The Work: Week 3, Part 2

Last week was a short work week, but here's a peek at some of the things we did:

Picture Books

(I think a few may have slid in from Week 2.)  Farmerboy's favorites? Pumpkin Moonshine and Johnny Appleseed.  I read a picture book (or two) at least once (often twice) at breakfast time.  Usually Katydid and Gareth listen in, but I mainly choose the picture books for Farmerboy's listening pleasure, and I usually give him a choice between two or three books.  Our lives are heavily influenced by nature and the changing seasons, so that's usually the thread I use to loosely organize our preschool reading in the morning.  In addition, Farmerboy is Farmerboy, and he loves anything to do with planting, working, and harvesting.  One thing that has really deepened his experience of many of our autumn books, however, is his experience this year with starting his own seeds and planting and harvesting his own garden.  In fact, he grew our biggest pumpkin this year from a seed he started in a wet paper towel on the window sill... and many of our other pumpkins, too.  When we read books about planting, growing, harvesting, and carving pumpkins... this is not theoretical for him.  Experiencing the pumpkin cycle with Farmerboy this year has been a memory we will all treasure for many years to come.

Choice Time

During Week 3, we settled a little more firmly into our "read at breakfast time, choice time, outside, lunch" routine for the morning, with some independent workbook work in the afternoon when it's quiet.  My older kids are operating more within the spirit of Montessori learning, rather than using a lot of Montessori materials (or, to be honest, a carefully prepared environment.  I don't have much time to work on our shelves with Chipmunk, and Pip and Pop are going through a renewed phase of mass destruction.)  I think I've said before that I write down a list of choices for them on the whiteboard, but this week they've been flexing their choosing muscles a little.  Both Gareth and Katydid have been engaged in some serious art, which has taken up a lot of their time... and for some reason, the Harcourt science texts we got from Kolbe last winter have suddenly become attractive.   

Since they wanted to start using the texts, some of the work I okayed on the whiteboard was to read the first chapter (about cells) and copy a picture of a cell into their (newly created) science notebooks.

Katydid drew an animal cell:

And Gareth drew a plant cell:

(Labels are a major accomplishment around here, too!)

Art

Both Gareth and Katydid spend lots and lots of time drawing and are becoming adept at independently using art books to advance their technique.  Gareth got a book on drawing dragons for his birthday, which both he and Katydid immediately put to good use.

One of Gareth's dragons:

One of Katydid's dragons:

(Saboo is a planet she invented that figures prominently in imaginative play at our house.)

Katydid also used Drawing With Children for much of her work.  Here are two of her bird drawings:

(This one is straight from the book.  She's also started dating all her drawings.  I noticed that many of them are inching into the 10:30 PM range...)

And this is a picture of two bluebirds at sunset.  You'll notice that the male bluebird has orange tail feathers.  (I hope I got that right.)  Katydid is a stickler for detail.  Filling in the background is a big leap for her, though... neither she nor Gareth are often patient enough to complete an entire drawing.  And this is one of the reasons that I think art is WONDERFUL for kids with attentional difficulties. 

Comments

[Jennifer]

You are amazing! I can't believe how much you are accomplishing with a tiny newborn around!

[CityMom]

Looks like you are getting into a good swing. I am noticing that after a baby is born, it might help to look at what we have accomplished in a week rather than in a day, it is great to see that you are sneaking in a lot of learning in between feedings and diaper changes!

We are finally able to have works out on shelves again as the twins have stopped actually destroying the materials, but they never put anything back in the same place, so sometimes at the end of choice time I have to take 15 minutes to totally re-shelve.

I am so impressed by the kids drawings and labelling, and Pumpkin Moonshine has been one of our favorites, too.

By the way, are all of those pumpkins from your own crop? Conrats on that, then, too, you all seem to be getting the hang of the farm life!

[Meredith]

Wow!! What a super week and that artwork, seriously, I'm thinking Art school for sure :) Lovely times your having, give that little chipmunk a squeeze :)

[Fe]

I do like you idea of reading the picture books at breakfast:-) That's an idea that sounds worth trying:-)

[joann10]

I love the kids artwork. It is wonderful!