Is Pluto a planet?

This blog is going to shift to more homeschool topics ( still a bit of family happenings and my own free writing too) ... When we learn new things or do innovative activities, I get excited and want to "talk" abou it. Also it would be a good avenue to share ideas with my homeschool friends. So let's get started!

Rychen p. is very much interested in geography and space. He has noticed that some books refer to Pluto as a planet and others don't, so he has asked several times if Pluto is planet. So finally we sat down to research it. ( about ten minutes in, he got distracted and asked if there are going to be more than 50 states, so while he got out the globe, I kept reading about Pluto!)

This is a cool website to explain Pluto...http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=624

Then I continued to follow Rychen's lead and talk about states. He drove a matchbox car around the equator while I explained the difference between states and territories. I showed him how various islands have parenthesis and a country's name, showing who owns it.

Then he wanted to name all his states ( he knows about 40) so I got out some worksheets where you fill in the name of each state...and voila, we get handwriting practice.

I love times like this where I just follow his lead, getting materials out and answering questions. It really fills me with joy. In a busy household where my children often annoy each other and myself, it's so refreshing to do some educational activities and develop these common interests to bind us and give undivided attention :)

P.s. this could have been formatted better, but I am relaxing on the couch with my sweet baby, using my iPad!