After a two week Christmas break, we picked up our routine again. In spite of a few bumps -- which always come after a break of more than a few days -- I think we've gotten going again. I would not say that we are "in a groove", but -- we're working. It's been a tough winter so far and shows no signs of letting up. If it were just me and the big kids, it wouldn't be so bad; they go out almost every day to sled or snow shoe or check on the chickens. But the snow is either too deep or too icy for the little ones, they don't like the cold, and anyway it takes an hour to get everyone in their outside clothes. We end up stuck inside much of the time. I'm thinking about buying a huge full spectrum light to set up in the living room, and I'm collecting ideas about how to get through February already. (Hawaii Day, anyone?)
This is what happened inside this week:
Katydid has been zooming through the Harry Potter books and decided one day last week to pretend she was at Hogwart's. "I got up at 7 AM to do a herbology lesson," she said, "and I was supposed to go to Potions at 11, but I'm still doing chores so I'll be late and Professor Snape will give me a demerit." She also asked me if she could do a book report on The Goblet of Fire. So of course I replied, "No, absolutely not, why do you think I would ever allow you to do a book report???"
LOL Actually, I think I just blinked at her in surprise for a few minutes and then I said, "Of course!" I gave her a list of questions to answer in the report, and after she was done with her first draft, I sat down with her and helped her edit and refine her thinking. Then she rewrote the report and gave it to Andy to read. "Writing something for Daddy" has worked wonders with getting Gareth to write, too, although he hasn't gone so far as to ask if he can do a book report. This week he did write a really long (page and a half) description of a culture he made up, though -- probably the most he's ever written at one time.
(An aside here: I believe Katydid is looking at Theresa's blog, where I was looking up Theresa's Term at Hogwarts. We did part of the Magic or Muggle activity, and succeeded in dyeing the floor, ourselves, and everything else bright yellow. We haven't managed the rest of the experiment yet, though.)
The little boys played a lot of dress-up themselves:
I think they were pretending to be "Scary Romans". (And as you can see, we are not done wall-papering their room yet.) They have a round of dress-up that they do basically every day. First Pip and Pop play priests and pretend to say Mass. Then they change their vestments for light sabers and play Jedi. After that, the light sabers become guns or swords and they play cowboys or Romans.
At Choice Time, they've been making cardboard buildings:
Pip was working on a "chicken coop". Here he's gluing craft sticks onto the top of the box for a "roof" and the bottom of the box for a "floor". The next day, he painted some of the box green and black. When I cut a door into Farmerboy's cardboard prison (he wanted to use it for his Playmobil policemen), Pip asked me to cut two doors into his coop... which he had decided would now be a "chicken prison." The doors are small, about the size of a chick, and on either side of the box. Katydid informed him that she thought the box could actually be used for bantam chicks, and he was very pleased with that, but asserted that he really wanted to put toy chickens in it.
Katydid has been engrossed by chickens lately. (That doesn't sound right, but I can't figure how else to say it right now -- extremely interested? Investing most of her waking hours in the topic?) She drew some plans for chicken coops because she wants to raise bantams this spring, and she wants to keep them separately from the other chickens. I encouraged her to model her plans using craft sticks and glue. It did not go well. The thing about art is that it often presents gifted perfectionists with the opportunity to do something truly challenging... something that doesn't go as expected the very first time. I am hoping that she will come back to this project and try it a different way -- with different materials, maybe, or perhaps with more of a mindset toward experimentation.
In the meantime, we're trying to figure out what the black spots on our chicken's combs are. I don't think they are pox or frostbite. Katydid has been helping with the research, and she took some pictures of the chickens for me:
We had a record 8 eggs today from 11 hens, with no lightbulb in the coop. I'm impressed.
There have also been many and varied Duplo creations with the enormous box of Duplos Santa brought.
A farmstand built by Katydid and Farmerboy for the twins to play with.
We also started reading about ancient India, listened to a lot of poems by Jack Prelutsky, went sledding with two other homeschooling families, and picked up math and spelling again... a decision that did not find favor with everyone. And Gareth spent quite a bit of time with his kit of ancient Roman coins. Hopefully I will post about ancient India, Jack Prelutsky, and Roman coins in the future, but for now I have to unload the dishwasher and pull a tortilla casserole out of the oven for dinner. Hope you're staying warm on this cold winter evening!
I was looking at that picture and thinking "Oh, someone has the same blog theme as me" then I saw my books on the sidebar and your comment. Apparently I am not the quickest!LOL!
Sorry about he yellow stains. The rest of the experiment really is fun, though. Just exchange yellow for red stains.
Posted by: Theresa | January 11, 2009 at 10:24 PM
I'll join you for Hawaii day!
No advice on the chickens, but Jeffrey here sure liked the picture! ;-)
Posted by: Amy | January 12, 2009 at 07:36 AM