Learning Basket: Beatrix Potter...

The theme of this week's Learning Basket is Beatrix Potter.

We will be reading some of Potter's books and doing a few activities for each. In lieu of reading our little Peter Rabbit book, we will use stickers to complete the pictures in our Peter Rabbit Sticker Storybook and then read the story in that. We were given this Peter Rabbit stuffed animal for Sugar Plum's first Christmas and he will be perfect for retelling the story!

We will also read The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, use our hedgehog puppet for re-telling the story. It will also be fun to follow a rabbit trail to Jan Brett's Hedgie's Surprise.

Wikki Stix will be fun to play with after reading The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (who finds wax left by the bees in her home!).

The Tale of Two Bad Mice is one of my favorites and I think that the little ones will enjoy coloring the picture of naughty Hunca Munca. I am going to see if Sugar Plum can loosely copy the colors that Beatrix Potter use in her illustration for on her coloring sheet.

We are working on Katherine's Holy Apostles lesson Plans and will be able to do even more now that our books have arrived. Sugar Plum loves to match the three part cards that Katherine created.

Finally, we will continue to work on our laminated Kumon books. I may laminate a few more pages for each book after I see how well Sugar Plum can do on the first ten lessons.

I do not think that we will get through everything we have in the basket, but I'd rather have more planned than not enough. Ideas and materials for this week's basket came from:

The Holy Apostles
The Official Beatrix Potter Website
Beatrix Potter... A Rabbit Trail Brought to You by 4reallearning

A Year of Seasonal Themes for the Learning Basket...

I really like the idea of using themes that reflect the changes in the seasons for teaching pre-school. Expanding on Dawn's list of Kinderthemes, I came up with five themes per month that include the things that are happening during the month as well as one author that I'd like to focus on. I think that this will help my planning for my Living and Learning Lists as well as provide a focus for our week. Since I am planning this a bit far in advance, I am expecting to tweak things a bit as we go along. I am hoping to tuck the books, crafts, and ideas into a basket the week before we plan to learn about them and then we'll have a Learning Basket to work from at our own pace. I'd like this first year of homeschooling to be carefree but also a good foundation to future years when things will have to be a bit less spontaneous.

When September comes, we will also be using the booklist from Sonlight for 3/4 for more book choices and Kumon Books for our daughter's age and skill level. For our religious studies, we'll be following along with Katherine's Learning Through the Year of Grace plans as she writes them (of course we'll be keeping things very simple for our little ones). Finally, I am planning on ordering some of the pre-school materials offered through Handwriting Without Tears. Our daughter is not ready to learn how to write her letters yet, but I want to be prepared with this program when she is.

Without further ado, here are the themes that I would like to use for our Learning Baskets this year:

January
12 Days of Christmas
Snowflakes
Ezra Jack Keats
Snowmen
Early Spring Flowers - Forced Bulbs

February
Hearts
Valentines
Chocolate
Helen Oxenbury
Museums

March
Rainbows
Shamrocks
Spring
Barbara Cooney
Kites
April
Rain
Farms
Knights and Dragons
Alexandra Day

May
Flowers
Circus
Strawberries
Gardens
Patricia Polacco

June
Beach
Seashells
Summer
Boats
Eric Carle

July
Independence Day
Blueberries
Peaches
Sunflowers
Beatrix Potter

August
Watermelon
Puppets
Butterflies
Shirley Hughes
Bugs

September
Apples
Harvest
Tomie DePaola
Autumn
Zoo

October
Leaves
Squirrels
Lois Elhert
Seeds
Pumpkins

November
Stars
Winter Beds
Turkeys
Thanksgiving
Laura Ingalls Wilder (My First Little House Books)

December
Candlelight
Saint Nicholas
Winter
Nativity and 12 Days of Christmas
Jan Brett

Stay tuned each Monday (hopefully!) with a peek into our basket for the week!

Orthodox Driving...

From Father John's Weekly Bulletin, Source Unknown.

In these days when “road rage” seems to be such a problem, it might do us some good to think about our own attitudes when we drive. As in all other aspects of life, we are not responsible for the behavior of others, but we are responsible for ours, and driving in traffic is not too unlike every other human interchange. Nevertheless, driving, somehow, seems to be able to release in us certain behaviors we otherwise do not manifest, and the most notable of these is, of course, anger.

Since we tend to be alone in driving, we can have some opportunities to look at ourselves and ask ourselves why we react in one way or another, and whether it does or does not conform to behavior expected of a Christian, especially an Orthodox Christian, in the light of the Gospel and our experience of the Savior. And if we are reacting angrily at such times, we might not be surprised to find that it usually is because we are angry about something else; or that, as is so often the case, we have not forgiven someone somehow, and we are consciously or unconsciously holding a grudge. Perhaps, in the solitude of the automobile, we have opportunities to see our symptoms, and prayerfully come to a better self-understanding, opening the door to our own ability to forgive, and to be healed in heart.

The Ten Commandments for Drivers

I. Always begin a trip with a prayer, making the Sign of the Cross and entrusting yourself to the Lord.

II. Never drink and drive.

III. Never try to shorten the time of a trip. If you started out late, you will arrive late. Do not speed.

IV. Apologize to a driver whom you have interfered with, even when you did not intend to. After all, when we are walking, and bump someone, we apologize without thinking. So why should there be a different ethic behind the wheel?

V. Always yield was to someone who is in a great hurry, or is driving aggressively. If you do not yield, he will pass you, but the situation will be more dangerous.

VI. Give a wave of thanks to a driver who makes way for you.

VII. Drive in such a way that you won't fear seeing a police car. Remember that God is Watching, even if the police are not.

VII. Stay as far away as possible from cars that have dents or show signs of accidents. But be careful not to judge, or you may share in their misfortune.

IX. Never speed up when another driver tries to pass you, or get into your lane. Do not treat you neighbor in a way you do not want to be treated.

X. After every trip, thank God for its safe completion. Be thankful after any trip, and not just a successful one. After all, almost always it could have been worse!

French Summers...

On Saturdays in summer when I was a child, my mother would serve us a cold lunch on the shaded terrace overlooking the garden. The day would have started and ended, as it still does, with a tall glass of water. She took pains to be sure that we were never dehydrated; there would be a full pitcher, frequently refilled, all day long. Mother would bring a baguette. a couple of cheeses, some salami or ham, while I, with a visiting friend or two would go to the garden to pluck a few tomatoes, some radishes, and some fresh lettuce (we would rinse our pickings at the garden tap, never stepping foot in the house). That labor was rewarded later with free, exclusive access to the berry bushes; after eating our sandwiches, slowly of course, there was a digestive pause, and then we were each handed a bowl with which to forage. It's as if my mother knew we would otherwise just crouch there putting berries into our mouths without a thought for the others waiting at the table. We did, however. manage to make it back with bowlfuls for them, too. Afterward, we'd just sit and talk lazily til mid afternoon. Even with the doors and windows arranged for a cross breeze, it was simply too hot at midday to sit indoors,much less exert oneself outside. Evenings were when we played, and on the longest days it would be light out until ten.

We were left to our own devices in the big garden. Mid-afternoon, one of our neighbors, Madame Regnaud, would often come with a new children's nook she was reading to her grandchildren, and she would read us a story or two in the shade of the terrace; with our eyes shut we could hear nothing but her voice over the happy chatter of the birds. Mamie would reappear around le 4 heures for the afternoon refreshment, not a gouter (snack) but a glass of lemonade she had made fresh, mindful of our need for water, especially in summer. It was neither tart nor especially sweet."

from French Woman for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, and Pleasures
By Mireille Guiliano

Orthodox Children's Illustrated Bible Reader...

My parents bought this children's Bible for Sugar Plum in honor of her namesday earlier this month... it arrived just in time this evening! We've been visiting both sides of our family since Sunday and are returning home bright and early tomorrow morning. I am so excited about reading it to our little ones!

Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning...

So, what do you think? I have to say that so far it doesn't really thrill me...

Mobile church on the move with Russian Army..

Politonline.ru – July 2, 2009

The Russian Orthodox Church has ordered a mobile church from the Volgograd Heavy Transport Equipment Plant, Politonline.ru has noted. The new church will join rail churches and floating churches already in service. It is built on a converted KamAZ truck.

The church is square and olive-drab in color when it is mobile, in keeping with government standards for military vehicles. But it opens up into a chapel that meets all the canonical structural requirements of the Russian Orthodox Church. A system of pivots and hinges allows it to unfold a cross-topped steeple. Inside, there is an altar and confessional. The total area inside the church is 40 square meters, room enough for about 50 people. There is also churchyard with a fo lding fence.

The mobile church has its own generator, air conditioner and heating system. It can be broken down and made mobile again within four hours, by two people. “Our church will be able to travel to the farthest military units and subdivisions in the most severe climatic zones and inaccessible locations,” boasted its chief designer. The mobile church made its battlefield debut earlier this month at exercises in the Nizhny Novgorod Region.