Learning Notes: Weeks of 9/29 and 10/6

This post has been kicking around my draft folder 90% finished for way too long, so I'm just going to send it out into the world whether I'm satisfied or not. Find the first Learning Notes here, and be sure to see the other posts at the linkup to find out what everyone else has been learning!

The constant question around here has been "What is for ___?" As in what letter. The idea that letters make words that make stories has clicked around here, and we're suddenly kind of interested in this whole spelling thing.

Grandma sent these Montessori-style sea creature cards, along with a toy to match for each one! Perfect timing for some new entertainment, since Dad was on a business trip for one of these weeks.

We discovered "Peg + Cat" this week, since dad being gone means a little TV is my only shot at a break. His favorite was the pizza episode, so we made pizza and talked about half and whole.

I also figured out that I can overcome his perfectionist streak (in this case, refusing to trace numbers because he won't do it as well as Mama could), by slapping a picture of Peg's pizza delivery craft in the margin.

Mama got a new toy for her birthday. In addition to figuring out how all the screws and levers worked, we talked about things that start with "tri-"
(-angles, -cycles,...) , and what that means.

Also triptychs. This one is from his Family Formation lesson.

Space Stuff

Space exploration, as usual, was a big theme of our learning here, not least of which because there was an eclipse to watch!

Going, going ...

It's awfully cold at 6am!

I was impressed that he stayed outside (he definitely wanted to be out, and not watching through the window) for the whole thing, even though it's not exactly a short attention-span activity. I guess the novelty of being gotten out of bed for a show was pretty intriguing. We also got a really great look at some constellations that we can't usually see this time of year. We could see the Pleiades very clearly, and could pick out the Orion nebula, too!

We also signed up to send his name to Mars on the Orion mission (it's open till the end of the month), and clicked around this Google Map view of Endeavor at the Kennedy Space Center.

If you pay attention to such things, you'll know there's a solar eclipse tomorrow. Not sure if we'll be able to see much this far east, but be sure to try to catch it if you can!

That's all for this post, except that Peanut would like you to know that he learned something new, too!