Dinosaur Adventure Week

This week we continued with numbers and talking more about number qualities and skip counting. 

On Monday, we talked about the number 6.  I showed Grant how to write out the word SIX and draw hexagons.  We took the opportunity to talk about honeybees, their hives, and how they make honey.  We drew a hexagon and bees in our lesson book, then we drew out a chart to help Grant remember how to count by 6's, and finally rolled a new Spring beeswax candle.

On Monday night, I began teaching Grant how to knit.  He picked it up really fast, and now we both just need to practice, practice, practice.


On Tuesday, we talked about the numbers 7 and 8.  I told Grant the story of The Seven Ravens by the Brothers Grimm.  After that he practiced writing the words SEVEN and EIGHT and we wrote out a chart with the seven days of the week and talked about what his days looked like.  I wish my schedule was that simple!

Wednesday.  What a beautiful day!  Sunny and high 70's.  You can't get much better than that.  It was hard to head into the school room on such a warm day, but we did.  We talked about the numbers 9 and 10.  I read Grant the story The Gnome by the Brothers Grimm.  After that he practiced drawing the numbers 9 and 10, IX and X, and writing out the words NINE and TEN.  We drew a rainbow 9's counting chart, and when we were done with that he drew a picture of his ten favorite things. 

Thursday was our day of adventure.  We left the house at 10:00 that morning to head downtown.  We stopped by Whole Foods, did some grocery shopping and ate lunch.  From there we went to the Science Center to see the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit.

This would be Johanna looking at dinosaur poop:

While we were in the exhibit, The Science Center conducted a state-wide tornado drill.  Everyone in the Science Center was ushered into one big room.  A member of the staff even came over to show Grant and Johanna a little experiment.

We really enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit, but it was such a nice day we wanted to get outside, so we went across the street to the zoo. 

After that we went to our dentist appointments (the reason we were downtown in the first place), and then went to eat dinner at the Manhattan Cafe.  It looks like a retro diner on the inside.  We also split an old-fashioned strawberry and cookies-and-cream milkshake between the five of us.  I think the kids were in heaven.  Finally we were on our way home and got back at about 8:00pm.  Whew!

On Friday we had co-op.  Grant enjoyed his karate class, and is earning some prizes in his conservation class for observing birds.  He has no problem finding them out here!

On Saturday, Cory and Grant came in from working outside and I was doing some kind of "Mom" thing while Cory sat down to eat a late lunch.  Grant was being very quite.  Too quite.  Cory walked into the bathroom to find him like this:

He decided to take a pen and draw a bird on his arm, and "eyes" on his eyelids so that even when his eyes were closed it would look like his eyes were open.  At that point, we instructed him not write on himself with a pen, especially anywhere near his eyes.  But, as Cory pointed out, he did a pretty good job of drawing that one "eye", with one eye closed.