'14/15 Week 36 Day 2

There was a furious storm raging outside in the early hours. Nobody got any sleep until the storm passed. The rains have done a lot of damage in Texas these days. The loss of lives just a few counties over is horrible. During our prayer times in the morning, we have been praying for our safety and for God's help in the affected areas.
So, we slept in a little this morning and started our school an hour later. The whole morning passed doing science. Saara has read through all the planets in the Solar System, and she was ready to make her own little accordion book. Today, she colored and pasted the pictures. Starting tomorrow, she will write a few facts about each planet.
Andrew has entered the world of atoms and molecules. He, too, did some cutting and pasting and constructed a model of an atom on paper.

Science. The Solar System in the making.

Andrew used a hole punch and colored paper to make the picture of an atom.

'14/15 Week 36 Day 1

We are getting close to the end of the school year. Just ten more days. 
Today was just a normal day of studies, nothing out of the ordinary - math, history, LA, and science.
 
The whole week end we left behind was anything but ordinary. It was rather wet. In fact, it was so wet it flooded. The creek came over its banks, but we all were safe inside. The kids had a fun time playing cards with Dad.

Surprisingly enough, the fields seemed to be in good condition despite the heavy rainfall this past weekend. The ballgames are on!

Power outage.

The worst of the flood waters.

Memorial Day ceremony by the Vietnam War monument. One more thing we did this past weekend.

'14/15 Week 35 Days 4 and 5

The days went past fast. On Friday, Saara close to flooded our table with water experiments. She was studying how the light travels trough water. She had a lot of fun, and I had a lot to clean up.
Also on Friday, the kids started to write a description of a painting. We are still learning how to write idea webs and how to use them in the writing process. I divided the assignment between two days. The first day they wrote down the ideas and penned down their drafts. The second day, we corrected and edited the drafts and they rewrote a clean copy. I am happy to see that both of them are feeling more comfortable with the task of writing, and that the process does not overwhelm them any longer. I have also seen that Saara has a natural talent for creative writing.

Science. One of many Saara's science experiments with light and water. The objects look broken in the water.

LA. Andrew working hard on his writing assignment.

'14/15 Week 35 Days 2 and 3

Nothing particular has been happening these past two days. Thankfully, it has not been raining, and the kids have been able to play outside a lot. 
This morning, Saara had her final (for now) dentist appointment. Back at home, we managed to have all the classes but science. To my greatest surprise, my reluctant creative writer Andrew showed a lot of interest in story writing this afternoon when I sat them behind a computer and introduced them to the Scholastic Story Starter at the Scholastic website. Both kids loved the assignment, and are looking forward to the next time we will do the Story Starter again.

Math. Saara learning about weights and observing how many ounces go into a pound.

LA. Both kids loved using Scholastic's Story Starter to type up their stories.

'14/15 Week 35 Day 1

The children woke up early this morning, so we started our classes earlier as well.
First, the kids took their 13th math test. An A for Saara and a B for Andrew.
In history, Saara was learning about Nero, Pompeii, and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. As we had time, we watched afew scenes from a classic “Quo Vadis?“ with Peter Ustinov as Nero.

And, finally, the rains have stopped, and Andrew was able to play his next game this evening.

'14/15 Week 34 Day 5

Today was a big day for Saara. She had her spring ballet recital in the afternoon. The best part was that Dad got done with his work in time and made it to the performance as well.
The morning, of course, was spent doing as much schoolwork as we could. Andrew enjoyed his science lesson on simple machines a lot.
We had even enough time to go for a nature walk around the property. It was wet, but very beautiful.

'14/15 Week 34 Days 3 and 4

Oh, this rain needs to stop. The kids have had a little time to play outside in the morning, but all afternoons and evening have been spent indoors because it is raining. Yes, we have all our lessons done, but - oh!- the mood is dragging. At least, mine. The kids seem to be content playing inside.

Rainy day activities. Crocheting.

LA. Saara LOVES writing in cursive.

Math. Andrew checking for right angles. A new thing he learned today.

'14/15 Week 34 Days 1 and 2

Another wet day. This, of course, meant no baseball practice for Saara. The kids had a chance to play outside in the morning before it started raining. The rest of the day we stayed indoors and worked on our school assignments. 

Andrew did a little victory dance as he understood how to solve divisions with bigger dividends. Something that looked so daunting to him at first turned out to be rather smooth and easy to solve. He is so happy!

Saara was learning about how it is possible to use mirrors to look around corners. We made a simple periscope and the kids had fun spying on each other for a while.

Science. Saara peeking around corners.

And spying on her brother with a homemade periscope.

LA. At the end of the day, Andrew presented his summery of George Washington's biography he finished reading a while ago to the whole family.

We had some visitors today.

P.M.G. Choirs Spring Concert 2015

The weeks of choir practices culminated in a breathtakingly wonderful concert. All the kids did such an amazing job. The songs were uplifting and the presentation perfect. It was such an enjoyable evening!

'14/15 Week 33 Days 4 and 5

We finally made it to the store to buy a bag of m&m candy. With so many holidays evolving around sweets, we never buy candy, but end up rationing all the holiday booty. But we needed a bag of candy for Andrew's math assignment. Isn't math sweet?
Andrew had to draw a pictograph of different color candy found in a bag. He thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. He laid out the steps to organizing the data and presenting it as a graph. 
Saara had a sweet science project as well. We have been reading a book about space and the planets in the solar system. We have already reached Venus in our studies, but we backtracked a few lessons and revisited the different phases of the Moon. With Oreo cookies, of course. The kids remembered the activity from a couple of years back and were very excited to do it again. Sweet.

Math. Sorting the candy by color for a pictograph.

Science. After figuring out our crescents and gibbouses, the kids were ready to devour their Moon phases.

'14/15 Week 33 Days 2 and 3

These have been busy quiet days. We have been working diligently on all subjects. We started Saara's last read-aloud book, she also had her last ballet class on Wednesday. Today, both kids did well on their spelling test. We are marching on.

'14/15 Week 33 Day 1

We had a great team party at our place on Saturday, and it took us a whole two days to recuperate. With changes in Dad's schedule, and consequently in our schedule as well, it all worked out well. From now on, we will start our school week on Tuesdays and finish on Saturdays.

The fun get-together on Saturday served as a nice subject for a short writing assignment. It was interesting to how differently the kids saw the event. Saara loved her little impromptu performance with her friends, and Andrew was all about fishing with his team mates. 

Today, Andrew finished reading a biography of George Washington. I thought, a nice summary of his life is in order now instead of a book report.
During our Bible reading time, Andrew got very excited about our next native American tribe to study and pray for - the Shoshones. We all enjoyed the book we read about Lewis and Clark, and Sacajawea. It was like meeting an old acquaintance, and now we are encouraged to pray for her people living today.

Third game. Third loss. She still enjoys the game and her team mates though.

Math. Continuing learning about solids. Saara made her very own cube today.

'14/15 Week 32 Day 5

We had a short school day. Andrew and Saara had their math tests. We finished reading a book about Americas first foreign missionary Adoniram Judson. An amazing story. Now, we will continue with American history after the war of 1812. Saara is marching on in her studies of Roman history. She also finished yet another book about Frog and Toad. Instead of a book report, I will ask her to stage a play about one of the stories in the book. Should be interesting.

'14/15 Week 32 Day 4

In addition to the extra softball/baseball practices this week, Andrew and Saara had an additional choir practice as well. We have been going so fast, I decided to go to the choir early and have the kids play their hearts out with other kids. Because of the baseball season, we have not made it to the park days to play. It is one thing to play in a team with lots of kids, and completely another thing to just play for the fun of it. It was a hot day, and by the time the choir practice started, the kids were so ready to settle down. One more regular practice, and we are ready for the spring concert.

'14/15 Week 32 Day 2 and 3

These days have flown by so fast. Both kids have had additional practices in the evenings, and our afternoons, after all school work is done, have been spent dewberry picking. Not only that, we have made a few delicious jars of jelly and a cobbler out of the abundance of berries. A lot of them are eaten raw.