Daily Report: A Engine and The White House

Ken and DJ are begining to focus on one work at a time. For most of our school days they have been having a race with each other to see who could do more "works". I was grateful that they were staying busy. I also was concerned about how much of the work that they were doing was actually sticking. Many times it was work on the same concepts so that lessened my concerns. For the past two days they have been focused mainly on one specific work at a time. About an hour into our work period they still have chosen different works, then all of a sudden I find them engrossed into something very specific. I don't know if this has to do with that finally the work that has been offered is a perfect match for their skill and interest, or they have now been" deschooled" DJ while in public school really was proud that he was always the first one finished in his class with no mistakes. Ken in public school was almost always the last one finished. Their races against each other have always been healthy, but I think they are coming to the conclusion that there isn't a race here at home. We are all working on our own time table, there is no first or last. I think they are enjoying this mentality and today they really, really enjoyed working at their own pace, learning about things that interest them, and not being interrupted while they were at work.

DJ made it to the chapter in Vacation under the Volcanoe where Pompeii was going to be destroyed. This lead him to want to know exactly where Pompeii was to have been. It also inspired some work with the Europe puzzle map.

The Lifecycle of the frog. This is a work that I am glad that was avaliable to him. I assumed that he already knew this lifecycle, but he didn't. This work came from Montessori Print Shop. DJ particularly liked this work because it showed all of the stages of growth like the lifecycle objects he worked with.

Ken enjoyed putting words that were related to the three branches of government in abc order.

The Geometric Cabinet Command cards are a favorite for her. What I like about them is most of the command cards invite the children to use the Geometric Cabinet in many ways that connect to other areas in the enviroment, like above Ken was doing creative writing while learning how to manipulate the shapes to make a picture. The cards were also purchased at Montessori Print Shop.

Building a 4 cylinder model engine is what is keeping DJ busy today. He is still working on this fours hours later. DJ said this is exactly what he been looking forward to doing since he was born:) There are 41 steps to complete this project, he was excited about this!

Here is my tortoise, Ken has spent about two hours on this before this picture was taking. Looks like she hasn't done much if your looking at the product. Yes, she has done a lot!! She has built and taken apart, built and taken apart over and over. Refused help! Ken says this is one project she is going to finish all by herself!!