Domestic Adventures

Inspired by a co-op session on mapmaking, I ordered this book, Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years by David Sobel. I just love books like this, about how kids’ thinking develops and why teaching certain concepts is important. Unfortunately, I usually get about a third of the way through such books, jump into the application enthusiastically, and more often than not forget to come back to them. Oops. This book I actually read completely - well, all the relevant parts.
The author discusses how children’s maps reflect their view of the world at that time, how mapmaking gives a sense of ownership to a place thereby encouraging good stewardship, and one of my favorite chapters, how books and maps work together to more fully involve the reader in the story. Besides the theory, there are tons of mapmaking projects divided by age.
We started with a model map of our school room. I made a map with cuisenaire rods and had the kids idenitfy the room and the things in it. Then I used stickers on the map to show where I had hidden pennies around the room for them to find. Once Emmie and Micah had found their little treasures, I left the room and they hid the pennies and marked the map with stickers. I was impressed that even Micah could do this very accurately.
Another day I asked Emmie to draw a picture of the neighborhood. The only thing she had to show on the map was our house, beyond that she could show as much or as little as she wanted. I love how her map of our cul-de-sac turned out. In reality, there are five houses on our street, but she only showed the ones that were important to her: our house, our next door neighbors to the south (defined by Emmie as “the people who keep their cars in the garage”) and the neighbor two doors down who have a very friendly dog. The dog even made it onto the map. Across the street was pictured a small tree in a funny little squared off area and defined as “where we like to park our BigWheels”. We don’t go over there all that often and I had no idea she thought the place was special -makes me want to ensure we visit the little tree more often. The other two houses belong to neighbors we don’t have much interaction with and so it was no surprise that they didn’t show up on her map. After creating her map, Emmie was so excited about it, she wanted to go out and walk around the cul-de-sac visiting all the places she had drawn. She had a great time leading us on this little adventure.
Finally, we used mapmaking for her journal one day while we were reading Charlotte’s Web. Again, not the most accurate map, but it definitely showed all the important places including Charlotte’s place in the doorway and Templeton’s home under the feeding trough.
Though I think we’ve wrapped up our little mapmaking unit for now, I love having these ideas on hand to apply here and there for variety and interest. Besides, it’s a fun way to get inside Emmaline’s head and find out what’s important to her.

E: I’m really disappointed that you did that, Micah.

M: Only grown-ups are disappointed - not little kids.

E: Well, I’m disappointed.

M: Emmie, you don’t even know what that means.

E: Yes I do!

M: What does it mean?

E: Well… I don’t know exactly… not precisely… not at all.

M: See, you don’t know what that means.

I generally enjoy grocery shopping, but anyone with small children knows that it’s important to keep moving. Once you get stuck in line somewhere everything starts to go downhill, which is why I have a love/hate relationship with the deli. We love our fresh sliced deli meats and cheese, but it is invariably where I get bogged down waiting. It’s only a matter of time before the kids are touching everything in sight, wanting to press their slimy little noses against the glass case and bickering with each other. Besides, I’m not a big fan of waiting in line myself.

So, here’s my deli tip. When making my grocery list I stick a post-it note to the bottom. This is where I write my deli items. I make sure to specify exactly what I want including the brand and how much, and I take extra care to write neatly - the rest of my list is practically a secret code of abbreviations and sloppy writing, but this part has to be clear. I go to the deli at the beginning of my shopping trip and drop off my list. Even if there’s a line, I can usually manage to catch someone’s attention and politely ask if they mind if I leave my list. Deli people are usually grateful and happy to do it this way. Then I’m off for the rest of my shopping. I just stop by again before I’m ready to check out and there’s my order stacked neatly on the counter with my list stuck to the top. No need to wait in line when my list can do the waiting for me.

Don’t forget to check out more Works for Me Wednesday tips at their new home, We Are That Family.

Grammy: Micah, on the cute scale, you’re a hundred and ten!

Micah: But Grammy, I’m only three.

We’ve recently upgraded our vitamins around here. The thing about good vitamins, though, is that you have to take them with food or they leave you feeling queazy. This is sometimes a problem for Trent as he often doesn’t eat breakfast until he gets to work. The obvious solution was to bring some vitamins to work. This was too much of an opportunity for Trent. First, he found the perfect old-timey bottle for them. Then he researched old medicine and vitamin labels and spent several hours creating the perfect label on the computer. I love the phrase, “used and tried for years.” Yep, lots of credibility. Finally, Trent aged his homemade label using coffee and a hot oven before meticulously gluing it to the bottle. I consider it a bonus that the vitamins themselves look and smell awful.
So glad my new vitamins taste like orange juice.

Our homeschool co-op just finished a unit on Florida history and we topped it all off with a field trip to St.Augustine.
Since I am so not a morning person and did not relish the idea of being two hours from home by nine in the morning, I convinced Trent to come along and we stayed the night before in a hotel. It doesn’t matter where your hotel is or how fancy or not it is, staying in a hotel is a big, big deal to small children. After checking in, we took the five minute drive to the very cold and windy beach, where the kids ran in ecstatic circles as the waves came up and washed over their feet. We stayed until Micah belly flopped into an icy inch of water then drove back to the hotel for warm baths and hot pizza eaten in front of real cable tv - another exciting feature of hotels.
The trip, of course, was really about historic St.Augustine, and we all really enjoyed that part too. It had been a couple of years since we’d been and at the time we wandered around as a family rather than getting in on the groups tours and such. I was really impressed by the different tour guides we encountered. At the Spanish Colonial Quarter we met a colonial housewife preparing the most delicious smelling chicken and rice. We walked through her garden, met her chickens, then were off to the carpenter’s shop where the kids learned about how colonial furniture was built a lot like lincoln logs and tinker toys. He even made lots of “curly whirly” wood shavings for us at the request of all the little girls, then the blacksmith demonstrated how to make nails and chains with his hammer and anvil.
After that we headed to the fort, Castillo de San Marcos. We heard from a Spanish soldier who made wearing eight layers of wool and linen on the Florida coast actually sound reasonable, and explained how a love of garlic saved the Spanish from demise in this swampy state. The kids loved climbing on the canons (which they weren’t really supposed to touch, but how can you not?).
Lots of fun, but by the end of the day we were all feeling about how Micah looks in that last picture.

The Nesting Place is a new favorite blog for me. It’s another of those beautiful blogs that just makes me smile with its calm and lovely photos of homes and decorating ideas. The Nester has this wonderful feature called, Ten Minutes to a Room You Love in which she outlines how to use what you already have and make your space more cosy and welcoming in just a few minutes.
After reading her post, How to Tablescape With What You Already Have, I decided to try out her tips.

This little sewing machine near our entry has always given me trouble. I love it, but it always just ends up a holding place for random trinkets and never really looks put together. The frame above it hold a page from a 1611 copy of the King James Bible - a very special wedding gift, and again, something I love but have always had trouble finding a place for that really fits.

Before:

Here are the Nester’s tips, taken from The Home Book:
Layer and lean frames against the wall instead of hanging them to keep your arrangement tight. I like this so much better than hung high above the table. I added a framed drawing by my grandfather - another treasure I struggle with showcasing well.

Keep your palate simple. Black and white is recommended, but since I’m using what I have I used more browns.

A tray makes anything look richer. I’m really liking the idea of trays and have spotted several areas around the house I’d like to use them.

Use a vase with a strong silhouette. Fill it with one type of flower or stem for impact. Again - using what I have.

Add a sphere to mix shapes and reflect light. Ha! Just found this strange acrylic sphere when cleaning out a closet. It’s small so I put it on a glass vase.

Use colored boxes. Like the Nester, I didn’t have any so I used books.

I think the finished product is a big improvement, and now that I see what a change a few minutes can make here, I’m ready to tackle some other areas around the house.

After:

Check out how other bloggers are making ten minute changes here, and happy nesting!

Last Saturday morning I brought the kids up to the chapel with me to help set up for the Valentine’s Banquet that evening. I had planned to let the kids play outside while I worked but it turned out there was some yard work being done at the same time, so I gave them very specific instructions on where they were allowed to play and where they were not. I kept the door open and peeked out at them throughout the morning.

On the way home, I told them how proud I was of their obedience. “I’m so glad I could let you guys play outside and know that you would follow my instructions,” I said.

“Oh mom,” Emmaline answered, “Your words went into my head and then they went all around inside me and they stayed there going around and around in me. In fact, they’re still in me now.”

I just loved the way she phrased that, and it made me think of how God wants His words to be to us. He wants His words to go into our heads and go around and around inside us. And the thing is, when words stay in us like that, it affects our actions - just like how Emmaline and Micah stayed where they were supposed to.

Though I hate to admit it, there are times when I’ve already forgotten what I’ve read by the time I finish the page. How much like a child I am who forgets what she’s heard within two seconds - or who wasn’t really listening in the first place! I needed that reminder to keep God’s words running around inside me so they will affect my life.

I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:2.

You shall therefore impress these words of Mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
Deuteronomy 11:18-20

The problem in living with little creative geniuses is the avalanche of papers that accompany them. All sorts of creations made with crayons and markers and tape and stickers, overflowing from the table and slipping under chairs and beds. A precious few get framed, but honestly, most of these creations reach the recycling bin after a stint on the fridge. For a while I was keeping the ones I really loved in a file; a file way in the back of the drawer that was crammed full of stuff that never saw the light of day.
Then a friend showed me her storage system: loose leaf binders filled with page protectors. I already had on hand two large binders. I bought a giant pack of page protectors to fill them and used 8 by 10 photos to slip into the plastic on the front (though artwork here would be just as great). I keep them on a shelf in our school room, so they are easy to get to. Now, after the artwork has had its display time on the fridge, I decide whether this is something to recycle or to save in the binder. I make sure to date everything that goes into the folder. Because the binders are so easy to access I end of saving more. Also, the pictures are not hidden away in the back of some file drawer, instead they are more like photo albums, easy to pull out and look through, show off to grandparents and friends.
The friend who originally inspired this has children older than mine, so she uses her binders to collect certificates and prizes the kids earn as well. Two of hers have graduated from high school and found the binders very useful when filling out their college applications. All the details of their various accomplishments were easy to find.
Just another little thing bringing order to some part of my world.

For more tips, check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.

Grammy: Emmaline, I have a secret for you. You’re a very special girl.

Emmaline: Grammy, I have a secret for you. Everybody already knows that.