Monday, April 1, 2013

Follow Me Monday: Gordo



This is actually a recap of what happened on Thursday, since we've been off school for a couple of days. Gordo is my least enthusiastic student. Since he cannot yet read independently, I can't really let him unschool completely. I know he would only watch TV and play video games all day long if given the choice. {I am not confident enough in our unschooling yet to allow this.} I always need to read aloud to him and strew a bit more enthusiastically to engage him in any project.

This morning's breakfast and chore routine was no exception. He had to be removed from the TV room by taking the TV remote control away, but once he finished eating breakfast he was helpful and emptied the dishwasher and took care of the recyclables.
The great excitement of his day was when Jeff from Barbara Butler Designs arrived with the pieces of our King Play Fort. I got a great deal on it because it is ten years old. Gordo had no idea it was coming and it was great to see him so engaged with the workers and checking out each new piece as they laid it in the backyard.
Our biggest challenge is going to be having to remind him daily that the Fort will not be built until the rest of the backyard is done. It will be the last piece of hardscape to go in, and then we will plant the landscaping. I am already a little tired of hearing, When will they come back to build the Fort, Mommy? When will they come back to build the Fort, Mommy?  He was most excited to see it had a Fireman's pole. When I had them Journal last fall about what they wanted in their play structure, a Fireman's pole was the number one item on his wish list.

It will be so worth it when the cabana and backyard are done and they will get to play on this beautiful playstructure. It's stunning even laying there in pieces.

After breakfast, I was reading to them from their American History Activity Book when the older two decided to put on their costumes. Gordo did so, reluctantly, as you can see from the expression on his face!

We got through the Battle of Bunker Hill before I started losing them, and since we had to get ready for the arrival of the Science tutor, I decided to quit while I was ahead and call it a day.

Baby M. was fascinated by the soldier men we have of the American and British troops. They are from the Safari Toob collection and I found them on-line, along with some plastic cannons and other armaments. I hope Gordo might take a cue from Baby M and keep his hands busy with the soldiers the next time we do an American History read aloud. Baby M was disappointed he didn't have a hat to wear. 
Matt Sole, of Sole Tutoring, who we hired through our Ocean Grove Charter School, then arrived for our weekly science lesson. {You can see that Sweetpea wasn't ready to let go of the American Revolution costume quite yet.} Since they had already finished up the Geology unit, Matt has moved on to Weather and Climate. Last week they lit tea bags on fire, and though I didn't get the connection with weather, he certainly had their rapt attention.

Today Matt started off by reviewing words like convection and condensation which I am pleased to announce that Gordo, the little kindergardener with the big vocabulary, knew the definitions of. To start, he was really paying attention to the science teacher! Table talk always begins at the kitchen table.


For the first activity, they headed into the backyard and played a game where they pretended to be clouds by assuming different poses throughout the backyard. I love that Matt always includes outside time and big muscle movement activities. He is great with the boys who are unable to sit in a chair for more than 47 consecutive seconds.

Then Matt was making a cloud with a plastic water bottle, a bit of water, and matches. I am beginning to think Matt is a bit of a pyro because he has been using matches a lot lately. he he he. 
Here is a very short video clip I took of Matt explaining for me how they were making the cloud. 



By this point, Matt was really losing Gordo, so he decided to switch to multimedia and showed them a website full of different types of clouds. They told me that my favorite type of cloud, the ones I call "the big white fluffy ones you can fly through in an airplane," are actually called cummulus clouds.
Matt packed up and left, and then it was time to get ready for lunch. Gordo wanted to watch Iron Man:Armored Adventures until lunch was ready. They had sausage and perogies for lunch, maybe not the most traditional Holy Thursday lunch, but delicious nonetheless.

After lunch, he did 4 pages of Phonics and 4 pages of Math. Normally, he takes out his phonics and math workbooks only for Monday and Friday afternoons when he goes to his Afterschool Adventures for kindergardeners. He gets to socialize and learn to listen to another adult, and we get a little bit of a break from all of his energy. He packs his own lunch and knows he is responsible for doing the assigned pages in his workbooks during "homework" time so he has something to do while his public school peers work on theirs. I think he's beginning to see how good he has it at home when he sees the amount of homework the other kids have to do after already having put in a full morning at school. But since tomorrow is Good Friday, he won't be having Phonics and Math tomorrow. So he had to finish it up Thursday afternoon before playing catch outside or watching more TV. He is *very* excited to have 4 days off of school. He wasn't as excited to hear that all electronics would be off until Monday at 7 am. 

You can catch up and link up with all the other "Follow Me Monday" homeschoolers over at Angela's blog: www.creatingsomethingbeautifulhs.blogspot.com

Next time, it will be Toto's turn to be followed around by Mommy.

4 comments:

  1. That fort is going to be wonderful. Good costumes, too. :)

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  2. My kids love the Safari Toob collections. Every time we walk into Michael's they want to pick out a new one. I love the fort pieces. It does look amazing just in pieces.

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  3. I enjoyed reading about your day - we do school in a similar fashion around here. fun stuff!

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  4. Sounds like a great day! I hope you had a blessed Triduum and that you are enjoying the Easter octave. God bless!

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