Monday, August 26, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Moral Tales for all that Ails
Me own mum confessed in true Catholic style the other day that if it weren't for the dear nuns and her early readers constantly concluding with some moral reminder, she'd have ended up like the rest of her siblings; self proclaimed "owl hoots and jaspers."
I found this telling, and went on to instantly catalogue what moral tales I was telling to my own impressionable little charges. They are good and plenty, a few for the record:
1. The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett and it's companion, The Moral Compass
It begins with a quote from Plato's Republic,
One school year we were graced by one of these every morning after breakfast. It holds such chapters as "Responsibility" and "Courage" and "Work." I would give my children three of these categories and when I was finished they had to guess what the story was about, and why.
Some of our favorites are "Dust Under the Rug," a story about a girl who one day gets hurried in her housework for dwarfs and fulfills the title's foreshadowing, only to later have her conscience stricken and discover gold as she makes amends.
Another is the rollicking rhyme of "Matilda, Who Told Lies, and Was Burned to Death."
...Need I say more?
2. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic (and really, anything else by Betty MacDonald you are lucky enough to get your hands on)
Not only is this a great introduction to the world of illustrator Hilary Knight (male, not female) but a didactic classic with entertaining yarns of the familiar friendly neighborhood cure-it-all with-a-call, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. We know her, we love her, go out and order yourself three.
3. Picture books; Pepe the Lamplighter, Princesses are not Quitters, Ruby and the Teeny Tiny Lie, etc.
These three came to mind most readily being ones we own.
Pepe the Lamplighter highlights an immigrant boy's "insignificant" job which ends up saving his little lost sister one dark night.
The next is a modern fairy tale of three princesses who are tired of seeing the servants have all the fun. It is so fanciful and silly that little girls are easily swept up in the magic of...work.
Lastly, Ruby loves to collect little things so much that she slips, just a little, and tells her teacher that a little camera she founds is hers, and pays for it with a big guilty conscience.
4. Biographies:Stone Girl Bone Girl, Minty, and Annie Oakley
This is from memory, but impressionable true-life tales always leave my children desiring to do something great:
Stone Girl, Bone Girl is of the young girl, Mary Anning, who discovered many paleontological firsts along the coastal shores of her British homeland, helping to support her struggling family and defeat personal ridicule from her peers.
Minty, was Harriet Tubman's childhood nickname. The illustrator, Jerry Pinckney also did the Harriet Tubman stamp. This beautiful bringing-up story made me cry, but made my children laugh (at the right places). Minty tells her homemade doll a lively rendition of Davy & Goliath she has learned from her mother, comparing Goliath to their master and ending it all with a feast of plenty at the 'big house'.
Annie Oakley is a personal favorite, followed up by the musical, of course. This talented female went from providing food for her family to touring the country and donating much to orphanages.
5. The Friend, a magazine
Yes, I'm LDS and so is this children's magazine that monthly brings to our home true tales of children who have come up against disobedience, laziness, bullying, viewing something their family rules deem inappropriate, etc. from others, or themselves at a weak moment. Sometimes they initially make the right choice, sometimes they don't; which in itself, is a lesson. As a side note, a wise mother once told me she tries to discuss with and prepare her children for issues they must face a full five years before they will even need to.
6. Among the Farmyard People by Clara Dillingham Pierson
This series of "Among the...People" is actually about animals, because animals are people too. Basing moral messages around actual animal behavior results in stories, for instance, of a lamb who shakes his long tale proudly at the others when his mother isn't looking--until it's cut off. Another of my favorites is the surprisingly abrupt story of a mouse who mistakes foolishness for bravery with an owl around. While it takes a bit to read the humor at times, it is consistent throughout and directed toward kindergarten age of long ago.
7. Works of fiction: The Trolls, The Hundred Dresses, and Gone Away Lake
Good fiction, should be blatantly fun and subtly enriching.
The Trolls is one of the most surprising and though-provoking books I have ever read. Its light-hearted family stories have a deep and even dark undertone revealed in the very last lines. I pondered it's meaning for days after...
The Hundred Dresses, I'm sure we're all familiar with this early portrait of bullying or excluding, and it's consequences.
Gone Away Lake is an adventure of discovery into another time as two siblings and a cousin meet living relics of a time gone by. As beautifully as that unfolds, it's also about watching out for your younger sibling, and what can happen if you don't.
8. Fairy Tales
I put this last, but really, isn't this a child's first introduction to the realm of stories-with-hidden-meaning? Just think back on these tales that obviously originated with that purpose in mind:
Cinderella
Little Red Riding Hood
The Little Mermaid (Please, I'm talking the real one here)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Obviously enjoyed by all ages, these references are all mostly geared toward younger ages. If you know of some gems for the older set, please let me know. I'm half-thinking of myself here, for they have helped strengthen my moral character as well.
I found this telling, and went on to instantly catalogue what moral tales I was telling to my own impressionable little charges. They are good and plenty, a few for the record:
1. The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett and it's companion, The Moral Compass
It begins with a quote from Plato's Republic,
Anything received into the mind at that age is likely to become indelible and unalterable; and therefore it is most important that the tales which the young first hear should be models of virtuous thoughts...
One school year we were graced by one of these every morning after breakfast. It holds such chapters as "Responsibility" and "Courage" and "Work." I would give my children three of these categories and when I was finished they had to guess what the story was about, and why.
Some of our favorites are "Dust Under the Rug," a story about a girl who one day gets hurried in her housework for dwarfs and fulfills the title's foreshadowing, only to later have her conscience stricken and discover gold as she makes amends.
Another is the rollicking rhyme of "Matilda, Who Told Lies, and Was Burned to Death."
...Need I say more?
2. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic (and really, anything else by Betty MacDonald you are lucky enough to get your hands on)
Not only is this a great introduction to the world of illustrator Hilary Knight (male, not female) but a didactic classic with entertaining yarns of the familiar friendly neighborhood cure-it-all with-a-call, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. We know her, we love her, go out and order yourself three.
3. Picture books; Pepe the Lamplighter, Princesses are not Quitters, Ruby and the Teeny Tiny Lie, etc.
These three came to mind most readily being ones we own.
Pepe the Lamplighter highlights an immigrant boy's "insignificant" job which ends up saving his little lost sister one dark night.
The next is a modern fairy tale of three princesses who are tired of seeing the servants have all the fun. It is so fanciful and silly that little girls are easily swept up in the magic of...work.
Lastly, Ruby loves to collect little things so much that she slips, just a little, and tells her teacher that a little camera she founds is hers, and pays for it with a big guilty conscience.
4. Biographies:Stone Girl Bone Girl, Minty, and Annie Oakley
This is from memory, but impressionable true-life tales always leave my children desiring to do something great:
Stone Girl, Bone Girl is of the young girl, Mary Anning, who discovered many paleontological firsts along the coastal shores of her British homeland, helping to support her struggling family and defeat personal ridicule from her peers.
Minty, was Harriet Tubman's childhood nickname. The illustrator, Jerry Pinckney also did the Harriet Tubman stamp. This beautiful bringing-up story made me cry, but made my children laugh (at the right places). Minty tells her homemade doll a lively rendition of Davy & Goliath she has learned from her mother, comparing Goliath to their master and ending it all with a feast of plenty at the 'big house'.
Annie Oakley is a personal favorite, followed up by the musical, of course. This talented female went from providing food for her family to touring the country and donating much to orphanages.
5. The Friend, a magazine
Yes, I'm LDS and so is this children's magazine that monthly brings to our home true tales of children who have come up against disobedience, laziness, bullying, viewing something their family rules deem inappropriate, etc. from others, or themselves at a weak moment. Sometimes they initially make the right choice, sometimes they don't; which in itself, is a lesson. As a side note, a wise mother once told me she tries to discuss with and prepare her children for issues they must face a full five years before they will even need to.
6. Among the Farmyard People by Clara Dillingham Pierson
This series of "Among the...People" is actually about animals, because animals are people too. Basing moral messages around actual animal behavior results in stories, for instance, of a lamb who shakes his long tale proudly at the others when his mother isn't looking--until it's cut off. Another of my favorites is the surprisingly abrupt story of a mouse who mistakes foolishness for bravery with an owl around. While it takes a bit to read the humor at times, it is consistent throughout and directed toward kindergarten age of long ago.
7. Works of fiction: The Trolls, The Hundred Dresses, and Gone Away Lake
Good fiction, should be blatantly fun and subtly enriching.
The Trolls is one of the most surprising and though-provoking books I have ever read. Its light-hearted family stories have a deep and even dark undertone revealed in the very last lines. I pondered it's meaning for days after...
The Hundred Dresses, I'm sure we're all familiar with this early portrait of bullying or excluding, and it's consequences.
Gone Away Lake is an adventure of discovery into another time as two siblings and a cousin meet living relics of a time gone by. As beautifully as that unfolds, it's also about watching out for your younger sibling, and what can happen if you don't.
8. Fairy Tales
I put this last, but really, isn't this a child's first introduction to the realm of stories-with-hidden-meaning? Just think back on these tales that obviously originated with that purpose in mind:
Cinderella
Little Red Riding Hood
The Little Mermaid (Please, I'm talking the real one here)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Obviously enjoyed by all ages, these references are all mostly geared toward younger ages. If you know of some gems for the older set, please let me know. I'm half-thinking of myself here, for they have helped strengthen my moral character as well.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Hiking with Kids
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| Discovery Trail circles the campground with kid-friendly kiosks and steel insect sculptures. |
We recently went camping at Diamond Campground in Utah with my sister and the kids. Despite the borrowed 10-man tent that took us an hour and a half to put up, storms constantly threatening, and raindrops that had us convinced someone was pacing around our tent all night--it was a great trip!
The trail around the campground led us to a tee pee, beaver's work, and a river just right for playing in.
Our host was very friendly to his only campers that night and in less than 24 hours he swung by our site on his little golf-cart, roller bladed past listening to Hotel California, yellow-bicycled by, and later under pretense of walking his dog.The next morning we packed up everything, leaving our tent to dry in the sun and made our way to a picnic spot, where our host incidentally, drove by honking his horn and waving...
En route to the trail head we took a wrong turn and encountered a hairy marmot (a first!) and two trucks full of kenneled hounds about to go bear hunting (hopefully a last).
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| Fortunately, the trail is largely shaded, if not a bit precarious in spots. |
In preparation for the first long hike our family had done in
I secretly brought along some chocolate covered raisins, and at one of our breaks (we stopped about every 20-30 min) I threw them in a pile near the trail and, per Just Jeff's instructions, tried my best to casually point them out.
"Look at that scat! You know, you can tell a lot about an animal by the way its scat looks, its size, and...how it tastes."
But before I could amaze them all by eating it--Bowery Bird (10) with arms crossed 6 feet away looked down her nose at me and said, "I saw you touch it, it looks like chocolate covered raisins."
I was crushed.
So perhaps our Nature Study has gone a little too well for fun and games of that sort...but while Mockingbird (7) scarfed it down, Kingfisher (5) still wouldn't touch it. "No. way."
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| A wall of one of the hot spring pools--complete with algae. |
Eventually, after an hour and a half packing a 2 1/2 year old, we reached the end; hot springs! We stayed to splash in the lower springs that had been contained in several walled-off, surprisingly deep pools. There were several adults nearer the falls who were clothed (for now), but I didn't want to risk anything. My sister, who was looking forward to seeing me "explain that one" was sorely disappointed, I'm sure. The wind picked up and more rain seemed soon inevitable, so we prepared to leave sooner than expected.Then we looked up, and our host was waving hello as he hiked past...(still clothed).
"Wow, that's service." my sister joked, waiting for him to tell us our tent was dry.
The return trip is when I took another cue from Just Jeff, I pulled out a scavenger hunt to do. The deal was, a prize would come out once every one's was finished. The older girls and Auntie worked together on questions like:
- Find every color of the rainbow (lots of flowers out made that possible--whew!)
- Name 3 stages of the water cycle around you.
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- Find something becoming food for something else. (This one proved a challenge, but not for long. Mocking bird pulled out some animal crackers and we all watched as she theatrically consumed.)
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Although the beautifully eaten guard rails would have sufficed. |
- Something in the wild you can eat.
- Something living in it's habitat.
- A baby, a teenager, an adult organism.
- Find something poisonous.
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| Poison Ivy-past experience gives me the shivers just looking at it |
The younger scavenger hunt I helped Kingfisher with had us find:
- A dark place and a sunshiny place. What lives there?
- Something camouflaged. (Spider) Why do you think it is camouflage.
- Something shiny.(The sun.)
- Something that reminds you of something else (A rock like a bird head & driftwood like a Pirate Ship.)
- A baby something--where might its parent be? (we saw robin eggs in a nest earlier)
- Something that was once alive, what happened to it? (a brown leaf and we talked about the seasons)
- Water in 3 places (Rain, waterfall, stream)
- Something camouflaged, why is it hiding? (spider--to get eaten)
- An insect, what is it doing? (ant--looking for food)
And as if we needed consolation for having to quickly leave the hot springs--or maybe just to prepare us for a doubly drenched tent in our absence, a double rainbow came into view as we pulled back into our campsite.
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| Wasatch Mountains in the background. |
* I was honestly surprised at how little "extra" things we needed to entertain us or keep us motivated. I had forgotten how stimulating and gorgeous and rich a simple hike, in the right location (read: with a cool destination) can be.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Bridal Veil Falls
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| Bridal Veil Falls, Provo Canyon, Utah |
As an alternative to endless Davy and Goliath shows (our Sunday-morning go-to fare), we left this morning for the canyon and some nature study...or not.
I've included links to Wild Utah Plants which helped in identification and give additional information.
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| Mule deer scat |
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| Wild Blue Flax Linacea (Flax) |
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| Choke Cherry Blossoms Prunus virginiana L. |
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| Mule's Ears Wyetia amplexicaulis |
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| Hound's Tongue Boraginaceae |
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| Sagebrush in foreground |
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| Water droplets by Bowery Bird |
According to Mockingbird, this is a volcano about to erupt (our latest science study). Kingfisher wasn't falling for it, but still needed my confirmation.
What the kids were really up to--building a bridge across the huge mud puddle.
And finally, evidence of earthquakes...
Friday, May 17, 2013
Park Life can cover many subjects
Spring is not to be missed- we've been to the park twice this week to enjoy the weather.
GEOGRAPHY:
Bowery Bird and I made drew a huge USA map with sidewalk chalk. To work on the Webelos Forestry badge she marked the forest regions ( you can see a bit in Utah & Arkansas.)
She did great on the western half, I got a little sloppy on all the little eastern states- but they're so far away they don't matter anyway- jk!
NATURE STUDY:
Kingfisher found perfect deer tracks all over the sand.
HISTORY:
Mocking Bird made sandcastles "Medieval ones so it still counts as school"
Mocking Bird made sandcastles "Medieval ones so it still counts as school"
MORE NATURE STUDY & SCIENCE:
We saw the local muskrat-a busy and brave big guy.
And the slow bullfrog he disturbed.
HANDICRAFTS:
Made some bark boats with Maple leaf sails that were led by thread (see above).
POETRY:
I think that I shall never see,
a poem as lovely as a tree.
-Joyce Kilmer
And stared at ourselves in the water, working out the questions of the universe, why pigtails are so cute, and trying to gage whether or not we could beat the melt down bubbling up from the 7 kids I had in tow today...(we did.) Made it home in time to peacefully watch Disney's Mathemagic and the Composer's Series Rosissini.