Mouse Radio

Here is the latest and greatest invention in the war against rodents. Mouse Radio! Well, it's called something else: Victor® Sonic Mini PestChaser® Ultrasonic Rodent Repellent. I explained to the children, after our second catch-and-release trap didn't appeal to the snarky suspicious type mice we have living in our home, that we were going to get mouse radio. It was only for mice, not for children, so they wouldn't be able to hear it but it was going to play music that mice HATE and they will choose on their own to move out of our house. The units plug into wall outlets and we have one in the kitchen, one in the laundry room, one in the dining room, and one in the bathroom. The sonic waves don't travel through walls or furniture so you have to position them to bathe the area where the mouse have been hanging out in annoying sonic waves. The waves travel outward in a cone shape. The directions are so funny, they describe it as creating an acoustically untenable environment which rodents find offensive. I have to say that a slight buzzing noise comes from each unit, like the sound a TV makes when you've turned off the DVD player but accidentally forgot to turn off the television and you wander through the living room and think, what's that sound? But they aren't buzzing in the room where I sleep so I don't mind it so much. And we immediately saw a difference in our home. No sign of mice anywhere. 2-4 weeks is supposed to be the window for full eradication. If they can't stand the noise where their food sources are they will eventually just split and leave town.

Just to show that I have nothing against mice per se, and -- in fact -- just like Rose Fyleman's poem, "I think mice are rather nice," I have made this list of favorite mouse books.


An Ode to Mice

The Mouse Bookby Helen Piers

Alexander and the Magic Mouseby Martha Sanders



























Anyone think of others? I'd love to have these lists be collaborative -- write a comment and share your favorites!


Mice in the Kindergarten

Mice certainly get their fair share of attention in Waldorf education! Think of all the little verses, poems, finger plays, and puppetries in kindergarten. The seasonal verses, particularly in Autumn. The cleanup verse in A Child's Seasonal Treasury, ("Cleaning Up," page 9). If you go to the link (Amazon.com), click Look Inside, then Search Inside This Book and type "mouse" you will be able to see the verse.



Mice in Grade 2

Mice are back in a big way in The Fables of Aesop ed. by Joseph Jacobs ($3.00):

The Cat and the Mice

The Kite, the Frog, and the Mouse


I also like the collection by Ann McGovern($4.99) for her simpler retellings. I like Jacobs' volume for the variety of fables. I recommend having them both. She includes:

The Lion and the Mouse

The Mice in Council (this is another version of Who Will Bell the Cat?)



Mice in Grade 4

Then they get their turn to be in the spotlight again in the 4th grade Man and Animal (Zoology) block.

See some photos of main lesson book pages posted by Donna Simmons.

According to Towards Creative Teaching, which is an excellent resource for this block (as well as for many others -- keep in mind it's just $13.95), the Mouse is a trunk animal.

"To be a trunk-animal means to lead a life doing only what is useful for self-preservation." p.33

Sounds like a mouse to me!