Linky Love

Here is an excellent list of suggested activities for homeschooling preschoolers

Linky Love

Native American Technology and Art: http://www.nativetech.org/

Free online children's classics: http://www.bygosh.com/childrensclassics.htm

Songs & Fingerplays about Bugs: http://www.preschooleducation.com/sbug.shtml

Preschool Learning Activities: http://www.universalpreschool.com/how-to/

Dragonboat Races

It was brutally hot here this weekend, but we had been sick all week and the stir crazy was at near fatal levels, so we went up to Peekskill for their annual Peekskill Celebration. We got to enjoy dragon boat races, historical reenactors, fencing demos, classic cars, and lots of free swag from local merchants.

The only downside was getting fairly overheated and having to fight to get Mikro to drink adequate amounts of water. Since he's had a sore throat, he's been eating and drinking far less than usual, which is making me crazy... But still, it was a fairly nice outing, and he really liked the dragon boats.

They're Creepy and They're Kooky...

Bugs, that is.

We are doing a nature study on backyard bugs, in hopes Mikro will become fascinated rather than terrified thereby...

Coolest resident so far of the family bug jar: Greenie the Katydid, who we released today after 4 days of residency:












And after I scooped her out of the jar and set her under the rose bushes where Kevin found her, we quickly found our new study subjects. Two crickets, one male, one female, and a tiny grasshopper. It would be pretty neat if we wound up with cricket babies... But I doubt it. They apparently lay eggs in the dirt, and so far, our cage only has greenery and water. We've been feeding them leaves and peaches. Interesting facts: Their poop is called frass, and they make a frassing mess. The female cricket is the one with the long phallic appendage, which is called, I think, an ovicepter. Guess cricket boys get to have ovicepter envy? Grasshoppers have much shorter antennae, proportionally, than crickets do. Who knew?







And who knew playing with bugs would cause me to seriously covet a good macro lens...

Linky Love

The Dangerous and Daring Blog for Boys and Girls: http://dangerous-daring-blog.blogspot.com/

101 Things to Do This Summer: http://www.homeschool.com/articles/101ThingsToDoThisSummer/default.asp

Scenes From My Neck of the Woods

Along the Croton River.

Summer Fun: Catching Lightning Bugs

On a walk one evening, with the lightning bugs out in force, Kev and I reminisced about catching them as kids. It was recycling night, so we grabbed a bottle out of a neighbor's bin, poked holes in the plastic lid, and mama went on a bug hunt. Mikro had a blast studying the fireflies, and hopefully will be a little less insectphobic for the experience... He tends to point and scream "A bug! A bug! Kill it! Get it out!" at the sight of anything with six or more legs... Dramarific.









We convinced him to release the prisoners by telling him they needed to go find their families. Now he wants to catch more.

Summer Fun, or, July So Far

First, Mikro discovered the joy of slinky:



We went to see our local fireworks on the 4th of July:



I managed to convince Mikro that sometimes pizza involves vegetables:



And we spent time at the park on the river:



Mikro has grown so much, even since the spring, in so many ways. He now is happy to walk barefoot in the grass (which is something I was never sure he'd enjoy, with his sensory issues). He's now confident about walking across the open bridge steps on the playground equipment. He does "balance beam" type walking, whereas before he never had an iota of balance. He played on the playground equipment with a hoarde of children of all different ages and didn't freak out and run away, or jump down, as soon as anyone came near him. And he's learned to use his legs when swinging. All since May. My little guy amazes me. And amuses me. He spent a good bit of time looking for dinosaur tracks, and declared success when he found some heavy machinery tire tread marks, LOL.













We had a picnic.





I tried to take a family photo...







Mikro played "beep your nose"...



We all looked for shapes in the clouds...





We looked at flowers...



We looked at art:











And watched the sunset: