A VERY GOOD SCHOOL DAY. The children listened, Andrew was focused, he remembered things, read things, tried things, found that all of it was a lot of fun. It did not feel like school work at all, and yet, we did more than the program called for.
I wondered, if Andrew would remember anything we learned about boats and ships. He did. The 'stern' seems to be the hardest part to remember, though. As we were on the subject of ships, we reviewed floating. The example experiment in the book was a messy one to follow, but the kids learned a good lesson. We made a ball out of clay and watched it sink to the bottom of a bowl. Next, we used the same ball and molded it into a boat, and it floated beautifully. The clay, however, has a bad tendency to turn into a major mess when getting wet. Playdoh proved to be a better choice, although it also became sticky when wet.
One of our math assignments was a lot of fun. We started learning about centimeters. Fist, I had the kids measure some toys in inches and then in centimeters. Having family overseas, it was not hard to explain to Andrew that we measure things in inches, but Grandma measures things in centimeters. They do a lot of stuff differently over there, so why not measure differently as well.
Our last lesson today was about the wild places in the world. We started reading about mountains and how people live in the mountains. I showed Andrew how mountains look on the physical map of the world and we tried to memorize a few mountain rangers in the world. Andy's favorite was the Andes, of course.
Also, today, I had a 'caught reading' moment in my house. While I was getting lunch ready, the children were very quiet in the living room. As I peeked round the corner, I saw both of them sitting down with their noses in books. Wonderful!
Andrew asked me the cutest question today: "Mom, did the first children play in the mud?" I started laughing and told him that I was pretty sure the first children played in the mud. At least that one thing has not changed over the millenniums.
Andrew and Saara started playing in the mud after they tried to carry water buckets on their heads just like the people in the early villages. It was a perfect activity on a hot summer day. I bet, Andrew felt pretty cool after dumping a whole bucket full on water on himself. Fun in the sun.
I have always loved rainbows. I have noticed that Texas does not have as many of them as Estonia. It took me seven years to spot my first one here. It was a treat though - a double rainbow. I am thankful that my children were there to watch the pretty colors in the sky with me that day.
Today, however, we made a rainbow of our own. As part of our science lesson we played with the mirror in the water until it gave us a pretty spectrum.
The other fun thing we did today was the coracle - a sort of a boat early people used for traveling. Of course, we made a toy one to float around in the pool and used chenille sticks and plastic instead of a wood frame and tar smeared hides. Less mess, I'd say.
We keep on going. Our fun project today was the 'cave' painting. We shut the door of our 'cave' (the children's bathroom), switched off the light, lit a candle (pretend prehistoric lamp), brought out the cardinal feathers we found outside yesterday, filled the cups with kids' paint and started the artwork. In the photos, the flash of the camera takes away the cool 'cave' effect of the experience. The children stopped only when they ran out of space on the banner paper. I am looking forward to Dad's reaction when he sees the bathroom this afternoon.
We are still riding the wave of the prehistoric times and learning how people lived back then. Today we read about how the prehistoric people made their clothes and what jewelry they wore. This became our project of the day. Andrew and Saara worked diligently on their seashell necklaces and bracelets. They are really pleased with their handiwork. Andrew tore off his shirt and ran outside like a true caveman. He ignored his sister who kept calling him Tarzan. We had a lot of seashells and beads left over, so Mama had to make one pretty bracelet for herself too, of course.
Also, while teaching Andrew about the changing of the seasons, I used a very good YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuiQvPLWziQ&NR=1
We did a number of fun activities today. First, we were out the door by 7:30 trying to get the hard sun-parched ground to co-operate and let us stick two sticks in the ground. Our goal was to measure the length of the shadow. We did it again at 12:30. Both children recorded their observations in their journals.
Second, one of the books we were reading today mentioned milking goats. Now, that is an activity that does not make much sense to the new generation unless you own a goat farm. Thankfully, there still are goat farms. On The Green Farms has posted a series of goat care videos on the YouTube. Part 3 in the series shows how the milking is done. Fun to watch. http://www.onthegreenfarms.com/natural-animal-care/goats/
Third, we read about the first people, what they ate, where they lived, etc. That was the best part of today: marching into the woods to cut down some branches and haul them over to our play ground and build a sort of a hut. Mom's garden burlap and trash bag ties came handy as animal skins and plant ropes. I stopped there, but Andrew and his imagination were hard at work. He was looking for a good straight stick and stones to make a spear. So out came Mom's gardening ties and we ended up with a spear and an axe that did remind me of the prehistoric tools we looked at in a library book. Before the hot weather chased us back into our 21st century pool, I had time to teach Andrew how to throw a spear. Boy, it brought back memories of my years on the track-and-field team!
