Renaissance Man Hall of Fame: Thomas Jefferson

Shhhh....
Don't tell my husband but I have a crush on another man.

The man of my dreams not only has  articulate mastery of  English, but he spoke Latin, Greek, Spanish, French and 10 Native American Dialects.  He had college equivalent mastery over the law, physics, mathematics, philosophy, zoology and chemistry.  It was also said that he would sometimes practice the violin 3 hours a day.

He was an plantation owner and grew many plants from all over the world in his famous gardens and designed his famous home Monticello.  He was a business man, inventor and attorney.  He drafted the Declaration of Independence, served as United States Minister to France, Secretary of State, Vice President and President of the United States.  Ahh... what a dream man.

Thomas Jefferson had quite the life, and did many amazing things.  But he was a shy man, the love of his life died at a young age and only 2 out of his 6 children lived into adulthood. What an amazing life this man lead,  so very much to learn about him, but this is only a blog.

Save Your Money Product Review : Dunecraft

My seed bombs...  Well they BOMBED!!!
When I saw the seed bombs in a catalog, I was interested, very interested!  They had my number!  Plants and a new and interesting way to grow them, well sure!!!  I can go for that!  So I got my bombs and looked at the box and set one in a pot with soil and watered it and waited, and waited and waited.  Nothing happened.  Well I am experienced gardener, so I tried to cover it, and waited and waited and waited, and nothing happened.  I tried one outside, and the last one I tried in a bag. Yeah, even after weeeeeeks, nothing is happening. Sigh...  Oh and I just learned that I was supposed to get 6 and I got 4.  The box shows a beautiful product in 5 days, well, not mine.

Well, a few weeks ago, I just so happen to have ordered another product by Dunecraft, a peanut growing kit, yeah, still nothing....

I then remember a cactus growing kit I tried last year and you guessed it......
nothing.

If I was not an experienced gardener, I would really think it was me, but considering my hundreds of starters are hogging up every window and table, I highly doubt I have a black thumb.

So please take my advice and save yourself some money and time, and just buy fresh seeds and soil and pots and don't waist your time and money on this company.  3 strikes and in my book, they are out.

You Had Me At "Amado Mio"

I remember it like it was yesterday, my husband and I were playing pool and drinking beer at the Eastside Pub in downtown Olympia and out of the jukebox China Forbes belted out "Amado Mio" and I fell in love completely!  I had to have Sympathique by Pink Martini!!!  They are an amazing band from Portland Oregon, amazing artistic voices and a amazing orchestra!  Oh it was candy for the ears of this  Renaissance mama! "They are a cohesive blend of Cuban, French, Greek, Japanese, Italian, classical and Brazilian music" perfectly remarked a reviewer on Amazon.

They have produced many more albums, not as romantic as the first one, but having a son, I fell in love with their style.  I loved how they played music spanning many cultures and languages, some I loved, but I admit there is a Japanese song that kinda is out of my range.  They would play many instrumental pieces, jazzy pieces and classic children songs like Que cera, cera.  I even love 2 song off of Splendor in the Grass where there is a female song and a male song in response.  Only one song has made me raise an eyebrow, and that is about a cross dressing DA in Bitty Boppy Betty, but it is cute!

Even though their latest album Dream a little dream is not my favorite, I like the feel of the CD.  This CD has the Von Trapps grandchildren, and not as much of Pink Martini style that I like.  But culturally, I really like the influence of the Von Trapp children for my son.  I like the feel of the songs that come from all over the world, like Ireland, Sweden, Japan, France and Rwanda. 

AND do not worry, all this cultured music, and my husband is sure to round out our son with Pixies, Decemberist, Nirvana and more.  All children need a well rounded musical education!

Renaissance Man Hall of Fame: George Washington Carver

Last week I realized that even though I had heard the name George Washington Carver and heard that he invented the peanut, I had never actually read anything about the life of this man.  But once I did, I discovered a new hero.  I love the kind of people that even though they had to face extreme odds and ugliness, they go on to do amazing things with their lives and for the good of others.  But what is even more amazing about this man, is that he wanted to live a simple life and to contribute to society, but he asked for nothing in return.  He could have lived the life of a rich man, but he lived a practical life, he felt that he should not get rich off of science.

So I honor thee......

George Washington Carver was born to slaves in January of 1864, it was a very turbulant time for slaves, he had lost his father before he was born, he was born weak and sickly, and saddly in the night a group of men kidnapped him and his mother from their owner Moses Carver.  Moses got George back, but they never saw his mother again.  George was raised by Moses and his wife, even after slavery ended, and he was a curious and intelligent little boy.  He loved plants and growing things very much and people called him Doctor Plant, but because he was black he could not go to school where he lived.  He moved away and lived with foster parents so that he could go to school,  he worked and did odd jobs to earn his keep. 

Carver loved art and considered being an artist, he played the piano and loved to sing, but because he did not have parents, it was a long time before he could save enough to go to college.  Finally he earned enough to go to college at 30.  He had to move to Iowa, where there was a college that would accept black students.  He worked his way through college doing other students laundry and odd jobs and finally he graduated from college.  He studied agriculture and set out to help the farmers. He became a proffesor and did  many experiments with peanuts and sweet potatoes.  Carver tried to convince farmers that peanuts and sweet potatoes were a good alternative crop to grow, that cotton was bad for the soil and was damaged easily by weather and insects.  At first farmers did not want to change and they feared that no one would buy it, especially since peanuts were considered monkey food.  Carver did lots of experiments and came up with hundreds of ways to use peanuts and it was said that he served a several course meal to distinguished guest made entirely of peanuts.  Eventually farmers started to listen to Carver and peanuts became a very important crop in Georgia and South Carolina.

Being wealthy was not important to Dr. Carver, he lived a very modest lifestyle, but it was very important to him to help farmers, and his fellow scientist.  I am touched how Dr. Carver came into the world facing many obstacles  like being poor, slavery and being orphaned, but he never let these things destroy his spirit, he worked amazingly hard to follow his dreams and to help other people.  What an amazing story, what an amazing man.  The kind of man I want my children to grow up to be like.  People need hero's and Dr. Carver has definitely become my hero.

Save your money review... Little Passport

Sigh...  Just opened my credit card statement and hmmmm....  $13.95 a month- that is how much I am paying every month for Little Passports.  That's about $167.40 a year and it really hit me. WOW...  am I really getting my monies worth???  I love to try new things and was hooked at the thought of my son running to the mailbox, all excited to get something new.  But...  that excitement maybe lasted 5 minutes. Sigh...

Now please do not get me wrong, I absolutely love and am a very big fan of American Entrepreneurs, Little Passports is a very cute product, but for 13.95 a month for shipping and handling, a piece of paper with facts, a postcard, a little trinket, a sticker flag, country label, and pointer for the map, a little card with your internet access, couldn't I do better with my money?  This price point is just so high!  Like I said, this is $167.40 a year! And being the frugal Renaissance mama I am, I considered the fact that I could not resell any of it on Ebay ;)  So, I reconsidered and decide that for geography and culture, I would go back to the old plan, a much less expensive plan!

So back to the old ways I go....
I was/am using A Trip Around The World, , there is also Another Trip Around the World and A New Trip Around the World.  These books are K through 5, there are 12 countries covered in each book and about $12.00 each new.  They have printable maps, relevant facts on language, culture, food and recipes, printable flags, and a list of recommended books.  I love these books!  So much information and very inexpensive, oh and you can resale them ;)

Instead of a huge map on the wall, may I suggest  a educational jigsaw world puzzle!!!  I LOVE PUZZLES,  LOVE THEM!

Sit with your children the first time and discuss the puzzle, while you put it together (and if you are anything like me you really start saying things like "I did not realize those countries were so close").  Then have them practice on their own, if they enjoy it, and they will build familiarity with the puzzle through time until they an ZOOM through it really fast.  Meaning that if they are zooming, they are remembering and internalizing where countries are.  The beauty of puzzles is that they have to really focus on individual pieces, and I like to time my son, the faster he gets, the more he is learning and he loves to get a little prize (okay, that might sound like a little bribery, but trust me, if he truly did not want to do it, I would never push him)  But in the end, they are learning.

But I realize the "mail thing" is a big draw to kids, children love to get mail!  But maybe get a few magazine subscriptions, like National Geographic or Click.  My son is so excited and reads from cover to cover Boys Life!  But there are so many great publications out there!

A Day as an Artist

Harlequin's Carnival, 1924-25, by Joan Miro

This week we are studying Joan Miro.   Miro was born in Spain in 1893 and moved to Paris later in life to study art.  He was influenced by Picasso and Cubism, and Catalan art, but later became known for being a surrealist..  He was also a sculptor, tapestry design and painted murals.  

At first I really did not care much for his style, and thought since my son loved Picasso, that he would love Miro.  But it worked the other way, my son took no interest and as I practiced painting in Miro's style, I began to really enjoy him!  I especially enjoyed splattering my art, odd huh!

We are just wrapping up our last lesson in our Atelier video based art program level 2.  I have to say I love this program, though maybe a bit spendy.  I love how many ways she approaches art and the different artist that she uses, I love to see on DVD her explain the days lesson, do it, and then we get to watch the children make the project.  She uses many mediums and I really feel she is very creative in her ideas. Personally I love art now, I rarely remember having a lot of art lessons in grade school and something about having to earn grades in high school took all the fun and exploration out.  Plus, me being me, I love to just sit at the table with my son and share in the experience :)  Like I said earlier, it is really a great experience to see what your children's personal choices are in art!

You sunk my battleship!

It's Saturday morning and instead of being seated in front of Saturday morning cartoons, my son is building his very own battleship with his tinker toys!  I just love to sit and drink my coffee and watched him engaged in his play.

It does not bother me one bit that he is trying to destroy the Japanese fleet, I smile with pleasure as he adds one gun after another.  This is a time where I get to just sit and watch  the recent book that we have been reading being internalized.  I can hear the vocabulary and the information he just learned streaming out in his play and I am so very happy and content!  He IS getting it.  I love "play" because it is also a chance for me to see what he loves and it gives me ideas of what direction to go, what kind of books to introduce him to.  With my son, I have found that he loves military history, whenever he reads a book about anything war or military, it will show up in his play.  Some books we read, I never ever hear a peep about.  To me this is not a good sign , because I am a firm believer that THE CHILD should be passionate about what they learn.  And right now we are reading What Was Pearl Harbor.  The "What Was"and  "Who was/is" series is AWESOME!

My son is a 2nd grader though they are rated for 3rd graders.  But they give you the perfect amount of information for a starter book and for the adults who have been out of school for a little while, these are PERFECT!  Quick and easy read with the perfect amount of information.  There are so many books in this series to choose from.  My son just recently read "Who was Davy Crockett" and "What was the Alamo" and for weeks he was running around with coon skin caps and building forts!  I hope that you will enjoy these books as much as we do!

Please join me at "Raising a Renaissance man" on Facebook and like our page.   I would love to meet many families of future Renaissance Men!

Take a Lesson From Your Kid

I don't have much time to write this because I really need to get back to my studying..  My teacher is pretty tough and I have a Minecraft exam later on! WOW! How am I going to remember the Minecraft Table of Elements, mining rare elements, how to make a stone shelter , stove and armor, all about Minecraft animals and their enemies like skeletons, zombies, Endermen and the dreaded Enderdragon!  I am feeling the pressure!  But my son is a pretty darn good teacher!

I love my son and every time he has a new fascination, I get an education!   And honestly, I am not going to lie to you, I love it!

My favorite part of my Minecraft education is to watch my son glow!  It's definitely a bonding moment that we share!  He loves to get to share his passion with me and he relishes the experience of "being the teacher"!  And the hugs and kisses are a definite bonus!

But I wouldn't be a Renaissance Mama if I didn't admit the intellectual processing my son develops is just as important to me.  Its a great opportunity to encourage more reading .  He reads many of his books to me and he stops and discusses the content with me, explaining it to me and asks questions.  When he teaches it helps him to internalize the material.  Studies have proven the best way to learn is to teach the information.  I love that teaching me also encourages him to organize and verbalize his thoughts.

And, what lesson would be complete without tests! Test making requires that he understands the material, can form questions, and I love that it is an opportunity to encourage writing.  So even if your child's latest obsession makes you want to run away with your fingers in your ears and singing "La, la, la, la, lahhhhh" your involvement  in their passions will not only mean the world to them, and develop loving and tender moments, but you will also be helping them to intellectually grow, think and learn.

Think out of the box.

Show your child you value them.

And build loving memories

Nothing says "I love you" more then letting them share their passions

Cheese for dessert?!?! Cheese making!

I fell in love with cheese when we last went to France,   I remember being at a convention in La Londe France,  with people from all over the world, and when they served cheese for desert, all the Americans looked puzzled.  Cheese for dessert, who had heard of such a thing?!?  Then we  stayed with friends in Lyon, France and we were delighted when they would bring out a platter of cheeses!  I have gotten to enjoy many fine cheeses in Belgium and I have even been to Asiago, Italy and enjoyed their very fine cheeses!      

 Cheese, what an amazing food!  I always had a unquenchable curiosity, I wanted to know how everything and anything worked.  How things were made and how they were formed.  And luckily I married a man that showed me that is was perfectly acceptable to tear things apart  and to explore!  So cheese, I needed to know how it went from milk from a cow (or goat, yummy) to this delicious texture!  So being the Renaissance Mama I am (and a geek at heart,)  I set out to have some fun with my son and got myself  a book called Home Cheese Making!  And we have been enjoying our own mozzarella cheese!

Making Mozzarella is really quiet simple and takes about 30 minutes,  it is perfect for making with children.  You need a gallon of milk that is NOT ultrapasturized, pectin, citric acid, rennin, cheese salt, and a thermometer.  You can also buy a cheese kit  that will have everything you need.  What I love about mozzarella, is that though sanitation is important, this is a quick cheese, you use a microwave too, and you do not have to worry as much about sanitation as you would with more advanced cheese.  Plus, we always make mozzarella when we are going to make lasagna.  A natural and easy extension is to make homemade whey ricotta cheese, oh it is so yummy.  But please take this advice and do not forget it like I did , always use a really good cheese cloth or you will see your yummy ricotta go down the drain!

Oh and gloves are helpful, this is my son pulling the very hot cheese!  The author of Home cheese making also has a youtube video if you are a visual person.  So, enjoy some fun and bonding time with your wonderful children, and have some fun making yummy cheese!

Please like my page on Face book Raising a Renaissance Man, and let raise a generation of children that are passionate about the world all around them!

Sushi even your child would eat!

I love love love to try new and unique items, and when I came across Kracie candy sets, I knew that I just had to try it!

When I ordered my Popin'cookin' sushi candy set  it had to be shipped from Japan, but that was a part of the fun and adventure to us!  I try really hard to encourage my future Renaissance Man to explore different cultures and what is more fun to anticipate a package from Japan.  The packaging is all in Japanese, and so are the instructions, but do not fear, there is always youtube to the rescue.  So I simply went to, KraciePopin'cookin' Japanese Sushi candy and followed along with the video.

I helped my son follow the directions, and I thought that the little roe was fascinating to make because you had to add droplets to a solution.  Then after in the tray they make the candy, they have to form the little sushi candies.

And EAT!  

Fun, interesting and he got to explore a different culture in a fun way!  

I also have a Bento Box candy kit and a donut kit.  I am looking forward to seeing how my son handles trying to deccifer the instructions on the box.. They are visually set up, step by step, and I want to see how he will draw on his past experiences  to figure out the challenge.  I know the results will be fun and actually they were enjoyable to eat!

Future peanut farmer!

When I was a little girl, I remember just being mesmerized and fascinated by a pulled up peanut plant with little peanuts hanging from it's roots.  It is like a photograph in my brain, and it's inspired me to share it with my son this month.

                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                    I bought the  Dunecraft Sprout an d grow peanut kit and I borrowed "A Weed Is A Flower" by Aliki from the library and we started our new adventure.  I had my son read me the book and I was am amazed that  I still had not read a book about George Washington Carver!!!  I was so very touched and amazed by his story!  We had so many wonderful conversations about this Renaissance Man!  I truly have a new hero!  I can not encourage you enough, that if you have never read about him, you should!  This man has a wonderful story and aI hope that he inspired my son to be his best no matter what!

After we read our book, and planted our seeds, I have my son write about his experiences in his science journal.

       

Another fun and exciting day in the Fox Household!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a geeky mom!

Spring is in the air, and being the Renaissance Mama that I am , I have an experiment that still gives me the giggles!  I have been doing this experiment for years and considering I have been in Early Childhood Education for almost 30 years, that IS a long time!  And I daydream of the day that I am holding my dear little grandchild and we are giggling at this little experiment!  Yes, everyone loves the flowers in the dye experiment.  What is not to love?!? Flowers, color and science! What a awesome combination!

This year we decided to go with white tulips, some years I have used daffodils or carnations, or even celery.  We used lots of food coloring in a little water to make it go faster, you could see the changes within 15 minutes and we let it sit over night.  I also added leaves, to show veins in those also.

And WAHHHLAAAHH!!!

You have a beautiful centerpiece!  I have to admit, every Valentines day I say no to the store bought flowers.  But I am a sucker for hand picked flowers and these very special bouquets!!!

BUT that's not all, there is more!  As a Renaissance mama, I try to get the most for my buck, so then we open one up and dissect and label all the part of the flower.  We have tried this year to hand pollinate them, add food to the water and see if we can get the ovaries to continue to grow and we will dissect that too!

But of course, as always.  I just love spending the time with my son building loving memories.  I hope that one day my children will look back on their childhoods and get a kick out of such goofy but fun experiments!

Easy Learning Product Review : Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum 5

Handwriting, cursive and typing,  oh my!  Personally, writing has always been the roughest part of my home school career.   If I were to confess the one subject that has given me the most headaches it would be hands down, WRITING!!!  Every step of the way, from getting my now 7 year old son to form his first letter, to writing grammatically correct sentences, has been like pulling teeth!  And now we stand , at almost the end of the 2^nd grade and next year we are expected to start cursive! Sigh….  one more battle, yippee!  BUT, this  IS the 21 century, the bar has been raised higher for our youth.  In my day, back in the 80’s we took typing in high school and the classes were dominated by females!  It was the female thing to do because we were going to be the and office workers, little did I know back in the 80’s, that this would become a very important skill to acquire!

  

Now our youths are growing up in the technology age and typing is more important than EVER!  You would have to be a fool not to realizes that computers and technology are here to stay FOREVER!  It is such an important skill to have for the next generations to come, that it is really hard for me to not agree with the Hated Common Core and giving states the option to drop cursive and to teach keyboarding instead.  My head says it is common sense, the worker of the future NEEDS keyboarding skills, but my heart, the cultured center of me, does not want to see cursive disappear out of American curriculum.  If for any reason but the fact that our founding fathers wrote our constitution in English and everyone should be able to read the founding documents.  But I am an extremely practical  person, youths need keyboarding more than they need to read old documents! IMHO!

Then I tried this GREAT product, the Typing Instructor for kids Platinum 5 ( if I did not live in the middle of nowhere, I would get the downloadable version, but my internet stinks)  And I kept thinking, “If every home had this product, we would not have to choose, my son and I love this product!”  This is a very inexpensive program that more than one child can use!  My son uses it, the boy I watch before and  after school uses it and EVEN I use it.  Let’s just say my skills need some cleaning up L  I seem to have a hard time typing without looking!  I tried many “online free programs” but I had so many problems  from having problems downloading, having to WAIT and WAIT and nothing turns a kid off more than waiting, or no real fluidity to the program.  I just kept feeling frustrated!  But this program is INEXPENSIVE!  No waiting and very fluid!   My son loves the program!  The fact that he will choose to do this program on a Saturday morning, makes me want to give it 2 thumbs up!  I have noticed a DRASTIC improvement , at 7 years old, in his positioning of his hands.  The program starts out easy with drills that can be changed given the child's age and ability, it says it is for 6 to 12 year old.  They explore an island and as they improve they open up new areas of the island.  There are games for them to play and stories to type and my son really seems to enjoy the range of music they offer. I think the music encourages rhythm.  Personally, all families should have a program like this, it is so easy and save the tough cursive for the professionals who get paid to do it ;)  Personally since I am a homeschooler, it just means that this is fun and easy and all I have left to do is teach cursive and hope that I do not pull out the last remaining hairs on my head!