In the Hands of a Child

At breakfast we did our normal reading

10 minute stories

Today’s story was about the littlest mermaid. he stopped eating so he could listen and said “i liked that story.”

World History

Today we learned about what vikings did when they died. Bodies were treated very respectfully and generally burned at sea or on wood platforms.

Today we took advantage of the free skate (parent/child/senior) at the local rink. We had a good time. It is good to see the lad getting better at his skating all the time. At times he was skating independently, and frequently he can make it around the rink without falling. So nice to see him improving his skills.

We then moved on to working with math using reflex. He continues to gain in fluency.

We then started out spider study. Click on the picture to learn where to purchase it.

This is an ebook. You need to print off the learning activities that you wish to do. You can put it into a file folder or use paper to make it into a small book. entirely up to you. I asked the lad what he wanted to do.. “put it into a file folder mommy”. it’s all good to me.

so today we read a poem Don’t Eat Spiders – by Robert Hiedbreder

Don't Eat Spiders   By Robert Hiedbreder
Daddy said to me, "Don 't eat spiders, Don 't you dare.
They may be delicious, But I don't care.
Don't eat spiders, Alive or dead,
Don't eat spiders, That's what I said.
Don't eat spiders, Even in play,
Fried or mashed, Or in any  way
Don't eat spiders, That's what I say.
Never, ever, That's what I say!"  
But I answered Daddy, "Tell me why ! 
Will I get sick ? Will I die ?
 I'll eat spiders, I don't care.
I'll eat spiders On a dare".  
I ate a spider Off the ground.
I swallowed a spider, It wriggled around.   
SUD-DEN-LY..... I grew eight legs,
They're skinny and hairy.
I shrank to a spider, Creepy and scary.
I sit in a web, I eat dead flies,
I watch the world With eight beady eyes.
So don't eat spiders, I hope you see,
Unless you want to be A spider like me.
And don't eat spiders. Do you see?
Cause if you eat spiders  You might eat me! 

This poem made the boy smile. It really caught his imagination.

We learned that spiders come in: yellow, grey, brown, black, white, orange, red, and green.

While he was colouring the above I used these questions to stimulate his brain. 🙂

What if there were no spiders in the world?
– we’d have a fly planet and we would have a cloud of flies

– web, house, spider, fear, flies, jumping.

A spider makes me think of
… interesting ones in the garden.
…webs
…webs in my hair!
…flies and mommy being scared. 🙂

– I would tell them about the spider in case they are scared of them.

How many ways can you get a spider out of your bed?
– spider treats
– slide a paper under him and take him away
– catch him in a jar

We learned some vocabulary: acre, molt, carnivores, oviparous, and arachnids.

And all spiders have these common characteristics.

 All have eight legs
 All belong to the arachnid family
 All have two main body parts
 All spin several different kinds of silk, although not all produce webs
 All have fangs
 All make venom to paralyze or kill their prey
 All are carnivores
 All are oviparous
 All molt several times during their lifetime

From a spider unit study i picked up at a yard sale this summer we found the letters to spelling out spider. This gave the lad a chance to sound out the word spider.

It was a good start to a study. It will take us a few days to finish it.