Menu Plan Mark 2

I spent an evening earlier this week working on a new four week menu plan for autumn and winter. It was almost done ... until Star threw a spanner in the works. She announced that she wants to become vegetarian, as she can't reconcile being an animal lover and eating meat.

So ... we had a long discussion about why most people feel it is OK to eat meat, the option of only eating ethically produced (organic, free range) meat and the need for a balanced diet, the upshot of which is that from Sunday she will officially be a vegetarian, though she has decided she will still eat fish. (She can't start tomorrow as she is spending the day with a friend, and we felt it was a bit late notice to request a menu change!)

On reflection I am very proud of her. She actually likes meat, and there are certain things she will really miss. If she can give up something she enjoys on grounds of conscience at her age, I think that speaks well of her character and is worth the bit of inconvenience involved in replanning my menu and adapting meals.

Back to the drawing board ...

Thursday Thirteen #17: Macs

Thirteen reasons I love my Macs and will never, ever (I hope!) go back to a Windows PC:

1. They look so good. (What do you mean looks aren't everything? OK, you have a point, but there is no denying they are stylish. Sadly, unlike their owner!)

2. You take them out of the box. You plug them in. They work.

3. They almost never crash.

4. You don't need anti-virus software.

5. They print documents in the right order - last page first, so that the pages end up the right way round. No shuffling back-to-front piles of paper.

6. Built-in iSight cameras. No webcams with wires.

7. They don't keep asking you if you are really sure you want to do what you have just told them to do.

8. MacBooks come with magnetic power leads, so if someone trips on the lead or yanks it no problem ... no damage.

9. No slide out CD/DVD drawer. Just slip the disc straight into the side of the machine.

10. If I forget where I put a file, a Mac will find it for me in seconds.

11. My computers talk to each other. I can play music stored on the iMac on the MacBook, or access a document on the MacBook from the iMac.

12. iMovies. It keeps my children entertained - creatively! - for hours.

13. I will never have to "upgrade"(!!!) to Windows Vista

Reading Meme

As a bookworm, how could I resist taking up the open invitation at the Dumb Ox Academy to take part in this reading meme.

What are you reading right now?
Montessori. I have just finished Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful by Donna Bryant Goertz, I am half way through The Secret of Childhood by Maria Montessori, and dipping into Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under Fives by David Gettman.

Do you have any idea what you'll read when you are done with that?
I'll go back to the three books I had just started on (simultaneously - why do I do that?) before I got distracted by Montessori: In the Steps of St.Paul by H.V.Morton, A People's History of Britain by Rebecca Fraser, and The Story of France by Eleanor Doorly. I also want to read Home Education by Charlotte Mason while the Montessori reading is fresh in my mind, so that I can see where there is overlap between the two and where they differ. I am also planning to re-read the entire Harry Potter series over the winter.

What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now?
None. We have very small bathrooms with nowhere to put reading material. I normally grab something from my bedside table on the way. My current grab is the Basic Montessori book.

What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read?
The Antiquary by Walter Scott. It was required reading for my English A-level (exams taken at 18 in British schools) and I found it worse than watching paint dry. I've never been able to bring myself to read anything by Scott since.

What's the one book you always recommend to just about everyone?
I recommend so many books to so many different people it is very hard to pick one. I think I'll go for children's historical fiction, as that is a favourite genre of mine ... Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland, which has a wonderful mix of historical detail, faith and adventure.

Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don't they?
No, but they know me by sight well enough to allow me to occasionally go over the limit with the number of books on my ticket.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all?
I love the Chalet School books by Elinor M. Brent Dyer, but I am always reluctant to recommend them because I imagine mid-20th century boarding school stories are something of an acquired taste.

Do you read books while you eat? While you bathe? While you watch movies or TV? While you listen to music? While you’re on the computer? While you’re having sex? While you’re driving?
Almost all of the above. Most notably the second. Is it possible to bathe without a book? Surely dropping a book into the bath is a necessary rite of passage for any self-respecting bookworm.

When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits?
Not that I remember.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My excuse is that I needed to finish it quickly because I was sharing it with Angel.

I'm out of time, so if you are reading this, you're tagged!

Yesterday

Yesterday was a special day ...

For Tevye and I, as it was our fifteenth wedding anniversary. Yes, thank you, we had a good day. Star made us a cake and we went out for tapas in the evening all on our own. And how could I fail to love someone who buys me a one kilogram bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk?

For Angel, who is now the proud owner of her first ever pair of pointe shoes.

Momivores

I have one.

Mercifully she is now asleep. My turn next. I hope.

What animal are you?

It is the middle of the night and Little Cherub decided it was time to party. (Yes sweetheart, those shiny bangles are very pretty, but could we play putting them on and taking them off in the morning, not at 2.30 am?). So instead of sleeping I have been reading blogs and taking quizzes. I'm not too sure about the result of this one, though cocoa sounds good.

You're a Gorilla!

Highly social and group-oriented, you like hanging out with the same people constantly. You have either black or gray hair and spend a good deal of time grooming it or getting others to groom it for you. Sleep is a big part of your daily routine and you like to either make very loud noise or no noise at all. You have more skills with language than most, however. One of your absolute favorite drinks is hot cocoa.

Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

HT: Too many blogs to list.

That figures!

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Roman Catholic,You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.

Roman Catholic		96%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan		68%
Neo orthodox		68%
Fundamentalist		43%
Emergent/Postmodern		39%
Classical Liberal		36%
Charismatic/Pentecostal		29%
Modern Liberal		25%
Reformed Evangelical		14%

HT: Mrs Pea

It seems my Wesleyan upbringing still lingers a bit, too.

Baby Blogger in Training

How to get Mummy's attention

... when she is sitting on the floor writing an email to Daddy.

Clonk her on the head with an empty coffee mug.

Be sure not to do this until after you have thoroughly bent the arm of her glasses and added "visit optician" to her to-do list.

Faith Boxes

I have been pondering ways of introducing a toddler to religion (or should that be religion to a toddler?). Inspired partly by the liturgical year books I have been making for Little Cherub, and partly by these Feast Day boxes at the Onion Dome - yes, I know I keep getting inspired by Katherine. She is very inspirational! - I have decided I am going to make Faith Boxes. Initially I was thinking of basing them on the liturgical year, then realised the idea could be extended to cover many aspects of religion.

I am going to start with an Advent Box - I always find I do better starting things in Advent. My head does Advent for new beginnings. I even attended my first ever Mass on the first Sunday of Advent. This is what I have planned for the contents:

• Nativity figures - I have a set of squishy plastic figures for toddlers bought from the Early Learning Centre when Angel was tiny.
• A wooden St.Nicholas figure. I have a Santa figure that looks fairly St.Nicholas-ish.
• Various small books telling the Christmas story. I still have a set of little board books covering different aspects which should be just right for Little Cherub this year.
• Pictures of the Five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
• Pictures of St.Nicholas, St.Lucy, the journey to Bethlehem and the Immaculate Conception
• Pictures of St.Lucy's Day celebrations
• A tiny Advent wreath, if I can make or buy one
• A little Advent calendar, with spaces for stickers (and something to stick on it).
• A CD with seasonal music
• A square of purple felt or cloth to use to set things out on

As Little Cherub grows, the contents can be updated with Playmobil figures instead of the toddler ones, a map of the Holy Land, three part cards for the Rosary pictures, O Antiphon symbols and cards, and so on.

On Christmas Day I can swap the box for a Christmas one. Then I have lots of ideas for other boxes ... Lent, Easter, Mary, Saints, Bible Stories (New Testament and Old Testament), the Mass, Church, Sacraments, Prayer. I think a few of these could make a great addition to Montessori shelves.

Thursday Thirteen #16: Classical Music

Thirteen of my classical music favourites:

1. Allegri, Miserere
2. Haydn, Trumpet Concerto in E Flat
3. Vivaldi, Concerto in G for Two Mandolins
4. Bach, Concerto for Two Violins
5. Elgar, Cello Concerto
6. Vaughan-Williams, Fantasia on Greensleeves
7. Rossini, William Tell Overture
8. Handel, Hallelujah Chorus (from Messiah)
9. Mozart, Horn Concerto No.4
10. Beethoven, Symphony No.6 (Pastorale)
11. Vivaldi, Esurientes (from Magnificat)
12. Pachlabel, Canon in D
13. Rodriguez, Concierto de Aranjuez

Montessori inspiration

... from the Onion Dome.

If you are at all interested in Montessori education at home, don't miss reading about how rich, varied and beautiful it can be. And if you have not already seen it, make sure you also take a look Katherine's learning room.

Playdough

Today's minor achievement was making a batch of playdough for Little Cherub. I have a tried and tested simple, non-messy playdough recipe that I have used for years ...

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar
2 cups boiling water
1 tbsp cooking oil
food colouring

Method
Mix the salt, flour and cream of tartar together.
Add the boiling water, cooking oil, and food colouring.
Using rubber gloves, knead a few times.

That's all there is to it! When you start kneading it feels like a sticky disaster, but soon resolves into a nice, soft playdough. I omit the food colouring. My daughters have always been more interested in what they can do with playdough than in what colour it is, and it means there is no risk of staining clothes, furniture or carpets. If the dough gets onto soft furnishings it brushes out easily once dried, and it washes out of clothes. Stored in the fridge in a plastic bag it will keep for months.

The recipe comes from a book I picked up at railway station bookstall discount pile when Angel was small - Four Seasons: Creative Activities for Young Children, by Alice Traer Wayne, Shirley Charlton, and Gwenn Boechler. Published in Canada, I have no idea how it turned up at Euston Station, but I am glad it did as we have used it a lot over the years. The activities are divided by season, and are mostly simple and use items I usually have to hand.

Encouraged by Star and A-next-door, Little Cherub was a picture of concentration, absorbed in the possibilities of picking bits of dough off a large ball and piling them up on each other. She only tried to eat it a few times.

Little Cherub's book choice ... Little Lamb

Little Cherub likes books, but until recently she only liked looking at them by herself, and considered any attempt to read them to her or look at them with her an unwarranted parental intrusion. She now likes to look at pictures with us and ... da, da! ... to listen to a story. One story. Little Lamb by Kim Lewis. It is a board book we found at the library, with clear pictures and short, simple text describing how a farmer's daughter bottle feeds a lamb. In Little Cherub's view this is the ultimate in literature and must be read at least five times consecutively. Every night.

I only discovered Kim Lewis's books when Star was at the top end of the age range for them. She has written and illustrated some lovely picture books about farm life in northern England, such as Floss, Emma's Lamb and First Snow. Worth checking out for pre-schoolers. There are also two more toddler board books - Little Calf and Little Puppy. I'm hoping our library will have these too.

A Parenting Checklist

I am still reading Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful (I think I have around seven books on the go simultaneously. Not surprisingly I haven't finished any in a while!), and I thought these suggestions for family life for an early elementary child - ages 6 to 9 - were worth sharing. Donna Bryant Goertz recommends:

• A slow-paced lifestyle with long hours of sleep on a regular schedule, a nutritious diet high in protein and fresh fruits and vegetables, plenty of exercise, and a generous amount of time in nature.
• Someone to behold the child's face with joy, hold her, hug her, and treasure her for herself alone.
• Someone to read chapter books aloud for twenty to thirty minutes every day, at a level three years beyond the child's reading level.
• Someone to recite poetry every day, a new poem each week.
• Someone to sing every day, a new song each week.
• Someone to tell delightful stories of the child's own life.
  
• An atmosphere of open curiosity and inquiry, in which everyone in the family treasures learning.
• Responsibility for caring for himself and his own things as well as contributing to meal preparation and the care of the house, garden, and pets.
  
• A two-hour weekly limit on all screen media - movies, videos, TV, and computer games - combined.
• Freedom from being dragged around on errands.
• Freedom from the cynicism and sarcasm appropriate to later years.
  
• Parents who say no cheerfully and mean it.
  
• Parents who wait until their children are in bed to listen to music, watch movies, play computer games, and watch TV programs, even the news, that are not appropriate to the children's ages or that would give children more media hours than is best for their development.
  
• Parents who establish and uphold a family child-rearing culture that is appropriate the the child's age and who support age-appropriate independent thought and action and an age-appropriate role in decision making in as many areas and as often as possible.
  

I think Charlotte Mason would have approved.

I fall woefully short on almost all of these, but this list gives me a number of ideas for things to work on with Star, and for the future with Little Cherub.

The sorting hat says ...

I am a Ravenclaw. Which means I am clever, witty, intelligent and knowledgeable.

But then, you knew that, didn't you? Why else would you read my blog? And if you disagree, I'm sure you are much too nice to tell me so.

Which house are you in?

HT: Willa at Every Waking Hour.

Keyboard Maths

Oh dear! It seems I should not have taken a mathematical approach to my keyboard disaster by turning it into an equation.

The keyboard is now reassembled. No letters are sticking.

But ... all the letters on the top row are typing numbers.

Back to the drawing board. Or should that be the mathematical textbook?

Little Cherub's Liturgical Year Book

I have been working on a project intermittently for the last month or so ... a Liturgical Year Book for Little Cherub. I bought three small 6 inch by 4 inch photo albums from Paperchase - just the right size for little hands - and I am filling them with simple pages for various feasts, seasons and saints days. Each book holds 24 pages, so there will be 72 altogether, each with pictures for her to look at and some simple text or a prayer. The plastic holders mean the books will be robust for her to handle. Here are a couple of sample pages from the August to November book I am currently working on:

Feast of Ss.Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, Archangels (September 29th):


St.Therese of Lisieux (October 1st):

Keyboard equations

A-next-door + glass of lemonade = desk covered in removed keys + cleaning with wet paintbrushes + hairdryer + keyboard drying out in airing cupboard.

An alternative equation (and probably a more successful one) is:

A-next-door + glass of lemonade = new keyboard

Note to self: remember to enforce rule about children not eating and drinking near computers.

Love or convenience?

From The Secret of Childhood by Maria Montessori

When the child goes to bed in the evening he calls the loved person and begs him not to go away. When we go in to dinner the tiny child that still feeds at his mother's breast would like to come with us, to stay near to watch us, not to eat. The adult passes by this mystical love without perceiving it. But the little one who so loves us will grow up, will vanish. And who will ever love us as he does? Who else will ever summon us on going to bed, saying, "Stay with me"? When the child is grown, he will say an indifferent "Good night". Who then will be eager just to watch us while we eat, though he eats nothing? We defend ourselves against this love that will pass away, and we shall never find anything to equal it. We in our turmoil say, "I haven't time, I can't, I have a lot to do," and we think in our hearts, "The child must be taught better, or he will make us his slaves." What we want is to be free from him to do what we ourselves like doing, so as not to give up our convenience.