Monday is math day, and Monk and I quizzed each other with Brain Quest first Grade Math. We also played the card game War, and worked on a logic puzzle.

Tuesday is Language Arts day, and Monk read and worked some more on his logic puzzle.

Wednesday is usually Fine Arts/Project day, but we had a field trip to the Science Stuff store instead. They had prepared a demonstration which illustrated how laser light is absorbed or reflected by various colors. I thought it was poorly demonstrated, and that the explanation sucked. I also didn't like it that they fed the kids "germs" (made out of jello) out of Petri Dishes. Thankfully, Monk knows better than to eat Jello ("It's made of ANIMALS, mom.") Because, I mean, what a bad idea to teach kids to eat brown and green jiggly stuff out of a petri dish! But then we went to k8's house for an impromptu playgroup and the kids had lots of fun exploring a hollow tree stump in k8's front yard.

Today is Natural Science Day, and we read 2 chapters from the Childcraft volume "Green Kingdom." Monk watered his plants, and we looked up the answer to the question Monk had about why the "touch me not" is called that. Monk also explained the process of photosynthesis by saying that "The leaves need water to produce food, and the roots need food to produce water - and so they make a trade." Which I thought was pretty astute. The book didn't use the term photosynthesis, and I'm not sure if I should teach him that word or not at this point. We did talk about how seeds are made, and I managed to work in a little human reproductive education as well.

Today is supposed to be park day, but I don't feel like going, so we're just going to stay home. I just told Monk that I'd play war with him for awhile, and then I'm probably going to do some more housework and leave Monk to his own devices.

During all of this, Cole generally listens in, or gets hugs and kisses, or colors with his crayons. And I try to read to him a few times a day. Right now, he wants me to play tangrams with him, so I'll probably do that before I play with Monk.

Tonight, I'm thinking Monk and I will write a little essay about what we read about today, to see what he remembers. I'm hoping that before long, Monk will be able to keep track of his own learning activities using a blog or some other written record.