loved ones. It doesn't get much better than that.

To help us all get in the mood for Thanksgiving, I recently filled our book basket with some of our favorite picture books for this holiday. I don't know of a better way to celebrate the holiday season than time spent snuggled up with your children sharing a good book. It is a surefire way to create some cherished holiday memories for both parent and child. So--to get you in the mood for Thanksgiving, here are some great books on the topic that you can share with your children. Some are historical fiction, others celebrate our modern day version of the holiday, and some of just silly and fun--But they are all great books and worth a read!

I hope that you will take time out to make these stories a traditon in your family too!

The Attached Mama's Thanksgiving Book List:

The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell
This book is a new discovery for me, and I absolutely CAN NOT recommend it enough. This book is about an older couple living alone named Ed and Ann. In the book, Ann is making a delicious Thanksgiving feast but then.....poor Ann burns the dinner! Ann feels just plain awful and decides to just spend Thanksgiving home alone, but Ed is hungry! So he suggest that they go and try to find a restaurant that is open. The only restaurant that they can find that is open is "The New World Cafe" a restaurant run by immigrants. So they enter the restaurant and have a seat in the deserted dining room. Little do they know, the owners of the restaurant left the door unlocked by accident. They were planning their own Thanksgiving celebration. They weren't planning to entertain customers too! The restaurant owners try to chase the customers away by banging pots and pans at them. However, the wise grandmother stops them: "Enough! In old country we bang pots at woves, not hungry people. Today is Thanksgiving Day. Family cooks turkey big as doghouse, but we don't share? Bah!" So the restaurant owners include Ann and Ed in their celebration. There is conversation, laughter, and even dancing at the celebration. In the end, Ann agrees that burning the Thanksgiving dinner was the best thing she ever did! This book reminds us that despite our cultural differences we are all people with much more in common than we think! A great read!

The Memory Cupboard: A Thanksgiving Story by Charlotte Herman
For young Katie, nothing compares to Thanksgiving at Grandma's house. However, Katie is heartbroken when she breaks Grandma's cherished gravy boat at Thanksgiving dinner. It is then, that Grandma shows Katie her special "memory cupboard". This is an excellent book that teaches although we may grow attached to possessions, it is people who really matter.

Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac
Most children know the story of the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. However, many are not familar with the story of Squanto--arguably the true hero of Thanksgiving. In this book, children will learn the remarkable story of the first Thanksgiving from the Native American point of view.

Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness
This is another living history book that I highly recommend. It is the story of three young pilgrims named Bartholemew, Remember, and Mary Allerton. When they and their parents first step down from the Mayflower after sixty days at sea, they never dream that life in the New World will be so hard. Many in their Plymouth colony won't make it through the winter, and the colony's first harvest is possible only with the help of two friends, Samoset and Squanto.

This is the Turkey by Abby Levin, Illustrated by Paige Billin-Frye
Here's a cute book that I would recommend for younger children just learning what Thanksgiving is all about. The story begins with Max picking out a turkey at the grocery store. It goes on to celebrate all that thanksgiving has to offer: The food, the family, the preparation, and time spent with family. This book also reminds us that our holidays don't always have to be perfect to be wonderful!

The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Green, Paintings by Susan Baber
Written in cumulative rhyme, this beautifully illustrated book tells the story of the first Thanksgiving. The repetitive text is fantastic for children learning to read as it gives them a chance to help tell the story. What makes this book unique is the way that the story is told. The book starts out showing the very first Thanksgiving feast, and slowly backtracks to tell the story of the Pilgrim's first year in America.

Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin
This book tells the story of a traditional New England Thanksgiving on a cranberry farm. The book is a great reminder that we can't always judge 'a book by its cover' and that sometimes appearances may deceive. Children will enjoy looking for Grandmother's secret and famous recipe for Cranberry Bread which is hidden in the book. Baking this bread will become a wonderful new tradition for you and your family.

It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky, Illustrated by Marylin Hafner
We love reading poetry together as a family. And after checking this book out of the library, I just knew that it would someday become a permanent member of our home library. This collection of poetry talks about so many different aspects of this holiday--usually in a very humorous way. This book contains poems about the very first Thanksgiving, a funny poem about "Dad's football game" after the big meal, a poem about the Thanksgiving Day parade (where it is drizzling...isn't it always drizzling during the Thanksgiving Day parade?!), and another very humorous poem about the things we do with all of those turkey leftovers.

Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas
"Every once in a great while, the hand of God is easy to see, and for a brief moment, fairy tales and history are the same thing. This is the story about one of those times." So begins this wonderful account of Squanto's miraculous story. As a young boy, he was captured, taken to Europe against his will, and sold into slavery. However, that is not the end of Squanto's story. Remarkably, he finds his way back across the Atlantic to the land he was born in. And remarkably, he finds it into his heart to take pity on the English living on his land who he helps.

Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, Illustrated by Doris Barrette
This is a another great book for very young children and toddlers. The pictures are charming and inviting, the text is simple, but the message is a good one.

This is the Feast by Diane Z. Shore, Illustrated by Megan Lloyd
This book is written in a lyrical verse which makes it a joy to read aloud to children. The illustration are meticulous and breathtaking. Children will really get a sense of what life on the Mayflower might have been like.

The Pilgrim Cat by Carol Antoinette Peacock, Illustrated by Doris Ettlinger
This was another book that we checked out and knew that we would one day have to buy. My little girl actually cried when it came time to return this to the library! That is how much she loved this book. And I enjoyed reading it as much as my children enjoyed hearing it. The book is a historical fiction which follows a cat who jumps aboard the Mayflower as it is departing England. The cat is befriended by a young girl named Faith. The book is richly illustrated and a pleasure to read. The reader really gets a feel for what life might have been like for a child aboard the mayflower.

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George
This is a beautifully illustrated "living history" book for children written and carefully researched by Newberry Medal recipient Jean Craighead George. This is a story of adventure, humanity, and compassion....this is the story of the very first thanksgiving day.

This is just a small list of the many fantastic books available on this holiday. My hope is that this list will help get you started on building your own Thanksgiving book basket.

Thanks for reading!
Cathy

Links I'm Attached To:

Pumpkin Book Suggestions

2012-10-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

Headed to the pumpkin patch this year? Why not fill your book baskets with some great pumpkin themed books this year! There is just something about the cooler weather that makes me want to snuggle on the couch reading a great book to my children. I hope that this short list of books helps inspire you to create some warm memories with literature.

PUMPKIN THEMED BOOK BASKET--
The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs- This is the story about how a farmer can turn a simple pumpkin into a glorious sight. In the same way, God's transforming love can fill each of our hearts with joy and light.

After reading this book, head on over to one of my favorite blogs "My Montessori Journey" for a great go along project to do with your child. The project is called, "Let Your Love Light Shine". Just like a candle can light up a pumpkin, we can let our light shine from us. Also check out "Totally Tots" crafts to go along with this book.

Mousekin's Golden House by Edna Miller- This book is out of print, but many libraries still have a copy. In this book a mouse discovers a great new home when he finds an abandoned pumpkin in the forest.

Pumpkin Moonshine by Tasha Tudor - This book is by one of my favorite author/illustrators Tasha Tudor. It is a very charming, old fashioned Halloween story that is sure to become a favorite. The story is simple, yet delightful. In the book, Sylvie Ann wants to carve a wonderful "pumpkin moonshine" (that is what they used to call jack o'lanterns way back when in New England)--but she has to get her pumpkin home first! Gorgeous illustrations!

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer- A great science book to tie in with a pumpkin book basket theme.

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White- One lady ends up with WAY too many pumpkins. Very cute story!

It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall- This book features some lovely illustrations. It is a favorite with very young children!

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara- This is a great "living math" book to read this time of year. Children can explore concepts such as estimation, skip counting, and other strategies for determining how many seeds are in a pumpkin. This would be a great book to read together before you actually carve a pumpkin so you can put some of these strategies into action.

Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell- This is a very cute story which does a great job demonstrating the life cycle of a pumpkin. In this story, a boy name Tim carves his first pumpkin and names him "Jack". After Halloween, "Jack" is put in the garden where he slowly decays. The story follows Jack until Spring time comes and we find "Jack" has sprouted a whole crop of pumpkins! Children may want to do their own "Pumpkin Jack" science experiment after reading this book by placing their fall pumpkins in the garden instead of the trash.

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll- Two mice fall in love with the SAME pumpkin...What will they do? This is a very cute story which illustrates the joy of sharing and giving. This is a slightly longer picture book which might appeal to children in grades kindergarten to grade 3.

Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington- A great book for young children! This book has gorgeous illustrations and describes the process of a seed growing into a pumpkin.

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper - "Deep in the woods in an old white cabin, three friends make their pumpkin soup the same way every day. The Cat slices up the pumpkin, the Squirrel stirs in the water, and the Duck tips in just enough salt." This is a great story about friendship and working through squabbles. The illustrations are warm and inviting...and there is even a recipe for pumpkin soup at the end. I suggest reading this book and inviting the kids to help you in the kitchen afterwards!

Pumpkin Cat by Anne Mortimer - A very cute story about gardening and working together. This is a simple story, but a great story for teaching preschoolers and toddlers about where pumpkins come from.

Thanks for reading!

Cathy aka The Attached Mama

Links to Become Attached To:
-The Children's Book Shelf
-What my Child is Reading
-A Thanksgiving Book List (Thanksgiving will be here before you know it!)
-My October Pinterest Board (Some crafts to do along with these books.)

Sonlight Blog Roll for 2012-2013

2012-08-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

It's here: The much anticipated Sonlight Blog Roll for the 2012-2013 school year!

This blog roll will give fellow "Sonlight-ers" a place to connect and meet. Feel free to bookmark this page and refer to it anytime you need some inspiration.

Are you a blogger using Sonlight for the 2012-3013 school year?
If so, we would love it if you would join the Sonlight Blog Roll.

Here's how to do it:
STEP 1) First grab the button code below and display it proudly on your blog. All entries must have a link to this blog roll. This is so we can get the word out about the Sonlight Blog Roll.
STEP 2) Next, use the Linky Tool at the bottom of this page to link up your blog. There is absolutely no weekly posting requirement--just link up and have fun.
NOTE: Please include your blog's name with the core(s) you are using in parenthesis. Example: The Attached Mama (Cores P3/4, B, and F)
STEP 3) Leave a comment on my blog letting me know you linked up.

Grab The Button Code Here:

Do you still have questions? Please feel free to contact me in the comment section below. I would be glad to help!

Thanks so much!
Cathy aka The Attached Mama

My blog and the blogs linked to this page are not affiliated with the Sonlight Curriculum company in any way. We are just fans and users of the curriculum. :)

Sonlight Language Arts: Picture Book Narration

2012-07-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

This week we started Sonlight's Kindergarten Language Arts program with both Marcus and Sophie. If you have ever checked out Sonlight's language arts programs in the past, you might want to check them out again. They have recently completely revised and updated their programs. The changes are major...and I personally think the changes are for the better.

Sonlight's Language Arts K with Readers Package

Even though both kids are at slightly different levels in reading and writing, their skill levels are close enough that I am able to combine them with only some slight modifications to the program. (Not to mention...Sophie tends to get very upset if she is not included in what Marcus is learning! So it is just easier on everyone to let them work together.)

Handwriting Without Tears Package

The reading portion of Sonlight's language arts package is right on target for Sophie. However, she still lacks the fine motor control to write "small enough" for the kindergarten level paper used in the Handwriting Without Tears package. She has also already completed the Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K work...so she is kind of in handwriting limbo at the moment. (Handwriting without tears has a "strange" name...but it is one of the best handwriting programs out there in my oppinion!) So-- an easy modification we made was to let her practice writing her lower case letters on the double-line slate instead of the workbook.

Marcus, on the other hand, is a bit ahead of this program when it comes to reading. However, I think that the extra practice in phonics will only help cement the ideas for him. It will also give him some confidence when it comes to reading. Every now and then, we are allowing him to practice reading some other beginner readers. He also enjoys playing Reading Eggs online. (I'm not much for screen based learning...but I find that this game provides invaluable, fun practice which is helping him build reading fluency. So he doesn't have to "sound out" every word that he sees on the page.)

The thing I really like about Sonlight the most is their "creative expression" assignments. The purpose of the creative expression assignments is "...to help your children learn to enjoy expressing their thoughts, as well as to get a good feel for the flow of a story." Basically the assignments give children a chance to practice verbally expressing their thoughts effectively. In most of these assignments, the parent acts as the scribe and the child tells the parent what to write. I think that learning to TELL a story is a very important step in learning to effectively WRITE a story. I think that many language arts programs tend to forget this. We can easily get so caught up in the mechanics of language: handwriting, reading, grammar, etc. etc---that we forget to spend time on the thought process that goes into communicating our thoughts in writing.

Today's "Creative Expression" assignment was a picture book narration. In this assignment, the children were to retell a favorite story while using one of their favorite pictures books as a guide. I allowed the kids to chose any book on our bookshelves to retell...and they BOTH picked the book Kat Kong by Dav Pilkey to narrate.

NOW---some of my readers might argue that Kat Kong is simply twaddle. :) HOWEVER-- the kids and I both enjoy reading this book. No, it isn't Beautix Potter...but it is a funny book that is rather well written. As you can probably guess, the book is a cleaver play on the old "King Kong" movies--this time staring a chubby feline who wreaks havoc on a group of mice. Marcus and Sophie both narrated this book to my while I typed in their work into the computer.

It was an interesting experiment having two separate kids narrate the same book to me. I did this individually so that each would have a chance to really recall the details they remembered from the story on their own. I was impressed with how much detail both kids remembered from the book. Marcus, in particular has a mind like a steel trap! You read him something once, and he just remembers it. He easily recalled large portions of the text almost verbatim as he "retold" the story. (I don't think he quite understands the concept of using his own words to tell a story.) I was also impressed with some of the vocabulary he used to tell the story. Both kids attempted to use dialog to retell the story. I was pleasantly surprised that both kids automatically knew to add words indicating WHO was saying the dialog during their narration without prompting from me. (Example from Sophie's narration: “There is no way Kat Kong can escape. I repeat back there is no way Kat Kong can escape, “ said Vincent Varmint.) However, in some cases, Sophie separated the dialog by doing different voices for the characters. (It was pretty cute! I wish I would have thought to video tape it.) Both kids had some typical age appropriate grammatical errors...which were also pretty darling. (Example: Marcus still refers to a group of mice by calling them "mouses".) All in all, I was very pleased with the outcome of this assignment. I think at the very least, these assignments will make a VERY nice keep sake for me hold on.

SO---without further ado...here is each child's Kat Kong Picture narration with me acting as scribe.

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Picture Book Narration

Marcus Holmes

Age 5.5

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Kat Kong by Dav Pilkey Naration

Dr. Varmint and Rosie Rodent and Captain Charles Limburger approach a strange island. The ship approaches the island and then some mouses make a weird chant. They say, “Here Kitty, Kitty, Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!”

Suddenly, there is a CRASHING in the island: Kat Kong, the most terrifying creature to mouse-kind! Suddenly the terrifying creature trips over their tuna and then falls down.

“Lets take the creature back with us,” said Vincent Varmint.

“Oh no, it would be bad to take him back from his natural habitat.” said Rosie Rodent.

“Forget about science,” said Doctor Varmint. “Think of the money we could get.”

They tie him up in a bag and they be careful not to let him out of the bag.

“This is Kat Kong the most terrifying creature to mouse-kind!”

The mouses hurled back being afraid.

“I repeat people this cat can not escape from these chains. This cat can not escape from these chains. OH! I guess I could be wrong.”

Suddenly, the terrifying Kat Kong jumps out and escapes from the chains.

“Help! That cat's got my train!”

“Help! That cat's got my tongue!”

“Help! That cat’s got me!”

Suddenly the terrifying Kat Kong climbs up with Rosie Rodent following behind.

“I think I shouldn’t have got so near,” said Rosie Rodent.

It feels like nothing could stop the terrifying Kat Kong!

Suddenly a helicopter soars through the air. And then, “Hey cat, can you guess what’s in this package?”

The mouse flew over. And the cat’s mind was thinking and thinking and thinking and growing higher when at last he could not think any longer. And with a swift paw, he swiped for the package. And then he lost his balance and FELL down. Everyone came to get a look at the terrifying Kat Kong.

“Well, it looks like love killed the beast.” Said the police officer buster.

“No,” said Dr. Varmint. “Curiosity killed the beast.”

THE END

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Picture Book Narration

Sophie Holmes

Age 4

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Kat Kong by Dav Pilkey

Three mice were in a boat. The mice went to that cave.

The mice found tuna. Then Kat Kong came. The mice ran.

Kat Kong slipped. The mice took Kat Kong and put him in a sack.

The mouse took Kat Kong and put him in metal.

“There is no way Kat Kong can escape. I repeat back there is no way Kat Kong can escape, “ said Vincent Varmint. And Kat Kong escaped and…

“AAAHHHH! Kat Kong got my train!”

“AAAAHHHH! Kat Kong got me!”

The mice got their airplanes and tried to defeat him. Vincent Varmint came.

“You won’t guess what’s in this box.”

Then Kat Kong swooped his paw and lost his balance.

Then he fell and rocks came out.

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

The End

A group of "native mice" offering up a can of sacrificial tuna to Kat Kong

Are you thinking of ordering from Sonlight?
If so, new customers can save $5 on your order of $50 or more. Just enter my rewards number upon registering (CH20271164).

Why yes---that IS a view master skirt I am wearing today...

2012-07-06T06:31:00.001-07:00

Wanna know just one of the great things about not working in a cubical anymore? I can pretty much wear any bizarre thing I feel like. For some stay at home moms that translates to comfy yoga pants and t-shirts. For me, that freedom translates to strange things I sew using wild fabrics---and now---I present to you my latest creation...a view master skirt. Yes...you read that correctly....a view master skirt. And that is what I am wearing today.

Photography by 5 year old Marcus using the camera phone...hence the reason I don't have a head and I am running to scoop up my 4 year old daughter. :)

For those that don't know, in a former life before kids, I used to work as an engineer for a large corporation. My co-workers were mostly all male, so my work attire basically consisted mostly of boring chino pants and golf shirts. Yep--that what I wore most days. As the saying goes--- when in Rome, you do as the Romans do...right?

Photography by 4 year old Sophie using a camera phone

I have noticed that since leaving my job, my clothing has become increasingly more eccentric. I didn't set out to become eccentric...it just sort of happened. And I think that this skirt pretty much takes the cake as far as eccentricity goes. But what can I say? It makes me happy---so I love it!

Photography by 4 year old Sophie using...yep...the camera phone!

When I first saw this fabric in the store, I immediately flashed back to my happy days of playing with view master reels as a child. I can remember struggling to set the reel in straight so that I could look at happy little 3D smurfs smiling back at me...or rainbow bright riding a unicorn...or whatever I happened to be into at 3 years of age. So I contemplated....what can I do with view master fabric? Hmmm... A more sane, less eccentric person would have sewn a wallet or a bag or something like that. Me? Well, I think to myself, "I want a view master skirt!" And so I sewed one.

The fabric is from Kokka's fabric. (Aren't all cool fabrics from Japanese companies?) It is designed by Melody Miller and part of her line called Ruby Star Rising. The pattern is my own. Just a simple A-Line skirt with a waistband, side zipper, and button tab closure. You can also see my hidden "stealth" patch pocket in this picture for keeping rocks, sticks, Lego mini-figures, and other strange things my kids ask my to carry.

Self Portrait using my trusty camera phone

All of these pictures were taken using my VERY crummy camera phone. Most bloggers use fancy cameras and take photography classes and things like that. But they probably wouldn't wear view master skirts. So on this blog, you must look at blurry pictures taken mostly by children under the age of 5. I guess it forces you to kind of use your imagination. :)

Take care! And thanks for reading!!

Cathy aka The Attached Mama

Links to become "Attached" To:
Thrifty Handmade Days
504 Main
Happy Hour Projects

Homemade Laundry Detergent for High Efficency (HE) Machines

2012-06-10T14:52:00.002-07:00

I have grated the tiny bars of soap. I have mixed giant vats of liquid goop detergent. I have even used my pans on the stove to cook (yes cook) soap on my stove. In short readers, I have put in the time and trial and error to test some of the most popular homemade laundry detergent/soap recipes around. And I present to you what I consider to be the BEST...yes THE BEST homemade laundry soap recipe ever. I would love if you would try it out and let me know what you think.

But before I go into all of the details, you may be wondering WHY someone would go to all of the hassle of making their own laundry detergent.

There are many, many reasons...but here are just a few:
1) Making your own detergent is a very easy way to go green.
Most commercial laundry detergents contain phosphates and other ingredients which are harmful to both you and the environment. According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, the average family does 416-520 loads of laundry per year! Think for just a second how much water and energy is used up in this country just through trying to clean our clothes. Seconldy, think about where all of that water is going after it cleans your clothes. Simply switching to a more natural detergent could have a huge impact on the environment....and trust me it is an easy change. (Even I can do it and I am lazy!)
Also, think about how many empty containers you are throwing away each time you run out of laundry detergent. Even if you recycle those containers, think about the energy that is used in that process.

2) Making your own laundry detergent and other cleaning supplies can save you a boat load of money.
We have a high efficiency washer and so every month or so we were spending a TON of money buying Tides HE detergent. (It really is expensive!) This recipe uses a lot of low foaming ingredients so it is perfect for HE machines. Also, you are not having to pay for all of the packaging and marketing that goes into a conventional detergent. And I promise you, the cleaning power of this detergent is fantastic. I have very young children. We get really dirty. (Seriously...look at my blog pictures) And this detergent has been able to clean just as well if not better than our standard Tide HE detergent.

And even if you don't have a HE washer machine, you have to admit that laundry detergent is not cheap. At least not compared to how cheap this recipe is. Using this recipe, you can make an entire years worth of laundry detergent for less than $5. (Prices vary depending on costs in your area...but I know it will be much cheaper than the pre-packaged stuff you are buying now.)

3) When you make your own supplies, you don't have to keep running to the store to pick up more detergent (or windex or "scrubbing bubbles" or any of that stuff!) ---And that is kind of freeing and cool.
See the thing that hangs most people up about making your own cleaning products is the discipline it takes. No matter how easy the recipe is, making something from scratch does take more time than simply opening up a container of commercial product. So the thing that would always throw me off track would be I would a) run out of detergent and then b) be having "one of those days" where the last thing I wanted to do was MAKE laundry detergent. So I would always end up running to the store to pick up a commercial product. However, with this recipe, you only have to spend a couple of minutes one afternoon making it, and then you have a WHOLE years worth of detergent. (If you have an HE machine, you will actually have much, much more than a whole years worth!) This is also a powdered detergent. So, unlike the other homemade liquid forms of laundry detergent (which can sometimes get moldy)--this one will last indefinitely.

4) Using recipes like this is an easy way to give your cleaning supplies a makeover--Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!
Do you open up your cleaning supply cabinet to see a ton of different bottles and boxes? Do you have a bottle for glass cleaner? Another bottle of stuff for cleaning the toilet? Another for the counter tops? Another for the stove? In fact, do you have an entire cabinet full of boxes and bottles claiming to be the 'next best thing' when it comes to cleaning. Chances are that your grandmother (or maybe great grandmother depending on your generation) didn't need to have 50 million bottles and boxes of stuff to get her house clean. She probably relied on a few basic essentials such as vinegar and baking soda to get her whole house clean. So if women have been keeping their house clean and tidy for years with those things....why of why do we spend hundreds of dollars buying all of those boxes and bottles of cleaning supplies? The answer is marketing. We all fall victim to it. (At least I do!) But the truth of the matter is that these simple ingredients used in previous generations still work just as well for cleaning and cost a fraction of the price. Most of them are also better for the environment.

5) Making your own cleaning supplies allows you to customize your scents and blends.
One of the unexpected benefits to making my own cleaning supplies is that I have enjoyed experimenting with essential oils. I can choose exactly what "smells" I want my own special blend of cleaning supplies to have. And to be honest, it makes cleaning a whole lot more enjoyable! Instead of breathing in those toxic fumes like I was before, I am now smelling a faint and lovely "lemon verbena" smell as I wipe down my counter tops. Or--perhaps I might have "lavender vanilla" sheets to sleep on at night. I can even change my scents with the seasons. Last autumn, I made a lovely general purpose cleaner and scented it with Sweet Orange, Cinnamon, Clover, and Ginger essential oils. It made deep cleaning in the fall an almost enjoyable experience. Almost. :) At least it was better than the noxious, over powering smell most commercial cleaners have!

So those are just a FEW of the reasons you may want to consider making your own laundry soap and cleansers.

Making your own Laundry Detergent:
Now, when you start experimenting with making your own laundry soap, you will basically have two different choices: liquid or powder form soap. I typically bought commercial liquid detergent when I went to the store...so the first recipe I tried was for a homemade liquid detergent. The liquid detergent cleaned just fine...but it sort of had a strange consistency which kind of freaked me out. (Its difficult to describe in words, but if you have ever made it yourself, you will know what I am talking about.) I have also read reviews online of mold even growing on liquid detergent if it was stored for long periods of time. That wasn't going to work for me. I wanted a recipe that was easy to make and store...one that would last indefinitely so I didn't have to keep making it over and over again. So I ruled the liquid version out.

The next several versions I tried were for powdered laundry soap. All of the powdered laundry soap recipes out there basically involve some ratio of the following ingredients:
1) Borax
2) Soap Flakes or Grated Soap
3) Baking Soda
4) Washing Soada
5) Oxi Clean

I test several of these recipes out. But the BEST recipe by far was in the book Clean Naturally by Sandy Maine. Ms. Mains book is a great read. She is an authority in soap making, so it didn't surprise me that her cleaning supplies worked so well. However, the thing I enjoyed most about her book is her overall philosophy about cleaning and life in general.

This recipe seems to work fantastically in both hard and soft water. This recipe also doesn't have any of the more expensive or hard to find ingredients (such as washing soda and oxi clean). It smells great. It is low foaming. It is gentle enough for our clothes, yet tough on stains. So the recipe that I use today is a sort of modified version of Ms. Sandy Maine's.
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So---Now...without further ado.....here is my FAVORITE laundry soap recipe. (Perfect for regular or High Efficiency Machines).

Simple Washing Powder Recipe
16 cups of baking soda
12 cups of borax*
8 cupts of grated soap**
3 tbsp of your favorite essential oils (optional)

* BORAX Note: You will typically find borax in the laundry detergent aisle of most any grocery store of home goods store. (I know that Meijer's, Walmart, Kroger's, and Giant Eagle all carry it. If you are from another part of the country, please feel free to use the store locator on their website to find it.)

**SOAP Note:
--IF you are making your own laundry soap for environmental reasons, it is best to use a grated castile or glycerine soap. You can buy these soaps at locally at a health food store or online.
--IF you are making your own laundry soap as a means of saving money, I have found that a regular bar of grated soap works just as fine. HOWEVER (and this is important) you want to buy the most plain and simple bar of soap that you can find. Anything that looks like it would be good for your skin will be bad or your laundry. You want to avoid anything with added moisturizers or aloe as they often leave a film on your clothes or laundry machine. I have found that the brands Ivory and Feliz Napa works best.

Directions:
1) Grind or grate your soap. Yes...you can grate the soap using a cheese grater. But I have found that Ivory soap grates VERY will in a food processor. Cut the soap up into small 1" cubes. (Ivory soap is very soft and easy to cut.) Then place it in your food processor one bar at a time and grind it up. Wash your food processor well after doing this. ;)
2) Mix the grated soap, baking soda, and borax into a large air tight container. (A wire whisk makes mixing very easy.)
3) Add the Essential Oils if desired. (If you are making this for purely budget reasons, you may want to skip the essential oils. It smells great without them. They are just a fun bonus.)
4) To make more of less of this soap, just mix ingredients sticking to the same general ratio of 4 parts baking soda, 3 parts borax, 2 parts grated soap. This recipe yields enough to do aprox 144 loads in an HE machine and 35 loads in a regular machine. I suggest that you make a small batch at first to try it. THEN, later, when you see how much you love it, make enough to last a year.

To use:
Use 1 1/8 cup for Regular Machines
Use 1/4 cup for HE Machines for regular-heavily soiled loads. For lightly soiled loads, you can even bring this down to 2 tbsp.

For a printable version of these ingredients and directions, click here.

Reading Around the World: Studying World Cultures & Geography with Litterature

2012-01-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

This year one of our main themes has been an introduction to the great world we live in. My goal was to gently introduce to the kids to some other cultures while at the same time teaching them some very basic world geography.   I have been using a combination of Sonlight and FIAR to teach this as well as a sprinkling of some of other great books.

This year we have been going through the Sonlight P4/5 program which gives preschoolers a great introduction to our world through the use of literature. We are loving the program, and I highly recommend it.   We are also big fans of the Five in a Row (FIAR) books, so we have incorporated those into our day too.

The existing P4/5 schedule is great as is. However, I have modified it slightly for our use, and I wanted to share how we are using the program.   What I have done is to pull out all of the wonderful world culture stories in the Sonlight P4/5 program and grouped them by geographic region. This gives us time to fully immerse ourselves in the various cultures we are studying. So instead of skipping all around the globe, we get to spend a few weeks completely devoted to one culture/region. This gives us time to do all sorts of fun things together as a family. We might prepare and taste some traditional foods from the part of the world we are studying. Sometimes we might do a craft project together using inspiration from artists who live in that part of the world. Or, at other times, we might take a few days to learn some phrases from the language spoken in that part of the world. Basically---it gives us the time to really let all of those cultures sync in as we "read around the globe". I have also found that organizing the stories this way allows my very young children to really grasp the differences in cultures and people groups that can be found around the world. When we were jumping all around the globe, this didn't sync in as much.

In case anyone else is interested in reading around the world, I wanted to share our list of stories. You will notice that we have included a lot of other books besides those included in the Sonlight P4/5 program. Many of them are used in the Five in a Row program (another favorite of mine)...others are just good books that you can check out from your library.

How to use this study:
1. Read through the stories at your own pace. Use the sheet provided as a checklist to track your progress.
2. As you are reading, feel free to weave in some craft projects, music, language activities, recipes, or hands-on projects into your study. Do this as you have the time or your children are interested.

A NOTE ON PACING: Included in this list are 166 readings. That may seem like a huge amount, but I have found that this is a good number to fill up a typical school year of 180 days.   I personally make it a goal to read about a story per day. With holidays and other interruptions, this usually works out pretty well. Some days we read more, some days less. I always suggest reading as your children are interested and going at their own pace.

Download The Reading Check List Here

Book List for this study:
Around the World in 80 Tales, by Saviour Pirotta, Illustrated by Richard Johnson
Usborne Stories from Around the World, Retold by Heather Amery, Illustrated by Linda Edwards *
The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book, by Bob Hartman and Krisztina Kallai Nagy *
Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems by Judy Sierra
New Toes for Tia by Larry Dinkins *
The Gods Must Be Angry by Sheila Miller and Ian Murray *
Stories from Africa, Written by SIM missionaries *
Very Last First Time, by Jan Andrews **
A New Coat for Anna, by Harriet Ziefert **
Papa Piccolo by Carol Tally **
Another Celebrated Dancing Bear by Gladys Scheffrin-Falk **
Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say **
The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen (France and English Channel) **
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman **
Giraffe That Walked to Paris by Nancy Milton **
Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully **
A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno **
Wee Gillis by Munro Leaf **
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf * **
The Story of Ping by Marjorie Flack *, **
The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola **
Mr. Gumpy’s Motor Car by John Burningham **

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* A Sonlight book
** A FIAR Book

General World Geography Books to Use for Reference:
Global Art: Activities, Projects, and Inventions from Around the World by MaryAnn Kohl-
This is a great book to own, but most libraries will also have a copy of this that you can check out. There are lot of great projects that you can use at your discretion as you study the various cultures and countries. The projects are all rated by degree of skill...and I have found that many of the lowest rated projects are very appropriate for four and five year old children.

Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World by Anabel Kindersley
This is a great book for showing traditional clothing that other children wear around the world. This is also a fairly common book and most libraries will have a copy of this.

A Child's Introduction to the World Geography, Cultures, and People - From the Grand Canyon to the Great Wall of China by Heather Alexander
I am a big fan of the "Child's Introduction" series of books. So when a fellow sonligher recommended this book I was anxious to check it out. Our library didn't have a copy of it, so I had to bite the bullet and purchase it. I am glad I did. This is a great reference book with tons of ideas to incorporate into your study of the world. This book will really grow with the child and you will probably find you are using it for years to come.

Also, try to get your hands on a nicely illustrated multi-cultural cookbook made just for kids. I would suggest hitting your local library and searching for a book there. There are many, many great versions of these types of books out there. If that is not possible, here are some to consider:
Kids Around the World Cook!: The Best Foods and Recipes from Many Lands by Arlette N. Braman
Around the World Cookbook by Abigail Johnson Dodge

Another good resource to check out is some traditional music from the culture you are reading about. This is another resource that I would utilize the library for if at all possible. I highly recommend the
Putumayo Presents Series of world music CDs. Another great resource is the Wee Sing Around the World CD.

Another resource is the continent song. We started off our study by learning the 7 continents on the globe. At first the kids just memorized the words to this song, however, eventually, they learned to start locating the continents on the globe. After you get the continents down, make it a goal to learn the various oceans.

Christmas Book Recommendations

2011-12-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is a wonderful time to snuggle together and enjoy a good book. Why not add a few of these titles to your library this Christmas and create a wonderful memory with a book? Giving children books for Christmas and birthdays teaches them that books are something to be treasured and valued. A book is also going to be more meaningful than many of the fad toys around today.

These books have become integral parts to our families Christmas celebration. We read them together each year. They have become just as important as the stockings or the tree to my children! Make them a part of your Christmas tradition and you will be glad you did! Its easy...grab a cup of warm cocoa and a blanket and read!

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski--Mr. Toomey is well known as the best woodcarver around. However, he is so solemn the village children have nicknamed him Mr. Gloomy. A widow and her son call on him and ask his help in carving a creche in time for Christmas. Little does he know it, but this job is one that will change his life. This story has quickly become a classic since it was first published in 1995. Children and adults love to read this heartwarming story.

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg--A little boy is swept away on a train late at night to the North Pole. Another modern day classic read aloud this time of year.

The Christmas Cat by Efner Tudor Holmes--A cat is left out on his own in the cold of winter after his family moves away and abandons him. A kind bearded man finds the kitty and brings him to a new home. Beautifully illustrated by the renowned Tasha Tudor, this is a very nice story to read together this Christmas.

Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas by Julia Rawlinson-- We have always loved the Fletcher books ever since a friend introduced them to me. (There is one for every season...so check out the whole series!) In this story, the Rabbits have moved to a new burrow. Fletcher the fox has to help Santa find their new home.

Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant--This story was inspired by the "Christmas Train" which rolls through the Appalachian Mountains each Christmas season. From this train, tons of toys are tossed to children who wait patiently by the tracks. Cynthia Rylant is one of my favorite children's offers. This is a very special book that helps remind us that Christmas time is not about receiving, but about giving.

The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown--The author of this book (most famous for her story Good Night Moon) tells an inspiring tale of a little fir tree growing by the edge of a forest. Every year a man comes and digs the fir tree up and brings him to his son's room for Christmas. The little boy is lame and can not get out of bed. Then every spring the fir tree is returned to the ground. Each year the fir tree grows bigger and stronger as does the little boy.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman -- These "Little Golden Books" are included here for nostalgic reasons. Many of my readers probably grew up reading Little Golden Books. They are still just as good today as they were when we were children. These two tales tell the classic tales of two famous Christmas characters. If you can find these classic books, GRAB them! The originals are definitely better than the newer golden books in my opinion. You can often buy them used on eBay and Amazon. My copies are from my childhood which makes them all the more valuable to me.

Saint Francis and the Christmas Donkey by Robert Byrd--Late one winter day in Italy, St. Francis the patron saint of animals, encounters an unhappy donkey. St. Francis tells him the story of his origins and the story of the "Christmas Donkey"-- The donkey who carried Mary over tough terrain to the city of Bethlehem.

The Story of Holly & Ivy by Rumer Godden-- Ivy, who lives in an orphanage, wants a home for Christmas more than anything else. Ivy makes a wish. Holly is a doll left all alone in a toyshop window on Christmas Eve. More than anything, she wants a child's hands to bring her to life and play with her. Holly makes a wish. A childless couple have a beautiful Christmas tree and holiday feast, but long for a child to share it with also make a wish. This is a touching tale about the miracles that can sometimes happen around Christmas time.

Grumpy Badger's Christmas by Pal Bright-- The 'animal' version of the Christmas Carol: Grumpy Badger is trying to hibernate this winter but keeps getting woken up by the other animals preparations for Christmas. This book led to lots of great discussions on hibernation and what various animals will do to cope with the cold and short days of winter.

The Light of Christmas by Richard Paul Evans--This touching story teaches us that it isn't what you have to give that counts. It is how you give of yourself that counts.

The Christmas Candle by Jacob Collins--This modern day fable is a story of how a Christmas Candle teaches a man the values of charity and goodwill. Beautifully illustrated!

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston -- OK...I have to admit that after reading this aloud to my children, I was tearing up. But in a good way if that makes sense! This is SUCH a good book. It is a very sentimental

My Treasure of Christmas Stories, illustrated by Caroline Pedler- This anthology contains such classics as:
The story of the first Christmas (retold from Luke 2:1-20),
A Christmas Carol (retold from the story by Charles Dickens)
The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
The Nutcracker (retold from a story by E.T.A. Hoffman)
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Little Fir-Tree (retold from a story by Hans Christian Anderson)
The Snow Queen (retold from a story by Hans Christian Anderson)
I usually don't like stories that are re-told. However, I find this edition to be very nice. All of the stories are told in verse which the children loved. I also find that the versions of these stories still remain very true to the original tales and provide very young children a good introduction to these classics. If you can't find this particular anthology...OR if you have older children with longer attention spans, I highly recommend that you check them out. They are great classics for Christmas time.

Well Everyone...that is what is in my Christmas Book Basket this year. Have fun enjoying these books and others. Remember that you still can get free shipping on many of these items and before Christmas evestill receive them by Christmas Eve.

Field Trip to the Fire Department

2011-11-13T07:53:00.000-08:00

October* was National Fire Safety Prevention Month. So to celebrate the month we took a tour of a local fire department with some of our friends. The kids had a great time and I think they learned a lot.

*I know, I know...it is currently mid November. Sometimes I am a little late to download photos off of my camera.

The kids and parents watching a film on fire prevention and safety.

Taking a tour of the fire department. We got to see where the firefighters sleep and eat and how calls are answered.

The kids learned about some of the tools the firefighters use to fight fires and perform medical rescues.

The kids hanging out on the truck.

The kids caught an inside look of the fire truck.

Marcus jumping out

Just being silly

This is the outfit Sophie picked out and demanded to wear. She is wearing her favorite black fur coat with her spiderman ball cap. She found this black fur coat at the thrift store and LOVES it. She says it is her "bear coat".

Sophie in her bear coat walking around.

After we saw the inside of the truck, the kids were invited inside to see the firefighter in his full gear.

The firefighter wanted the kids to see what he looked and sounded like in his gear. He explaided that often times kids are frightened when they see a fire fighter coming into their room and will run and hide from them. He wanted them to know that he was just a "regular guy" under all of this equipment, and they didn't need to be afraid of him. Marcus pointed out that he sounded a lot like Darth Vader with the mask on.

Sophie gave the firefighter a hug.

Marcus giving the firefighter a hug.

They all tried to lift up some of the equipment. It was HEAVY!

Group Photo

Links to become Attached to:
Tot School
Preschool Corner
TGIF
Field Trip Friday Blog Hop

Where are all the children?

2011-11-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

It was 10:30AM on a beautiful fall day in November. I walk my children, 3 and 4 years old, to our neighborhood playground to play and enjoy an unseasonably warm day. We arrive at the playground to find it vacant. Completely and utterly vacant. This is a normal experience for us. Even though our neighborhood is home to many families with young children, seeing a child during the day is a very rare site. "Where are all the children?" I wonder.

After coming home, we snuggle on the couch and read some books. Marcus enjoys playing "I spy" with me lately.
"I spy with my little eye something that begins with F on this page," I say to him.
"I know...Fox!" Marcus shouts.

Later we head to the grocery stores. I see many men and women there. I see no children over the age of 6 months. We live in a community where early academics is thought of as a necessity. A child is sent away to school at a young age and that is the norm. It is rare for a 3 and 4 year old not to be enrolled in some type of formal schooling.

A lady shopping for her family pushes her cart next to mine. We are both pricing cereals. She comments about how brave I am to "come shopping with children."

"I never go to the grocery store with my children if I don't have to!" She tells me.

I smile. But to be honest with you, I am thinking that shopping with children isn't bravery at all. It is normal and natural for me. My children go where I go. The more regularly and consistently a child is brought into circumstances like that, the quicker they learn what is socially acceptable to do and not to do.

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On another day I take my kids to a local science program for homeschoolers. Today we are learning about density. The children try to guess whether an object will sink or float and record their predictions in their science notebooks. Finally, they test their hypotheses by placing the objects in water.

Like most homeschool programs there is a wide range of people in this room. There are babies. There are school aged children. There are toddlers. There are parents. There are even some grandparents who have come to see the fun. The people in this room all converse and interact easily. A first grader bends down to play peak-a-boo with a baby.   Another girl who is probably in third grade invites Sophie over. "Don't you want to do the experiment too?" She asks. Sophie nods.    "Here," she says. "I will help you. I used to do this same experiment when I was little."   Sophie smiles. She enjoys getting the special attention.

One of the grandmothers comes over to the table where the kids are doing their experiment. She picks up a penny from the table. (One of the objects that the children are testing to see if it will sink or float.) She says aloud, "Oh, this is a copper penny."
"How can you tell?" asks another boy.
The lady explains how to tell if the penny is made from mostly copper or zinc. The boy listens fascinated about his "special" penny.

This type of behavior is a common thing to see at these programs. And yet, it still gives me a happy surprise. I do have to admit that before I had spent much time around homeschoolers, I had this crazy notion that they were all strange, basement-dwelling-creatures who were "weird" and "unsocial". I had this visual in my head of a bunch of girls wearing long denim jumpers with permed hair that never were around other kids or people.   I had read enough to know that children who are homeschooled out perform their public schooled peers academically. However, I just assumed that they were all awkward and strange creatures lacking any type of social skills. After all, they weren't in a classroom with 30 other kids all day...right? My impressions were changed drastically after spending some time with homeschoolers.

Most homeschoolers are used to interacting and socializing with a wide variety of ages.   Not just people their exact same age. They are used to being patient with a younger children because they are around them all day. They enjoy hearing stories from an older generation. They can play with children their age or younger or older.   To them, this is natural. And you know what? It is.

We often send our children away to be socialized. However, perhaps being around thirty children your exact same age isn't the way we are meant to be socialized. That isn't how real life works. Children naturally and instinctively model their behavior after others. Perhaps modeling their behavior off of 30 other immature beings isn't the best way to teach children how to act in life.   And research supports this. In fact, there are numerous reports that show that the more time a child is separated from their direct care giver, the more aggressive and noncomplying they become. Perhaps because they are modeling their behavior off of so many other immature beings. (example)

In real life you interact with people from many different ages. You learn to share knowledge with those younger than yourself. You learn to listen to and learn from those who have more experience. In fact, the last time I ever was in a group of people my exact same age was when I was in school. Since then, whether in college, working at a career, or making friends as an adult, life has required that I interact and socialize with people from many different age groups.

I start to think that perhaps separating children from our adult world is not the key to socialization. Perhaps children need this interaction with the older generation. Perhaps it is beneficial to have adult interaction and experiences modeled from them.

And you know what? I start to realize how creepy it is to live in a world where children are so absent and separated from the adult world. And I am not the only one coming to this realization.

I am not saying that children in a traditional classroom environment are incapable of interacting with people who are a different age. Please don't misunderstand. I am just saying that the being "socialized" in a wide group of ages is not a hindrance to children. In fact, quite the opposite, the added practice helps them to be more social and capable beings.

---

’You are very much older than I am,’ said Winston. ’You must have been a grown man before I was born. You can remember what it was like in the old days, before the Revolution. People of my age don’t really know anything about those times. We can only read about them in books, and what it says in the books may not be true. I should like your opinion on that....

From 1984, by George Orwell.

Thanksgiving Book Suggestions

2011-11-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

2) The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Green, Paintings by Susan Baber
Written in cumulative rhyme, this beautifully illustrated book tells the story of the first Thanksgiving. The repetitive text is fantastic for children learning to read as it gives them a chance to help tell the story. What makes this book unique is the way that the story is told. The book starts out showing the very first Thanksgiving feast, and slowly backtracks to tell the story of the Pilgrim's first year in America.

3) Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin
This book tells the story of a traditional New England Thanksgiving on a cranberry farm. The book is a great reminder that we can't always judge 'a book by its cover' and that sometimes appearances may deceive. Children will enjoy looking for Grandmother's secret and famous recipe for Cranberry Bread which is hidden in the book. Baking this bread will become a wonderful new tradition for you and your family.

4) It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky, Illustrated by Marylin Hafner
We love reading poetry together as a family. And after checking this book out of the library, I just knew that it would someday become a permanent member of our home library. This collection of poetry talks about so many different aspects of this holiday--usually in a very humorous way. This book contains poems about the very first Thanksgiving, a funny poem about "Dad's football game" after the big meal, a poem about the Thanksgiving Day parade (where it is drizzling...isn't it always drizzling during the Thanksgiving Day parade?!), and another very humorous poem about the things we do with all of those turkey leftovers.

5) Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, Illustrated by Doris Barrette
This is a great book for very young children. The pictures are charming and inviting, the text is simple, but the message is a good one.

6) This is the Feast by Diane Z. Shore, Illustrated by Megan Lloyd
This book is written in a lyrical verse which makes it a joy to read aloud to children. The illustration are meticulous and breathtaking. Children will really get a sense of what life on the Mayflower might have been like.

7) The Pilgrim Cat by Carol Antoinette Peacock, Illustrated by Doris Ettlinger
This was another book that we checked out and knew that we would one day have to buy. My little girl actually cried when it came time to return this to the library! That is how much she loved this book. And I enjoyed reading it as much as my children enjoyed hearing it. The book is a historical fiction which follows a cat who jumps aboard the Mayflower as it is departing England. The cat is befriended by a young girl named Faith. The book is richly illustrated and a pleasure to read. The reader really gets a feel for what life might have been like for a child aboard the mayflower.

This is just a small list of the many fantastic books available on this holiday. My hope is that this list will help get you started on building your own Thanksgiving book basket.

Thanks for reading!
Cathy

Links I'm Attached To:

Curriculum- Preschool 2011-2012 Year

2011-10-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

I thought that I had better update my curriculum thread and post some changes that we have made this year. Again, I apologize for the length of this post!

This year both kids are still in preschool. So I am calling this Marcus's P5 year and Sophie's P4 year.   We are using Sonlight's P4/5 as our main curriculum, however I took out some of the books and added in some others. I have marked the sonlight books with an asterisk.

Bible: 5 X per week
The Jesus Storybook Bible
Family-Time Bible in Pictures *
Seeds Family Worship Music
Simply Charlotte Mason Memory System
I love, love, love Seeds Family Worship. I can't say enough good things about it. The CDs are made for kids--however, I enjoy them too. (I can't say that about most children's music!) We are learning approximately a new verse every week by singing the songs and dancing around to them. Best of all, you can listen to all of their music for free online here. Plus, you can even print out index cards and a progress checklist here. We use our memory index cards in a little filing box using the Simply Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System. This helps us practice things we have already memorized so we don't forget.

Calendar Board: 5-7 X per week
Our Calendar Setup (Separate Post Coming Soon!)
Our Memory Work List (Separate Post Coming Soon!)
Our Song List (Separate Post Coming Soon!)
Please note: I PROMISE I will talk more about our calendar setup in a future post. I know I have made this promise before! (Yikes!) But this time I am REALLY going to make an effort to get some pictures taken and uploaded. I will also talk a bit more about our "Grammar Stage" memory work and give you some ideas on how to implement that in your own home if you are interested.

Reading: 3-5 X per week
All About Reading Pre-Level 1 (Starting on the Lesson 27 until finished)
~~Explode the Code: Get Ready for the Code (Book A)~~
~~Explode the Code: Get Set for the Code (Book B)~~
~~Explode the Code, Go for the Code (Book C)~~
Update on April 20, 2012: After using the Explode the Code books for only a short period of time, we decided to put them away until the kids are older. My son does not enjoy workbooks at all. These workbooks were especially difficult for him because of all of the writing they require. We found that the AAR Pre-Level 1 program was more than enough for him. It was very fun and his favorite part of school.

Handwriting: 3-5 Xs per week
Scholastic's Pre-Writing Practice Pages

From time to time we will do a page from Scholastic's Pre-Writing Practice Pages ebook. When we are not doing that, we also practice some pre-writing activities given to us by Marcus's occupational therapist. Our "Explode the Code" workbooks also have some writing practice. So using this variety of materials, we try to practice our "grip" and control of writing instruments everyday.
Update on April 20, 2012: About halfway through the year, we put away the pre-writing exercises and repeated Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K with Marcus and Sophie. They are doing great! I find this program easy to teach and VERY effective.

Math: 3-5 X per week (Marcus and Sophie working at their own pace separately)
Right Start Level A
Mathtacular 1 DVDMath Game- 1 X per week using:
Family Math for Young Children
The Math activities in What your Kindergartner Needs to Know

Science: 2 Xs per week
Elemental Science Early Years Curriculum (1 experiment per week, 1 separate nature study)
~~Science Play (This is the main "spine" of the Elemental Science Early Years Curriculum )~~
~~Science Notebooks~~

Our Elemental Science Living Book List (Separate Post Coming Soon!)

The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature *
The Year at Maple Hill Farm *
What's Under the Sea *
Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There is? *
How Do You Lift a Lion? *
What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew? *
How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World *
Why Do Tigers Have Stripes *
Update on April 20, 2012: We found that Elemental Science did not work for us at all. So we stopped using it early in the year. My son LOVES science so I really just try to encourage him in this area by giving him the tools he needs to explore and investigate the world around him. We found the science books in Sonlight's P4/5 to be fantastic.

Storybook Science Nature Study Class- (2Xs per month)
We participate in a local science class for preschoolers called Storybook Science. This class takes place every other Thursday. The classes are fabulous. A naturalist from one of our local parks leads the class. She usually reads the children a picture book that talks about something from nature. Then, we play a game where the children learn about the topic discussed in the picture book. Finally, the naturalist takes us outdoors on a nature walk to look for something in nature that relates to our topic. I am learning just as much as the children on these walks.

Language Arts "Read Alouds": 1 X per week
First Thousand Words *  We use First Thousands words as a way to build our vocabulary by playing a fun "I Spy" game with the words on the margins of the pictures. I say the word and the children have to find it in the main picture. We also use the word list at the back of the book to have the kids search the picture for an object that begins with a certain letter sound.

Social Studies: 1 X per week
People *
Then and Now *
Things People Do *
What do People Do All Day (A Sonlight P3/4 book that we haven't finished yet.)

French
Play and Learn French by Ana Lomba and Marcela Summerville
Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Easy French Storybook + CD)
Boucle D'or et les Tois Ours (Easy French Storybook + CD)
1000 First Words in French
Muzzy (French)
Professor Toto (French)

Art Appreciation Reading and Discussion: 1 X per week
A Child's Book of Art *
~~The Usborne Book of Famous Paintings~~
~~13 Paintings Children Should Know~~
~~13 Artist Children Should Know~~
Field trips to our local art museums
We typically go through just a page per day of one of these books. I find a couple of pictures and we simply talk about them. I try to ask leading questions and see what the children can observe from the paintings. (For example: "Does this painting look like it was painted recently or a long time ago?" "What is the first thing that you see when you look at this painting?" "Does it look like those horses are standing still or moving? How can you tell?" etc etc.) I am focusing less on knowing the names of the paintings or artists and more on just enjoying and appreciating the art.

Art: 1 X per week
Artistic Pursuits "The Way They See It"
Storybook Art by MaryAnn Kohl
Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl

We are currently using the Artistic Pursuits program designed for preschool aged kids. Although I am ONLY using it because I already spent the money on it. I do not recommend you purchase it. To be honest with you, I think you would be much better off spending your money on one of the various MaryAnn Kohl art books for children. Artistic Pursuits has some wonderful art books for older children, however I don't really like her preschool art book. The author talks a lot about how a preschooler's art should focus more on the process rather than the product...but most of her projects seem to be very product oriented IMO. I also think that the fonts she uses are overly decorative and hard to read. Which for some reason annoys me.    Overall, I think the book is way overpriced for what you get.

We are going to make the best of it, however, and use what we can from the book. Then I am going to move on to Storybook Art and Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl.   And we will do some select projects from both of those books. Those books are much more affordable and much more fun for kids. I would recommend that parents supplement those books with full color pictures of the art work that she references. You can't appreciate the art very well from a tiny black and white picture.

Music:
Singing and finger plays together once per day
Themes to Remember (Listen to informally.)
What your Kindergartner Needs to Know Music Activities (Once a Month)

Literature (What I call our "Read Alouds"):
First Chapter Books
Uncle Wiggily's Storybook by Howard R. Garis *
Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill
Jenny's Moonlit Adventure by Esther Averill
The Hotel Cat by Esther Averill
Captains of the City Streets by Esther Averill
The School for Cats by Esther Averill
The Hotel Cat by Esther Averill
Jenny Goes to Sea by Esther Averill
The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit by Don Daily (from stories collected by Joel Chandler Harris) *
Teddy Robinson Stories by Joan G. Robinson
Necklace of Raindrops by Joan Aiken
The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook by Joyce Lankester Brisley *
Peter Rabbit's Giant Storybook by Beatrix Potter
The Children's Book of Virtues edited by William J. Bennet *
Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
The Tough Winter by Robert Lawson
Paddington Bear by Michael Bond (We may add the sequels if the children enjoy this book.)
Raggedy Ann and Andy book by Johnny Gruelle
Usborne Stories of Knights and Castles by Anna Milbourne
Aesop's Fables illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel by Thorton Burgess
Adventures of Peter Cottontail by Thorton Burgess
Adventures of Danny the Meadow Mouse by Thorton Burgess
The Adventures of Reddy Fox by Thorton Burgess
The Adventures of Buster Bear by Thorton Burgess
The Adventures of Grandfather Frog by Thorton Burgess
(Thorton Burgess Box Set has all 6 titles)
A Child's Introduction to Greek Mythology
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl

Picture Books:

Simply Charlotte Mason Early Years Reading List
Peak with Books Book List (Reading the books only. Not doing the whole program)
FIAR Picture Book List (Again, just reading the books only. Not doing the whole program)
Various Holiday Books (separate post coming soon!)

Poetry:
The Mother Goose Treasury (Any nicely illustrated version will do!)
When we were very young by A.A. Milne
Animal Poems Illustrated by Meg Rutherford, Compiled by Polly Richardson
Here's a Little Poem: A very first book of poetry, collected by Jane Yolen, Illustrated by Polly Dunbar
Poetry for Young People series (Animal Poems is a good one to start with...but my children love animals so perhaps we are biased.)
Robert Louis Stenson's A Child's Garden of Verses (any nicely illustrated version will do!) I like the one illustrated by Alice & Martin Provensen although it doesn't contain all of the poems. Another one I like is the illustrated version by Tasha Tudor which is a more complete version.)
Don't Bump the Glump and Other Fantasies by Shel Silverstein
Read Aloud Treasury of Read-Aloud Poems for Young People

Audio Books and Stories:
Jim Weiss's Audio Storybooks

World Cultures / Geography:

Usborne Stories from Around the World *
The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book *
Around the World in 80 Tales
Stories from Africa *
The Gods Must be Angry *
New Toes for Tia *
A Child's Introduction to the World
Some FIAR books (Many FIAR books are great introduction to other cultures and geographic locations!)

We are doing a continent study where we read about and study each of the 7 major continents. To supplement this study, I read to the children from stories set in the various locations we are studying. This is just a gentle introduction to the world and to different cultures. In a separate post (this one is long enough!) I will share how I organized this study.

Field Trips and Clubs:

ECHO Group- Social and Educational Field Trips approx 1-4 times per week. (Tour of police station, tour of bakery, play date at the park, trip to the art museum, etc. etc.)
Kids Book Club (1 X per month)
Fun Fridays with Friends Kids Club (1 X per week)
Taekwondo (2 X per week)
Gymnastics (1 X per week)
Homeschool Co-Op- (1 X per week) The kids take a world cultures class and a preschool story book art class.

---

* A Sonlight P4/5 book

The Winner of the Lentil Giveaway

2011-07-16T05:07:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Amber! She is the winner of our recent giveaway for the book Lentil by Robert McCloskey. The winner was chosen at random using the random number generator at random.org.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest!

Sonlight or Five in a Row?

2011-07-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

(Sure...this is "exactly" how I look everyday...lol)

If you are a fan of my blog, you will know that we recently started a new literature based curriculum this summer called Five in a Row. The program is called "Five in a Row" because a single book is read five days in a row. (This is called "rowing" a book.) Each day a different subject is covered which pertains to something discussed in the book. (Note: You can see what a typical week of FIAR looks like for us here to get a better idea of how the program works.) We are using this program as a sort of a filler year over the summer and fall until we are ready to order Sonlight P4/P5.

Since I began blogging about Five in a Row I have gotten multiple emails from people asking me which I like better: Sonlight or Five in a Row.

Here I will give some of my thoughts on the subject for those who are interested.

Sonlight or Five in a Row?
The short answer to your question is this: I think that the two programs actually complement each other VERY nicely. So I would say that there is absolutely no reasons that you would have to choose between the two programs. So, I would start thinking in terms of Sonlight AND FIAR.

The two things that these programs have in common is an absolute incredible ability to choose wonderful children's literature. I have been blown away by their selections. They happen to choose books that not only appeal to the adult in the child, but also to the child in the adult. Some of the stories/books are timeless classics that you will probably be familiar with. Others are books that I never would have discovered on my own if it hadn't been for FIAR and Sonlight. But my short answer is that all of these books are absolutely wonderful. Even if you don't do the entire FIAR program as intended (reading the books five days in a row and doing all of the activities) I would at the very least use FIAR as a reading list. You won't want to miss these books.   The one con to both of these programs is that they will probably turn you into a children's book snob. (I say that half jokingly.) What I mean is that It is hard to go back to everyday children's twaddle after spending so much time with Sonlight and FIAR books. *

One of the big differences between FIAR and Sonlight, is that FIAR puts a lot more emphasis on picture books. In fact, picture books make up their entire program until you get to Beyond Five in a Row which was developed for 8-12 year olds. One of the most wonderful things that FIAR has taught me (as a parent/teacher) is to appreciate these picture books immensely. I used to think that these picture books were "babyish" and basically just a stepping stone until the child has the attention span to listen to chapter books. However, I have learned that these picture books talk about incredibly deep subjects and the stories they have to tell are anything but babyish.   I have also learned to have such an appreciation for them as an art form. So I am happy to include them both in what I read to my children.

Sonlight books, on the other hand, put a lot more emphasis on books with fewer pictures.   Actually, the only Sonlight core which is made up of picture books is their very first preschool core (Sonlight P3/P4). After that, they move to a lot more chapter books (even in their core for 4 & 5 year olds-P4/P5 books!) This is one of the reasons I say that FIAR and Sonlight complement each other very well. Sonlight is going to have a lot of the longer read-alouds that you might read each day over the course of several days. FIAR is going to be centered around picture books that you can easily read in one sitting.    Which is better? I think that both are important for different reasons. With picture books much of the story is stated implicitly. You have to derive details from the pictures which teaches children to pay attention to small details while they are reading. (Example: Night of the Moonjellies). Non-picture books force the child to imagine the story for themselves (picturing how the setting and characters might look or sound like). They also help build attention span.

Another difference between sonlight and FIAR is some of the topics that they talk about. There is a really great article that I recommend reading called 27 reasons NOT to buy Sonlight. I would say read these and if you find that a large amount apply to you , then I would skip sonlight because you probably aren't going to like it. In particular I will talk about their reasons 6, 11, 15, 21, and 22. Take for example, the Brer Rabbit tales included in Sonlight P4/P5. Sonlight includes this in their core because they feel that these are classic tales which have a unique historical and cultural importance. However, I have heard some people complain about these stories because in the stories Brer rabbit lies and cheats and generally gets away with it. Although the stories are lighthearted and funny, their are some parents who don't even like to expose their chidlren to character traits like that at this age. (Espeically when cheating seems to get the character ahead in life!) It is Sonlight's opinion that parents need to talk with their children about right vs. wrong while reading the books. And that books alone can't teach character lessons. In fact, most of Sonlights curriculum is centered around the conversation that is supposed to happen naturally as you read these books. However, if you feel like stories like this are not something you want to bring in your home, you probably aren't going to like Sonlight in general. Another example would be Sonlight P3/P4 core are classic fairly tales. In sonlight's opinion, these fairy tales and nursery tales are an important part of our handed down traditions in literature. Sonlight feels that it is important that children be familiar with some of these stories since they are referred to so often in our culture. On the other hand, some parents don't like fairy tales because of some of the topics that come up.   (For example in Hansel and Gretel, their step mother tries to get rid of the children by leading them off into the woods alone!)   As far as this issue is concerned, there is no right or wrong answer here. I just bring this up so that you are aware of some criticism that Sonlight has received and you can decide what is right for YOUR family. I also brought up some of the more controversial stories in both the preschool cores so that you might be able to check them out from the library and see if you have a problem with them.    The majority of the people I have talked to love Sonlight. However, some have complained because they don't like some of the books sonlight chooses based on character issues. You have to decide how you feel about this.

In both Five in a Row and Sonlight, some heavy topics are discussed through the use of children's books. For example, in the Five in a Row book Who Owns the Sun the topic of slavery is brought up which wasn't something I would have planned to talking to my 3 and 4 year old about. However, I think that all of the books are written with taste and sensitivity and in a way that even young children can understand.

Which Do I Personally Like Better?
Well, bottom line is that I like both programs...and I have found both useful and worthwhile.    Also, like I said before, the good news is that we don't have to pick one vs. the other. We can have both. :) However, I guess if I had to pick one, I would probably pick Sonlight.

We are three weeks into FIAR now, and to tell you the truth, I have very mixed feelings on it. One one hand, it is a very fun program. And the books are just superb. I was pre-reading one of them last night (The rag coat) and I was seriously crying my eyes out at the end of it! Over a picture book! So they are truly great books and touch on a lot of important subjects that I never would have thought to bring up on my own. Plus, we have been doing a lot of neat things.

On the other hand, I still feel like FIAR is VERY planning intensive for mom. (That is my biggest complaint about FIAR.) Also, Marcus really doesn't like reading the same book over and over again. He likes more variety.   So--to be honest with you, our family enjoyed our time learning with Sonlight more than FIAR. So if I could only pick one for some reason, it would probably be Sonlight.

I like it that sonlight does all of the planning and scheduling for you. I just pick up the instructors guide and I have a complete put together curriculum that is also centered around great books. So I had more time to actually just enjoy being with my children instead of time spent planning and gathering supplies.FIAR also seems more appealing from reading a blog point of view. (Lots of great pictures.) However, sonlight is more appealing from an implementation point of view.

However, like I said, FIAR books are excellent...so at the very least I would tell people to use the program as a reading list. You don't want to miss these books. :)

Are you thinking of ordering from Sonlight?
If so, if you click on the banner below to complete your order, you can save $5 on your order of $50 or more. Just enter my rewards number upon registering (CH20271164).

Are you thinking of ordering from Five in a Row?
I have found that you can save significant money on the Five in a Row teachers manuals by ordering them used from Amazon. I have gotten all of mine that way, and I have been very pleased with their quality and price.
Before Five in a Row
Five in a Row Vol. 1
Five in a Row Vol. 2
Five in a Row Vol. 3

Do you have a question for The Attached Mama? You can ask your question here!

*Links to Become Attached To:
Some other great reading lists/literature based curriculum that I would recommend checking out in addition to Sonlight and FIAR are:

(I haven't loved every book from Simply Charlotte Mason, but there are many treasures in there. You will notice some overlap between all of these lists. However, their are many treasures that I would see if your library has. )

Also, to see how other families like Sonlight and Five in a Row, check out these links:

Win a copy of Lentil By Robert McCloskey!--CLOSED

2011-07-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

In honor of our recent fun "rowing" the book Lentil by Robert McCloskey, I would like to offer my readers a chance to win a copy of the book.

I hope this will give you the chance to enjoy this book in your own home!

How to Enter to Win:
Mandatory Entry- Leave a comment on this post.

After that, additional entries may be earned by doing the following:
(Remember to leave a comment for each one of these so the entry counts!)

1) If you subscribe via RSS, or email, or Google Friends Connect, give yourself an extra entry.
2) "Liking" The Attached Mama's Facebook page
3) Following The Attached Mama on Twitter
4) Blogging about this giveaway (Please leave a link back to your blog)
5) Tweeting about this giveaway
6) Updating your facebook status about this giveaway
7) Visit this post every day and do it all again!

Sample Tweet:

@TheAttachedMama is giving away a free copy of the book Lentil by Robert McCloskey. You can enter to win here: theattachedmama.blogspot.com/2011/07/win-co…

Rules: The winner will be drawn at random using the site random.org. So remember to leave a comment for each entry so they count. I will contact the winner at the end of the contest through email. (Please make sure you have email notification enabled in your comments OR leave your email address in your comment.) The winner will receive a brand spankin' new copy of the book Lentil by Robert McCloskey in the mail. This giveaway will close at 12:00AM (Eastern Time) on July 15, 2011. This giveaway is open to people living in the continental USA only.

FIAR: Lentil by Robert McCloskey

2011-07-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

Would you like to win a copy of this book? See my latest giveaway here!

This week we "rowed" the book Lentil by Robert McCloskey.

In this story, a boy named Lentil wants to make music. However, he can't sing and he can't even "pucker his lips" to whistle. However, he discovers he has a special talent for playing the harmonica. Lentil uses this talent to save the day when a calamity threatens the homecoming celebration for the leading citizen of Alto, Ohio.

Social Studies: Geography
The story of Lentil takes place is a fictional small town in Ohio. WELL...we happen to live in a small town in Ohio. So this happens to be a setting that my children could very much relate to! We placed a story disc for Lentil on our map for the state of Ohio. Every day we would take the story disc off and review where it went on the map.

Our Lentil story disc on the map

Social Studies: Human Relationships
In the story Lentil couldn't sing. He can't even pucker his lips so even whistling is out of the question. I asked Marcus and Sophie if they have ever been part of a group where others were doing something that they couldn't do. Marcus remembered that at the swimming pool the other kids could hold their breath and jump into the water. However, he was afraid to get his face wet, so he could only climb in slowly. We talked about what it felt like to not be able to do something that everyone else could do. We talked about how Lentil might have felt when everyone else could sing or whistle but he wasn't able to pucker. However, Lentil wanted to make music, so he wasn't satisfied until he discovered that he could play the harmonica. We talked about the importance of individual differences and discovering our own personal uniqueness.

We also talked about how Lentil's weakness became an asset to him. At the end of the story, Old Sneep is sucking on a Lemon which makes the entire Alto marching band pucker up so they can't play their instruments. Since Lentil wasn't able to pucker, he was unaffected. Lentil was able to still play his harmonica which allowed him to save the town celebration.

The entire marching band puckers up when they see Old Sneep sucking on a lemon. This means they aren't able to play their instruments.

Social Studies: Patriotism
The town of Alto hangs flags all over their streets in honor of Colonel Carter's homecoming celebration.

The streets are decorated with the American Flag before Colonel Carter's arrival

I showed Marcus and Sophie the flag for the United States of America. We talked a little bit about the symbolism of the flag. We talked about how the stars represented each of the 50 states. We also talked about how the stripes represented the original 13 colonies.

We also rowed this book during our town's Independence Day Celebration. So we had a lot of opportunities to talk about Patriotism. We decorated our house in the colors of our flag. I sewed some homemade red, white, and blue pillows and table clothes with stars and stripes in them. We also tied dyed red, white, and blue T-shirts.

The kids and their daddy in their homemade shirts wave their flags high in the air!

Later we also went and watched our Independence Day parade. (Very similar to the one planned in the story!) Our small Ohio town hung flags all over the streets in preparation of the big event. We wore our patriotic shirts and waved our flag as the band and soldiers marched past. This was also an excellent time to talk about flag etiquette. We talked about how we could show our flag respect by never letting it touch the ground, dragging the flag, or stepping on it. The kids took this responsibility very seriously as they waved their flags!

A Parade through a Small Town in Ohio

That night, we gathered together with the family to watch our towns firework display.

Our view for the fireworks

Sophie and Marcus were finally old enough to even light a sparkler. (They have been wanting to do this for years!)

Dad teaches the kids how to safely hold a sparkler

Math: Patterns, Fine Motor Skills, and Art/Handicraft
On another day we brought out our countries flag again. We reviewed what colors were in our flag. We also reviewed the symbolism of the stars and stripes by counting them again. I also asked the kids if they saw any patterns in our flag. Sophie noticed that the stripes went "Red, White, Red, White, Red, White..." I then brought out some red, white, and blue pony beads and some tipped laces. I practiced making a pattern and the kids would try to recognize and continue the pattern. I then gave the kids the beads and they practiced stringing them in their own patterns. Marcus made me a beautiful red, white, and blue necklace that I could wear to the fireworks. It takes a lot of work for a 4 year old to string that many beads! So it really touched my heart how much love he put into my necklace and how hard he worked out it!!

Necklace Craft Tot-Tray

Art: Whittling as a Handicraft
In the book, Old Sneep is jealous of Colonel Carter. So while everyone else is planning for his homecoming celebration, Old Sneep just keeps "whittling and grumbling."

Whittling is where you carve an object by repeatedly cutting small slices from it. Most young kids are probably not going to be familiar with what it means to whittle. So, we decided to give the kids a chance to practice this craft on a bar of soap using a butter knife.

Sophie and her friends "whittling" soap. (Sophie just finished running through the sprinkler. She is a busy girl!)

Sophie really got into this activity, she made several "sharks" out of soap and even stuck toothpicks into them. I am not sure what the toothpicks were supposed to be on the shark! However, she really got into giving her sharks spines. I call it artistic license.

Sophie's Soap Sharks

Sensory Play:
After having a large group of kids over whittling soap, we had a lot of soap shavings left over. The other moms and I were tying think of what we could do with all of those shavings since it seemed like such a shame to throw them away. Luckily, my friend is a former preschool teacher and full of great ideas. She suggested that we set up a little sensory play with our soap.

Impromptu Soap Shaving Sensory Experiences

We let the kids mix the shaving with bits of water and stir and move them around. This created a lot of slippery and slimy fun for the kids. You've got to love summer for fun experiences like this.

Marcus decides to add some ice cubes to his soap concoction

Science: Our Sense of Taste
Old Sneep's plan for ruining Colonel Carter's celebration involves sucking on a lemon.

This causes the band members lips to pucker up so they can't play their instruments. We used this as a springboard for a discussion on our taste buds.

Activity #1: Tongue Tests
We talked about how we use our tongue to taste things. We also discussed how different parts of our tongue can taste different things the best. I had the kids stick out their tongues in front of a mirror and we looked at the small bumps on the surface of our tongue. We also discussed which parts of our tongue taste different things.

This picture is from the Usborne Flip Flap Body Book. This is one of the science books in our Sonlight P3/P4 curriculum.

I then set out a series of substances for them to taste. I gave them unsweetened chocolate for bitter, salt water for salty, lemon juice for sour, and sugar water for sweet. This is important because most preschoolers are probably familiar with what sweet taste like. However, most are probably not familiar with what sour, bitter, and salty tastes like.

Bitter, Salty, Sour, and Sweet Substances

Then we did the following experiment to show how different parts of our tongue taste things differently:
1) Dip a q-tip into the sugar water and dab it on the back of our tongues. Then one side, and then the tip. I asked the kids where it tasted the sweetest. (Answer the tip of our tongue.)
2) Next we rinsed our mouth with water and repeated the same process for the bitter, salty, and sour substances.

Marcus really did pucker his lips up after he tasted a sour lemon for the first time! He looked just like an Alto band member!

Activity #2: Smelling Tastes
We then talked about how our foods can taste differently when we have a stuffed up nose. So we talked about how our sense of smell plays an important part in our ability to distinguish between different tastes. We did this experiment to show this:
1) With a blindfold on, I had the kids taste cherry yogurt and banana yogurt. I asked them if they could tell the difference? (Answer yes.)
2) Next, I had them pinch their nose and taste the yogurts again. This time they couldn't tell a difference between the two yogurts.
We discussed how our tongue can only tell that both yogurts taste sweet. It can not distinguish between the different flavors. We use our sense of smell to disquisition between the different flavors. That is why our food sometimes doesn't taste as good when we have a cold.

The kids learning how our sense of smell plays an important part in our ability to distinguish between various flavors.

Science: Sound and Acoustics
Lentil practices his harmonica in the bathtub. He says, "There the sound is improved 100%." So on another day we used this as a start for a discussion on sound and acoustics.

 Activity #1: Sound is made when something vibrates
In our first activity, we stretched some rubber bands over a shoe box to make a "rubber band guitar." I had the kids pluck the elastic to make a sound. We noticed that the bands vibrate. (I told them that vibrate means to move back and forth quickly.) We talked about how sound is a form of traveling energy produced when something vibrates.

Activity #2: How do we make sound?
I had the kids put their fingers on the lump in the middle of their throat. I then had them sing to see what it feels like. They could feel their throat vibrating. We talked about how you have parts in your throat called vocal chords which vibrate when we make sounds.

Marcus and Sophie singing and feeling the vibration in their throats.

Activity #3: Sound Catcher
We talked about how sound waves travel through the air. So, we made a "sound catcher" out of a paper towel roll with freezer paper taped to the end so that we could feel some of these sound waves. (You have to get the paper pretty tight to get this to work.) We sung through the paper towel rolls and we could feel the paper vibrating as our sound waves hit it. We sang high notes which send very fast waves through the air. This made the paper vibrate quickly. Then we sang low notes which send slow waves through the air. This made the paper vibrate slowly.

"Sound Catchers" in Action

Activity #4: Bottle Music
The next thing we did was blow across the top of an empty bottle to see if we could make a sound. We then put a little bit of water into a bottle and blew across the top of it again. We noticed that the sound changed. I explained that the more water we put in, the less air was left in the bottle. Smaller amounts of air vibrate more quickly and that made a higher sound.

Learning about sound using some empty soda bottles

Activity #5: How do we hear a sound?
We talked about how the shape of our ears helps us to catch sound waves. We then talked about how the sound goes down the tunnel in our ear and hits a special piece of skin stretched across the tunnel called an ear drum.

We hit a drum to show them how the surface of the drum will vibrate when you hit it. We talked about how our ear drum works in the same way. When the sound waves hit it, it "wobbles". We then talked about how our brain interprets messages about those "wobbles" and can tell what kind of sound we heard.

We used this page from the Usborne Flip Flap Body Book to explain how our hearing works.

Activity #6: How does a harmonica make sound?
We took out our harmonica and talked about how harmonicas are played by blowing air into the various holes. I told them that the holes are also called reed chambers. Each of these chambers has multiple, variable tuned reeds. The reeds are secured at one end and loose on the other end. When you blow into the holes it causes the loose end of the reed to vibrate and create a sound.

Photo courtesy of Musicians Webstore

The kids were not familiar with what a reed was, so I showed them how a reed works using a piece of grass. (Some people call this a grass horn.) To make one of these find a piece of grass about 4" long and sandwich it between your thumbs stretching it tight. (It takes some practice to hold it tight enough to make a sound.) Then blow!

Photo courtesy of WikiHow

Activity #7: Why did Lentil's harmonica sound better in the bathtub?
In our next activity we talked about why Lentil's harmonica playing sounded so much better in his bathtub. It improved the sound in two ways: volume and reverberation.

a) Volume: Hard, smooth surfaces (like Lentil's bathtub) absorb very little sound. The sound would reflect back and forth between the walls of the bathtub before eventually dying a way. Since all of this sound energy was contained in such a small space, Lentil's bathtub boosts his harmonica's sound intensity.

b) Reverberation: With many reflected sound waves bouncing around in the bathtub, some sound waves wind up traveling farther than others before finally arriving at your ear. This stretches out the sound you hear, an effect called reverberation. So when Lentil would play a note with his harmonica, the sound would seem to hang in the air long after each note is made. This would result in a richer and fuller sound.

To show this we did two different activities.

First we talked about absorption. We talked about how soft surfaces can absorb forces. Whereas hard surfaces can often reflect sounds. Marcus and Sophie had trouble picturing what I was talking about so we used a ball to show this. The ball didn't bounce when thrown on a cushion because the cushion absorbed the force. The ball did bounce on hard surfaces.

The ball will not bounce on a cushion.

The ball did bounce on hard surfaces. Just like sound will.

Next we actually got inside the bathtub and tried singing. We could hear the reverberation when we did this. Next we got in our beds (with lots of soft surfaces) and tried singing. We could hear the changes in volume and our sounds didn't sound as rich and full.

Marcus singing in his bed.

Making Memories: Lentil Parade and Ice Cream Party
In the story, Lentil saves the day by playing "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain" on his harmonica. The entire town of Alto, Ohio marches to Colonel Carter's house while Lentil plays. Then the entire town enjoys ice cream cones...and even Old Sneep is happy at the end.

At the end of the week we invited our friends over for a Lentil party. Each kid wore red, white, and blue and brought a musical instrument. We marched from our house to a nearby playground playing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain when she comes". We played on the playground (aka the "train station") for a bit and then came back to my house for ice cream cones. It was a great time!

Our parade! Kids are playing "She'll be coming around the mountain!"
Picture source: Strader Speil

We came back for Ice Cream and Lemonade after the parade
Picture source: Strader Speil

Links to Become Attached To:
Soap Whittling Tips from Ivory
A WikiHow page on how to make a grass horn.
Preschool Corner (See what others are doing this week!)
Math Mondays- See other ideas for exploring math concepts with children
Tot School- Tons of ideas for learning at home with your tot

Would you like to win a copy of this book? See my latest giveaway here!

MathStart Books: Fun with Sorting

2011-06-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

We had some fun today with blocks and exploring sorting things by various attributes.

Get Ready:

You will need some things from around the house that can be easily sorted by various attributes. (Color, Size, Shape, etc.) Some ideas would be socks, buttons, books, or shoes. For this activity we used mini unit blocks similar to these.

Activity 1: One of these Things Doesn't Belong Here
We reviewed the concepts of "alike" and "different" by playing the game, "One of these things doesn't belong here." I would line up four objects. Three of these objects would be alike in some way. One of the objects would be different in some way. All of the objects would have something in common. I had the kids pick out the different object. I even sang the old sesame street song to the kids because I couldn't resist.

Acitvity 2: Guess the rule
The next game we played was called "Guess The Rule". I would start sorting the objects and the kids would try to guess what attribute I was sorting them by. We did some talking by asking questions like:
1) How are all of the objects alike? (In our case Sophie said that they were all made of wood.)
2) How are the items in the two groups different?

Activity 3: Sorting objects on your own
I then had the kids try to think of as many ways as possible of sorting our blocks. Firs they sorted by color.

Then they sorted by shape.

Activity 4: MathStart Book
I love MathStart books by Stuart J. Murphy. They are really a fantastic way to teach young children math. Especially if your kids like to be read to. I read the kids the book 3 Little Firefighters.

In the book the three firefighters need to get dressed for the parade, and they need to look their best. However they are missing their buttons and their belly buttons are showing. (This always makes the kids giggle.) So they search the house high and low until they find an assortment of various buttons.

The firefighters each need four buttons on their jacket otherwise they won't stay shut. Also, since they need to look their best, the buttons need to match in some way. So the firefighters have to sort their buttons in various ways until they find a combination that works.

After we read the book, I printed out some copies of the firefighters from the books. I then gave the kids a puzzle to work out that involved sorting their own "buttons". (Except we pretended the blocks were buttons because I was too lazy to run upstairs and face by messy button box.)

The kids needed to find a combination that gave:
-Each Firefighter four buttons, and
-The buttons needed to match in some way on each jacket.

First the kids tried sorting the "buttons" by color. That didn't work because we didn't have four green buttons.

Next the kids sorted the "buttons" by shape. This worked!

Well, thanks for reading everyone!!

Links to Become Attached To:
Stuart J. Murphy's Main Site (He is the author of the MathStart series and his website has a ton of great ideas for using his books.)
Math Monday Blog Hop (tons of great math ideas)
Tot School (See how others are learning with their tots!)
Preschool Corner (See how others are learning with their preschoolers!)

And the Winner is....

2011-06-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Kim Iquina!!! She is the winner of my recent giveaway for the book 500 Writing Prompts for Kids.

I also have another very generous offer for my readers from the author Bryan Cohen. Starting on Monday, anybody who contacts him at this email with proof of having purchased the book (copy of an online receipt, etc.), will receive a bonus: 50 additional prompts JUST for home school students! Simply show Mr. Cohen that you have purchased the book 500 Writing Prompts for Kid s and he'll turn it into "550 Prompts" in a heartbeat. Here's the place to buy the book on Amazon if you want an electronic copy. (Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac let you view the book on your computer if you desire). It is also available in paperback form if you like books the "old fashioned way" like me. And finally, for all of your Nook users, you can buy the Nook Electronic edition here.

I would also like to congratulate Walt and Kelli! They are the winners of the grand prize drawing for a $50 gift card to Amazon. They posted their comment on the blog Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn. (One of 17 blogs in the grand prize drawing!)

Thanks to Everyone who participated. And congratulations again to the winners!

FIAR: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

2011-06-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

Note: I know that this post is rather lengthy. However, instead of dividing it into separate posts, I wanted to put everything we did with this book in one place so it was easy for people to find at a later date. My intent was not to overwhelm anyone with its length. My hope is that you will find some ideas and inspiration here for your own Mike Mulligan journey.

This week we "rowed" the book Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton.

Introducing the Book:
One of my goals with Five in a Row is to help create some fun memories tied to great literature. So to make things fun, I had them guess what book we were going to "row" this week. As a hint I wrapped up a toy excavator in a box and had them open it. This was something I picked up at the thrift store awhile back.

When they couldn't guess what the book was, I had them unwrap the book. (I had the book wrapped up in newspaper like a present.)

I liked the anticipation this created for our week long theme with the book. I am going to try to do this every week as time allows.

After we read the book for the first time, the kids spent some time trying to work the levers that control our own "steam shovel". I know, I know it is not really a steam shovel. But try to use your imagination! :) They used their steam shovel to scoop up their chipmunk toys and move them across the room.

Science-States of Matter and The Water Cycle:
You can't exactly read a book about a steam shovel if you don't understand what steam is. So we spent a few days this week talking about the states of matter which led us to a nice discussion about the water cycle.

To learn the states of mater, we took an ice cube and talked about how it was a solid. We then let the ice cube melt turning it to a liquid. We then heated the water in a pan and watched it turn into a gas. After that, we classified various things as a solid, liquid, or gas. (I did this just by quizzing them while they were in the backseat and I was driving. Remember, science doesn't have to be fancy!)

After that, we read the book A Drop Goes Plop by Sam Godwin. This book does a wonderful job of explaining the water cycle in a way that even very young scientist can understand. The book is also pretty funny. I enjoyed reading the dialog between the mommy seal gull and the baby sea gull.

After reading this book, the kids watched The Magic School Bus Wet All Over. (It is one of three shows on the The Magic School Bus: Catches a Wave DVD. It is also available as a standalone VHS if you have a player.) We learned some new vocabulary words including evaporate and condense. I am a big fan of the Magic School Bus series. I think it does a great job of explaining science topics in an entertaining way.

After we watched the movie, we did a couple of very simple science experiments to re-enforce what we learned. The science experiments came from the The Usborne Book of Science Activities, Volume One, pages 10-11. This is one of our books from Sonlight, and I have to say that this is a FANTASTIC science resource to have in your home. The Usborne books are very nicely illustrated and do a great job of describing concepts to visual learners. The experiments are also very clever and can usually be done with things that you have around the house.

The Usborne Book of Science Activities is wonderfully illustrated and contains simple experiments that you can do at home. These page explained the water cycle to the children.

Science- The Power of Steam:
On another day, we started to talk a bit more about how steam can be used to power things. To illustrate this in a way that a 3 or 4 year old could understand, I put the tea kettle on and we watched how the boiling water could actually turn a pin wheel. We also talked a bit about how when water is heated it expands building pressure.

I also stumbled upon a GREAT resource for explaining steam power from our local library. it is a short video called The Way Things Work: Steam Power. It is an animated movie where some kids need to find a way to power the rides and attractions at their fair. They turn to steam power and the book does a great job of illustrating the basics of steam engines. I am not sure how much Marcus and Sophie got from this video. (It is probably more geared toward older kids.) However, I heard them explaining steam power to their dad one night...so obviously they got something from it. If you have older kids, I highly recommend checking to see if your library owns a copy of this video.

History- The Role of Steam Power in our History

Social Studies- What is a furnace? How is a house (or in our case a city hall) built?
It was during this discussion that I found out that the kids didn't know what a furnace was. (I took it for granted that they knew what a furnace was. So I was surprised when they asked about it.) So we took a trip down to the basement (aka our "cellar", one of our vocabulary words this week) and we checked out our furnace. We also went around the house looking at all of the vents and talking about where the hot air came from in the winter.

Three year Old Sophie checks out the furnace

I also pulled out a book from our Sonlight curriculum called What Do People Do All Day by Richard Scary.

This is an awesome book to have on your shelves. I find that I am always pulling it out to describe various things to kids. On page 9 & 10 of this book there is a wonderful description of how a house is built which tied in nicely with our Mike Mulligan discussion. It also does a wonderful job of explaining how a furnace works to heat and cool the house.

What People Do All Day has a nice illustration and description showing what a furnace is

Social Studies- Character: Stewardship
Good stewardship is taking care of the things we own and the resources we have to use. We went to the picture of the book where all of the other steam shovels were being scraped for junk. Then we discussed how Mike loved his steam shovel and took good care of it. Because he cared for his steam shovel, she lasted for a long time. While other steam shovels were being scrapped, Mary Anne could still dig "as much in one day as a 100 men could dig in a week."

Geography: The Panama Canal
In the book, Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne and some others help dig the canals for the large boats to come through. Canal became one of our vocabulary words for the week. We also located one of the most famous canals (The Panama Canal) on the map and put a story disc from Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel on it. I am not sure if the fictional Mary Anne actually was supposed to have dug this famous canal...however, I hoped it would help the kids remember what a canal was.

Language Arts- Vocabulary Words
We added the following vocabulary words to our word box.

Evaporate-from our science experiment
Condense-from our science experiment
Expands-from our science experiment
Furnace
Canal
Cellar

Language Arts-Personification
We also discussed what the literary technique of personification means. While reading the book, Marcus and Sophie kept asking if the steam shovel "could talk". (I think because the steam shovel had a face and even a mouth.) So we discussed that the author used a technique known as personification where she gave human attributes to a thing. (In this case, a steam shovel was given human features and a personality.) We spent some time flipping through the book and looking at how Virginia Lee Burton illustrated the different expressions on Mary Anne's face.

Mary Anne is a very expressive steam shovel! She is illustrated with many different facial expressions showing a wide range of human emotions. She is also an excellent example of personification.

Art- Music
Alright, this is the one resource that I found that I was SO excited about. There is a series called "Stories in Music" where they attempt to introduce children to music by composing music for the story while a narrator reads aloud the book. Well...they have one of these for Mike Mulligan and it is awesome! This CD tells the story of Mike Mulligan using an original composition of music played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. (Very similar to how the story Peter and the Wolf is told through music if you are familiar with that.) I was surprised that I have never heard this CD mentioned on any of the FIAR message boards or blogs.

Sensory Play
I finally got around to cleaning out the kids sandbox and filling it with new sand. I then put a couple of "steam shovels", bulldozers, backhoes, and other trucks in the sandbox hoping to encourage them to re-enact the story we read. Marcus decided to do his own version of the story. The sandbox became Egypt. And from what I overheard, the trucks had uncovered some mummies and sand monsters. A few moments later, he ran downstairs and got several toy dragons and they were added to his "Egypt".

Field Trip-The Science of Big Machines
Our local science museum had an exhibit this week called "The Science of Big Machines". And to tell you the truth, this is one of the reasons I decided to row Mike Mulligan this week. I thought it would make an awesome field trip to go along with the book.

Marcus and Sophie on their Mike Mulligan Field Trip

When the kids arrived at the exhibit they were given yellow hard hats to wear. They then got to walk around and experience some BIG construction machines up close and personal.

The best part of the field trip was when Marcus and Sophie got to operate a real diesel excavator. (The modern day equivalent of a Steam Shovel.) They used the excavator to dig a hole and then smooth down the dirt again.

Here is a picture of Marcus running the excavator.

Another highlight was when Marcus was lifted off the ground by a giant crane.

The crane was SO big that no matter how far I stood back I couldn't get it all in the frame of the camera!

Here Marcus is being lifted off the ground by the crane.

The kids even got a chance to eat a box lunch "construction worker" style.

We all had a great day together.

Making Memories- A Mike Mulligan Dinner Party:
On Friday, the kids helped me to throw a Mike Mulligan party. It was going to be Father's day this weekend, and we are always looking for excuses to have a party. We started the afternoon off by baking a chocolate cake for our party.

After the cake baked, we layered it with dirt (aka crushed Oreo cookies) and mud (aka Chocolate moose). In the story, Mary Anne digs the cellar of the Popperville town hall with "four corners neat and square". So the kids helped me cut out a square in the center of the cake to represent our cellar.

We also used Teddy Graham cookies to represent the people of Popperville who stayed to watch Mary Anne as she dug. We put a little toy "steam shovel" in the bottom of our cellar (Mary Anne) and another bear that we said was Mike Mulligan in the cellar with her. Now the cake is supposed to look like this cake. However, Marcus reminded me that the citizens of Bangerville and Bopperville and Kipperville and Kopperville all came to watch Mary Anne dig too. Therefore, he said, we were going to need A LOT more bear cookies on our cake.

So our version of the caked ended up looking like this:

Perhaps not the prettiest Mike Mulligan cake on the web. However, the kids enjoyed EVERY second of making this cake.

I also made "Dump Truck" Macaroni and Cheese. (It was basically baked Macaroni and Cheese made with noodles shaped like wheels. I also sprinkled it with a mixture of Italian bread crumbs and melted butter before baking to represent sand...and also to make it taste YUMMY!) I served the dish in a pan in the back of a toy dump truck that we owned.

Dump Truck Mac and Cheese

Our dinner was completed with some boulder kabobs (chicken kabobs made on the grill).

Chicken "Boulder" Kabobs

The kids also helped me paint construction signs using a piece of poster board. And we blew up some balloons that we had left over from a birthday party.

Our painted construction signs

Dad and Marcus getting ready to dig into some cake

Well everyone, that wraps up our week with Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. I hope you have your own adventures with this wonderful book!

Links to Become Attached To:
Tot School
Preschool Corner
Homeschool Share (TONS of FIAR resources)
Link N' Learn

About Five in a Row (FIAR)--My review

2011-06-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

We recently started doing a new program called "Five in a Row". Five in a Row (often abbreviated FIAR) is basically a set of unit studies involving great children's book. We are doing this program in addition to our regular handwriting, reading, and math. It is just basically a way for us to sneak in some more great books and help make some wonderful memories this summer.

The creator of Five in a Row is named Jane C. Lambert. One of the first things you will notice when you start researching FIAR is what WONDERFUL books are included in the program. Lambert has an uncanny knack for choosing very high quality children's literature to include in her program. Books that not only appeal to the adult in the child, but the child in the adult. (You will enjoy reading them to your children as much as they enjoy listening!) Some of the books are popular classics that you will probably all ready be familiar with. Other of the books are more obscure, but they will most likely become welcome additions to your home library.

When Lambert set out to create FIAR she noticed that many children love repetition when it comes to their favorite picture books. (As parents we know that too as we often wind up reading the same book over and over again to our kids!) So she put together a program that utilized this natural want for repetition. She used it to explore various aspects of this book in a deeper way. So, the basic premise behind FIAR is that a book is read to the child five days in a row. With each reading, a different aspect of the book is explored further. This process is often refereed to as "rowing" a book.

Here is a description of what "rowing" a book might look like from the FIAR website:

"The first time you read a story, children simply want to discover what happens. But each day we peel back the story, learning to write using some of the techniques the story's writer has used or learning to draw or paint using some of the techniques, materials or palettes the illustrator has used. We learn more about the culture or setting where the story took place, etc. So with each new reading, the child can look at the illustrations, think about the cuisine or the architecture; appreciate the writing style, etc. Each day builds on the previous days learning experience. And each reading builds a bond with the book for your child so that they develop a deep and abiding love for each wonderful story. Then each time they read the story they'll recall and strengthen their grasp on the dozens of lessons learned from that beloved book."

Five in a Row can also be a very affordable program for families to participate in. Once you get your hands on one of the Five in a Row instructors guides, all you really need to "row" a book is a library card. I saw somewhere that someone had worked out that the average minimum costs of a FIAR unit study is 5 cents or something ridiculously low.   I am not exactly sure how that was calculated, but I can tell you that it is possible to do FIAR for next to nothing. So it is a great program for those on a budget.

Another reason FIAR is so popular is all of the flexibility built into the program. The program covers a wide range of ages. So siblings can all enjoy reading and listening to the books together. More complex studies are included for the older kids and less complex subjects are included for the younger kids. Also, there are MULTIPLE options for each subject included in the instructors guide. This allows the parent to choose things that they think their kids would actually be interested in learning about. I also know that some families will "row" a book multiple times because it is nearly impossible to cover all of the options given in 5 days. The parent also has maximum flexibility when it comes to choosing the order that the books are rowed. The parent can start with ANY of the books included in any of the four volumes of instructors guides. There is no right or wrong order when it comes to FIAR. (This is helpful when it comes to library reservations. You could potentially row a book as you get it.)

Perhaps the greatest thing about FIAR is that it teaches us to become critical readers. I know as a parent, I have gotten so much out of FIAR too. Lambert has taught me to notice all of fascinating details of books that I might have completely passed over before. She has taught me a new level of appreciation for the art work in these picture books. She has taught me how to look for and notice all of the particulars that make up a great story. She has taught me to read critically, ask questions about the story, and not to take so much for granted. I hope that this is a skill that my children pick up while doing FIAR too.

Potential FIAR Pitfalls--

OK, OK, so I told you all of the good stuff about Five in a Row, let me discuss some of the cons.

First and foremost, I mentioned that FIAR can be done for next to nothing. However, I didn't mention that one could very easily spend hundred of dollars "rowing" these books. When it comes to the cultural recipes, the field trips, the "go-along" books and movies, and everything else that could be done with these books, the money can add up quickly. I mean, the sky is the limit when it comes to what is done with these books. So I caution people that while it can be done for next to nothing, you need to watch out because things can up quickly!

Secondly, be aware that FIAR can be very planning intensive for the parents.   Much more planning intensive than other literature based curriculum like Sonlight for example. This is probably the biggest con for me when it comes to the program. The program is a lot of fun. The program is also very rewarding. But expect to put in a lot of outside planning time.   If you talk to some parents using FIAR they will admit that they spend a significant part of their free time planning for these "rowing" adventures. It is very easy for parents to become burnt out after only several weeks of FIAR. I know this first hand. When the kids were younger I actually started the Before Five in a Row program. (It is for kids 2-4 years old.) However, the planning was just too much for me at the time. SO, we just used Before Five in a Row as a reading list. I referred to the Before Five in a Row teacher's guide whenever I needed ideas, but I wasn't able to do the program strictly.   In another article, I am going to talk about some tricks for making FIAR less of a burden when it comes to planning. Please stay tuned!

Another con to the program is that some children simply aren't going to like reading the book that many times in a row. Most kids like repetition, but some simply do not. Despite what you might read online, FIAR is not going to be a good fit for all families.   I have found that if the child starts to grow weary of listening to the book it is best not to force the issue. Instead, you can work around this issue by perhaps just pointing out a particular illustration that you want to talk about---Or perhaps just reading an exert from the book instead of the whole book.

Five in a Row Instructor's Guides:

Before Five in a Row (Ages 2-4)

Five in a Row, Vol 1 (Ages 4-8)

Five in a Row, Vol 2 (Ages 4-8)

Five in a Row, Vol 3 (Ages 4-8)

Five in a Row, Vol 4 (Ages 4-8)

Beyond Five in a Row (Ages 8-12)

Above and Beyond Five in a Row (Ages 12 and up)

Disclaimer: I was not compensated by Five in a Row for this review in any way. These opinions are a result of my direct experience with the product.

CLOSED-500 Writing Prompts for Kids - Review and Giveaway!

2011-06-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

I think that many of us already understand the importance of children practicing their written communication skills.   However, many of us can struggle with the implementation of this practice. We know that writing is a skill---And like most skills, it can not be developed fully unless children are given the frequent opportunity to practice this skill. Many parents and teachers can find it difficult to find ways to encourage children to practice this skill at home without making it a dreaded chore. Especially if you live with a reluctant writer! So when Bryan Cohen asked me to review his new book 500 Writing Prompts for Kids I eagerly agreed.

My Thoughts:
The book contains 500 writing prompts divided into various categories such as Life Lessons, Memorable Events, Technology, and the Seasons.   Additionally, inside each of these categories, the reader can find a wide diversity of writing prompts divided into various sub-categories. Most of the writing prompts are specific enough to give children a direction in writing. Yet Cohen does a great job of keeping the prompts open-ended enough to encourage critical free thinking in children.

I also like the fact that the author not only encourages children to write---he also encourages parents to write with their children. In households where children can view their parents writing for pleasure, they are more likely to seek out that activity for themselves. (And updating your facebook status doesn't count!)

Perhaps my favorite section of the book is the appendix at the back of the book. There Cohen provides a list of great ways to his writing prompts in the classroom or at home. I loved this list! It can really give parents and teachers some ideas on making writing an everyday pleasurable experience.

500 Writing Prompts for Kids covers grades first through fifth so parents could potentially use this book for years. I have also found that even very young children could can use some of these prompts verbally to parents. (One important pre-writing skill is the ability to verbally narrate. So this book could potentially build that skill too.)

Bottom Line:
The book is available either in an electronic format or as a paperback. Additionally, the book is listed at a very affordable price point which makes it realistically obtainable for most families.   I think that parents who wish to encourage writing at home would do well to have a copy of this book on their shelves. I think that the book is a great reference book that I could see myself referring to often.

Giveaway: Enter to win a free copy of this book and even a $50 Amazon Gift Card!
Author Bryan Cohen is doing a giveaway of his book 500 Writing Prompts for Kids for the next week along with a grand prize drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card! Simply post your e-mail address and you are entered in the drawing for one digital copy of the book on this site (there are over 10 sites involved in the giveaway, with one winner of a book per site). One lucky winner will be picked from all the sites to win a $50 Amazon gift card. If Bryan's book, 500 Writing Prompts for Kids reaches the top 500 in sales this week, he will add another $50 Amazon gift card to the drawing. The drawing will occur on June 22nd, so post away!

For more information on Bryan Cohen and his book, you can visit his website at Build Creative Writing Ideas.

Disclaimer: I was given a free electronic copy of this book in order to complete this review. I was not obligated in any way to provide a favorable review. These are my actual opinions of the book. Thanks for reading and good luck on the contest!

Scholastic $1 Sale

2011-05-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to let my readers know about a fabulous sale going on this memorial weekend. This seriously is a sale too good to miss!

For a limited time, you can buy hundreds of Scholastic E-Books for only $1. To see the books eligible for this sale, you can go here.

Fans of the Ultimate Alphabet Craft Collection, might be interested in some of their alphabet craft books. For example, they have Learn the Alphabet Arts and Crafts available for download for only a buck! (The regular book costs $18.87 on amazon right now!) And many other Alphabet books available too.

Fans of literature based learning, might be interested in some of their "Teaching With..." books. For example, their Teaching with Favorite Jan Brett Books is available as an E-Book for only a dollar.

They also have Teaching with Favorite Leo Lioni available for only a $1.

They also have a great MathART book available as a download for only $1.

I am not sure what I am going to get yet. I am considering buying a handful to keep as resources on my computer. How nice would it be to be able to print off some extra workbook pages when you need them? (Like the ones from this Pre-Writing Practice Book?)

Disclaimer: The Attached Mama received absolutely no compensation or gifts from Scholastic. I am in no way affiliated with Scholastic or this sale whatsoever. I just know a good sale when I see one! :)

Thanks for reading!!

Nature Study: Birds of Spring

2011-05-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

If you drive past my house you might notice some horrible looking Christmas greenery still hanging up on my porch. No, we are not just procrastinators who forgot to take down their decorations from Christmas!

Picture of our Ugly, Brown, Dead-Looking Christmas Hanging Baskets aka The House Finch's Perfect Home

OK, I take that back..... Perhaps we do tend to procrastinate a bit when it comes to taking down Christmas decorations. However, that is not the only reason we have left our Christmas stuff out. This year we have a very good excuse for leaving those baskets up. Inside those ugly, dried out baskets is a family of house finches. It has been a wonderful experience for all of us observing those beautiful birds this spring...and right outside our front door no less!

Photo of The House Finch courtesy of IBC Bird

Hollywood Comes to Visit:
Late winter/early spring I started to notice this pretty pair of small birds scoping out our hanging baskets. They would kind of hang out in the tree next to it, checking out the scene: Watching how often we came in and out of our front door; Watching the baskets to see if they were sturdy; Landing on them and popping their heads in and out of the leaves, etc. So I left the baskets up with the hunch that perhaps the birds were looking for a nesting location. I had no idea what kind of birds they were at the time. I just thought they were pretty--and I felt it nice to give the poor creatures a home seeing that my suburban-housing-development probably took up a much of their natural nesting spots.

I got out my favorite bird field guide and the kids and I looked the birds up. We discovered that we had a family of house finches moving in. The kids were eager to learn more about these "new pets"---so I we started to research them and learn more about them. It turns out these simple little birds have an interesting history. House finches were originally only residents of Mexico and the Southwestern United States. However, in the 1940's the birds were illegally sold as "pets" marketed under the name of Hollywood Finches. The name was a marketing ploy given to make the finches seem more posh and exclusive. Well...in order to avoid procescution under the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918, the owners and distributors of these birds started releasing them into the wild. The birds did not die when released into the wild and infact, the "Hollywood Finches" thrived. So much so that they are displacing the native purple finch and house sparrows.

Range Increase of House Finch: Photos from Wikipedia

Beautiful Soundtrack:

These baskets hang inches from my front door. So when I would have the door open I can hear the little male just singing his heart out trying to establish my porch as his territory. The house finch has a beautiful song. You can click this link to hear their songs. I will sometimes just open my front door so that I can hear these little finches singing as I am cleaning up our living room. I have to admit that I did feel a bit like snow white cleaning my house with birds singing to me in the background. I am a firm believer that all mothers should have birds serenade them as they clean the house!

Birds should always sing to you as you clean the house!

The Babies Arrive!
Seemingly overnight, the female finished building the nest. The male didn't seem to help much. Unless you call singing noisily nearby helping, and tweeting loudly at everything that pasts the nest. ??? However, the nest was built very quickly and effeciently by that mother! Almost a week after the nest was constructed the mother begin to sit on her nest. I didn't take any picture of this since I didn't want to spook her. I could tell she wanted privacy and as a mother myself I respected that. :)

Around Easter time, the female begin leaving the nest for short periods of time to visit our bird feeder outback. I did sneak a picture inside her nest and this is what I found:

Picture Taken 4-23-2011: Inside the nest of a House finch. Two VERY tiny baby birds and one egg left unhatched.

I didn't take too many picture because I could tell the poor things were frightened for their lives when they saw a HUGE person standing over their nest. They would shake and shiver when I would come near them. I would also try and sneak and take a peek into their nest only when the mother wasn't around. I was afraid that she might not come back to her nest if she saw me messing with it. (I don't know if that was a valid concern or not. However, I didn't want to risk it.)

A few days later I snapped another picture and to my surprise, the third egg/bird was missing. (At least I couldn't see it all in the nest.) I looked around the ground and I didn't see any broken egg shells or eggs. So it is a mystery to me what could have happened to the third egg/chick.

Picture Taken 4-26-2011: Inside the nest of a House Finch. What happened to the third egg/bird?

Empty Nesters:
At this point, my little baby "Hollywood Finches" have fledged the nest. We are officially empty nesters. I have seen multiple small House Finches at our feeders and I like to imagine that those are the babies that were in our nest. (There is no way of knowing for sure though.) The mother and father finches still hang out in the tree outside our perch. And I even caught the female bringing a little piece of fluff over and stuffing it into the empty nest.

Thanks for reading!!

Links to become Attached To:
The Handbook of Nature Study Spring Bird Series
Preschool Corner

Sewing: Petal Party Dress

2011-05-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

I am not 100% sure on this latest creation. It is a bit loud. (Some of you are probably laughing when I say a bit.) It is a lot of print, and a lot of BOLD print at that. However, I love print...and I love pretty fabric. So being able to walk around in pretty fabric does lend a smile to my face. I will admit it.

Fabric Information:
Petal Party in Pink by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller Fabrics (Part of the Farmer's Market Collection)
Vintage Dot in Pink by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller Fabrics (Part of the Ginerblossom Collection)

The shape of the dress, however, is not my favorite. Usually, even when sewing with a bad pattern, I can mess with it enough so that I am able to get it looking at least half-way decent. Well, I messed with this dress A LOT. I fussed, I fiddled. I re-drafted. I cut. I tore seams. And after all of that work, this was the best I could get the dress to look.

Back of dress

The dress doesn't look too bad when I stand. However, when I sit, the tummy area kind of baloons out a bit doesn't make me feel very great while wearing it. And no matter how I fussed with the waistband and skirt, I wasn't able to get it to stop doing it. I will probably wear it again---because the fabric is very fun. However, I will not be sewing this same dress pattern again.

Ignore the wrinkles. I have been wrangling children all day. :)

Pattern Information:
This dress is a bit of a Franken-dress.
It started off as New Look 6774. But don't pick up New Look 6774 thinking you are going to get a dress that looks like this. Because I made some major modifications to this dress in order for it to even become a wearable item.

New Look 6774 Cover

New Look 6774 is a "mix and match" pattern that allows the seamstress to design her own look by mixing various skirts, bodice, and waistbands together. The cover makes the pattern look really cute and fun. But don't be deceived my friends!

I cut pieces I+J+K, which is basically that knee length coral dress in the photo above. But using the pieces as-is, you will never get a dress that fits like the cover picture above. The bodice pieces are just funky looking...and no matter how I fussed, re-gathered, tore out, and messed with the bodice, I just couldn't get it to look right.

I should have listened...
Before I sewed this dress I kept reading pattern reviews online where other seamstresses WARNED me that this pattern did not fit well. However, did I listen? NO! That would have been way too easy. I threw caution to the wind and I just decided to cut the pattern as is---and what did I learn? I learned that I should have LISTENED to you fellow sewing bloggers! It would have saved me several hours worth of frustrating trial and error with sewing this dress.

I ended up completly scraping the bodice as is. After I messed with it for several hours, I came to the conclusion that it didn't even have "good bones" in which to modify. So I ended up drafting my own front and back AND waistband. So really the only part of the dress that is original to New Look 6774 is the skirt...and I have to admit that is my least favorite part of the dress.

I also modified the skirt by adding in pockets. Really deep and nice pockets. Because every mama needs pockets. (Am I right? Or am I right?!)

De-Stashing My Fabric:
I am also trying to use fabric from my existing fabric stash before I buy anything new.   I didn't have enough of the Petal Party fabric so I compensated with adding a contrasting waistband and a contrasting hem band in order to actually get a dress out of the little fabric I had.

I actually think that that makes the dress much more interesting.   However, I can't even begin to tell you how hard this dress was to cut out because I had to scrape and use ever bitof the petal party fabric in order to get the dress to work. I even used the bias as hem allowance in order to make it work.

Special Little Touches:
One of the fun things about making your own clothes is that you can add special little touches which make your clothes extra special.    One touch that I started to add was adding a special trim to my skirt linings. I saw this idea out there on flikr and have been using it on all of the dresses I sew.

Little detail added to the hem line of the lining.

Thanks Everyone for Reading!!