Here are a few random bits for your “enjoyment.”
We made a 95 mile trek, each way, to visit an octagon barn on Saturday.
The website is kind of sad, but the trip is worth it…
This picture is especially precious to me. I grew up in a farming community. There was a wonderful retired farmer living a bike ride from my house who had a marvelous hobby. He built a farming museum on his property. It was 6-8 buildings full of stuff. He had everything from a horse drawn hearse to an old push button switchboard with a mannequin in period clothes working. He also had tons, and tons of farming implements. He knew so much about his collection and what he didn’t know, he made up. He could spin a yarn like nobody’s business. When he passed away his wonderful collection was auctioned off. It was feared that many of his pieces went for scrap. So I was a giddy girl to find two of his items in the octagon barn museum. I am guessing there were more but I did not read all the placards.
They had animals, a blacksmith shop, three one room school houses, the original home to the property, built in 1922 and fully restored, a flea market and craft show. I would go back.
Sunday was a “normal” day for us. We had church, Patrice was in a new class, she is now in three year olds. And so was mommy. I volunteer in the youngest childs’ class a couple times a month, but I have never made it past 2 year olds because I was always getting ready to have a new baby. Not this year, so I am now in three year olds. It is cute and fun! Normal took a divergence when Patrice got her head stuck in the back of a chair during our adult Sunday school class potluck. Yup, stuck. She is used to being able to climb out of the sides and sometimes back of chairs. She’s little. Our church has restaraunt style chairs that have the cushion bottom and back with a small opening between back and bottom. Her body fit, no problem. Her head and shoulders got wedged. Tight. All I could think was, I’m glad that didn’t happen when I was giving birth to her! But back to the issue at hand, a stuck baby…I will be forever thankful to the guy in our class who had a screwdriver in his car, and a hubby who is quick on the draw with said screwdriver. He had that back off and her free in moments! Whew.
And then, before we knew it, it was time to get back to school Monday.
Wednesday was rough. Sue sat for an hour just flat refusing to do anything. She just stared at her worksheet. She finally started to do it after I called a friend and got advice to move forward with lunch and fun right in front of her. That snapped her out of it. She finished the work and joined us for lunch and science.
We traced our bodies on Monday and each day are adding new muscles and items in our science lessons. Yesterday was quadriceps and biceps. Today is the tibia, fibula, radius and ulna.
I’ve been working closely with Sue and found some major deficits in her writing, letter and word recognition. So today, we stepped back. I mixed salt and cornmeal together to create a writing activity. I gave Sue and Patrice a pile of letter flashcards. They wrote the letter in mixture with the pointy end of a paintbrush and wiped it away with the brush. She can’t wait to show it to daddy, so here’s hoping it helps. I mixed it in little sandwich boxes that we can put the lids on and save for later.
What have you done to help your kids with letters, number and writing? I will take all suggestions, especially those that do not require worksheets, those do not seem to be popular round these parts.
Now to get moving…and work on more science, history and Bible!
