Good unschooling day!
We were over at our neighbors when Joss asked why she was so hot, even though she was wearing a T-shirt. I pointed out that it was black and that black clothes felt warmer. Her and the neighbor boy felt how his light colored shirt felt cooler to the touch than her black one. So I ran back to my house and grabbed sheets of black and white paper and a couple ice cubes and went back to their house. We put one ice cube on white, one on black, one on the driveway in the sun and one on the driveway in the shade. We then made predictions which would melt first and decided to check back in a 1/2 hour. We were surprised that the ones on the driveway melted first, but that the one on black paper was indeed faster than the one on white paper. We then felt the ground and realized how warm it was, even in the shady spot.
Back home we spent more time with maps. Looking at our fishing guide map and our metro transit map we found the lake they were planning to bike to and go fishing at later. We also found our house and my mom's house. And spent quite a while discussing the LRT and the various stops that we have been to. It was so cute when the kids and I were laying on the floor looking at the very large map and Keian kept laying down with us and pointing to things on the map like we were. (canNOT remember if it should be laying or lying - bad homeschooling mom!)
Then the kids and I went for a walk and spent quite a bit of time observing one tree in particular. We were discussing the characteristics of its bark and the way the leaves were sprouting off of the branches. We then brought home a small fallen branch that had several leaves on it. We did our best to identify the tree from our tree book and leaf poster but I am not sure we got it right. Joss really didn't think it looked like the Siberian Elm in our tree book, though I did. She thought it looked more like the Black Cherry tree on our poster. J and Z both made rubbings of the leaves and then later I noticed that she had written God Gob (Good job) on his rubbing.
Then I went to work for my last evening of a 4 day stretch. I got lucky and had 4 very easy days in the nursery in a row. Almost but not quite slow enough to get bored, but plenty of time to do a good job and actually take my breaks. Heaven! And many very adorable babies born. This one baby had the longest curliest eyelashes I have ever seen on a white baby, although Somalis are known for their long dark eyelashes. I've actually seen Somali babies with eyelashes so long they get tangled. They have these sooty black lashes around big shiny dark eyes and usually dark skin with pink cheeks and little pouty mouths. They are the cutest things. And while I am rambling about cute Somali babies, let me also mention the most adorable little Somali boy, just a month younger than Keian. He decided he loved me and would run up to me and put his arms up to be picked up whenever he saw me in the hall. One time when I was checking his baby into the nursery he hugged my legs. He was so precious with this crazy head of gorgeous wild curly hair and of course the big shiny dark eyes.
If I have another girl I want to name her Zubeyda, which is a Somali (actually a Muslim) name. So I have Somali envy or what?