Knotted Bracelets

If you can make a double knot, you can make these fun bracelets. 
I found the instructions on Joann.com and decided to give them a try. Andrew loved making his, Saara tried but found it a hard. The knotting part was easy for her, just getting the knots even was hard. She gave her best though, and she loves wearing the bracelet I made for her.

Sewing a Pin Pillow

It has long been my desire to get Andrew and Saara sewing on a real project. In the 2014 August/September issue of Sew News (online) we found instructions how to sew a colorful pincushion. Both children could practice
- their measuring skills they learned in the math class, 
- how to cut fabric (which is so much trickier than cutting paper),
- how to thread a needle and make a knot, 
- how to baste pieces of fabric together with the basting stitch, 
- how to sew seams with the sewing machine,
- how to press the seams and how to safely use the iron,
- how to stitch up openings,
- how to keep the work space clean and organized.

The kids enjoyed the whole process. Now they can not wait to get their own set of pins and a sewing basket.

13/14 Week 41 Days 3 and 4

As the school days get shorter, there is less and less to write about the children's learning adventures. Part of me is sad to say good-bye to all this fun we had, the challenges we faced and overcame, the new knowledge we were exposed to. But part of me (I am sure, the kids too) is ready for a break.

Although we are done with the classes now, we have not yet 'officially' ended our year. And I do not mean just those 'end of the year' pictures and a cake, but really a trip down the memory lane to look at accomplishments, leaf through the children's school binders, bring out their masterpieces, watch through the videos we took, and flip through the photo albums. I am thankful for this blog - not only keeps it me accountable to myself and to the kids, but it also serves as a diary of our learning adventures. 

So, thank you, God, for the blog, for yet another great homeschooling year, for Sonlight, and for the love of learning and teaching.

Science. It does not happen often, but sometimes Dad steps in and does a great job as a substitute teacher.

 

Science. The kids and I have still a few science experiments left to try. This one is about water and electricity. Part of the class was teaching Andrew (and Saara) about the electrical safety. Here, Andrew made the water conduct weak electrical current by adding adding salt to it.

Dry salt in itself did not conduct any electricity.

Andrew building a water timer.

As soon as the salt water touched the foil covered wires, the buzzer went off.

A sweet moment. Andrew rereading some of his old school books.

Summer break is finally here. And so are the dog days of summer.

Bye, Kindergarten. Bye Second Grade.

'13/14 Week 41 Day 1 and 2

Our final days of the school year are going pretty fast. One by one, we complete our programs and read the last chapters. Today, we finished the language arts. Only science, Saara's geography, reading comprehension/vocabulary learning books, and Andrew's math remain.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 5

We are wrapping things up. Andrew had his last geography/history class today. He mastered the times table already a couple of weeks ago, but it was only today that we filled in the missing numbers in his chart. 

One more week of odds and ends, and then we will call our school year officially over.

Math. A journey that started in February has come to the end. He has mastered the simple multiplication facts.

Science. Saara was learning all about juice today. Needless to say, they ate their school work. Again.

Exploring the cells.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 4

We started our day with science. Before it got burning hot outside, we gathered a supply of peppercorns, marbles, and other tiny objects, and a soccer ball. All this to demonstrate how tiny the planets are compared to the Sun and how far they are from each other and the Sun. It was eye-opening. We did not manage to fit Neptune into the picture - its orbit ran into our neighbor's pasture. 

Science. Our tiny Jupiter.

Saara is standing with Uranus, and Andrew is with the soccer ball Sun.

LA. The children working on their last story dictation. We have only a few more pages of additional handwriting practice, phonics, and Andrew's language arts to do. Andrew is choosing to write in cursive whenever he can.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 3

Just another quiet day. Very quiet. During the breaks, Andrew and Saara decided to practice sewing. Andrew leaned how to sew the running stitch, and he practiced it all day long.

Chemistry Road Show

The university's chemistry road show has been part of the library's summer program for a long time. Today was the first time Andrew and Saara went to watch it. It was loud, smoky (or was that steam, vapor?), fiery, and loads of fun. To my surprise, the chemistry man, when talking about acids and bases, suggested the kids to try a red cabbage experiment at home. That is something Andrew and Saara have done two times now! Something easy. But, of course, in the show the man used and named a lot of different substances and materials that I cannot remember now. 
It was entertaining, but it was educating at the same time.

Before the show, Andrew and Saara were building stuff with other kids.

The 'elephant's toothpaste'.

Mixing up certain liquids, turned the bottle into a mirror.

A demonstration about how much energy one single gummy bear contains.

This was my favorite experiment: acids and bases.

More acids and bases.

A fire tornado.

Sun Catchers

Andrew and Saara painted some sun catchers with friends. I had saved the craft for a rainy day since the time Andrew learned about the stained glass windows. Today, it seemed, was a good day to refresh our memory about the Gothic style and have some fun.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 2

It was a quick and easy day. Andrew is nearing the end of his history/geography program. He has been exposed to a lot of new facts, names, and events. I could barely expect him to remember each one of them, but at least he has a reference point now. We can always revisit the lessons to refresh our memory. Many movies and books about people or events in history will make more sense, I am sure.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 1

I had good plans to have a school day on Friday and Saturday, but these happened to be the days of the Estonian Dance and Song Festival that takes place only once very five years. Instead of hitting the books, we ended up watching the events live through internet. 
The children were curious about the dances and listened in to the songs that have been sung in Estonia since the mid 1800s. Because the festival is such a celebration and so important to the whole nation (can you imagine 10% of your population gathering in one place to sing, just sing for two days straight) and such an essential part of our nation, I did not feel bad canceling the classes and enjoying the concerts instead.

10 000 dancers, over 30 000 singers, and 120 000 spectators.

Today, we went ahead and covered another day's full of work. Saara ran out of her reading practice books from the library, so she brought me her favorite princess tales. It is a mighty chapter book, but with her having it read so many times, it may not be much of a challenge to her. Until we go to the library again, we will read about princesses, again.
The end of the day was fun with Andrew's science experiments. I did not think, I had all the necessary things to build a little buzz game board, but with Andrew's ingenuity, we found all the components and built a working model. Needless to say, the kids were having a blast with it.

Science. As the marble run its obstacle course, it dropped onto two wired pieces of foil, which the marble pushed together closing the circuit and making the buzzer go wild.

 

13/14 Week 39 Day 3

Science class with baking soda was lots of fun today! Saara learned about bases and acids. 

Andrew took his last but one test and received a fair A.