For April, I went to the Calendar Spot, printed out a blank, generic calendar and filled it out with all the days we wanted to take special note of and it ended up looking like this...
On to May (if you'd like to see more holidays, yes it boggles the mind that there could be more, or see descriptions of where these got their start, check out Holiday Insights)!
Date Your Mate Month
Now, I know this doesn't have too much school room use, but this is awesome. I think this means Steve and I should up our date nights. Maybe we could even do a retro date night (back to when we were first married) and go walk through Wal-Mart. Heehee. He isn't a huge fan, but combine the fact that the town we first lived was small and it was one of the only stores, with us being very poor students and we ended up there a lot, just wandering around. It always brings back fun memories when we're there together.
National Barbeque, Hamburger and Salad Month
No, it's not these together, but I think it's interesting that May is all of these seperately. Maybe because it's getting warmer which leads to cooking lighter and outside? Either way, cooking is always a great lesson for kids (and if you happen to have a cub scout in your house, there's always something cooking related they can pass off). I think we'll try a few new recipes and maybe even have my kids pick them.
National Photograph Month
Last year I tried doing a photograph a day challenge and it didn't last very long. Maybe we could do a take on it during the school week. I could assign a different child to be in charge of the camera each day, giving them each a chance to show me our day from their perspective (which might just lead to masses of pictures, I'm so very thankful for digital cameras and the delete button). They would LOVE it.
National Police Week
The website says it's the 3rd week of the month, does that mean the 3rd full week? Which would mean the week of the 20th? Or would it just be the 3rd week and the week of the 13th? Either way, we had so much fun in April taking thank you cards to the librarians (for National Librarian's Day), I know my kids would love to make some to take down to our local police station.
1 May Day
The traditional celebration of the beginning of spring, warmer weather and the beautiful flowers they bring. This is one of my favorite holidays and I'm excited to start a new tradition with my kids.
Did you know that one traditional activity is to give flowers to your neighbors and friends without being spotted? I didn't, but it sure sounds like a good time. I've found two simple flower baskets you can make out of paper and some cute paper flowers to go in them. One involves candy and the others are a little more plain, both would be so much fun to doorbell ditch at a loved ones home.
2 Brothers and Sisters Day
Last month siblings day was a pretty big hit at our house, so we'll definitely be recognizing Brothers and Sisters Day (even if it might be a made up holiday). This will be a more low key holiday, one where we focus on loving, serving and leaving surprise notes for each other.
3 Space Day
This day has a lot of potential. Space is pretty awesome and there are lots of fun activities you can do to go along with it (if you aren't feeling up to being crafty, you can always visit a nearby air and space museum instead). I found a TON of different crafts for different ability levels at about dot com.
I think we'll make a space ship with a little paint (or a lot depending on which of my kids you're talking to) and a couple of paper plates. Simple enough for my youngest, but fun enough my oldest will still love it. If the simple version doesn't float your boat, try out this pretty cool version using a CD, mini touch light and half an easter egg. In fact, I might just give this a whirl if I can find some cheap lights at the dollar store.
And if you're still thinking, come on, bring on the SPACE, well then, this craft is for you. Have you ever wanted your very own Hubble telescope? Now you can have one. Of course, it's a smidge smaller than the one in space, but it's pretty great just the same.
4 Bird Day
I know that celebrating two holidays in one day is a little bit crazy and I'm not sure we're going to, but I couldn't decide between Bird Day and Star Wars Day. As this day happens to fall on a Saturday, we probably won't do any big crafts, but maybe I'll print out some coloring sheets for the kids (like this cute one of a pelican). If I can manage it, we'll go for a hike on a trail, aptly named Birdsong, not too far from my home and do a little bird watching.
4 Star Wars Day
This unofficial holiday got it's start accidentally when a German news channel mistranslated the famous phrase, "May the force be with you" to say something along the lines of "We'll be with you on May 4th." So, May the fourth be with you while you go and watch a Star Wars movie, it's what we'll be doing.
5 Cinco de Mayo
I love May. I love May holidays and Cinco de Mayo is no exception. This holiday can be so much fun! Learn a little about Mexican culture (even though the holiday started as a celebration of an important victory against the French in 1862, it's turned into a way to celebrate Mexican heritage and culture), make some super yummy recipes (check out Our Best Bites list of favorite Cinco de Mayo recipes, I LOVE their flour tortillas, simple and YUMMY!), or try out some fun crafts and activities (like the ones on Deb's Pinterest board).
9 Lost Sock Memorial Day
I just thought this one was funny. Maybe I could have my kids write a eulogy for all the lost socks they love. Or maybe would should finally go through our un-mated sock bag and get rid of all the ones that have been hanging around for years. Do you have any fun (or funny) ideas?
9 National Train Day
I haven't met a kid yet who doesn't like trains. Yes, I know they are out there, but I still haven't met one. This will be the perfect day for us to head out to an old train depot not too far away and climb all over the old trains (we're allowed to, don't worry, I'm not a rule breaker). If you don't happen to have a depot near you, try making your own trains out of construction paper or if that sounds too simple, you could always use pasta instead (so cute)!
12 Limerick Day
We love limericks around here. We studied them earlier in the year (we read a lot of Edward Lear) and then we used this worksheet to help us write our very own. I'll admit, my younger kids needed a lot of help, but they still had fun and couldnt' stop laughing at their own rhymes by the end.
15 National Chocolate Chip Day
I think this might take over as my favorite holiday of all time. Okay, probably not all time, but it's going to be up there. Did you know there was a National Chocolate Chip day? Well, why didn't you tell me earlier?!
My very favorite way to eat chocolate chips is inside cookie dough. I know, some strange people make cookie dough to make cookies, and they're good that way too, I just happen to prefer the dough. One of my very favorite, very, very favorite recipes of all time are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes (they even have cookie dough icing!). I've made them for my birthday the last two years and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make them again this year. What's your favorite way to eat chocolate chips?
I love museums. My kids love museums. I see this as a win-win and the perfect opportunity to visit a museum we've been wanting to check out, but haven't made time for yet. This year the 18th falls on a Saturday, which might be better for some families (letting the whole family go together), but if you're like us and this just adds one more thing to an already over-stressed day, go earlier in the week, we always love a good field trip!
20 Pick Strawberries Day
If you have a place near you (or are lucky enough to be growing your own and they're ready), go pick some. Eat some. Yum!! Or, if you aren't, I think you can count going to the grocery store and buying some as picking them, because either way you get to eat them, which is the part that really matters, right? If you get tired of eating them by themselves (does that happen?) you can try this freezer jam recipe or try one of my favorites and make some Strawberry Cheesecake Bars.
25 International Jazz Day
I think I might have mentioned before that I'm not a huge music person. If you ask me what's on my Ipod, I could tell you all about the audiobooks I've got on there, but nothing about the music my husband put on there for me (isn't he's so nice?) and I almost never listen to. My point is that I want to give my kids a chance to discover and appreciate all different kids of music, in spite of me. My plan is simple. I'm going to find a good jazz station and listen. Let my kids experience the music and see what they think.
27 Memorial Day
Last year for Memorial Day we joined up with some of my husbands family to visit the graves of many of their ancestors. Do you do that? I'd never heard of it before, but given the masses of crowds that were out, I'd say it's a fairly normal thing. If you haven't done it, I highly encourage it. It was so much fun to hear stories and introduce our kids to family members they haven't gotten a chance to meet. Plus, the visiting happened with living family we don't see often enough and that was fun too. A great tradition I'm looking forward to again this year.
Those cupcakes look tasty! You have such a fun blog. I've enjoyed visiting today! (From a fellow LDS homeschooling mama :-)
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