Luckybeans

On Raising Readers

Recently, I have been asked several times, by friends whom I love and respect very much, for advice on books for children, and reading to and with children. How do we raise readers? What do we read? How do we find books that we enjoy and also have depth and meaning?

As an aspiring writer/linguist, I am acutely aware of the role that stories have in shaping our values and perspectives. I am also aware that we live in a time when books are everywhere, and most of them…well, most of them are probably better suited for purposes other than reading (such as cleaning your windows or bum fodder). But that still leaves stacks and piles and shelves and rooms full of books that are very much worth bringing home and reading until the pages curl and the rhythm of the words sink so deeply into your mind that they pop back out in odd places like the checkout line or drive home from school. 

 So I suppose my first piece of advice is this:

Read what you love. Don't settle. Yes, they can bring home what they like from the library, but that doesn't mean you have to read it to them. You are under no obligation to read aloud the glitter fairy stories or the adventures of Timmy the Dumptruck or what that insipid rabbit did this week. When your children snuggle up next to you, the words you read need to come alive, the story needs to be an experience that you are sharing. Stories are here to connect us, after all. And it is pretty hard to find a meaningful connection or a love of language if one participant is undergoing nefarious lexical torture.

My second piece of advice slipped in up there, too: read aloud, together. I am terrible at talking to my babies. I would happily pass the entire day without uttering a word. But they need to hear speech, they need to develop spoken language. So I read. To my teeny tiny babies. I read them poetry that I printed out and taped up over the changing table so they could get lost in the cadence of A A Milne as I wrangled floppy limbs into sleeves. I chanted the Shaker Abecedarius propped on a music stand as I swayed babies to sleep. I collapsed into the corner of the couch with "Quick As a Cricket" to make animal noises for the five hundredth time. But read I did, and it was a time for closeness, a time for focusing on something special that was shared. 

I also, when they became older and decided they liked this whole being read to thing, set limits. Three books and then I fell asleep. Every time. It was amazing really, how I just could never make it into that fourth book. But they could thumb through it themselves, of course.

Books are an integral part of our lives. I read books for my own pleasure, and make sure they see me reading. We have always, even in the wilds of Africa (I say that a bit tongue in cheek, you know, lest anyone jump on me for slighting an entire continent) had books in every room. Now we have weekly treks to the library. Books have always been accessible for them. First board books, and slowly more and more. Some people rotate their books, setting out a few at a time. I have never done this. But we have placed different books in different spots all over our home, so perhaps this achieves a similar, less overwhelming effect. 

The final piece of advice I want to reinforce is this: read good books. I said this before, but I really mean it. If you don't love it, don't do it. Sure, there are books we get tired of reading after the 428642864829th time. Fair enough (funny how they sometimes fall behind the back of the shelf, though, isn't it?). But do not inflict horrible literature on either yourself or your children. Language is glorious, stories are numerous. Find the ones that touch your heart, give you courage, expand your mind, open your eyes. Don't settle for drivel.

To this end, I've started a pinterest board ingeniously titled "Children's Books" (I know!). There are books here from board books for itty bitties all the way through to chapter books my twelve year old is currently reading. I chose these books because these are the ones that have survived getting hauled to Zambia, Malawi and back again. They are well-written, but beyond that, these are all books that illustrate strong values. They address morals without becoming moralizing, and lead to discussion or reinforce what we teach and learn in our home. Sometimes the connections can be harder to see (Little Pea, about a pea who hates eating candy, can be used to discuss eating your veggies, but it can also take a look at how ridiculous our stubborn prejudices are). Most of these are not overtly moralistic tales. I find those hard to stomach. And sometimes we like one part of a series, but not the rest (like The Gruffalo's Child). It is also important to note that these stories are written for children. Does that seem obvious to you? Well, it ought to be obvious to authors and publishers as well, but often they do get sidetracked by what is hip and current, or important and "must be told", or simply sells well. At least, it appears so to me.

I hope this is helpful to those of you who have asked me about this recently. In one of those grand coincidences at which the internet excels, Robert (Kyrie Mead's husband, and perfectly qualified in his own right through his work as a father and in early childhood development/care) also wrote a post today on how to choose good books for children. 

There are many, many conversations to be had on this topic of course, but at the very least, I say this: make reading a source of enjoyment, and something you all look forward to.

 

Numbers at Nine, Part Four

Once Asher regained his fluidity and felt comfortable exploring numbers and what they represented, we moved on to two other basic concepts: grouping (or subtraction and addition) and multiplication (with division). Both of these processes really contain the aspects of their counterpart within them (as in addition and subtraction) so seperating the functions did not make sense to me. 

Asher already has a good sense of writing out numbers, including place values and what they represent (at least as far as ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands and hundred thousands), so we did not review this. He was not very fast at regrouping, and to be efficient and comfortable with mental arithmatic, this is a necessary skill. I find using mathematically accurate manipulatives to be most helpful in practising this. I bought ours here for $35, and I would not try to teach math without them. They have been in use since they arrived four years ago.

I started him with ten units (single cubes). He played with them for a while, dividing them and handling them. Then I took all ten of them in my hands and hid them. I opened one hand and he had to tell me how many cubes were in each hand (3 out, 7 in; 5 out, 5 in, etc). If he shouted the numbers faster than I did, he won a token (a luckybean). Once he collected ten tokens, he won a square of dark chocolate. We only played this game for three days, and he mastered groupings up to ten.

We are now practicing groupings up to one hundred. I use nine rods of ten and then ten cubes. Now I divide them up under two cloths, and the game continues. Next week, we will likely be ready for numbers up to one thousand. 

As Asher was handling the cubes, he started building with them. This led to a natural exploration of squaring and cubing numbers. When he held a single cube, it led him to think about dimesions. All of this easily transitioned into discussing multiples and divisions. 

Again, the rods, squares and cube provided an easy visual for multiplication. But here is where you can get really tricky! A huge variety of resources and games exist for exploring and practicing multiplication tables. RIght now, we are still exploring and conceptualizing, not memorizing, so here are the materials I am using:

1. A Waldorf style math board (base ten). Asher and I hammered ten nails into a scrap of plywood in a circle, drew the numbers on in Sharpie, and found a scrap of yarn to do this. There is a good video illustrating how to use this tool here. However, I had one major issue with it as it does not explain why you can reverse the direction when doing the complimentary times table. Asher and I discussed this on our own, though, and then it all made sense to him. 

2. We did some skip counting (ie-- counting by twos, eights, etc). However, I find this more helpful at the memorization, not conceptualization, stage as it is very easy for Asher to forget that multiplying and dividing also represent groups of things (as in 2x4 means two groups of four). 

3. We have all of these multi-pies from the toymaker printed out. (Image from thetoymaker.com). They are fabulous! They show the numbers' relations to one another in groupings, so they can be used to both mulitply and divide. Plus they are pretty and free.

As we move into memorization, I am sure I will add more tips and tricks here. One thing I do try and do is to recite any math facts both backwards and forwards, and in compliments (learn both multiplication and division at the same time so that 3x7 is 21, and 21 divided by 3 is 7, etc).

Numbers at Nine, Part Three

Having already looked at 0-3 and 4-6, we finished our exploration of digits with 7-9.

Seven

Seven can be found in the cycle of time through the days of the week. There are seven seas, and seven colors of the rainbow (albeit this can be debated). In mystical traditions (particularly Sufi and Baha'i), the journey of spiritual maturation and insight progresses through seven valleys (search, love, knowledge, unity, contentment, wonderment and "true poverty and absolute nothingness"). Seven is also the meeting of the triangle and square.

Eight

The octopus and spider show us eight in their limbs, a complex expression of bilateral symmetry. Eight is the octave, the basis of western musical sounds. Eight is also the octagon and two squares brought together.

Nine

Nine is the final digit. It symbolises fullness and completion. Nine months bring a baby into our world, nine objects make our solar system (the sun and its eight planets). Nine, as three groups of three, brings incredible depth and wealth of diveristy. Nine is used to test purity in chemistry, and its unique properties mean that it can be used to check the accuracy of incredibly complex equations. We looked at the properties of nine and its multiples, the astonishing way it behaves. If you make a cross-section of a mitochondrian, we find a nine pointed star. Finally, nine is the symbol of the Baha'i Faith.

These last three numbers completed our review of the digits. We continue to notice these numbers around us, to look at how they interact, where they are found, the patterns that they represent and create. The purpose in doing this review was to remind Asher of how integral math is to our existance. We can not seperate our reality from numbers, patterns and beauty that is math! Asher has become a lot more enthusiastic about math again, and we are better at finding it and talking about it at home.  Our next stage to the review was to explore groupings of ten. More soon!

Numbers at Nine, Part Two

From 0-3, we moved right along to 4-6:

Four

Like two, and all even numbers, four has an element of balance. In looking at four, we found it in the four directions, the seasons, and the elements. We found it in the four aspects of ourselves: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. It is the standard measure for a lot of music (4/4 time; notes use base four). Geometrically, four relies on a set of parallels in squares, diamonds, rectangles, etc.

Five

Five can be found in many places in the natural world. It is one of the more common numbers of petals to be found on flowers for example, and forms the star in the middle of a sliced apple. The human body, with its four limbs and head, forms a five, and we have five fingers and toes. This is one reason why a lot of counting is done on base five. The world consists of five kingdoms (mineral, vegetable, animal, human and spiritual). Geometrically, five makes a pentagon and a star.

Six

Six is interesting because it can be made of groups of either odd or even numbers. The geometry of six in a hexagon is one of the most efficient uses of material (which is why bees use this shape to build). The six pointed star further illustrates the idea of six as being groupings coming together in its form of two triangles. Six also brings complexity and added dimension through cubes. Places we find six in the natural world include snowflakes, daffodils (and other flowers) and the legs of an insect.

I'll be back to finish up our look at digits soon!

Numbers at Nine

Asher used to love math and playing with numbers. I did a lot of math activities with the children in Malawi, as I felt that they weren't given a great introduction to really understanding numbers and how to play with them and observe them in daily life. In my own experience, math was either my favourite subject or the most detested. I really wanted my children to learn to enjoy numbers and math, so I tried to be proactive. 

Now the children are at school all day, and the younger two have a math program that basically consists of self-paced worksheets. Ugh. Ana has started an integrated math program for high school that she enjoys, but Asher has come to have a less than warm response to all things mathematical. I also saw that he has forgotten a lot of what he once knew. I do love the children's school, as do they, but the math program is really a gaping weakness. So. This break, Asher and I are starting from scratch and reviewing what he should know and be comfortable with as a third grader. I thought I would share what we do as it might be helpful for others.

We began with a review of the basic properties of the digits 0-9. We looked at several a day (I wouldn't do this if I were introducing them), and made a page about each one. Some days he was feeling more artistically inclined than others, but we got through. :) We talked about a lot more than what I list (and what we drew) below, especially over the course of time. But this gives you a few ideas to begin with. I'm starting with 0-3 today, and will upload more as I have the chance. 

Zero

Zero is potential. It is the point of generation, and what allows growth and decline, addition and subtraction, positive and negative, to take place. Sometimes it is thought of as a mere place holder, but I like to go a bit Zen with it. Far more exciting (and accurate, really).

One

One is fascinating as it is both underlying unity of form and uniqueness simultaneously. We looked at both the individual and the oneness of humanity; the unity of God; the earth, peace (Asher's idea), and in terms of geometry, globes and circles. It is both infinitely divisible and inherently whole.

Two

Two illustrates balance and equality. Like the yin and yang, two apparant opposites provide stability and completion. We talked about many of these "opposites"  and why we need both of them (life and death, dark and light, male and female, material and spiritual,night and day, sciences and arts). We discussed the force generated by the attraction of these two "opposing" elements, as found in the power of electricity between two poles, or the love between two people. We also looked at binary and morse code, and the ability for communication and complexity latent in the simplicity of duality.

Three

Three is the beginning of complexity, mulitplicity and diversity. Three can be found in the family, in musical harmony, and the primary colours. The geometry of three is expressed in triangles, and can be found in natural examples such as the life cycle of frogs and newts, trillium leaves and flowers and clover. 

I hope this is helpful for you! Or at least interesting. Numbers are fun, dag nabbit.

 

Ultimate Birthday Cake

Over the last fiteen years or so, I have made a lot of birthday cakes. A LOT of birthday cakes. For my children and friends and nieces and nephews and family and all of rabbit's friends and realtions (or so it sometimes seems) and so on and so forth. And I think, at last, we have found perfection. It is, like so many things, in the balancing of its composite parts: a little bit of everything so that nothing is missing, but nothing overwhelms, either. We made it this past week for Simon's birthday (he turned more than three, despite the candles). It is a chocolate cake, filled with raspberry puree, kissed with chocolate buttercream, draped with ganache, topped with fresh raspberries and served with whipped cream. That sounds as impressive as it tastes, but far more complicated than it is. It really is a matter of assembling six simple parts:

1. The heart of this all is a simple, never-let-you-down, nothing overly complicated or self-important, chocolate cake. It is absolutely fool proof and delicious every single time. It is known in our house as "Auntie Debbie's Chocolate Cake" because it was her recipe, and it is nice to think of her when we make it. She once said it came off of the back of a cocoa tin. We shall never know. I believe this is the cake that I had for my first real birthday cake (read: not zucchini bread, and hold the wheat germ, please and thank you) at the grand old age of six. This makes an awful lot of cake. If you wish, you can bake it in two eight or nine inch round tins and freeze one of them for later, using the other for now. 

Auntie Debbie's Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease two round cake tins and "flour" them with cocoa powder (you could also flour them with flour, but then you would have white glummy bits on your cake).

In a large bowl mix together:

2 C all purpose flour 

1tsp Baking soda

1/2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 C cocoa powder

1 3/4 C sugar

3/4 C oil

3/4 C water

This will form a thick dough. Once it is mixed, add:

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs, beaten (unless you are found of odd eggy bits in your cake)

1/2 C water

Now it should form a lovely, smooth batter which you can pour into your waiting tins and pop in the oven. Two 9 inch tins take half an hour to bake. They are done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let them cool for ten minutes, then pop them out and let them finish cooling on a rack. Or if you are impatient, like me, put the whole tin into the freezer for half an hour and then take them out of the pan (although it is a bit trickier).

2. While your cake's cooling, make your Buttercream. It's dreadfully difficult. I jest.

In a medium bowl, combine

1/2 C butter (ever so much easier at room temperature)

1 1/2 C icing sugar

1/4 C cocoa powder

1-2 Tbs milk

You can play with the consisteancy to get it how you like it: more milk makes it thinner, more sugar makes it stiffer. I find it easiest to work with while it is fairly stiff.

3. You can also make your Raspberry Filling. I confess it is actually just low-sugar raspberry jam. 

In a small saucepan, roughly mash and combine well

2 C fresh raspberries

2 Tbs Low-sugar pectin

Bring to a boil for one minute, then stir in

1/3 C sugar

Boil until it begins to thicken (the directions say 1 minute, but really I just took it off the heat and stirred the pectin in and that was plenty). it is very important not to overcook the fruit as you want as much fresh fruit taste as possible.

The nice bit is that any leftover "filling" can be spread on your toast tomorrow.

At this point, if your cake and filling are both cool, you can begin assembling the cake. If you are only using one of your cakes, cut it in half so that you have two layers. If not, level out your bottom layer by sawing off the top dome with a bread knife. I like having a domed top on my cakes, so I only level the bottom layer.

Place your flat, bottom layer on the cake plate. Spread a thin layer of buttercream on it.

Now comes the trickiest bit of the whole process: build a wall around your sealed layer(I use my fingers, I confess, but I suspect most people would pipe this bit). This is to contain your filling so it doesn't go smooshing out the sides. It also acts as a dam so you can get a whole lot more filling in there. I think this is perhaps one of my best inventions-- the buttercream dam. 

Now place your top layer gently on, and spread the rest of your buttercream thinly on the top of the cake, and around the sides if it stretches that far (mine didn't really). Use a wet finger to smooth the top of the icing as that is where you will pour the ganache.

4. Ganache is one of those things that sounds so much more intimidating than it is. All it really is is melted chocolate with butter and/or cream added so that it's pourable. Here is how I made it:

In a small saucepan, bring 1/3 C whipping cream almost to a boil.

Finely chop 5 oz bittersweet (or semisweet) chocolate. Add it to the hot cream, stirring while it melts. I take the pan off of the heat, but will place it back on for a few seconds if the chocolate stops melting. 

Once the chocolate is completely smooth and melted, add butter, a bit at a time so that it melts in and the ganache becomes pourable. I ended up adding just over 1Tbs of butter.

Slowly pour the ganache over the center of your frosted, waiting cake. Ganache does best if it is not touched. Therefore, I rely on making sure it is truly pourable and tipping the plate gently as I go to get it to spread. I also don't aim for perfection.

5. While the ganache sets, whip your Cream.

I had a 16 oz carton (I think-- the larger ones) of heavy/ whipping cream from which I subtracted 1/3 C for the ganache. The rest was whipped with 1 tsp vanilla and 1/4 C sugar until lovely and billowy.

6. Scatter fresh raspberries on top of your cake. 

Serve and enjoy!

This is an extremely decadent cake. We have found that this fairly small cake will go a long way. Our family of five ate it four times, so I suppose that makes it about twenty servings out of a nine-inch cake. It also keeps for a few days. What makes it so lovely is how all of the elements play off of one another: the tender crumb of cake, the sweetness of the buttercream, the bitter richness of ganache, the sparkle of fresh raspberries, the airy vanila cream. This is not sickly-sweet, but it is still deliciously sticky and a bit squashy, as the most satisfying cakes always are. And I especially appreciate that it really isn't all that fussy or difficult-- it just seems like it should be. You can also, of course, never go wrong with simply making the chocolate cake part alone and serving it with whipped cream and calling it a day. And there are endless variations possible as well in terms of flavouring the buttercream and filling, but I simply can't get into it now.

So there you are. The pinnacle of my culinary exploits.

 

Ana's Lotion

Ana, at fourteen, has new and different needs and interests. I think an important part of this age is learning to care for yourself, and your new body, with grace and simplicity. So as she has experimented with haircuts, mascara and sparkly nail polish, she has also ended up with a pixie cut, refuses to shave her legs, and is meticulous about not using "chemically" products. She is also quite intrigued with the idea of making some of her own.

As the roses came into bloom, she wanted to make rose petal jam again. We made so much last year, we still have plenty. I suggested she make rose water that we could then use to make lotion. A simple method for making rose water is to pack a small bowl full of petals, then cover the petals with enough boiling water to just cover them. Cover the bowl immediately, allow it to cool to room temperature, and then place it in the fridge (still covered) overnight. Strain the petals out the next morning, and either use immediately or freeze for future use. This is a wonderful method for making rose water to use in toiletries, but can be a bit bitter for cooking.

So, rose water in hand, we finally had an opportunity to make lotion.

Ana's Lotion

1 C rose water

3/4 C oil total (we used 1 part coconut to 1 part avocado, topped up with jojoba)

1/8 tsp Vitamin E oil

20 drops rose absolute (ours is in a jojoba carrier oil)

3 Tbs beeswax

Place the oils in a double boiler over medium-low heat.

Grate or chop the beeswax into small(ish) pieces, add it into the oil and allow them to melt together.

Pour the rose water into the blender. Once the oil and beeswax have melted together, allow them to cool a bit (two minutes?). Start the blender and slowly pour in the oil and wax with the blender running. If you stil see some water, scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula and continue blending, stopping to check/scrape every thirty seconds or so until it is all smooth and incorporated.

Transfer the lotion into glass jars and allow it to cool completely before placing a lid on it. The vitamin e does have some preservative properties, but we store the lotion we aren't using in the fridge as it can spoil in the warmth.

A few notes about use:

This feels quite different to store bought lotions. A little bit goes a very long way. Often while applying it, beads of water seperate out from the lotion and sit on my skin. I simply cotinue rubbing until they are absorbed. The lotion doesn't immediately absorb into the skin, taking a minute or two to sink in. Initially, this seemed a bit greasy to me, but now I really love that it is fully absorbed after a few minutes, and leaves no lingering residue. I used a "standard" lotion the other day, and found that it really just sat on the surface of my skin, and when I got into the shower hours later I could feel it like a coating. So strange! 

Also, if you use coconut oil, try not to use it directly out of the fridge as the oil is very hard and makes for some odd application.

 Variations:

This can be highly customized to your personal tastes so long as the oil-water-wax ratios are kept the same. Any herbal infusion or tea can be used for the water part of the recipe. I plan on making a caledula/ chamomile batch later in the summer for Asher. 

The oils can also be changed. Olive, sesame, grapeseed, apricot, etc are all fine. You can also use an infused oil. Some hardier herbs (such as lavender and rosemary) do better with an oil, rather than a water based infusion.

FInally, you can add different essential oils for both their scents and properties (tea tree is antifungal, for example).

This is really a very simple process, and a lot of fun. I would suggest that you use very hot and soapy water for clean up, though. ;)

 

 

Hidden Word Number Fifiteen

This week's Hidden Word:

O SON OF UTTERANCE!

Turn thy face unto Mine and renounce all save Me; for My sovereignty endureth and My dominion perisheth not. If thou seekest another than Me, yea, if thou searchest the universe for evermore, thy quest will be in vain.

~Baha'u'llah

 

So. I had already thought about how we were going approach this Hidden Word. I was thinking along the lines of "every created thing is a sign of God" and doing a nature scavenger hunt. But. Bella and Asher were very busy hanging up glow in the dark stars on their bedroom ceilings, and talking about outer space. Hence, we changed direction a bit and re-oriented towards the wonder that is the night sky.

We had a blank board book and some paint chips, and so I used these to create a "pocket book". Inspired by these, we decided to make our own constellation card guides to fit in the pockets.

First we painted some paper for background (yes, Ai Ana has taken to wearing her 3D glasses), then we had to stop to wait for it dry. Which entailed discussion of the Hidden Word and tea and blueberry pie (my am I glad we picked so many in the summer) and ice cream. Our discussion ranged from the all-encompassing nature of spiritual reality to the latest articles on the likelihood of planets at other stars.

The paper now dry, we cut out circles and carefully marked out a constellation on each one. We then used a hole punch to folllow the pattern, and...

A constellation card that cast its shadow and shows you what to look for in the night sky! We realised we could shine our torches through them at night, and they would be quite useful when out star-gazing.

We labelled each one and tucked it into a pocket. Some pockets held several cards, and we have the potential to keep adding more. As the children selected their constellations, it led to lots of discussion regarding Greek mythology, so we headed in that direction for a while, too.

Finally, Bella wrote the Hidden Word in the front, and we had our completed book. I am very excited about this idea of pocket books-- they could be so very useful for everything from nature guides (a book of trees with leaves and bark rubbings or birds with feathers and sketches) to virtues guides (choose a page and read a story and find a relevant quotation) to color or prayers or daily rhythms or children's recipes... The possibilities are endless! I am going to have to keep an eye out for more blank books.

Hidden Word Number Fourteen

Ooops. With a lack of rhythm due to holidays followed by unpredictable weather followed by Simon's daperture for Malawi, I forgot to post this last week's Hidden Word. Here it is:

O SON OF MAN!

Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not, wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished, why dost thou dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory fadeth not; Thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of glory.

~Baha'u'llah

Discussion:

The most interesting aspect of our discussion was getting the children to view this Hidden Word in terms of reality in this physical world. They were very quick to apply the meanings to Life After Death and the spiritual reality, but it was harder for them to think of practical interpretations that might apply to daily life.

Once we were able to think about "abiding in our love for God" and His light that is always burning within us, we were able to think about our current reality a bit differently.

Activity:

Since the discussion was a bit more difficult than usual, I did a simpler activity so that we could continue talking as we worked. Simon's mom taught the children how to make these "twisted snowflakes" over the break, so we went ahead and made some. They don't relate very directly to the Hidden Word, but they kept our hands busy as we hurt our brains, and were quite appropriate for this last week's snow!

To make them you need squares of paper (bear in mind that both sides will show; we liked the effect of double-sided scrapbook paper). We used 6"/15cm squares (scrapbook paper cut into four squares per sheet). You will also need tape and scissors.

Here is a visual of what we did:

Fold each sheet in half to form a triangle.

Fold each triangle in half again to form a smaller triangle.

Cut three lines in the triangle on the side with two folded edges (you cna see the pencil lines in the photo as a guide).

Open up the paper.

Tape two edges together, alternating the paper back and forth.

Eventually it will look like this! Don't worry about being too precise with any of this. Asher did it unaided and slightly wonky, and it was just fine.

To make a snowflake, attach six of these together in the centre (we found using a brad through hole-punched holes easiest) and find someplace to hang them up! 

We had a few singles left over, and they looked quite nice on their own, too:

 

 

 

Hidden Word Number Thirteen

This week's HIdden Word is:

O SON OF SPIRIT!

I have created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.

~Baha'u'llah

Discussion:

Remember our gold coins. How has God made us rich? How do we make ourselves poor?

What sort of nobility is inside of us? In what ways do we deny this nobility?

What are good sources of knowledge? Think about the difference between seeking truth and doubt.

God created us to become spiritual beings. The world is a gift so that we may learn from it and experience it fully. What do we lose by becoming distracted by it and lost in it, knowing it only for its own sake instead of looking at it as a way to learn?

Activity:

Use modeling clay (or beeswax) to create something representing what we love very much. Can you see the mark of your fingers in it? Does it reflect your care and love?

We used a polymer clay based on this recipe. It is a less toxic version of fimo that air dries hard and paintable. I adjusted the recipe as follows:

Polymer Clay

1 large bottle of white glue (7oz or roughly 3/4C)

1 C cornstarch

2 TBS mineral oil

juice of 1 lemon

Combine all ingredients in a small pot. This takes some stirring!

Over medium heat, stir continually until the mixture thickens.

Turn it our and knead it while still hot. If it is too sticky, add more cornstarch. I found it helped if I coated my hands with oil.

Keep the clay sealed until ready for use. It took about 2 days to fully air dry. I should also note that this has a rubbery texture, which means it is not as much like plastecine as I had imagined. It does better with larger, more organic shapes than highly detailed sculptures. The children all enjoyed working with it, though.