The Zoo in Winter

Last weekend we bought our first ever Milwaukee County Zoo Pass. We got the impression from previous random visits (hadn't been there in about four years) that the zoo was well-designed for winter as well as summer visits. We were not disappointed. Really the only downside aside from, yes it was rather chilly (about 20 degrees out), was that the signs in the outdoor viewing areas were caked with snow. We didn't know the details of what we were looking at.

But it was still pleasant to walk around and see animals like these...



...even if we didn't know *exactly* what they were called or where they were from. I could picture these as being from some place like Mongolia.

The swans were breathtaking and the ducks and geese seemed in limitless supply.



This guy cracked us up. Is this how all the herbivores became extinct?



The indoor viewing areas were fabulous. We visited the primate house (where, believe it or not, there was a bridal show going on!), the big cats house and the aviary. Incredible!!!

A penguin on timeout?



A thoughtful gorilla?



Checking out the cheetahs...



Everyone's favorite lion...

Homeschooling with a Four Year Old during Winter

~ a post for a dear friend who asked :) ~

I feel a little reluctant answering this question right now just because there is the definite risk of making it sound like we've figured out how to run things really smoothly with a four year old in the midst of homeschooling. That wouldn't be an accurate summary. Each day is new and requires creativity and a lot of patience and I feel like I've got a long way to go.

Nevertheless, I do have some ideas that have been helpful for us over time and I can share those here. This is somewhat ironic, because an idea-refresher will probably be helpful to me right now!

1. Some four year olds need more time than others. My current four year old (who will be five on Saturday!) is definitely one of those. The more time I take with him, especially reading picture books or general "floor time" (link courtesy of Willa, from whom I first heard the term) the better. This is probably exactly what I need more time on at the moment, but I've been working on the picture book reading time lately and it's been helping some. Anyway, when he's had this sort of time with me, he tends to be more contented at other points of the day.

2. Think Montessori. Not so much as in all the Montessori materials, but some general concepts. First is not doing everything for them, but allowing them to do as much as they can (within reason) themselves. This "Love2learn Moment" of mine includes a wonderful quote by Maria Montessori on the concept. The second is giving them work to make them happy. Here are some examples from our own Frank when he was a newer four year old. Unfortunately he doesn't always distract himself from temper tantrums so easily.

3. Stay Home a Lot. This Autumn was difficult for Frank, I think largely because we were running around too much. Winter is looking a little calmer and I'm working on not getting so over-booked in the future.

4. Parades any time at all. Here's one old, old post about it. Our favorite "parade" CDs are the Lyrical Life Science and Lyrical Earth Science CDs. I should probably also pull out some of the Wee Sing CDs that have been rather neglected of late.

5. Limiting screen time. Nothing seems to wig out our four year old (in particular) than too much time spent in front of the computer. Movies aren't as bad, but the idea does apply to a certain extent. If we've been over-doing it in these areas for awhile, there are sometimes a few slightly ugly days of withdrawal (reduction, not cold turkey) and then things are happier.

6. Frank, in particular, loves puzzles (including some computer puzzles that I don't mind him doing - like the "drag a state" game here which he's quite good at). He loves any sort of memory game (which the other kids love too as long as it's not the Spiderman one - we have a lovely world landmarks memory game called Heritage that everyone can play together) and he loves workbooks if I can keep up with him in that regard (he cruises through anything right at his level and gets frustrated with anything above).

I think there are more things somewhere in the back of my head, but this was all I could pull out at the moment. :)

Geography addendum for Margaret (because links are much easier here than in the comments):

A good U.S. map puzzle has always been the fun beginning of geography for our littles. Frank has already mastered this one. I sit down with one or more of them and hand out states, naming them as I hand them out. They each try to put them back in the right place. That's usually the beginning point, but it has all sorts of crazy manifestations. This is definitely a picture of some of our floor time.

Online geography games have been favorites around here for years. I have a pretty good collection of links at this very old (2005!) post about preparing for the Geography Bee (it's probably my most googled post ever):

National Geography Bee Prep

We also have loads of geography board games - most picked up from rummage sales and many which innocently teach some completely out-dated facts. :)

Dog and Girl on a Snowy Christmas Eve

DSC_1565, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

Kate had a great time with Charlotte in the snow. One of Charlotte's very favorite things is to try to catch snowballs with her mouth.

Thankful Mondays: Cold Weather Edition

DSC_1451, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

Today I'm feeling grateful for:

New back tires on the van.

Anti-lock brakes.

Thinsulate.

Scarves and hats and gloves.

Hot tea and hot cocoa.

Four-kid-powered snow shoveling (with some help from the adults too).

House insulation and central heat.

The Department of Public Works.

Weather's been alternating here between zeroish with heavy winds and quite a bit warmer (20s and 30s) with snow. We're expecting snow to fall starting tomorrow morning at 5 am and not stop until sometime the night of Christmas Eve. Ah, arouind here we're not *dreaming* of a white Christmas!

Footprint in the Snow

Footprint in the Snow
Originally uploaded by Chez VH

Yes, we're still getting a bit more snow here. Perhaps we'll hit the record all-time snow fall this winter. Only 14 inches to go (ugh!).

If you observe carefully, you'll notice that Kate decided to try out bare feet in the snow for some reason (and was promptly sent inside, though Mommy quickly grabbed the camera to capture this moment anyway). You may also notice that the weather is really hard on deck stain. It looks like there's more deck without paint than with, even though we stained the entire thing only two years ago.

The 110 Year Winter

No, not a long winter, that's the snowfall record we broke with the Good Friday Snowfall. Milwaukee has had more than 95 inches of snow this winter, making it the second snowiest Milwaukee winter on record (breaking the record of 94.2 inches set in the winter of 1897-1898 - I couldn't find snowfall records more local than that, but close enough).

More locally, we were hit with about 15 inches of very heavy, very wet snow yesterday. The picture I posted yesterday was only the beginning of the snowfall. Here's what it looks like out there this morning (after quite a bit of shoveling John did just this morning).

I have to admit that I've never in my life dreamed of having a White Easter, but we're already doing some scheming to have a little fun with Eastery snow decorations. Stay tuned. :)

Sweeeeet!!!!

IMG_2047
Originally uploaded by Chez VH

You know how there are lots of things that you dream of perhaps doing someday, but never really think you'll do? (Well, at least there are many things I dream of doing that I don't/can't do. But perhaps you do lots of sewing and baking and cool crafts with your kids and things like that.) Ha! One of those actually happened today. A few days ago, Terri (age 10) and I were talking about maple syrup. For some reason, I remembered that it was about the right time of year to tap the trees. After that Terri took over. She heard her grandparents used to tap their maple trees and gave them a phone call. Sure enough, they had some real taps around, and pretty soon we had three taps in our very large tree with milk jugs poised to collect the sap.

We collected a few little batches over the last few days and had our first finger-licking taste of maple syrup last night. So today we were amazed to find nearly a gallon of sap waiting for us when we returned from our afternoon activities. Here's the picture (complete with messy counter) to prove it. :)

It doesn't look like much in our enormous spaghetti pot, but this is now simmering on the stove and will theoretically make about a quart of maple syrup. UPDATE: Um, scratch that, it's a ratio of 40:1, not 4:1.

Now if only I can find my copy of Miracles on Maple Hill so I can read it aloud to the kids. :) If I can't make it that far, I can at least pull Little House in the Big Woods (from which my entire body of knowledge regarding maple syrupping comes from) out to read.

Beating the Winter Blues

Now this is an idea I have to plan each year on the Monday after Daylight Savings Time begins. Probably another one in the coldest most-blah part of winter would be a good idea too.

Yesterday we took a break from school and had another family over. We had a picnicky potluck (somewhat limited by all of our Lenten observances, but VERY nice all the same), watched Ben Hur (the littles watched something else and played in the another room) and enjoyed lots of laughter and each other's company.

And if you happened to be in our area and saw two moms and a bunch of kids jumping up and down on the deck outside at one point (and laughing and high-fiving each other), there really is a very sensible and refined reason for it all. You see, we went outside to enjoy a little sun (the very, ahem, moderate temperature of 32 degrees, combined with sun and shelter on the south side of the house was awfully nice, even in stocking feet) and somehow discovered that when we stomped or jumped on the deck, the icicles under the deck broke off and crashed to the ground with a very satisfying glass-breaking sort of noise.

The silliest part, really, is that I didn't plan this in relation to Daylight Savings Time at all (Daylight Savings Time didn't enter my head at all until I saw Danielle Bean's reminder on Sunday Morning), but it was really a perfect day for such a get-together.

Thankfulness Thursday

Sometimes we need these more in March than November. Yes, the snow and the cold are getting just a little old. These pictures were taken yesterday along the path from the back door to the driveway. The railing is on the deck - it's hard to believe there are three steps down at that spot. We kind of gave up clearing the back path for awhile and focused on keeping the driveway clear. John still uses this path every morning - those footprints have gotten a lot of use!

So, here's what I'm thankful for this week...

Sore throat "lollipops". These are easy for little guys to handle (with much less risk of choking than a cough drop!).

Kleenex with Aloe

Thumbnails! I cut my thumb this week and just had to have it taped, but it was clearly my thumbnail that saved me from a much more severe cut.

My mother-in-law's sweet little car I got to use part of the time while she went away for a good chunk of the winter. Parking lots are suddenly a breeze!

Cheap cellphones. Got mine at Target for $20 (+ pay by the minute).

Snowplows.

Sunny days that help clear sidewalk, windshield and roof even when it's bitterly cold.

DVD players - especially when the kids are sick.

Ignatius Press Lenten Sale.

Getting a fun project to work on to beat the late-winter blahs. The kids and I are currently doing an architecture unit study in order to write one up for the summer issue of Heart-and-Mind. (and for a local library that had plenty of material to supplement!)

Too Warm to Blog

It got up to about 48 degrees today - SO beautiful and nice that we had to air out the house and spend some time outside. Happiness!

Got the Winter Blues?

You need to visit By Sun and Candlelight's Field Day: Late Winter Edition!

By the way, sorry for the sparse blogging. I've been putting a lot of effort into Love2learn Blog and Unity of Truth as of late.

Late Winter Field Day - Coming Soon

Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight is accepting submissions for the Late Winter "Field Day" on February 16th. Check out the details here.

By the way, she shares a link for the Great Backyard Bird Count - which sounds like a lot of fun. I think we're going to give it a try.

More Winter Fun - Virtual Snowflakes

On this very cold morning, we're enjoying this virtual snowflake-making site.

Hat-tip Ana Braga-Henebry

The Beauty of Winter: Frosted Windows

Window Frost - Frosty Palms
Originally uploaded by maritimelight.

This is a beautiful image of a frosted window that I found on flickr. There are a bunch more here. Aren't they beautiful?

I first heard about sparkling frosty windows in winter when I first read Little House in the Big Woods as a child, growing up in California's Silicon Valley. Definitely no personal experience with this icy wonder, but Laura's vivid descriptions captured my attention and my imagination.

The snow kept coming till it was drifted and banked against the house. In the mornings the window panes were covered with frost in beautiful pictures of trees and flowers and fairies.

Ma said that Jack Frost came in the night and made the pictures, while everyone was asleep. Laura thought that Jack Frost was a little man all snowy white, wearing a glittering white pointed cap and soft white knee-boots made of deer-skin. His coat was white and his mittens were white, and he did not carry a gun on his back, but in his hands he had shining sharp tools with which he carved the pictures.

Laura and Mary were allowed to take Ma's thimble and make pretty patterns of circles in the frost on the glass. But they never spoiled the pictures that Jack Frost had made in the night.

It wasn't until I was an adult with three kids (one still in utero) that I experienced these winter wonders first-hand. We moved into an un-insulated 1890s farmhouse with only one heat-vent upstairs (and single-pane windows with somewhat flimsy storm windows). The house had its share of challenges and LOTS of do-it-yourself home project, but we had the most beautiful frosted windows - particularly on the very coldest of days.


In The Mitchells: Five for Victory by Hilda Van Stockum, the children experience beautiful frosted windows for the first time on Christmas when the heat goes out:

Mother went upstairs again and almost collided with Patsy, who came tearing down the steps in all manner of excitement.

"There are pictures on our windows!" she cried. "Real Christmas pictures, all white and sparkly. Come and look, Mother!" Mother went up obediently, and was greeted by Una and Joan with "Merry Christmas" hugs and shown the windows, on which the night's frost had painted delicate ferns and flowers.

"We used to see those often when I was a girl," she said. "I used to lie awake and watch the moon shining through them. But the hot waterpipes have chased them. Our furnace isn't working today."

"Oh, isn't it lovely?" cried the girls. "Such a surprise for Christmas!"

We really enjoyed these little connections with real life. Now we live in a more modern, well-insulated (1970s) house with double-paned windows, but my older kids are rather proud that some day they'll be able to tell their children and grand-children that "When we were kids..." :)

Related (and loosely-related) Links:

CalTech's "Guide to Frost"

An Ice Crystals Photo Gallery

Ice Crystal Experiments from the Exploratorium

Snow Crystal Photography

Science Photography

By the way, if you're interested in ice crystals, check out The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty by Kenneth Libbrecht, with snow-crystal photography by Patricia Rasmussen. It's a rather hefty picture book (112 pages), filled with amazing photographs of snowflakes and a detailed (but quite readable) text that explains the science of snow.

For Margaret... Bad Sink Night, Good Sink Day

Somewhat belatedly...



















Thanks - I needed the inspiration. Even managed to wash the valance - boy was it dirty!!!

Of course if I had done the good pic at night and the bad pic during the day, the mess would have been a little more hidden. :)

There's a nice snowy view out there and a line of our neighbor's pine trees (very pretty with fresh snow on them!).

Snow Nativity Set

I like it!

Snow Day!

Snow Day!,
originally uploaded by Chez VH.

We woke up to about 8 inches of snow this morning - all the local schools are off and Daddy even had to stay home. What fun!

Here's a picture of Bernie and Frank celebrating in the great outdoors (click for a larger image).

Kate and the Little Snow

Kate, whose birthday is in January, and has been eagerly anticipating it for months, woke up this morning and was amazed by the sprinkling of snow on the deck. She eagerly (and with great enthusiasm) announced: "Snow! Today must be my birthday!!!"

Snow! [updated]

I have a new nephew born today!
In other news, we got snow! Sticking to the deck already - unbelievable! We were outside in shorts just two days ago.