A few years ago, my Dad started bringing home these funny little farm animals from the John Deere Tractor Store. He brought home a pig, and a chicken or two and before long he had a sizeable collection of these little plastic, perfectly real looking farm animals to go with his toy John Deer Tractors and an old toy barn. Of course, when we arrived for a visit at Papaw's house -- these were the first thing that my children found and just about all they played with. It wasn't long before little farm animals started showing up in their packages at birthdays and Christmas -- to go with the little John Deere tractors and wagons they each owned . In the meantime, I had purchased my children several small, cheaply made packages of plastic animals from Wal-mart, the Dollar store and Toys R Us. It wasn't long before I noticed that the animals my Dad bought were of significantly higher quality and appearance! Those cheap animals got legs broken off, paint rubbed off, or just generally looked horrible. The Schleich animals kept their paint and legs in tact and looked realistic! After a while, I started noticing these little animals at Target and was a little startled at the price tag -- some were as much as $6 for one animal. However, I found I could add one or two animals to my cart each time I visited Target and really stock up when they ran clearance. Before long, we had a nice farm collection from my Dad and a nice zoo collection from Target and the old cheap animals had gone the way of cheap toys. We even bought my husband Daniel a Lion, Lioness and four Lion cubs for Father's Day one year -- and guess what he got for his birthday this year? Twin lion cubs that look totally alike and yet completely different from the older four cubs! He keeps them on his desk at work.
I wish now that I have had my sixth child that each toy we had invested in would be of top quality and higher price. I have found whether it is wooden blocks, plastic animals, or legos -- only the best quality will make it through more then two children. I am so glad we have a nice collection of Schliech animals for Peter and Joshua to grow into! My children love to play with these and make up entire animal stories with kings and queens or act out whatever story we are reading with the animals. It's pretty amazing how much fun these little animals can be!
I know this is a bit different then my typical review -- as you can probably tell -- when the TOS Review Crew was told we would be receiving Schleich animals to review there was much rejoicing in my house. When the package arrived, I had to go to great lengths to even see the animals we received. Not surprisingly, they were gorgeous. Take my advice and buy one or two at a time and ignore those cheap bags that tempt you from the competition.
The bottom line is; We try not to insist on parent-led learning or gravitate toward child-led learning. We try instead to focus on God-led learning and ask for His input and perspective on every aspect of our home school. That way, when others fuss about what Dan and I are doing and make me second guess our decisions -- I can go back to our decision process and find God's fingerprints, reminding me that this is His way.
. In the meantime, I had purchased my children several small, cheaply made packages of plastic animals from Wal-mart, the Dollar store and Toys R Us. It wasn't long before I noticed that the animals my Dad bought were of significantly higher quality and appearance! Those cheap animals got legs broken off, paint rubbed off, or just generally looked horrible. The Schleich animals kept their paint and legs in tact and looked realistic! After a while, I started noticing these little animals at Target and was a little startled at the price tag -- some were as much as $6 for one animal. However, I found I could add one or two animals to my cart each time I visited Target and really stock up when they ran clearance. Before long, we had a nice farm collection from my Dad and a nice zoo collection from Target and the old cheap animals had gone the way of cheap toys. We even bought my husband Daniel a Lion, Lioness and four Lion cubs for Father's Day one year -- and guess what he got for his birthday this year? Twin lion cubs that look totally alike and yet completely different from the older four cubs! He keeps them on his desk at work.
