Book Review: The Kitchen House

After putting it off for quite a while, I finally finished reading The Kitchen House this past week under deadline.  I had to turn it in because someone else was waiting at the library to read it --- the nerve!  ;-)


The Kitchen House takes place in late 1700s and early 1800s at a plantation in Virginia.  The main narrator is an Irish girl named Lavinia who becomes an indentured servant at age 7 to ship captain James Pyke when her parents die during their passage across the Atlantic.  The secondary narrator is Belle, a slave at the Pyke plantation assigned to work in the kitchen house (where all the cooking takes place) and happens to be Captain Pyke's illegitimate daughter who he conceived with one of his slaves.  Lavinia is given to Belle to care for and instruct upon her arrival at the plantation.  Much of the action in the book takes place in or around the kitchen house, thus, the books' title.


The author did an excellent job with the narrative.  The voices were clear and distinct and I really enjoyed how she used dialect to make the characters spring to life on the page.  It was interesting to read in the author interview in the back of the book that she had actually toned the dialects down to make for easier reading.  There are so many surprises and twists in this book that I don't want to give too much away plot wise, but I must admit I did have a moment when I thought--- "Not Snow Flower and the Secret Fan again!!!!"  I keep reading these books where characters keep secrets from each other, lie to one another, and don't communicate.  I know this is how people are (being one of them and all), but oy!  It drives me crazy when you can see that the character is about to go down in flames but they can't because they're too busy hiding their dirty deeds from the other characters.


All that being said, I really really liked this book.  While I didn't connect with Belle very much (I had a hard time with her persistence in hiding a secret from Lavinia that could have saved EVERYONE a ton of trouble), I enjoyed reading Lavinia's narration and adored some of the supporting characters. Mama Mae, an older slave who works at "the big house", was one of my favorites.  And while he made for quite the villain, the author made the Captain Pyke's son Marshall very believable and sympathetic.  I can wholeheartedly recommend that you pick this one up.


On a unrelated note, we're entering the home stretch this week.  The Cobbler returns from Germany on Thursday afternoon (with cheesy souvenirs in tow), and the house guests (all 8 of them) arrive for my sister Christy's wedding that night.  Maybe I should think about cleaning...oh yeah, once I'm done with hemming my bridesmaid dress.  :-)

Preschool Read Aloud of the Week: The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog

Tom Thumb is in love with the Pigeon!  A while back we read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and it started a phenomenon.  Thereafter, every time we went to the library we had to "find the Pigeon books!" (imagine that said in a crazy commanding baby man voice).  I can't tell you how many times we've now checked out Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, and The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog, but there's something about the hot dog one that resonates with Tom Thumb.  Maybe it's because he likes hot dogs.  Maybe he likes the squeaky voice I use for the duckling.  All I know is he loves that Pigeon!  


And here's why I love that Pigeon---

No matter how many ways he asks to drive that bus, I still stand firm. It doesn't work out quite the same way with real children, but I can always practice saying no to the Pigeon. :-)

I'm so jealous!

I was totally fine about the Cobbler going to Europe for work for 10 days.  Well, I was a little nervous about how the kids would be without him for almost two weeks, but I was still okay until I found out he was staying here first for seven days---

and here for four days (notice the rockin' view out the window in the second photo)---

I wish I could have jumped in his suitcase and come along!  

Let's just say there better be some amazing souvenirs come September 29th. ;-)

Teaching the 10 Commandments with Hand Motions

I'm one of three Sunday School teachers at our church.  Because our church is so small, we teach using a "one room schoolhouse" format --- the kids are all in one room being taught the same material regardless of age.  The youngest in the room is Tom Thumb and the oldest is in 5th grade.  This proves to be challenging at times, but most of the time the older children step up to assist the teacher and the younger children.

Over the next couple of months leading up to Advent, we are teaching a segment on the ten commandments.  We'll be covering one commandment per week.  Since I was up to teach on week one, I offered to make a learning aid for the kids.  I made the typical looking tablets and printed out the commandments individually so the kids could tape them up each week.  

The number one thing I wanted to find for week one, however, was a good hand motion mnemonic to help them remember the commandments.  If you search online for "ten commandments hand motions", you will find a million You Tube videos and other links on how to do it.  I liked a lot of what I saw, but my problem was I liked #6 from video A and #4 from video B and #3 from video C and so on.    Not to mention, the motions on some of these videos were completely nonsensical and sometimes inappropriate.  There was even one for commandment #5 where you made a spanking motion on the word "mother" and the pastor mentioned in his teaching that "this may not be politically correct, but..."  What?!?!  In the end, I made up my own instructions for me, the kids, and the other teachers with all the motions that I thought made the most sense and would be easiest for the kids to learn.  

So for your commandment teaching pleasure (ha ha!), I present the Fairy Tale Mama version of the 10 Commandment Hand Motions:

Commandment 1:

You shall have no other gods before Me.

(Hold up one finger, like a big #1)

Commandment 2:

You shall not make any idols to bow down to and worship.

(Hold up your index and middle fingers together and make them “bow” up and down.)

Commandment 3:

You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain.

(Hold three fingers up to your lips, instead of the usual one finger, and say, “SHHH.”)

Commandment 4:

Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

(Hold up your index and middle fingers on each hand, joined together like a steeple. Then, rest your cheek on your right hand like you're sleeping.  This is to represent going to church and then using the Sabbath as a day of rest.)

Commandment 5:

Honor your father and mother.

(Have child put 5 fingers of right hand to their temple in a military salute.)

Commandment 6:

You shall not murder.

(Hold up six fingers, pointing one finger like a gun into the palm of the other five.)

Commandment 7:

You shall not commit adultery.

(Hold out your left hand palm up and have your index and your middle finger of your right hand walk on the palm, like a bride and groom walking down the aisle.)

Commandment 8:

You shall not steal.

(Hold up five fingers on your right hand and three on your left.  Have your right hand grab the three fingers on your left.)

Commandment 9:

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

(Hold up nine fingers. Then, cover your mouth with one hand after the other.  No lying!  God always wants us to tell the truth!)

Commandment 10:

You shall not covet.

(Hold up ten fingers and pretend to “grab” in front on you as if saying, “Gimme! I want it!” )

Is there a special way you have learned to teach the 10 Commandments?  Any related games or crafts you've done? If so, please share!  We have 9 more weeks to go!

Making the veil for my sister's wedding...

I've been gradually working on my little sister Christy's veil for her wedding in October over the last month.  I made the veil itself a few weeks ago using McCalls 3508, which is an old pattern my mom had.  Here's the picture from the pattern envelope of the view that I made (without the ribbon attached to the border.  Christy wanted the edge raw):

She tried it on when she was in town for Labor Day weekend.  She liked it, but asked if I could sew Swarovski crystals all over it in a random pattern.  I searched the web high and low for a good DYI on how to sew Swarovski crystals to tulle properly, and I think I found the best tutorial ever.  If you ever find yourself needing to sew crystals to tulle, this link has everything you need to know.


I started sewing them on last night and I seriously thought I wanted to slit my wrists for agreeing to do it.  I was sitting there in front of the TV watching a Glee rerun while cursing.  Finally, the Cobbler said, "Do you think you might have an easier time doing this in the daylight?"  Always the voice of reason, he was right.  I got about half the crystals sewn on this afternoon during Tom Thumb's nap.  Check it out:

We're making some good progress.  I have about 20 more to sew on and we'll be good to go.  Yay!


On a unrelated note, I think summer is officially over.  Red and Tom Thumb collected the remains of our tomato harvest last night.  Sniff, sniff...

Recipe: Double Chocolate Banana Cake

I got a request in my comments from The Reader at Musings on the Move for the recipe for the chocolate banana cake I made for Tom Thumb's birthday.  The recipe is from the Entertaining! Fast and Fancy cookbook by Renny Darling that my mom gave me a million years ago.  Her own copy from the 1980s is worn out!  


The recipe said the cake didn't need frosting and it really didn't.  It was that moist!  Plus, it was easy peasy.  You can't ask for more when it's 7 o'clock at night on your kid's birthday and he wants a chocolate banana cake.  Here's the recipe:


1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 c. sour cream
2 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
4 T. cocoa
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
pinch of salt
2 bananas, coarsely mashed
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips.


Beat together first five ingredients until blended.  Stir together the next five ingredients and add, all at once, beating until blended.  Stir in bananas and chocolate chips.


Place batter into a greased 10 inch springform pan and bake in a 325 degree oven for about 65 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center, comes out clean.  Allow to cool in pan, and cut into wedges to serve.  Serves 10.


Note: Do not mash bananas to a pulp, or baking time will be slightly longer.
1/2 cup walnuts (optional) can be stirred into the batter.


Obviously, we passed on the nuts because my kids hate them and I'm nut sensitive, but we didn't miss them.


Here's to cake!  Cheers!

Preschool Read Aloud of the Week: Whopper Cake

"Today is Grandma's birthday,

and Granddad has an itchin'

to bake a whopper chocolate cake

and traumatize the kitchen."

With these words, the story of the whopper cake begins in Karma Wilson and Will Hillenbrand's Whopper Cake.  You might know Karma Wilson as the author of the Bear Snores On, The Bear Wants More, and other books about Bear.  The librarian introduced me to Whopper Cake a few years ago when Red was a toddler, and I came across it at the library again a couple weeks ago.  I thought, what a great book to read to Tom Thumb leading up to his birthday!

I love Wilson's fun, off beat rhyming style.  The rhyming paired with the story makes kid magic!  Tom Thumb loves it!  That crazy Granddad just keep adding more and more ingredients than the recipe calls for.  At one point, the recipe calls for 4 eggs and he adds 86!  As the amount of batter grows, it winds up in a pickup truck bed being stirred with an oar from their rowboat.  In the end, the cake gets baked by the hot July sun in the truck bed and the whole town comes over to surprise Grandma and celebrate.  The cherry on the cake is when Grandma says she has but one birthday wish --- I'll enjoy this whopper cake and you clean up the mess (the whopper mess that is).  Love it!  Not to mention, there is literally a recipe for whopper cake in the back of the book.

With Red, I was really deliberate about what read alouds I picked for her as a preschooler.  I often drew from the lists of others, like the Ambleside Year 0 list and The Simply Charlotte Mason Early Years list.  While I still think these lists are valuable, I'm going to get a little more adventurous in the kids' section with Tom Thumb and really try to find some new gems to share over the coming months.  I hope you'll join in and comment if you've read the book or if you've found any good reads for your little ones lately.

So who else wants to bake a whopper cake?

We started paying allowance

What is this doll doing here?  Read on to find out!

It's been a long time coming.  Red is a kid who, like most, is fascinated by money.  She has the eyes of an eagle and always finds the penny in the parking lot, she's the first one to go cushion diving for change, and after any major celebration enjoys surrounding herself on the rug with all her paper and coins.  The Cobbler and I talked about it (motivated by our Dave Ramsey conversation, I guess) and decided it was time to implement allowance.

Even though it goes against the latest school of thought, we decided to tie the money to chores.  Most experts say that you should just give the kids the money because if you link it to chores the kids will think the chores are optional.  I disagree, and after last week's results I vehemently disagree and I'll tell you why.

I know everyone has different ideas on what amount to pay and for what, but what we settled on was the following.  Red has to complete these tasks each day:

• Her morning and evening routines.  These include grooming, dressing, making her bed, bathing, and laying out her clothes for the morning.
• Maintaining the cleanliness of her room.  This includes picking up her stuff daily and dusting and vacuuming as needed.  
• Pick up any of her belongings left in other areas of the house during the course of the day.
• Setting and clearing the table at meals.
• Putting away her own laundry if there is any.  

Tom Thumb has to do the following:

• His morning and evening routines with assistance (similar to Red's).
• Pick up his room with help.  Mom will dust and vacuum.
• Feed the cats (because he likes it).
• Put away his laundry with help.  

We haven't been as strict with him over the years about cleaning up as we have been with her (I guess it's second child syndrome) so we view him as still being in training.

We will pay Tom Thumb $4 per week if he completes all his tasks daily and Red $7.  We chose those amounts because we're monitoring their chores on a daily basis.  If the kids don't do all their tasks during the course of the day, we deduct $1 for Red and 50 cents (well, technically 57 cents ;-) for Tom Thumb.  The Cobbler designed a spreadsheet in Excel with macros that they click each night that tells them how much they've made for the day and how much they've accumulated for the week.  

Red also has the opportunity to earn extra money by helping clean the bathroom or vacuum and dust other areas of the house.  We pay a quarter for each thing she assists with cheerfully.

We've been on this plan for one week --- we go Friday to Thursday and pay on Friday after dinner --- and have had great results.  On pay day, Red and Tom Thumb each have three containers (this is a Dave Ramsey-ism)--- Spend, Save, and Give.  Red puts a dollar each in Save and Give (Tom Thumb 50 cents) and the rest goes in Spend.  Tom Thumb earned his $4 as expected, but Red earned $8.  It turns out that she desperately wants to purchase the 2011 American Girl Doll of the Year Kanani (pictured at the top of the post).  Who knew?  She and I sat down and worked out how much she would have to earn in order to buy the doll before she was discontinued at the end of the year.  Can you believe the doll is $100?!?!?  Each week she'll have to do all her regular chores plus some extra ones in order to earn enough in time.  Her motivation level is at an all time high.  I haven't had to remind her to clean her room for days.  I need to nudge her a bit on the finer details, but overall she's been doing great.  Quite frankly --- it's a miracle.  Linking chores to allowance seems to be working for us.

From what I understand, these Dolls of the Year routinely sell out between Halloween and Christmas.  If it were your kid and you had the money, would you buy the doll now and hide it out for when she has saved enough money?  Do you do allowance at your house?  Do you tie it to chores?  What tips can you share for what works for your family?

The airplane quilt, first day of school, and reflections on Mommy Camp...

It's true---the airplane quilt is finally complete and on Tom Thumb's bed.  
Here's the evidence:

 Yay!!!!!!  I really buckled down and machine quilted my butt off this past week.  Then, I spent the last couple of nights attaching the binding by hand.

He was so excited when I put it on his bed.  It made me so happy inside. :-)

On Monday, I took the kids to get their pictures taken in their gear for my sister's wedding in October.  Take it from me and file it away in your mind for later --- the best photography deals of the year, both in studio and on line, are over Labor Day weekend.  You're going to think I'm crazy, but I actually ordered our Christmas cards from Snapfish on Monday (FYI --50% photo cards is still on through tomorrow 9/10 using the code HURRAH50 on their website).  The Target portrait studio wouldn't let me use my 50% coupon on photo cards so I came home from their session, had the Cobbler pull the Model T out of the garage, and voila! --- Christmas card worthy photos!  

 Then, Red's first day of first grade was on Wednesday.  Awwwww....

 It was a tearful drop off.  I was surprised, considering last year for kindergarten she couldn't wait for me to leave!  When I picked her up though, she deemed her teacher "awesome" and the boy who sits next to her "nice."  


Yesterday was a rough day though.  I had two sickos --- the Cobbler and Red both had fevers and had to stay home from work and school.  And it was Tom Thumb's 4th birthday!  What a bummer!  I ended up taking Tom Thumb out of the house to Toys R Us to spend some of his birthday money and visit his grandparents since we had to cancel his party. :-(   He picked out a toy that we brought home, I spent an hour assembling and then it didn't work.  We went back to return it and because they were having a ridiculously good sale, he ended up with a roundhouse for his train table instead.  Here he is with his chocolate banana cake that I finished baking at 8 o'clock last night (like I said, long rough day) and the roundhouse.

I finally got everyone into bed by 9.  When I went upstairs to go to bed at 11, Tom Thumb's light was on.  That little stinker was still up playing with that roundhouse!


I'm still working out what "afterschooling" will mean in our family this year.  Over the summer, we did what I referred to as "Mommy Camp."  Red would do a little bit of math practice, some language arts and spelling, Story of the World Ancients reading and activities (which she LOVED!), some R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life here and there (I think this was too difficult for her age), and reading and read alouds at bedtime.  I'd like to maintain Red's momentum and start working with Tom Thumb some more since he's not going to preschool, but I have to figure out what's going on with school first.  It didn't help very much that she missed her second day.  My friend Maureen and I were having a laugh about the supply list this morning.  The list includes 3 boxes of tissue and 5 red pens.  There are 22 kids in the class.  Where is the teacher planning on storing 66 boxes of tissue!?!?!  And five red pens?  Are they correcting their own papers?  Does she really need 110 red pens for her own personal stash?  Here's a sample of what Red was working on math wise this summer using Singapore 1A Standards:

I guess it's time to put my thinking cap on and start planning out the year.  What are your educational goals for your family for the 2011-2012 school year?

Wrapping up our 72 Hour Emergency Car Kits

You may recall this blog post I did back in February regarding the 72 hour emergency kits that I decided to make.  I got a good start, but failed to remember that putting these things together takes time and money.  The kits for our main vehicle (the minivan) and the Cobbler's Taurus then proceeded to sleep for six months on the floor of the laundry room.  

Around April, our laundry room flooded and I got to see how resilient our kits really were --- not very.  Of course, a lot of the stuff that was in boxes (granola bars, medicine, etc.) was soaked so I had to go through and toss all the boxes and put everything in Ziploc bags instead.  My intention was to put it all back in the duffle bag it started in once it dried.  Fast forward to September --- all of the stuff for the kit was in a clear plastic bin under the sofa table in our living room, the long since dry duffle bag was still in the laundry room, and the Ziploc bags had been gnawed on by the cats.  It was not a good scene.  Inspired by all the mayhem brought by Hurricane Irene and all the terrible storms and power outages we've experienced this summer, I finally bought the remaining items for the kit last week and was ready to finally finish.  

In the time that I had from when I started until now, I realized a duffle bag probably isn't a good choice for the main kit.  First of all, this stuff is HEAVY.  I eliminated a lot of the canned goods for weight reasons and replaced them with dry mixes, but even with the canned goods out it all adds up.  I had an extra rolling carry on bag in our upstairs closet that I never use so I brought that downstairs.  It makes so much more sense to have it roll instead of carrying it.  If we have to abandon our vehicle for some reason, we can still take the stuff with us without too much trouble.

Here is my final list of what's in our emergency kits.  If the Cobbler's kit has a different amount (or nothing, e.g. no kids' medicine is in his car) that is noted in the parentheses after the list item for those of you interested in what the husband's vehicle got.  The Cobbler has a slightly smaller kit because his car for the most part only gets driven to the office which is two miles from our house.  His kit is more for the chance that he gets separated from me and the kids in an emergency situation.  I still need to add a separate bag filled with a change of clothes for each person and some small bills and change.

Food/Cooking---All cans have pop tops so we don't need a can opener.
4 canned pasta and meatballs (1)
4 small canned fruit in heavy syrup (1)
16 packets of Gatorade powder to mix with water (8)
12 granola bars (4)

18 individual packages of raisins (0)

4 packets of tuna (0 - Cobbler hates fish.  He has 1 package of beef jerky instead.)

10 packets of instant oatmeal (2)

10 envelopes of dried instant noodle soup mix (2)

8 packets of hot cocoa mix (2)

4 packages of gum (1)

1 Ziploc bag full of individually wrapped Lifesavers

3 - 1 gallon jugs of water (1) - these are outside the actual kit and on the trunk floor.

reusable silverware for each person

Magic Stove and refills

Sanitation

1 full size Clorox disinfecting wipes (1 trial size)
3 rolls of toilet paper squished flat to fit in a gallon Ziploc (1)
1 box of tissues (1 small box)
1 roll of paper towels
pads and tampons enough for 1 cycle (0)

hand sanitizer

toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss

hair brush

1 full size package of wipes (1 trial size)
1 bar of soap

10 pack of water purification tablets

First Aid
First Aid Kit (bought at Target for around $10)
Thermometer
Super Glue
Ibuprofen
Benadryl
Children's Benadryl (0)
Children's Ibuprofen (0)

Sunscreen

Nail Clippers

Shelter/Survival
8x10 tarp
5 pack of dust masks
Duct tape
4 rain ponchos (1)
waterproof matches
2 flashlights (1)
extra batteries for flashlights
4 glowsticks (1)
Leatherman 
hand and toe warmers (a couple per person)
4 emergency blankets (1)

1 pair of work gloves

1 package of bungee cords

nylon rope

whistle

rubberbands

safety pins

2 heavy duty trash bags

sewing kit

paper and pencils

folding shovel (0)
binoculars (0)
emergency radio (0)

Other stuff

tire repair kit

1 deck of playing cards

1 deck of Uno cards

read aloud books (I packed Charlotte's Web and Little House on the Prairie)

After getting the rest of the stuff into the cars, I'm moving on to making a binder with all our essential paperwork we would need to take with us in an emergency.  Hopefully that won't take me another six months to get finished!


The cars are loaded.  Did I get it right this time?  How have you prepared your family for an emergency?

So what's the deal with Dave Ramsey?

On The Well Trained Mind forum which I frequent often, people seem to be obsessed with Dave Ramsey.  Any time money comes up it's Dave Ramsey says this, Dave Ramsey says that, or I love Dave Ramsey!  Well, I personally had never read anything by Dave Ramsey or heard of him before.  Before we killed our cable TV, the Cobbler and I watched Suze Orman religiously (I loved her "Can I Afford It? segment) and read all her books.  I can't even tell you how many times I thumbed through her book The Road to Wealth before passing it on to my sister.  I figured I'd check this Dave Ramsey guy out so I checked out two of his books from the library --- Financial Peace Revisited and The Total Money Makeover.


Essentially, these two books contain the same concepts --- Dave's baby steps for eliminating debt, preparing for emergencies, and building wealth.  


His seven baby steps are:
1. Save $1000 for emergencies.
2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball (the snowball is covered extensively in the book, but essentially you make a list of all your debts excluding your mortgage and pay them off one by one starting with the smallest one first so you can have some early victories).
3. Get 3-6 months of expenses in savings.
4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement.
5. Save money for college for your children.
6. Pay off your home early.
7. Build your wealth and give.


How to complete each step in detail is outlined in the books.  Between the time these books were written, his philosophy has not changed.  If I had to pick one of the two to recommend for you check out, it would be The Total Money Makeover, which includes the detailed steps to "financial fitness",  a huge appendix in the back full of forms to help you get started, and loads of letters from his followers who have successfully implemented his plan.  One letter that stood out to me was from a couple in their mid 20s who had paid off all their debt and were only five years away from paying off their mortgage.  Another letter that impressed me was from the winner of their Total Money Makeover Challenge.  The Total Money Makeover Challenge was a contest they had when the book was first released to see who could have the greatest change in financial position in six months.  The winners took home $50,000.  That family started out with $56,000 in credit card debt and only a $35,000 income.  Their minimums on their credit cards were $1200 a month!  Four years later, they are debt free and own their home outright.  They claim that's 36 years earlier than their financial planner had projected!  Now that's results!


The Cobbler and I discussed after I read it about whether or not we thought Ramsey's plan was sound.  Overall, we agreed with the exception of paying off your house early. We live in an area where home prices are still depressed and falling.  We're currently significantly upside down in our mortgage, even with putting 20% down 7 years ago, as are most of our neighbors.  There's always a chance with his job that we'll have to relocate.  The company will pay the difference to get you out of your loan to move if you're upside down.  In our case, it would make absolutely zero sense to pay off our mortgage; however, for others it may be a good choice.  


What do you think of Dave Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps?  Do you think he deserves all the positive hype he receives?

Learning about Ramadan

I grew up in the city in which we live today.  It is a community that has very large Muslim population.  Until I was an adult, it never really struck me as being much different from other places--- it just was what it was.  Growing up I was surrounded with my peers wearing hijabs (the head covering worn by most Muslim women), friends speaking both Arabic and English, and being aware that fasting was taking place during the holy month of Ramadan because in high school all the students participating were allowed to sit in the auditorium of my high school instead of the cafeteria during lunch hour.  One time in my high school sewing class a bunch of girls in my class brought in some yummy Arabic food and their wedding videos for us to watch while we sewed.  Yes---you read that right---their wedding videos.  We were all between 15 and 17 years old at the time.


I had an awareness, but not an understanding of Islam.  I think one of the easiest ways to learn the basics of religion, even for adults, is by reading children's books on the subject.  Ramadan ended a few days ago, but this past week we checked out two books about Ramadan from our library --- Ramadan and Celebrate Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr.  The first book was about how a fictitious family celebrated Ramadan and the second book was more a National Geographic type approach with lots of photos about the holiday from different cultures.  Great books!  I learned about what Ramadan actually is --- a reflection on the time when Allah revealed the Koran to the prophet Mohammed.  Muslims are supposed to take this month of fasting, that comes once a year based a lunar calendar, to forgive those who have wronged them in the past year, pray, serve the needy, and think about how to live better lives.  Eid Al-Fitr is the day of celebration and breaking the fast at the end of Ramadan.


Reading these books gave Red and I an opportunity to discuss what her friends believe and how they celebrate.  I now have a better understanding of what Ramadan and Eid are all about too.  


What does your family do to educate your children about other faiths?