Fantasy and Reality

Koko's interpretative map of North America and Asia. The blue parts are the Great Lakes.

Maria Montessori seemed to believe that children should be first rooted in reality before being exposed to too much fantasy not because she was necessarily against fantasy itself, but she saw the danger of fantasy being an escape from reality, something that she saw in the slum children she worked with.

For this reason, I did make it a point to not expose Koko to too much fantasy when she was younger. (I am not sure if that's absolutely necessary in the grand scheme of things, but this was the route I initially chose. Now that I have more children, all my younger children are exposed to everything earlier.) Also, since the Bible is so important to our lives and because we regard the word of God as truth, I didn't want them to get too confused. However, I have always carried an appreciation for fantasy and fairies and even now enjoy children's fantasy novels (Was I the only one annoyed to discover at the end of Brisingr, the supposed finale, that the author had extended his final book in the Eragon series to one more novel?). I've concluded that tooth fairies, Santa Claus, and such can be part of the magic of childhood. And fantasy, when used prudently, can help children visualize the spiritual world in the positive sense.

However, my children, when they play and draw often discuss continents, role-play Bible stories, and play house. I sometimes wondered if I deprived them of fantasy. When we did Santa Claus for the first real time this year, Koko had so many questions. How exactly did this present phenomenon work? Did we buy presents for Santa to give us? Was he real or fake? And how would Santa come down if there was an actual fire in the fireplace? I was dismayed when a few days she discovered receipts inside the rolling backpacks Santa had bought them. (I had forgotten that my friend who had purchased them for me had left them there.) Jubilantly, she exclaimed, "Santa shops!" and that was the end of that. Whew!

Fantasy and reality--I want a little of both. The natural world is wondrous in itself, but making a fairy house can be fun, too. These days I've been reading more children's books that are beloved in the Waldorf community. Tonight, we read The Story of the Root Children which shows pictures of little root children painting beetles and bees so that they can be adorned for spring. Koko immediately said, "We don't paint insects for real." But then after a pause, she said thoughtfully, "Though in heaven, I think bees and mosquitoes won't bite." And Cheeky whose current favorites include Jesus is Coming Back and Runaway Bunny suddenly exclaimed, "I want to fly like that bunny and talk to animals in heaven." (This same child, during the Christmas season was slightly traumatized by the idea of Santa Claus flying in a sleigh with reindeer and insisted that she would only ride Santa's sleigh if mommy, daddy, Koko, and Eggy were with her.)

So, now while my children know all about King Winter, Jack Frost, and Mrs. Thaw, they always like to remind me that God is the one who makes it snow. And to me, that's truly magical.

This Week

I started using this 9000 layout cards to do daily calendar work. However, I realized there is a problem with using this material for this purpose. It works for the present year, but when I demonstrated when I was born, 1978 reads as "nineteen seventy-eight"instead of one thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight which can be problematic. But I suppose I could just read 1978 as one thousand, etc.


This estimating activity is from Family Math for Young Children, but I was reminded of it by this post from the lovely Min. We use the 9000-layout cards for this, too.

This is the snowman Koko made from clay inspired by "Chubby Little Snowman" that can be downloaded from The Wonder Years and is also included in her post. That red creature is a rabbit trying to eat the snowman's nose!

We started circle time and it went well as long as I was able to wake up at a decent hour. Sometimes I indulge in extra sleep especially since Eggy wakes up a lot at night, but I am going to try to do circle time at least three times a week during the winter. Along with "Chubby Little Snowman," we did "I'm a Little Snowflake" sung to "I'm a Little Teapot" (lyrics here) "Lady Wind" and "Snowflakes" (Music Together-Bells) and "Go-duh-rum" found here. I try to sing one Korean hymn during breakfast until we master it. Currently, we're on "Holy Holy." Interesting factoid: The Korean hymnal seemed to have made several revisions over the years. The "Holy Holy" my mom knew is different from the version my husband knows.

Pine cone experiment

We did a little pine cone experiment that I first saw here.

We put one pine cone in cold water and then hot water because I couldn't remember if it was the temperature or the wetness that caused the pine cone to close. Ha!

We concluded that it was the wetness and not the temperature that caused the pine cones to close, but apparently it's a little more complicated than that.

So, a more ideal experiment would be taking an open pine cone and putting it in water and then sticking it in a aluminum-covered pan and heating it at 200 degrees like mentioned here.

Catch up

My very humble nature shelf. We studied conifers at the nature center homeschooling program. I love all the lessons, but I forgot my camera. An interesting book I found there was Winter Trees.

Reviewing two digit numbers

Blindfolded scent bottles. I love catching them doing activities together.

"Mom, let's do bugs!" We found a Korean poetry book on insects that works well with putting insects in their right continent.

They were using Montessori equipment for their building so I was elated when they were selling a crate full of blocks for only $10 at a moving sale.

Koko who was struggling with writing "y" was thrilled to form one with pipe cleaners that were originally for another activity. I think pipe cleaners cut in various lengths would work perfectly for practicing letter formation for some letters in the English alphabet and definitely the Korean alphabet.

Koko and Cheeky have also been enjoying the reading command cards from Montessori for Everyone. They take turns picking a card (Koko reads it both of them) and then do the activities together. Koko also did the Consonant Blends a few times.

Happy Links

There's the tragedy in Haiti and then the news that my newlywed friend's husband just got laid off plus urgent and very expensive dental work that insurance will not cover for yours truly...still joy is around the corner, and so a few happy links:

:: The Big Squirrel and the Rhinoceros is going to be reissued soon!

::A newish Montessori/homeschooling blog I'm enjoying

::A Korean website that lets you print out children's Korean songs!

::ALA Youth Awards Announcement (Newbery and Caldecott)

::A beautiful and inspiring baking blog (I love how she introduces herself! This is the confidence I want my children to have when they're older.)

:: A new worship favorite in the house

:: The privilege to pray and help even a little with the crisis in Haiti

:: And an amusing video of a old Korean hymn. I don't have an inkling who this hilarious man is.

Homemade French Dressing

Actually, I combined two recipes--this one and this one and tweaked it a bit:

1/2 cup of sugar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 onion, chopped coarsely
2/3 cups ketchup (one without high fructose corn syrup!)
4 tsp paprika
1/2 cup white wine vinegar (I am sure any vinegar will do)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Blend everything but the oil and carefully add the oil little by little until desired consistency. Add salt and pepper if desired. I didn't, but I like things a little bland.

Tip: I used an old ketchup bottle and with used a funnel to transfer it in.

Dress Up

I sometimes wear an abdominal binder (bok-dae) and I thought it was funny that Koko started imitating me by using a pillow cover that has velcro. She cracks me up!

Dollies' clothes in a picnic basket.

They take turns!