guess the novel

Next up on my read aloud list for the boys is a 1960 Newberry Honor novel most often read in the seventh grade.  You'll find an excerpt below.  Just for fun, who can guess the title?  I'll give you some hint words:  New York, subway, mouse, cat, drainpipe, Connecticut

"It was a little insect, about an inch long and covered with dirt.  It had six legs, two long antennae on its head and what seemed to be a pair of wings folded on its back.  Holding his discovery as carefully as his fingers could, Mario lifted the insect up and rested him in the palm of his hand.

"A cricket!", he exclaimed.

Keeping his cupped hand very steady, Mario walked back to the newstand.  The cricket didn't move.  And he didn't make that little musical sound any more.  He just lay perfectly still--as if he were sleeping, or frightened to death.

Mario pulled out a tissue of Kleenex and laid the cricket on it.  Then he took another and started to dust him off.  Ever so softly he tapped the hard black shell, and the antennae, and legs, and wings.  Gradually the dirt that had collected on the insect fell away.  His true color was still black, but now it had a bright, glossy sheen.

When Mario had cleaned off the cricket as much as he could, he hunted around the floor of the station for a matchbox.  In a minute he'd found one and knocked out one end.  Then he folded a sheet of Kleenex, tucked it in the box and put the cricket in.  It made a perfect bed.  The cricket seemed to like his new home.  He moved around a few times and settled himself comfortably.

Mario sat for a time, just looking.  He was so happy and excited that when anyone walked around the station, he forgot to shout, "Newspapers!" and "Magazines!" 

 

 

Diary of a Playdate

Preparing for a playdate is a lot of work.  You organize your hot spots.  

You dust your woods. Wait, that hutch was symmetrical.  Someone got ahold of a knickknack.

You vacuum and straighten.  Wait, that room was straightened.  Is that a toy already out?

You clean off your perpetually messy counter, leaving only fruit, tissues, and cell phone cords.  No, I did not pick out that 70's tile.  I inherited it and was told taking it off was a big job, not to be undertaken with small children underfoot.

You make your games and puzzles accessible in the playroom--only not to the two year old.

You display their artwork.

You put out knickknacks, once again, that the two year old will mess with.

You have crafts available.

Which only one or two children will do, because, let's face it: When kids get together, they want to be physical--do things like, say, play tag and break a lamp (that happened here once).

My faithful crafter, Paul, liked the Valentine things.

Yesterday, Jack Black was the hit.  Our homeschooling friend, Elizabeth, has at least twenty different animals in her house, mostly caged.  

They built Jack a Lego maze.

Jack is not supposed to be loose on my carpet, but I made an exception for the playdate.

The two year old is taking advantage of a distracted Momma.  Here she was caught eating the snacks--in this case, Hershey's kisses.  She is her Momma's daughter.

Within the first fifteen minutes of the playdate, the children went outside, begging that an igloo be built for them.  We had never made one, but Elizabeth's father led the way.  The men are out there, sans children, because the children came inside after twenty minutes.  The men wanted to finish what they started.

Here they are digging out the center, after piling snow on for a half hour.

Later, after the playdate, my Mary took advantage of the Valentine craft things.  I had also expanded our supply of craft beads, adding some lettered beads for spelling names and such.  Again, only my faithful crafter, Paul, took advantage of those.  He made Elizabeth a necklace.  My own children did want to do crafts at some point, but girls around nine can be a bit bossy.  Elizabeth didn't want to do crafts.  

Come to think of it, girls around four can be a bit bossy as well.  I recall my Mary saying this week, "Paul, you have to wash your face before we go to the library or to the store.  You see, people can see the food on your face."  

At this bit of wisdom from his little sister, my Paul only laughed, as did the Momma.

Saturday Doings

Early morning activities

My four year old, who went about a year with only P, T, B, and M under her belt, suddenly loves all things alphabet!  I organized all my alphabet toys yesterday, making them more accessible.  Her brothers were interested much earlier than four, but I knew her time would come!  It's precious when they lead the way in their learning.

Here is my oldest, starting the day with his bird field guide.  He went on to spend the majority of the day reading The Backyard Bird Feeders Bible.  He has big plans!  In the past we've always run out of bird seed in a week, due to the sparrows.  We decided we just couldn't afford it.  

Now, thankfully, Peter has plans to feed birds from our kitchen!  He was so pumped up about feeders, I just couldn't disappoint him with another "Sorry, we can't afford it."  We looked up all the foodstuff they eat besides bird seed.  We were all surprised at the variety!  I'm praying we can keep the birds coming, between once-a-month birdseed purchases and kitchen cupboard help.

And finally, here is the end of my long day of organizing.  Guess what these boys are engrossed in?  After I put the girls down, I went back into the playroom to find them both reading a Boxcar Children story!

May I just say, we all loved the first installment?  The night before we couldn't put it down!  They begged me to keep reading past their bedtime.  I was so engrossed in the storyline myself, I didn't want to stop either!  We finished it at 9:50 p.m.!  Thankfully, the boys were not cranky on Saturday, as a result of this indulgence.

We have a playdate scheduled on Sunday afternoon, which is another reason Momma had to do some organizing of school things and alphabet things.  Our school area in the dining room had become an eyesore.  Now it's all spiffy and nice.  Feels good!

hectic, but blessed

Life is hectic.  Here 's some evidence.

The cookies were baked on Wednesday.  Thursday we meant to frost them, but while my two little ones were helping, water got poured into the milk-and-powdered-sugar icing, ruining it.  By then, I had to start dinner and worry about the frosting later.  I put it in the fridge.  Later never happened.

So this morning, after breakfast, I doctored up the concoction with butter and flour, trying to thicken it.

It tasted fine, so we added some neon pink to one batch, and neon purple to another.

All were happy.  Mommy was especially happy, because she put off cleaning the floor until the messy cookies were decorated.  Yes, that means two days, folks.

Afterwards, Mary tells me, "I had a really good time eating that cookie, Mommy."

I live for the sweet, funny things my Mary says!

We are a family with no drawing talent, unless we use books.  He was very happy with his cowboy scene.  Okay, Daddy can draw a little.

The preschool kids, doing their thing.

They've worked on this snow wall, for a fort, over the last two weeks.  This week's storm didn't seem to change it much.  They were relieved!

Thank you again, for your help with the reading material dilemma.  I started reading the first Boxcar Children last night, and Peter is sufficiently hooked.  Thank goodness!  I think there are over a hundred of this series, so maybe I can relax for a while.   He should have enough pleasure reading material for three to four months, I would think.

more literary notes

Thanks again, friends, for your literary contributions on that last post.

Terri, I read a lot of Judy Blume in my school years, and in my seventh-grade year happened upon one that contained accounts of teen hanky-panky experimentation.  I think it was called Forever.  My mom wasn't aware of the content, but if she had been, she would have pulled it right from my hands!  Are Judy Blume's grade-school selections all benign, in your opinion? I can't remember any of the story lines.

The boys really wanted a drawing book and just couldn't wait until Saturday, so we went to the library quickly for that today.  I picked up four Boxcar Children.  Interestingly, they all had different-sized print.  The one I own has even smaller print than what I found today.

I wondered if they varied widely in reading level, which would explain the different print.  I brought up an Accelerated Reader list and found that the few I had in hand ranged from 2.9 to nearly forth grade.  The print size wasn't related to the reading level.

In other literary news, there was a Google search on my blog today using the sentence:

Are Magic Tree House Books Anti-Christian?


Before Peter got involved in that series I looked up Mary Pope Osborne's biography (the author).  She traveled hippie style quite a bit in her younger years and earned a degree in Comparative Religion.  She spent time in some of the cities that are central to several religions.  Thus, her work is rich in history and culture and also in science facts--Peter enjoyed her rain forest selection.  While she's most likely not a Christian, she is also not anti-Christian.  I sense no agenda in her work, other than to delight and educate kids.  As with any book, parents do need to be aware of content and assist with comprehension, as appropriate, as it relates to a Christian worldview.  This is more necessary in some of her titles than others--such as in Sunset of the Sabertooth, which has cavemen and other prehistoric content.