the ELLA echo

thankful

 

"because when everyone's together, everyone is happy.

we're thankful that we have so much to share."

moose a. moose and zee

(lyrics by alexis roth)

taking it slow, so we can all enjoy the ride

 

in a bit of shameless self-promotion, i'd like to point out the new button on the left sidebar.  i'm now a member of the sprout for parents band of bloggers!

i know what you're thinking:  ella's not a preschooler.  

you're right, she is a registered first grade homeschooler.

so why did i want to become a blogger for a TV channel that is aimed at preschoolers???

it's because the sprout channel, and by extension the sprout online website, helps reinforce so many of the principles rudi and i embrace as parents.

we believe in ella's innate desire to do good, to be a help to those around her, to contribute to her community--ideals she can see modeled on the sprout channel in the likes of the ever-vigilant fireman sam and sweet, loving caillou.

we trust in her intrinsic motivation and ability to learn from all her experiences, including the dreaded "screen time"--and sprout helps us by offering shows like the whacky zoboomafoo, the entertaining mama mirabelle's home movies, and the truly delightful franny's feet.

but most importantly, we cherish our child's innocence.  i'm not talking about naivete--ella knows that all living things die, that nobody can get everything they want, that not everything will go her way.  no, what i'm talking about are the things that make childhood so special.  we love that she still stands to cheer when thomas the train does the right thing.  we are thrilled when she reminds fifi and the flowertots that "you are never too small to help a friend".  and yes, we really do love that she still believes you can visit another world just by believing you can--after all, that is the exact same message most professional educators deliver about the importance of a good book.

on top of all that, we can turn on the sprout channel at any time of day or night and know that ella will never see a child roll her eyes at someone, never hear a child whip out some snappy dialog to put down someone else, will never be exposed to the notion that being cool means making other people feel bad about themselves.

that's right:  we are sheltering her from the popular culture.  :)  and we're proud of it.  and i'm proud that even though we don't have a "preschooler", sprout for parents has allowed me to be part of the team.  i welcome all the new readers who have clicked thru from the band of bloggers website and i hope some of what i have to offer will prove useful or encouraging for you.

ps:  ok, i'll admit it--i don't love every show on sprout. :D  in ella's very early formative years we conditioned her to believe that barney is a scary, scary monster.  hey, when it comes to her own sanity, a mom has to do what a mom has to do to do.

how we homeschool: yesterday, today, tomorrow

ella knows all the days of the week in order IF she starts with "sunday".  but figuring out where we are in the week if we start with a different day sometimes confuses her.  we can look at the calendar and see exactly what part of the week we are in, but remembering the "location" of the days in relation to each other on any given day can get tricky.

so i made a little gadget to help with that and also to help her with some terminology about time.

to make this, i started with two paper plates (they are cheap at the dollar store--ella chose her favorite color, pink), and trimmed off the fancy edge of one of the plates.  then i drew lines on the plates to divide them into seven sections.  (here's the template*--just center it on any plate and extend the lines).

on the smaller plate i wrote the days of the week in order, one in each section.  on the larger plate i wrote these titles in order, one in each section:

the day before yesterday was

yesterday was

today is

tomorrow will be

the day after tomorrow will be

to make the "today is" section stand out a bit more, i colored it with--what else?--pink highlighter.  the last two sections are left blank.  to finish, i fastened the plates together in the center with a brad.

each day we spin the inner plate so that the day's name is in the "TODAY IS" section.  then we can see at a glance what tomorrow will be, what the day before yesterday was, etc.

so--what do you think should go in the empty spaces on the bigger plate?

*i made the template using the pattern editor in the patternmaster boutique program from wild ginger software.  see--it's not just for clothing anymore.  :)