Of butterflies and freedom

Last week we continued to discuss slavery and the Underground Railroad. Mane and I spent some time on the National Geographic Underground Railroad website. Mane seems surprised and fascinated by this piece of our nation's history. We're taking it slow, talking a lot about how people helped other people on their road to freedom. It's so difficult to know how much to tell to a 6 year old. She's smart, but young and innocent. Because of where we live, she knows more than most kids her age about some of the troubles in the world. She knows about drugs and gangs and guns. We try to keep it age-appropriate and talk a lot about helping people, loving people, keeping others safe.

Then we made butterflies and dropped them in the mail for the Symbolic Migration. We talked about how the butterflies cross all kinds of state and national boundaries. So, we all have to work together to take care of the butterflies. It is up to all of us to protect their habitat and their migration path.

We read Duck for President in preparation for talking about the election.

We also spent some time in a phonics "fun" workbook from Barnes & Noble and took a break from the regular reading lessons last. Today we went back to the regular book, reviewed lesson 50 and completed lesson 51.

Over the weekend Mane spent some time learning to crochet. She has been finger crocheting for over a year. On Saturday she learned to use a hook & add a second row. This should be good practice for fine motor skills and will aid her in handwriting, which we plan to begin working on formally sometime this school year.

Also over the weekend we visited an apple orchard...just for fun, but everything is a learning experience, you know. We looked at the trees, tried different types of apples, and picked our own pumpkins from the patch.

...still hoping to post some butterfly pictures soon. I've got them on the camera.