This has been an adventurous week full of imagination. I've begun journaling more about what we've been doing too and started taking more pictures again. I do this for several reasons: we have such amazing fun I want to remember it all, it helps me to look back and see all that we do on those days when I panic, and I can also see where I can support my boys in their interests more.
As you might remember that last week the boys were very much into sculptures. I found out it is because they watched a show called Pirates Adventures in Art while at my parent's house. The episode was all about sculptures. So we tried using our wood carving tools to chisel away at some wood slices daddy cut for the boys. We discovered that our wood was very hard. We will be making some slot cars for the boys' mid week church program soon and using some softer wood for that project.
I was also inspired by some blogs (here and here) I follow and laid out an invitation to discover pattern blocks and mirrors. MJ was quite interested as he really likes the pattern blocks. I love his concentration in this picture. He was trying to use each of the other shapes to cover the hexagon. I'm going to pull those out again soon but find a better solution for our mirrors that fell down.
We had a great start to the week by heading over to Lego Land Discovery Centre in Toronto!!!! A big thank you to our friend for organizing the trip. We had about 40 homeschool children and their parents. The boys were able to join a workshop on towers, use the earthquake tables, build and test race cars and go on lots of rides. The rides were amazingly fun and so was the 4D movie theatre. I can't believe we were there more than 5 hours. It isn't a huge place but there is lots to do and since it wasn't too busy we got to go on everything many times without a wait.
Since Lego Land was a bit of a drive for us, we talked a lot in the car about structures, skyscrapers, and what they learned from their day out. We also talked a bit about the differences between city life and country living since we drove through different types of towns along the way.
The boys each bought a small Lego kit from out outing. I was very impressed with how much they have both come along in following the instructions. TJ assembled his whole plane kit along and MJ started off well and then got rather creative. He asked for a bit of help and they played with their lego for a long while.
This week we got together with my mom, sister and all the kids. We had lots of fun baking and coloring with my nephew. The boys were very excited to play with my niece who was home from school that day. She did their nails and they all played so well. My sister also helped MJ practice writing out his full name. Here he also did TJ's name on a card he made.
For Christmas the boys were given a Cosmic Jet Racer kit. We were excited to find out there were two cars in the kit to make. The best part is that they worked well (doesn't always happen with science kits and things). The boys decided to use the glue gun for certain parts as the tape provided was rather fiddly. TJ played with his jet racer for over an hour and a half. He made different courses for the car and tried blowing up the balloon to different sizes. MJ needed help blowing up the ballon. He played with it for about 5 min then disassembled the whole thing and decided it was going to be an airplane. These two are so different in their personalities and everything.
The boys have been watching Planes Fire and Rescue every day this week. MJ decided his Jet Racer was Dusty and then gathered all his toys to be each of the characters from the movie. TJ also set up his own rescue team complete with signs to show you around his hangers. The boys played for several hours that day and have continued on an off the rest of the week with the same game. I wrote more about that here.
We also went to my sister's house for a visit and went to the YMCA this week. My mom and I went shopping with the boys and out to lunch. The boys were treated to a new toy each. TJ has some new foam planes that he can launch all over, while MJ was thrilled with his own truck stickers. He's made everyone pictures.
We love story time. I have been reading a lot of fairy tale to the boys as following along with the Waldorf curriculums we have. I'd like to get back in to more story telling, but some of the library books did have beautiful pictures. Once we took the books back to the library we explored our own shelves at home. The boys asked me to read Scaredey Squirrel goes to the Beach. This inspired the boys to make their own inside beaches. TJ's beach had a sheet with our bean bin spread all over for sand, lots of shells and a bucket of water for the ocean. Oh and of course the heater was on to make the room hotter. He even got into his swimsuit to play in the ocean. MJ's beach had playsilks, and sheets for the beach and ocean. He too added a bucket of water for the planes to float in. Unfortunately we had to go out that day and then they lost interest in the beaches when we got home.
Our week ended with playing in the snow. I saw this idea on my FB news feed and couldn't wait to try it with the boys. We made a snow volcano, we also added food colouring to squirt bottles to draw on the snow. TJ discovered that he could make interesting impressions in the snow with rackets and other toys. We also went sledding and played hockey together. No pictures of all of that because we were too busy having fun outside.
Now it's your turn. What have you been up to this week? Also what other topics or things would you like me to write about?
What a busy week!
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