Little House on the Prarie Bookclub

We are doing a book club with the girls and 2 other families as we read the Little House on the Prairie series. We haven't been able to go as much as I'd like--but I love the concept. We read the book, and discuss it, sometimes dressing up or doing a project to go along with it. To go with Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie we had dinner to make Ma proud; roast chicken, cornbread, blackberries, Christmas cakes with strawberries, salad, baked potatoes and ham bits, and peppermints.

It has been great to have the girls think about what else is happening in history at that time; Is this before or after the Civil War? The Pioneers trek west? How many states were in our country then? We learned that Laura and her family's "western frontier" was much different than we originally thought of it, and Oh the devotion of Ma to follow her husband's wandering spirit!

I forgot until the day of that we have a book called Inside Laura's Little House that gives recipes, craft projects, and cultural history related to this time. There are other titles related to this series by the same author, and even companion books for Anne of Green Gables and Little Women that I will have to check out.

Interpretive Natural History Museum Visit

We recently visited the new Museum of Natural History. It's architecture slips right into it's surroundings and sustains them with thousands of solar panels, has both sophisticated and simple displays with layers of learning, and an interior of cement, steel, and glass with angles that mimic the slot canyons nearby--not to mention MC Echer. Our visit to such a fascinating and futuristic building left me feeling like I had been to a place completely new yet it's whole focus is the place where I live.

Even before we entered we had to pull Bowery Bird away from her wildflower coloring book, see Mockingbird and Kingfisher's pet insects they caught, admire some magpies, and hear from Henry, "hey-it's a--oh, it's just another man, I though it was a turkey..." as bicyclists came down the trail. So we were all  honing in on the natural even before we entered the museum.

We each had our own bit of fun here;
Mr. Owl informed the museum that his Iroquois tribe's Five Nation wampum belt was displayed upside-down (Oops!).

On the top floor we were about to enter an exhibit except 5 boys from the big school group were wrestling all over the benches and blocking the way. I don't know what possessed me, but I leaned in close to their faces with "WHERE. ARE YOUR PARENTS!" ...it wasn't quite a scream. They froze with arms and legs in every direction, looked up, and fell over each other backing around the next corner. The effect was great. My family however,  nervously turned to look at me. "I was just kidding!" and I burst out laughing. It was hilarious, and soon was quickly misinterpreted and replayed many times by Mockingbird and Kingfisher as "WHERE ARE YOUR PANTS! ha ha ha".

Later Bowery Bird was sitting on a bench when a chaperon came up and asked her "Is this clipboard yours?"
"No."
"Well, is this your school group?"
"No. I don't go to school." to which the women gave her a "whatever" look, took the clipboard, and left. Abigail finished her story with "But I don't go to school, mom--school comes to me." So typical, Abigail's dry sincerity is read as apathetic snobbery by the uninitiated.

Mockingbird was as costumes became available; a fox, a sparrow, a butterfly, a safari explorer, a cave guide, and a terrified dinosaur escaper.

Kingfisher was reminded not to hit the tanks of snakes, or barrel into mom at full blast while she's holding Beatrice, and quizzed dad on his scat in the Naturalist Lab. (I didn't mean to write it like that--or did I?...)

Canary ended up soaked and loving it as she was released from the stroller into the pint-size explorers room complete with water play, cave, and aforementioned dress-ups.
A good time was had by all.

The Night Fairy

aka: Fiction Keeps it Real

Our library does a Mother-Daughter Book club for girls 9 and up. Since it every month fills quickly Bowery Bird had the idea to just do one of our own. We are lucky enough to have a library with book club sets, so I reserved Juvenile sets from the them for 5 months out and invited 10 of our little friends and their mothers to join us.

Our first book was The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Shiltz. It was a great introduction for our young girls, being a sweet fairy's tale filled with the conflict of survival and forgiveness after her wings are bitten off by a bat.

Just before this a good friend recommend the book Deconstructing Penguins by Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone. It was the key needed to make an okay book club incredible. I read it just in time and used its techniques to introduce the book with the idea that we are all book detectives trying to solve the mystery of the book's various parts. While eating grasshopper cookies we took votes to determine who were the protagonist (pushing the story forward) and antagonist (stopping the story from progressing). Then we talked about what the theme of the book was and came up with Flory's fear resulting from the loss of her wings. I noted these things on a white board for everyone to see.

 I see this Mother Daughter Book club as sort of a cross between your basic book-talk and the book The Mother-Daughter Project by Hamkins & Shutlz (which I feel is a must read for any mother of girls). It is the effort of two women in the social sciences to bond mothers and daughters together and give them the skills and confidence to navigate adolescence and beyond. They do this by showing people how to start a Mother-Daughter Project of their own, with activities to do and topics to discuss.

In the end, I asked for personal examples of life's challenges and changes they've had to adapt to. Girls eagerly said things like "moving", "new baby", " flying to Alaska with only my little brother" (from a 7 y/o). Mothers needed more prompting, and two brave moms shared "we can't have any more children" and "we don't have a car that fits our family".

It got very real, and I think helped us all see that being young or old doesn't keep us from challenges, and--like Flory--challenges don't have to keep us from being happy.

The Pocahontas Perspective, and other biographical tales of worth

 

About 3 picture book biographies are scheduled for us year with Ambleside Online Year 3. But I love biographies and especially in our first term this year we read several extra.

For history we were again, reading about Pocahantas when Mockingbird (who wasn't supposed to be listening) piped up "What! John Smith didn't marry Pocahantas--it was some other guy!"

This was after she'd read a picture book bio on her and seen an accurate cartoon depiction of her life--I know it. But not till eavesdropping on her sister's school did the truth trump the Disney impression of a one-time viewing of the movie and mass marketing. It blew her mind, but perhaps the real shocker was the realization that her Disney dolls aren't really married now...

I have an aunt whose daughter is Native American and was never allowed to watch the Disney version. (I think there may have even been spitting involved when the idea was suggested.) My own children have a great-grandfather is full-blooded Mohawk.

We were reading in Our Country of Ours  about Pocahontas and found this dated history book to be as politically incorrect and offensive as I did when we read something like "and even though she was a savage and a heathen she was very beautiful". A publishing house was even named "La Belle Sauvage" that existed long after--if not still.

Kingfisher,"That's so funny! cuz they call them savages--and we're indian so we're savages! ha aha ha!"

"Hmmm, A--since this book is calling Native Americans savages--and telling us that they are not as good as the colonists--do you think we should keep reading it for history?"

Bowery Bird gave a quick nod, "Yeah, because everyone can have their own opinion," and a great conversation ensued, and will continue. Maybe about bias in history, maybe just about Pocahantas and her wedding plans...

After this we talked about Pocahantas and her life as a princess in two worlds and what that must have been like, and if they could think of anyone else in history whose life ended up in a completely different world than it began.
 Much thought, then G said "Annie Oakley! She was very poor and then she met the Queen!..." then "Me! I am from here, but I went to Missouri--and that's like another world!" no argument there. But then it got a little fuzzy as she shouted out "Cinderella!"--and every Disney princess she could think of...

Other Biographies we've read this year for fun:

Davy Crockett
Daniel Boone
Jane Goodall
George Washington Carver
Mozart
Bach
Sitting Bull
Geronimo
Annie Oakley
Sacagewea
Silent Witness (Civil War)
John Henry's Box
Hans Christian Anderson
Fannie Farmer
Houdini
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo
Florence Nightingale
Charlie Parker (stagecoach driver story we requested for purchase at our library, after learning about her from a tour of a Wells Fargo Station in the Silver Reef ghost town in Southern Utah)
Tony Sarg (Balloons Over Broadway)

A Child's Scripture Journal

I love the Red Headed Hostess's take on scripture journals.

In an effort to stop losing our Faith in God book, and help Bowery Bird keep track of her scripture reading, I made this notebook for her after she turned 8. It involved some laminating and cutting, but was pretty easy. Now she keeps it inside her scripture case, and her friends in Activity Days want one too. (birthday gifts here we come...)

The front cover is just a pretty picture laminated.

 

White paper has a Reading Chart of just the stories in the scriptures (organized by Penny Gardner here) to mark off as completed.

Cream colored pages for her Scripture Journal. I listed obvious topics for Primary age then numbered the following pages to match, one to a topic for quotes, etc.

Blue pages are for her Gratitude Journal. At the bottom I wrote "9 years old" etc. giving two pages to each age up to 12. (the light changed, that's cream to the right still.) And yes, "Mom" made the top 5 with a capital letter-sigh.

Yellow Pages are for Spiritual Experiences, again ages are noted at the bottom, 2 pages to a year. They are still blank, and she's almost 10---I better start praying for more...does finding the snake loose in our house after a third prayer count?

After these pages is her Faith in God booklet starting with page 1 (not the cover).
Lastly, with "My Gospel Standards" on the left and the back of the front cover on the right I finished it off with her school picture laminated on. So the very back of the book is actually the front cover of the Faith in God booklet.