A Bookcase for Every Child

When this story arrived in my inbox, I had to share.

Nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, Jim Davidson of Arkansas has started a project called "A Bookcase for Every Child".

The project aims to increase literacy by providing children from

low-income families with a handmade bookcase and a starter set of books and encouraging parents to read to their children.

Community volunteers have built 250 custom bookcases so far and delivered them to children, with books included.

The project is funded 100% by donations and from the proceeds of Mr. Davidson's book sales. He hopes that communities nationwide join in the project to help fight illiteracy in this country.

The idea of providing a bookcase with the books is what struck a chord with me. I remember when I was a girl and I finally got my own room, the one thing that I wanted most was a bookcase. That first bookcase was only made of cinder blocks and planks of wood, but to me it was my own private library! I arranged them in proper order and even started my own card catalog.

This is a wonderful way to give back and to help a child develop a lifelong love of reading. They will help you start a project in your own area as well, for more information visit: A Bookcase for Every Child.

Garden Progress

We are making more progress in the garden. Today I fenced off a corner of the backyard to use as a compost pile. I used a roll of 3 foot tall galvanized hardware wire and some bamboo stakes to anchor it. My son had fun filling it with leaves.

I had no sooner finished throwing in a banana peel and some strawberry tops, when one of our dogs decided to investigate. She paced the fence for a good twenty minutes trying to figured out how to get to the fruit.

We also hung a bird feeder and she was at it again. I wonder how long it's going to take until she either pulls down the feeder or jumps in the compost pile? She is one of the reasons the backyard got so out of control to start with. She pulls up plants, grabs branches off the trees and drags them around.

If you are trying to plant, she runs off with the pots.

That dog is tons of trouble! Her name is Spirit and she certainly lives up to it.

The Green Effect

Recently SunChips, Frito-Lay’s popular line of multigrain snacks, reported they will introduce the first fully compostable snack chip bag made from plant-based materials by Earth Day 2010.
They have joined forces with National Geographic to create

the Green Effect, an initiative to inspire individuals to spark a green movement in their communities.

You could be the one to make a difference in your community—for the planet! Submit a description of your Green Effect idea by June 8, 2009. Ten finalists will be announced July 7, 2009. Online viewers and a distinguished panel of judges will review these inspiring ideas.

They will award $20,000 each to five people or groups that have the best ideas for green change. The five winners will also be profiled in National Geographic, and the winners will travel to Washington, D.C., to share their projects with environmental leaders.

This could be a great educational family or home school group project! For more information visit The Green Effect and see if your idea could be a winner.

The Day The Internet Died (at my house)

How ironic is it that on Earth Day my Internet connection went down and we were forced to go outside.
Shortly after I posted my Earth Day photo yesterday morning, some workers in the area cut everyone’s DSL cable.
Panic began to set in when they told me it might not be back before 6pm Thursday. That would mean a whole day and night without Internet. I shuddered to think I could not get email, or access to my blog. I was alone again in the universe!

Then I gathered myself together and realized I wasn’t isolated on a barren island, but rather quite safe in a suburban neighborhood where I’m fairly sure other humans reside. So we ventured outside to see what we could do in the back yard. We really aren't hermits, but the back yard has become the dogs territory. Plus we have a lovely, well maintained park just around the corner.

Well, the yard is a mess! There has been almost no rain here for months and I don’t have sprinklers. So between two big dogs who dig and the drought, it’s sink or swim for the plants and grass.
By the look of the piles of dead leaves in every corner and dead plants leaning on the fence, most of the plant life decided to sink. My son quickly retreated back to the patio after encountering more than one large fire ant mound.

This was not going to be a small project and some supplies were needed if I wanted to turn the yard around. That included a new rake (the handle broke the first time I used it), some portable sprinklers, and sod. Off to Lowe’s we went and after spending way too much time trolling the aisles, we went home to see if our DSL was back. I held off on the fire ant killer until I could get online and research an eco-friendly way to repel them.
Still no Internet access, so we spent the rest of the afternoon pulling out dead plants and raking leaves.

There is still a lot of work to do, but it’s a start. Our DSL line has now been repaired and I am searching for earth friendly ways to get rid of fire ants. This weekend, we will get more work done I hope. I have to let the sprinkles get the ground soft and wet enough before I can dig and plant. All in all, a very productive Earth Day 2009.

Earth Day 2009

Earthrise
Happy Wordless Wednesday!
For more photo fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom and Mom.dot
(photo credit: Nasa, of course)

Learning About Cause and Effect

We have been learning about cause and effect. In order to help improve critical thinking and also learn about consequences, I have been purposely pointing out the cause and effect of just about everything that occurs during our day. For instance, we may be in the car and I will ask my son what is the cause of the car stopping (putting on the brakes) and what is the effect (we don’t crash into the other cars).

It has now become a terrific game and we take turns pointing out the cause and effect of everything!
You can apply this game to most lessons, science, history, art etc.

The most useful part has been when he thinks about the cause and effect of his own actions. Throwing the ball in the house causes mommy to get annoyed. The effect of mommy getting annoyed is

* insert consequence here*. You should see the look on his face when he realizes he is in control of the outcome.

Of course just like everything else we teach our children, don’t be surprised if they start to use it against you. Yesterday, my son pointed out to me that the cause of all the chocolate being gone was that I ate it, and the effect would be that I would get sick.

Ok, so I like chocolate, a lot!

You can learn more about cause and effect at Literacy Matters.

More on Toilet Training an Older Child

Ok moms, here we go, more toilet training questions. My son is almost 4 ½ and although he got a late start, he has been urinating in the toilet for a while now. He even figured out peeing standing up by himself including using the cutout on boys underwear instead of taking them off. However he has not been having bm’s in the toilet. He did it once about a week ago, but only because I caught him mid-poop and we made it to the bathroom. He was very excited to poop and flush, so I thought.. whew, finally we are getting somewhere!

He has not done it since and now is also having urine accidents as well. He’s gone back to not telling me when he has to pee and even though we regularly sit on the toilet to try and poop, he never does. Then later I find him with dirty pants and he doesn’t seem to care. When I ask him what happened, why he didn’t get to the toilet and pee, he says "It was just an accident mom". When I ask him why he is still pooping in his pants he says, "I just wanted to". I can’t get any real answers and I don’t know why we are having a set back. Nothing has changed here at home. I got such terrific feedback from you all in response to my last toilet training post, I figured I’d ask again.

He seems to be somewhat more emotional lately, so I wonder if he’s going through a stage. At this point, he knows exactly what he needs to do and why. He can recite the entire path food (organ by organ) takes to get from his mouth, and how it becomes poop and ends up in the toilet. So I know it’s not a matter of understanding the mechanics. He does not fight me when we sit and try and he is not afraid of the toilet. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s just being lazy?

Should I just ignore this like I did with the urine? It worked then, I simply put the ball in his court and in no time he did it for himself. Your collective insights will be much appreciated by me and any other moms toilet training an older child.

The Fresh Air Fund

Even though I live in Florida, I have heard of The Fresh Air Fund. For those of you that have not, The Fresh Air Fund, is an independent, not-for-profit agency, that has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Nearly 10,000 New York City children enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually.

In 2008, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. 3,000 children also attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund’s year-round camping program serves an additional 2,000 young people each year.

At this time they are looking for host families for this summer. You can also donate funds if your not in one of the 13 states but still want to help. For more information visit The Fresh Air Fund's website and see if you can help. Every child deserves some fresh air summer fun!

Signs of Spring

My friend took this photo of a baby woodpecker, isn't it cute?

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

For more photo fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom and Momdot.com.

The "K" Word

When did your child learn the "kill" word? I don’t want my son to always think he has to destroy things that threaten him, but sooner or later you just have to explain what it means.

Thanks to an older child who visits us, my son thinks killing bad guys is the ultimate goal in most situations. Even if these supposed bad guys are insects or creatures that have their purpose and are good for the earth. I had to enforce a "no computer games" rule when this boy is here because of this.

I have asked him why they are bad and does he know what killing means and he "they are bad just because and when you kill them they are dead".
The "just because" answer tells me he thinks they are bad because they were portrayed that way to him in a story or by another person. Not a very good reason to use that label. He knows the different between alive and dead because we have discussed it several times. I want him to understand that there is good and bad in all things.

Maybe times have changed but I wasn’t prepared to see this desire to pummel things, in a 4 year old boy. His play has become more and more aggressive. Everything jumps on and flattens something else. Things that are built up, get blown up. There hasn’t been a lot of joy in playing with him lately.

This becomes a conflict of interest you realize how many things we "kill" during the course of a day without realizing the violent choice of words. We kill germs every time we wash our hands. We kill bugs if they get out of hand. So I have started trying to use different terms to express myself. I now try to say "eliminate" or "reduced the population of" instead of "kill".

Some may think this is just "boy" behavior but I refuse to believe that aggression is natural for boys. I saw the change in him almost immediately when he started playing videos games, even though the ones he played seemed innocuous at first. I suppose I would have seen these changes even earlier if he was in pre-school, but mommy has had enough already!

Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a very

Happy Easter!

KidsHealth.org

If your studying the human body with your children or have a child that is afraid of the doctor, KidsHealth may be able to help.

My son was asking questions about where his food went at lunch one day, so I searched online for an interactive site he could navigate himself, about anatomy. KidsHealth caught his attention and now he knows an awful lot about how his body works!

They have animated videos about each body system plus movies with real doctors and children about what happens at the dentist, hospital etc. On the home page you will find a child's medical dictionary, healthy cooking and safety tips, all written for children. They also have articles and quizzes for your child to read and complete.

The entire site is available in Spanish as well. My son's daily vocabulary now includes words like bladder, brain stem and bronchioli,

just to name a few. I can't wait to see what he says next!

Bunny Scramble!

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

For more photo fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom and Mom.dot.

Eureka, Physical Activity Benefits Learning!

Sometimes science and research amazes me, sometimes they don’t.

This time it’s the latter.

I read an article that came out in Science Daily last week and all I could think was… Duh!

Researchers at the University of Illinois, have reported finding academic benefits to physical education classes, recess periods and after-school exercise programs.

While I’m sure it’s beneficial to have documented proof, this is hardly news to most parents or elementary school teachers.

The study was conducted with nine year olds who were tested on alternate days after 20 minute rest periods on one day and 20 minute exercise periods on another. It was found that the students performed better after the exercise, particularly in reading. They were better able to pay attention and concentrate.

Based on these finding they are recommending schools:

1. Schedule outdoor recess as a part of each school day.
2. Offer formal physical education 150 minutes per week at the elementary level, 225 minutes at the secondary level.
3. Encourage classroom teachers to integrate physical activity into learning.

As to how teachers can do this, they suggest:

An example of how physical movement could be introduced into an actual lesson would be “when reading poetry (about nature or the change of seasons), students could act like falling leaves” .

Ok, I admit I haven’t been inside an elementary schoolroom since I was in elementary school myself, but when did we stop acting out stories and having recess? At what point did we begin to think medicating our children was a better way to “get the sillies out” than a rousing round of Here We Go Loopty Loo?

Our minds and bodies are intrinsically linked and neither one can operate at prime without the other. We can not learn, love, or live if they are not working together at any age, end of story, period. Now take your children, go outside and climb a tree!

Handmade Spring Fling!

Spring is officially here even though it may not look like it in some areas. To celebrate, I went window shopping at Etsy.com to bring you a few of my favorite things.

First up, how could this beautiful glass trivet

not cheer up your kitchen?
I find the colors striking yet calming at the same time.
You can find it at Kermit Biggs Design.

As you can guess, I have a weakness for birdhouses and whimsy.
This charming little bird abode from Bird House Accents,
definitely fills that bill!

Isn't this the sweetest little bird?!
This small stoneware dish is perfect for a handful of candy
or votive candle.
Visit Prince Design UK for more lovely handmade pottery.

I had to show you this charming little white rabbit
peaking out of his pouch.
It is made from 100%wool felt and can be found at Bossy's Feltworks along with many other adorable little creatures.

Easter is right around the corner, so hop on over to Etsy.com
and you will find just the thing to complete your basket!