A Sweeping Lesson

Sweeping is one skill I have struggled to teach my children. Recently I told Dash that his job was to sweep around the table. He was quite distressed: "I can't do it!" Fortunately, a stray roll of blue painters tape was in the kitchen. I taped a blue square around one laminate "tile" on the floor. "Sweep into the square," I told him. With only a little more coaching, he swept some crumbs into the square, then into the dustpan. Hurray! Another chore option in the making!

Follow-up: I'm afraid the square made more of an impact than the experience. Silly me for leaving that tape in children's reach. Now we have a whole hopscotch design on the kitchen floor. How am I supposed to tell them to sweep into that?

Library List Tuesdays

Another Tuesday, another library visit (if I didn't have to keep returning the previous books, I might stop checking out new ones!) Here we have:

a Spanish picture dictionary (a failed attempt. I can't pronounce with confidence yet)

Ancient History: The Emperor's Silent Army. Actually, we kept this book about the full-size teracotta warrior statues from the previous week.

Read alouds: Choo Choo Clickety Clack. For Little Nephi, of course.

Once Upon a Golden Apple. A dad jumbles fairy tales together into one family story.

Astronaut Handbook. A simple introduction to preparing for different jobs on a space shuttle. Could be used to teach about synergy.

Character/Behavior Training: Good Manners at School. I know, a funny thing to get when school is almost out.

Emily's Magic Words. We read this during a family home evening about manners. I prefer the illustration style in Emily's Everyday Manners, which is also from the Emily Post Institute. Still, this was good because it focused on one little aspect of manners, so we didn't feel overwhelmed trying to improve everything at once.

Sunday Thought

Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time.

-Elder L. Tom Perry, "Mothers Teaching Children in the Home"

Movie Night: Ponyo

How can you get more Japanese than Hello Kitty pocky sticks? Find them in the oriental section of your grocery store. Caution: they taste strongly of partially-hydrogenated soybean oil, but the kids love them.

For an extra special movie night in March, we watched Ponyo. Click here for the trailer. Ignore the movie reviewer at the beginning who can't pronounce her subject. Originally released in Japan, Disney does a convincing job dubbing all of Hayao Miyazaki's films. This is a very creative twist on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." Forget mermaids. Ponyo starts out looking more like a goldfish with a face. When she is rescued by . . . cute-boy-with-very-Japanese-name, she likes him and decides she wants to become human so she can be with him. Lucky for her, her dad is an eccentric mad scientist with blue eye shadow (he was human, but hated them, so he moved under the sea where he is trying to resurrect ancient, extinct ocean creatures). An accidental tumble into the elixir of life and, voila! "she's a little girl with a round tummy."

One of my favorite parts of the movie is the Senior Center the boy's mom works at. The senior citizens are fabulous, well developed supporting characters.

Clean Rating: The questionables present: Ponyo's mom is once called "the goddess of mercy;" and a little playdate--ing before 16. The famous kiss? Well, Ponyo is in a bubble and the boy is told to kiss the bubble. Although he just happens to kiss the part closest to her face. I give it 4 stars for cleanliness, about on par with Monsters Inc.

Plus One

One of the preschool activities we enjoyed this winter/spring was adding one or two to single digits. Having seen what happens when you only give your kindergartener a day or two to master simple addition before moving on to the bigger numbers, I was quite willing to take it slow with manipulatives and repetition.

Still, I was surprised recently when Mia began spontaneously announcing random addition facts. We were driving together when inspiration struck. I recited the addition facts from 1 to 9 (1+1=2; 2+1=3, etc.) in numerical order. Then I started over, still in numerical order, asking her fill in the sum. She was quite quick up through about seven. When she paused on the next number, I "helped" her by answering. She told me, "Don't say it Mom! I can figure it out!" Then she did. I'm so excited that she figured out the "rule" of plus one addition: the sum is the next higher number that follows the big number in the problem.

Library List

I hereby decree that every Tuesday (or as regularly as I can reasonaly make it) every Tuesday hereafter will be Library List day. Books are one of the core elements of a classical education. As long as you frequently visit a well-stocked library, it's a very affordable way to educate, too.

Library List

Art: Katie and the Mona Lisa

This book would be a playful art history read for anyone studying the Renaissance; which we're not. I returned it unread.

Math: Millions to Measure

I was delighted to find another math picture book by the creators of How Much Is a Million? Despite its title, Millions to Measure has nothing to do with millions, but it is all about measuring. It begins with the history of the English system, including a little measuring chart which should be memorized (Grammar stage alert!) for kitchen use. Then it explains how the metric system began. It has a fold-out inset, which worried me, but it unfolded to have a ruler which was exactly one meter long. Understanding the principles of the metric system is easier for children who know basic fractions (like 1/10th). Highly recommended.

Biology: Eyewitness Skeletons

I was hoping this was a pure science movie. Dash has been fascinated with the human body this year. Unfortunately for us, it included culture associations, like taro cards, that were more confusing for him than informative. Only watched once.

Movie Night: Pete's Dragon

Mia's Choice: Scholastic DVDs Chrysanthemum, and Disney Princess Christmas

History of Ancient China: The Emperor's Silent Army and Growing Up in Ancient China

The Emperor's Silent Army was our longest book. It covers the fascinating history/discovery of the thousands of life-size terracotta soldiers discovered in the last century by the tomb of the First Emperor.

Literature: Each Peach Pear Plum (a board book Little Nephi loved), Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, Storytelling Princess, and A Chair for My Mother.

Modest for the Temple

I let Mia have her bag of princesses down at the same time as the building blocks. She played quietly for a while, then brought Snow White and her dress to me. "Mommy, can you dress Snow White so she is modest, to get married in the temple?" Of course I did, and she took Snow White to the temple she had built out of wooden blocks (why she didn't take Prince Charming too, I don't know!).