Learnin'

Late last Friday I began writing about the good day we had just had. For some reason I woke up that morning wanting to teach the boys everything I could. That was the day that they wrote their stories. It was a good day, full of unusual patience by all parties involved. All day I wanted to be teaching the boys new things. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a day like it before. I didn't care that the house was a giant mess, I just wanted to keep going. The boys were fun and focused and they soaked up everything we did. It started when we were talking over oatmeal and sprinkles about The Gruffalo, as is common for us to do. I told them what a main character is and they figured out that in The Gruffalo, it’s the mouse. I even said the word protagonist to them, but then thought they might get beat up in kindergarten for saying that word, so I toned it down.

They dictated their stories to me, with main characters, settings, conflicts, and resolutions. We did a sorting activity that had them figuring out what various groupings had in common with each other, We did a reading lesson where they learned the sound th and read more and more words. We even did an “engineering” game that I thought up with wooden blocks. And they stuck with it for an extraordinarily long time.

For the sorting game they came up with some silly categories, like "Things I Like," but also "Things with Wheels" and "Things at a Pond."



Pile of cut-outs for our sorting game

Things that go up in the sky

Felines!

Things with wheels

Trying to make towers the same height with the same blocks

Copying each other's patterns

Cityscape!

We watched Sid the Science Kid, which was about eating healthily. So we talked about the food groups and nutrition. Clark ate an entire apple and a half to show off his balanced meal. Cal ate just one slice after first pouting in bed about having to do it. We were going to work on their martial arts  moves but ran out of steam. When Brian came home he took the boys to the grocery store and to the driving range while I went running and vacuumed. I did not do those two things at the same time, just FYI.

All this made me think that I really need to record here some of the learnin’ things we’ve been up to. So here are the ones I took pictures of from the past few weeks or so.

In our little preschool group we did an activity with the book Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert.

Veggies and fruits in a pillowcase for the kids to touch without seeing

Philip did eat his alphabet!

Talkin' textures with Clark and a potato

More veggie and fruit touchin'

Time to color!

Drinking our alphabet via V8 Fusion!

Letters and words tracing

We have a little scribe on our hands!

Being the Gruffalo

Building a baseball field and calling the plays

Made a giant cookie ice cream sandwich cake for Dad

Geocaching with Aunt Bean!

Explaining the tedious rules of Candyland to Alex

How do you break open a walnut, Missy?

How to paint a mini pumpkin: start with three cute pumpkins

What's inside a pumpkin?

I don't really know...about...this....

Be-fanged Clark the Shark!

Final product

How to brush a girl's hair

Tea time etiquette

Pinkies up!

Playseum art!

Aunt Bean's bedtime stories

Watching that astronaut movie (Apollo 13) on TV!
No time to go to the bathroom? Bring the potty chair to you!

Becoming Abe and George

Finding groceries from a list (at The Playseum)

George Washington the supermarket clerk

My friend Susan's cookie craft to go with
the book Cookies by Amy K. Rosenthal

Accompanying chocolate chip numbers activity

And edible cookie pops!

Building a kite with Aunt Bean