To Do This Year Before Michael leaves for college

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A "short" to do list for the next year.

1.  Get Michael to teach me to program the TiVo.

2.  Get Michael to teach me to load and change CDs in the disc player in the new car.

3.  Get Michael to teach me to do more than "point and shoot" with my camera.

4.  Get Michael to teach me to reconnect the computer after the cable blinks out.

5.  Get Michael to teach me where the vacuum repair shop is and who the guy is who knows him by name there. (I've never been.)

6.  Get Michael to teach me to change the ringtone on my cell phone.  Though I may never want anything different...

7.  Get Michael to teach me to to program my cell phone.

8.  Choose a design for the kitchen table, so Michael can work his magic again.

9.  Get Michael to adjust the weight set for me before he goes.  I don't want it to grow lonley in his absence.  Though I'm not sure I can bear to be down there without him...

10.  Bookmark the Reading site so that I can read daily updates, since Michael won't be home to keep me abreast of Bobby's news.

11. Take lots and lots of pictures and video of Michael with the new baby.  This is the only year they will all be together under my roof.

Poetry Friday

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I was pushing Katie on the swing yesterday afternoon and was reminded of this poem.  What amazed me was that I could remember the poem perfectly, though I haven't thought of it for a long time.  What affinity children have for memorizing and how perfect the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson is to tuck away in the corners of their young brains!

The Swing

by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

Over the country side—

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown—

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

Rainy Day Art

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It's been raining for days and days and though I considered building an ark today, I opted instead to pull out some tried and true art activities. 

First, we made slime.  Perhaps this isn't true art, but it sure is fun to feel that cornstarch change textures and to move your hands around in the goo! 

Mix 2 cups of water and a little food coloring with 6 cups of cornstarch to create a nice, thick slime. Run your fingers through and make patterns in it. --from Natural Childhood

Later, we made tissue paper mosaics.  This was my favorite activity a million years ago when I taught preschool during college.  I loved to sit at the table with the three-year-olds and use diluted liquid starch to glue shapes of tissue paper onto white paper. That's really all there is to it.  Just show the children that you can place the dry tissue paper on the white paper and then "paint" the water/starch mixture over the top.

Detailed directions for the tissue paper activity and some science connections are in Science Arts: Discovering Science Through Art Experiences.