Growing and Learning Part Five: The Sciences

I've already mentioned how our little man is quite the outdoorsman, and accordingly, he is developing quite the love for nature, exploration, and discovery. Brett loves "helping" in the yard (i.e. shoveling pea gravel and dumping it where it doesn't belong...picking tomatoes whether red or green...tasting dirt...etc.). I love being able to get stuff done while watching him explore! We've also enjoyed venturing out to a couple u-pick farms, where Brett and his buddy Jaron have had a blast discovering plants, rocks, and even machinery together. A couple weeks ago, I discovered two caterpillars on some kale leaves we had picked from the backyard. Eager to use this as a learning opportunity, I researched it a bit and built a little habitat for them in a glass jar. For a week, we watched our little pets (named Icky and Eww by Brett himself) crawl around in their home, settle in a spot, and build a cocoon. After a week, Icky had sprouted wings! The next day, Eww followed suit. Brett had so much fun watching them, and then letting them go. Just a little baby step in teaching him about life science!

I didn't think we had done much when it comes to social science, but after researching preschool curriculum, I realized that we really have. Brett has been learning modes of transportation through toy cars/trucks, and a cool wooden puzzle. He LOVES watching and listening for airplanes outside. It's one of the highlights of each day. He is also learning professions, like fireman, doctor, dentist, etc. And pretty much everywhere we go, he learns locations, like store, house, work, zoo, park, etc. So the more I thought about it, we learn social studies every day, wherever we go! I just need to start figuring out how to maximize on the learning potential of all these.

So, that's what's been going on in Brett's learning land...feel free to use any of our little tricks to keep learning fun, and do tell whatever strategies have worked on your kiddos, too! I'm just starting to research homeschool curriculum, since some programs start as early as age two. We want to give Brett as many opportinities as possible! If anyone has suggestions as to what's effective, faith-based, and fun, please share!