Well it's been a while since I updated. We have studied many other subjects since November but the truth of the matter is the subjects turned into bi-weekly to monthly subjects instead of weekly. I've allowed us to get a little off track. Thanks to this being fun with preschool at home I'm not too worried but I'm hoping to remain a bit more on track as we progress.
So here's our new plan: We are sticking with the overall weekly subject idea. I feel like it's a great way to ground us throughout the week. However, I will add to it things that don't necessarily fit. Jonas now has a weekly violin lesson and therefore he needs to practice throughout the week. Also we are implementing swimming lessons and soon I hope to add martial arts of some sort for both boys. Throughout Jonas' "Kindergarten" experience I will be pulling from state requirements for kindergarten and incorporating lessons into our subjects as well.
This past week we studied snakes:
We accomplished so much but I feel as if so many of my ideas got left out too. Oh well, we can play with them another day.
First off each week we go to the library. Monday is Library/Violin lesson day. So based on our current subject we search for library books/videos to bring home for study throughout the week. This week we brought home almost too many books on snakes. There was really no way for us to make it through all of them but the boys loved looking at the pictures and asking questions.
For writing/letter recognition practice I had Jonas invent a sentence and copy it out. He chose: "Snakes lay eggs.," which I changed to: "Some snakes lay eggs." for the purpose of accuracy. Then after he'd copied out the sentence I had him underline all the letters throughout the sentence that are in the word "snake." He got most of them! Also in letter recognition practice I've discovered an App for my iphone that asks him to touch a certain letter and gives him several options. I think technology is important to include in his lessons despite my aversion to video games.
Our biggest art project throughout the week was making "squishy snakes" (basically stuffed snakes). We gathered scrap cloth and I had the boys design their own snakes. Jonas designed a "fire snake" and Ronan directed me in his design of a "wiggly snake." Unfortunately our first set of snakes turned out to be too fragile for play (the cloth ripped and our plastic bead stuffing ended up all over the floor). So we made a trip to Joann's for upholstery fabric scraps. With reinforced seams and backbones (strings of silver plastic beads) installed our snakes were much stronger and the boys were happy.
Once we had our own snakes it was time to go visit some real ones. Of course Ronan's squishy snake came with us when we went to the Washington Serpentarium. Hey reptile people out there: Are snakes really able to live a full and happy life after they've been de-venomized? Don't some of them use their venom to help digest their food before they swallow it? Anyway, the Serpentarium's many beautiful and deadly snakes have all been rendered harmless now through this process. Upon appearance only though they appear healthy and happy. At the Serpentarium Jonas and Ronan (and I) got the opportunity to hold snakes too: a rosy boa and a cornsnake. Beautiful!
At home again we searched for possible snake habitats while we took Jake for a walk and we learned one of the Spanish words for snake: Serpiente. This week we will follow through with our whole Wednesday in Spanish as I'd intended for last week.
Aside from snakes, papa gave us a really good exercise that I believe we will repeat many times. Each boy got a single sheet of paper to fold in any way he thought would make it stronger. Once ready they were tested for strength. Both boys' structures managed to hold quite a few pencils (our choice for weights).
And now we're off to study dinosaurs!
