Colors, Party, Road Trip...

Wednesday, our teaching lesson focused on colors...and once again, we did a little experiment.  We put out 3 tall glasses and filled each with water - then we dyed the water in 1 glass red, another glass blue and the third glass yellow.  As we did this, we discussed primary colors.  Then, we predicted what colors we would get when we mixed 2 of the primary colors together.  Luke, who took a couple of art lessons earlier this summer, already knew this, so we gave Paul a chance to think about it.  He didn't take long to decide he didn't know.  So, we went to mixing.  After we made orange, green and purple, we figured out how we would color a color wheel so that the appropriate secondary color were in between the primary colors that mixed to create it.  This was not difficult for Luke, but I must say that Paul did an excellent job coloring his color wheel.  Since they had their color wheel's colored "correctly", we could finish our conversation by discussing complementary colors.  As a bonus, I showed Luke how to color black over his color wheel and then use a toothpick to draw designs...revealing the colors underneath the black.  He like this, but had trouble getting the black nice and thick over all of his color below...so, I helped.  It is funny because every time I color something they both tell me what a good job I did with my coloring!

Thursday, we just did a little book work because we had a big day ahead of us.  I dug out an old pre-school workbook we bought for Luke (he did very little of it) and decided it would be a better speed for Paul.  So, Paul got to work identifying which black and white pictures would be a certain color and tracing color words. Luke worked on his money workbook.  The book is for 1st - 2nd grade and, as you would suspect, has lots of adding of money.  It became necessary to teach him how to carry, so I did and he caught on very quickly.  He really has few problems with the adding...he can easily count by 5s and 10s, but he doesn't count by 25s so much, so whenever he has to add multiple quarters together he struggles a bit.  But, he is doing really well with it and it impresses me.  I feel confident that I was not doing this kind of adding when I was 6...but, I don't really remember!


The boys were excited because they had a lunch-time birthday party at Chuck E Cheese!!!!  It was actually rather fun...our Chuck E is rather clean and at 11:00 on a Thursday during the summer - the party kids were the only kids there.  I got to catch up with many of the mom's of Luke's classmates...some of whom I likely won't have much occasion to see again (since the kids are going to different schools) and others I will see again because they also have a younger sibling and will still be trekking up to school next year.  


After the party, it was home for naps before headed to an out-of-town dinner with Johanna, Chrissy and Katherine.  Everyone napped well and we got to Johanna's house with no problems.  I thought the kids all played rather well together and Ruth seemed pleasantly happy to roam around the house and keep out of trouble!  Dinner was a great time - many laughs - as I knew there would be.  We got into the car about an hour and a half past Ruth's bed time, so she conked out before we turned the corner.  The boys stayed up a little longer, but they also conked out before long.  Of course, once we got home, Ruth got her 2nd wind - and it was a strong one.  She was generally fussy and fitful all night long.  This continued into her morning nap today.  But - she is currently 2 hours into her afternoon nap, so perhaps she is working herself back into her sunny disposition!