Field trips and fruit loops

Earlier this month, my children and I met our field trip group at Stagville Plantation, in Durham, North Carolina.  The home was originally built in the late 1700s and by 1860, the family owned about 30,000 acres and 900 slaves.  This plantation was the largest in North Carolina.  I just love visiting historic homes and enjoyed our visit.  My kids - not as much as me.  But the boys really liked the hands on activities they got to do in the visitor's center before we took our tour.

I've been to quite a number of plantation homes in the south, and was surprised at how plain Stagville was.  However, we learned that the owners owned other homes.  Maybe those were fancier.

the Stagville Plantation home

back of home

 During our visit, we learned that the character Addy, from the American Girls book series, was based on Mary Walker, a slave who escaped from Stagville's owners in 1848.  (There is actually going to be a "birthday party for Addy" on April 9, at the plantation. Info is here.  If you live local, and have daughters that are big Addy fans - they can learn more about the real slave that Addy is based on.) 

Unfortunately we didn't get to explore the out buildings behind the house.  We next went to see an enormous barn on the property. 

Little fans - don't leave home without them!

The barn was so big!

Inside views:

Tabby - I liked the way the light came in around her

Finally we visited the slave quarters.  In order to try and combat sickness that the slaves suffered from - think hot, muggy summers with mosquitoes spreading illnesses - the owner had some really sturdy houses built for slaves.  Each house had room for several slave families.

Slave house

Hunter was frustrated because he kept trying to ask questions about the electricity or other modern things that had been installed in the home and one of the slave houses.  But the tour guides didn't understand and kept blowing it off with "Yes that was added later.  The original home did not have it."  Um, yes he knew that much ....

Recently Solomon went through a fruit loop crafting phase.  I bought a box of the Walmart brand of "fruit loops."  (Best $2.50 I've spent in a long time!) There were so many different things to make with them, thanks to Pinterest inspirations.  The first day I gave some to Solomon, he ended up eating a bunch after making a picture.  We don't eat "sugar cereal" in our home so I guess his body wasn't used to it!  After a while, the boy was totally hyper and loudly singing songs and being extra silly for a long time.

Here are some of fruit loop pictures he made (with some help here and there) over about 2 weeks.  This was a great activity for him to work on quietly while I was doing schoolwork with Hunter.

I cut out the plants and fish and drew the fish bowl.  Solomon glued everything down.  Hunter added the filter/pump.

 

 

a sugary snack break

fruit loops onto a pipecleaner to make a candy cane

Solomon enjoyed the fruit loops activities so much that Hunter decided he simply had to try it once.  He made a Hunter kind of picture (I don't remember what kind of machines they are):

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." - Colossians 3:23-24

Solomon's latest Montessori activies

We're now 7 weeks into our school term.  After morning school time, Hunter keeps busy making things.  What would we do without cardboard boxes?!  He recently got an old modem and was inspired to build an all-in-one computer:

For reading, I have a set (reprint) of McGuffey's Eclectic Readers.  These readers were originally published in the 1830s.  Though Hunter isn't totally fond of them, he prefers the stories in these because they are realistic, and not dumbed down like many of the modern readers.  I like the moral lessons and the rich vocabulary.  Hunter is a pretty advanced reader, but I still have him read to me because occasionally, he comes across words he can't pronounce correctly.  Twice a week we read McGuffey's lessons.  Then once a week, Hunter gets to pick what he wants to read to me.  It is usually one of his technical manuals.  Today was one on electricity and last week was a plumbing book.  By letting him choose books, this keeps his enthusiasm for reading out loud up.  And I usually end up learning about things I would never read about on my own.  ;)

I have a cart that I keep Solomon's current Montessori-type activities on. 

 
We push it into our living room each morning, so he can work in the same room where I am teaching Hunter.  I put activities on the cart that he can do on his own (after I show him how) and that are things he can do quietly so that he's not a distraction.  (That's the goal anyway - it doesn't always work!)

Here are some things he's worked on this month:

He's really into rainbows and the Noah's ark story.  So I printed out a rainbow and he matched little plastic bears onto the correct color.  (He added the "Lilly-colored bears" for decoration.)

We're working on numbers now.  Solomon can count to 10 and do several number chants (thanks to listening in on Hunter's lessons).  So I decided he was ready to start learning what the numbers looked like.  He talks a lot about Thomas the train being number 1.  So that gave me the idea of making Thomas the train cards and having him match the correct number to each card.  Many of the trains in Thomas have a number.  So I had Hunter tell me the trains that had numbers 1-10.  I then went to Google Images, copied train pictures, made number cards, then printed everything out.

After he was done, Solomon got out his Thomas the train engines and matched them too.

After a couple days, I gave Solomon some magnetic numbers I had, and he matched those.

I came across some "highway numbers" online and printed them onto cardstock. (See here.)  Solomon drives his cars through the numbers.  I give him a new number every few days, and we keep reviewing what he has.

We're having fun with Nursery Rhymes too.  I put our wooden nursery rhyme blocks on a tray along with Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever book.  Solomon likes to look at the book and match the blocks to the correct pages.  And of course build with them too.

When Tabby was about Hunter's age, she really enjoyed the book and CD set Can You Hear It?  I recently began introducing songs from this to Hunter and Solomon.  We listen to a new one each week.  The CD has a number of great works of music on it and the accompanying book has a picture for each and things to listen for.  We like to act the songs out when we listen.

For picture study, we are studying Leonardo da Vinci.  I am using Simply Charlotte Mason's picture portfolio for da Vinci.  I made Solomon his own set of cards of the da Vinci prints we are studying.  I printed 2 sets so he could match them.  I also gave him a book on da Vinci that we have. 

Whew!  Gotta wiggle around after all that!

Solomon is also learning to spell "Solomon" - or at least recognize the letters.  I got this neat idea off Pinterest.  I printed a picture of Solomon and two sets of the letters in his name.  I used velcro dots to attached them to a file folder.

One more activity, that had to be done in the kitchen, that Solomon really liked was when I filled a bowl with some water, put in some little plastic bears, and handed him some little sugar tongs.  He had to "catch" the bear and lift it out with the tongs, and then drop it into an ice tray.  This proved to be tricky!  He worked at it for awhile then when he was tired, he finished up by using a spoon to scoop out the bears.  This was a nice long project for him that allowed me to get several kitchen chores done while he was working.  ;)

Solomon enjoys taking structured activities, such as the above, then adding his own twists to them.  This is important.  Good for his brain!  He also really enjoys helping me do various chores and helping care for the animals.  He and Hunter play outside some of each afternoon too.  Also important - on many levels!

Play is important for kids.  (Though too much play can lead to trouble.  Parents of multiple kids probably know what I mean!)  Here is an article I read recently, that I found interesting:  "The Decline of Play in Preschoolers - and the Rise of Sensory Issues." 

Well this post is long enough.  I hope I've been able to give you some ideas to do things with your little ones, if you're in a similar place in life as I am.

Silkie Roosters for sale & Toddler activities with mint tins

Tabby has finally decided that FOUR Silkie Bantam roosters are just too many.  Especially because it seems that two of the four Silkie chicks she has are turning out to be roosters.

So ... if you are in the market for a fluffy rooster that thinks highly of himself - and adds a wonderful cockadoodledoo to your yard - Tabby has two you can choose from. 

See our CraigsList listing here:
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/grd/5083135579.html

It's been awhile that I have posted any of the Montessori activities that Solomon has been working on, so I thought I'd share a few. The first two incorporate my love of using mint tins.  (I've made many mint tins for angel children now - see an example of my first one here.  I've also pinned a lot of mint tin ideas for one-day-when-I-have-time-hahahaha on Pinterest - see my page here.)

The first was inspired by an activity in the Montessori Services catalog.  (Solomon and I LOVE looking at this catalog and getting ideas from it.  I can't afford to buy much so we make a lot.)  For this "hammering tees in a tray" activity, I got an empty mint tin, filled it with clay, got some golf tees, and Solomon got his hammer:

This was a quick activity to make and Solomon enjoyed doing it every day for awhile.

The other activity I used a mint tin for is a great one for fine motor skills.  Solomon used the mint tin with clay, then pushed in toothpicks.  Then he dropped Lilly-colored pony beads onto each:

Solomon worked very carefully and silently (great activity while I am schooling Hunter).  He also repeated this every day for a bit.

My older kids and I are studying Monet for art picture study right right.  We are using the picture study portfolio from Simply Charlotte Mason.  I introduce a new print each Friday, and then we hang it on our refrigerator for a week.  Solomon got so interested in it, that I made him little cards using the same Monet pictures we are studying.  I printed and laminated two sets, so that he can match them.  He also likes just laying them out:

We are also enjoying looking at a book called Monet's Passion: Ideas, Inspiration and Insights from the Painter's Gardens by Elizabeth Murray.  The author is my step-mom's cousin who worked in Monet's gardens for almost a year.

The boys remain interested in our weekly nature walks.  We're still focusing on identifying wildflowers we find on our property.  They both enjoy picking some to bring in and put in little vases at their places at the dining room table.  We found the below flowers growing along the road.  I was not able to figure out what the flowers were - some sort of wild rose maybe:

Concentrated holding!  The thorns on the stems can hurt!

Here is another idea for the knobbed cynlinder blocks.  I took about 30 seconds to trace several onto a piece of paper.  Solomon matched the block to the right sized circle:

Finally, Solomon has never liked stringing things, so I put away the strings that came with these large wooden beads and just gave him a tray for sorting.  (It's a vintage wooden silverware tray I found on Ebay, dirt cheap.)  He sorts the beads by color and also by type:

Solomon loves his Montessori "work" and I love when he focuses hard, he is building character.

"From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward." - Proverbs 12:14