week #18, winter #6

We started the week with a snowstorm, and are ending it with bitterly cold temperatures. After last week's "January Thaw", it's an adjustment, but we're back in the swing of Winter again, and our curriculum materials are back in full use. (It's so much easier to do an adventure circle about a snowstorm when it actually looks and feels like winter!)

Speaking of our adventure circle, I made the first small adaptation to it. Instead of my boot breaking while shoveling, I had J's boot break in the story. And instead of our neighbor coming by to pick us up in his sleigh, Twirly Whirly came by in her sledge and offered us a ride. (A character from one of the books we read last week, The Story of the Snow Children, by Sibylle von Olfers.) The kids were absolutely delighted with the changes.

We kicked up our woodworking program a notch this week. The Map Man bought some thin wooden dowels and cut them into pegs so that the kids could practice hammering them through the holes they've been drilling. They're cut long enough to actually join two pieces of wood together, but the kids haven't discovered that yet. So far they've just been working on pounding in pegs, then pulling them back out with pliers so that they can be pounded in again. Especially Zoo Boy, who has really taken a shine to our little makeshift wood shop in the corner of our living room.

Our curriculum story for the week was a traditional Western Europe folk tale called "Four Friends", in which a goat, a pig, a goose, and a lamb escape being eaten by their farmers and build a house together in the woods, eventually working together to scare away a wolf. Zoo Boy sat mesmerized by the story, hanging on every word, during each telling. He's been that way for the past couple of stories, and is obviously really ready to be listening to these sorts of tales. I think it's time to move on with J, so I'm going to try to find a way to read him some of the Kindergarten Quasi-Fairy Tales to try to better meet him where he is in his development right now. He might even be getting ready for real Fairy Tales, but I want to see how he handles the milder versions first. Meanwhile, he's still enjoying the Folk Tales (which I'll let him be a part of anyway, just because it helps in their play with each other), and the two of them immediately asked for their farm play set the first day we read the story so that they could re-enact the tale, and add countless embellishments as the days progressed. (In the above photo, the little farmer character J is using makes a wish on the wishing well -- "I wish I was on my tractor" -- and whoosh!! Suddenly he's on his tractor!! Such magic!)

Yesterday Zoo Boy had a "Mommy and me" day, while J had a "Daddy and me" day. On our "date", Zoo Boy and I went to the mall (per his request) so he could play with the "little kids" in the play area. He had a blast, proclaimed himself a Superhero named "Super Slide", and declared to all who would listen that he was naming this "Kid Island" and that there were "no adults allowed!" Afterwards we went to the book store for awhile (also at his request) before heading home.

The snowstorm on Monday prevented the Winter Semester of Monday Homeschool Classes from starting (J is signed up for Chorus again, and we decided the one class is enough for the winter). So we played in the snow for the next couple of days, and finally got out and about a bit on Thursday (our favorite park) and Friday (children's museum and a class for J). I spent a bit of time planning projects for the coming months.

Last week I promised I'd post a picture of the barn when our project there was finished. Here it is! The Map Man re-configured it to be a 3-stall barn rather than a 2-stall barn (the door to the third stall is arond the left side of the barn), which means that each horse has it's own stall and paddock. Which also means no more having to knock snow off the temporary horse shelter during storms (see, it's gone! hooray!!!), which was MUCH appreciated during Monday's storm. That temporary line of wire panel fencing will be replaced with board fencing when the ground thaws enough in the spring for us to dig post holes, but in the meantime it's safe and usable.

Family Story Time books this week were Winter on the Farm, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Jody Wheeler and Renee Graef (one of those My First Little House Books that we like so much); The Tomten, by Astrid Lindgren (which I can't recommend highly enough, ESPECIALLY if you live on a farm or have a barn with a hay loft -- this book has inspired a lot of imaginative, magical thoughts about our own farm!); and The Blizzard by Betty Ren Write, illustrated by Ronald Hilmer.

I have to comment on that last book. It's a library book, and this is the first year we've seen and read it. The Author grew up in Wisconsin, so I'm guessing the book is about that area, but it could have been set in New England. I'm guessing the timing is about the 1920s or 30s. The kids in this farming community still go to school in a one room school house that is heated by a central wood stove, and lighting is by kerosene lamp, but telephones and electric lamps are common in homes. Does that timing sound about right? In any case, the kids are in school when a Blizzard hits (it's the main character, Billy's birthday), and the kids wind up all walking with their teacher to the closest house (which happens to be Billy's) to spend the night. When Billy walks in to tell his mother, and she sees all the snow-covered children standing outside her door waiting to come in, she proclaims "Oh, my stars and garters!" THIS was what I wanted to comment on (although the book is just wonderful, in content, writing, and illustrations, so I highly recommend it to everyone!). My grandmother used to say "oh, my stars and garters!" when she was surprised by something. So the first time I read this book, I totally cracked up when I got to that line. The Map Man had the same reaction the first time he read it. And now the kids are walking around saying "Oh, my stars and garters!" which is even funnier coming from the mouth of a 7 year old boy than it is from the mouth of my grandmother (which was funny enough).

Anyway, it was a warm, fuzzy memory from the past touching us every evening this week. Which made for a very special week for our Family Story Time.