Skip to main content

President's Day

In New Orleans people will use any excuse to party. At my house I will use any excuse to craft. President's Day passes without so much as a glance at the calendar for some but I'd been making a long list of ideas for quite a while, scanning the holiday pages of my February Family Fun Magazine half wishing I did have a kid born of February 21st so I could have one of the cute theme parties they feature. Yes, I am THAT dorky.

So I checked out a few books from the library. I really wish I'd done my homework before I went but I didn't so I just had to settle for what I could find in the short time I was able to hold Ryland down in between the aisles before he started screaming. I got one book based on the song This Land is My Land and one based on America the Beautiful. I also got one that I thought was really cute called Grace for President. It was about a young girl who couldn't believe there had been no girl presidents. Her teacher proposed a class election and she decided to run. I loved that it highlighted integrity and hard work and I also loved it's simple explanation of the election process including electoral votes.

I worked on learning some new words with Jathan this week including president and honesty (two words that seem to get further and further apart, huh?). We studied about the lives of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and learned to recognize them on flash cards as well as President Obama. Then we crafted! Want to see pictures? I know you do!

Here's our calendar for the month (made from A beka Book's Art A book). We decided to tuck our presidential flash cards inside the heart so George, Abe, and Barack are hanging out together this month.


We did coin rubbings which not only reinforced recognizing the presidents from our flash cards but also helped in learning the different coins which is one of my goals for Jathan this year.


We also cleaned up some old pennies.


Using ketchup. Am I brave, or what?


Jathan thought it was totally cool.


And they actually came out pretty shiny!


We made a George Washington "wig."


And talked about the legend of Washington's cherry tree incident. We talked honesty while Jathan decorated a arm and handprint cherry tree.


Then we read a book about Abraham Lincoln that I had to completely paraphrase. Anyone know how to tell a three-year old about slavery and assassins? Yeah, me neither. Log cabins? We can handle that!


What I want to know is how Jathan perceived that I left out the part where Lincoln's mother died. "Where's his mom?" he asked.

"She died," I told him, "But he had a stepmother that loved him very much." Then he talked about dying FOREVER because that is one of his favorite subjects right under which animals we eat.

And here's our President's Day wall complete with the silhouette that Keeleigh did of Jathan's head!


Oh, yeah! President's Day was awesome! = P
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Reasons I Should Stay Off Facebook

1. TMI So, I remember the weirdest things but one brief conversation I had over 10 years ago stands out to me. It was high school and like all high school girls I had friends, enemies, and frienemies. One of my then-frienemies (we've grown up since then!) was friends with one of my enemies. Standing by the lockers one day, frienemy walks up and says in reference to enemy something like, "She shares too much information. Sometimes it's almost like, 'Hey, guys. I just farted.'" Of course, at the time I ate this up and laughed at her expense but over the years it's been a little reminder that more often than not I need to shut up. Just shut up. I've often been tempted (and have too often given in to the temptation) to over share. I think the Internet feels far safer than it really is. I need to remember that. 2. Friends...or Stalkers? Speaking of "friends", I have 321 of them. I know that number is much higher for many of you, but ...
10 comments
Read more

Playing with Ryland

Ryland is finally to the stage where he can PLAY! Occasionally he and Jathan get together and drag out all the toys, exploring each corner of the toy box. He also LOVED to pull all the pots, pans, and plastic bowls and lids out of the cabinet until we installed child locks! Lately his favorite activity is throwing random things into the garbage. I'm pretty sure that's where two of his missing cups disappeared to. All this in the name of curiosity and fun! Jathan is totally into dinosaurs lately and has taught Ryland to do a little roar. One day recently we were playing dinosaurs on my bed when Ryland thought the dino box would make a great game in itself. Now that the weather is warming up, Ryland has really begun to enjoy playing outside. When he's not eating dirt or racing towards the street, he loves sliding all by himself! Yes, Ryland is becoming quite a fun little guy--a little ball of energy who is always smiling!
1 comment
Read more

24 Days of Thankfulness: Day 12

She is 12 years old going on 30. She is the epitome of the term "free-spirited." She sings opera in the shower and can ride a bike with no hands and her eyes closed. She can beat all the boys at football at PE. She has her own style and isn't afraid to show it off. She dances for His glory. She can stand on her hands. When she laughs everyone laughs with her. Sometimes I look at her and my heart aches for the years past when I didn't always know what a treasure I had. She is growing--I get to see her maturing a little each day, growing not only in stature but also spiritually and mentally. What a treat it is to sit across from her each day and see the wheels turning in her head! She is the prettiest mad scientist I've ever seen. She is artsy and crafty. She is big sister  extraordinaire! She bickers and complains but without a doubt she loves and that love is returned.  She holds them close and asks for hugs and kisses. Sh...
2 comments
Read more