Monday
Today was kind of a joke. The kids were having a hard time just getting through lessons, as was I.
Science was fun as usual though. We talked about plate tectonics. We did this little peanut butter and crackers demonstration to show how the plates rub or slide along each other. When one plate slides under the other plate it becomes magma and can create a volcano. When the plates slide side to side it creates an earthquake, and when the plates spread apart from each other the magma is exposed and makes more land. When two plates push against each other it can create a mountain. The kids liked using their crackers to make mountains.
Then we used a sander to make vibrations on a piece of wood. The kids got some of their little toys and we made earthquakes for the poor little toys. They were getting tossed all over the place, and of course the kids thought that was the funniest thing in the world. We also attempted to demonstrate how a seismograph works. Annabelle would try and make a line with a pencil down the wood, and we'd turn on the sander and see how the line became wiggly. I explained that is how scientists measure how big an earthquake is.
Science was fun as usual though. We talked about plate tectonics. We did this little peanut butter and crackers demonstration to show how the plates rub or slide along each other. When one plate slides under the other plate it becomes magma and can create a volcano. When the plates slide side to side it creates an earthquake, and when the plates spread apart from each other the magma is exposed and makes more land. When two plates push against each other it can create a mountain. The kids liked using their crackers to make mountains.
Then we used a sander to make vibrations on a piece of wood. The kids got some of their little toys and we made earthquakes for the poor little toys. They were getting tossed all over the place, and of course the kids thought that was the funniest thing in the world. We also attempted to demonstrate how a seismograph works. Annabelle would try and make a line with a pencil down the wood, and we'd turn on the sander and see how the line became wiggly. I explained that is how scientists measure how big an earthquake is.
Tuesday
I had a heart to heart with myself and realized that things are a little out of whack. I've been focusing so much of my time to teaching that I've let my house become a wreck. (I'd so much rather have fun with the kids, then do my houseworlk!) So, I've decided once a week we'll do a house work day where we will focus intensely on our chores and responsibility toward keeping our house in order. So that's what we did today. I am pleased to say that it went fabulously. The kids were surprisingly cooperative and did all their chores without hardly grumbling. The house looked much better and we were all in a better mood. I rewarded them by letting them watch a fun movie and have ice cream.
So, to make up for lack of school work once a week I'm planning on going on with school into the summer. We'll take about a two week summer break. Honestly I think it'll be ok though. Everyone knows that kids get bored in the summer anyways, why not just spread school out a bit? I like it!
In the afternoon Annabelle's friend Leah and her brothers came to play at our house. Leah's mom and I had a great time chatting while the kids played. She also brought us a bunch of awesome school stuff. Thanks Angela!
Wednesday
Today we had our morning routine, did a bunch of reading (from our new cool books). Annabelle was so motivated to read all her new readers. They are just at the right reading level for her and she just cruised through 12 or so books. We then went to the store (I've got to take advantage of the car when I have it). But I did make it educational! We inspected price tags, compared prices, and practiced writing our numbers. We bought all the ingredients we needed for our science experiment, crystal gardens; and also our Halloween craft day coming up on Friday. We came home and did our experiment. It is looking like it's going to be a success. I can see little crystals trying to form!
Thursday
Today we had our morning routine; for devotional we talked about not wanting to get revenge. If someone hurts us, pray for them. If someone takes a toy away, give them another toy too. It was funny watching the kids' faces in utter astonishment. We came up with the conclusion that if we do these things, that love will abound and we'll not be as contentious. Hopefully that will sink in a bit.
We then did some reading and our sound of the day. Then I took turns with one child at a time with their Math, while the other played on the starfall website. We used M&M's with the worksheets and they each did 5 or 6 pages!
Katelyn was just having fun playing with toys and such. She has been letting me know when she needs to poop, and I took her to the toilet when she was ready. She doesn't want to stay on it long enough to "do her duty" but it's fun seeing her so excited about the toilet.
After lunch we watched a couple videos about what to do during an earthquake. We went through the house and demonstrated where we would go. We talked about staying away from windows or things that could fall on us. We then began compiling a list of things we should have in a 72 hour kit. The power actually went out later in the evening and it was good to know where a flashlight was! The kids then had some fun playing outside in the rain and the mud, and then having showers.
Then some of the kids' friends came over to play and their mom came and chatted with me. It was great!
Friday
What a fun day! We had our home school group meet at our house for art. We started out reading "Maddie's Monster Dad" by Scott Gibala-Broxholm. We ate green glob cookies, that turned out so good! Then the kids created these adorable monsters (thanks to all the people in our ward for saving milk cartons for us):
I love our home school group!
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