Community Helpers - Day 6, Construction Worker

Today's opening circle discussion question was: Who do you know that builds things?  This was a pretty easy answer, because Daddy does.  My husband works at a Modular Building manufacturing plant.  He started there three years ago as a carpenter and is now in management but none the less he still builds things every day.  He has been doing carpentry since he was 18, it is what he loves to do.  The boys know, that if something is broken, Daddy fixes it.

Safety First Headband.  The hard hat head band was the craft that came with for today.  It also included a cardboard hammer.  The discussion question: What do you wear to keep you safe?  It turns out I made up my own discussion question because I asked them, what do you wear to keep your head safe?  Lachlan knew of course that you wear a helmet.  We actually have one of Daddy's real hard hats around the house, sized down to the smallest fitting for the boys to wear.  Sadly, Lachlan was having another tough day and did not want to join us in the making of the hard hat.  (I have good news on this though, I think we finally figured out Lachlan and why he has been having such a tough time lately, more on that later)

Lucy was game though!

I kept on trying to get Lachlan interested all day, this is a topic he normally would love.  So I asked him the discussion question for Rolling Roads.  What construction vehicle would you like to drive?  I have to say, we had a very nice conversation about this.  Lachlan would like to drive a bulldozer.  

Even though he did not join me in the rest of the Rolling Roads lesson, it is nice that at minimum there are 5 questions on every day of curriculum to start discussions.  Ones I am not sure I would have thought of on my own.  Even in conversation, he can learn and I can learn a lot about how his little mind is working.

The next day, Lachlan and I were doing much better working with each other.  We have made some changes and have seen lots of improvement already.  When the other kids were sleeping, I made it a point of having some one on one quality time with Lachlan.  Of course, I looked to Mother Goose Time for inspiration.  Which is where I found the lesson Wet Cement.  We were to mix cornstarch and water and play with the mixture that it creates.  If you have never done this, I highly recommend it.  The cornstarch and water feels really hard when you reach in and try to grab it and then it just turns to slimy, gooey ooze in your hand.  We spent a lot of time on the floor playing, experimenting and enjoying each others company.  Did I mention, we were also making a mess, which I gladly ignored in exchange for so much fun.

I left the bowl out on the counter for Peter to enjoy.  But he woke up a bit grumpy.  So it has now sat for a few days and hardened just like cement.  I still haven't gotten rid of it because I want to add water back in to see what happens.  Should be fun.

There is a "Construction Worker" song that came on the CD and a dance that came on the Dance n' Beats DVD.  This dance happens to be one of our favorites.  So we got it out and did a little boogieing.