In our quest to simplify life and Christmas, my household has agreed to a plan for this coming Christmas, to have a Handmade Holiday. We are pledging to make rather than buy all the gifts that we exchange with each other this year.***
This is going to be easier for me than it will be for the rest of the family, but I've got a few ideas already:
My husband could make something like this treehouse, with our jigsaw and materials we already own or have out in the yard. I just have to help him remember to take the time when he has a chance between now and december. Hypatia would love this!
I don't know about our woodworking skills, but if we could build one I think Carbon would like a wooden castle, kind of like this.
I have a few decorative plates hanging in my kitchen, and my husband could take Carbon to the Painted Plate place in town and Carbon could paint a plate for my collection. (Is that stretching the definition of handmade? I'm not sure.)
My husband likes to keep his tshirt drawer smelling nice, and the kids can work on their handwork to make decorative sachets for the lavender I have hanging to dry right now.
The kids could also make a new handprint Tshirt for their dad, or a handprint bag or pillowcase for me.
Projects I could do: embroidered pillowcases, quilts, doll clothing, knit hats and scarves, stuffed animals, pillows, personalized bags.
*** Santa will still be coming to our house. But we've never had Santa do more than stuff the stockings, so the kids will just be getting store bought stocking stuffers.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Awesome Aunt
The kids have an awesome aunt. She babysits them, which I think is Awesome.
She plays with them, which they think is Awesome.
And, she makes cool shirts for them, which we all think is Awesome.
Look - Hypatia is in there with the Disney princesses!
So, yesterday was her 27th birthday, and the kids made her cards and a cake - because she's Awesome!
She plays with them, which they think is Awesome.
And, she makes cool shirts for them, which we all think is Awesome.
Look - Hypatia is in there with the Disney princesses!
So, yesterday was her 27th birthday, and the kids made her cards and a cake - because she's Awesome!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Been Reading - Old World Daughter, New World Mother
Old World Daughter, New World Mother by Maria Laurino
Sacrificio, sacrifice, spilled from the lips of Italian-American women of my mother's generation like sugar poured into espresso as they resigned themselves to sweeten life's bitterness, usually at the expense of their own desires. From the point of view of a daughter whose mother stepped back, allowing me to step forward, I had no use for this servile female role. Inherent in any act of sacrifice is both beauty and destruction - the surrender of self to aid another - but I could see only loss in the equation, and questioned how anyone could spend a lifetime caught in this interlaced pas de deux. It wasn't until I became a mother that I better recognized how sacrifice, and its essential component compassion, are integral parts of life because no one is ever fully independent unless living in a fictive neverland of the never young, never sick, never old.
Sacrificio, sacrifice, spilled from the lips of Italian-American women of my mother's generation like sugar poured into espresso as they resigned themselves to sweeten life's bitterness, usually at the expense of their own desires. From the point of view of a daughter whose mother stepped back, allowing me to step forward, I had no use for this servile female role. Inherent in any act of sacrifice is both beauty and destruction - the surrender of self to aid another - but I could see only loss in the equation, and questioned how anyone could spend a lifetime caught in this interlaced pas de deux. It wasn't until I became a mother that I better recognized how sacrifice, and its essential component compassion, are integral parts of life because no one is ever fully independent unless living in a fictive neverland of the never young, never sick, never old.
Monday, October 5, 2009
picture book post - Cinderella stories
Hypatia likes repetition (she is a preschooler, after all), and she likes to hear the same story over and over again. I thought it would be nice to read many versions of the same story, to fulfill her desire to revisit the story but also to introduce some new material at the same time.
Cinderella was my first thought, as I knew that the story has many multicultural versions and lovely retellings out there. She likes the story, so this has been a fun exploration for us.
Adelita is a retelling by Tomie dePaola, set in Mexico and intermixing some spanish phrases in the text.
Turkey Girl sets the story in the Zuni culture (southwest native american), and has a different (not happy) ending.
Abedeha is the Phillipine Cinderella, adding interesting details but not changing the story much.
We also read a very good non-Cinderella book last week: Child of Fairie, Child of Earth is a sweet happy twist on the "stolen by the fairie folk" story, with lovely illustrations and told in verse.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Horton Hatches an Egg
Today the 1st-3rd grade class had the Dr. Seuss story Horton Hatches an Egg as an illustration of our second Unitarian Universalist principle (children's version is "offer fair and kind treatment to everyone").
After the story, the class discussed the story and the principle and were thinking of times that they had lived out that principle.
"When the door popped off my sister's toy, I put it back on for her", Carbon said.
A little girl talked about holding an ice pack on her sister's head after a fall.
Another girl said "when my neighbor loaned me her skate board, I took really good care of it."
Then the conversation turned to Horton and the bird Maisy. The kids had a bit of a harder time with the fact that Horton was kind and loyal, and Maisy was mean and lazy, and yet Horton was kind to Maisy. The conversation turned to times they hadn't wanted to be nice to someone, times when they thought someone didn't deserve kindness.
As the kids fell silent, many of them frowning, the volunteer teacher (with a great sense of timing - he was great with them today) softly said "but that's why it says everyone. Because sometimes it's hard, but those folks might need the most kindness of all."
When I eavesdrop on that kind of an interaction, I really love Religious Education.
After the story, the class discussed the story and the principle and were thinking of times that they had lived out that principle.
"When the door popped off my sister's toy, I put it back on for her", Carbon said.
A little girl talked about holding an ice pack on her sister's head after a fall.
Another girl said "when my neighbor loaned me her skate board, I took really good care of it."
Then the conversation turned to Horton and the bird Maisy. The kids had a bit of a harder time with the fact that Horton was kind and loyal, and Maisy was mean and lazy, and yet Horton was kind to Maisy. The conversation turned to times they hadn't wanted to be nice to someone, times when they thought someone didn't deserve kindness.
As the kids fell silent, many of them frowning, the volunteer teacher (with a great sense of timing - he was great with them today) softly said "but that's why it says everyone. Because sometimes it's hard, but those folks might need the most kindness of all."
When I eavesdrop on that kind of an interaction, I really love Religious Education.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Quote of the day
"Water flows and fills the tiniest crevices without judgment. It brings life equally to nematodes, slime molds, roses, great whales, and human beings. There is no judgment; it simply brings the world to life. So may it be with our love; so may it be with our families; so may it be with our communities. And may we find peace, liberty, and justice filling the days of our lives and spreading outward."
Our Seven Principles in Story and Verse by Kenneth Collier
Thursday, October 1, 2009
my socialized homeschoolers
It's a common argument that homeschoolers are "over protective" and that their children will not be "socialized". Now, many excellent writers have pointed out a simple question - what exactly is meant by "socialization"? I won't repeat those thoughts again, but really - how well does school teach manners or the norms of moving about in society?
Of course, what I think people mean when they say "socialized" is "normal" - as in mediocre, non-threatening, and easily understood and dismissed. We fear "weird" people, and we fear that somehow it is terribly bad for children to be individuals and not members of a pack.
My kids are not weird, I'm afraid. You know how I can tell? Today was allowance day, and they each knew just what they wanted to buy. Ever since we've been going to the homeschool park days once a week, Carbon has been admiring the older boys with their giant collections of bionicles. They sit there at the park and trade parts, and Carbon really wants to join in. So, today he bought bionicles and star wars legos (he needed clone troopers to "build his army").
Hypatia still plays on the playground equipment and pretends to have secret hide outs in the bushes at the park, but she also had a toy she really wanted to buy. Our next door neighbors have four little girls, and they have lots of "Little Pet Shop" toys. Hypatia bought some for herself today, and is planning on bringing them out in the yard the next time the four houses in a row here with kids in them all seem to converge in our front yard.
Alas, no desires for books, science kits, or other nerdy things. They also don't feel drawn to donating their allowances to charity. They want the same toys their friends have, and those toys are mainstream, plastic (crap).
How socialized of them.
Of course, what I think people mean when they say "socialized" is "normal" - as in mediocre, non-threatening, and easily understood and dismissed. We fear "weird" people, and we fear that somehow it is terribly bad for children to be individuals and not members of a pack.
My kids are not weird, I'm afraid. You know how I can tell? Today was allowance day, and they each knew just what they wanted to buy. Ever since we've been going to the homeschool park days once a week, Carbon has been admiring the older boys with their giant collections of bionicles. They sit there at the park and trade parts, and Carbon really wants to join in. So, today he bought bionicles and star wars legos (he needed clone troopers to "build his army").
Hypatia still plays on the playground equipment and pretends to have secret hide outs in the bushes at the park, but she also had a toy she really wanted to buy. Our next door neighbors have four little girls, and they have lots of "Little Pet Shop" toys. Hypatia bought some for herself today, and is planning on bringing them out in the yard the next time the four houses in a row here with kids in them all seem to converge in our front yard.
Alas, no desires for books, science kits, or other nerdy things. They also don't feel drawn to donating their allowances to charity. They want the same toys their friends have, and those toys are mainstream, plastic (crap).
How socialized of them.
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