Friday, July 12, 2013

July Day 8 - Haystacks & Texture Painting

We didn't start school today until about 6pm.  It was just my two boys left and I thought, lets see how much we can get through.  Jeff actually walked in the door right before we got started.  We finished in about an hour.  I didn't watch the clock but that's my best guesstimate.  It can fly by with just 2 kids and if you just keep them going, no breaks or down time between.

Also, we had just gotten out of the pool and it was all I could do to get pants on them.  So we did school shirtless today, with their manly muscles showing. 

Started with the shape on the Easel Poster.  Red triangle was the shape and color today.  Then I got them up at the counter for the art project which I had all set up.  While we were up there we did the Red - Integrity feather.  Lachlan found the 2 red feathers.  I explained to them both what Integrity meant - to do the right thing.  I had them say the word a few times, Integrity, Integrity.  Pretty tough word for those guys but they tried. 

I had blue and green paint.  I asked the boys what color was the sky and what color was the earth.  I asked them to paint the sky blue and the ground green.  I showed Lachlan the upper part of the page and explained to him that is the sky and opposite for Peter.  They just painted everywhere on the page.  I am not going to lie, I got a bit frustrated.  They did not follow the instructions at all really.  I am sure I shouldn't get frustrated and just let them paint.  But I have had a harder time letting it go lately.  I wouldn't mind them trying to follow instructions.  Obviously we need to work on a balance here. 

Besides all of that, their paintings actually turned out pretty cool.  Peter and I tried to paint texture into the painting by actually painting in some of the hay that came in the bag that day.  



Next we moved onto the Coop Them Up activity.  First we had to build a triangle chicken coop out of something.  I had just had our blue print paper out to cover the counter for our painting project and thought that could be perfect for the sides of the coop.  So I folded up three papers and told Lachlan to build the coop.  Then I asked who wants to be the chicken and who wants to be the farmer.  Lachlan wanted to be the chicken so Peter was the farmer.  I counted to 10 and then said Oh no the chicken got out again!  I told Lachlan to run around, Peter had to try to tag him to get him back to the coop.  They LOVED this of course.  Next Peter was the chicken and quickly ran back to the coop on his own.  He was safe their I guess. 

Building his coop.

Run! Chicken! Run!  The Farmer is going to get you.
You stay there chicken.
Man I love my chickens
I sang the song Uh Oh and Oh No! as they continued to pretend to be chickens.  The song is sung to the tune of "Farmer in the Dell." 
Verse 1
I went to feed the chickens,
I went to feed the hens,
Uh-oh and Oh no!
They got out again!

Verse 2
I chased them 'round the yard,
And some ran down the street!
I finally grabbed the chicken feed,
And they all came to my feet!

This made Lachlan think of feeding the chickens.  So he poured some feed out for Peter the chicken.  He also held some out in his hand for him to eat.  I decided to feed the chickens as well and held my hands out.  They both tried to eat at the same time and bonked their heads pretty good.  Oops. 

Today's bag also include this super cute print of a bunch of farm animals and 3 different kinds of feed.  Wheat, hay and oats.  I cut up all the pieces and gave them to the boys to lay out on the ground and put the food on the animal that eats it.  Honestly, I think I need a farmer to help me with this one.  I know cows eat hay and horses eat oats? Right?  Anyhow, rabbits, do they eat wheat? We still had fun, even though I wasn't much help.


The last activity of the day was Money In, Money Out.  My Mom called and I didn't want to slow down the momentum.  So I handed Jeff the book, the box and the money.  He read quickly to catch up and went for it.  So nice!  First you give the child 4 Fly dollars to put in the bank (box).  Then you ask them to take out 5 Fly dollars from the bank.  You can't, there is only 4 in there.  Hmm.  Puzzling.  Jeff let Lachlan process this for a second and then explained, you can only take out as much as you put in.  Next it was Peter's turn.  

Trying to take out 5 Fly dollars.

Pondering for a second why he can't give his Dad 5 Fly dollars.
Peter's turn.
Normally we put up our shapes on the Easel Poster as we complete the jobs.  But again, just to keep the momentum going we put them up all at the end.  When all the jobs were done I got out the money to pay them for the work they had done.  5 Fly dollars.  We divided them up and then I asked them where they wanted to put the extra dollar.  Peter put it in his Give envelope.  I had explained to them that the give envelope was for buying or doing something for someone else.  Lachlan chose the Save envelope which I explained as a place to save your money so you can buy something really big some day.  I asked Lachlan what he was going to save up to buy.  He said "a big monster truck." 

Since Daddy was home I started asking him some questions.  Daddy, do you earn money when you are at work?  Yes, he answered.  What do you spend your money on?  Well I save some and I spend some.  Do you pay for our house?  Yes.  Do you pay for our water?  Yes.  Daddy, do you buy our food? Yes.  Isn't that nice of Daddy to work so hard to buy us food?  "Yes!" exclaimed the boys.  Jeff and I often have conversations like this between the two of us for the benefit of those little listening ears.  It's a effective and fun way to teach a lesson.  For instance "Daddy, do I have to wear something to be safe in the boat?" We used that one before Lachlan's big trip to Grandpa's boat.  Really perks their ears up. 

This was such a fun way to do school.  I loved that Jeff was there and participating.  Might not have been what he had in mind to do when he got home from work, but that's okay now and then, right?  It is nice for him to see what we do all day. 

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