Summer reading- theirs

          In the summer we visit the library every couple of days. I love looking up lists of children's books organized by subject and then requesting a bunch of them and then staggering my requests so that we almost always have an interesting pile of various topics waiting for us. Yes, I'm a total library nerd. You knew that already. And yes I do this for my own reading too.

Some of the topics I've been focusing on for the kids are- money, math, art, cultures of the world, and the Middle Ages. Here are some of our favorite reads from this week.

If You Lived Here: Houses of the World- by Giles Laroche. This book contains pictures and descriptions of many different kinds of house all over the world such as log cabins in Colonial U.S., cave houses in the mountains of Spain, yurts of Mongolia and tree houses. My kids loved imagining what it would be like to live in such different places and Unity's been telling me she wished we lived in a log cabin with animals.

The Dragon's Tale and other animal fables of the Chinese Zodiac- by Demi. I'm not sure where Brixton's interest in China started, but he is really fascinated with it. He wants me to find all the books about China from the library, so I'm working on it. This one is a collection of fairy tales that correspond to the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. The kids enjoyed figuring out which animal goes with which person in our family.

Pretty Penny Makes Ends Meet- by Devon Kinch. Unity found this one on her own but I was really glad she did. It's the story of a girl who is trying to raise money to help her grandmother with home repairs. She decides to make and sell jewelry and the book goes into details of her budget and how to figure out the cost of supplies and calculate your profit. The pictures are a little more "glam girl" than I prefer, but of course that's why Unity likes it so much.

Wangari's Trees of Peace- by Jeanette Winter.  You've probably heard about Wangarai Maathai, the Kenyan woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work planting trees. This book tells the story in a realistic but gentle way. (It shows Wangari being hurt by the police and put in jail.) We had a lot of good discussions with this one.

Pete the Cat and his four groovy Buttons- by James Dean and Eric Litwin. This is very early basic subtraction, mostly appropriate for preschools. The pictures are zany and fun and the story involves lots of repetition and goofy singing.

Georgia's Bones by Jen Bryant and Bethanne Anderson. This is a beautiful and poetic story of the early life of Georgia O'Keeffee, from her childhood of noticing the beauty and shapes around her to her visit to New Mexico and the inspiration of the desert and animal bones around her. One to savor.
 

Role models and shadow drawings

Montessori is big on mixed age groups of kids. The idea is that the older kids get a chance to be a "role model" and show the younger kids the rhythm of the classroom and ways to be engaged. Everybody wins. Unity has been in mixed age classrooms her whole life, from preschool to her combined Kindergarten 1st grade classroom and this fall she'll start in a combined 1st 2nd 3rd grade classroom. And of course our household is a mixed age bunch all the time.

This summer she's really taken on being a helper for younger siblings of friends. She has enjoyed helping our 2 and 3 year old friends, and their parents often appreciate the help as well. It's fun to see her playing this new role and enjoying it, even if it does make her seem so old. 

Yesterday afternoon, we did an art project from this book, which is my absolute favorite art book for kids. Since it was hot and very sunny, we picked some interesting shapes from the garden and then traced their shadows. It was a fun project and afterwards we colored the pictures any old way. It was lots of fun and super easy. 

Sharpie mug oven project

                           We did our version of the sharpie mug project last week and it went pretty well. I bought some white mugs from Goodwill and had the kids plan our their drawings first. Then I let them draw on the mugs in permanent marker.

 There are lots of variations of this project floating around. Here's what worked for us.

1. Cheap mugs. They are from the thrift store, but originally the mugs are from Ikea, Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. Basically the glaze has to melt in the oven and then dry again with the ink now on it.

2. Clean the mugs well. Ours had a few spots where the adhesive from the price stickers was still there and that part is an ugly brown after going through the oven.

3. Put the mugs in the cold oven. Then set to 425. Bake for 30 minutes and let cool in the oven.

4. Go read some books.

5. Remove when they are all the way cool.

 I put ours in the dishwasher right after they cooled down  just to see what would happen and all of the designs stayed put.

The kids thought this project was a blast and they love drinking out of their mugs now.

the museum

and then sometimes.....

you have a photo session just for fun. 

What should we do?

Every year I struggle with the balance. In February, (yes you read that correctly) when it's time to sign up for summer camps, I think a lot about the balance. I want some structured time- because the camps are fun, because it separates the siblings, because she gets to do things she doesn't normally get to do. But I also value those long stretches of summer- when anything can happen, when their imaginations have free reign. When we spend handfuls of hours at the park or the pool or the library, just because we can. 

How can you tell how many of those days is the right amount, and when you've reached the tipping point into fighting and crankiness? And how can you make that call in February of all months?

So, I try. This year we have two solid weeks of nothing planned before a couple of camps start up. I've noticed it takes some time to ease into the summer schedule. The kids get so used to have every minute planned out at school, dotted with bells and finished off with a clock. It's a readjustment for all of us to realize that whatever we're doing, we can do it for as long as we feel inspired. 

Unity's been wanting to learn cursive. I don't even know if they teach it at schools anymore, but I think it's important so we're working on it over the summer. 

Self portrait by Brixton. 

If they tell me they're bored, I tell them I always have chores for them to do. 

I enjoy it, getting into this summer frame of mind.

At the wading pool

Portrait of summer with chipped toe polish, Dashiell Hammett and kid's comics at the side of the wading pool. 

From Unity's summer journal: When we got to the wading pool the water smelled like fresh sea water without salt. It was noisy from kids splashing, cars going by, people talking and kids playing at the park nearby. The adults sat on blankets on the grass and sometimes dipped their feet in the water. We were sliding down where the water came out. My friend Baird who is 3 was there and my friend Reuben who is 7 was there too. 

Longest Day

We had a weekend full of light, full of friends, full of hard work and projects. A weekend of three birthday parties, a gathering of my Quaker parenting group at Meeting, and Chris working on a big house project that involves replacing some siding, and digging a trench to put in some rat-proof wire against the side of the house. Phew. We celebrated the longest day by filling our days up to the brim. 

Let's hope this coming week is a little more steady. The solstice is fun and all but there's a reason it only comes twice a year. 

School's out school's out

Now the parties and picnics are over, the desks cleaned out and sent home. Now the hugs and promises have been exchanged on the playground, the yearbook looked over and the growth exclaimed over. Now we begin. Hello summer. 

Theo's party

A few days ago, we got to help our friend Theo celebrate turning two. He had a fun backyard party with hula hoops and a pinata. At first Unity wasn't interested in being the oldest kid at the party, but she bonded with  Leia and had fun helping her out and carrying her around. 

Bridging to Brownies

This weekend, Unity's Girl Scout troop bridged up from a Daisy troop to a Brownie troop. We had the ceremony in a beautiful park in West Seattle called Camp Long. The girls read parts of a poem out loud, got their new brownie pin and badge and had a closing circle. Then we had a potluck and the kids climbed around like mountain goats. It's been fun to see the introduction to Girl Scouts and it will be interesting to see where they go as Brownies. 

Happy Father's Day

                        Happy Father's Day to Chris, the guy who is always up for a roar, the dad who is playful, curious, up for the challenge, firm yet loving, amused and involved. Totally grateful for this guy.