We made our own books at the MN Center for Books Arts

Make your own books at the Minnesota Center for Books Arts off Washington Ave. in Minneapolis. The place is just so cool! (Especially for a bibliophile like me!)
 

Proud of their books!

While attending the Minnesota Homeschoolers Alliance Conference last fall, I learned that the MN Center for Books Arts offers a range of classes for all ages, and they tailor them to the age in the class. So our homeschool group headed there with our range of preschoolers and kindergarteners. There was a 20-student minimum cost for the workshop, which averaged to about $7 each.

The kind and patient staff member went step-by-step and showed us all how to make an accordion, letting us customize it with our choice of paper colors. The Boy, of course, opted for a blue cover and a blue inside. I just loved the ambiance of the basement work area, the old stone walls with the thick wood doors. It inspired me!

We're not quite sure what we're going to put inside the books yet... But I know they will be treasures we'll always keep.

After the 30/40 minute class, we hung out in the coffee shop, checked out the gift shop, and browsed through the (free) InsideOUT: Contemporary Bindings of Private Press Books display up through March 28. Those are some cool books! One has a cover made of denim jeans!

The MN Center for Books Arts is celebrating 30 years in 2015 -- and so they're offering a series of free presentations and reduced price workshops.

Mark your calendars for:

“Once Upon a Time” All-Ages Open House
Saturday, April 11; 10am–5pm
Enjoy hands-on artmaking activities for all ages and create your own fairy tale or mythological adventure.

What a great press! Another school-age group was taking a class with the printing press and rollers... Someday, we'll be back for a class like that!

HOURS:
Monday – Saturday: 10am to 5pm
Tuesdays open late: 10am to 9pm
Sundays: noon to 4pm

Phone: 612-215-2520
Fax: 612-215-2545
mcba@mnbookarts.org

Behind the scenes at downtown Central Library

We got a behind-the-scenes look at Central Library in downtown Minneapolis. I may have been more excited than the kiddos!

I've always loved libraries and used to volunteer at my hometown library, shelving books and doing whatever the librarian needed. So I was pretty stoked to introduce my kids to what the library looks like behind the shelves.

We headed upstairs to reach the room where they repair books. Once there we saw a gigantic paper cutter, a couple presses and other cool tools.

If your little one rips a book, don't tape it up yourself. Instead, point it out to your librarian so that this special tape gets used to fix it up.

Yes! This is a card catalog!! A huge row of card catalogs!

The Girl was pretty excited to find this framed print of LENTIL on the wall in one of the employee-only rooms.

 We also got to peer into The Stacks - rows upon rows of bookshelves that come in together and store thousands of books. They used to open with a hand crank, but are now mechanized.

 And then, a scavenger hunt! We love these in the Hennepin County libraries.

 Before our tour, there was a special storytime for our Homeschool group ranging in age from babes in arms to kindergarten.

Storytime at the Arboretum

Fantastic nature books are featured during storytime at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska).

The storytime is held at the Andersen Horticultural Library, the building on the far left of the complex when you pull up. We hadn't been inside that facility before and I was struck by the wonderful wooden beams and other woodwork.

Storytime is each Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. The stories reflect seasonal, gardening, or nature-related themes.

Arboretum members receive free admission to the Arboretum, but a gate fee is charged to non-members. You might luck out and get free admission, like we did in January when entry was free.

And before you head home, be sure to check out the Nature Center. While the outdoor play area isn't quite as fun (as there's no running water), it's still pretty cool. Check out a post I wrote earlier about the Nature Center.

EXTRA ATTRACTIONS
- There are free family activities each Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Plant seeds, explore the greenhouse or look at plants under a microscope!
- Admission is free every day in January. Try snow shoeing with free guided treks. Or enjoy free hot cocoa and cider.

The glass sculptures are still up in the gardens, and they look even more amazing covered with a dusting of snow. Wow! Note the smattering of orange butterflies behind The Girl.

Read these great picture theology books

Looking for some good Christian children's picture books to read with your kiddos? As with so much else about the Christian faith, much of what's out there for kids is the same old-same old, filled with religious-ese that lacks vibrancy and a sense that this is real and useful to our everyday lives. 

The books by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso are a breath of fresh air.

Sasso was the second woman to be ordained as a rabbi in 1974, and the first rabbi to become a mother. She and her husband, Dennis, were the first rabbinical couple to jointly lead a congregation -- Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis.

Sasso holds a doctorate in ministry and is active in the interfaith community. Her books have been endorsed by Protestant, Catholic and Jewish religious leaders -- showing she does more than talk the talk.

Plus, she lectures on the renewal of spirituality and the discovery of religious imagination in children. Wow! This is something that is so needed within the worldwide church! This may be the key to getting away from the religious-ease churches are stuck in. Sasso's books create mystery and build upon religious stories in a new way.

Sasso's book, "In God's Name" reminds me of "Old Turtle" by Douglas Wood. Praised for the way this modern fable celebrates diversity and the unity of all people, "In God's Name" introduces children to the many seekers who are certain they've found THE name for God. But finally they come together and at least learn what God's name really is.

Other books, such as "A Prayer for the Earth: The story of Naamah, Noah's Wife," imagine who the people are who are merely named in the Bible. Much like the Midrash (the Jewish rabbinical literature), these stories add to our understanding of God.

Hennepin County Library has a great collection of Sasso's children's books.

Sasso's Children's Books

• God's Paintbrush, illustrated by Annette C. Compton, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, VT), 1992.
• In God's Name, illustrated by Phoebe Stone, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 1994.
• But God Remembered: Stories of Women from Creation to the Promised Land, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 1995.
• A Prayer for the Earth: The Story of Naamah, Noah's Wife, illustrated by Bethanne Andersen, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 1996.
• God in Between, illustrated by Sally Sweetland, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 1998.
• For Heaven's Sake, illustrated by Kathryn Kunz Finney, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 1999.
• God's Paintbrush, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 1999.
• What Is God's Name?, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 1999.
• God Said Amen, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 2000.
• Cain and Abel: Finding the Fruits of Peace, illustrated by Joani Keller Rothenberg, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 2001.
• Naamah, Noah's Wife, illustrated by Bethanne Andersen, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 2002.
• Adam and Eve's First Sunset: God's New Day, illustrated by Joani Keller Rothenberg, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, Vermont), 2003.
• Abuelita's Secret Matzahs, Emmis Books (Cincinnati), 2005.
• Butterflies under Our Hats, Paraclete Press (Orleans), 2006.

Live nativity at Edina church

I wanted the kiddos to really picture the Nativity, and so we hunted down a live nativity. Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina has a small one that was fun for us to drop by one Sunday morning.

The narrator read the story of Jesus' birth from scripture. We arrived in the middle of one reading and stayed through the reading of another. There was a break in the middle, so the whole thing took about 15 minutes. We loved the warm fire, and appreciated the hot drinks and cookies available under the tent.

Don't miss this Christmas light show

Nezt year, plan to head down to the University of Minnesota Campus to check out this great 15-minute light show.

Created by University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering students, the 2014 show was bigger and better than the year before with more than 100,000 LED lights, 400 individual controllable lights and 450 microcontrollers.

Lights surrounded the semi-circular Civil Engineering Plaza. The whole thing was synchronized to music composed and performed by University of Minnesota students for a 360-degree sensory outdoor experience. New features in 2014 were a giant 22-foot lighted tree, an 8-foot 3D snowman sign, and an 8-foot-by-6-foot lighted M. The light show was presented by the Tesla Works student group.

Shows were at 5:30, 6, 6:30, 7 p.m. on the Civil Engineering Building Plaza, 500 Pillsbury Dr. S.E., Minneapolis.

We loved it! The music selection was rocking, and the lights were magnificent. We rode the train down so we didn't have to worry about parking and enjoyed a nice walk. I brought hot cocoa in a thermos and some snacks. It was a great night out for the family.

FIAR: Cranberry Thanksgiving over the holidays

We started rowing "Cranberry Thanksgiving" by Wende and Harry Devlin around Thanksgiving and fell in love with it immediately. What a great book! And so is Cranberry Christmas -- a book I just had to buy the kids for Christmas! These classic tales are going to come out every holiday at our house.

The books gave us a reason to explore New England through videos and books and delve into cranberry farming and harvesting. Plus we got an excuse to make cranberry bread, cranberry relish and cran-apple crisp!

WE READ:
- Night Tree by Eve Bunting
- Cranberry Christmas by Wende and Harry Devlin
- If you Sailed on the Mayflower by Ann McGovern
- The Story of Squanto First Friend to the Pilgrims by Cathy Dubowski
- An Outlaw Thanksgiving by Emily Arnold McCully
- Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation by Diane Stanley
- The First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story by Laura Krauss Melmed
- Squanto’s journey : the story of the first Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac
- Cranberries by William Jasparsohn

WE DID:
As usual, we had a great handout with activity suggestions from over at HomeschoolShare.com.

We learned lots about New England.

This doubled as handwriting practice. I wrote the answers on the chalkboard and The Girl copied them on her worksheet.

Images of New England

Cranberries were a point of focus, of course. We learned all about how they're grown and harvested. Be sure to check out the OceanSpray web site.

Math and science experiments with cranberries. I discovered that cranberries I had bought fresh, froze and then defrosted didn't bounce! They had to be fresh!

We also baked some treats using cranberries, starting with the yummy Cranberry Bread recipe from the back of the Cranberry Thanksgiving book. Yum! (We subbed in Gluten-free flour).

Cran-apple crisp

 We decorated our own Night Tree. I think this is going to become a Christmas tradition!

We  also talked about our own Thanksgiving traditions. Instead of doing the "I'm Thankful" corn book in the Homeschoolshare.com materials, we continued out tradition of running a string across a doorway and hanging cards from it listing what we're grateful for.

Plus, I stumbled upon these fun Thanksgiving printables, so we brought them to our Thanksgiving Dinner for a little big of photo prop fun!

 We also used popcorn kernels to work on our estimating and counting skills (popcorn estimation).

There was so much else we meant to do, but we just ran out of time and space given how busy the holidays were (and then we got sick), such as: levening/chemical reaction experiments, baking soda bombs, starch experiments, elements of a good story, alliteration, similes (although we did read Crazy Like a Fox: A Simile Story by Loreen Leedy), silhouettes and cranberry potpourri.

WE WATCHED:
- Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
- White Christmas (set in New England's Vermont)
- How It's Made - Cranberries (Season 2, Episode 1 on Netflix)
- Fox - Wisconsin Cranberry Videos
- National Geographic Video: Cranberry Harvest
- Tales in a Treehouse: Cranberry Thanksgiving