It’s an important week! Today we will give lots of time over to campaign speeches for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. We will talk about what it means to lead the school. Children will be encouraged to speak up and to state their interests in this run for office!

Voting will be on Tuesday. It will be a serious ballot vote cast in private.

We will also run through the play today just to see if the lines fit the child. If all goes well, we will be sending home play lines. Please practice these with your child by reading the entire scene. Just learning a few lines is easy, but your child needs to know where his lines fit with the next child, so read the whole scene.

Candy money still needs to come in.

Please think about a place for your child this summer. We have 33 spaces left. When those are gone, we cannot take more children because we can’t fit them on the bus.

Have a great week!

This week we had egg rolls in school and the children went crazy over them. I think there was not an egg roll left. I’ve made egg rolls for years along with a lot of Asian dishes. While most people find comfort in mashed potatoes and pot roast gravy, I find comfort in curried rice, egg rolls, and sweet pork dishes.

When Terry and I came here to Indiana, there were no Chinese restaurants to speak of, and I decided to try my hand at making my own Chinese and Indian food, so my children would have the experience of eating that great wide variety of foods that is so healthy.

So this week, I decided to make egg rolls for 50! What a job! I bought shredded broccoli and carrots, chicken breasts, and sheered cabbage. I cut celery, green pepper and sauteed all these veggies in olive oil and soy sauce, ginger, pepper and garlic, and added the already baked chicken breasts that I had shredded.

I packed the egg roll skins that I got at Schnuck’s in the green grocer ( fresh fruit and veggie section). It’s not hard to do. You set your skins so they look like a diamond – point down. Place about two tablespoons of filling toward the bottom of the diamond, flip the bottom point over the filling. Like an envelope, close the two side points so that the filling is snug but not tight, wet the last point with water using your fingers, and roll. Set aside on paper towels.

At home, I use a lot of left overs – cooked and uncooked. All things are mildly heated with the soy and spices, and I use lettuce or whatever veggie I have a lot of. I’ve even used collard greens and beet leaves. Cube or shred anything you have left over. Egg rolls are supposed to be filled with leftovers.

Heat an inch of canola oil in a deep pan until it feels very warm when holding your hand over the pan. Don’t touch!!! Drop your egg rolls into the hot oil. They will sizzle if the oil is hot enough, and they should. When they are brown, remove from pan and drain on a cake cooling rack. Then move to paper towel.

I serve my home egg rolls on a square plate. I serve them with horseradish, mustard and peach jam. Delicious! At school, we made a cherry sauce from ground maraschino cherries, soy sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch.

Herbs are an important part of my health life because I can take virtually no medications without becoming poisoned. On the other hand, I’m rarely ill. I will literally make a tea out of anything and treat all kinds of issues with herbs. I get a lot of information from a lady named Susan Weed. She has an excellent site at Herbal Ezine. I really enjoy her herbal wisdom. Why not take a minute to look at her site. It’s really quite interesting.

This past China week has been a whirlwind of activity and accomplishment. One of my favorite accomplishments has been the Chinese writing. The children did a fine job.

We started the week about China off with some artifacts – a model of a Chinese junk, a big piece of jade, a dragon, and a coal pot. We looked at Chinese art, stories, the Chinese Zodiac, and much more. We made a huge paper dragon, and kites, and drawings of dragons and little village scenes. Great times, lots of effort and lots of participation.

We had Chinese food most days. We loved our egg rolls, our chicken fried rice, our wantons, our Chinese noodles, pork strips and many more wonderful edibles!

Many of the children brought in campaign posters. They are all hanging and all creative and exciting. It’s wonderful to see the children involve themselves with such a campaign as a presidential run for the school. We are so proud of them.

Some of the children brought in candy and other great treats to share with friends. All of these things will get a hefty review on Monday as we talk about the presidency and the vice presidency, what it means and what it should mean.

We will vote on Tuesday!

If we could teach every child who comes through the Garden School to listen, we would accomplish every single thing we set out to do. Listening is the most important skill we teach every year.

It has been my experience that few people listen. There are lots of reasons why people don’t listen, and most of them come from the angle from which people are viewing life. When you are looking at life through a hand mirror; when the preoccupation is self with the world in the background…chances are, you’re not a listener.

Teaching children to listen begins with getting their attention. This is not always possible. Some children have an agenda so opposed to he who is speaking, that the listening never begins. Getting the attention of those mature enough to listen usually takes a little strategy on the part of the adult. The adult who wants children to listen will usually have something to say that children find interesting, funny or rewarding in some way. Being that adult that children listen to because they never know what to expect next, is a talent. Being that adult that children listen to because they know they are loved comes from putting the hand mirror down.

It’s the same in the adult world. How often does the homilist at church hold your interest? How often does a speech hold your interest? Can you listen to long runs of music? Can you listen to a book on tape? How about a dullard who is trying to tell you a story? Can you listen to the repair guy at Lowe’s while he tries to explain changing the whats it on your thingy?

When working with children the name of the listening game is short and sweet. Children will turn off the “teller” in about twenty seconds or after the first three sentences if the information is dull. Getting out the information quickly is important, but so is making the information count and that sometimes takes a little acting. Children love to laugh, and if the adult is funny, children will zone in and rivet on their entertainment. If the adult is forthright, children are apt to listen. If an adult is serious and has their respect from other times, children will listen.

Following directions is “follow-me” act on listening. “If you are five, stand up and….” Every child in the room ( ages 3-5) will stand and…. “If you have blue jeans on, sit.” Not a single child moves. Seventy five percent are wearing blue jeans. When playing the old game of Telephone, the first child whispers to the second and passes it on to the third child until the time is up and the last child recites what he has heard. This is very revealing in the ability to listen. Most children say, “I don’t know what I heard.” It’s an honest response. It’s a matter of listening skills that need formation, patience and practice. It’s a skill learning to be.

Having children repeat directions helps. Showing children a prototype or a how to also helps. Reminding them along the way helps as well, but nothing is foolproof until a child decides to put down the hand mirror and face the world squarely and accept his or her role, place, and responsibilities in said world. When the child is no longer focused on self, but on the wonderful sights and sounds and tastes and smells, and feel of the world he was meant to explore, he will listen as a natural means of learning. By listening, children learn that that world becomes more explainable and more interesting.

A good listener is always keen for more to listen to because it is through listening that one learns, and the best and the brightest children learn that quickly.

When listening becomes a talent and not a chore, the next step is listening through the ears with a detour through the heart. What someone says and what someone means can be two very different things. The act of listening with compassion, with humor, with correction, is an accomplishment of kings.

And it all starts with the simple act of putting self second for a short time. That’s a hard task for many, and it begins in preschool. Good preschool teachers will engage children with a lofty, funny, interesting, and friendly tone of voice that says, “I love you; I care about you; you matter to me just because, and I will fight the dragon just for you.”

And a good preschool teacher will know that children need to learn through listening because they can’t read. So the very act of reading to them with spirit and verve is important. A dull reader will discourage listening. A lively reader with lively material will encourage listening. And a good teacher will always ask, “Are they listening or are they restless?” What’s the point in reading if nobody is listening? Who’s fault is that- child or adult? If you can’t muster the voice to be entertaining, pass the book to someone who can. Losing the moment is worse than not reading at all. Children can get into the habit of not listening from a teacher or parent who is a terrible reader.

At the same time, right amount of repetition is important, but too much repetition is boring and will turn off the listening ears of any child. Slogans are the master of the listening world. Children learn slogans and apply rules to activities more easily if they hear the same word order again and again. “No talking in the bathroom.” “Crisscross applesauce, hands in lap.” “Coats off, hang them up, wash your hands…” same call every day. How many listen? Eighty percent.

Practice listening to directions is helped in directed art classes where children do this, then that, then this, then that until the thing they are trying to paint or draw is finally realized. Children who have learned to listen turn out the most wonderful art. Children who have not learned to listen make a mess. It’s a curious exercise and never ceases to amuse good teachers.

Listening may begin to take over a child’s learning skills at three, at four, at forty…it is an individual process and a process parents should pay very special attention to simply because good listening skills are the primary avenue of learning.

The Netherlands in May

At first glance, it looks like a giant child armed with a box of crayons has been set loose upon the landscape. Vivid stripes of purple, yellow, red, pink, orange and green make up a glorious patchwork. Yet far from being a child’s sketchbook, this is, in fact, the northern Netherlands in the middle of tulip season. The Dutch landscape in May is a kaleidoscope of color as the tulips burst into life. The bulbs are planted in late October and early November. More than nine billion tulips are grown each year & two-thirds of the vibrant blooms are exported, mostly to the U.S. and Germany.

Teaching very young, high-energy children means understanding how they learn best.

Movement, multiple levels, complexities are all a part of interesting a high-energy child. But another, simpler reality needs to be addressed first, and that’s the issue of sitting.

For many hyperactive children and adults, the very act of sitting down is threatening. Sitting means losing command of the self. It means a kind of terrifying submission.

Hyperactive people survive by means of their strength and vitality. To remove that through forced docility is as threatening as it would be to put your foot on an average child’s head and pin him to the ground.

What few people know is how high energy children suffer by sitting. It actually hurts. The quality of stillness for a hyperactive body is not just simply a discipline we must endure. Stillness means the things driving a child to move must be arrested. The need to move doesn’t just “go away” because a child is finally doing what the teacher wants.

The suppression of movement causes the skin to crawl, itch, and feel as if bugs were crawling all over the body. Muscles that are restricted from moving suddenly become leaden and ache with a nervous tension that is agonizing. It feels like dull growing pains. Headaches, stomachaches, nervous habits, and temper, can all emerge when a body that is meant to move, can’t.

Unfortunately, in a world where movement in the modern classroom is limited, these children have twice the work, twice the discipline, and twice the bend that other children must endure when days of play at home become days of sitting in nine square feet. Turn the tables. Imagine jumping all day while you work.

One strategy for helping hyperactive children do well is to let them move in the classroom. Hyper kids do better standing up or lying down. Who cares if they are reading on the floor if they are doing the job? Perhaps the discipline of sitting should be saved for group discussions when a child’s mind can move him out of his body.

When the mind of a hyperactive child is fully engaged, his mental imaging actually pulls him out of his body. The very idea that a child can’t focus is absurd when you see him rivet in on something he finds interesting. Interest, of course, comes from nearly anything not predictable.

“Carry me” hands-on learning is a good compromise. Once a child understands a simple math concept, letting him work with manipulatives by carrying math manipulatives from a bin on one table to do the problem at another table. Then he can exercise his muscles while fulfilling the work. It’s a compromise to sitting with pencil and paper. Problem: It can’t be brought home.

Yes, he will be distracting, but average students aren’t supposed to lose concentration from extraneous stimuli, so other kids probably won’t notice if someone is working in the back of the room.

In time, nature will let the high energy body slow down. Puberty helps. But it won’t happen if loving compromises aren’t made. Medication might slow him down now, but what will he learn? The high-energy child is often very intelligent, and depriving him of natural knowledge about his own body is a form of deprivation.

The key to understanding a child like this is to recognize his profound differences. High-energy children will never be ordinary no matter how much parents wish it and work at it. Trying to neutralize him is a little like foot binding. Once you’ve broken the child’s feet, he becomes a prisoner of someone else’s agenda. But here, we are not speaking of feet, we’re speaking of the whole child. Don’t break the child.

Good morning on this first day of China week. Today we will look at things Chinese! We will tackle such great Chinese treasures as jade, the junk, the Great Wall, pandas, the kite, Chinese writing, the Chinese Zodiac, and we will make a big paper mache dragon.

We will eat child friendly Chinese food all week. I hope the kids like this. Beginning today, we will try homemade egg rolls, and chicken fried rice. We will try sweet pork, pizza wantons, chicken and vegetable stir fry, Chinese noodles and fish.

This week is also our campaign for President of the Garden School. Children in the Kindergarten class are welcome and encouraged to run for the School President. They may bring in campaign tokens, banners, signs and printed slogans – whatever they want. Speeches will be next Monday and the voting on Tuesday. The campaign goes on all week!

Lots of things in the hopper….

Truffles, bonbons, yummy homemade candy is really quite easy as Miss Lisa found out this past week. We had a candy day, and she made candy for her boyfriend for the very first time, and she was delighted with the results. All the children got a taste of both this soft truffle and some hard candy we will talk about next week.

Candy is easy and quick if you have the right equipment. It takes a food processor or at least a stand or hand mixer.

Now let’s get this lesson right so that we look like the penultimate candy makers!

The basic idea is to make a “fondant” for the center of a truffle or bonbon. The basic center is butter and sugar – that’s it. Then you add your tastes and your flavors. It’s that simple.

So using a food processor, process 2 sticks of butter and a box of powdered sugar until smooth. Don’t over process and don’t use margarine. Margarine is one molecule away from plastic.

You can double this recipe if your processor is large enough. If you are going to go to the trouble of making candy, it’s always nice to have a BIG batch! Using a single recipe, you should have about four cups of fondant.

Now is the time to think about flavors and tastes.

You can divide your fondant into say six small bowls or 3/4 cup fondant for each bowl give or take a heaping tablespoon.

Into the first bowl, let’s say you add finely ground coffee and walnuts. Mix a teaspoon of coffee and a handful of nuts into the mix. Roll this mix into ping pong sized balls, insert a toothpick, place on a cookie sheet in a row marked coffee- walnut.

Next bowl – let’s say you have a hankering for orange candy. Grind the rind of half an orange and mix the rind in with the fondant. If you want to add nuts, say almonds or pecans – go for it. Roll this mix into ping pong sized balls, insert your toothpick and line up next to your coffee walnut balls and mark – orange nut.

In the next bowl, you might think – mmmm – toasted coconut! On a flat iron skillet, put a handful of coconut and on high heat stir till lightly browned. Add your toasted coconut to your bowl of fondant and maybe a little vanilla flavoring. Roll, tooth, and line them up and mark.

In the fourth bowl, lemon strikes your fancy. Use a teaspoon of real lemon juice and roll, tooth, line and tag!

In the fifth bowl, chocolate peanut butter says it all. A giant tablespoon of peanut butter and a quarter of a cup of cocoa will do the trick nicely. Roll, pick, line and tag.

One of my favorite tastes is butterscotch. It’s not unheard of to chop butterscotch pieces. Heath bar bits makes a fine candy taste. Roll, pick, line and tag!

Now freeze your tray. When balls are frozen, they will either keep for months or can be dipped immediately.

Here’s how: In a tiny pot, melt a half sheet of Gulf wax and a cup of your favorite chocolate chips. Watch your heat because this will scorch very quickly. Use more chocolate if the mix is too thin. While your candy is frozen, dip each piece twice in the hot chocolate and wax and let the excess drips drip off back into the tiny pot. Lay dipped candy on Ziplock bags. Wax paper will do as well. Once the candy shell hardens, you can twist the toothpick out and re-dip the top and place an identifying mark on your truffle – a peanut for the chocolate peanut. A bit of coconut for the coconut and a tiny piece of orange…etc.

Don’t miss keeping back some of your candy for the inscrutable guest who suddenly appears at your door. I keep my tiny pot of dipping chocolate ready most of the time. You can gather a dozen balls and dip them in five minutes and look like the queen of homemaking – any time you want.

Easter is coming, and candy made with real butter is healthier than storebought.

Happy candy making!

I promised I would put a plug in for homemade bisque clay.

Here it is:

Using two cups of baking powder and a cup of cornstarch, mix 1 and 1/4 cup water into this mix using a deep stew pot. Bring the mix to a boil and stir constantly. The mix will bubble and clots will begin to form. Keep stirring until the mix is like very lumpy wallpaper paste. Keep stirring until the mix becomes like mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and let stand until cool. The mix will make all kinds of things like beads, animals, china like bowls and plates and cups. Bake in a 350 degrees oven or air dry. Lots of fun. Clay lasts about two weeks in the fridge.