End of Year Mash Up

I recently learned that *the kids* these days have a new, hip (hipper than me) name for 2 or more songs mixed together and reissued as a finished product: a mash up. It really makes me think of either *a medley* or *mashed potatoes*. But then I am not particularly up with the times. Dude.


So, I thought it would be clever to entitle this blogpost with the term "mash up" to indicate that there will be several unrelated topics under one post. Mixed together. Sort of. Its really just a list of stuff. Not very well or cleverly mixed together at all. :)

Trust me when I tell you that the title may be the best thing about this post.

So first of all, due to the fact that Little Brother is obsessed with Legos, and due to the other fact that Prince of Persia Legos were on major sale at wallyworldtheevilempire.com, Little Brother is now obsessed with the Persian Empire. This works out well for us homeschooly types because now I can strew historical information regarding Persia about the house. And he will learn new, neat things.

You can enjoy this information as well. Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
Kids seem to enjoy history best when they can relate history to a real person, a character of interest and depth, along with some stories. My children are already familiar with the story of Queen Esther and Purim, so we are starting with Cyrus the Great, the reknowned Persian king who released the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity around 550 bce.

And Cyrus had a fantastic standard:



I transferred the file to a bitmap, then into my photo program, and then into a black and white lined coloring page. Either color it as is, or set it up on poster print. With that a child can color a REALLY BIG flag, or if they are detail oriented and patient, they can cut out each mosaic-like piece of the standard and reassemble on a red back ground. Fun!



Click to enlarge and copy.





















Next on the list, (I mean mash up!) is the bizaare weather we are having on this New Year's Eve! Tornadoes, 60-some degrees, warming sunshine... The fairies might think it is spring and come out of hiding!



GI Joe, you will have to hang on for a day. Its too nice outside for the boy to play with you just now.



Pentominoes have made their way out again!