Tell a Story Day

April 27 is National Tell a Story Day.  Here are a few of the things we're doing to incorporate this into our school day today.

PARTS OF SPEECH STORY

Including the kids from start to finish, each child wrote 6 nouns (2 persons, 2 places, 2 things), 3 verbs, 2 adjectives, and 2 adverbs on slips of paper and placed them in the appropriate jars.  After shaking, stirring, and mixing, each child then pulled out the same number of slips as they put in and wrote a short story using the parts of speech they drew from the jars.

HEADLINE STORY STARTER

I found this little gem of a game while hunting for a birthday gift at WalMart. (And it is far cheaper to purchase it there by the way.) I ended up buying this to use for a fun activity in the journalism class I mentor. We use it there as a game, which is what it is, but today we will be using it at home as a story starter.  In the game, so many cards are dealt in a hand and each player tries to make the best headline they can with their hand; for today's purposes everyone will write some crazy story that explains the headline.

STORY CUBE STORIES

These are pretty obvious; roll the dice and use the pictures on the dice to tell a story. I only have the orange set right now, but my children like them. We will be using these to tell stories today as well.

FAMILY HISTORY STORIES

Additionally, I will be reading some family history stories to my children today and the children will be contributing a true story from their lives to the files. 

Happy storytelling!

Lesson in Liberty from Cereal

Object lessons are everywhere!

Today we discussed one of the most fundamental principles of liberty and agency at breakfast. It was quite unexpected and certainly not planned, but it was the perfect object lesson. It came about because, of all things, cereal.

Over the weekend one of my sons played in a baseball tournament that was hosted by a town where Malt-O-Meal has a plant. My son's team took 2nd place in the tourney and part of their winnings was that each player received a bag of Malt-O-Meal cereal. He chose a cinnamon toast-flavored cereal which is one I rarely buy.

I wasn't feeling well this morning so cooking wasn't high on my priority list right out of the gate. I announced that it was cold cereal for breakfast. My one son happily grabbed his prized bag of cereal and proceeded to have his breakfast. His brother and sister sat like vultures, wanting his cereal and trying to guilt him into sharing. Then they tried to get me to back them up and command that the cereal be shared.

Instead, I pointed out that they had zero claim on that cereal and no right to ask for it.

In the first place, did they earn that cereal? What had they done to procure it or deserve it? It was their brother's, fair and square, earned with his own physical toil. Most tournaments give trophies or t-shirts to the first and second place winners, but this time it was something else. Had he won a trophy, would they each take a turn displaying it on their dressers?  No.  Had he won a t-shirt would they each take a turn wearing the shirt?  No. So just because it was a dividable and desirable prize, that doesn't make it something they can claim. Just because they wanted it, didn't have any of their own, and/or hadn't had the opportunity to get their own,  doesn't make it something they can claim. If he wanted to share, that was HIS CHOICE. But the prize was his, his own, and his own only and NO ONE had the right to say he had to divide it up and give it away.

I am truly appalled that so few people seem to understand this principle these days. I agree that there is an imbalance and injustice in wages paid for wages earned. I've always thought a janitor should make more money than a professional athlete or a recording artist. My son tells me that no one will pay big bucks to see a janitor work. True, I concede, but when one goes to watch the athlete, he expects a clean stadium and doesn't want to be sitting in some Joe's spilled beer and vomited hot dog; should anyone have to clean that up for dimes on the dollar? Still, no one has the right to take something that belongs to one person and give it to another. NO ONE. Not even the government. My kids tried to appeal to their "government" this morning and get a redistribution of cereal wealth, just because they wanted it, and all without having done a thing to earn it and, in actuality, have me condone robbing their brother of his earnings. My daughter said, "But he should share. That's the nice thing to do." Yes, it is. But there is a difference between sharing, willingly, and being robbed. Charity is only charity if it is given willingly and freely. Would any of my children ever develop a sharing attitude with their siblings (or anyone) if I always automatically took a portion of what was rightfully theirs and distributed as *I* saw fit? Would they ever learn true stewardship or see real need or magnify any benevolent feelings if they were constantly being robbed and left with little to steward and no choice?

"...this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat."

(2 Thessalonians 3:10)

"Thou shalt not be idle; 

for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer"

(D&C 42:42)

"Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite, and whose bellies are not satisfied, and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men’s goods, whose eyes are full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own hands!"

(D&C 56:17)

"He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread:

but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding."

(Proverbs 12:11)

"He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: 

but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough."

(Proverbs 28:19)

"Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter,

and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood:

so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife."

(Proverbs 30:33)

God Himself doesn't want to command in all things but wants us to choose, based on our knowledge of right and wrong; compelling "goodness" is a law of Satan and of men:

"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; ... Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves." (D&C 58:26-28)

The redistribution of wealth is not caring nor sharing; it is one of the greatest thieves of liberty and agency.

Hink Pinks

This past week our school work included the Easter Hink Pinks packet, free from Barbara Evans at Teachers Pay Teachers. I LOVE Hink Pinks and the challenge they pose!

A Hink Pink is a rhyming riddle whose answer is 2 one-syllable words that mean the same thing as the clue. Here are some examples:

ill hatchling = sick chick

superior bird home = best nest

purchase egg coloring = buy dye

Once you get the hang of Hink Pinks, it's time to move on to Hinky Pinkies, where the answers are 2 two-syllable words.

ridiculous Easter flower = silly lilly

chocolate bunnies by the ocean = sandy candy

Then there are Hinkety Pinketies which are the same thing with 2 three-syllable answers.

evil preacher = sinister minister

What I love about Hink Pinks is that they develop and/or improve skills in multiple areas in a brain-challenge that is fun. Vocabulary is tested and grown through establishing word meanings and synonyms and the answer has to be the right number of syllables and it has to rhyme. Brilliant! 

Here are more hink pinks at Thinkable Puzzles.

If you find these rhyming riddles to be something your family enjoys as much as mine does (or needs for skill building) and you really want to get serious about the challenge, check out "Rhyme Time" by Jock Mackenzie in Canadian Teacher Magazine. Jock takes it to a whole new level, one after another, with Hinkhinkety Pinkpinketies, Hink Pink Swinks, Hink Pink Swink Thinks, and more.

They Might Be Science Giants

Tell me you know the band They Might Be Giants. (C'mon, you know, "Istanbul, not Constantinople...") 

Well, for years now I've had a great DVD/CD combo from TMBG all about SCIENCE. I am blogging about it right now because my daughter and her friend have been downstairs rocking out to it and I am reminded again of what a great collection of learning and fun it is and want to give a shout out. (These two cute girls pull this out often when they get together. They absorb the science principles while they have fun dancing themselves silly to it.)

TMBG also have some other educational albums that I wish I'd known about when my kids were younger about the alphabet, etc.

Here is a sample of the great stuff on their Grammy nominated album, Here Comes Science. 

Dude. I'm Joking.

This meme has been on my screen and my mind a lot lately. When I first came across it, I laughed and laughed. The photo just kills me:  the look on the trickster's face for successfully delivering "a good one" and getting a kick out of the results, and the panicked devastation of the gullible sibling as he buys into it. We can all relate to the entire scenario. I showed it to my husband and children and they all laughed and laughed, too. But I'm not laughing anymore.

First of all, this kind of thing is happening way too often lately between the siblings I have given birth to.  A snarky remark here, an over-the-top tease there, a deliberate dig everywhere. There are some personalities in my house that aren't unlike the sibs in the photo above and it makes for some very unpleasant moments...even days. I tire of doing damage control, both for the teased, who really should learn to not take everything so seriously and personally, and the teaser, who hurts himself  just as much when he fails to learn how to interact in a healthy and more sensitive and respectful manner. Teasing is normal inside a family and some types of playfulness can serve to bond family members to each other, but when lines are crossed and boundaries erased, the results are not funny.

Second, I can't help but notice that the two faces in the photo are reflective of today's dialogue everywhere. There is less and less civility and more and more rancor. Often the things we joke about are sacred and precious, like the souls we tease and torment, and our punch lines really punch.

So, here's to the reeducation of us all, because without it, one of these days no one will be laughing.

Sorry Charlie Day

April 6 is National Sorry Charlie Day. Have you heard or used that phrase before? Have your children? Do you know where it comes from?

"Sorry Charlie" is an American catchphrase that sprang into vernacular from a commercial.

I remember seeing the later commercials as a child and I have used the phrase numerous times in conversation, but I don't think I ever associated the every day use of the phrase with a commercial from my childhood. 

Sorry Charlie Day sparked a couple of points worth discussion.  First, and the purpose for Sorry Charlie Day, is to note that everyone faces rejection of some kind in the course of their lives. On SCD we can reflect on how we've survived past rejections and how maybe we are even better for it. Charlie Tuna was rejected by StarKist over and over in every commercial for decades and he never let it get him down or keep him from trying again. 

The other points of discussion are the power of advertising and media, and where words and phrases come from and how they are assimilated into everyday use.

Because He Lives