Scaling Back

To make a long story really short - at our last local CM meeting, we discussed pressuring kids to read and keep up with math before they're really ready, and the later problems that can cause, and the fact that some people (including The Trivium/The Bluedorns) feel like math shouldn't be started until age 10. So I re-assessed what I'm doing with Miss M (just turned 8 years old, doing AO Year 1), and I decided to cut down on her math.

We're doing Math-U-See, and since we do a CM co-op Fridays, we have a four-day week of "lessons." I've been trying to squeeze a lesson per week into four days (and a week of a scheduled Bible reading). I decided to just stop doing that. It might take us closer to two years to finish the math-U-See book, but that's okay. In fact, I think Steven Demme says he planned for each book to take a couple of years. So now we can do the concept presentation one day (which, for us, means watching the video together), and then start on work sheets the next day, and go ahead and and take a day or two to do the word problems from the teacher's manual 9which I had been skipping!) Yesterday, I let her play with measuring cups to learn how many pints are in a quart. I feel more relaxed, and I think that's appropriate for her, where she is. She has in no way reached a developmental point where fighting over "getting school done" would be a good idea.

The Bible thing is taking some getting used to. The Bible we're using has the readings all laid out and labeled "Monday" "Tuesday," etc., and it's unsettling to see the "Wednesday" label on Monday's reading. (But I suppose I can learn to be flexible!)

New Kitchen!

I loved this post at The Common Room. Miss M loved it, too. But we don't have an old entertainment center hanging around. And, in fact, she already has a pretty nice little toy kitchen.

She got this almost exactly four years ago. Look how adorable she was, just turned two years old:




The kitchen was cute, but the oven opened sideways, not really like a real oven that opens out, and it wasn't very practical for organizing stuff to put away. But the examples inspired me to put some work into remodeling her kitchen. We had some cup hooks, old wire shelving and an old towel rack. I splurged and spent ten dollars on a couple of wire baskets to hang on doors, and Mr. B did the labor, including changing the way the oven door opens -- here is the result:



Look how much she's grown in four years!! She used to not be able to reach the microwave; now she can reach the very top of the unit.



Note the cup hooks for hanging utinsels over the stove-top, old towel rack over the sink, and baskets hung on doors. The baskets under the sink are for silverware. The oven opens the right way, and it even has a real oven rack.

Miss M insisted on pictures of her cooking and eating. Since we did the remodel, she has played non-stop with her kitchen. (It probably didn't hurt that we also got down some dishes and things that had been boxed up because she was too little and/or didn't like to pick up toys.)

Miss M Becomes an Author

Miss M got some animals stickers in her Chik-Fil-A kids meal, so she was inspired to write a book with a story for each sticker. She made up the words and I wrote them down for her. One sticker on each page served as the illustration, and the words were written around the stickers.

Animals Nature

Ornate Box Turtle - Mr. Turtle was out one day and saw Mrs. Alligator. He said to Mrs. Alligator, "Who are you?" She said, "Mrs. Alligator. Who are YOU?" "Mr. Turtle. I pastor people." "Oh, I see. And how well do you preach people?" "I don't know. But well enough." "Why aren't you in the ocean, Mr. Turtle?" "I'll tell you later. Good-bye."

Wyoming Toad - Mr. Toad was out one day. He ran into Mrs. Alligator. She said, "Well! Where have you been, Mr. Toad?" "Out on a summer field." "Well, where's your wife?" "She has died." "Shouldn't you be sad if your wife has died?" "Well -- I'm sorry, but I meant -- my mother." "Then you should be sadder. Mr. Toad, do you have babies?" "They live somewhere else. My wife has them."

Fawn (she liked this sticker, so she took greater care to make it a pretty story) - Miss Fawn was out one day in a meadowy field. And the grass was sweet. She ate. And the beautiful, beautiful flowers were gazing at her face. The daffodils were beautiful at the gaze. She loved to see the beautiful blue sky pointed at her face. The beautiful sky was beautiful at her face. And the day was sweet with pleasure. She said to Mrs. Alligator that she was beautiful in the sunlight. And Mrs. Alligator said that Miss Fawn was beautiful behind the wind and her white dots went away. In the daylight she went home and saw her beautiful babies eating, and she said, "My babies are cute."

Scarlet Kingsnake [which is obviously poisonous, so she worked that into the story] - The day was beautiful. We went to a restaurant. Mr. Snake said, "Ooh, what good food this is! I'll go out to the meadow. The day is so beautiful in the meadow and so I'll go to the Arctic and poison some animals. My wife will be surprised how I poison some animals," said he. "The wolves are beautiful; I won't poison them," said he. "The day is beautiful. Good-bye."

Gray Wolf - A family was born at Mrs. Wolf's house. And she loved them dearly. And she took care of them so much and loved them. "Now I'll feed them. You must stay here, little babies. Now I'll go to Papa." The beautiful wind shook her head side to side. The wind shook as hard as it could and blew their fur side to side. "Now I shall see my friends. Good-bye, beauties."

Polar Bear - The day was beautiful. And Polar ran into Mrs. Alligator and said, "I'll go to Mrs. Seal. Good-bye."

Hawaiian Monk Seal (she was excited when I told her this was a Hawaiian animal)- Beautiful days were spread upon her. The day was beautiful. She knew it. Her name was Sarah and her middle name was Maria and her family name was The Quilts. The beautiful skies were so beautiful that she gave herself a nickname -- it was Kerry.

Woodpecker - "My name is Woodpecker. What is yours, Mrs. Alligator?" The day was beautiful. She knew that. And she gave birth to two little eggs -- Sarah and Lovehearted. And the day was shining like gold. Good-bye.

Southern Florida Alligator - The day was hot and it burned the animals. They all got sunburned and they jumped into cold water and got cold and they went home. Good-bye! Mrs. Alligator threw her head to the door of her cage and said, "Well, that's the end of nothing. That's the end of that."

Snowy Owl (she insisted on seeing the numeral "3" when I had written it)- "The day is bright," said Mrs. Owl. And her beautiful sigh became a happy smile . . . because she had 3 eggs. And she said, "Oh, my, what a beautiful day," and she jumped into the lake and got cool like the others -- and then she got hot and then she got perfectly warm. Good-bye!

Don't miss it!

A couple days ago we were all driving together in the van, and Miss M, who was sitting beside me, was talking excitedly about wrapping presents and baking cookies and all our other preparations for Christmas. She knew it had to be coming soon, so she turned and asked me, "Timmy, what day is Christmas?"

"It's this Thursday," I replied.

"The day after Tuesday?"

"No, it'll be the day after that. The day after Wednesday."

She was thoughtful for a moment. Then, with a touch of concern in her voice, she said, "Mommy, will you make sure you tell me when it's Christmas?"

We've assured her that she won't miss it.

Five Years Old!

Miss M had her fifth birthday while we were out of town. So we took her to the park, bought a cake and a local grocery store, and had hot chocolate at Dunkin Donuts.



There are a few more pictures here.

Creative Reading

Miss M is reading a book aloud to herself. She makes it up as she goes. Here's a bit of what I'm hearing:

"I'm an archaeologist. Are you an archaeologist? Come in. Have a donut or something."

"Please, policeman, will you tie my shoe?"

"Oh, Mommy, it couldn't be that! It's my beard! We'll stick it on with tape so you can be an archaeologist."

I have no idea why she's stuck on archaeologists; we haven't been talking or reading about them. Or beards either, for that matter.

A product of the day's work

Although it's not really fair to call it work, because it's a lot of fun. Today in photography class we made prints from our negatives. This is a crop from one of mine. (The full size is a much larger version of the same crop.)

History Repeats Itself

About 15 years ago, I had a little cowboy. Well, sometimes he was a cowboy, and sometimes he was Timmy Martin, with his faithful dog Lassie. I'd have to be Ruth Martin and he'd ask me for a sandwich and a glass of milk so he could have a lunch just like Timmy on the TV. But he was sometimes a cowboy, too, with a horse and a bent stick in his homemade holster for a gun.

That little boy grew up and is in college now, but now I have another Timmy Martin asking me to be Ruth Martin and make a sandwich and glass of milk, and I hear yells of, "LASSIE!" ("woof woof!") "LASSIE!"

And now the chaps, boots and cowboy hat are being used again . . . only this time, it's a little girl, and she wants to be Roy Rogers. I like how the smiles are almost identical.


And this is ten years ago, when I had three cowboys:

Miss M in Motion

This is an accidental shot, snapped randomly before all the light was gone as we went home from a walk a few weeks ago.

Books: Hazardous to Your Health

Miss M got a paper cut on her thumb this morning while flipping through a picture book. This evening, she was looking at a poetry book and got another paper cut, this one on her finger.

She said, "Mommy, I don't think I should read until I'm a big girl." She liked her Hello Kitty band-aid, though.

My sister

Miss M's Swing Pictures

The cute one

The silly one

The sweet one

The fun one

Miss M's Plans for Grandma's Future

Miss M was thinking out loud as I was laying with her at bedtime. She said out of the blue, "Tutu (grandma) needs to marry somebody." I asked her why. "Because then I'll have a grandpa. Both of my grandpas are in heaven. I wish I could go to heaven to see them." She never met either of her grandpas, but she loves her Tutu, who she's met. Actually, I didn't know she was able to put all of that together. We haven't talked about it all that much.

I don't think Tutu knows that plans are being made on her behalf.

I love it....

...when I hear my four-year-old sister giving her stuffed animals feigned British accents.

The Confidence of Youth

Miss M. informed me that, as a grown-up girl of 4 1/2, she now knows "almost everything." She knows that teapots can break, walls can be broken down, girls need to eat food or else they'll die, ants can bite, bees can sting - almost everything!

More Play

Miss M is playing with some Playmobil soldiers that her brother left out. In her world, everybody has detailed conversations with each other. I predict she'll love Jane Austen some day. I overheard this bit as her soldiers conversed together:

"But some soldiers don't have the energy to die . . ."

One Bird's as Good as Another

We have a friend who recently became an Eagle Scout, and we attended his ceremony (the whole thing reminded me of Charlotte Mason - I think Scouts and CM share ideals). He sent a thank you card with a nice photo of an eagle on the front. Miss M wanted to "read" the card, so she asked, "can I see that vulture letter?"

I don't think Vulture Scout has quite the same image of nobleness and honor as Eagle Scout.

First it was J . . .

This morning Miss M was very annoyed because brother L told her that she couldn't have last night's chips for breakfast. She came to me and said indignantly, "L is a mean guy! We need to get rid of him!" I asked her what she thought we should do with him, and she said, "throw him down the stairs!" And then she started laughing at her own silliness.

Emma by J Austen and Miss M's Desire for a Dog

Ginger and I finished Sense and Sensibility and today we start Emma.

Miss M has been asking for a dog. L informed her that brother J is allergic to dogs, so she suggested that we "get rid of J." Just yesterday she told someone at church that J is her favorite brother. My, how things change! Or maybe nothing has changed, but her priorities are set and even when weighed against a favorite brother, a dog comes first? When I told her that getting rid of J wasn't an option, she said, "Then I'll grow up and marry myself so I can live by myself!"

"Look, Mommy, I Made Us A Cake!"

"And it's only for us, Mommy, not for my brothers." How sweet.



Ingredients:
flour scooped from off the counter
water
soy milk (just a tiny bit)
a slice of soy cheese, broken into small pieces
a dash of cinnamon
a small handful of sunflower seeds
red sugar sprinkles

When it's all mixed and sticky, bring a teacup of tea leftover from the afternoon's tea party and pour it on top. Mix well with a fork.



Mmmm! "And it's going to have red sprinkles on top - I promise, really. I'm not teasing."

(Luckily, I wasn't actually required to taste any of this - just ooh-ing and ah-ing and taking a picture seemed to be enough.)