Well, now that the garden updates are done... how about a school update!?! This school year is off to a great start. We are studying earth science and astronomy which the boys LOVE. We've covered some favorites so far: volcanoes, mountains, rocks/minerals, and soil. In a few weeks we are going to be doing a weather unit, Eli is going to have a blast!
When we were studying dirt we took a little field trip down by the river. We wanted to see what we could find rotting along the trail. Dirt + boys = fun! We also threw a few wheat berries in a mason jar to watch the roots grow through the dirt. I used dirt from the backyard in the hope we might get a worm or two in there but I must have missed them with the shovel. The wheat sprouted in just a day or two and grew up and out of the jar in less than a week. If you ever need a fast growing seed for a project I highly recommend wheat! It's almost like the wheat knew we weren't going to be watching for too long so it hurried up and did it's thing.
We are studying Medieval history this year. Justus especially has been enjoying the story of
Beowulf. I was pretty surprised. Jerry says it's full of stuff boys like: swords, heroes, monsters, and ripped off arms. I've overheard the boys discussing who is going to be Beowulf and who is going to be Grendel when they are playing. And just when Wesley learned what an Anglo-Saxon was news broke that a huge
Anglo-Saxon gold stash was found! Excellent timing! Wesley really wants a metal detector now! He's sure he can find treasure if he just has the right tools.
While we were on our dirt nature walk we kept our eyes out for a good feather to turn into a quill pen. We found one and took turns writing with it after I prepared it. We used juice concentrate as the ink, which still stains by the way! We all were surprised at how easily we were able to write with it, except for Justus who is a lefty. Lefties and wet ink don't mix.
In an effort to get a little more creative with the younger boys, I bought an ebook that I've heard great things about and organized a preschool
activity bag swap. Each activity bag contains a self correcting, child led learning activity for the younger kids. I put a note out on the homeschool group message board and got 11 other moms to make bags to swap. We each made two bags and went home with 24 activity bags. We hosted the actual swap here on Monday and had a great time visiting with the other moms and their kids.
The activity bags include all sorts of different learning activities. Eli really enjoys the activities that include beads for sorting or counting. I've also discovered he enjoys any math counting or sorting activities that include food. Who says you can't eat your math manipulatives?! Cheerios, chocolate chips, m&m's, marshmallows, peanuts... they're all good!
Thanks to all of you who participated in Wesley's
favorite day of the week math activity! He really had a good time reading your comments. And in case any of you are wondering... Sunday won and not one person picked Wednesday!
Roz didn't bring any laundry home (there wasn't room), although she did bring one pair of pants that needed adjusting. Mostly she just tried to cram down as much homemade food as she could, but time ran out and she had to head back. Don't worry Roz, I finished that last pumpkin bar for you! It was sure great to have her home! Now we'll have to start counting down until Thanksgiving!
