Unplanned Science Lessons

We have had a few science activities the past week or two that I can not take credit for! Olivia got her little hands on a packet of sunflower seeds a month or two ago, and our house is looking quite sunny! The children decided to search for the seeds inside the flower, and had a great time harvesting the little black treasures!

Our Sunny Girl--

Treasure Hunting--

My dad gave me a Salvia plant when we moved into our house. I planted it by the front steps, and we have had a great time watching that plant! It attracts lots of butterflies, moths and bees. Anna Grace has especially been a moth catcher.

The Salvia plant has also attracted a beautiful spider (I never thought I would call a spider beautiful!).

Mark and Isaac were outside, and Isaac heard some chirps coming from one of the trees. Mark lifted him up, and they discovered some newborn baby birds. Mark became the elevator to help each of our children see the babies. It was quite exciting! I decided to call the little one with his mouth wide open Eli. I think he resembles our little Eli! I sympathize with that Mama Bird -- she has some meal planning to do!


I need to get busy and provide them with some resources to learn out more about the science adventures they have had!

Class Portraits

Not Pictured-- Eli, who was fast asleep!

Our First Week of School

We finished our first week of school this week. Olivia is in Kindergarten this year, so I am "officially" teaching three students this year. Anna Grace joins in when she is interested, and Eli is into everything! I read a book about "Workboxes" over the summer, and I am trying out a few of the ideas this year. I adapted the system to fit our family. Each of the children (besides Eli) has a tower of drawers. I separate their work for the day into the boxes, and they work start at the top and work their way down. Some boxes are tagged "work with Mom", and they work on those boxes with me. If I am busy with someone else, they skip that box until I am ready to work with them. Some of the boxes have games or other fun activities. Anna Grace has preschool activities that she works on when she is interested. I am very pleased with how it is working. It helps to solved the problem of everyone wanting my attention at once, because they know what to do next if I am busy. It also helps me to be more prepared for the day, because everything is laid out the night before. We are off to a great start!

Our Workboxes

Here they are hard at work on their journals--
Here is Eli doing his "work"!

Our Class Portrait--