Adventures in Mama-Land

Are your kids bored with typical Jewish children’s books?? I know mine were! That’s actually one of the main reasons I started writing books for Jewish kids.  I was sick of stories that simply repeat the basics:  “It’s Rosh Hashanah, we dip an apple.”  “It’s Sukkos, we sit in the sukkah.”  “It’s Chanukah, we light the menorah.”  I was bored to death of these, and so were my kids, by the time they were two years old or so.  Plus – kids love to read about animals.  I really believe that animals can give us a lot of insight into ourselves and the things we do. That’s how I got the idea for my first animal book – Penguin Rosh Hashanah .  I was sitting on a train wondering what to write for Rosh Hashanah, and I suddenly had the random thought, “Penguins.”  Why penguins?  Penguins, or any animal, really, are the exact opposite of Rosh Hashanah.  And I love it.  Loved the idea of finding connections and creating a very loose, light st...

We’re back to summer schooling, which includes weekly book reports / reviews (I know there’s a difference, but whatever…).  I thought it would be fun to share a list of book reviews my kids have written over the last however-many years, mainly during the summer. Hopefully, I’ll update this list as the kids create new reviews.  I’ve vowed that I’m going to make them write one new review each week for the remaining 7 weeks of summer… (NOTE:  Some of the links are messed up.  I have vowed to fix them but it seems like it’s not going to happen until summer is over.  Forgive me if you hit a broken one!) Almost a Winner (Teddy Mars) - Funny and interesting, a review by GZ, age 8         The BFG – A Great Classic, Review by YM, age 12 and GZ, age 8       The Fourteenth Goldfish -  A fun and suspenseful story, a review by NRM, age 11         Schooled by Gordon Korman, Review by NR, age 11 ...

Welcome, welcome!  Only 2 days late and perhaps (as I tediously always say), a couple dollars short.  My excuse?  I have none… just working.  Life on Israel time is so incredibly fast-paced.  I would never have believed that having an extra working day in the week could possibly mean I would feel MORE busy.  Weird how that works.  So enough about that.  This is my third time I’ve been lucky enough to host the Jewish Book Carnival, and I’ve received so many terrific submissions from folks who are passionate about Jewish books.  Even if you're not Jewish, you can step inside (okay, scroll inside) and find some great books and writers about books from all over the internet.  I hope you’ll discover a new favourite blog or book today. What goes on in a Jewish book carnival? Glad you asked!  Here, you’ll find… Reviews of Jewish books Interviews with authors, illustrators, editors, publishers, librarians, etc. about Jewish literatu...

Maybe I’m still a homeschooler at heart? (Are you one, too?) When I asked for feedback about the book I’m currently working on, Elephant Tisha b’Av , I got a ton of helpful comments.  Sure, some were a little LESS than helpful, like one person who didn’t think we should be observing Tisha b’Av at all:  “In my opinion it is time to stop mourning the past.”  But others gave me fantastic inspiration.  More people liked the idea but asked for more about the elephants themselves, and I realized I’d jumped right into the “sad memories” part without showing how magnificant and fun these creatures are in their own right.  Some felt the connection wasn’t clear between the elephants and the observance of Tisha b’Av, and I did my best to tighten up that link so it’s clear without being smack-on-the-forehead obvious.  I like a little subtlety. A lot of people wonder why I'm doing these animal books at all. 

Remember that Paperclips movie a few years ago?  There’s a book out about it now , too.  The movie made me angry, and tonight I’m angry again, for almost the same reason.  Am I the only one? In case you missed it, h ere’s one description of the Paperclips movie: When the principal of Whitwell Middle School sought a program that would teach diversity to a predominantly white, Protestant student body, the notion of focusing on the Holocaust--specifically Hitler's extermination of six million Jews--seemed like an obvious way to go. Seriously???  If you’re trying to teach diversity to kids who have never met a Jew, you teach the Holocaust?  That makes as much sense as using slavery as the core of a curriculum about African pride, history and culture.  Or smallpox as a way of teaching about native Americans. See why my brain is steaming out my ears just thinking about this movie?  Do I really want the only thing kids in Mississippi to learn about m...

Chanukah’s coming… What could go wrong??? Well, Murphy’s Law of Holidays says anything that CAN go wrong WILL go wrong when it comes to holiday seasons.  But there’s no reason we can’t laugh about it now. Tell me all about your biggest, baddest, funniest, craziest or most MONSTROUS Chanukah disaster and you could win my book Chanukah Monsters (softcover, 8.5” x 8.5”, full-colour paperback, retail value $8.99 on Amazon.com), including mailing anywhere in the United States or Canada (sorry, other people; I love you, but you’re too expensive!). One winner will receive one copy of Chanukah Monsters , by Jennifer Tzivia MacLeod (hey, that’s me!). Second and third runners-up will receive a free e-copy of any of my books available in digital form (winner’s choice). Come on… think up your worst disaster.  Get it off your chest and help the rest of us smile when we’re thinking about what could go wrong (or right) this year.  It doesn’t have to involve fire, or latke poi...

Joining the free printable mini-books I have made for Shavuos, Pesach and Chanukah, is this awesome little counting book for Rosh Hashanah.  Specially designed to print, cut out and staple at home. To receive a free PDF of this very simple print-cut-staple easy reader for Pesach, featuring all the usual cute “borrowed” Internet graphics you have come to love from my printables, please sign up for my mailing list (below).  I’ll send it to you within 24 hours. If you’re already on my mailing list, just fire off an email to me at Tzivia@tzivia.com . Here are the others in this series: “On Shavuos” printable easy reader mini-book “On Chanukah” printable easy reader mini-book “On Pesach” printable easy reader mini-book Tzivia / צִיבְיָה Coming soon:  Jewish parenting ideas, inspirations, and freebies (no spam!)

  So did I mention we’re homeschooling again? At least for the summer.  Does that make me the kind of wannabe / poseur I hate?  Or an earnest parent trying hard to make something work during weird, transitional times… I’m not sure what the answer is, but I thought I’d share a quick update on how things are going this summer with our “homeschooling / summerschooling” plans.  (It was originally going to be quick – sorry!!) It remains to be seen whether we’re going to do this long-term.  But the truth is, it feels very good.  Very, very good. In some areas, we’re picking up exactly where we left off.  But mostly, things slipped a lot during the year.  The only area in which both kids are further ahead (besides Hebrew!) is math. I had a few clear criteria before we started:

Guilt trip alert!  There I was was, feeling like a fabulous mama for taking Gavriel Zev, Kid #4, out alone today.  We get to the subway and I announce that the subway will arrive in 7 minutes. “How do you know that?” GZ asks.  Cool!  A chance to show him something amazing! “Look on that television over there,” I say.  “There, at the bottom, it tells how long until the next train.” “What television?” “Um, the big one, hanging from the ceiling???”  I point, and he wanders towards it.  “See the line at the bottom with the big letters?”  We wander closer, and closer, until he is standing practically beneath it and then, all becomes clear.  “Yes, I see it!” Um, that’s not good. “What about that sign in the middle of the tracks?” I ask ever-so-casually.  It’s a danger / warning sign:  he adores those.  But nope, he cannot read it at all .  Doesn’t even guess. “How about the sign beside it?” He grins:  “The picture...

My gift to you… just like the ones I did last year for Chanukah and for Shavuos ! This one has a five senses theme… with the usual sweet, sticky ending, of course. To receive a free PDF of this very simple print-cut-staple easy reader for Pesach, featuring all the usual cute “borrowed” Internet graphics you have come to love from my printables, please email me directly at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, and I’ll pass it along!  You can also just leave a comment here with your email address – I won’t publish your address. Sorry, it’s not direct-downloadable this time. That’s my gift to myself: a few times a year, I like to meet you, and find out who’s reading and using these things. (Just wanted to add:  I won't collect your name or email address in a mailing list or anything.  I just honestly like to know who's reading and using this stuff, because usually, all I get are download statistics) To download hundreds of other Limudei Kodesh (Jewish) printables – includ...

A long, LONG time ago, I posted a link to a printable “summer” reading list I’d made up based on Five in a Row (FIAR), a popular unit-studies curriculum for ages 4-8 based around classic picture books that generally emphasize good stories and wholesome values.  Took us a bit more than a summer to get through the books, but eventually we did it, which felt really good.  I’ve wanted to do the same thing ever since then for the books in FIAR2, the second “level” of the curriculum (there is a little-kids version AND a “beyond” curriculum for older kids that generally covers only 1-2 novels per year instead of 20-some-odd picture books.  And now, at last, it’s done! As much as I like the idea of FIAR, this list is my pragmatic nod to the fact that we have absolutely no time or space in our lives to fit in unit studies, and probably wouldn’t be good at them even if we tried.  However, if you’re inclined in that direction, I have heard from others online that the actual...

While it seems to be a public holiday in some parts, around here, with two MORE field trips this week (sigh), we can’t really spare any time, so we’re hard at work – for a change. These are the kids’ narrations for this painting, Mary Cassatt’s The Boating Party .  I typed them, so it went quickly. Gavriel Zev’s (his “sketch” of this painting is at right): In the painting, I saw the sea was a little bit green. Two people were on a boat – just plain people, skinny people. One was a man and one was a woman. There was a baby, too. There was a city in the background and some was trees. I liked the painting because there was a lot of particular things. I didn’t like the people very much – they looked a little bit bad (like they weren’t well drawn). And Naomi Rivka’s – I typed hers, then had her copy out the shortest sentence, in keeping with the Well-Trained Mind approach to easing them into their own creative writing, using short passsages from their own narration (in addition to ...

The Aleph Champ program has come to my attention a few times in the last year or so, and I am increasingly interested in its approach – though it is one many homeschoolers will disagree with, perhaps violently (I love controversy!).  Like the Yahadus curriculum I looked at in my previous post , this one, too, is from the Chabad mini-empire of worldwide educators. Working around a “martial arts” model, kids are first introduced to the alef-bais letters, then the vowels, and then they begin a program of timed readings with a goal to mastering fluency in Hebrew reading.  To reflect the martial arts theme, everything is colour-coded, including special colourful medallions and other incentives that can be awarded along the way. Here’s the official outline of the program’s stages: White Aleph Champion Master the first 18 letters of the Aleph Bet. Red Aleph Champion Master all 32 letters of the Aleph Bet. Orange Aleph Champion Master the first 3 vowels with letter combination...