History is History

We are 5 weeks into our kindergarten year and I've decided to drop history from our schedule. We have been using History for Little Pilgrims, and it's okay, but not great. I don't think G is getting much out of it. I also have to remember that this IS kindergarten and a separate history course is not really necessary. He'll be getting some history here and there anyway with Bible and FIAR studies. History will be a major subject in grades 1-12 so it won't be missed this year.

Impromptu Math

G found the number magnets at Grandma and Grandpa's house and happily entertained himself making number sentences with them and then writing them down on paper. When he was finished building his number sentence, he wrote it down then put the numbers back and started again. I guess we need to get some number magnets for home. :-)

E-I-E-I-oh

I've read that this is common, and it certainly is around here, it's the mixing of the "E"s and "I"s. When we are reading, G often confuses the letter sounds for E and I. Even in writing, he has to confirm that the E is the one with the 3 horizontal lines coming out of the vertical line, and the I is the one with the two horizontal lines crossing the top and bottom of the vertical line. Practice and repetition will cement it all in, I'm sure, and the issue is already starting to clear up, but I just wanted to mention it so I can go back later and see how much progress we have made.

100!!!

I set up a reward (or bribe, whichever floats your boat) for G a couple of months ago; when he showed me that he could count to 100 without help, we would go out for ice cream. He was excited about the idea at first, but as time went on, he seemed not to care about our little deal. I was even thinking about taking that deal off the table and trying to come up with something a little more enticing. Lo and behold, last night I caught him practicing his counting in bed when he should have been going to sleep. I knew he'd be able to count to 100 soon, and today he did it! He's so excited that all his practicing has paid off, and I'm so proud of him. :-) It's Baskin Robbins for dessert tonight, baby!

Speaking of The Magic School Bus...

I found a site where you can watch Magic School Bus episodes online. I think we'll be getting some use out of this!

Sunday Morning Creativity

Yesterday morning G (being the Magic School Bus fan that he is) watched an episode of the show about spiders. Next thing you know, he's asking for yarn and a pair of scissors so he can make his own web. He covered the couch in "web", then made a bug out of a pipe cleaner and acted out the way a spider catches its food complete with tiny, high-pitched screams for "help, help" from the bug who was caught in the web, and the sounds of the spider sucking its blood. It was hilarious...and a fun way to learn about spiders! And the best part is that he came up with this idea on his own. :-)

The Museum of Flight

Today we visited the Museum of Flight and it was amazing! I'm so glad we did a little background reading beforehand. It was exciting to see G's face light up when our tour guide mentioned that the Wright brothers came up with the idea of "wing warping", since he had seen that on a video we had watched during the week.

It was so amazing to see how quickly airplanes evolved. They went from gliders to actual jet airplanes within 45 years! I got lots of pictures of the different airplanes they had on display:

This is Leonardo da Vinci's glider design:

Here's the Wright Glider:

And here's the Wright Flyer. They made the engine themselves at their bicycle shop since nobody would do it for them because it wasn't worth the time to make just one engine. Engine makers didn't anticipate the flyer being a success. The engine is off-center on the flyer so they made one end of the wings 2 feet longer than the other end to compensate for the extra weight of the engine.

This is the first Boeing passenger plane. It had seating for 18 and was the first to have the co-pilot feature. It also came complete with flight attendants.

They also had a section on space where we saw a command module,

a replica of the lunar rover,

and a replica of the inside of the space station. Oh, and we also saw a real moon rock!

Next, we got to board the Concorde and a retired Air Force One!

Last, and this was Daddy's favorite, the Harrier Jet:

We had such an awesome day! We'll definitely have to visit the Museum of Flight again someday!