Did it! Survived another Halloween! At the end of the night, I sighed with relief that the day went so well. Two awesome school parties, three adorable hand made costumes, trick or treating, a big pot of chili, fun with friends and neighbors, and tons of candy. And, my husband seemed to enjoy his birthday even though it was, as usual, a side-event after trick or treat.
It was a good one.
My kids go to an awesome Montessori school. They have a lot of kids from various walks of life and like most schools, they do not celebrate Halloween at school. I am glad about that. I like that the school respects those who do not do Halloween, and I like that my kids are learning to respect others in this way. But, they do something else that fits in with Halloween and the kids who do celebrate don't miss out on festivities with the alternative. This school is pretty cool!
Happy Non-offensive Fall!
The kindergarten kids study animals. Each student chooses an animal and does their own research and learning at home about that animal. On the last day of October, they dress up as the animal they chose to learn about and present what they learned. All of the kids wear their project costumes and the parents bring in treats for the autumn project party. At the party, the kids are encouraged to mingle and ask each other about their animal. Even the party is educational!
Libby chose to study a peacock. We read about peacocks, looked at pictures, looked online, and we went to a dairy farm where they have a couple of peacocks in a pen. Libby asked the farm hand what peacocks eat and he told her they feed them "mash" which is smashed corn. I made her a peacock costume and she made a poster for her presentation.
The lower elementary classes (grades 1,2 3) had a project called "Time Machine". Each student chose a culture and time from the past and studied it. They could choose anything they wanted. At the end of the month, each student dresses as a person from their chosen time and presents what they learned about the history of the culture.
Gracie chose Ancient Egypt. She watched a Brainpop video, read about it, and we went to the Museum of Man and explored the exhibit with the help of a docent. She learned a lot about ancient Egypt and the culture of the Egyptians. She designed her costume and I made it the way she instructed. As it turns out, Ancient Egypt was a popular place to go in the time machine! Several of her little classmates also studied the same topic. They had fun talking about what they learned and comparing. At their "party" the kids all gather together and the parents go around asking students about their chosen historical period. Then the kids mingle and are encouraged to ask each other about their character's life. It's really a cool project and the kids learn a lot from each other.
Charlie is only three years old, but he is a wise little boy. I repeatedly asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween hoping to hear pirate or superman or Winnie the pooh, or something easy and popular with the tots. He was consistant with his request: He wanted to be Sandy, our dog who passed away in July. He couldn't just be any puppy dog, he had to be Sandy. Luckily, I found some soft minky fabric in the right color for the costume. It had little swirls so it might look like a sheep, but it was soft and the right color and that was the best I could find, so I got it. He loved it! He kept hugging the fabric and thanking me before I even had the costume cut out!
Charlie has this whole "Gramma can make anything" thing figured out! He told me just how to make it with ears like this and a tail like this and paws, wait, no paws, yes, paws. He couldn't decided about the paws, so I attached paw mitts that had a hole for his hands to escape if he wanted them out. Happy Puppy! Guess it was a good thing I didn't talk him into another costume.
His Sandy costume turned out pretty good. A bit sheepish, but mostly dog. He woofed and panted and gave puppy kisses. Had the day been a bit cooler, he might have worn his puppy costume all day long. He wore it to the school parties and then donned it again for trick or treating.
Just like every year, our first trick or treat stop is next door. The neighbors spoil my kids! This year they gave the kids a candy necklace making kit. They're gonna love that! Keith took the first trick or treat shift and walked the kids up the street and back and they filled their bags. They took a break at home and shoved as much candy into their mouths as they could, then I took them out for round 2. I took them in the other direction. Once again, they filled their candy bags. Libby was exhausted by the time we got back home. They each ate a couple of handfuls of candy, and it was off to bed.
The kids had a blast! Keith enjoyed his pot of chili and cornbread. The neighbors brought him a growler of beer from a local brewery. He also got a card in the mail, and the only thing he had to say about that was "it's not from your mom? that's weird. She must be slacking!" We never did get around to eating his birthday pumpkin pie, but it was a school night and everyone was stuffed and tired so we'll do it later.
