Friday, April 5, 2013

S is for Sun and M is for Moon

       During the month of February, we studied "S" and "M" for Sun and Moon with our new My Father's World Kindergarten Curriculum. I found it rather ironic to talk about the sun when it was so cold outside (my fault since meant to be studied in September), but we got some warmer days in there too when we went outside and looked at our shadows. One problem was the raisin experiment- you know, put grapes out in the sun and watch them turn into raisins. Well, I let them get to the shrively stage in the fridge, and then we put them in the window sill, and it actually worked! Thank goodness we had some sunny days:).
The left are store bought, the right are our homemade raisins. Now, the book said not to let your kids eat them since they aren't exactly healthy if they get moldy, but ours turned out so well (and I made sure there was no mold) that I let the kids eat them.
 
    We ran into our first hurdle during this unit: my husband's work schedule did not combine well with Monday/wed/friday 9am school days that I had planned on. He works 12 hour shifts during the day for three or four consecutive days, than a couple days off, than three or four nights for 12 hours, than couple nights off, and every month he has a whole week off. Very confusing...  I still can only remember his schedule up to one week at a time. He also works two weekends a month, so my traditional school week ideas were not working. How can I expect my 5 year old to sit and write the letter "S" while Daddy sits at the computer and plays games? It just wasn't fair to any of us. Plus, the boys are going to preschool still on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so those days are taken as well. Thank goodness I don't actually HAVE to homeschool and take attendance yet. We are taking kindergarten extra slow, and only on days Daddy is working.
 
    So all that to explain.... next unit was about the Moon... and since Daddy was working night shift, we had our school at night. (look at me being flexible and spontaneous:) - I soooo... do not come by that naturally). Moon is perfect for night study anyways, so we were all excited. Plus, we had one really beautiful clear night with a full moon that was breath taking! Thank you God.
 
We really enjoyed learning about the phases of the moon too... it was yummy Oreos.....
 
 
We ended with a fun project..... of course there are lots of worksheets and learning things I am not showing. The point is, we are loving learning about God's World!
Looks perfect in their room full of stars