Friday, September 11, 2009

Save the Forest!

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For science today Enzo picked the sloth to learn about. The sloth is one of his favorite animals because it's "his daddy's" favorite. We did our usual - sit on the couch, mom reads from a book that we picked out from the library while discussing interesting facts about the animal, and of course looking at pictures. Lizzie always seem to gravitate to the pictures of the animals with their babies while Enzo looks for the biggest (and fastest). So while flipping pages and discussing facts about the sloth, Enzo came across the giant ground sloth and was excitedly letting us know he wanted to draw it for our narration assignment. We continue through the book and get towards the end of the book where it talks about how some sloths are extinct and others are 'endangered species' and why it's important to save tropical forests (sloths live there you know!). which then brought us back to the 'giant ground sloth' and why they are extinct.

Why didn't I see what was coming next?! OH SAVE THE FOREST MELTDOWN!

Enzo was so upset that people are so mean to cut down the forest because the giant sloth lost his home and starved to death. Not to mention the mean momma sloth that doesn't go back to rescue a dropped baby. (Momma sloths carry their baby on their belly for months, if the baby loses grip and falls off, they don't go back to rescue their baby in fear of their predators. Did you know that??) So by this time Enzo is frantically pacing the house and trying to figure out how to save the baby and how long it would take him to get to South America since he was just a kid and I wouldn't take him right this minute. MELTDOWN. Lizzie was lost, she had no clue what Enzo was talking about because she was still glued to picture of the momma sloth carrying a baby sloth.

So we talked about how some people help by letting others know about the importance of saving the rainforest. Enzo's drama finale went down like this:

Enzo is pacing and crying in between, visibly upset (and frustrated, because he said so himself)
Enzo runs to the sliding door: "Wait we have a forest! We need to save that maybe the sloth lives there!" (We have a preservation behind our house, no sloth lives there)
But of course I had to point out they don't live there so he was still upset.
Enzo walks past Lizzie and me shouting:
"SAVE THE FOREST! SAVE THE FOREST!"
Enzo: "See I only told 2 people, now I'm tired of yelling SAVE THE FOREST, how am I gonna tell EVERYBODY??? I just CAN'T!"


?!?!?!? I was soooo OVER saving the forest! We eventually calmed down after lots of talking and brainstorming ways to help save the rainforest, at least until someone else brings up that sloth again!

Educational? VERY, maybe more so for me than Lizzie and Enzo. Will I do it again??? OH PLEASE LORD HELP ME! Why didn't I think to stick with this giant ground sloth? Maybe he wouldn't have caused such a ruckus!
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3 comments:

  1. Oh My GOODNESS>>>>what a day you had..I do see Enzo doing DRAMA when he gets older...well maybe not too much older...He is such an amazing child...for him to think at such depth, is unbelievablely smart..I give him an A+ for that lesson...And for you...the MOM of the week award! love you guys, Mama Michele LIZZIE...of course you get an A+, just because you are YOU! Love all of you guys!

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  2. That's a great story! Living books and narration....are you utlizing the Charolette Mason method?

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  3. What can I say? God definitely has a sense of humor and gave us animated kids!

    I'm not familiar with Charlotte Mason. We do a mix of different stuff (eclectic I guess). But for science with my 2 younger ones this year, I'm trying Classical. So far it's actually working out much better than I thought.

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