Saturday, November 19, 2011

Fly, Monarch! Fly!

Let me start by saying how we came to read this book tonight, a story that illustrates what I love about unschooling.

Ellie was playing with one of her ladybug pillows when she started asking questions: "What do ladybugs turn into?  What are they before they turn into ladybugs?"  Well, as it happens, I have a book about the life cycle of a ladybug that I picked up on a recent trip to the library in search of butterfly books, another of Ellie's requests.  I thought this book was wonderful.  Here is more information about it, including my review.

After we finished that book, Ellie insisted on reading a few more library books, including Fly, Monarch!  Fly!  I really liked this book as well - I linked my review, but I like the extras the book contained, like a butterfly sandwich recipe and a craft.  Ellie, of course, was all about the craft, so we did it after dinner.

It was a simple craft: Sketch a butterfly on orange paper, color and cut out, cut out and affix antennae, and affix dots and magnet.  The sketch part was too hard for Ellie, so I outlined her butterfly, but she did the rest, short of cutting out the antennae.





Ellie's is a bit more abstract

I decided mine needed eyes

Saturday, November 12, 2011

For the love of writing

I didn't enjoy writing as a child.  I hated it, actually.  Thank you notes, paragraph-long stories, what-I-want-for-Christmas compositions, every essay in school...they were agony.  I never enjoyed writing until my senior year of high school when we had mandatory free writing every day in English class.  Something about writing anything I wanted until a timer went off appealed to me.

I'm glad writing and I finally became friends, but I'd love for my children to enjoy writing from the beginning.  Tonight I read a fantastic article with great ideas for inspiring children to write.  Journaling, letter writing, emailing and postcard exchanging are ways she inspires her little girl to write.

On a related note, I believe in making children write thank you notes.  I do, however, do what I can to make them enjoyable to write so that my children don't come to resent the task.  I also keep the note writing age appropriate.  For example, for a first birthday, I might trace their hand and let them scribble a bit with a crayon.  For the second birthday, I might let them go crazy with stickers.  Actually, that's exactly what I've done with my two so far, but the next child could have different likes and skills.

Mikey just finished his thank you notes for his second birthday.  He enjoyed making them, so much so that Ellie got a little jealous, so I handed her a pile of Christmas cards, thanks to Daddy's genius.  Mikey had to get in on the Christmas card madness, too.  The only downside to all this was Ellie's disappointment that the cards we mail don't come back to us.  Somebody send this poor girl some mail!  :o)




She colored ornaments on the tree and added a star
Ellie noticed that the trees on the cards were triangles, so I gave her a bunch of foam triangle stickers and let her go to town

Friday, November 11, 2011

Hand trees and thumbprint leaves

I saw this craft on Pinterest, or at least I saw each part of it in other crafts.  We had a lot of fun, although the kids' didn't turn out quite like my vision.

Inspired by a rogue print on Ellie's, I added falling leaves to mine

Ellie was so happy when I pointed out her falling leaf that she decided they should all be falling

Poor Mikey's looks like the victim of a forest fire

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Spontaneous Fall Crafts

To get Ellie to eat finish her dinner, I told her I'd teach her how to use stencils when she was done.  She's already been tracing her own hand, so I knew she was ready.  She did well, but she bored with the stencil use quickly, as is her style with any craft not including glue, so I gave her stamps.  Still, we had fun.


That's an upside-down Liberty Bell and a star to the left and an upside-down steaming pie to the right.
Ellie asked to do another craft, so I gave her paper to tear and figured we'd do some sort of hand-print tree/fall leaf craft.  I rummaged through my paper pile and found some packing paper that was perfect for a tree trunk.  I traced our hands and forearms on the paper and applied glue to the hand area of the opposite side on which I traced, and we stuck away.  Then I cut out the hands and arm and glued them onto paper of our choice.  An older or more practiced child could have applied the glue and done the tracing and cutting as well.

Menu Plan Monday 11/7/11-11/13/11




Review of last week:


Meaty Monday: Slow Cooker French Dip with fresh fruit and veggies
Delicious as always!  I forgot to mention we butter and toast the rolls and then add caramelized onions and provolone cheese for those who want it...I prefer no cheese.

Tasty Tuesday: Simple Slow Cooker Picante Chicken (I always add extra veggies to the slow cooker) over rice with fresh fruit

Hit with the big one and hubby as always.  I didn't feel like chopping veggies, so I cooked up garlic green beans as a side.

Wild Card Wednesday: Mommy and Daddy are eating out before Bradley class with theBowmans; kiddos are eating organic chicken nuggets, green beans and fruit

Ended up sharing the nuggets.  They were good!  I love Earth's Best Organic.

Spaghetti Night: Penne with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter only with green beans, since hubby doesn't like asparagus, and without Parmesan, since the big one (Ellie) and I aren't supposed to have dairy

Pretty good.  I added a splash of balsamic vinegar at the end because it wasn't strong enough for me.  Hubby ate the huge plate I served him and said we could keep it on the menu.  I decided to add browned, cubed chicken breast, and I'm glad I did because that's all the big one ate.  The wee one loved the green beans.


Free-for-all Friday: Leftovers if we have any, freezer raid if we don't
The neighbor kids were touting their tacos, and Ellie and I thought that sounded good, so I made some.


Now for this week:



Wild Card Monday: Organic Chicken Nuggets and fresh fruit for the kiddos while Daddy and I eat out before our Bradley class

Tasty Tuesday: Eating out after Ellie's swim class

Meaty Wednesday: Sprite roast (beef roast, packet of onion soup mix, can of cream of mushroom soup, can of Sprite, slow cooker low all day), mashed potatoes and cauliflower

Spaghetti Thursday: Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta (recommended by Jessie), honey butter green beans (saute beans in butter until just browning, remove from heat and stir in honey) and fresh fruit

Free-for-all Friday: Yummy leftovers!