Max does great with his letter sounds, and keeps trucking along. He hasn't hit a concept yet that slows him down. He loves to do his schoolwork, and is eager for "his turn" every day. This week he made edible bird's nest from chow mein noodles, chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmellows. He likes to help in the kitchen, so this was great fun for him. Great fun for everyone else in the family to sample them, too!
Cooper is doing great at his math. He loves to do the speed drills, where he has to see how many addition and subtraction problems he can do in one minute. He is steadily improving his score every time. Although I do have to watch him carefully to make sure he doesn't "fudge" his numbers. We use a stop watch on the internet, where it is very large and visible on the screen. I turn the laptop away from him so he does not get distracted watching the numbers roll. There is a audible "ring" when the stop watch hits zero. One day I got him started and then stepped out of the room for a second. When I came back the stopwatch was done, but he was still working. I asked him why he didn't stop when the ring went off and he told me he didn't hear it. Hmm...fishy! So I reset the stopwatch and told him we would listen to it together to see how loud it was. Yeah, it's pretty loud, kinda hard to miss. Nevertheless he maintains he didn't hear it. Lesson learned for me, I just need to stay in the room for this particular exercise.
We read several stories about the pilgrims and I found a few books that were based on the Pilgrim children's point of view, with real-life photos (re-enactments). Those were fun to read. Cooper planted corn like the Squanto taught the Pilgrims to do, using a fish in the soil. He planted one pot with fish in the soil, and one without, to see which would grow better. Honestly, though, I am not sure it is corn growing season?? I am thinking we probably won't have much success with either due to the weather, but perhaps we will try it again in the spring.
He also made oiled paper similiar to what the Pilgrims used for their windows since they did not have glass. After creating the oiled paper, we did different tests to see how much light the oiled paper let through versus the non-oiled paper, as well as how water affected both types. It was clear to Cooper that oiled paper was much better to use as a window.
Chandler is doing great with his schoolwork. Everything comes so easy to him, there is very little struggle involved in his day. This week in Chemistry he studied Flourine. The experiment involved covering an egg in toothpaste that had flouride in it. Then he put that egg and an non-toothpasted egg into vinegar to see how flouride can help protect the shell, which is designed to show how flouride can help protect teeth. In the end, both shells showed similiar effects from the vinegar....hmm, wonder if flouride is all it is cracked up to be in toothpaste??
Saturday morning Chandler went to Mother Teresa Club, a community service club for middle-schoolers at the Catholic church. The children were having a car wash to raise funds for the Humane Society, and then they went on a tour of the Humane Society. Chandler enjoys participating in the activities. Meanwhile I took Cooper and Max to Farm Day in Hendersonville, while Chris was working. It's a little festival showcasing farming, and other country type things. It was a beatiful fall day to be out and about, and we have a good time at Farm Day.
That evening Chandler had a football game. I opted to stay home with the boys as it was predicted to be a chilly night. Since the football games never run quite on a schedule, I thought it best not to have them out in the cold for an extended time. Chandler's team lost again! It's a no-win season so far!
By the way, it's cold here!!! Fall came quickly and all of a sudden it's cold! We have been using the fireplace to keep warm during the evenings. I am getting a little fearful of what winter will be like, since I so do NOT like the cold. Seriously, the weather we are having now is more like the weather in the dead of winter in Florida. So I have a feeling it is going to be a long cold winter for us newbies! I can tell my children have been in Florida for too long. I laid out clothes for Max to get himself dressed. He came out of the room and said "Something is wrong with my shorts! They are too long!!" Honey, those aren't shorts, they are pants! They are supposed to be like that. lol! It's not that he hasn't ever worn pants before, of course he has, but I guess because he just recently started dressing himself since we moved here, and he's kind of at that age where he is paying attention to life, it was just a new experience to him.
Until next week!
Max making edible bird's nests.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bird's Nest.
Cooper and Max exploring with magnets.
Cooper with the fish getting ready to plant corn.
Cooper and Max fishing with Cane poles at Farm Day.
Cooper and Max playing in the corn bin at Farm Day.
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