Magic Marker Monday

When Pappa gets put in charge of art, it gets all fancy, I tell you.  It’s all about having the right tool to do the job, you know?


Air brush painting?  That’s just so out of my league…


For more Magic Marker Monday, check out 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

~Pablo Picasso

Got Questions?

Esmé gets this look on her face every so often when she’s pondering the imponderable.  Oh, the questions, the questions…

Why do bubbles pop?

How many toes does a frog have?

Why do cats and horses have tall ears like pyramids and I don’t?

The questions are going to get harder…

How do you answer the unanswerable?

Head over to The Homeschool Village for more of Esmé’s questions and to share what questions your child has been asking lately!

Big Green Monster

And the award for the first “I Can Read This!” book goes to Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley…

Little Miss was cozying up in a Playhut tent on our bed with a stack of books when she came running out to the living room.  “I can read this book!  I can read this book!”*  It’s a good learning-to-read book – a fun topic with visual prompts, repetition, and not too many words.

So we decided to do a few activities in celebration. 

First was the playdough Green Monster…  I made a big batch of green playdough that I just can’t get unsticky (new recipe), but it worked for this – and then she used some of her leftover “store” playdough for the colored features.


This was followed by a quick sketch on the easel…


…and then I went hunting for printables online, of which there are stacks.  A mask, cut out by Miss Esmé herself:


A do-a-dot piece of art:


A bit of tracing work:


And a build-a-monster project (some parts cut by Esmé) combined with a sequencing mini-book…


Ahhh… A fun and scary side trip…  Now back to ladybugs…

* I’m so reminded of the “can she walk yet?” phase in this learning to read phase.  When is the exact moment a baby learns to walk?  When she can take steps upon prompting?  When she chooses to take steps on her own?  When walking becomes the default method of locomotion?  When she’s comfortable and steady with it?  It is such a gradual process that one day you realize it’s happened, but you never really captured “that moment.”  Esmé has been stuck in that “few steps when prompted” stage forever, so it’s exciting to move on to self-motivated “reading” – whether you’d classify her as a reader or not…

Wordless Wednesday

On your mark, get set…

Go!

Puddles are to make a splash in.

And ladybug habitats are to wear around your neck.

Homemaking: Laundry

In keeping with our Cinderella Raising Homemakers agenda, I’ve been working with Esmé on doing laundry.  She’s been trained to sort dirty clothes by dark/light.

She can also sort clean clothes by small/large - a very important distinction.  She then attempts to fold the small clothes, or gets distracted playing sock sorting games.

The biggest success lately was doing the handwashing.  I tend to save up the hand washables for a once-a-month or less washing.  And I’ve put her on to this enormous task, being the lazy mother seeing as it’s on her level and all.


She doesn’t seem to mind one bit.


We’re all about happy homemaking here, we are!   

And that's river water in the tub, in case you're wondering why it looks muddy...  Or something like that.  Do I really have to explain? 

Unplugged: Page

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I picked this month’s Unplugged:  Page project.  It’s a good idea to teach your child to rip pages out of books?  A 3yo has the attention span to roll endless pages to make a wreath?

Regardless, we proceeded with our book page wreath.  I started out with two paper plates, thinking Esmé would make one and I’d make another, but I quickly changed course and settled for only one.  For starters, her picture book (a copy of a Magic School Bus book I had forgotten we already owned when I bought it secondhand) didn’t come close to covering one wreath, and secondly, she was wasn’t a whole lot of help in rolling up the pages for the wreath. 

(I love kid crafts, since I can blame the imperfection on the kiddyness of it – but it’s not so easy when I have to do the whole craft myself…)

Esmé was far more interested in making music with her paper “horns.”  Which I guess is a page project in and of itself.

But she DID help tape down the paper plate and supervise the hot gluing.

And she was happy to play lion with the wreath afterwards.


It didn’t last long on the wall before falling off…


…but it seems pretty comfortable on our dining table, and Esmé is quite happy to take ownership of the making of it now!

Review: A-Z I Like Animals

As part of our weekly writing work, we are currently working through LightHome Publications’ A-Z I Like Animals Trace Manuscript Penmanship book.  This printable 83-page eBook is filled with lots of writing practice exercises for levels K-Grade1. 

It starts with a series of fun mazes and letter-writing pages, with the letters grouped and introduced by shape (e.g. slant-line, rounded, humped).  The last section – the majority of the book – consists of a coloring page and a writing page for an animal representing each letter of the alphabet.

What We Liked:  My daughter loved the mazes.  They were a fun addition to our writing time, both to do and then to color.

I like the animal tidbits.  Last week her writing page triggered a great discussion about the differences between hares (for H) and rabbits.  And I’m appreciating the reading practice she gets while doing these writing pages.

We both like the alternating pages – writing, then “fun” (maze or coloring), then writing again.  And the reproducible format is a positive as well if you have multiple children.

What We Didn’t Like:  The sheer volume of writing on the letter introduction pages was a bit overwhelming for my daughter, perhaps because she is a little on the young side.  We ended up skipping most of them and moving on to the animal section.  My recommendation to others would be to cut these pages into parts to shorten the assignment.

Rating:  Overall, this gets a 5 out of 5 – a great value for your money.

Thanks to Heart of the Matter for coordinating the review file of this product. 

You can currently acquire the notebook pages through CurrClick for $12.25

Magic Marker Monday

Most days Esmé whips through her math worksheet like nobody’s business, and I comment to her Pappa that math is definitely one of her areas of giftedness.

Other days, her worksheets look like this.  And I wonder…


(I don’t think the girl is intentionally smooshing the snail.  Not that I’d mind.)

And her writing assignment is sometimes a bit overdone as well…

I’m pretty sure her SATs are going to look the same way.  Not that I’m stressing yet or anything.  :)  Seriously.  Hakuna matata, folks…

In case you’re wondering – we’re working through Math-U-See Primer.  And the writing page is from A-Z I Like Animals.

For more Magic Marker Monday, check out 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

~Pablo Picasso

Learning Through Play

One educational concept I keep stubbing my toe on, or smacking my head against, is learning through play.  It seems as if all the studies show that children learn best through play, and depriving them of free play stunts their academic abilities.  I see a lot of merit in those studies.

I am not a player!  I like things to have purpose.  I’m most social when there is an agenda.  I struggle with creative, spontaneous activities like mud cake tea parties dressed up as princesses pretending to be tigers.

Read more about my challenge with learning through play over at The Homeschool Village today…

Review: God Loves Me More Than That

Title: God Loves Me More Than That
Author: Dandi Daley Mackall
Illustrator:  David Hohn
Genre: Christian children’s picture book

Publisher:  WaterBrook Press

Physical Description: 40-page hardcover

List Price: $9.99

ISBN: 9781400073160

For More Info: http://dandibooks.com/

Synopsis:

How much love does God have for me?
More than the letters between A and Z.
More than the bumbles in a bumble bee.
God loves me more than that!

As your child revels in each lively rhyme and engaging illustration from this delightful picture book, they’ll learn that God loves them deeper than a wishing well, wider than a semi-truck, louder than thunder, and softer than a kitten’s sneeze.

Each question, presented with charming child-like faith will help your child grasp the great love of God through comparisons and descriptions they can easily understand. In short, they’ll discover that His love is bigger, wider, higher, and deeper than anything they could imagine!

About the Author:

DANDI DALEY MACKALL has written many books for children and adults. She has held a humorist column and served as freelance editor, has hosted over 200 radio phone-in programs, and has made dozens of appearances on TV. Dandi conducts writing assemblies and workshops across the U.S. and keynotes at conferences and young author events. She writes from rural Ohio with her husband, three children, and their horses, dogs, and cats. Visit her at DandiBooks.com.

Esme’s Interview:

What is the book about?  It’s about God and that He loves me more than anything else in the world.

What did you like most?  The part where the little boy shouts LOUD in the football field.

What Mom Liked:

I loved the easy-reading rhyming text, with the sweet story of God’s incredible, unmatched love.  Full of similes kids can relate to, it’s a great introduction to understanding the infinity of God.

Esmé was absolutely enamored with the illustrations.  There’s a little boy in each of them, experiencing some aspect of the vastness of God, often in some fantastical situation kids could only dream of, like being a circus trainer or cowboy or playmate of hippos.  She kept insisting that I tell a story about the picture, not just read the text.

What Mom Didn't Like: 

It was tough to just READ the text due to Esmé’s insistence on the illustration stories that severely taxed my storytelling abilities.  Other than that, I’ve got nothing for you… 

Thanks to WaterBrook Press for the review copy of this book.

Bulletin Boards

I was figuring the only place we’d see snow for the rest of the winter would be on our bulletin board, but we were pleasantly surprised with a light dusting this morning.


It disappeared too quickly to do anything fun – but it reminded me that I wanted to post a picture of that snowy bulletin board:

Umm – this photo WAS taken in January, hence the calendar.  Honestly.

The board has been displaced by this amazing batik – which has been waiting patiently to be put up in Esmé’s room since our return from Mozambique.

This thing is huge – the photo doesn’t quite do it justice.  It’s longer than the length of the bed.  And I love it!

Back to the snowy bulletin board.  I loved having a spot to stick our memory verse, calendar, and whatever songs etc we might be working on, as well as display a little of her artwork.  Definitely a significant learning space.  I seriously need to find a new spot for it – it keeps getting knocked over in its precarious lean-to transition camp across from the bathroom…  We are all about interior planning and design at our tiny house, if you know what I mean.

Here’s Esmé painting snow dots for the backdrop:


And we both practiced cutting out snowflakes from coffee filters.  Esmé was very sad to see these stapled up, since she wanted to hug and baby them a little longer:


And I love these paper chain snowmen!  Esmé gave each and every one of them a cheery smile after I cut them out for her…

Wordless Wednesday

But the eyes are blind.  One must look with the heart…

~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hope you all had an awesome Valentine’s Day!  Just thought I’d share some of the stuff we’ve been doing before 4th of July rolls around…

First up is a yarn hanging.  I cut a bunch of heart outlines out of cardboard, and then wrapped a fluffy yarn around and around and in and out of the hearts.

 

Esmé had pity on me after I’d done most of them and finally did one herself.  She didn’t like the brown cardboard showing through, so insisted on lots and lots of yarn.  I think I like hers best of all!

I used double-sided tape to attach them all to a ribbon and hang them up.  It turned out pretty quaint and sweet, I think…

Next up:  A canvas painting – entirely by Esmé this time.  I happily provide tempera paint and paper, but am a little stingy on the canvas and acrylic paint, I admit.  So this was rather carefully executed. 

Esmé’s first assignment was to cover the canvas in light colors of her choice.  We let it dry overnight. 

Then I cut a sponge heart and, on a sheet of paper, showed her how to make a heart print with dark paint.  She copied me on the canvas.

We made some bear bookmarks to give away.  One must always be dressed in angel costumes for this project, I understand.

Here’s the finished Esmé-creation:

Then we made some candy airplanes for her preschool group.

I should say:  I made some candy airplanes.  Esmé played with them.  (Pilots must wear LOTS of red lipstick, I understand.)

I cut and glued some valentine cards for her to put with the airplanes.  Then Esmé was commissioned to sign and sticker the cards.

Here’s the final product:

In the kitchen, we made some whole-wheat-sesame-cracker-peanut-butter-sandwiches, topped with pink “white” chocolate for her party.  Esmé was in charge of sprinkles.

And hearts just seemed to crop up everywhere – torn out, cut out, folded in half, and more.

I really didn’t plan too well for miscellaneous easy Valentine activities, but a fantastic second-hand-store find saved me from total lameness:

I doubt you could find this anywhere in print – the old-timey awesomeness inside was well worth the $0.25:  Paper airplane, pinwheel, finger puppets, jokes, a maze, and much much more.

And we can’t forget the books!  Here are the Valentine’s books that made our reading list this year – Esmé enjoyed them all:

• If You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant.  A sweet rhyming book about the various kinds of Valentines appropriate for all types of people and creatures.
• Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine by Sarah Weeks.  Another sweet rhyming book, with a bonus of flaps that hide the appropriate type of Valentine for each type of creature.
• Rhyme Time Valentine by Nancy Poydar.  A cute story about a little girl who made Valentines for her class, and how things don’t always work out as planned, but can work out just right anyway.
• Happy Valentine’s Day, Dolores by Barbara Samuels.  Another story about things working out just right in the end – with a couple of moral issues indirectly addressed, like “borrowing” and trying to cover things up.  A little girl is always getting into her sister’s stuff, and discovers a frog necklace there.  She ends up borrowing it, losing it, and going through some adventure to buy a replacement.
• Snow Valentines by Karen Gray Ruelle.  An easy reader about a brother and sister (kitty) who become very creative in making just the right Valentines for their parents.
• Arthur’s Great Big Valentine by Lillian Hoban.  An easy reader about attitude, reconciliation, and friendship.
• Little Mouse’s Big Valentine by Thacher Hurd.  A story about a mouse who made a Valentine that nobody wanted, until he stumbled upon just the right recipient, only they modified the Valentine together so they could share with everybody.
• Heart to Heart by George Shannon.  About a squirrel who procrastinates and then rushes to make the perfect Valentine for his mole friend, realizing that perfection lies not in the design, but in the friendship and shared memories.
• The Berenstain Bears’ Funny Valentine.  A typically-sweet Berenstain book, in which Sister realizes that the boy who keeps making her mad actually likes her.  I’m not thrilled with the introduction of special boy-girl relationships at this age, but we both enjoyed the reading.
• Love, Splat by Rob Scotton.  I had the same issue with the boy-girl relationship in this book, but it really was a sweet story about how the one who “likes” gets the girl, rather than the one who thinks he’s big stuff.  And who wouldn’t love cute furry kittens?  They made the book a favorite for Esmé.

For more preschool ideas or to link up your own, check out The Homeschool Village Preschool Parade!