Wednesday

St. Patrick's Day

We're gearing up for St. Patrick's Day around here! I've always had a slight obsession with all things Irish. Could be my roots perhaps. My maiden name was a Mc, as was my mother's maiden name. Therefore, I have Scottish and Irish on both sides of my family...can you tell by the hair color of my kids?!? What in the world?! (That's what I thought when Carter was born...where did THAT come from? Honestly, I assumed he'd take after his daddy's filipino heritage and come out a little darker than the white-skinned auburn-haired child that he is! And then came Carlee! Seriously, the Scottish and Irish were staking their claim on my kids!




Interestingly, less than four percent of the entire population has naturally red hair and apparently less than 2 percent live in America. However, in my beloved Scotland, 13% of the people have red hair and my dear Ireland follows closely with a whopping 10%!


Since having two red heads of my own (or Auburn as we like to call it), I have learned lots of interesting little facts, such as: the gene responsible for the color red is actually mutated! (Nice.) Also, the gene has to come from both sides of the family in order for you to get a child with red hair. I've run into (and been chased down by old ladies in the grocery store...seriously) who exclaimed how they wish they had children with red hair (they themselves generally are (or were formly) red headed. I kindly inform them they should have checked the gene pool of their husband before they married him to see if it was even possible to get a child with red hair. :)


Here's a few more fun (or not so fun) facts: redheads are more sensitive to light and sound (I can attest that this is true). They are also known for their tempers (I can attest that this  might be true!) They are sadly, most susceptible to sunburn (again, a testimonial to this).


But, enough with the facts! Let's talk about the Lucky Festivities I have planned for tomorrow!


For breakfast we just might have some green eggs and some green milk and yogurt! (sounds appetizing, right??) And for lunch I'll be making a new pea soup recipe from my new Nourishing Traditions cookbook.


And, with a little luck we'll locate Ireland on our globe, make Irish Brown Bread to share with Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the family. (We always have Corn Beef and Cabbage with my parents every St. Patrick's Day.)


Here's a couple of pictures from last year. I can't believe how big the kids have gotten in one year!


The kids last year making "Blarney Pudding"



This picture is from 2 years ago. That's my niece on the left, and YES, she has red hair too! Can you believe it? :)

 2011

2011

 The Cousins!

I just love Caleb in this picture! :)

We will also play this fun game that I found online from Family Fun Magazine:

For science I will give the kids a white carnation with some green food coloring mixed in the water and over the next couple of days we'll watch the carnation turn a lovely shade of green! :) We'll also talk about how plants make their own food and why the leaves of plants are green. We'll discuss what a green thumb is too. :)

We'll brush up on our phonics skills with our Shamrock File Folder Game and I'll have the kids dictate to me what they like about St. Patrick's Day on some shamrock lined writing paper. Want some too? Go here.

My preschooler will also use this Rainbow worksheet from my favorite homeschool blog. (If you want even more rainbow ideas, Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler has some great ones!)

We'll also do a graphing activity entitled "How Do you Like Your Spuds?" and the kids will call a few people to see how they best like their potatoes. We'll practice using our tally marks and then graph our results.

For excercise we'll be sure to practice a few jigs while we listen to some good 'ol celtic music! (Here's another fun fact for you...My grandpa, uncle and Mom all used to play in a bagpipe band. My uncle has traveled fairly extensively competing with his bagpipe band.)

Do you have any fun crafts or activities for St. Patrick's Day? Please share! I love themes for school! :)

2 comments:

Kylie said...

So fun! I have a red head little girl, and we get stopped everywhere we go too! Red heads are oh so fun! :)

Tattin' Kat said...

Our neighbor is bringing over Corn Beef and Cabbage tomorrow :) Does your mom play the bagpipe?

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