MommyCoddle

rock star chickens

Today was a busy day on Thomas Run. It started with the gathering of all barn cats for a "field trip" to a local clinic for spaying and neutering. It is a grant project put on by the county and I am so thankful for it. There were some good people working behind the scenes.

The only tough part is that the cats come home fairly quickly. One was still asleep, the others still too out of it to come out of their travel kennels. I have a regular hospital ward out on my mud room.

While the cats were "tripping" Dan and I took the girls to the Susquehanna Poultry Show which was put on at our local fairgrounds. The girls were pretty jazzed up about it, especially because we threw a chicken crate in the back of the car, "just in case".

There was even a spiral notebook being passed around between them–a list of potential names for whatever manner of poultry might "accidentally" come home with us.

But we came home empty-handed (this very pregnant mother says, 'phew!'). The only few chickens for sale were very fancy and pretty impractical for our situation.

But we did see some rock-star chickens…

Seriously, they spent the whole time flipping the feathers out of their faces, if there even IS a face in there.

And some chickens that looked more like soft bunny rabbits…

And some beautiful geese with deep throaty honks…

And then of course, we eventually made our way home and not everyone was happy about it…

And while Dan ran in the garden store for grass seed, I entertained three grumpy, hungry girls with an in-car photo shoot….

And then, appropriately, we came home and ate egg sandwiches…

There was even a spiral notebook being passed around between them–a list of potential names for whatever manner of poultry might "accidentally" come home with us.

But we came home empty-handed (this very pregnant mother says, 'phew!'). The only few chickens for sale were very fancy and pretty impractical for our situation.

But we did see some rock-star chickens…

Seriously, they spent the whole time flipping the feathers out of their faces, if there even IS a face in there.

And some chickens that looked more like soft bunny rabbits…

And some beautiful geese with deep throaty honks…

And then of course, we eventually made our way home and not everyone was happy about it…

And while Dan ran in the garden store for grass seed, I entertained three grumpy, hungry girls with an in-car photo shoot….

And then, appropriately, we came home and ate egg sandwiches…

14 Comments

good finds / HOMESCHOOLING

simple schooling : part 2

{Hello friends. Still here. Still huge. Still waddling. And very ready.}

But in the meantime, more school talk….

It has been on my mind lately to do a little more writing with the girls. We keep a daily gratitude journal, which has become an invaluable part of our day, I dare-say even a habit for the girls. Emma writes in hers almost daily, even without my prompting. And Mary's is an inventive speller's work of art. I cherish both journals.

But I also wanted to do a little more storytelling and creative writing with the girls. Their imaginations are so rich at this age and I wanted to tap into that creativity during our school day.

When I was a classroom teacher I used to constantly scan through old issues of magazines and newspapers clipping out interesting or odd pictures and filing them away in a folder. I used them as writing "prompts" for my students.

And I remembered this little activity a few weeks ago and decided it was high time that I got the girls doing this too.

So with the help of the internet, some old National Geographic magazines and newspapers, I've started collecting images for them as well.

I give them each a copy of the picture that will be the "starter" for their story. For Emma, I simply send her off to a quiet place to write, without any distraction or any "guidance" from me. With Mary, I ask her a few questions about what she sees in the picture, helping her notice details that might help her story get started or might spark an idea. But it doesn't take much. The child needs very little help from me! Within seconds, the story starts to emerge, and as she dictates, I write it all down.

I started out doing this once a week, but I'm finding that they are asking for it more often. And it doesn't take long. I don't make them do much more than a first draft, although I do make Emma go back and fix simple things like capitals and punctuation, when she forgets. And the stories and the pictures get tucked away in a folder to be revisited, shared and read over and over.

I asked the girls if I could share one of their stories. Emma was too shy, but Mary said, "Sure!" The picture she based this story on is below. I found it on this site, which has some great "story starters". Her story cracks me up–the drama, the tragedy, the misunderstanding, the humor…

From Mary:

Once upon a time there was a cat who got inside. The person didn't know that the cat got inside and the fish tank was open. The cat got up on the fish tank. He jumped into the tank! Uh-oh! He didn't know how to swim! So the fish rescued him and the cat ate the fish not knowing that the fish was being nice.

There was one last brave fish. He said, "Oh ca-at! There's cat food out for you!" So the cat jumped out. The food made him sick. And the cat died. "Oh, poor cat!" said the fish. And he cut open the cat and saved all the other fish from dying, and put them back in the tank. And they all lived happily ever after, well, except for the cat.

The end.

Other great resources are the obvious magazines and newspapers, but I also find flipping through tumblr, or the creative commons on flickr or google images are also really good. I stumbled upon this Oregon State digital collection which has some really beautiful and interesting photos. The black and whites in this post are pulled from their archives.

Happy Writing!

Up next, my new favorite math game…

{Hello friends. Still here. Still huge. Still waddling. And very ready.}

But in the meantime, more school talk….

It has been on my mind lately to do a little more writing with the girls. We keep a daily gratitude journal, which has become an invaluable part of our day, I dare-say even a habit for the girls. Emma writes in hers almost daily, even without my prompting. And Mary’s is an inventive speller’s work of art. I cherish both journals.

But I also wanted to do a little more storytelling and creative writing with the girls. Their imaginations are so rich at this age and I wanted to tap into that creativity during our school day.

And I remembered this little activity a few weeks ago and decided it was high time that I got the girls doing this too.

So with the help of the internet, some old National Geographic magazines and newspapers, I’ve started collecting images for them as well.

I give them each a copy of the picture that will be the “starter” for their story. For Emma, I simply send her off to a quiet place to write, without any distraction or any “guidance” from me. With Mary, I ask her a few questions about what she sees in the picture, helping her notice details that might help her story get started or might spark an idea. But it doesn’t take much. The child needs very little help from me! Within seconds, the story starts to emerge, and as she dictates, I write it all down.

I started out doing this once a week, but I’m finding that they are asking for it more often. And it doesn’t take long. I don’t make them do much more than a first draft, although I do make Emma go back and fix simple things like capitals and punctuation, when she forgets. And the stories and the pictures get tucked away in a folder to be revisited, shared and read over and over.

I asked the girls if I could share one of their stories. Emma was too shy, but Mary said, “Sure!” The picture she based this story on is below. I found it on this site, which has some great “story starters”. Her story cracks me up–the drama, the tragedy, the misunderstanding, the humor…

From Mary:

Once upon a time there was a cat who got inside. The person didn’t know that the cat got inside and as he did not have a fish stand which you can find at https://lovefishtank.com/20-gallon-fish-tank-stand, the cat simply got in. The cat got up on the fish tank. He jumped into the tank! Uh-oh! He didn’t know how to swim! So the fish rescued him and the cat ate the fish not knowing that the fish was being nice.

There was one last brave fish. He said, “Oh ca-at! There’s cat food out for you!” So the cat jumped out. The food made him sick. And the cat died. “Oh, poor cat!” said the fish. And he cut open the cat and saved all the other fish from dying, and put them back in the tank. And they all lived happily ever after, well, except for the cat.

The end.

Happy Writing!

Up next, my new favorite math game…

21 Comments

HOMESCHOOLING / MOTHERHOOD

simple schooling : part 1

I'm sure we can all vouch for the fact that sometimes it is the simplest of things that are the most successful, the most enjoyed, or the ones that make the biggest impression on our children. The box that the toy came in is more fun than the toy. The pots and pans get more attention than the expensive entertainment gadgets. A handful of homemade play dough provides longer-lasting fun than the television.

For the past few weeks, I've found that to be true with our homeschooling days. So I thought I'd take a few posts to share some simple little things we've added to our day that have made big impressions.

One of my "parenting frustrations" lately is a very common one — getting my children to follow directions.

I send them upstairs to brush their teeth and put on pajamas, only to find them dancing in front of the mirror with the hairbrush. I send them outside to feed and let out chickens, only to find that they let out the chickens but forgot the feeding part.

There are lots of different reasons for not following directions–distraction, forgetfulness, sometimes even stubbornness.

So we've added a simple "following directions" game to our homeschooling day.

I sit a jar of colored cubes
on the kitchen table and the girls start the game by waiting in the school room. We begin the game with very simple directions:

Walk into the kitchen and bring back 1 yellow cube.

I do not repeat the direction. And I am picky — if they don't walk, they didn't follow directions. Slowly, the directions get more complicated.

Take 1 green and 1 red cube into the kitchen and bring back 3 green and 1 white cube.

Again, I don't repeat the directions, and I see them putting memory cues to work — one whispers the directions to herself. One mimes the directions with her hands while she walks into the kitchen.

Then I begin to add some physical activity to the game :

Skip into the kitchen and bring back 2 green cubes and 1 brown cube.

Do 5 push-ups and then …. etc. etc.

Eventually I get really tough on them. I give them a task to do while holding in their minds what cubes they'll be responsible for. Yesterday, we played right before lunch…This was their final direction to follow. We had worked our way up to one this difficult and I did repeat it one extra time:

Touch your toes ten times. Walk upstairs and wash your hands. Come back to the school table and take 3 green cubes and 1 black cube to the kitchen. Bring back to me 3 yellow cubes.

This game adds so many great things to our day. For starters, they love it. (And the mommy with pregnancy brain has to write down the directions on a post-it note in order to remember them.) It gets them moving. And we refer to it often during our day, when I do give them multi-step directions. "It's just like the follow directions game."

It's nothing earth-shattering. It's simple. It's making a big impression. And lots of good changes.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Have you seen the new "branch" of the Simple Living Media family? Simple:Homeschool

Happy Friday and happy weekend friends. I'll be back with a few more simple school ideas next week, barring any major changes in the size of our household. :)