Up, up and away

Today was co-op at our house. I really love our co-op, but you can read about that in different posts. It was our house today. We are doing the inventors lap book and loving it. The other moms have never done a lapbook and were a little intimidated when we started. It does get easier the more you do and I have been trying to encourage them to do some on their own. The one we are doing is huge and is actually three folders glued together. When you start big like that, it can throw you for a loop. I just tell them slow and steady wins the race. Today we talked about John Deere, Orville and Wilbur Wright, and Louis Braille.

John Deere didn't really take that long to talk about. It was pretty interesting to see how his company went from making 75 plows a year to 10,000 plows fourteen years later. The size and scope of the company today is quite intimidating. We talked about how the company has the trademark for the green color of his tractors. My friend C has a friend that has a riding John Deere for his yard. It has cruise control. I thought that was too funny. Our riding lawnmower has a headlight and a cup holder, but no cruise control. We also talked about what the different machines are for and how they work. I got some really interesting books at the library that had great information. That is a shameless plug for your local library system that needs lots of support during these economic times.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were pretty cool. We talked about their failures and their successes. We talked about how air travel has changed over the years and the highs and lows. We talked about planes and how cool they can be. I didn't realize that they started in Ohio. I had always heard Kitty Hawk and wondered why the Ohio state quarter says "First in Flight". Now we all know. They transported one of their planes to France and flew it for 2 hours at 110m. That was a record back then. Pretty cool stuff.

Louis Braille has just fascinated the boy. When we picked up our books at the library yesterday, the boy picked one about Louis Braille and read it cover to cover. The whole time he was reading I heard "Mama, did you know...", "Mama, guess what...". I loved every second of it. It kept him engaged and talking and sharing. I didn't know that Braille was blinded in an accident when he was three. He was playing with his dad's tools and actually blinded himself in one eye. He developed an infection that spread to the other eye and that was how he became blind. The boy was interested in the fact that he was a teacher. He didn't think blind people could be teachers. What a great discussion that opened up about disabilty and how blindness shouldn't hold you back from your dreams. We talked about different professions blind people have including doctors, lawyers, teachers, and all kinds of things.

Our activity after we finished our mini books was an airplane race. I found these little glider planes at the dollar store that the kids used. At first the kids were a little sceptical. They put the planes together and we took them outside to practice. They loved it. I let them practice for awhile and then we lined them up. We did two races and the winner of each got to pick a prize from the prize box. It was fun. The kids were happy they got to keep their planes. I told my kids to bring theirs tomorrow and when we meet hubby for lunch at the park, we can have our own races or just fly planes.

It was a great day. I ended up making pork chops, mashed potatoes, and broccoli for dinner. Hubby made it home in time to eat with us, so that was a bonus. We had wonderful friends to spend the day with. The weather was so nice, I even opened the windows for awhile. The kids played and played. Mine are exhausted and sleeping, thank goodness. I am not far behind.

Have a great day!