The Five Senses and Money

It remains very cold outside today. We have had a fire going all day just to keep the house warm.

The kids got out their 5 senses kit today and we learned all about the tongue and tastebuds. We experimented with different tastes, bitter, salty, sweet...and touched them to different areas on our tongue and they were amazed how different area of the tongue tasted.  We then decided to paint our tongues with blue food coloring to see the tastebuds, we quickly learned that tongues tickle.

Musa and I are reading, My Side of the Mountain, and we are loving it. This was one of Shirah's favorite books as a child and she gave it to Musa for Christmas. Musa decided he wants to try to make some of the tools that Sam(the main character) is making along his adventure. I told Musa I thought he was old enough for his own pocket knife and he looked shocked. When he realized I was serious he was very proud. He wants to try some whittling (he just learned what that was today) and to make a fish hook out of wood like Sam did. We also decided that we should learn to make a fire with flint like you always see on the movies and in books. So ,I am on a search for flint rock.

Musa is also working on his counting money skills. This was always such a struggle for him when we used to do "school." He is trying to save for a memory card for his PS2 and has 11 dollars in bills and a whole jar of coins. He came and asked me to help him count it, so we worked on identifying and grouping and then counting. The lightbulb went off. It is clear that when a child has a reason to learn...it happens. He has been hanging around just counting piles of change. He is amazed that it adds up to a lot of money.

Retta wanted in on the action so I gave her a pile of coins. I started to show her the different coins...this is a penny...this is a nickel...she got very upset with me and blocked the area with her hands and said , "I got it Momma, I got it." In less than a minute she had sorted all the coins into piles and said pointing, "these are the nickels, these are the dimes..." Then she started counting them. She didn't get the different value thing (thank goodness, that would have freaked me out) but counted all the coins up to 56 without missing abeat. An unschooling note....I have never taught Retta how to count.

Retta is also working on her reading skills. She has been very upset the last several weeks because, "I don't know how to read."  She does actually know a lot of sight words but she really wants to learn more. I have gently tried introducing phonics but she gets very impatient and upset so I back off.  So, we are just adding more sight words and she is responding well. She read three sentences on her own today that I wrote down and can read several of her books. Unfortunately, it is not giving her a real sense of satisfaction. I can see it in her eyes,. I think she wants to know how to read all the words in the whole world TODAY and probably in all languages. (She asked her Daddy to teach her German so she is working on that with her) She is a tough kid. I am soooo glad she is not going to have to go to school. School would ruin her in a day!

It was a warm cozy laid back day. I am so happy that I have created the life I have. It is bliss.