Dandy Day!
/The day began with an announcement from Karoline:
"Mama," said she, her fist full of dandelions for me to put into a tiny pitcher, "we have so many beautiful yellow flowers and the neighbors have none. I'm going to pick them all and scatter them in everyone's yard just like Miss Rumphius. Then, there will be beautiful yellow flowers everywhere."
As luck would have it, Catherine shared a recipe for Dandelion Syrup on Kind Conversation. So, we suggested that Karoline and her sisters and her friends gather the flowers for syrup making purposes.
They spent a glorious couple of hours making their fingers a lovely shade of yellow.
They stirred some "dandelion soup."
They measured until there was enough.
They brought it in to boil and steeped.
We read Miss Rumphius and Dandelions and The Dandelion Seed and Stars in the Grass at bedtime.
The next day, we added sugar and cooked and cooked.
Dandelion Syrup.
Brings sweet tea to a whole new place:-).
When I tucked Katie into bed that night she commented, "Some people call dandelions weeds. Don't they see the flowers? Everyone should have a girl to show her the flowers when all they see are the weeds."
Everyone should.
Past due Pp Post
/We took our time on Pp week and now I've taken my time Posting all the Particulars. I don't always Post all we do along the Alphabet Path, but Pp was Particularly Packed and Pleased the People in my house enough to make it worth recording for Posterity.
Pp is for Packages delivered by Post.
~
We don't know who sent it, or even the Place from where it came. Perfect Present for these little girls (and some brothers, too)! They so enjoyed making Paper dolls. Thank you to the Present Person!
Pp is for Pellets.
Nicky is studying birds and, with Stephen's help (and not a little Persuasion), he dissected owl Pellets and reconstructed a mole skeleton.
Pp is for Peter!
Karoline was so taken with Peter in a Snowy Day that we read a few more Peter stories for Pp week:
and we brought a Peter doll into our home to love.
Pp is for Painted Pebbles
We painted stones a la Egyptian scarab stones, an activity in Global Art.
Pp is for Pope
Lolek: The boy Who Became Pope
This book truly deserves its own Post. Nicholas has read it countless times since he got if for Epiphany. And I've read it aloud to everyone several more times. I can't say enough about the sensitivity with which it's written. Clearly the author-illustrator team has a deep love for John Paul II. I find the illustrations utterly charming and Nicholas was quite taken with finding the whisper-printed "Totus Tuus" in every illustration. Just a perfect, perfect picture book! Check out the website here.
Warning: it has ignited in my children a Passion for Polish Pottery;-)
Pp is for a Pink Princess Party
Pretty, Pretty Pretzels. The Pink Princess book was also a present, from those Alphabet Path Pals across the country. Nothing like kindred spirits, is there girls?
Pp is for Popcorn Balls
We love to make and eat these and now, we think they might have magical Powers;-).
Pp is for Patricia Polacco
The Trees of the Dancing Goats
Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair
Nearly every Post on the Alphabet Path has its own Author Study now. We are enjoying becoming intimately acquainted with each author.
Pp is for Pedestrian
Sarah Annie, always the dramatic one with timing milestones, has a Pp Post of her own
And, of course Pp is for St. Patrick, but we're Procrastinating a bit and we'll get to that next week.
First Heralds
/Here's a wonderful new resource for teaching the faith to toddlers and preschoolers. A look at the list of contributors ensures that this will be a high- quality, very worthwhile addition to my blogroll. Here's what it's all about.
Are children ever too young to start learning about the faith? Notaccording to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is what it has to say about the duty of parents ...
Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the "first heralds" for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church.34 A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one's life.
Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in the faith. Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God. (CCC, 2225-6)
The aim of this blog is to help you to be the "first heralds" for your toddlers and preschoolers. The contributors are all Catholic mothers with young children of their own, and we will be sharing ideas and experiences from our own families. We hope you will enjoy the journey with us.
D is for Donut...and Dump
/It's "D" week here, all week long. Seems a good enough excuse for a brain Dump. It's also "tweak week." I'm about four weeks into our new routine and it's taken me absolutely every waking second of those four weeks to reach my stride. Michael's absence echoes in this house--I feel it every time I go to lock the door at night and can't get over the feeling that someone is not yet home. And, I feel it every time I drive all over town and miss the tangible help with carpooling. And, I feel it when I have something to share and I look up to tell him and he's not here. He calls nearly every day and not because he has to, just because he wants to say hello. He's happy enough, though he's not playing as much as he'd like and he's working very, very hard. His schedule is not his own and considering he's so close to home, we've hardly seen him at all.
But back to "tweak week." There are seven children in my house who need some sort of academic attention (this includes Gracie, who is definitely wanting her own work this year). We have two children preparing for sacraments (reconciliation, first Communion, and Confirmation). We have two with special needs. We have a nursing baby who is going to walk soon. And we have countless other unique factors to consider. I've tried to map this all out graphically. I've spent hours and hours talking about vision and scope and sequence with like-minded friends. But, in the end, we just had to live it for a while to figure it all out.
- I've learned that Monday Night Geography is a huge hit.
- I've learned that flower fairies are not just for girls and Elsa Beskow books are family favorites.
- I've learned that Patrick will binge read Harry Potter but he needs a huge infusion of willfull suspension of disbelief or he's going to get kicked out of Hogwarts.
- I've learned that Teaching Textbooks are awesome. My new math goal in the younger grades is just to get them ready for Teaching Textbooks by fifth grade. I'm so NOT a math mind.
- I've mostly figured out the driving and I live for Thursdays when I only have to take one child to one thing. The rest of the afternoons are painful. I don't like to drive. I do love my kids, though, and I see value in extracurricular activities. We sing a lot of Signing Time in the car. I love Rachel Coleman; she can get my baby to stop crying.
- I've learned that my husband is enjoying the sidebar photo albums and the chance to see the children's work as they do it.
- I've learned that Nicholas is not interested in learning letters out of order. He knows how to read and he doesn't care a whit about the letter quest someone else wrote. Instead, he wants to do the letter of the week with us and he's very, very serious about it. So, I've learned that I am going to have to write my own alphabet story. Fortunately, someone else is learning the same lessons and we can have some fun together with this one. Stay tuned; we're getting seriously creative here.
- Mostly, I've learned that learning takes fire in my house when I have time to think and to plan and to read and then I have the courage to let go of those plans and sit back and see where God wants them to go.
- Oh, and I've learned that in New Orleans (the site of Monday Night football this week), D is not for Donut at all. B is for Beignet. And Daddy brought home beignet mix and we had to sell it to poor Nicky, who didn't want to eat B food on D week. So, D is Donuts from Dixie. We can cut them like Ds and Dust them with Domino sugar. They're Delicious.! See? Just keep tweaking until it fits.
