Volcanoes

With #3 Girl doing Joy School and #1 Girl doing Kindergarten we knew we needed to come up with something that #2 Boy could call school. Most of the kids he hangs out with are now in either Kindergarten or paying for Preschool. I decided that we could have some fun school time at home. Even with the other two boys hanging around. So, twice a week I get to have an hour and a half with just my boys. The main focus is on #2 Boy's schooling but #4 Boy loves to be involved and #5 Boy needs some attention. To kick off the year I picked the topic of volcanoes. I knew it had to be something grand so that #2 Boy would enjoy it and not feel like he is missing out. I am hoping it is working, but today he asked, "why didn't they do Joy School when I was #3 Girl's age?" That said, we have still had a great time learning together.

On Monday #2 Boy drew a picture of a volcano and labeled all of the different parts. I planned to have him keep the whole paper but he didn't want the labels and so he cut around the volcano and hung it on the fridge. We talked about the different parts of a volcano and what each part did. We also talked about some of the famous volcanoes including the ones in Washington.

After that we put together a foam volcano that I had bought on sale. The actual volcano piece was a bit hard to get on but a lot of the other pieces #2 Boy was able to manage on his own. In this picture he is punching out rocks and whistling. (Yes, #2 Boy is ALWAYS whistling....he get's that from his dad!)

#4 Boy also helped by punching out the holes in the bigger rocks and putting the matching greenery in each which meant pairing up the large plants with large rocks and small plants with small rocks.

#2 Boy with his cool volcano

As we went to pick up #3 Girl, #2 Boy mentioned it would be cool to EAT a volcano. So that is what we decided to do for lunch. We made quesadillas, cut a whole in the middle and put it over a cup. We also added an orange for the sun and some grapes for the greenery (no grapes shown). Then #2 Boy told me he wanted it like a paper volcano. I realized he wanted them flat. I gave him some of the quesadilla that was already cut into a triangle and he was delighted. Then I bite off the top of my quarter quesadilla and rolled it so it was a little volcano.

Today for #2 Boy's schooling we decided to make an erupting volcano. We had to first make the play dough. #3 Girl was around during that part and the two of them enjoyed mixing the color into the play dough. #2 Boy wanted it to be brown but I only had blue, yellow and green....which mixed together just leaves me with green. So we had a green volcano.

#4 Boy likes to be right in the action and is a good watcher. #2 Boy using the rolling pin as he prepares the play dough for the volcano

While I was getting the lava mixture ready #2 Boy stuck the rolling pin in telling me that it was the lava shooting out.

The second volcano erupting (of about 6 today) and the excitement for two little boys.

#4 Boy thought it was hilarious to play in the 'lava.' #2 Boy was proud of his paper tree he added to the volcano.

We also practiced writing 'Volcano Eruption" and learned some fun facts. #2 Boy now knows where the biggest volcano is, where the most volcanic eruptions occur, that there are two volcanoes near grandparents and different parts of a volcano. [Answers after the picture]

1. Mars 2. one of Jupiter's moon 3. In Washington (Mt. Saint Helen and Mt. Rainier), 4. Lava, Magma, Crater, Ash Cloud, Ash and Lava Layers

The other boys didn't pick up as much of the educational information but enjoyed being involved.

#4 Boy playing with the teaspoon that was used to put baking soda into the volcano

#5 Boy hangs out in his car seat, eats, or swings while I teach.

Yesterday#2 Boy  was looking at a Little People's flap book and commented, "We should check out one of these books that have flaps which have letters under them. I told him I wasn't sure if we could find one but we could look. Then he thought about making his own. I decided to use that for part of today's lesson. I was going to have him draw one big volcano, label it and hide the words. But #2 Boy has his own idea about how things should be done and so we did it his way: 4 volcanoes with a label next to each and the flap over the volcanoes.

#2 Boy titled his book, "This is a book about Volcano."

As we talked about things we could use for a volcano to eat yesterday I could only think of fruit by the foot (since it is red) but #2 Boy went on to suggest strawberries and pancakes. Today for lunch we had volcano pancakes with strawberry magma and syrup lava.

#2 Boy is already working on a list of ideas for upcoming school. #2 Boy requested, "Horses since they are my favorite animal." Today he also added rivers, flying fish and dolphins to his list.