This has been a crazy week - thus the lack of updates. Truth be told, there hasn't been much school done this week. Thank goodness there are opportunities for learning everywhere we go!
Rachael learned her Bible verse for the week - "Fear not, for I am with thee." Isaiah 43:5
And we talked some more about politics and the upcoming election. We covered:
- Speeches - as promised, we checked out the Silly Speech Maker. Rachael's speech goes as follows: "My fellow gymnastics class: As I look out at all of you, I see a future that's excellent, but to get there, we need lovely leadership in the White House. With your help, and your Wall-E toys, we can do this together! I promise to ban Hannah Montana, to hop the budget, and to save the snowglobe. Further, all babies should get a chance to make Halloween cookies. Our spinning schools are filled with crying, and this can only be fixed by giving kids more blue fairy Barbies! Finally, I promise that if I'm elected, you can come visit me in the White House, (though you'll have to sleep in my bedroom.) Remember, a vote for me is a vote for books!"
- Campaigning - what it is, why it's done, and whether or not everything said during the campaigns can be made good on. We read a great book called Duck for President, about a duck who campaigns for (and wins) the job of farm manager, then Senator, then President - only to decide to go back to being a duck on a farm. I found a "campaign for the presidency" worksheet online that I had Rachael dictate - apparently, she wants to run for President "because I want more attention", she wants me for her campaign manager (aww!) and two issues that she wants to tackle are buying food for hungry kids and fixing their broken toys. Oh, and she wants voters everywhere to know that she's willing to share her home with them. It looks like we'll need to add on a few bedrooms...
- The candidates and where they stand on important issues. Okay, you try explaining this one to a four-year-old! It was hard enough explaining what issues are, much less where the candidates stand on them - especially as there's a lot of overlap. I used the Time for Kids website to help explain them to her, but I'm afraid it didn't do much good. Obama wants to "give the general public the option to choose health plans similar to that of government employees" while McCain would "make patients the center of care and give them a larger role in both disease prevention and care." They both sound pretty good, right? That's what Rachael thought too. (Naturally, there are several issues that we did not discuss, as they would be either a) just too far over her head or b) completely age-inappropriate.)
- Choosing a candidate. Based on what she learned about the issues...oh wait, that's not true. Rachael is a staunch supporter of McCain/Palin, "because she's a girl." Nothing that I've taught her yet has made her waver for an instant on her stance. (Disclaimer: she still has no idea what our political views are or who we'll vote for. I've done my best to present the facts to her in a non-biased way, my goal being to make her think. So far, I'm thinking we'll do better in 2012 when she can get past the whole "vote for the girl" idea!)
- Mock election! On Friday, we came up with our own issues - two per family member, excluding Amelia (I assume the minimum voting age in our home is four-ish...) Once agreed upon, Rachael, Gene and I put them to a vote. (A brief tussle ensued over who was to read the ballots, wherein I appointment myself President of our household and assumed the responsibility. Gene, apparently, is the Electoral College, and got to read nada.Rachael's proposition that we have 100 babies was shot down two to one, as was Gene's idea of declaring his Sunday afternoon nap an official family holiday. Allowing dirty work boots in the house was a unanimous "NO", and beginning to give Rachael an allowance was a unanimous "YES".
On Friday (Halloween), we did a spooky science experiment called "The Witches' Potion". To do this, we had four beakers (okay, glasses that we don't use very often) - two contained phenolphthalein (a common pool-cleaning chemical) and two contained ammonia. We also had a glass of white vinegar handy. All of these substances are clear. According to the story that goes along with this experiment, the first witch was upset because only pink potions have any power - the second assured her that the pink was there, and invited her to combine their potions. Sure enough, when beaker #1 is combined with beaker #2, they turn a bright, vivid pink (a result of an acid combined with a base.) Same went with beakers #3 and #4. BUT, when the two beakers of bright pink are dumped into the glass of vinegar...poof! Everything turns back to clear.
Which is very cool in theory, except that Rachael loves pink, and was more than a little irate when it all disappeared. So we repeated the process later for Gene, and were sure to take pictures of the pink.
Rachael had a great Halloween, with several events leading up to it - decorating cookies with her friends on Monday, a party at the library on Wednesday, a pizza party at church on Thursday night. On Friday, we went to Trunk or Treat at her Gramma's church, and then trick-or-treating around her neighborhood. There are few things I can think of that this child loves more than trick-or-treating, and I was so happy to hear several comments about her good manners when she thanked people for her candy. Unfortunately, no one recognized her as EVE from the movie Wall-E, but plenty ooh'ed and aah'ed over Amelia's white tiger costume (it was adorable.) But Rachael loved being EVE for an evening anyway, and hopefully she'll choose someone/something a bit more recognizable next year - so far, she's thinking Smurfette.
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