Making Birdfeeders

As many of us have done in our own childhoods, we made birdfeeders.   However, we had a very interesting conversation before hand which is why we ended up making the bird feeders in the first place. 

We recycle & reuse quite a few things and the other day I opened the drawer that I save paper towel & toilet paper tubes in and decided it was time for a project.  My drawer was becoming full way too fast (and the boys preschool didn't need any at the present time).  We have also been talking a lot about animals and how they survive without someone feeding them.  We have a dog and it is the boys job to feed him (although not from the table, which comes up every night at dinner).  Anyway, I was explaining how wild animals scavenge for food and that at some times of the year it is harder than others.  We went over why bears hibernate and how they can survive and why some animals store food up for the winter months, etc....

So needless to say our next step was bird feeders.  The kids had a blast with this and we are now ready for some winter snow (and my drawer of  "tubes" is almost empty).  We also shipped some off to their Great-Grandmom's so "their" birds wouldn't go hungry either.

Back on Line after Dropping my Laptop!

Sorry I have been slow with the updates.  I dropped my laptop back in January & just got a new one.  A good lesson for the boys to take care of their toys.  We have had many a discussion about why you need to take care of your toys & that if you break them you don't necessarily get a new one (and definitely not right away). 

I think the boys were as excited as I was to get a new laptop because they know I had been saving for it.  So we made a family event out of it & we all went to Best Buy (fun, fun!).

Volunteering at a Montessori School

So a little over a month ago I  started volunteering at a Montessori school.  I chose to do this in order to get some more experience that will help me out next year when my youngest goes to school full-time and it is time for me to jump back into the work force.  

It has been great.  I love being back in the classroom & forgot how much I enjoyed it.  I have been doing some one on one tutoring as well as teaching science workshops to small groups of kids for the last 5 years but there is just an energy that comes with a good classroom. 

My kids are excited for me too, which is so funny.  They ask about the kids at "my"  school.  They want to know what I do all day & what the kids are like.  I love their curiosity.

I am sure I will have many good stories, as well as many teachable moments & surprises that I will be sharing along the way.

Quadrilla Marble Maze

My boys love this marble maze.  They love what they can create, every design is different & cool looking.  The wooden pieces notch together easily which makes it easy enough for my younger son to do as well as my older son. 

My older son played with a simple plastic marble maze at a friends house & liked that he could create different designs & change it & see what effect his change had immediately.  I am not a huge fan of plastic toys, which led me on my hunt for this.  Actually, all I had to do was go to one of my favorite toy store and ask, AMUSE toys.  They immediately knew what I wanted.

I really like that my kids can either follow the step by step picture directions or they can create their own creation.  It's a sophisticated learning experience based on simple design.