More Than Just School

We've been up to a lot of things around here lately.  On June 7th we officially graduated Lachlan from Kindergarten.  He was joined by a couple of cousins.

Lachlan set up a lemonade stand at his graduation to save money for a trip to Disneyland.  We are also going to have a garage sale this summer.  I thought it would be good for the boys to choose some toys to sell to go towards the cause.  If we ever make it, I want it to be a special trip that they have worked towards. 

The garden theme from last month continues to have an impact on our days.  We went to the inspiration garden and helped plant a corn maze.  It was hard work, my littlest gardener was all tuckered out. 

We have continued to build furniture in the different rooms of our doll house for our peg doll family.

First we skipped ahead in the Mother Goose Time topics and finished our bedroom.  I had made a bed out of a raisin box because it was the perfect size.  That got them both excited to finish the bedroom.  So we had to add a top bunk and a crib for Adam. 

We used a Jell-O box for a crib.  We put the slats in the side of the crib with the hole punch.  It was really fun talking through the design of each piece.  I have learned to ask questions rather than just give them the answers.  So I asked, why do you think the crib has slats in it that you can see through?  "So you can see the baby but he can't get out."  We also talked about scale a bit and I had them get the peg dolls we were making furniture for.  We talked about why furniture is the size it is and what would happen if it was too big.  Then we used the peg dolls to know how big to make things. 

Here it is all set up.

After we finished the bedroom furniture we moved on to the bathroom since it was the topic we were covering that day with Mother Goose Time.  Lachlan wanted to build a toilet like the one in Paddington.

This months theme is all about houses and homes.  It's been so fun to dissect the topic and really talk about the details.  I would have never thought to study the bathroom and everything we use it for.

We used our bathroom coloring sheet for inspiration.  We used to not use these coloring sheets, but both my boys are now really enjoy coloring.  So I print off two sets and they are a great way to introduce the subject. 

We copied the mirror by covering some cardboard in tin foil and adding three yellow pom poms for lights.

This one is just for fun.  I had my camera out and he came up to me with this big grin.  I am not sure when he got so big.  

We talked about how we wash our hands in the bathroom and Mother Goose Time provided us with this hand washing guide. 

I taped it up on the mirror but soon found out when it gets steamy in there from showers the paper slips and gets moist.  I plan on laminating it and then just setting it on the counter leaning against the mirror.  I think that will work better.

Since we were on the subject of hand washing, soap and bubbles we moved on to our bubble art. 

I used liquid water color mixed with bath bubbles in a small bowl set on top of paper.  The boys used a straw to blow bubbles that would over flow onto the paper. 

 Honestly, this one didn't turn out too well.  The paper just became a watery mess. 

 Adam wanted to be in the bubbles, so that was tricky too.

 When we first started using Mother Goose Time we did a bubble day where we cut the bottom end of a water bottle off and slipped a sock over the opening.  Then we dipped the sock in bubbles and blew through the mouth of the bottle.  This created tons of little bubbles with out all the water.  I was going to try that method with colored bubbles to see if we could make some art that way.  I will keep you posted if we ever give it a try.

It was fun to show you just a little bit more of our life around here.  Mother Goose Time is a great curriculum but the topics we have covered become a part of our everyday life.  They come up in how the kids play and the interests they take in the things around them, like the garden.  It's more than just school.  Even though it is technically summertime and we are slowing down in the school department, the boys still ask to "make something".  It has become a way of life for us.  We start our day creating and learning and what we learn carries through into everything we do.