So, I know I said I was taking a break...

But we're having so much fun, I just had to share a few things!

We're having such a great time with our tadpoles.  I've been printing out some pictures and the boys are writing the dates and things to keep in their binders.  The first page was a photo of their habitat. 

Ezzy wrote, "I will always love my tadpoles!" next to his picture.

Kai decided to write step by step instructions.  He wrote:

How to make a tadpole habitat
sand - water- rocks - muck - container
step 1 - put sand in container
step 2 - get water from river or lake
step 3 - get tadpoles in water and muck
step 3 - pour the water and muck into the aquarium

Next is this photo dated November 28.   Ezzy wrote, "Today my tadpoles have legs."  Kai wrote, "This is the day my tadpoles had back legs."

This is one of our tadpoles on Dec. 2

And now on December 3, this one is really starting to look like a little frog - amazing!

 Here's another little activity I made for Jude - some black-eyed peas in a bin

 He wanted to pour some water and stir, and add some color, so I let him do this in the kitchen, this is with cracked corn.

Well, then I started wondering if I could dye the beans Jude was playing with.  So I looked online and found some instruction - simply soak them in rubbing alcohol and food coloring.  Let them soak for one hour, stirring every fifteen minutes or so to distribute the color evenly.

Then let them dry for the rest of the day.

Here are the results!  This is a mix of cracked corn and black-eyed peas. 

 Perfect for just playing with or all kinds of art projects, mosaics, etc.

 So then we decided we wanted to dye some noodles.  We got a variety of types.  You just place them into ziploc baggies, add the tiniest bit of white vinegar and food coloring, mix it around inside the bag, then open the bag to let it dry.  It dries fairly quickly. 

 Here are our results.

 We made some necklaces and strings.

Good fine-motor skill practice.

 And a happy, chubby baby watching everything!

I pulled out our Christmas tree and stockings, which were under our bed.  Kai was very excited about this and got inspired to dress up like Santa.

Ezra made this decoration all by himself (notice the dyed beans for buttons!)

This is Ezra's gingerbread man.

Kai's gingerbread man decoration.

And Jude's.  Yeah, Jude doesn't really like coloring very much, but he wanted to be included!

I had another thought this week.  Have you ever heard people talk about how much more they are able to enjoy their grandchildren once they are grandparents?  Well, I was thinking - let's have that enjoyment now!  I don't want to wait until I'm a grandparent to truly enjoy my offspring!  But the question is - how to do that?  There are so many stresses and pressures to face each day.  I think most times the answer lies in allowing God to transform my character, my reactions, my responses, to create the kind of home environment I want and be able to really love and enjoy my boys each day. 

Science at Home

We have some fun science projects going on around here right now.

We decided to try making our own bean sprouts using lentils.  Soak them for a day, then drain and keep them in a jar covered in mesh or cheese cloth and rinse them out each day.

Here they are starting to sprout!

The most exciting thing in our lives right now is that daddy brought home a bunch of tadpoles from the river.  We made them a little habitat so we can hopefully watch them sprout legs and turn into frogs. 

The boys are absolutely amazed and completely thrilled.

  "I can't believe we have these," Ezzy says in an awed whisper.
 

Reading "Tadpole to Frog," which is very important reading right now!

Fun with food coloring

Just add a few drops of food coloring to water in clear containers.  I gave my kids a couple different kinds of medicine droppers to play with and they had fun for a long time mixing and adding colors.

Ezzy poured the water in containers.

 

Then he added a few drops of food coloring to each one.

Begin mixing with droppers.  Kai played too.

But this activity really captivated Ezzy's (almost 5) attention the longest.

our new pets

I know little boys need to have pets. I'm just at a stage of life where I feel like I can't try to keep anything else alive. Well, I think I found a pet we can handle - hermit crabs! The boys collected probably 20 or 25 small hermit crabs at the beach and after they spent one night in a little bucket I knew we were going to have make them a more suitable home. So we went online and read all about hermit crabs and then made our own habitat. The boys love to "google" things! We used a big rubbermaid tub and filled it with sand from the beach and lots of rocks and things to climb on (hermit crabs love to climb). We gave them salt water and fresh water to swim and drink and some food. They seem very happy and are digging holes and climbing and enjoying themselves. The first thing the boys do when they wake up is go check on their hermit crabs. They each have their favorites that they've named. It's actually really fun, I just hope I can keep them alive!

Tips for making an ant farm

1. Do not try to put ants barehanded into an ant farm. They will bite, your hands will swell. They will also crawl all over your body - down your shirt and pants, before you can stop them.
2. Do not try this 5x.
3. Do not attack an anthill with a spatula while barefooted and 3 small boys watch. The ants will go crazy, spread quickly and bite.
4. Do put ants you've collected in the fridge for up to 15 minutes before handling them - it does not kill them, but makes them inactive so you can get them into the farm.
5. Realize that the ants will only remain inactive for a few seconds. During this time do not spill dirt and ants all over the counter.
6. If that does happen, screaming won't help the situation.
7. At the end of the process, once the ants are safely inside, enjoy watching them dig their tunnels, it's actually pretty AMAZING.
8. Be sure to read lots of books about ants along with your ant farm project.
9. Beware if guests come and warn them not to SHAKE the ant farm. Yes, this happened. Even my two-year old knows not to shake it. But a full grown adult shook it and in seconds destroyed all the tunnels the ants had spent hours making. I suggest putting a little note or something by your ant farm so guests are warned not to do this. You just never know.
10. Have fun!

More 30-minute Steady Mom challenges are here.

A Better Day

So yesterday I cried. And I prayed. As I went to bed I determined in my heart to have a better day. Basically, I am over-tired, losing my patience, yelling at my children and feeling angry and frustrated. Homeschool is overwhelming me, I'm trying to do too much and things are turning into power-struggles with my kids. This is not how I want to be! This is not my dream for homeschool! So I determined to RELAX, ENJOY my children, re-adjust my priorities, have fun and do better. These posts really helped: A Steady Days Excerpt: Enthusiasm and The Family Hour: Recess for Everyone as well as a good long chat with an encouraging friend. God is so good!

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:

Usborne Science Activities, Vol. 2