On Orthonomics a guest post about Orthodox homeschooling generated the following comment by “l”:

One problem that parents encounter is that in families where there are both older and very young children, the toddlers and infants often require many hours a day of the parents’ care and leave little time left over to work with the older ones.

I think the comment reflects misconceptions both about homeschooling and large families.

Read more on How Do Parents of Large Families Manage? Meet Tal and Talia…

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It’s bound to happen at one time or another when you are out with your toddler. Your neighbor asks you the question you were wondering yourself earlier that day, as you tried to talk on the phone while your son climbed the bookcase: “Isn’t he bored at home with you all day? How old is he again? [Insert any answer here.] Shouldn’t he be in a misgeret?”

Read more on Revisiting the Misgeret, or Is Preschool Necessary…

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In my post Trusting Our Children, I wrote about things that children learn on their own. So what do we need to teach them?

I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t have the answers. I can’t, because they will be different for each family. Leora will make sure her children appreciate art and can express anger productively. RivkA’s children have learned about physical fitness and coping with chronic illness. Sephardi Lady will emphasize being satisfied with what one has and sticking to a budget. And that is how it should be. Each of these concepts is important, some are essential, but no parent can give them all equal weight. We emphasize the skills and values that are currently part of our lives, taking into account our children’s temperaments and inclinations. This is a good thing because it makes us a diverse, vibrant society.

I believe that teaching our children involves several elements. The first is expressed in this quote on education by Rav Yehuda Amital: [Hat tip: Hirhurim]

Read more on Teaching our children: Modeling is not enough…

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Received via a community email list:

We’d like to keep our 4- and 6-year-olds alert and excited for as long as possible during the seder. Acting out parts of the haggada has been suggested but we’re drawing a blank on how to do this realistically yet without delaying the proceedings too much.
Has anyone out there in Cyberspace done this successfully in previous years? Can you share your ideas?
Also, any idea how to act out the MAKOT (plagues)?

Despite not doing anything unusual at our seder, our kids manage to stay awake. Our oldest set the precedent at his first seder at age 2.5 weeks. My parents were supposed to join us, but they had been in town for the birth and brit and couldn’t bring themselves to make a second trip so soon. We declined an invitation to the seder, which was just as well, because our newborn stayed awake for the entire time; my husband and I took turns walking with him.

As for older children, it helps if they have learned about Pesach in advance, and have a pictorial haggadah. I’ve heard of props and quizzes, but I think the most important thing is to pay attention to them, explain the text on their level, and have them fully participate in every aspect of the seder including serving. After all, the seder is full of all kinds of interesting activities; we just need to point them out.

Another thing that helps: We serve only two courses and generally end by midnight. And don’t forget the naps.

Please post any suggestions in the comments.

Read more on Keeping kids interested in the seder…

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M., my friend and co-playgroup mother, loves crafts. I thought you might enjoy her latest project.

It started when M. found some “matzah paper” in a store. She cut and folded the thin cardboard, decorated with a matzah pattern, to make the front and back cover of the “haggadah.” On the front she wrote, “Happy and Kosher Pesach.”

She then helped the little girls, aged 4, make and paste different symbols according to the sections of the haggadah. Our 5 and 6-year-old sons were at her house that day, and helped by writing the “text” in crayon.

The first page contains a foil cup, to illustrate the kiddush (sanctification) on the wine:

To illustrate hand-washing, the girls made hand-prints. The karpas is just painted paper, dipped in a shiny bowl of salt-water:
For maggid, the story of the Exodus that is the centerpiece of the seder, they pasted in a book and wrote “Haggadah shel Pesach.” (Pesach haggadah)
Here’s the second hand-print and that matzah paper again.

Maror is more painted paper, and korech is a one-dimensional paper sandwich. My son did not want me to post this picture, because his friend misspelled korech by writing it with a koof instead of a kaf. I promised him that I would let you all know the correct spelling (kaf, vav, resh, kaf sofit).
Here’s the shulchan aruch (set table, for eating the festive meal); notice the fork and spoon. We also have the tzafun (hidden matzah).
You have to lift up the paper to view the afikoman (hidden matzah eaten for “dessert.”)
Here we have another cup to symbolize the wine after Birkat Hamazon (blessing after the meal) and letters cut out from the girls’ painted paper that spell out Hallel (songs of praise). My daughter says her cup was red, so we had to compare her hand to the prints to make sure we brought home the right haggadah. We had.

Here she had them paint over a stencil of Jerusalem, that she happened to have lying around. Doesn’t everyone?

In case you’re as clueless about these things as I am, M made the pages separately (on the clean side of printed pages, of course) and then stapled them back to back, in order, inside the cover.

I thought about writing a post about how to make Pesach if you haven’t started yet, but I don’t know if anyone would find it useful. Have a good week.

Read more on Preschool Pesach Project: Simplified Haggadah…

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