Week in Review: April 19-23

Technically,the only schoolish thing we did this week was to add math back in on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday so we could concentrate on unpacking,laundry,and putting the house back in order -- a slow process, but progress is being made.  Also, most of us (including me, today) have come down with colds.  Not horrible colds, just -- colds.  I could have predicted it, actually; we're always sick this time of year.  Farmerboy's birthday was yesterday and seeing him lying around on the couch listening to book 1 of the Redwall series on audio all day reminded me that the week he was born, Katydid came down with pneumonia.  I always wondered if those germs floating around our house were what prompted his early labor, fetal distress, and 3 day NICU stay.  So, this week, his 7th birthday -- grateful we all just have little colds.

You'll notice, however, that I have no pictures of Farmerboy's birthday.  That's because Katydid used up the batteries in the camera the day before taking pictures of chickens.

A Buff Orpington hen at the feeder.  Note the absence of birthday cake or candles.

Anyway, even though it was not technically a "school" week, you can't keep good kids down.  A few highlights from this week:

• Katydid and Farmerboy decided to make part of our yard a "park", so they cleaned it up (which was nice)
• Katydid spent hours practicing her archery.  Farmerboy and Gareth joined in sometimes. 
• Farmerboy listened to several discs of Redwall.
• Pip,Pop, and Chipmunk worked on the Montessori animal puzzles, in addition to the other puzzles we have the in the cabinet.
• There was NOVA watching.  Now everyone wants to "crack the Maya code".
• There was reading on Gareth's part, but I am not sure exactly what books he had going.  He always has about 10 at a time.  I know I saw The Land I Lost (about Vietnam) and The Encyclopedia of the Ancient Americas. 
• There was a little math: Jacobs Algebra for Gareth, Key to Decimals and Key to Fractions for Katydid, and a page or two from Seton Math 1 for Farmerboy before he got sick.

The big deal this week, though, is worms.

 

And dirt.

The little boys have been building "worm farms".

I saw some instructions in More Mudpies to Magnets to fill a glass bottle with dirt and cover it in black construction paper to block the light.  Because the glass is clear, when you take the paper off in a few days, you can see the tunnels the worms have dug.  Theoretically, anyway.  The boys collect worms every year, but this year I suggested a new spin by covering the container with black paper.  Soon, we'll take off the paper and see if the worms have tunneled or... died.  (Sometimes we have trouble keeping the soil damp enough.)

Pop has been carrying a book about worms around with him for days and does not understand why we do not have a field guide to worms.  We also read A Handful of Dirt yesterday,which was a little difficult for the little ones because it's a longish picture book written for older kids, and because Pip and Chipmunk will not stop punching, kicking, shoving, biting or wrestling with each other for more than about 3 minutes at a time. 

In fact, the hyperactivity level here has gone through the roof over the past week and it is really exhausting me.  But I suppose that's fodder for another post.

Comments

[Erin]

I'm wondering and praying that when you move your seasonal bout with colds with be a thing of the past.

[Angel]

Oh, that would be nice, Erin! Unfortunately we also had this problem before we moved to New York. It's like our annual early September cold/strep/flu-thing. It doesn't seem to be attached to one particular location... odd.

[Melissa R]

I have to assume you've read (or more likely, own) Diary of a Worm. If by some chance you haven't, it's well worth it for the boys. And, of course, Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly.