Epic Failure

 

      Epic failure. As a parent, we all have moments (weeks) where we feel we are complete failures at the work we have done.  We realize that despite our best efforts, there's just no progress, even resistance or regression. Six years of reading together, snuggling on couches, beds, under trees and in our rocking chair; for nothing.  Reading classes?  A waste of money.  Preschool that taught one letter a week for 26 consecutive weeks?  Useless.  My kid hates reading... and math too.
     It was his last activity in a "Fun Summer Packet"!  Only Liam didn't really think the activities were that fun. Maybe because they were photocopied instead of in color, maybe because he was just plain lazy or perhaps because this infringed on his plans for summer (TV, DS, swinging and playing Star Wars with his friends).  The last activity asked, "Are you ready to go back to school?" And this was Liam's response. Apparently no, he was not ready to return to school in September... or anytime for that matter!
     Not liking reading had spread earlier in the summer like an unchecked disease in my household.  Joshua used to read books on his own (looking at pictures, talking about characters and recalling parts of the book) but when Liam exclaimed his distaste for reading, Joshua couldn't help but follow along.  "I don't know how to read!" was the reply I would get from Joshua whenever I put a book in his lap or suggested he do the same.
     I thought maybe Liam was just sick and tired of reading out loud and maybe he was frustrated by books that were just too difficult.  So, being a teacher, a filled a small bin with books and looked up their reading levels (I like to use http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/).  I suggested that the children spend time each day reading silently.  Maybe reading silently would be less work.  But no, not really.  Even this didn't seem to work and was done with a begrudging attitude by both boys. Yet on a positive note, Liam did read Green Eggs and Ham about 20 times this summer along with a few other books from the Fly Guy series.
      At the end of the summer, I couldn't help but perseverate on all we had done for Liam's entire life as a reader.  From those first sentimental books that we wanted to read to a baby who just wanted to hear our voice, like Love You Forever and The Polar Express, to lifting up flaps in Susan Katz's "Where is Baby's Mommy?" and giggling at Sandra Boynton's books as we clapped to "Barnyard Dance"!  I couldnt' help but think about Liam begging me each night to keep reading as I read aloud Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and how he did the same when Bill read my old childhood copies of The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe series out loud. I thought of all our laughter reading "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" and shouting "NO"!  Or the giggling at the absurdity of Robert Munsch's books like "Pigs!" I mean, who wouldn't laugh at seeing a pig peeing on the principal's shoe? Hours of choosing PBS shows encouraging reading, like Word Girl and Super Why... not important.  I thought of library story hours with him shouting out answers that the librarian was asking.  I thought of the bookshelves, jammed with books like old friends and with stacks of freshly read books on top of each bookshelf that they liked to have read and reread to them for weeks straight.  I thought of the little bin of books in the living room.
     Was it really true that Liam didn't like to read?  Was all of this a wasted enterprise?  I couldn't help but be a concerned parent.  In the end, with the advice of a good teacher friend, I had Liam erase his negative answer.  I explained that it was not a good way to start the year, that it would make a bad first impression.  We talked about what he did like in school, science experiments!  And then I asked him, "Liam do you like being read to?" and he smiled at me, I already knew the answer.
     Liam might not like reading on his own, but he does love reading with his mommy, daddy and yes, even his teacher.  All these years of work has shown him that reading is a shared experience, done on the couch, in our favorite rocking chair or on a big circle rug in his classroom.  Someday I know he will be sneaking Captain Underpants or Geronimo Stilton books under the covers at night and begging me for the new hardcover by his favorite author.  Someday I'll share Artemis Fowl with him.  Someday when his teacher reads aloud Hugo, I know he'll raise his hand (yeah, right!) and shout out "I've read that book with my mom!" So for now I guess I just don't have time to worry about whether or not he likes reading, because regardless of what he writes at the end of a fun summer of doing worksheets, watching TV, playing his DS, swinging and playing Star Wars with friends; I know that my favorite part of the summer was introducing him to Harry Potter.

Not Keeping Score

     It's the last day of summer and the world is our oyster. The boys have just gotten back from a week's stay with my mother.  During this past week I've worked almost-non-stop in my classroom because my earlier attempts to get work done with both children in the room resulted in blueberries crushed in the carpet and a sea of marbles rolling around under all the bookcases and desks.  At any rate, we've had our summer camping trips, a day at the zoo, play dates, museums, family picnics, summer blow-out BBQ party, science classes, swim lessons, lazy pool days, lazy backyard days, lazy television days, etc...  So what was left on the to-do list?
     Well, first it was haircuts because the children hadn't been snipped since June and they were looking like mangy dogs (cute mangy dogs, but still).  After their trims, we ambled over to the pet store to look at ferrets.  It was still early and the boys insisted on mini-golf as an end-of-summer activity.  I used my BOGO admission coupon and we were on our way with golf clubs in hand.  I even avoided the bounce houses, bumper boats, playland, super slide, rock climbing wall, batting cage and go-carts all of which cost an extra $4-6. 
     We grabbed our clubs and balls and headed over to the first hole, which is when I realized I hadn't grabbed a score card.  Why keep score anyway?  I'm not sure who the winner would be between Joshua, Liam and I.  At any rate, without keeping score we weren't bothered when Joshua picked up his ball after the first swing and plopped it into the hole.  Nor did it matter when Liam decided to just throw his ball into the alligator's mouth so it could roll directly into the hole.  We giggled when we knocked the ball into the stream and could care less when it rolled back to the tee.

     The boys played on a pirate ship and tried to figure out which track led to the hole. They ran under the sprinklers giggling and we all had a blast... until Joshua tripped on an average sidewalk and his knee began gushing blood.  We threw the balls into the final pirate ship and headed to the bathroom. It seemed there were no paper towels in the bathroom, only driers and toilet paper wasn't going to cut it.  I carried a pitiful, whimpering Joshua back to the car.
     Then I saw the diaper bag and figured, why not?  I poured water onto an opened up Pull-Up and put pressure on his wound.  Okay, so the blood slowed down its gushing but how long would we be staying there waiting with him sitting on the hood of my car and Liam standing in the parking lot?  I didn't think it would be a good idea for me to drive one handed, with the other hand keeping pressure on his knee...  what to do?
     And that's what brothers are for.  We scooted Liam's booster seat into the middle, next to Joshua's and buckled them both in.  I positioned the diaper back over Joshy's knee and Liam placed his small hand down on top of it.  And that's how we drove home.
    "I think that was my favorite time we've ever gone mini-golfing," I called back to Liam.
     Liam said "What?  That wasn't good at all!" 
     "Right," I said, "it was my favorite time mini-golfing until Joshua fell and hurt his knee."
     And we didn't talk about who won and who lost on the way home.  Instead we giggled about how far off the green we shot and how we never found Liam's ball that rolled into that pipe...  and as we pulled onto the highway, and I looked back in the rear view mirror to see Liam next to his little brother, holding on his make-shift silly bandage it made me realize how much we had all won this morning (despite a scrape on the knee)... even though we didn't keep score.

 

Metamorphosis and other big science words

     I am never a fan of those very nicely polished projects that end up looking perfect. I am skeptical of clean cuts and coloring within the lines.  On Pinterest it seems that every child's craft looks as though Martha Stewart herself contributed to the final project.  It seems as though the photo was taken by a camera I couldn't possibly afford.
     I prefer projects that look as though they were completed by a child, and not a particularly talented child at that.  Unfortunately this usually results in glue stuck to my table and tiny slivers of paper scattered on my carpet.  Sometimes we come up with a recycled robot man and other times the result is a bit more, shall we say, abstract?
     This project is not just cute and pretty, but it also has many phases, which is good for a long day at home (Oops!  Too late, summer is over!) and it is a science lesson too. The teacher in me is just giddy with excitement.
     We started this project at a free butterfly museum hosted at a local school, but you can easily make caterpillars at home.  All you need is a big Popsicle stick, some pom poms, pipe cleaners and googly eyes.  You can use an egg carton instead of a Popsicle stick. After you have made your very easy and cute caterpillars, take them on a walk around the garden outside (or under your dining room table if you haven't swept up yet from breakfast) to give your caterpillars something to grow on.  Of course, you can also read Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  It's an oldie but also a goodie.  Predictable but perfect.  Your very hungry caterpillars can eat the leaves in your garden, the leaves on the trees, the grass and also some junk just like the green friend in Eric Carle's book.


     The next step is to wrap up your caterpillar.  I used plastic grocery bags.  We put the caterpillars in, rolled them up and hung them from the ceiling just like chrysalises.  I cannot tell you how easy this was.  It was very easy.

     Then it was outside we went with some everyday *unused* tissues and watercolors.  Actually you can just water down some paint if you'd like.  You can use paintbrushes or if you have any water droppers handy, they do very well too.  Give the kids as many tissues as they would like and let them be creative.  Then leave them to dry and go check on the chrysalises (still not sure if that is a word).  This is when your children should take a three hour nap and leave you to watch the new episode of Burn Notice.
     It is time for you to be sneaky (while your children are sound asleep).  Creep back to the chrysalises and open them up.  Attach two butterfly wings for each butterfly.  I used tape because I am not Martha Stewart and this is a kids project we are going to throw out pretty soon anyway for goodness sake.  I think I even used masking tape because that's all I found, but I'd suggest clear Magic Scotch tape if you want to make it look a tad better.  You can attach the wings while they are still slightly damp but if they have fully dried by the time your Burn Notice episode is over, you might want to dab some water on the wings before wrapping them back up into the chrysalis.  This is because butterflies break out of their chrysalises with wet wings, so we might as well be authentic! Wrap the butterflies back up.  Did I mention you should have remembered whose butterfly was in which bag, hanging from which hook?  Oops.  You really should've done that.  If you hang the butterflies in the wrong spot, you could lose your cover since in nature, chrysalises don't tend to move around once they've attached.

Joshy's butterfly in his chrysalis, before being all wrapped up again by his sneaky mother.

     Now chances are your children have been bugging you all day about when the butterflies will be ready.  Much like a car ride barrage of "Are we there yet?" makes you just want to stop the car at the closest McDonald's Playland, you will likely be ready to get those damn butterflies out of their chrysalises and get the whole project over with!  So creep quietly back to the chrysalises (still hanging in the right spots).  "Help" your butterflies by unwrapping them carefully.  Lay them out flat and make ooing and awing noises.  Talk about why they are wet (look it up, you don't expect me to know, do you?).



Did I forget to mention that the boys like to wear ties?

    At this stage in life, a butterfly needs to dry off its wings before it can fly and seek out nectar to drink.  We brought our new friends outside to dry on the sidewalk and then we helped them flutter around our butterfly garden in front of our house.  In this case, it does help if you have bushes that are flowering. We have an appropriately named "butterfly bush", russian sage and also black eyed susans, all of which are favorites of butterflies at our house.  You can have about 7 minutes of fun with the butterflies fluttering around the flowers until someone's butterfly wing gets ripped and/or until one of the butterflies violently starts attacking your flowers with unbridled enthusiasm.  I've heard that if you have girls, they will be happy for about 10 minutes fluttering their butterflies around without causing harm to wings or flowers.

     So as you can see, this is a simple, fun and educational project to do with your children on a sunny day.  It helps if you use words like "metamorphosis" and "chrysalis" and even "pupa".  It helps if you refer to the caterpillar's "life stages" and/or "life cycle" and it's also a great opportunity to make connections to other creatures' life cycles and metamorphosis like dragon flies and frogs.  If your butterflies survived the fluttering around in the garden, you can even hang them for display in your home.  And once your children have learned more about butterflies, they will be more appreciative of these delicate and beautiful creatures in our world.  Joshy loves to chase them laughing hysterically, scaring them out of their wits, whereas Liam prefers to lure them onto his fingers with fruit juice or rotten fruit.  All in all, it's projects like these... done by actual real children... that make a sunny summer day one to remember with a smile.