This was a good week.
I feel like (at least this week) we've found our balance between structured learning, play time, and screen time. Who knows what next week and beyond will be like... but balance is good. So here is my selection of some of our activities.
Monkey decided he wanted to start a new puzzle so we set up this beautiful Ravensburger 500 piece puzzle. I'm not sure if his motivation will see him through to the end, but we got quite a bit accomplished our first night - since Monkey was convinced we wouldn't have time to get the edge pieces put together!
We enjoyed a bit of a science afternoon one day - though not without some frustration and disappointment. The above photo was supposed to be a homemade thermometer but we couldn't get it set up correctly. I think we need a different kind of straw, so we abandoned that and made note of supplies we need to buy.
Next was this fun experiment about hot and cold air. We started by filling the bottle with very hot water, left it for a few minutes, then emptied it, put the lid on and plunged it into cold ice water. I think the bottom photo does an okay job of showing that the bottle has indeed crumpled a bit as the air cooled inside.
Next we did an experiment about conductivity of heat. We stuck the buttons on to different spoon handles with butter, then filled the jar up with boiling water and waited to see which spoon lost its button first. The boys LOVED this experiment - as it was a competition of course!!
Finally an experiment to show how warm liquids (this was vegetable oil) rise, then fall again as they cool. We had to be VERY patient for this one, but in the end we were rewarded when little bubbles of green food colouring rose to the surface of the oil, stayed for a few seconds, then fell again as they cooled!
Monkey tackled our Crazy Kiwi game again - we have had this game for a couple of years now and still have NEVER solved it!
There was time spent scootering - in the back and the front yards.
Munchkin enjoyed having his older brother read aloud to him.
Monkey has discovered the Treehouse series. I bought him the first two books to get him started and he has raced through them. Monster already owns the whole set (there are six or seven in the set now) and has graciously agreed to let Monkey borrow them.
Two fantastic information books we read aloud this week. All three boys LOVE learning about dangerous and freaky creatures.
We read some WONDERFUL picture books this week. Favourites were "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig", "A Bus Called Heaven", "Ten Kisses for Sophie", and "That is NOT a Good Idea!"
This beautiful Mark Greenwood book was a GREAT introduction for Monster and I as we will squeeze in a little mini-unit on Ned Kelly over the last two weeks of the term.
I read all three of these books aloud to Monster this week. Ancient Greece is fascinating.
Bedtime stories that daddy read to the Munchkin this week. All three are fantastic and I suspect it will be awhile before I'm allowed to return them to the library. Good thing we can renew things twice thus allowing us to keep books for UP TO nine weeks.
Finally, Mum's reading for the week. I really enjoyed this short biography about Roald Dahl. It was written for older primary children really, so a super easy read, but fascinating to learn a bit more about him and his life. I'm keen to read the two books Mr Dahl wrote about his life.
The book on the left was FASCINATING and FRIGHTENING all at the same time. I knew the evils of sugars, and has a little twinge of knowledge that seed/vegetable oils were best limited or avoided, but had never bothered to do any research as to why. Well, now I know why and I intend to drastically reduce our use of these oils. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in knowing more about what is REALLY causing the rise in obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease... hint... it is NOT saturated fat!!
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