What beautiful weather we are having in Oregon right now!! My only complaint is that we have had to do A TON of watering in the garden to keep up with the lack of moisture. However, we have spent almost every day outside! A fair trade off!
Our first co-op meet up of the week was at our babysitter's house! They just moved and it was just her sons birthday as well, so they did a huge cardboard fort building day with the moving boxes in celebration.
Our second co-op meet up of the week was to walk part of the Banks/Vernonia trail again. The area we walked ran along a couple farms, we got to say hi to some milk cows and goats, and then about half a mile in we found this bridge. The kids got wet, muddy, and had a blast! I have been asking them to journal about our Thursday adventures in drawings, so here is Avery's sketch of a pink flowering tree and the little stream we followed and played in.
We have been moving right along in our math, writing, and reading programs! The boys sit down to read books often together, especially on babysitter days when she brings new books for them to peruse.
Our Steve Spangler kit of the month came! It had a jar of water absorbent beads and experiments to go with it! We hadn't played with these since Michael was a toddler and ate a bunch of them. (Poison control said no worries, they are non-toxic, just watch him for a day or two.... oh boy!) I was afraid to have them again, ha ha. And, after some color experiments and explorations my super tactile, sensory seeking kiddo smashed ALLLL of them one by one by squishing them. They are hard to sweep up. So, some science, some sensory fulfillment, some lessons on cleaning up your messes, and I am again convinced I do not want them in my home ever again. LOL.
Anatomy Fluxx! A library find and a game we have enjoyed every version we have come across. It has inspired the boys to ask for a unit on Anatomy. We haven't done one for a few years, so I am researching learning kits, books, and 3D models to do a human body study.
We finished up the Revolutionary War and Napoleon, and have moved on to South America's independence this week. The boys did not like this series of videos that I remember watching as a teen homeschooler, but we did watch the first episode.
Books that we read to go with Sacagawea and Lewis and Clark. The Crossing was beautiful, short and to the point, but covered a lot of their journey. A Street Through Time was AWESOME. The same field, starting with hunter gathers settling down as farmers, a page about every several hundred years how it had changed, up until present time and ending with a page on what they imagined it could look like in the future. Many Nations Alphabet introduced us to new Nations we had never heard of, and some we have studied about. Fry Bread was a really sweet story about a families traditions and had a recipe to make fry bread in the back; a project Emmet wanted to try but we didn't get to before the book went back.
The library has a display of environmental science books right now and after bringing a few home and realizing all three boys are very interested in sustainable energy, preservation of the earth, and animal rights, we have decided to also study in depth environmental sciences for the rest of the year. Again, researching books, activities, and science kits to help us learn more. Michael found plans in one book to make a wind mill, so we may attempt that!
Crossings was my favorite from this selection. It showed nature bridges and tunnels that were man-made to help animals cross human roads safely. The boys really liked it too. A Garden In Your Belly was an anatomy book about the good bacteria in your body. The paintings in it were beautiful. Our Animal Neighbors was very sweet, but was a book about being vegan, which wasn't clear until the end, but brought up some good conversations as we raise our own meat. Pika Country was Avery's favorite and made him the most interested in environmental science. He had never heard of global warming and it kicked off our interest in the subject.
I spent so many hours in the garden this week as well. The boys helped us paint in our wash/pack room we are building for the veggie CSA, as well as using the tractor to dig trenches to run power and water lines.
Hope you are enjoying the sunshine!
The Dillman's
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