Sewing with kids

I feel a little presumptuous trying to teach anyone how to sew, really.  I can do the basics, but I, by no means, am an expert.  For small children, however, who have never before done any sewing, I felt comfortable being the one "in the know."

We've been studying ancient civilizations for history, and we recently learned that hunters would sometimes have little bags made out of animal skins that held rocks, twigs, etc. for playing games on their hunting expeditions.  So, of course, we made hunting game bags.  I was not about to sew a bag out of leather, so we did the next best thing, we used animal print fabric.

The kids helped measure, cut, and pin the bags.  I sewed them and they played with them non-stop for days.  They went on countless hunting expeditions.  They slew horses (using Erilyn's giant stuffed horse as the target), imaginary bison, wooly mammoths, and stuffed cats who were stand-ins for saber-toothed cats, or smyladons.  They crafted themselves some bows and arrows with sticks and elastics for their hunting trips.  The funniest thing of all, though, was when I heard Anthon choking a mouse (his stuffed mouse) to death, making choking noises to make it more real.  When I laughed out loud, Anthon looked up at  me with genuine interest and said, "what are you laughing at Mom?" Since it was inconceivable that his hunting antics could be construed as amusing.  It's a serious business to provide for your family, after all.

Fun times.

Here they are on their latest hunting expedition (notice the slain horse in the background of Erilyn's picture.)

Science experiment

This is precisely why I love homeschooling. It's hard, it takes a lot of extra time and energy on my part, but you should have seen Erilyn's face when we did this science experiment!

We were talking about properties of water.

When I told her we were going to do a science experiment, you could literally see her thinking, "Say what? How long till it's over and I can go play kitties again?" But she tried to be a good sport about it.

First, you do the trick of putting some cardboard on top of a really full jar of water and then flipping it over. Ta dah! The water doesn't spill out!

Her eyes literally go twice as big as normal. She immediately said, "Do it again, Mom!" Ahh....the joys of seeing your child get excited about learning.

So we did that a few more times, and they each tried it.




Then, you put hot HOT water in one jar, color it red, and then cold COLD water in the other jar, and color it something different. Do the fancy trick with the cardboard, and then put the cold jar of water on top of the hot jar of water. Carefully pull the piece of cardboard out, and watch what happens to the water. (The colors mix. Predictable. And not that interesting. Unless you like mixed colors.)



But THEN! You do it again, with the hot jar on top and the cold jar on the bottom. Pull out the cardboard, and the colors don't mix!!! Again, Erilyn was amazed. Anthon was too, but I knew he would be. This is right up his alley. We had to do it about 4 thousand more times. We learned that hot likes to be on top and won't mix if it's already on top. But if it starts out on the bottom, it races to be on top as fast as it can. Same with air.

You can't really tell from the pictures, but they loved it. So fun.

Reading buddies

For homeschool, I'm making Anthon practice reading out loud. He reads too fast in his head, and he just skips over words. Reading out loud helps him slow down, practice being animated, and forces him to pronounce words. Plus, it's great sibling time. And Erilyn loves it. (Anthon does too, but he has to pretend not to. See "Cool Brother Code sec. 2 item 24")

Here's what we're loving lately. So fun.

Feeding jungle animals

In the car today, during our marathon errand-running trip, I gave Erilyn some beef jerky as a snack.  The following conversation ensued:

E--Is this what lions eat?
S--Something like that, yes.
E--Well, next time I go to the jungle, I want to feed this to the lions.  It's so yummy.
S--Yes, beef jerky is very yummy.
E--They'll probably lick me.
S--Probably.  You're pretty yummy, too.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that lions don't live in the jungle.

She'll learn soon enough.

Conversations with a four year old

Today, in the check out line at Dick's Sporting Goods, Erilyn and I had a fascinating conversation that went something like this:

Erilyn--Mom.  Reindeer can fly, but they don't have wings.
Sonja--You're right.  How do you think they do it?
E--(quietly thinking)
S--Maybe they have jet packs in their hooves.
E--(somewhat indignant) No, Mom.
S--So how, then?  Magic?
E--Yes.  It's just magic.
S--Wouldn't it be fun to ride a reindeer while it's flying?!
E--Yes!  Just like a pegasus!  (Lightbulb moment)  MOM!!  Reindeer and pegasuses are the same except pegasuses have wings and reidneer don't!
S--You're right.  And reindeer have antlers, but peguses have horns, like unicorns.  Do you think unicorns can fly?
E--Yup.  But they don't have wings.
S--So how do they fly?
E--Mo-om.  Magic!
S--Oh.  Of course.

It was about this time that I realized everyone in the checkout line was listening to our conversation and smiling.  We payed for our stuff and went about our way, business as usual.  Because, when you have a four year old girl, these kinds of conversations are business as usual.