American Girl

Since buying their Just Like You dolls, Campster and Sher Bear have been very excited about all things American Girl.  When we were in Chicago, a Facebook friend mentioned the American Girl store there.  While we didn’t have a chance to get to the store while in Chicago, I did see that there was also a Boston store.

I made a reservation online for the American Girl Bistro.  And this afternoon, after Aquarium School, we headed over to the store in Natick, just outside of Boston.  The girls had been saving their money, and planning their purchases for weeks. 

Well it was worth the wait.  The girls were in heaven.  And, surprisingly, even Jor Man found the place delightful.  There were two levels of dolls, books, clothes and accessories.  So much to look at.  Much addition and subtraction was done.  “If I bought this, could I still buy this?” 

We came in time for tea, but the tea menu (though lovely) was not accommodating to my new gluten-free diet.  So we ate dinner.  Dinner was $16.95 per person for all but Sher Bear, who was able to eat from the $9.95 4-year-old and under menu.  Yes, it was expensive.  And the portions were mostly doll-sized!  But the smiles on the kids’ faces were worth every penny. 

The dolls were able to join us at the table thanks to special doll seats that attached to the table itself.  The waitress brought out little chocolate chip muffins for the dolls to share with the girls.  Everyone who works there was very warm, friendly and willing to listen to my kids’ endless stories with enthusiasm. 

I enjoyed the décor.  Little details like doll hangers in the bathroom stalls made me chuckle.  It was a little girl's dream come true.

I snuck and bought each girl’s doll a new t-shirt with American Girl Boston on it.  I hope they will have the dolls for years to come, and will remember our trips to Boston when they see the shirts in the future. 

We have watched several of the American Girl Movies - and they are a great jumping off point for discussions of history.  I am hoping that when Campster is able to read chapter books, she will enjoy reading their books.  I think their historical fiction is, while not great literature, a fine start for historical study that may ignite an interest in the child that can then be followed up with other books.  I do not care, however, for their other books which are more "how to" books - as I find them to be too modern and self-indulgent.

Sher Bear bought a hair care kit for her doll, and can't wait to try it tomorrow.  Campster bought roller skates for her doll, and slippers for herself.  The doll sized puppy that she had intended to buy was sold out.  We had an opportunity to discuss how we handle such disappointments.  

But my very favorite moment of the visit was when Jor Man pulled me aside.  “Mom,” he said, “I want to spend some of my money to buy  hairstyling for the girls’ dolls.  Do you think that is a wise way to spend my money?”

“I think it is a kind way to spend it.”  I said.    So Jor Man went and told the girls that he would pay for each of them to have their dolls’ hair done.  Many hugs were exchanged.  And the decision-making began.  What color ribbons?  Which hair-do?  They have a whole section of the store for hair styling.  Little barber chairs line the counter, with mirrors overhead to give a full view of the styling process.  The girls were quite pleased with the results, and with their brother.

Wish you were here!

The Edison

I'd like you to meet the Edison - that's what we call it.  I can't remember how old I was when we got the Edison from my father's cousin Jamie, but it has been in the family all along.  Its technical name is a cylinder phonograph.  It plays wax cylinder "records" specially made for it by Edison's Blue Amberol Record company.  


The Edison lives at my mother's condo now.  On our recent trip to Chicago, I showed my kids how it works.  Yes, it still works very well.  It is operated by a hand crank on the right side of the cabinet.  It uses no electricity.


My mother had the cabinet for the cylinders specially made.  My favorites are "Waiting on the Robert E. Lee" and "Harmony Bay".

Antiques are a great way to share family history, and ignite kids' interests in a subject.  Jor Man got very excited when I pointed out that Thomas Edison's company made it.  Campster wanted to know if Thomas Edison's germs were on it?  (LOL!)  Sher Bear just danced around to the music.

Being as old as I am (chuckle) I remember old 78 LPs.  Then 45s and 33 1/3s.  It must have been quite a leap to go from cylinders to disks.

When we were dating, Big Dad still had his 8-track player.  I used to record my favorite songs off of WLS radio onto cassette tapes.  And then CDs came along, and now mp3 players.  That's a lot of change in just my lifetime.  Imagine before Edison, people could only listen to music if it was live.

That's real history - how it affects people in their every day lives.  Share with your kids the changes that have happened in technology since you were young.  What was it like for your parents growing up?  Can your kids think of questions to ask their grandparents about how things have changed since they were young?

And what can your kids invent to change the future?

Wish you were here!

Reentry

The day after vacation is usually a mixed bag.  Kids who are cranky and jet-lagged, too much laundry, and no food in the house is not a good combination.  On the other hand, we left the snow in Chicago and came home to grass and spring bulbs in bloom.

These are the days when I find unschooling most challenging.  There's something in me that wants to set a schedule, expect some "progress", insist on something "getting done".  Instead of following that impulse, however, I took advantage of the warmish day and the moist soil and went outside to begin weeding the very overgrown flower beds in front of the house.  The big kids had gone out earlier to play, so I told Sher Bear that we would head out to do some weeding.

Imagine my surprise when I found Campster, hard at work in the flower beds, weeding all by herself.  I actually asked her what she was doing.  (Duh!)  "Oh, Mom," she said with that sly smile of hers, "I want to help the flowers grow so that the butterflies would come back sooner."  She had made quite a nice dent in the weeds.  I bent down and hugged her, looking right into her eyes, and told her that it blessed me that she was weeding.  "Without being asked!" She added.

Jor Man joined us for some weeding as well.  But soon the lure of the "fort" he had built at the bottom of the fir trees was too much, and he was reenacting some Indiana Jones adventure.  The girls and I found a purple beetle (as yet to be identified) that Campster caught and put in one of her many jars.

We worked while it sprinkled lightly, until it really came down.  We finally went in, drenched head to foot.  Jor Man took a shower in one bathroom, while the girls and I had a bath in the "big tub".  Then everyone put on their pjs and sat down for lunch at 1:30.    Gotta love homeschool.

Wish you were here!

Chicago – Things I want to do differently next time

In the interest of continual process improvement, here are some things I want to differently for my next trip.

• I will set up times to meet with friends and family before leaving for the trip.  For whatever reason, I wasn't into planning this trip much.  I thought I could do it on the fly while I was there, and it just didn’t work out that way.  We got to see lots of fun people, but not everyone I wanted to see.

• I will ask family to secure passes to the museums I want to go to through their public library.  Turns out, lots of museums have FREE passes that you can check out with a local library card.  If I had asked my sister-in-law ahead of time to look into getting passes to the Shedd Aquarium for us, we could have saved $70 or so.  As it was, I showed them my HSLDA card to prove I was a homeschooler and got my ticket for free.  

• I will schedule in alternating days of going out and seeing people and places, and staying “home” at Grandma’s and having a lazy day.  Too many days out and about wear us all out. 

• I will look into the price of parking at the departure airport, and figure that in when I am comparing fares.  If you only have one airport available, that doesn’t apply, but usually there are several airports within a couple hours drive.  It can make a big difference in the airfare.  I use www.sidestep.com to compare the airfares from several airports and airlines at once.

• I will consider flying on Southwest because they don't charge for bags (what a hassle).   We managed to pack everything in carry-ons, but my lovely sister-in-law gave me hand-me-downs (happy!!) and I had to ship them home because there was no more room in the carry-ons.

It is nice to be home.  The animals all did fine with our wonderful pet-sitter, and the house looks - well, like it did when we left!  LOL!  Tomorrow, Sher Bear has promised to help me clean so we can make our house "pretty like Grandma's"!

Wish you were here!

Count on it

Yesterday, while I was driving with the kids to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Campster said, "Do you want to hear me count to a hundred?"  And she proceeded to count.

I guess it's not amazing that a 7-year-old would be able to count to one hundred.  But here's what struck me as wonderful - I didn't teach her it.  I actually have no idea how she learned it!

Last year, when we did our lists, Campster wanted to learn how to read, how to tell time, how to count money, and how to count to 100.  I got her some workbooks, since she enjoys learning that way, and she has done some work in them.  But most of her learning happened just from noticing people around her using numbers.  She will ask questions like, "how many more minutes until so-and-so gets here?"

Numbers are all around us, and kids are fascinated by them.  Sher-Bear likes to push the buttons in the elevator.  The higher the floor, the more numbers to learn.

Setting the table shows one-to-one correspondence.  "How many people are in our family?  How many plates do we need?  How many cups?  How many forks?"  My brother plays a variation on this with his family.   "How many ears are in the room?  How many eyes?  How many fingers?"

Money is a natural way for kids to learn about place value.  Pennies, dimes and dollars show units, tens and hundreds.  While we were at the Shedd Aquarium gift shop, each kid had their money and wanted to know, "Can I afford this?"  Rather than give them the answer, I showed them how to figure it out for themselves.  Jor Man practices multiplication in figuring out how many weeks it will take him to save up for something.

Wish you were here!

Gone Bowling

My mom throws the best birthday parties.  We are in Chicago visiting family for her birthday.  She rented out a 4 lane bowling alley in a church basement (really!) for the afternoon.  We had intergenerational bowling, Grandma, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  So fun!

I had taken the Jor Man bowling when he was younger, but he barely remembers it.  And the girls had never bowled in person before - Wii bowling doesn't count.  

I noticed that in addition to being a Physical Education experience, bowling also was about math and physics.

But how does bowling help us learn math?  Thought you'd never ask!

1.  For Sher-Bear, simple number recognition of the numbers 1 to 4 which identified the lanes

2.  For Campster, counting the pins left after bowling

3.  For Jor Man, scoring of the game, which includes, addition and multiplication

Bowling also introduces physics in terms of force (if you don't throw the ball hard enough, it won't knock over the pins), gravity (you need to release the ball near the ground, or else it goes down more than forward), momentum (the ball goes farther if I move toward the lane as I release the ball, as opposed to standing still and releasing it), and friction (the lane is shiny because it is slick to help the ball roll faster).

We learned to take turns, and to stay out of the way when someone else is taking their turn.  We encouraged each other, cheered each other's victories and helped each other to improve.

Wish you were here!