Every day at breakfast, we talk about someone whose birthday is that day. David and I try to choose a very positive person, but if that's not possible, then we choose someone they should know about from a cultural literacy perspective. Then, around the dinner table, the girls get a nickel for each fact they remember from the morning. One of our measurements to help them orient the person in time always is, "Was he born before or after Laura Ingalls Wilder (in 1867)?"
Well, yesterday WAS Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday, the 140th anniversary of her birth. So it was an easy one to remember. Madison got 12 nickels and Ella got 8, both all-time records.
If it's appropriate, I try to have one or more activities during the day that hearken back to the Birthday of the Day so it helps them remember who it was. Today, of course, they didn't need any help! We read from Little House in the Big Woods, we bought turnips and made them as part of our dinner (universal Yucks, including from the grownups, but maybe I didn't cook them well) and then after dinner we made Mother Wilder's doughnuts out of the Laura Ingalls Wilder cookbook...to great acclaim. Madison hypothesized that maybe life wasn't so hard after all, back then. Even with the turnips and all.
P.S. Today is William Tecumseh Sherman's birthday. I wonder what I can do in his honor...burn the dinner?
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