About birthdays, attitude is everything.
On Saturday, I celebrated the 28th Anniversary of my 29th Birthday. Yikes. When we were going to Church on Sunday I mentioned “I'm getting old”. My oldest told me "think of all the discounts you’ll be able to get". Oh happy day. Then my youngest not to be out done said “We could go to eat at restaurants that have senior discounts and kids eat free. It won’t cost anything.” Dang. An expected bonus of being an "older" mom.
About birthdays, attitude is everything.
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Nothing strikes fear in the heart of a mom of multiples like the two words School/Special Project. I wish they would standardize school projects. Have a national list of supplies, dimensions, instructions, dollar limits, and “extra” items limit. Perhaps create a website or a national hotline for parental support, helping with the learning curve and parental substance abuse. Also, husbands would be required to help with at least one project per school semester. Also, there is a fine line between helping and doing the project yourself. I’m learning when to stand down, but it's hard. I have nightmares and cold sweats just thinking about school projects. We homeschooled the triplets and we were not really sure what “traditional” school projects would require. The triplets’ first school project in the 4th grade was a Native American Project. The kids got to pick their project. Nick picked wickiup. What? Hannah picked a pueblo and Sam picked Indian shirt. We began our Native American Project early which was lucky because they take a lot of time. I was unsure just how elaborate these things should be. A wickiup is a mud hut. Thankfully, Nick was given instructions for the wickiup. He used a cool whip container upside down and covered it with masking tape and painted it brown. Not too difficult. Hannah’s Pueblo required attaching several size boxes together, making ladders, painting it, and adding figures. This was ok. Sam’s Indian shirt was another matter. We cut it out of felt and I had him sew it together using the blanket stitch (sounds Indian, right?). We added a fringe collar and fringe on the bottom. Then we decided it need buttons/bones to place on the fringe. A nightmare. We had been working on them for about two weeks when the triplets’ were invited to a birthday party. At the party, I was talking to one of the Mom’s and asked about their Native American Project. She said they hadn’t started yet. I said, “Really? We’ve been working on ours for a couple of weeks.” She said her daughter had picked headband. What! A headband! I decided to have a long talk with the triplets about projects and how to choose a simple one or at least let me see the list. We could have banged out a headband no problem. The big day finally arrived. I was pleased to see our efforts were pretty normal. Everyone’s was about the same. Of course there are the over achievers, parents who created the project, and some that showed less attention. It was a relief to have the first one under our belt and we knew what to expect more or less. 4th Grade ProjectsNative American: Wickiup, Pueblo and Indian Shirt American: George Washing Carver, The Golden Spike-Railroad and Coonskin Cap (Daniel Boone and Davy Crocket) State Project: Kentucky, Hawaii and Colorado Country: Japan, Israel and Spain Topic: Horses, Guitar and Basketball 5th Grade ProjectsNatural Disasters: Volccanos, , Tsunami and Earthquake Texan in a can: You had to research a native Texan and put things that represented their lives in the can. Fritz Von Eric: The Wrestler, Sheryl Swoopes: Womens NBA, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Musician Atom Project: Krypton, Argon, Selenium (This was Jay’s Project to help with, but that’s another blog!) State Project: Vermont, Minnesota, California String Art Project: Geometric Cross, Mountain Scene, and Owl with Top Hat and Bow Tie Sixth GradeThis year we’ve only had one project (so far). It was picking a foreign city and writing a report about the city, making a poster board about the city, making or bringing a special item that represents your city and cooking something from that city/country. Oh my! We were ok until the cooking part. Nick picked Sicily (which is actually an island but the teacher allowed it) Italy. Hannah picked Brussels, Belgium. Sam picked Budapest, Hungry. Nick decided to make cannolis, Hannah picked Belgium waffles, and Sam picked Hungarian goulash. I've really got to learn to liven up and laugh at myself. This is when a National website or hotline would come in handy. Oh heck. You’d think they’d give the family with multiples a break and only have to make one project. Foreign City Project: Sicily, Italy, Brussels, Belgium, Budapest, Hungry The kids still have ambitious ideas about school projects and they remain a challenge. Can’t
wait to see what’s coming down the pike over the next few years. Anyone want a supply list, dimensions, instructions, dollar requirements on any of the above projects just leave me a comment. Also, anyone interested in helping me start a website/support hotline leave your name, email, phone number, and I’ll be in touch. |
I am an older mom with multiples. To say it the P.C. way, I have "advanced maternal age".
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