Saturday, March 29, 2008

The Trojan Graham Horse

Trojan Graham Horse

Continuing with our edible models, this week the kids made the Trojan Horse out of graham crackers, pretzels and Life Savers. They used chocolate for glue, which didn't work as well as the buttercream frosting we used for Stonehenge. As they built it, we talked about the Iliad. Many things were decided, notably the lack of reasoning on the part of the Trojans. And poor Cassandra! She told them not to bring the horse in. Nobody listens to her. I know how she feels. How many times have I said, "If you tease the cat, the cat will scratch you," and does anybody listen? No, they come to me later with a scratch! In my opinion, this tragic figure of the Iliad represents mothers everywhere.

The Trojan Horse lasted about as long as Stonehenge. It's really interesting to have your 5 year old come up to you and say, "Mom, I'm done with dinner, can I eat Stonehenge now?" Of course, she wanted to dig into the Trojan Horse when she had barely touched her dinner. Good thing we didn't put any Greek soldiers inside. We had considered gummi bears or Sour Patch Kids, but I forgot to buy them.

Chase wants to build the Parthenon next. I'm thinking more graham crackers and Pirouline cookies. Marina's thinking more sugar wafers. She's also thinking Easter Island heads carved out of chocolate. To be continued.,.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is absolutely cool!

momof3feistykids said...

Oh my gosh ... that is awesome!

Fatcat said...

What a great idea!

I'd be happy to come over and, um, help clean up after the Easter Island sculpting day, if you need any help! ;-)

Jenny of Elefantz said...

Quote from 15yo Sam - "Yummmmmmeeee! Someone has too much chocolate..."

But now you've started something! Ideas from my kids to yours:
1. Parthenon...use stacked lifesavers for the columns, and pour melted chocolate down them for support once it hardens.
2. Parthenon...use licorice sticks for columns.
3. Soften a HUGE slab of chocolate and press wafers into the top for roofs...

You know you have created food monsters in our home don't you?? Mine want to melt chocolate again(can you see a theme here???)into a brick shape, then carve a mummy coffin before eating. Now they are thinking of carving chocolate (again!) canopic jars and filling them with skittles for the body organs...oh, now they are screaming at me how they will build Cleopatra's barge out of - you guessed it! - CHOCOLATE!

And we are not even doing Egypt. Duh?!

Anonymous said...

Great idea! Food crafts are a favorite here, but ours have never been such a feat.

Anonymous said...

Quote from 3 year old Little Commandant:

"Cool! What are those?"

We've been discussing the Trojan Horse because CBC recently ran a mini-series by that name. The kids didn't watch it (definitely PG material) but they saw many a commercial announcing the 2-part movie & wanted to know about it.

We'll have to try out your modelling idea. Thanks! :)

Cheers,
Ruby in Montreal

Dana Leeds said...

What a great looking Trojan Horse! (And, of course, yummy,too!)

Anonymous said...

I was looking for a Trojan cake for my son and in stead I found a great family. As I reviewed your site,tears came to my eye's and I had to keep myself from going into a full blow cry session. It is amazing the time energy and the care you have put into children, life and site.

I home school for a while and felt I was doing more harm then good. My heart and was to achieve what you have here,a close family and children with insight and protection. Now they attend public school and are not even the children I knew before.
So thank you for doing so well and sharing with us.

jugglingpaynes said...

Dear Anonymous, you sound like you could really use a hug. Being a parent is the hardest job in the world, and we are thrown into it unprepared. Because you can't prepare. Life is full of surprises, both good and bad. Your children may be different now that they attend public school, but that change does not have to distance you from them. All children grow and change and have moments when they are close to one parent, hate another. It is the process of learning who they are. All we can do is try to show them how much we love them and to support their dreams.

As hard as homeschooling is, I think it is harder to entrust the care of our children to a school, since it is so much more difficult to connect with them when they spend most of the day away from you. All the more reason to work to keep the lines of communication open. Love who they are. (I have to remind myself regularly not to push my own aspirations onto my kids.) Offer them the security of a loving home to return to at the end of the day.

Good luck to you, I hope everything works out for your family. {{hugs}}

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