Vintage Music!

I just heard about this very cool website: http://www.kiddierecords.com/

As their homepage reads:

Kiddie Records Weekly began in 2005 as a one year project devoted to the golden age of children's records. This period spanned from the mid forties through the early fifties and produced a wealth of all-time classics. Many of these recordings were extravagant Hollywood productions on major record labels and featured big time celebrities and composers.

Over the years, these forgotten treasures slipped off the radar and it became our mission to give them a new lease on life by sharing them with today's generation of online listeners. Each week throughout the year we'll add a new recording. We took a break in 2008, returning in 2009 for one final year.

So whether you are hearing these records for the first time or reuniting with a childhood favorite from long ago, we hope you take great pleasure in your trip down memory lane!

Vacation Bible School with Bella

From Julie Cahill, to me to you!

Hey Lisa,

I signed Bella up for two weeks of Bible camp in June. Week one at High St. Community and week two at Santa Cruz Bible Church.

I was wondering if you could post on the blog the details to both as she would love to have girlfriends join her!! They have scholarships available for both church camps too, so don't let money discourage anyone. Here are the details:
High Street Community Church (Can reg by mail- see attachment)June 15th- 19th9am-12:15pmCost: $50
Santa Cruz Bible Church (Can reg online)June 22nd- 26th8:30am- 12:30pmCost: $40
Thanks!

Julie Cahill

(I did not know how to put the attachment up here, but anyone interested can email Julie jul9polo@aol.com or me!)

Book Fair!

Next year we are going to ALL have books to show at the fair. It was so fun and cool! I took lots of pics to inspire me and maybe you too--so here are some of the pics and brief explanations to get your creative book-making juices flowing.

Cute idea for a recycling project!

Aged pages and a real wax seal on this historical "diary"

These were ADORABLE! corrugated carbdoard paper painted with what looked like watercolor in strips, bound with just chunky yarn--so easy but so cute!

how cute is that????!!!!

A book in which the writer imagines she is on the Oregon Trail, and is keeping a diary of the journey. I am going to do this, maybe even on the road trip!

Canoe books!

A boy with the "bee" book he made--you can see on the table there are lots of different animal covers, made from paper plates! The pages inside are round. Very cute, although I learned from talking with the boy that his teacher did most of the work--can you imagine essentially making these books for 20 kids? Sheesh! I also got the feeling from talking to the teacher that he is somewhat new to this. ; ) But these would be fantastic for us to make at OSM sometime!

Fold-out reports on bats that can be hung on the wall, or folded up accordian style and take up only as much room as a stack of index cards!

One class had the theme of "science camp" for their books, so all the covers were made of different 3 dimensional nature materials, like this cover of sticks!

Eric Carle style artwork! The students painted the papers and then they cut them out and used them for books. We are SO going to do this at an Old School Monday sometime!

Book about the moon with painted "moon" cover and moon haiku! can't you see this for all the planets?!

Start Thinking of the End of Summer

I thought that title would get your attention!

This is just an idea I had: let's at the very first Old School Monday come September have a special day of "What I Did During Summer Vacation"! This means as you are planning your summer adventures, also in the back of your mind think about how you might want your homeschool kid to document it and then package it to share with the rest of us! It could be a scrapbook, it could be a journal, it could be a photo book, it could be a play acted out, or a diorama, or, or, or--you get the idea. But if you all like the idea, we can take parts of our summer adventures and make them into a book, with a "real" binding during our OSM get-togethers! (this would be a semi-serious project that would take more than one meeting and parental support at home) But it could be so cool!

So this was just a heads-up for the summer. I can't wait for our adventures!

Community Supported Agriculture Share--Anyone?

Ok, so this is a strange posting for this blog, but it seemed like a good way to get the idea out to moms who might be interested:

since we are going to be gone for the whole month of June, I would like to see if any of you would like to have my share of my CSA box I split with my friend Lisa every week (mother of twin 5 year old girls--came to G's princess party and the Old School Valentine's party). All local farms, all organic, mostly veggies and greens and herbs, some fruit (usually strawberries every week when in season). You could pick up the share after the morning Vintage gathering, since Lisa lives just down a couple of blocks. (The CSA drop off is actually on Thursday, but Lisa is flexible) If you have ever wanted to try CSA, now is a great chance! My share is $10 a week, but I would offer it to one of you for $8, just because it would be so great to know Lisa will not be overwhelmed by veggies while we are gone. : )

If any of you are interested, please just email me! Thanks!

Host Moms Needed--Next Old School Mondays!

Ok, ladies--you have seen how fun and easy it is to come up with a few learning-based activities for the kids to do on a Monday morning. Do any of you feel up to hosting (or helping host) the next TWO Old School Mondays?

THE NEED IN MAY:
The May gathering we decided should be on the 18th, since the 4th Monday will be Memorial Day. BUT Meredith's kindergarten class is having the big Science Day--a nightmare of poorly supervised art and science stations, usually at least one involving water and one involving unwashable paint. Sounds like fun! ; ) Actually, it is a lot of fun. . . for the kids. . . and I am glad her teacher goes all out once a year and makes such a fun learning event. But it is heavily parent dependent, and she has asked that I be there. I honestly do not even want to go, because it drains me just thinking about it. But I was hoping to keep that option open, SO! Anyone want to step up and assume command of the Old School Monday that day, so I can decide at the last minute about attending M's Science Day?

I would even be perfectly happy to come up with the activities, so you don't have to plan anything. : ) And it would be ideal if two mommies would step up, so you could share the morning's activities and not feel like it is that big of a deal.

We would probably come ourselves after school is over, but that would be around 11:45-12:00.

THE NEED IN JUNE:
Then we are off to Illinois for our homeschool road-trip extravaganza! (I keep thinking of the MTV summer music road trip show from the late 80's they called "Amuck in America!") So the June OSM would happen on the 22nd--but I don't think we will be coming back until the following week. There has been a lot of interest from non-believer homeschool families I know to bring their children to our event after school is out, AND I feel like we are just now getting going, so I hate to cancel for the month. BUT since I won't be here, it is out of my hands. If you all want us to meet this June, then you can make it happen! Again, I suggest you get two mommies to share the hosting, so that it is fairly easy.

I have found, surprisingly, that these events are not at all stressful for me and don't require much brainwork or preparation. I am not out to impress anyone, I am just doing what seems logical and fun, and anyone who has better ideas is always encouraged to jump in with them! So that is the same attitude I hope any other moms would feel, and make it casual and relaxed and fun for everyone, including the hosting moms. : )

So PLEASE post comments here or talk to me about how we can keep these going without me the next two months!