So, I am happy to share with you now my "better day."
I started the morning off having all the boys jump in bed with me and I said sorry for being such a grumpy mommy. They gave me big, reassuring hugs and we started the day off with smiles and love and a few good stories. I've been trying to fit too much into our school days and the things that get dropped are all the science experiments. So today was science day, doing all the fun projects we skipped. Oh, Kai was so joyful. He has truly been longing for this day. "I want to be a scientist when I grow up," he said confidently this morning. That's actually his very first, what-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up comment.
We started out examining soil. Kai added one scoop of soil to a jar. Then two scoops of water.
Shake it up and then let it sit for two hours.
The soil separates into layers. The top layer is humus, then comes clay, then sand and finally small rocks at the bottom. Believe me, this completely amazed my children!
Next we examined leaf litter. This is the stuff that decomposes to make the top layer of soil. Kai gathered a bunch in a bag.
We dumped it out on a piece of paper on the table to go through. This stuff is disgusting! We found lots of cobwebs, little creepy crawlies, dead things and other nastiness. All things boys love!
Finally, we examined leaves. Each boy went out to collect some cool leaves.
We took a look at all the different leaves and talked about each one.
Then we did some leaf rubbings.
As I put my boys to bed tonight, things just felt so much more peaceful, happy, calm. My heart is full of love, not irritation. And instead of dreading it, I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow. Thank you, Jesus!
p.s. All these activities and more are part of our Sonlight curriculum and found in this book:
