Kids Make Their Own Snack Tutorial: Butterfly in My Belly

We have been all about the butterfly lately. Save me the psycho-babble about why the girls and I would be suddenly so interested in an animal so light and free and airy, etc. Let's just sublimate the uncomfortable emotions, okay, and just study butterflies.

Willow found this basic recipe in the back of a Highlights magazine and asked to make it. Despite the fact that it's gonna look completely different when we're done with it, and it's made of, you know, all different foods, it is, of course, delicious and awesome.

You will need:

• two pieces of bread
• child's scissors
• cream cheese
• food coloring and small zip-top baggies
• scissors, rolling pin, and butter knife
• carrot, already scraped
• raisins (or nuts or seeds)

1. Let the kiddo cut each piece of bread into a beautiful butterfly wing:

Willow wasted a huge amount of each piece of bread on this. I've got the rest of the bread in a baggie in the refrigerator right now--if the girls ask to make this snack a couple of more times, I'll have enough leftover bread to make bread pudding, and if not, I'll chop it up and put it in my larger breadcrumbs baggie in the freezer.

2. Put a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese into two or more little zip-top baggies, and have the kiddo choose a different color to dye each amount of cream cheese. After you put the color in each appropriate baggie, seal it and hand it to the kid to moosh around until the cream cheese is evenly dyed.

3. Squoosh all the cream cheese into one bottom corner of the baggie (I use a rolling pin), cut off that corner, and let the kiddo use the baggies like pastry bags to spread the cream cheese on the bread. The kiddo will also want to use the butter knife, and her fingers:

This, of course, is perfectly fine.

4. Give the kiddo a scraped carrot and have her lay out her butterfly with its beautiful wings, then give her some raisins or nuts or seeds so that she can make beautiful polka dots:

The finished product will be both absolutely gorgeous--

--and wonderfully delicious:

We've got no fewer than three more butterfly projects already in the bag, so stay tuned...

Timeline

I've had this timeline project in my head for probably a year. It was always one of those ideas that I'd think of often, then dismiss with, "Well, that's something for when we homeschool."

And now we homeschool.

It involved repainting the basement hallway from the top of the stairs all the way down and down the hall and around the corner, a lot of thought work in allocating appropriate space to different time periods (it was never an option to make an uniform allocation of space--too many billions of years in which nothing interesting went on), and, yes, I lowered our house's resale value just a little bit more, but the girls and I worked hard on its preparation, and we're all three very pleased.

We begin at the top of the basement stairs. There's a foot and some change at the very top where nothing's happened yet because it's in the future, but soon enough, we're far back enough in time that interesting things have begun to occur.

I had not intended to permit the children to graffiti the wall, but as I worked on the timeline with Sydney at my side, and she began to draw all over with our Sharpies, VERY excited about "making our timeline pretty," I thought to myself, "Eh."

And so the timeline is pretty as well as informative:

I want our timeline to grow as the children's learning and interests grow, so I tried to keep my beginning entries as minimal as possible on subjects about which the children aren't yet interested (if you want to see an AMAZING and comprehensive on-the-wall timeline, check out the timeline at Ordinary Life Magic). Instead, I tried to only lay out markers, so to speak, placeholders that will help us put dates down accurately without a lot of figuring. So I've noted the beginning point of American history, for instance:

The Medieval period:

The Christian era begins at the bottom of the stairs:

The Classical Age:

Don't worry--when we get to a part of history that we're interested in, you'll be able to tell:

And when we get to a part of history that we're really, REALLY interested in, I think that you'll be able to tell that, too:

As much as possible, I want to enhance the timeline with images--photos, magazine illustrations, ideally lots of stuff created by the girls--and of course I hope that the girls will take charge of adding anything from small notations to entire essays of their own writing as they grow. These current images come from a second copy that we somehow have of the Smithsonian Handbook on dinosaurs--we just cut that sucker up and glued it to the wall (remember what I told you about lowering the house's resale value?) Will and I cut out the entries on various prehistoric creatures that we're the fondest of. Syd's cut-outs are different, but also pretty awesome:

Eventually we go back so far that continuing in a straight line would be either wasteful of space or misleading as to the time involved, so instead I switched to a spiral layout:

And in the center of the spiral?

BOOM!!!

We love our timeline, and already I can tell that it was a great idea. Context is everything, layering new information over old, putting events into perspective...

And we get to draw on the walls!

P.S. If you like the timeline, wait until I show you the maps wall.

Standing Tall

Here's my big girl, standing up tall and strong on her x-small youth crutches:

She's learning how to walk with crutches. She's learning what it's like to have a disadvantage in this society. She's learning how to cope with discomfort and frustration. She's learning what it's like to look different. She's learning how good it feels to do for herself even if it's very hard.

Sydney is learning how it feels to have something bad happen to the person with whom she identifies the most closely. She's learning how to do things independently. She's learning that we must always give the majority of our attention to those who need it the most. She's learning to be a real help to her sister. She's learning how to cope with her own fears and frustrations. She, too, is learning how to walk on crutches.

As for me, I'm remembering what it was like to have a baby in the house. I'm remembering to shut and latch the door to the basement stairs. I'm remembering that showers must be taken during lulls and must be as short as possible in order to occur as much as possible between emergencies. I'm carrying my 40+-pound kid plus her leg cast up and down steps and lifting her onto beds and couches and into carseats. I'm moderating my walking pace to be even with her, to not look like I'm waiting to catch her when she falls, and to still catch her when she falls. I'm deliberately not running to her when she does fall, deliberately not helping her up, but watching as she learns how to do it herself.

That's the hardest part, I'm learning: watching them fall.

Here's Our Homeschool This Week

This week, we've:

played endless games of Sorry; built lots with blocks--

--and I mean LOTS with blocks--

--judiciously spent saved Christmas/birthday money at our local toy/educational supplies store (thanks, Papa!); put together one of those damn Playmobil sets according to instructions (bought at aforementioned store with aforementioned birthday money)--

--made pretty things with pattern blocks, both on the carpet and with translucent plastic pattern blocks on the overhead projector (both of those sets being brand-new school supply purchases from that same store, but by the Momma this time); watched Extreme Engineering; played briefly with our brand-new Cuisenaire rods(love that school shopping!); goofed around with a laser level; and cut out paper snowflakes. Syd played some Curious George online and with a dot-to-dot computer game; stamped with number stamps; and helped me make banana cookies, pancakes, rainbow cupcakes, and vegetable soup.

We spent plenty of time at PBSKids.com; spent plenty more time with books independently, especially my Will, who is a reading machine of late; visited the library a couple of times; watched a little Electric Company (the new version, not the old); had chapters from Nancy Drew and Just So Stories at bedtime; and listened to four or five of the Magic Tree House audiobooks. I can't even tell you the books that Will has devoured this week, but they include some Boxcar Children titles, 101 Dalmatians, some Magic Tree House titles, some Nancy Drew titles, some Shel Silverstein, and other picture books, chapter books, non-fiction, and poetry that she's come across.

The kids have taken many beautiful photographs on beloved subjects--

--played with Colorforms (another new school supply purchase); helped me paint some pretty paint in the basement; and attended a scrapbooking class at the public library--

--which was VERY well enjoyed. Syd decorated some frames for some maps I'm going to tack to the walls in their playroom--

--colored with Sharpies and crayons and colored pencils and whatever else she could find; masterminded the design and construction of her new skirt; and worked on some balancing butterflies, project still in progress:

Syd finished filling out her reading program form and submitted it to the library, earning herself a book as a prize. She also did some handwriting copywork for fun and helped me label stuff.

Will watched a LOT of Blue's Clues, sigh, and some Walking with Dinosaurs (or Walking with Prehistoric Beasts or Walking with Early Mammals, etc.); attended Critter Junction, an animal program at the local library; took care of the tadpoles, some teeny froggies, and the odd caterpillar or spider for a while; researched strawberry plants, rainbows, the ocean, giant sea turtles, and I don't even recall what else; and, big sigh, took a field trip to the Emergency Room and experienced the treatment for a cracked tibia, x-rays and hard cast 3/4 up the thigh and all. 

We played the rain stick and the recorder; listened to the Muppets and Throwing Muses and some seriously inane kids' music and other CDs; and had any number of dance parties. In addition, Syd's goal is to learn to whistle, so there's been much practicing of that, and even a screening of a documentary on the International Whistling Competition.

We began the timeline!!! We've added the epochs and some info on dinosaurs and human evolution; Will has big plans to cut up an extra Smithsonian dinosaur encyclopedia that we have on hand, and I still need to mark out some basic demarcations from early humans to the present so that we know where to put stuff. Will's also been into the short video clips on the Liberty's Kids web site, although she's very annoyed that I insist on supervising her visits there, since it contains outside advertising.

We walked and biked and scooted downtown and all around; helped with chores like grocery shopping and cleaning and gardening--

--went swimming; had boisterous playdates with good friends; picked blackberries and peaches--

--played on various playgrounds, including one magical maneuver on the monkey bars too many (CRACK!); and, most recently, practiced and practiced and practiced walking on crutches.

And that's how we homeschooled this week. Please, let next week be uneventful.

I Can't Believe that We Ended Up in the E.R. AGAIN!!!

Exuberantly, she shouted, "Watch me!"

And then she leaped.

And this morning, she watches Sesame Street and plays with Colorforms, one splinted appendage stuck out awkwardly, uncomfortably, from her frame:

We go to the orthopedic pediatrician tomorrow morning for an evaluation and the hard cast.

Matt's on the phone at work cancelling baseball and swim class, and trying to score some foster kittens and two pairs of crutches, size extra-small (gotta have a pair for the sister, too, ya know).

She's not in pain, although she IS uncomfy (of course).

At least this is the kid that we've already met our deductible on.

Sydney the Fashion Designer

Sydney says, "I want you to make me a new skirt, Momma."

To buy time (I'm on the computer, perhap blogging, perhaps editing photographs, perhaps searching for books with timelines in them from the library), I tell her, "Draw me a picture of exactly what it looks like, and be sure to label it so that I know what it is."

Twenty minutes later (I'm still on the computer), and she brings me this:

Labelled and everything.

I just want five more minutes to finish my work, so now I say, "Okay, go look at my fabric and pick out what the skirt should be made of."

A full five minutes later (phew!) she brings me this button-down shirt that I bought for two dollars at the last
Goodwill sale:

I'd halfway planned it for some kind of patchwork, perhaps another I Spy quilt, but it does happen to look EXACTLY like Sydney's picture, so I lay into it with the shears, and one hour later:

Happy skirt, happy girl.

I sewed this skirt up differently from the other skirts that I've made Sydney, and differently from other tutorials that I've seen for skirts or dresses made from button-downs--the pocket is functional and wasn't moved, and the buttons are functional, including the buttons at the waist, and yet the skirt STILL is elasticized! It's like some kind of triumph of modern technology!

AND it's comfy:

AND she loves it:

I may not have so much of a stash-busting problem anymore, what with my own in-house fashion designer.

P.S. What else did I do this weekend? I bought a hoe for me and a hoe for the littles, I found and baked a vegan no-yeast pizza crust recipe, I drew a timeline on the basement wall, and I sewed some new sheets for the bed.

Willow the Photographer

Guess what we bought our brand-new six-year-old for her birthday?

She loves it. Here are just a few of the MANY HUNDREDS of photographs that she's taken in the last week or so:

Lots and Lots of Photos of Whatever is Around Her Anywhere We Go

Lots and Lots of Photos of Me (I am always around her anywhere we go)

Lots and Lots of Photos of Her own Sweet Self

I'm doing the editing and digital developing for her for now, because Will doesn't seem to be interested in her photos after she takes them (why look at photos when you can read?), but I do have a couple of child-friendly photo editing programs in mind to introduce to her, and I have made my peace that I will be visiting the Wal-mart photo kiosk, and often.

And then...scrapbooking?