For the past week he studied the letter and a unit study of I-i-insect. What could be more fun for a five year old (and his brothers) in a insect study than making an ant farm?
I feel kind of dumb saying this, but I really think that these ants are smarter than they should be. They are supposed to be digging tunnels all the time but a group of them sits at the top of the ant hill a lot and I think they are trying to figure out how to get out. There are little air holes at the top that the ants are bigger than, but I don't know if they can squeeze out. They even piled a little hill of sand at the top that I had to disperse with stick. The whole time the little top was open while I was doing that, I was expecting the ants to jump out and attack me. And these are big ants, and they bite. I don't like squishing big bugs very much and I secretly hope that these ants die soon. But it's one of those things about raising my children, like allowing them to race their bikes down the sidewalk or climb huge rocks, where I'd rather they just stay safe and secure in a soft room, but I make myself allow them to do those fun things in life that will grow them.
Okay, now that you know about my ant anxiety, let's move on.
We did this same kindergarten curriculum with Matthew two years ago (yes, I love it that much and will use it two more times for my girls) and some time after we did this insect unit, I saw a jar of honey at Walmart with a piece of bee hive still in it! I thought it was cool and bought it so we'd have it when we needed it for Gabriel (otherwise I'd never remember).
So we got to look at a real bee hive up close. The boys checked for bees in it but didn't find any. I think they were a little disappointed.
And then we enjoyed a yummy snack of honey spread on bread. Thank you God for bees that give us yummy honey!
We also painted ladybug rocks.
Leah started some "school" of her own using a Kumon coloring workbook. She was very proud of her work and was excited to show her daddy her work.
I've been trying out a new schedule with the kids. Leah will be three years old in May and is well past the point at which all of the boys stopped taking naps. But I need Leah to take naps because she wants to do school with the boys when she doesn't take a nap (hence, the new workbook). But she wants 100% of my attention so it's not like I can just keep her busy with it while I do school with the boys. Anyways, we ended up scooching her bedtime from 7PM with Anna, to 8PM with the boys and she takes her nap a little late. Or I put her up for a nap and she plays in her bed until she hears Anna wake up, which is fine with me, and on those days, she still needs to go to bed at 7PM.
But to make up for her shorter nap time, and so I can have a little break during the girls' naps instead of schooling for the whole naptime, I've started having Christopher and Matthew do their more independent school work in the morning, after breakfast, before any Wii is allowed. We just started this week, and it's gotten mixed reactions from the boys. The first two days they did fine but yesterday they complained a bit. But it was nice to have shorter school afternoons, and they both get through their independent work rather quickly, less than an hour for Matthew to do math, spelling and english, and the same for Christopher to do math, english and writing, most days, and then we have about an hour more school to do in the afternoon.
We've never broken up our school day before, but I think this will work. I've also been using Anna as my alarm clock since she is still waking up for an early morning bottle. Thankfully, she goes back to sleep for a couple of more hours. So I wake up between 6:00 and 6:30 AM to give her a bottle and then I have been staying up to do some stuff in a quiet house...actually having a time with God and reading my Bible, getting on the computer, making hubby's breakfast and lunch (he loves that one), and just getting some house stuff done. Here is what our day now looks like:
6:00 (ish) - Mom wakes up
7:00 (ish) - Boys wake up, play
7:00-8:00 (ish) - Leah wakes up, plays
8:00 - Breakfast, Bible reading to the boys, morning chores
8:15 (ish) - Older boys do school, younger kids play, Anna wakes up some time
9:15 (ish) - Wii, play, go to gym some days
12:00 - Lunch, midday chores
1:00 - Naptime for Anna
2:00 - Naptime for Leah
2:00-3:00 (ish) - School, play
4:00 (ish)- Girls wake up
5:00 (ish)- Chris comes home and saves me
Notice how everything is (ish) except for meal times and Anna's nap. The boys are not very flexable when it comes to food and I'm not very flexable when it comes to naps!
Oh, and we go to our homeschool co-op on Friday mornings, so all school (not very much as it's scheduled as a "light" day) is in the afternoon.
Alright, I am being beckoned to make breakfast. Right on time!
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