Calendars, Seasons, and Months
This week in our homeschooling was a little more laid back, as I wasn't feeling very well (#pregnancyproblems) and the start of the day was usually slow and dragging. But we made it through, did a lot of reading, and had some fun with the few activities I was able to throw together.
THIS WEEK-
Unit- Orderliness
Topics- calendars, seasons, months, earth's tilt and rotation
Memory verse- Genesis 8:22- "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."
FAVORITE ACTIVITIES-
We did an experiment to demonstrate how ice can help melt the snow on roadways and sidewalks in the winter. I saved up some eggs shells from breakfasts, filled them with water, dropped in some food coloring for fun, and froze them. I saw this idea on Instagram forever ago and had just never got around to doing it. Then, I gave the kids some course salt and they sprinkled some on their egg. They were amazed at how quickly the egg ice cube began to melt! Of course, I wanted the activity to last a good long while, so I also filled up our little tub (which is actually our ice chest, don't judge) with water and let them play with that, as well. Teddy figured out that if he dipped his egg in water, the ice released from the shell, and they spent some time trying to catch the colorful ice balls before they melted. We also enjoyed a popsicle outside. Not necessary, but recommended. ;)
This was DEFINITELY the highlight of the week, however. We loved this fun "summer" activity of making ice cream...without an ice cream maker! I found this recipe for how to make the ice cream, and then I also used this recipe to make a chocolate sauce to go on top! Just a note, the chocolate sauce recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, but I used a little less than 3/4 of a cup, because the ice cream was so sweet!
We chopped up strawberries and used dye-free sprinkles to complete our sundaes. The kids had a blast making it and eating it. It really was so delicious and fun. We made it around 10:30 am and ate it after dinner, and it was still a bit soft, so next time, I would probably let it sit overnight. But we will definitely be doing this again soon!
(I have more footage of the process on Instagram, here.)
FAVORITE BOOKS-
"Sing a Song of Seasons" is a book I actually bought at the beginning of the year, but it was so nice to have during our learning this week! It is a beautifully illustrated book with poems for each day of the year. Some are really short, others are longer, but they are all whimsical and so fun to read each day. It's led to lots of conversations about imagery and imagination in writing. Highly recommend!
"Secrets of the Seasons" was a great find! It has a fictional story element, but also dives into the science (with pictures) of why we have seasons, and how the earth's tilt and rotation affect the weather we experience.
"Four Seasons Make a Year" was just a simple but cute book about some highlights of each season. This one was a win for the two-year-old!
These books weren't directly related to our unit study, but they were great nonetheless!
"The Book of Brilliant Bugs" is pretty self explanatory. If you have kids that love insects, like I do, this was a fun find (I might even look it up to purchase it). It's filled with tons of information, but also has bright, colorful, captivating pictures, and is broken down in an easy-to-digest format for kids.
"What's Your Favorite Food" is a silly book, but is also a collaboration by several artists, which is what drew my attention. The kids and I talked about different styles of art and how these styles can affect the mood or impressions of the design. I also really love watching them recognize art by the same artist in different books. Most notably, they are always quick to catch the work of Eric Carle and Tomie dePaola. I love how books like this can so naturally support conversations about one of my favorite topics...art!
"Stegothesaurus" was a funny little book that I picked up, originally, because it had a dinosaur on it. Once again, however, a simple kids book was able to open the door to a conversation about what a dictionary is, what a thesaurus is, and some giggly discussion as we tried to think up different ways to convey the same meaning.
It's Friday morning as I finish this up to post, and my kids are down with a cold. I'm not sure what next week will look like, since it appears as though a library trip won't be happening this weekend. We'll have to see! For now, I'm thankful for new Bluey episodes and a day "off" to rest a bit and hopefully gain some energy for the next few days!