Southgate School

    When Naomi was staying with us I decided to go about Molly's school day like normal. I figured I'd try it and see what happened. We started out with Molly writing her two letters and her number for the day and then I had them draw pictures while I read out loud to them. Rob had just bought us the new Shel Silverstein book so I read them poems. They drew really elaborate pictures of animals and Naomi looked over at me and said, "I drew a three." It was Molly's number of the day. She drew a really good three and I could see that she wanted to be included in the process. I gathered our new magnets that we had gotten at a hobby store as well as some various items to try to attract. The girls had so much fun trying to see what they could pick up! They also loved trying to get two magnets to connect when they were repelling each other. When we were finished, we packed a lunch and went to Spring Valley Nature Center. The girls enjoyed running along the path and through the woods! They had me taking pictures of various flowers, bugs, and butterflies so that we could look them up when we got home and try to identify them. Once we reached the farm, we had a picnic lunch. The girls ate lunch on top of the table because they weren't too sure they liked the roosters under our table. They looked for fairies in the hole in the tree, petted horses and cows, and obsessed over all of the various fungi they found on the trees on the path. We went out on a dock and were surrounded by lily pads. When we thought we couldn't go any further we got in the car and I took them to Oberweis for ice cream. I realized that day  how fun it was to incorporate a friend into our school day...hopefully Naomi will be a visitor to our little school a few times a month so we can plan some fun lesson plans the girls can do together.